• Lying on the sofa bed in our living room. We had given up our room as my parents were staying for the weekend.
• Waking up as Jesse ambled in, followed closely by my mum.
• Sipping tea and trying to clear my head.
• Accompanying mum to the walk-in centre. She arrived full of cold on Friday afternoon and was feeling pretty awful by the time she woke up. She’s a nurse herself and never gets ill, or rather she never complains when she is, so the fact she wanted someone to check her over had me a little worried.
• Heading home for breakfast when they advised her that the best thing she could do was take it easy.
• Deciding a lazy day was the best possible course of action, considering how rotten my mum felt and the fact it was raining heavily.
• Slipping back into my brand new pyjamas. I do love Next for nightwear.
• Serving up brunch. Pancakes and crispy bacon with lashings of maple syrup is always a good idea.
• Lounging around, chatting and reading, while the children watched Brave.
• Warming some soup for lunch.
• Surviving a baking disaster with the children. Does anyone have a foolproof recipe for the Scandinavian spiced biscuits known as ‘Pepperkaker’? Let’s just say the one we tried didn’t quite go according to plan!
• Watching the rain clouds disappear.
• Deciding to take a walk to the park while my mum rested on the sofa.
• Slipping on a frock and wrapping up warm in my winter coat.
• Trailing after Jesse as he sped ahead on his scooter.
• Enjoying the October sunshine. St George’s Park looked spectacularly golden.
• Watching the children play on the climbing frame.
• Hunting for conkers.
• Searching for other signs of autumn with Izzy.
• Closely examining tiny bugs among the cow parsley.
• Racing after Jesse as he scooted down the hill with Mr. LA at his side.
• Letting Izzy swing on the low branches of an old tree.
• Slowly meandering home.
• Drinking tea and reading the paper.
• Cooking fish pie and apple scrumble.
• Sipping wine and joining in with the Telegraph pub quiz. It’s one of my favourite things to do with my parents.
• Eating too much.
• Saying goodnight to my mum when she headed upstairs for an early night.
• Sitting up late, talking with Mr. LA and my bonus dad.
• Discovering The Cup Song. I know we’re probably very late to the party, but Izzy and I are now obsessed. We shall master it if it kills us.
• Feeling a tiny bit tipsy as I clambered into bed.
• Wishing Jesse would sleep past 7am.
• Dozing while he watched cartoons.
• Delivering warm lemon and honey to my mum.
• Helping Mr. LA fix fried egg sandwiches for breakfast.
• Waving my parents off.
• Diving into the shower.
• Deciding to spend the day in my PJs. Again.
• Catching up on chores.
• Pottering in the yarden.
• Hanging laundry out to dry.
• Grabbing lunch and packing Izzy off to a new performing arts class in Clifton.
• Making mugs of hot chocolate for me and Jesse.
• Curling up on the sofa to watch Wall-E.
• Enjoying the peace, quiet and cuddles.
• Sitting with Jess, watching him work on filling up another colouring book.
• Listening to Kate Bush while I busied myself in the kitchen.
• Serving up a huge pasta bake just as Mr. LA and Izzy tumbled in through the door.
• Wrestling the children into the shower.
• Helping them pull on their PJs, giving good night kisses and reading bedtime stories.
• Planning to collapse on the sofa any minute now…

Love Audrey xxx