Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Where on earth is this year going? Suddenly it's a month until Christmas, the kids have less than 3 weeks left at school and I'm starting to panic that having got this new job I'll be a bit rubbish at it and why did they think I'd be any good anyway?! Luckily this last one I know is just me having a perfectly normal crisis of confidence - everybody I work with now has said how much they'll miss me and that I will be fab in my new role so I should take confidence in that. It's been so long since I've had to actually work a notice period that I'd forgotten that the more time between accepting and starting there is, the more scope for doubt to creep in. It helps that pretty much every day something happens at work to remind me why I made this decision in the first place - lucky me I only have to endure 3 months not 12!  Thursday was a really long day for me - on the train at 7am and then a full day followed by a retirement do which meant I didn't ge...

We are currently experiencing the extremes of pre-teen sisters with the girls either absolutely loving each other or barely tolerating each other. To be fair there's probably more in between the extremes than I've cared to notice because mostly it seems to be all one way or another. Last weekend Abj was off at Angie's, supposedly her birthday weekend but once again they'd forgotten she was coming, and so Izzy had us to herself. She made the most of this by inviting her friend Jessie over for Friday night where I'm embarrassed to say while I ran 5 miles on the treadmill they made themselves a snack of 2 jam donoughts, a packet of cheese quavers and a handful of haribo... I just hope she didn't mention how great the food is at our house! They then slept outside in the pod, something Izzy has been itching to do but needed a friend brave enough to do it with her! Sunday was 'long' run day - actually I'm nowhere near a long run yet doing just less t...

These days if there is ever any doubt about where the kids are, you can almost guarantee they'll be in their beds. They seems to spend at least half their waking leisure time back in bed, lounging. At least the new beds weren't a waste of money! I was reflecting that you spend the first few years of their lives wishing they'd spend more time in bed, then suddenly you can't get them out of them - I suppose this is the easier end of the deal (as long as it doesn't drive us nuts - need to work on that one!). The bedroom thing is partly that it's their space, and partly that they seem to live online like many kids these days. This isn't just YouTube and the like, it's the ever more constant FaceTime with their friends. We hear talking and go upstairs to find one or both of them chatting away to one or more friends. This is the future - and at least they are talking to people they know. On that note I was very pleased to find Kerrie saying she stalks th...

An old one to remind myself how cute they were! Sunday evening, back to school after half term and the normal shouting match ensues as we ask where all Abi's kit is and she shrugs and says "it's not my fault..." There are a number of aspects that drive us nuts here - first that her immediate response is denial and abdication of all responsibility, the second that she genuinely doesn't care and the third that it still doesn't help is with where her (mostly new) sports kit is! While this is going on we have Izzy sorting her kit out while weeping quietly because she has decided (18 months after we said goodbye to him) that she misses Scooby! We decided it was just easier to suggest everyone gets an early night and packed them off to their rooms - there really isn't an answer for some of this I think! This week has been a mix of school testing - the kids went of to St Gabriel's for their tests on Wednesday, Abi riding, Izzy doing her gym practice and...