I seem to spend my life waiting for things to calm down. Waiting for the time when I’m going to do all the things I’ve been neglecting over the last few months. Waiting for the day I don’t have work to do or arrangements to stick to and I’ll catch up.

I’ll sort out the huge pile of clothes that’s staring at me from the bedroom. I’ll dig out the lovely things that have been hiding at the bottom of the pile for months. I’ll paint the children’s bedroom, buy them some bunk beds and make the room both functional and beautiful. I’ll finish cutting the hedge, put creosote on the posts under the decking and mow the back lawn.

But I just never have time. And here’s the thing – if I really wanted to, I could probably find the time. I could turn away work, stop blogging for a few days and we could have a quiet weekend where I didn’t spend time with the children, but caught up instead with all those things I need to get done.

But I don’t. Instead, we fill our weeks, days, hours and minutes. We have days out, spend time together as a family and make the most of every minute. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Soon, Libby will be starting school. Another year after that, Lia will be in nursery every afternoon. And my time will slowly but surely start to become my own again. I’ll have time to work and blog without staying up late at night, the garden will no longer be neglected and the huge pile of clothes that is staring at me will probably go in the bin and I’ll start again.

I’ll exercise, relax occasionally, maybe watch the television or a film without blogging or answering emails at the same time. I’ll read books, play the piano and the violin and I might even join a brass band again to play my trombone.

My time will come. I’ve had my years of freedom and I’ll have them again, but this time is for the children to be children. That’s why next week, instead of doing what we really should do and sorting things out here, we’ll be spending time at the beautiful Blairmore Farm in Scotland. We’ll be meeting up with my good friend (and incredible photographer) Mel, as well as other friends who will be joining us.

That’s also why today, we dropped everything and took the girls to Legoland. We’ve been meaning to go for ages and today seemed as good a day as any. Both girls had an absolutely amazing time and it was lovely that all the rides we went on were ones that Lia was tall enough for, and my husband was also able to go on them.

We took a picnic with us for lunch, because the girls always prefer that to buying food somewhere. Then after lunch, we bought some ice creams and sat down to watch a music show by the little lake. I just love this photo of them messing around together, and having a real giggle.

Our Thursday Photo #107