I have three tired teens in my house at the moment. Thomas, because he is burning the candle at both ends; Lillie, because she is needing to work through some emotional stuff at the moment; and Charlotte because she is working nine hours a day, desperately trying not to get behind on her Latin. I am needing to be available at all times of the day (and night – why is it teens suddenly become very verbal at night time?!) I’m not sure there is anything to be done about it. Lil has to go through all her emotions to be able to come out the other side. Thomas is adult enough to put the brakes on himself (although I think Gary is going to have a word – just to point out the ridiculousness of his schedule at the moment). And Charlotte has to work this hard if she is going to meet the requirements of the school she wants to go to.
Lillie didn’t have any school work to do, so after unbraiding her hair and being delighted by the resulting curls:
she spent the morning with Granny, shopping:
What none of us realised was that she had been plotting away with the plan of buying Charlotte a few treats to cheer her up with, and to help her relax.
Charlotte had needed to stay behind to do her Latin, thereby missing out on spending some time with her Granny:
The littles also had a couple of bits and pieces to finish up – a maths test:
And some astronomy notes:
Afterwards, they played in the garden, swapping round the old Ab’s Labs to create a spying business (!):
They created a pathway:
And planted some ‘alien eggs’ in their flower bed, which will hopefully grow into some Nigella. Actually, I think that might be the other way around. They planted some Nigella seeds, which will hopefully grow into some alien eggs:
Gary and I want to grow some of our own vegetables this year, but the area we want to use in the garden has been over taken by brambles. Whilst we will be moving the brambles, his work had some humungous pots which he brought home for the very purpose of growing veg:
Aren’t they huge?!
When Lil got back from her shopping, she was positively glowing. She had had a wonderful time with her Granny, and had taken her out for coffee with the express goal of asking her lots and lots of questions about the Bible and things she was struggling with. I’m sure this one on one time was incredibly helpful to her in processing all those feelings.
Unbeknown to her twin, Lil had been plotting overnight that she would look out for some bits and pieces which would help her twin relax, and cheer her up a bit. She bought Charlotte a gorgeous bag, which she could use for school in September:
And she had filled it with all sorts of goodies, from make up to body spray to the last book in a series:
I’m not sure who was more excited, Lillie for gifting it, or Charlotte for receiving it:
And you’ll never guess what present she was most excited over? Yes, the book (of course!):
Hugs were most definitely the order of the day:
I am constantly bowled over by the kindness of my lovely children.
Thomas has the day at college, and will be home fairly late tonight. I snapped a quick photo of him playing his drums and swigging his morning home-made protein drink:
Gary took his Dad to his work where they have a selection of vintage cars:
Needless to say, much fun was had:
After lunch, the boys went to play a round of golf, whilst Granny sat and went through some cookery books with Abigail, who planned all sorts of treats for the coming week!
Tonight, I will be making a fry (y’know – bacon, eggs, sausages). Tom (father-in-law) and I have an ongoing battle over fries and custard. Not together. Although I’m thinking that might be the equivalent of killing two birds with one stone.
I’d like to say that there is an unspoken assumption that at some point during their stay I will endeavour to make a fry. That would be false however. There is nothing unspoken about it! Tom likes nothing better than to speak about me cooking him a fry. He teases me mercilessly until I give in to the pressure to cook him said fry and some custard (again, not together). I have determined this year to ignore him 😉 I figured he’d get fed up. But he’d been here for a very short amount of time (we are talking hours rather than days), and the fry cajoling had begun. I alerted him to my plan to ignore him, and did just that.
Last night, however, I dreamt of fries. In my dream I was doing an admirable job of balancing the eggs and the bacon and the sausages, and the beans and the potato bread and the tomatoes and the mushrooms and the soda bread…I woke in a sweat, exhausted at the very thought of so many components in one meal which needed to be cooked all at the same time, and on the table at the same time. Heather (mother in law) manages this as easily as she would if she were boiling an egg. I, unfortunately, do not. But they are here for a whole week and I do not want any more dreams of fries and custard. So I will do what any dutiful daughter-in-law would do and cook Tom his fry!
It’ll not be a good fry, although Heather and Tom are far too kind to comment! But it will have some resemblance to a fry. And by that I mean, it will have all the ingredients… whether they will all appear on the table at the same time, cooked and hot and ready to eat, only time will tell. But I’m thinking not. But it will be done. I will not need to be visited any more by the spirit of the fry tonight or any other night. I will have done its bidding and it can go and be the subject of someone else’s nightmares. I can’t say the same for the spirit of the custard though…