Thursday photo #303

Sending the children back to school at the end of the holidays feels a bit like doing the long jump. After spending ages milling around, Monday mornings are the run up before take off. We always end up sprinting up the runway, combining our long jump with a trolley dash. Grabbing things from cupboards, finding lost water bottles or books and shoving things in bags as we sprint off ready for take off. I drop the girls off by pulling up outside the school. They leap out and run in, inevitably just before the gates close. And we’re back into our routine as if half term had never happened.

Staying put

I bought our current house 17 years ago and never really intended to keep it. I was on my own and it was much too big for me, but it had a large garden that would make an ideal building plot. I’d get planning permission and sell that, then start looking for somewhere else to live. Some of that went to plan. I got planning permission, sold the plot and somebody built a lovely house on it. I even put this house on the market a couple of times but ended up taking it off.

I moved out for a while. Then we moved back in when I had Libby. When it came to school choices, I knew I didn’t want her to go to the local school, so we’d move. But life got in the way and we never got around to it. So, she went to a different school, and I drove her there. Then Lia started and it made total sense to move closer to school. But we didn’t.

And time has passed, things have changed and now, we’re realising that moving would be a bad idea. We’re in a nice area with lovely neighbours. The house is big enough for now and there’s plenty of space to extend when we need to. More importantly, we’ll be starting to look at high schools in a few years and there’s a good high school walking distance from here. It seems strange to be making this place home after 17 years of seeing it as temporary. But I think it’s finally the right place for us to be.

Part of the family

Unusually for us, we didn’t go far at half term. My husband was on a course so our usual jaunts in the camper van didn’t happen. Instead, we did a lot near to home. Swimming at our local pool several times, horse riding for the girls and persevering with our Hogwarts Express jigsaw.

In previous school holidays, the cat has hated the girls being home. He likes to spend his nights sitting on a windowsill watching the world go by. So by morning, he’s ready to find somewhere quiet to curl up for a cat nap. This time though, perhaps the children are a little calmer or perhaps he’s getting used to them. Either way, he has been a lot more keen to be around us all, and even join in with what we’re doing.

Thursday photo #303

The girls love it when I point a camera at them. It’s an opportunity to pull every silly face under the sun.