Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

This weekend we have mostly been visiting people - it seems like the end of the first week of half term (and my week off) has culminated in a social whirlwind. Obviously not all of this included all of us - it's rare it seems that we all arrive and leave somewhere together, but that's fine. The visits started on Friday with a trip to see friends Simon and Sarah. Their daughter Ismay was in the same class as Abi at St Gabriel's and hence it was a good chance for them all to catch up, particularly given the plans for the girls to go back there. The star of this show however was their pug puppy Bear who is a complete sweetie and mean't the kids have come home with every intent that our next dog (preferably next week) is a pug. They've even named this imaginary pet, despite us saying it's not happening - pets are on a 'one in, one out' basis from now on! From here on Saturday me and the girls packed our bags to head off to see Simon and Sharron this ...

So its half term yet again - the weeks pass more and more quickly, I can hardly keep up. This time we have 2 weeks at home, one of which I'm off for and the other the family will have to amuse themselves - cue digital babysitting I suspect! This weekend we ended up with both the girls having friends over on the Friday. While this was fine in principle,  I was conscious that both Glenn and I had plans for Saturday morning which meant leaving them on their own for a short while. Despite my fears that they would fight and create havoc I came home to the four of them lying in the sunshine on the front lawn chatting together happily. Turns out they are more sensible when left alone than when supervised.  This peace was in contrast to the night before when I took them all to Pizza Express and Abi was showing off in front off her friend. She wasn't being rude so much as just pushing me ever so slightly with every comment - it drives me to distraction! Today was a similar story....

Aghhhhh - after years of trying to get in on the ballot I got a text from Glenn on Thursday to say this had arrived!!!! Eek - just when I had made the decision that I was never going to do a marathon I'm in for London this year. Having had that "Will I, won't I" moment, I knew of course I'm going to give it a go - there was never any doubt. Last time I tried to do this (for Barcelona) my knee blew up when my training got to 16 miles, so this time I'm hoping that a combination of a 28 week programme, lots of strength from yoga and a sensible 3 day a week running plan will get me further. My goal is to get round without doing any damage - any time will be a PB after all. Fingers crossed!!! I ran 5  miles this afternoon easily so I'm starting from a much better base than many... wish me luck. This weekend was no less mad than last, however at least this time it's been full of activities centred around the house and so we haven't been racing around...

Arggh - what a busy weekend, I need a break before I go back to work! Friday was my somewhat dreaded Byte Night sleep out, something I have not been looking forward to. I'd done OK on the sponsorship but it was the thought of sleeping outside in a park in Reading that was filling me with cold shivers, not helped by the knowledge that I'd be bedding down with 11 of my work colleagues! The evening started with food and entertainment in the nearby church. Action for Children were hosting as the sponsoring charity and we hear lots of harrowing stories about why we were fundraising. It certainly brought home just how grim a situation some of these kids find themselves in - forced onto the streets through desperation and home lives that are a million miles away from ours. At 10pm the fun ended and we headed outside, armed with a groundsheet, a hat and a hoody. Reality kicked in as we went into the park to find a spot to bed down on - our only real decision being how far from the s...

Sunday evening, phone goes ping and it's one of the Mums in Izzy's class asking if anyone has the Latin prep for the test tomorrow. "What test?!?" I ask Izzy, "Have you learnt yours?" "Oh, I don't know where my sheet is" she says, like that's OK! So I duly print it out (thank goodness for someone having mentioned it) and within 2 mins she has run through it and is pretty much word perfect - I guess that's the verbal bias kicking in then. Abi also has a test on Tuesday - science - and also seems not to know where her sheet is to revise. Why do neither of my children see the need to bring these things home - it's not for want of us telling them how important it is! This weekend Abi has been off hunting at Angies and so Glenn whisked her out of school on Friday a bit early (missing games not science) and so as to miss the traffic. They've developed a bit of a routine for this - Glenn now takes her on the back of the bike and ...

 It's raining, what else do you do but go outside! Just when you think you have it all squared away, some new piece of information or event comes along and throws up everything into the air. This week it was the next school debate being re-opened for all the wrong reasons. Abi has been now for a few weeks saying she doesn't want to go to a boarding school. It's not so much the boarding aspect, but the fact that boarding schools are 6 days a week and quite frankly she has no desire to spend 6 days a week in school when there is an option to only be there for 5. It's also not that she doesn't like school it's just that she values her time away from the classroom and has other things she loves to do over and above team sports. I've been quite clear, if it's not Pangbourne College (which I thought we had all agreed on) then it's back to St Gabriels - the only sensible day school choice for us. That would mean going back to an all girls school, but...

Ah, this is not uncommon these days - leave my phone for a few minutes and someone has nicked it and taken a variety of selfies! I'm not sure what the joy of a selfie is really, but that might be because I no longer have perfect skin and a perfect smile. Actually I don't mind, I love coming across these little moments of happiness and as long as its only 3 rather than 300 photos I can live with it. This week has potentially been one of cross roads. I've been meeting a few people with a view to taking on new roles or responsibilities and so I've been very focused on trying to be the best I can be, at least while under interview conditions! It's also meant that I've felt quite a lot of pressure so the bits of light hearted relief we have managed to get in  between has been just what I needed. On Monday this included a quick trip to Somerset to see Mum and Dad in the new house and allow Glenn to top up the chutney stores. We had to laugh on arriving to find th...