Skip to main content

Half term already!



It's half term already - blimey, that was quick! I'm sure they have hardly been back at school before we are wondering what to do with them for the week again.

The plan for this half term was Abi off to Angie's for the week and Izzy mooching at home. Normally this means dropping off on a Sunday but everyone else was arriving Saturday so despite thinking we would have hardly seen her I agreed to do the same. Come yesterday lunchtime however it didn't go quite to plan. I asked her to go start packing and she didn't move. I asked again, then got frustrated with a "This is your week away, why should I have to make all the effort..." After saying this 4 or 5 times I shouted at her and stomped off (ever the adult when it comes to my own kids) and Abi burst into tears. I got even more frustrated and stomped around a bit more, only then to manage to stop and realise that it wasn't normal for her to be crying and reluctant to pack for a week's riding. I sat her down and we had a cuddle and asked if she wanted to go at all. All I got back was "I'm really tired Mummy, I don't think I want to spend a week getting up at 6:30am to spend all day wading around in muddy fields..." Fair point, can't blame her even if I am a bit miffed that we have paid a lot of money for her to do exactly that! So Sunday evening and she definitely has no desire to go this week. At least it hammers home the fact that a horse is a not a simple undertaking and you have to be prepared to get out and do it regardless of the weather.

Izzy on the other hand, not due to go anywhere, took herself off to Mia's (yes, Abi's classmate Mia) on Friday evening after school and finally cam home this afternoon! She had a lovely time but was clearly in need of a bit of me time when she got back - straight up to her room to slap on some make up (her favourite pastime), jump into bed and catch up on a bit of nail varnish hacks or whatever other rubbish she can find on You Tube.

All this is very different to last weekend where we had a wonderful time in Rome. Despite being a bit sceptical that a weekend focused on the rugby wasn't exactly a treat it was absolutely brilliant. We stayed in a great hotel, saw loads of sights and met up with friends. We walked miles on all 3 days and I absolutely loved it. I'd definitely go back again - I think we hardly scratched the surface of all the history there. It gets a bit overwhelming though - everywhere you look are more 1st century ruins / beautifully ornate Basilicas / world famous sites - its amazing that it was such a thriving city so long ago, only then to be deserted for years before being rediscovered. makes you wonder that such a strong city could fall - lesson for us all there.


The one thing I hope has sorted itself out when they go back to school are the troubles Izzy has been having with one particular 'friend'. One of the girls in her year group is flexing her muscles still and poor Izzy is caught up in it despite trying not to be. The girl in question wants Izzy to be completely loyal to her but Izzy wants to play with others, including Abi and the Year 6 girls. This has resulted in some snide comments, lots of intimidation and poor Izzy being in tears in more than one occasion. We've asked the teachers to keep an eye out and checked a number of times but now they've agreed it needs to be 'escalated', whatever that means. We will wait and see, I'm trying not to come over all Tiger Mother but it's hard when your child is upset.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Busy, busy, busy

Full English brunch for these two! Life is VERY busy and I don't feel like we have stopped for weeks (or is that months?) It seems like the 'to-do' list is endless and while I know we don't have to do it all at once, I have taken on the unenviable task of trying to get the Muppet to finish all the work he promised / we have paid for and that has been like pushing a mountain of water up a very steep hill. We've got to the point where I think we have got all of what we are likely to get and the rest we'd rather finish ourselves anyway. The electric gates are clearly a work of his imagination based on the gates / the electric cables he spec'd and the cheapo motor mechanism - there is no way they'll work so we have decided to not bother and source proper gates that do the job and look better as well. Knowing that we are almost at a point where we sever the ties feels very liberating. Looking back this last 6 months has been incredibly stressful and just didn...
Post a Comment
Read more

Bank Holiday sunshine

Off to meet FiFi and Grumps for a walk  (and yes, she is on the seat) Finally after weeks of rain and cold weather, the tide has turned and we have glorious sunshine for the bank holiday weekend and half term - hooray, it's about time.  Also just in time is half term as the kids were definitely ready for a break. They have both done brilliantly settling into the school, making new friends and finding their feet in an unfamiliar environment. Izzy has just had her exam week and felt it went OK given she hadn't covered all of the syllabus, and Abi's exams start as soon as she is back next week. I hope she's done some revision as she left for Devon with Claire, Adam and Mia today and isn't back until Saturday. There is talk of looking at some of her notes but who knows. My view is that a bit of R&R will probably be at least as beneficial if not more so than cramming all week so she should take the time to relax and have some fun - she deserves it. So we packed Abi o...
Post a Comment
Read more

Half term

Whatever happened to half term?? It seems to have disappeared in a flash, do doubt partly as I was working having had 3 days off the previous week for Kerrie and Ryan's wedding. The plan was to not have a plan - both girls have exam week coming up and so our major intent was for them to spend at least half an hour a day or so doing a bit of revision. This has sort of worked - we only had one day where I got an irate message from Glenn that Izzy knows 'absolutely nothing' about her maths... we'll see. With half term comes effort grades and if they genuinely know nothing, it's not for a lack of effort. Abi did really well, keeping up her average and getting a 6 (top grade) in French again. Izzy, who we always worry is apt to cruise if allowed, got the first 5.0 average grade we've seen from either of them and 3 6's in French, English and DT - well done Izzy! I tend to assume all the kids work hard but it seems not - according to Abi "all the boys always...
Post a Comment
Read more