Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

There's nothing like a bit of sunshine to get everybody out of the door and today is no exception. Despite the forecast being pretty patchy for the weekend its been lovely this morning and while Glenn cleaned out his van after yesterday's green laning expedition to Gloucestershire, the kids and dogs 'helped' by sitting on everything as it came out of the van and generally getting in the way. Bertie in particular will take any opportunity to sit on anybody who's willing to have him and much as I think we shouldn't encourage this, it does make me smile to see them all in a happy heap. This morning was also about recharging batteries. The girls stayed over again at their friend Mia's house on Friday and once again I think they may have gone to bed at an almost reasonable time, but not slept until a good point later. I don't so much care about the time they go to bed as ling as they get enough sleep and it was blatantly obvious when I picked them up tha

 Where do the weekends go? I was just wondering what to write about that's different from the normal 'lovely weekend - walked dogs, played in garden, ate too much, got out on the bikes... etc. etc..' when Glenn came down the stairs laughing and saying - go and look at the girls. Abi is in her dressing gown with quilt and blanket, both enormous monkeys on the floor under another blanket. Izzy on the other hand is in a summer quilt with her sleep mask on and a monkey obviously somewhere under the covers as there is an arm sticking out the side! perfect photo opportunity! So this weekend has been lovely despite Glenn being away (Revolution bike ride - I should have gone as well but couldn't muster the enthusiasm) and us being home alone. Actually its so much easier these days - particularly as the girls had open morning at school and a play date. I woke early on Saturday and got up as I knew I had some work to catch up on. I had nearly 2 hours of lovely peaceful m

Phew, what a scorching weekend, and a busy one to boot - as ever. The most exciting part of it was definitely the girls competing in their first ever triathlon, and doing brilliantly as well. They absolutely smashed the swim, coming first in their heat, then biked and ran well to come 28th overall out of 59 teams - not bas given the teams ranged from Years 3&4 up to Years 7&8. It wasn't without its challenges. I went up to bed on Saturday night to find Izzy still awake, worried about whether she was going to let the other girls down on the swim. She was very worried that everyone else would be faster than her and she would be the weak link. Even when they got going she was nervous, and given half the chance would have pulled out of the bike ride I think. Abi stepped in to bike second and came back all smiles which encouraged Izzy on and she loved it in the end. This isn't an uncommon situation with Izzy. She's very confident in most things, but doesn't do we

 It's the early May bank holiday and goodness me if that isn't the sun, although its a bit 'now you see me, now you don't...' This morning we had glorious sunshine and I sat outside with Sharron drinking coffee in the suntrap that is our patio. This afternoon Zsara and I headed out for a windy walk and got drenched, although neither of us cared - it was a proper blow away the cobwebs walk and its was wonderful. This weekend has been dominated by us watching the ever blackening sorry state that has been my thumb. I managed to have a comedy moment which I wish we'd caught on camera - in hindsight only. In a moment of carelessness I caught my thumb in the car door as I shut AND locked it, only then to drop my keys in shock and not be able to reach them...because my thumb was firmly caught in the door! I managed to use my foot to claw my keys into reach, picked them up and released my thumb, only to have it them expand rapidly to twice its size and go a deep sh