Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

So this evening it's us plus one. Amanda, Alex and the Boys stopped by for  a whistle-stop lunch on their way back from London and somehow Laurie and Abi managed to persuade me that he could stay and I would 'drop' him home tomorrow. You can tell I'm on holiday because in a moment of weakness I said yes. So tomorrow we have Kerrie and Ryan turning up first thing on their way to visit family, then Izzy is off to see Mia and I will take Abi to Angies and then on to Taunton to drop Laurie off before heading home. If all goes well a 5 hour round trip. Hmmm. I may have mug stamped across my forehead but they've had such a lovely day and evening together it's worth it. It's definitely the job of a mother to be the weak spot where these things are concerned. I've spent much of the last couple of days asking Abi to use a different tone with me. It's bad enough that 'No' seems to be the first answer I get for everything, it's worse that it'

We've had a slightly fraught weekend all told - with most of the focus being of the canine variety. Abi and I walked the dogs together on Saturday morning and just when it couldn't feel more relaxed - up early, dry despite the forecast, chatting away - Scooby had a funny turn. I'm not sure exactly what happened but he was running up the hill when suddenly he fell over. It looked from where we were like someone had shot him - he flipped up in the air and came down hard and then with only a single wag of his tail lay motionless. If this sounds dramatic then that's about right - it was - made more so by the fact that Abi was watching it all. I ran up to him and he was breathing hard and looking very distressed. I talked to him to calm him down and then got Abi to do the same - albeit she was in floods of tears. After a couple of minutes he got up and somewhat unsteadily walked off. Not nice to see and even worse when Abi said she just couldn't get the image of him dr

Ah, peace returns to the sitting room as the kids go upstairs and (hopefully) settle down for the night. Today has been one of those days where they have either been best of friends and playing at full rough and tumble / volume, or screaming at each other - also at full volume. I can safely say that much as I love my little cherubs, tonight I was more than ready for them to head upstairs to bed. I watch very few things regularly on TV but Strictly is one of my favourites and I'd prefer not to have to constantly say "sit still", "get out of the way"  or "shut up!" Despite all of this we have made a point of being thankful for all we have this weekend. This week 2 friends lost parents and another found out that they have a life changing illness. A little bit of good natured shouting between siblings is the least of what we suffer. It's these time that make me realise even more than ever that life is fragile and while you can't throw caution t