What a whopper!

A bracing Sunday walk on West Runton beach brought Lucy the most fantastic of rewards - she is the first Hammond or person I have ever known in fact to find a whole Belemnite fossil embedded in a large flint. The downside was supporting her to carry it all the way to Cromer. My past is definitely coming back to haunt me after all those times I made Grandma carry rocks and fossils for years all over the country on family holidays! Well chuffed Lucy. Anna seems to be calming down in the last week and we have much less argumentative behaviour under very clear boundaries. I do not want to tempt fate but she might be getting it! She said something wonderful to Amy a couple of days ago that showed her lovely caring nature. 'Mum if something happens to you - I will give you imagination hugs'. Nothing is wrong with Mrs Hammond thankfully, so I am not sure where that level of insight and emotion came from, but you have got to love our Anna! 

Growing up does not always take a smooth path...

I breath a deep parental sigh as I write this. We have a very argumentative and confrontational Anna on our hands at the moment and I am just a little battle weary. She is once again going through a phase where she is trying to assert herself, but does not listen to things she is asked to do and is determined to do her own thing. Every night we have had the same conflict and every night she is not learning her lesson. What to do with a confrontational Anna? I am exasperated, baffled and at a complete loss at what to do. On the other hand, one of the comedy side effects of both girls growing up so fast is they are becoming body aware and everything is about comedy boobies, bottoms and bodily functions and they find all related to this worth a giggle and they are right! As demonstrated by the picture to the left! I will calm down and have another chat with Anna tomorrow night when I get home and see whether we can iron this out. I am not trying to encourage her to be an ever compliant and robotically obedient person, I want her to have free will and control, but I just need her to meet me half way on occasion and bloody listen to her father!

Celebrating Mrs Hammond's non birthday birthday!

Today is Mrs Hammond's actual birthday, but due to work commitments and a reluctant protagonist we celebrated Amy's birthday yesterday and I think we struck gold! Presents were a success, a wonderful roast dinner at Kate's and a potter around Norwich with Libby and the girls. Understated as Amy likes things. Next year we have to pull out all the stops for the big forty though! I learned two marital lessons today that will stand me in good stead for future engagements - a gag such as 'blow Mrs Hammond!' as your wife goes to blow out her candles always brings out a beautiful smile and when buying your wife a bracelet (helping Lucy) make sure you do not infer her wrist is the same size as yours. Not advisable in any circumstances! Happy birthday Amy and see you when you're forty! xx

Greetings from planet ten!

Today my baby girl turned the ripe old age of ten, I have to accept she is not so much my baby anymore, in fact she gets more and more grown up each day. I, on the other hand feel very tired and old today as Lucy and her friends woke us up at 4.20am. By 6am they were in the kitchen making dodgy chocolate pancake mix without the eggs! (Amy tells me this is the setting agent in the recipe and quite important - shows how useless I am!) Anyway back to the birthday girl - I think she has had a great day and she loved her presents and was appreciative and thankful as ever. I was quite happy as we bought her lots of Sylvanian families and Shopkins goodies and this calms me quite a bit, as it shows me she is not in that much of a hurry to grow up. Remember Lucy - enjoy your childhood. Now you are in double figures it is all down hill! Happy birthday darling. You are very much loved. Amy and I were remembering today that long, worrying, emotional, amazing, painful for Amy and exhausting day you came into our lives and changed it forever. xx 

A budding entrepeneur in the making....

She may have the face of an innocent child and despite her young years, Anna is actually a very shrewd operator and at times displays the life skills and knowledge of playing the game of that of an adult. This week, via a fellow parent, we discovered that Anna had been selling her small car boot bargains for a profit to her friends at school. Quite the entrepreneur! She definitely knows what she is doing that one! Amy and I strained, frowned and tried to look very stern as we collectively told her off and imparted our parental wisdom with a big push to ensure she adheres to the school rules and etiquette, but after she had gone upstairs found it very difficult to contain our giggles and laughter.  Whilst she has done the wrong thing, you can't but help being slightly proud of her ingenuity, cunning and intelligence to get that far. She is a maverick and we are going to have to watch her closely in the future! It does bring back memories of her hoarding the five pence collection under her bed when she was two! (Proud but trying to be cross father this week!)

If I had a big brother like you....

Time has definitely laid down a marker this weekend and shown me how much and how quickly the girls are growing up. Pictured right, several years ago, is the girls and their lovely Ben. Nine years or so ago, when we first moved into our house he was a small boy just a bit older than Lucy; now he is a strapping and hairy lad who went to University (Cambridge no less) on Saturday! Very proud of our friend and neighbour Libby and the amazing job she has done with him. The girls adore him and there were many tears on Friday evening from Anna. Beware Ben - she has your e-mail address and is not afraid to use it - you may need to mark it as spam by the middle of your first term! He is fabulous and so very patient with the girls and they love him like their big brother. So good luck Mr Johnson, work hard and have a great time! Keep an eye out for the family Hammond and a possible surprise visit to Cambridge with the expressed focus of embarrassing you!

The food and fresh air combo!

Once again the Norfolk weather has not disappointed with stunning September blue skies and unseasonably warm temperatures. So we took advantage of this and headed to Wells for some scooting, ice cream and crabbing (no crabs caught again!). I know - we always go to Wells, but us Hammonds like what we like and food and fresh air are usually top of the agenda! It has been a lovely family day and so very relaxing. I walked along with Lucy and could not miss the opportunity to tell her how fortunate we are to live in such a beautiful place. Topped off with a cup of tea in Grandma's garden and a delicious roast dinner on Libby's slabbage. This weekend has brought the arrival of a family favourite in 'Strictly Come Dancing' - Anna entertaining us with one of her most sarcastic comments ever when a more mature contestant was revealed she simply lay back, smiled and said 'Good luck with that one mate!' to the professional dancer! Above, please find recorded for posterity, some of the coolest homework I have ever seen - a Lego Stonehenge that Lucy and Amy put together last week. Sheer genius!