Abi & Izzy - the next 5 years

Izzy making the most of a trip to Dun Elm - I've clearly created a home furnishing monster! Ah, what a treat it is to have some slow time to catch up and not have to rush around quite so much as usual. Obviously when I planned these 2 weeks off I was assuming that i would be spending much of the time with the kids and Glenn, but it seems they have other ideas! While Glenn has been about of course the kids have their own plans. Abi has obviously been at Angie's - where else would she be after all - and Izzy seems to flit in and out, sometimes here, sometimes not. As a result of this I have quickly adjusted and had a lovely week, pottering around with lots of long dog walks, tea and cake with local friends, extra yoga classes and enough other stuff to fill my time very nicely. If I had to say now what I had done and when I wouldn't have a clue, but looking back the week passed very pleasantly and I'm feeling pretty relaxed. On Friday it was my turn to do the run t...

Izzy & Ben from last weekend's Battle Proms - they made it into the paper! Finally I've made it to the end of the week and I now have 2 weeks off - yippee! The last week managed to be both rammed with work while also dragging along, knowing that I was going to be out of the office in short order. I am finding it a bit difficult given it's the summer holidays so all routine has disappeared, and even my yoga classes are not as regularly scheduled as normal so I'm having to accept whatever is available rather than my normal classes which I've become so addicted to. Add to this the ever present question of what will happen with my job (should I or shouldn't I or more importantly, will they or won't they), and I'm basically all over the place. Regardless of how I'm feeling, it's quite clear what makes the girls happy. Abi is absolutely loving her time working at Angie's, with the only downside the transition of coming home and having to ...

And so the holidays continue, and so my children are ever more absent. Abi has obviously been at Angie's for what seems like forever, and even Izzy has been in and out and then this weekend took a leaf out of her sister's books and disappeared as well - I'm getting a good sense of what it will be like in a few years and I don't think I'm ready! So despite my complaining, Abi did make it home (briefly) this weekend, with lots of stories of her 10 days away to regale / fill me with horror in equal measures. We've hardly heard from her while she has been away, mainly as she has been with Grace and when the two of them are together they clearly need no-one else. Both Angie and Russell were at pains to say to me just how proud I should be of her though - apparently the two of them have worked tirelessly and without complaint. They have been up first thing, getting on with he jobs they needed to do, anticipating additional work needed and getting it done before wi...

Trying not to peak too early on the stationery shop! Poor Izzy. Much as she likes the fact that she can sleep in, if push came to shove, she would give this luxury up to be back in school. It's not the lessons she is missing but the on-tap social opportunity. Although she has been busy almost every day, she prefers the fact that at school she gets to see everyone and doesn't have to make those tricky choices of who to spend time with today. I think deep down she's also prefer to be in her own bed (this is the girl after all who on coming home from holiday, went straight upstairs and 'had a moment' saying hello to her bed after 6 nights away!), and of course the holidays offers lots of sleep overs which she can never say no to then regrets when she gets back knackered! It's fair to say that she is also missing Abi who is having such a good time at Angie's (and missing us so little), didn't make it home this weekend. We knew right from Monday that th...

What a lovely week off I've had, it's been super relaxing and everything I could have hoped for. Cornwall turned out to be the perfect choice for a week away - not too far to travel, brilliant weather all week, lots of time to kick back and relax with enough things to do such that no-one got bored (well, apart from Glenn who always gets a bit tetchy after more than 3 nights away from his own bed!). We each choose something to do while there - I went for the Eden Project (which we did at breakneck speed as although everyone committed to come with me, apparently there was nothing in the agreement about how long we needed to stay there!). Despite this I saw some beautiful flowers and almost got to read a sign or two. Izzy chose the Aqua Park which was brilliant fun as ever and much cleaner than the Reading one near us which is full of duck poo. Abi's choice was to hire kayaks but in the end opted for snorkeling and swimming in the sea which meant I had to brave the col...

After what seems like a long time coming we have a week away - hooray! This couldn’t have come quickly enough. Abi’s last few days at Thorngrove have been overshadowed by the whole Freda thing, and I had got to the point where I just wanted term to end with no more incidents. As it turned out this was too much to ask for. On Monday, despite assurances that Freda would be chaperoned while in school she took it upon herself to wipe bird mess on Abi’s jumper at morning break before storming off shouting about how mean Abi is to her. Abi had concluded that it was pointless saying anything - after all, everything she had said hadn’t in her eyes resulted in any improvement - so waited until she got home to tell me. I got a call from her while on the train when she broke down in tears again. Poor thing, as she said, she just wanted her last few days at school not to be ruined. This  time I kicked up a much bigger fuss and wrote to the Headmaster to complain. Not the first time but def...

Scrunchy Queen! How quickly time passes and I have gone from wondering in years past how we will fill the long summer holidays to wondering whether I will actually see the kids. This weekend Abi has been down at Angies and rather than me paying for her to be there, she was working and got paid for her efforts. That wasn't the original plan, but the weather was scorchio and so she ended up doing very little actual riding and much more grafting around the stables. She was up at 5.15am both mornings (without complaint) to do the early feeds, turnouts and boxes by which time it was too hot to go out. This has obviously cemented the idea that was posed a few weeks ago that she would spend much of the summer there, working from Monday to Friday and home for the weekends, getting paid. We will no doubt get her home at the weekends tired and smelly but feeling a sense of achievement I hope. In true horse people form we don't actually know what she will be paid. I have told her we...