Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

It doesn't seem to matter how long (or short) the term is, by the time you get to the holidays everyone is limping to the finish. We are no different, with the slight exception that this time we were also winding up to Glenn heading out to Spain for a few days 'pre-season testing'. This is not a holiday you understand, despite the warm weather, beer and motorbikes, it's a crucial part of a race season! So with him heading off on the Thursday evening and the girls finishing school on Friday lunchtime, I decided to take Friday off and make a long week of it. Sort of worked although I've remembered that one of the downsides of practice versus corporate life is the lack of clear accountability / delegations. In BP when I went on leave I handed my delegations to my colleague and as long as everything in train was in hand, all would be fine. Here I'm back to the strange matrix world of a highly competitive partnership where it's very hard to switch off, and the ...

Phew, just 1 week to go and then the kids get to break up for Easter and I get to collapse in a heap having had a run over the last 4 weeks of a couple of big work projects which have kept me just a bit busy. I can't wait - not only do I have a week off but with the Easter weekend tagged on it has the added bonus of a short week to follow!! I saw a lovely cartoon last week which sums up why holidays are an added bonus. It showed 2 little kids and one is saying to the over "do you know, I think Mummy likes it even more than me when we don't have homework..." That's certainly true on a Sunday evening in our house. Monday to Thursday Glenn is super-diligent at getting Abi to do her homework as she comes through the door. Of course this doesn't happen on a Friday which means we end up doing it after a busy weekend on a Sunday - too late! The face above is a very common expression while we stagger through whatever has been set with tears and challenges. Why whe...

How lovely is a few hours of sunshine on your face, particulary when its the first rays of Spring beckoning. This weekend has been exactly this, and both days this weekend we have been out in the garden making the most of the fact that Spring is in the air. Bertie and Scooby are also enjoying the fresh air and freedom and have been roaring around the garden having a great time. I'm reconciling myself to the fact that Bertie has a little more learning to do in the category of muddy paws in the kitchen... Oh, and the fact that my garden is covered in sticks as Scooby introduces Bertie to the great pleasure that is 'chewing a stick and leaving the debris everywhere'. Hmmm. On the plus side while Scooby has never willingly shared his ball with any of us, if Bertie bounces up and asks for it he gives it to him - how can than be?!? This week has been world book day and every parent of primary school aged children has had to drum up a costume appropriate for their selected cat...

This week has mainly been one of everyone asking the question "has Bertie been out?", with the odd scream from one of the girls "Er, Bertie's done a wee". In truth, it's not been too bad. We've only had one major disaster when Glenn forgot to state the obvious to the cleaner - the large cage like thing in the kitchen that wasn't there before the puppy arrived - yep, puppy needs to go in that before you happily leave knowing you've cleaned the house from top to bottom. If you forget, then we get home to devestation, after all, when left alone of course you'll check out what's at the top of those stairs everyone keeps disappearing to. And when you get caught short, where better than our bedroom floor and the spare room bed??? Thank goodness Glenn got home first and all I had to listen to how bad it had been.... In fact Bertie is already a fully signed up member of Team Drinkwater. He has slotted right in and is a lovely dog, even Scooby...

Half term madness - we have a new puppy! We've been talking for a while about when is the right time to have a puppy, do we wait until Scooby is much older,  what type of dog etc etc. Against this discussion we have the girls asking, begging for another dog. Why we need more than one I don't know but there we go. The one thing I was absolutely clear on was we were not having another boxer, definitely not a male and preferably a smaller breed. So, welcome to Bertie, a 5 month old male boxer with enormous paws. He is such a cutie - very chilled out and very much part of the family already. We found him on a website just by chance - I'd decided maybe an older puppy would be best (the only criteria I stuck to!) and just as I was looking up he popped, just put on by a breeder in Wiltshire who had been raising 2 puppies and decided the other was more suitable to continue with so Bertie was for sale. We met her husband at her daughter's house in Devises where 2 other boxers ...

Isn't it typical, you wait all winter for snow, and it arrives on a day when the girls have to go to school, and I have to get to an appointment in Basingstoke which I don't really want to change. We woke on Tuesday morning to a perfect winter wonderland. The garden looked pristine covered in an almost decent 2" of snow. I took Scooby for a walk as the 5am early morning moonlight glinted off the snow and it was just lovely. Of course by midday day the slush had taken over and that was that. In fact I drove (slid) to Basingstoke, parked in an ice rink / car park, watched a bloke get out of his car and promptly fall over, then went to London. By the time we arrived in Waterloo there was no sign of snow and I could have dreamt the whole thing. The girls definitely tried to make the most of it, building the smallest snowman (blob) in the world, but it just wasn't enough to really get excited. Maybe we will go skiing next year... One more week and then it's half ter...

It's always worth wishing for something. If you keep hoping for it, maybe your dreams will come true. Abi has had her eye on a road bike for about the last 2 years, ever since we saw one in Decathlon on our way to France. Back then it was too big for her, she could just about ride it but there was no way she'd be safe, so we said no. Every so often we've seen a bike and she's asked again, but the answer has been the same - not until you're big enough. Finally last weekend Glenn spotted a bike in the local shop and took her to try it and it fits!! Cue a beautiful bedtime letter setting out just how much she loves us, and a wish list which included her much sought after road bike. The wish list worrying also included the following.... - a Great Dane - some more dogs - a brother (baby) - a road bike - a new dog lead for Scooby Clearly we are not having a baby brother or 4 more dogs (particularly a Great Dane), so she had a good chance of the bike in reality. S...