Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

I definitely feel like we tipped the kids into bed tonight with no hope of them waking up feeling refreshed and ready for the week ahead - they are shattered after a very busy weekend. I really should have made more effort to try and balance things out, but this weekend was always destined to be a busy one and then an inevitable sleepover each got added in at the last moment and it’s a lost cause. Poor Izzy had a Laser Tag party to top it off at 5:30 this evening - whoever thought that would be a good thing on a Sunday night in winter??? Yesterday morning Abi was dropped off after her sleepover - no doubt in the hope she could settle down for some iPad and dog cuddle time - when I made it quite clear that our main task was to get passport photos sorted for them both. Cue meltdown and “I’m not coming, I don’t need a passport and I don’t want to go skiing anyway...” I made it quite clear that this would also mean no France to which I got a bit more traction but not much. Of course yo

Just a quick post to say something for posterity rather than to write about the week. Today our little baby turned 11 - so grown up! As we feel asleep last night Glenn commented on how quickly we’ve got to this point - was it only 11 years ago we embarked on this amazing journey with our funny, special, determined, independent little girl? Seems like forever and no time at all. After a lovely day (I had the day off) I picked up the kids from school with one of Abi’s friends Freya and we went to Izzy’s friend Amber’s to play with the Shetland ponies before going for pizza. The kids were shattered when we got back so headed straight for bed. About half an hour later abi called me and said she’d like to read me the poem she’d just written about the journey home. Here it is - I love it: Bright lights, bright lights Racing through the bulb Bright lights, bright lights Pushing out the darkness Bright lights, bright lights Oozing through the headlights Seeping into view Bright l

So after last weekend being mainly about Abi, this one was all about Izzy. Glenn dropped Abi off at Angie's for the weekend for her birthday hunt day and so we had the peace of a one child family until lunchtime today - so much more harmonious than 2 children in the house! What this actually means is that Izzy has control of the dog bed in the study instead of Abi for once. Given we have created all manner of special places to sit and relax in our house, the fact that they fight (all 4 of them in fact) over who gets 'top dog' priority on these 2 bloody cushions is beyond me! Even Bertie and Freya growl and bicker sometimes if one of them is sprawled across the cushions and the other doesn't fit - its ridiculous! Friday was a day off for me and it was the perfect day - I dropped the kids off to school after the normal routine of school breakfast and then chatted to Mum for an uninterrupted hour (no such luck normally on the weekend with 2 kids wanting to intervene),

Where is my little baby going - only a few days and Abi will be 11 - eek! This weekend Izzy had a party to go to at a friend who's parents are the caretakers of an amazing local estate which has all kinds of treasures to explore. They went ice skating first followed by an afternoon in the 'arcade' - a full size video game arcade with table hockey, zorbs and table football - before tea in the 'small hall' which is in fact an enormous and beautiful garden room with a table that seats 40... This party understandably needed to last quite a while given all that it entailed and so Abi cooked up a treat for her as well. On Saturday morning we dropped Glenn and George at the station for the rugby train, Izzy at Amber's for the party and then Abi and I set off on a day out for just the two of us.  Due to Abi being away more than Izzy for riding, its less frequent that I have time with just Abi so it was great to know we had the whole day ahead. She had it all mapped

Blink and yet another week is gone, and what a lovely week it’s been. We have had amazing weather and I’m so pleased we didn’t do what so many others did and head for some sun - I’d take a sunny english autumn day over one from further afield any week. The highlight of the week for the girls was their loan ponies which they have been very excited about. The deal is 3 days over the week where you can go to the stables and basically pretend that the pony is yours, including the need to do all the  grubby jobs as well as the nice ones. There was a bit of debate as to who they would choose. Abi was quite clear, either Jethro or Henry. Izzy on the other hand wanted Phoebe but was a bit worried about her being a bit feisty for her. Regardless this is who she went for. I was keen to have 2 ponies that worked well together irrespective of shape or size! The riding started well. We had to poo-pick first then they could get their ponies in and start grooming. We had agreed we would do