Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Phew, what a scorcher. It's has been wall to wall sunshine for what seems like forever, so much so that we don't even bother to check the forecast anymore, we just assume that it will be bright and sunny from 10am onwards. This is all very well but it's causing travel chaos for me. I've had to go into London 3 days this week and every day there has been a problem. There are speed restruictions from 11am onwards due to hot rails, there have been signalling problems and even trains on fire. We really don't do hot weather do we? Everything has slowed down and the dogs have taken to lying around in whatever shade they can find, waiting for the point in the afternoon where someone takes them to the woods. I took them earlier in the week and Bertie disappeared, shortly followed by a loud splash. I ran to check,thinking OMG, he's fallen in, on to find him up to his chin in the deepest part of the stream, tongue lolling out and a definite grin on his face! While...

Home alone, it's ever so quiet and I'm not sure I like it... and it's only day 1! We packed Glenn off to France on Friday at the crack of dawn, with him promising to stop regularly to make sure all the driving didn't get to him given he was doing it on his own. In the afternoon the girls and I went to the school fete (as I think I've already said, all pretence of them working at school seems to have gone out of the window already). I say we went together - as is the way these days I turned up, handed them some money and they disappeared for the whole afternoon while I chatted to various people. It's not a bad arrangement, certainly an improvement on the clingy child syndrome of the past. As is also the way Abi walked home with a friend before the end and Izzy didn't come home at all, preferring instead to go home with Amber. The plan was not for a sleep over but when I rang at 9:30pm to say she needed to be home in 15 mins or the doors would be locked,...

Blink and the week is flying by - it's Tuesday evening already and I didn't manage to write the blog on Sunday and now it's getting away from me!! This weekend ended up mostly being about Izzy and a trip to Somerset. We had planned ages ago to go down for the Bovey Tracey Craft Fair. Mum and Dad went last year and had reported back to say it was well worth the trip so despite having a very busy week and having to be in London on Friday morning, I picked Izzy up from school at 4pm and we set off, safe in the knowledge that a Friday evening drive to Somerset at this time of the year is never straight forward. In reality it wasn't that bad, taking 2 and a half hours, made much easier by the fact we quickly tuned into a talking book which was a great way to pass the journey. You might wonder where Abi was - she rarely turns down a trip to Somerset. Basically I had made it very clear this trip wasn't about anybody but me and anyone coming along was going to do what...

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...