Starting to feel a tad festive!

The big push towards a family Christmas break is on as the Hammond's could only be described as a bit 2021 battle weary. Me, I've got a huge amount to get through to get to that point, wrap up work so that I can breath and spend time with Amy and the girls. I'm acutely worried with new Covid variant and winter pressures looming darkly on the horizon that I will not get this time with them over Christmas or time to relax either, which is greatly needed. The pandemic has taken complete control away from me in an attempt to find a work life balance. Some days the only thing that keeps me going is my coffee! The attached picture is definitely my virtual Christmas card this year! A lovely afternoon spent yesterday getting the house festive with Anna, under the watchful and authoritative eye of Mrs Hammond. Her constructive guidance and mentorship meant we got through it calmly and without incident😆 It does look sparkly and some of her ideas do look good. She creates and we implement! Big push ladies. Two more weeks of school and three more weeks of work for me. We can do this and find a bit of festive sparkle at the end of it! 

Back on it!

Lucy is back up and running and resiliently working through her mock GCSE's. Really proud of her in the manner she's picked herself up after feeling pants with Covid and in a focused, driven manner approached her exams positively. Can't have been easy and yet another disruptive outcome of the pandemic for my girls to overcome and recover from. This may not be one of the most distressing things that has happened as a result of the last few years, but very important to Lucy, her well being and building herself a future. I attach a picture of the back of her head, as this was all she gave me consent to take! 😆 A woman is blossoming in front of my eyes and it's hard to believe. Another week of exams for her to get through and then we are on the run in to Christmas! We have all downloaded our Christmas album onto iTunes and the singing has already begun! Keep going Lucy and week two will go well xx

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 💕

New level, tougher challenges....

Anna is definitely experiencing a different standard of football in the JPL this season, but I think she is relishing it and already starting to shine. She is extremely studious, reflective, trains hard and is fearless in the games. She is part of a newly formed team that is taking it's time to gel with a tough pre season full of freak injuries and some hard opponents. She is loving it and desperate to prove herself. Their first league game on Saturday was a harsh footballing lesson with a 7-2 loss to an established Coventry side with bags of skill and energy. I can already see improvement in Anna in training with these boys who are really good, they just need to learn to play as a team in the coming months. She is growing in confidence and making some friends too, which always is a good sign she feels comfortable in the space she's in. Keep up the hard work Anna and that first win will come 😊

Schools out for summer...

Such enthusiasm in the Hammond house for the joy of learning and progression. The summer holidays that never really were have finished and the girls and Amy trudge back to school and work respectively. It's twenty eight degrees and the sun is finally shining!!  Lucy looks a bit more up for it than Anna as she enters her last year of school and her GCSE year. Dear god where did that time go! They look so smart and well presented, befitting of a photo proudly displayed on social media like the doting parents we are! 😆 I have one wish for them both and that's an uninterrupted school year, where they can learn, get out of house, spend time with friends and rebuild. By the looks of those strained smiles in the photo, I'm not sure they feel the same. Go get them girls, the world is your Oyster! 

Where did that holiday go...

After our brush with Covid and period of isolation we all started to try and get into the summer holiday groove, have a break and enjoy the sunshine. Thankfully Amy and Anna are now both well. August decided we would have to do without the sunshine and in my case, work and circumstances decided I would have to do without some of my much needed break. 'm back at work now and that opportunity to rest has gone. The girls are having a strange summer with the after affects of Covid still lingering and not getting out much. Habits formed in this challenging year are not yet being broken. Both have had such difficult years and the need to flop, chill and watch Netflix seems to be the overriding mission at the moment. Anna has returned to playing footy, but Lucy has not yet found her stride. I'm worried that we have to try and change this and get her out of the house doing! Lots of talk with Lucy about exams, sixth form college and prospective A-levels fills me with joy and slight anxiety as to how old I am getting! We feel a bit stuck as a family at the moment and not in that much of a hurry to embrace the summer and what's left of it. The Hammond's seem to be experiencing a massive Covid hangover! So to force the issue and build up family life in the next year, a dream holiday to Italy has been booked. 'Carpe Diem' and something very much to look forward to. I've been struggling to recover from the last year and stuck in a rut, but my focus must be to support my kids first and foremost. My problem is, I can barely work it out for myself, let alone my kids! I will think on and try to help them, Who would have thought a year or so ago that overcoming the impact a pandemic has on our children would be a parental challenge we needed to overcome...