Excitement, elation and then sadness with a touch of dismay...

Mrs Hammond reached the ripe old age of forty five and the girls have given her more grace with the onset of elderly juice 😆 Along with her gammy knee, we headed off to Watford to the Warner Brother studios at the weekend as a family to celebrate the collective birthdays of our girls. We had a wonderful weekend and just what a Harry Potter super fan needed after so much disappointment in the last year or so because of the pandemic. Although now sixteen, Lucy was like a big kid in a sweet shop and the smile on her face when she saw the new exhibits in the Gringotts bank, the forbidden Forrest and many other Potter delights was a privilege to witness and one I will not forget. She grinned from ear to ear. It was really lovely to do something 'normal' as a family and a weekend full of memories. Sadly when we got home, Lucy bubble burst quite dramatically as she tested positive for Covid, feels pants and is now in a period of ten days isolation. Gutted for her does not describe how angry I feel. However, she has been very anxious about getting the virus and it is mine and Amy's hope that this will rebuild her confidence and she can move forward after her recovery. Happy birthday to both my crock birthday girls and wishing you both a quick recovery with love x

I'm not truly sure how that happened!

Time seems to pass so quickly. I find it incredulous that Lucy was sixteen a couple of days ago. She is growing into a woman before my eyes every day and I simply can't keep up. I love the tenacity, insight, caring nature, argumentative and inquisitive traits that are emerging in her personality day by day. She is always questioning things and working out a good sense of right and wrong. There are days where she is more like a union rep, but I want to encourage this. There is talk of her wanting to become a lawyer and I believe she has the intelligence, social understanding and open thinking to possibly achieve this dream developing in her. A quiet sixteenth birthday shopping and having lunch in Norwich with just us as a family. I think she really enjoyed herself and next weekend is the big event, in a trip to Harry Potter Studios. Her levels of excitement are building and I love the element of being a child she still holds and she does not seem in too much of a hurry to grow up, unless we are talking about her next piercing or her first tattoo she's planning at age eighteen! Both Amy and I are so proud of her, her hard work and the woman she is becoming. Happy Birthday Looby Chick! Loved, despite your high levels of sarcasm xx 💕