Skip to main content

Happy birthday Abi!



My little girl, looking so grown up
And so we are there, Abi is 13 and so we officially have a teenager in the house! Of course, it's no different than the day before, albeit she has had her moments over the past few days - nothing like picking a fight with a relative when you are feeling a bit feisty - and then leaving your mother to clear up the aftermath...

On the day itself she had a lovely day. Pressies in the morning before school which she was very pleased with. A jumper she'd admired the week before, the picture which I'd ordered months ago, carefully hidden and then after 2 weeks of searching finally found, some new PJs and cash towards the phone she keeps saying she's going to buy but hasn't quite saved up enough for yet. It was then off to school where she was spoilt by her friends with some lovely gifts before finding out at assembly she shares a birthday with the headmaster - result (not!). I picked her and three friends up from school and then took them into town where they had a hour or so browsing the shops before we met Glenn, Izzy and one of her friends for a meal at Pizza Express. I got top parent marks for a) booking them a separate table and then leaving them to it and b) allowing them to have the music blasting in the car, with them all singing at the tops of their voices, while I dropped everyone home. I had to laugh when one of them very sweetly asked if I minded if they sang the swear words. Given it was a special evening I said yes - maximum parent brownies points!
Abi showing me how to be a human speaker!

This weekend has been the normal whirlwind of activity. Yesterday I had the luxury of a 3 hour yoga workshop which went past lunchtime so Glenn took Izzy motorbiking while Abi decided instead to arrange to go to the cinema with a friend. Another sign of her growing independence, she had all the times and details worked out - I was just required to buy the tickets and drop her off. Typical - I've suggested the cinema loads of times and always get a 'no' - when one of them finally decide they quite enjoy a trip to the pictures I'm no longer cool enough to go with!

Despite not being cool enough out of the house, both girls at the moment are very loving once we are behind closed doors. Having lost a close friend to cancer in the last few weeks, Abi in particular is very conscious of what it means to have her Mum when others aren't so fortunate. She said to me yesterday that she was sad at the thought that one day we may not live close to each other and she won't see me every day. As I said to her - it's worth remember how lucky we are even when we might be bickering in the way all families do.

The final note is a 'watch this space'. Both kids are angling for more (MORE!) pets - this time reptiles. I said to them today that if they show me they are sufficiently responsible by keeping their bedrooms tidy every day until Christmas, I'll consider it. By some miracle they both immediately went off and within an hour their rooms were spotless (hoovered and everything), and they promise me they won't let it slide. We will see. Abi of course then tonight tried to persuade me that in reality I should trust that they will keep their rooms tidy and buy now... no chance!

Image may contain: one or more people, baby, close-up and text




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

Decluttering

Girls buying baby clothes - this could get addictive! It's Easter weekend already and we still haven't completed!! However we have made some progress, most importantly with the paperwork which has not been Steve the Builder's forte throughout this process. Stags finally got their act together and got in touch with the planning office and got an update from the Planning Officer. Apparently she is broadly happy with the application, and is prepared to pass it with only a few minor modifications which we are completely comfortable with. The Building Control Officer also came and did all of what he needed to, which means the final certificate should be issued which allows the warranty to also be issued. On our side we finally tracked down the paperwork (or more correctly got the BC Officer to come out again and do a second assessment) for the outstanding BCC on our windows (which went in 6 years ago but due to an admin error were never registered) - nothing is straightforward i...
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