2017 seems so long ago, now they're fledgling graduates.

[latedecember1963]

4 years since A Levels and the wait for August and confirmation of where our chicks were about to fly the nest to.
It's been 4 years that has sprung a few surprises along the way, not least this lovely series of threads.

DD mentioned she'd got her first full months pay when we talked to her yesterday. She seems to be working 8:30 to 5:30 with lunch at her desk instead of the stipulated hours break, because there's lots to do and she's enjoying it. Which at this stage of her life is fine - she's still got more free time than when she was a student I think. Some of which was spent upside down in a swimming pool (learning kayaking )

I'm sure I don't have payslips from my first job or early in the second one (which I'm still doing 35 years later) though I think I can remember the annual rate.

@ErrolTheDragon, my DD is also loving being able to relax and do stuff in the evening/weekend after the MSc hanging over her!

Well done on the full month's pay (when my son got his - he was a para legal full time for 3 months until Sept) I could see how pleased he was - that direct correlation between a lot of hard work (he was out 12 hours a day including travel) and having the money... I remember it from my own early days.

The last of mine finished his law mock exams yesterday and the other the day before. I am glad they do it so well and do not tell each other etc (and when it comes to those real exams in January they are then "proctored" for those choosing the online option so you are in a sense watched anyway). One had a bit of a problem with his screen freezing earlier in the week in one exam which wasted some time so I hope he can sort that out for the real thing.
So they are now half way through (half term is ending this week) the most important term in my view of this academic year as it has the main 4 subjects with exams in January. I think the 2 months after that is subjects you have to be "competent" in and do some kind of test./exam but no marks and it does not feed into the final mark and it is things like drafting, legal writing etc so if you write well which I think they do, and can think on your feet hopefully they will be okay. I am sure they will find it easier than subjects where you have to learn a lot from memory.

About 36% of their marks over the year are then for the "electives" - they choose 3 legal subjects this weekend for the final bit of the course from end of March to mid June when the exams in that are. I think they will both do the same subjects, pretty similar to those their sisters chose over 10 years ago and probably the same as each other - business law type subjects.

Meanwhile pregnant daughter has a little over a month to go so I bought her some newborn size baby gros and vests yesterday. They can be hard to size because newborns can be very small and 0 - 3 month sizes can be huge. Anyway all very sweet.

Glad they're progressing well, Xenia .
I kept a couple of DDs babygros - the first one DH dressed her in after she was born (he was somewhat nonplussed when the midwife gave him this task but rose to the challenge of the mysteries of nappy and poppers quickly enough) and then a smaller one - he got a three pack of the tiny size after this but they were outgrown pretty quickly. It's easy to forget how small they were.

How sweet. I remember when expecting the twins buying one set of premature baby stuff as twins are so often born early and are tiny. In fact the little blighters stayed in to 40 weeks to the day (which is regarded as 2 weeks late for twins) and were the longest in there of all my children but could just about fit the premature clothes for a week or so. My daughter has bought the cot today although that will not be needed until well into next year but they were worried about potential Ikea product shortages later on.

That's wise - there are certainly delays because of transport problems for some bulky items (it affects all stages of the supply chain) - think I mentioned upthread DD getting a 'shit sofa' as a temporary measure because the order time for the nice one is about three months (and some were longer). Though all their IKEA stuff was ok - once she threatened to cancel the order for the topless dining room table, it materialised quickly.

I kept DDs first babygro that fitted - we had to rush out and get tiny baby ones as she was 6lb despite being a week late. And wore them for ages hadn’t grown at all by 6week check!!!!

@ErrolTheDragon, have they looked at Freecycle for any stuff they need as a stopgap?

I think they did get some stuff from either freecycle or similar.

I've kept the 1st baby gros and a few hand knitted items from both of the boys. When I see new born size clothes it's hard to believe the big hulking men they've grown into ever fitted inside them (or me for that matter!)
How lovely to be expecting an Advent baby; new beginnings indeed.

She thinks it might be born on my December birthday but as a 4 week period around the due date, 2 weeks either side, it is anyone's guess. No one can really tell you before you have your first child how it changes your life, but she was very keen on the baby twin brothers who were born when she was almost 13 and was very good with them. Her school friends (none of whom had baby siblings) used to love to come round to our house as they got to play with two very cute babies and then toddlers....

Nothing much to report but just keeping out thread going. One twin got his certificate by post from last academic year's course (the law conversion course, PGDL) - the other's will come a bit later I think due to having done his resit which he passed.

They both chose their "electives" (3 subjects they choose for stage 2 of their legal practice course) this weekend - doing the same ones as each other - basically business law which starts at the end of March. This system all changes for newer lawyers with the SQE1 (multiple choice only) and SQE2. It is going to be complicated for newer lawyers as so many different issues if you do not have a sponsoring law firm telling you what courses to do.

If they both train with me I want that to start on 16 June 2022 as that is when their final exams are over - might as well get it all over with - this period when I support them (although one thinks he will be able to make lots of profits for me as a trainee which remains to be seen and is not my aim, which is purely to make sure they are trained to be the best lawyers we can manage).

dd's course ( law diploma) finishes in late March/early April and her traineeship will begin around August so she will have some time to fill. I suspect she is thinking of holidays/chilling whereas dh is thinking of other paid work or decorating/diy in her flat.

DDs weekend whitewater kayaking was scary at first then fun, it seems.

DH has been busy booking holidays for next year - Skye in April/may (not sure of the dates... I need to book them with work!) and then the the cottage in the exmoor vicinity again in June and a boat on the Broads in September. The latter will be with DD and her BF who hasn't done any boating before but is game to give it a go.

We did boating on the broads a couple years ago and loved it.

read if your daughter in England she may be on the same course as my twins!

We're in Scotland @Xenia

Ah, Scotland so no over lap. It is probably a fairly similar course.

DS1 and his wife adore Scotland for holidays and he had his stag weekend in Edinburgh in August.
I suspect they would love to move there if the right job opportunities came up.
DS2 is still working on applications, although he has passed an assessment stage and been told he can now apply for a job he's had on his list.
We've had a run of appliance disasters. During half term week our ancient T.V. that's been temperamental for months finally packed up. The following day the washing machine broke down and was going to cost as much to repair as a new one and they couldn't guarantee it wouldn't break again. On the Wednesday DH'S car wouldn't start and needed a repair.
Last week we licked our wounds and hoped we'd had our run of 3. On Monday I went to get something from the freezer and everthing was soggy. We've gone through the suggestions from the customer service centre to no avail so tomorrow we're getting a new freezer! We're looking on the bright side and trying to be thankful that it didn't all happen over Christmas.

@ErrolTheDragon, we did Skye a couple of years ago - beautiful!

@latedecember1963, snap re freezer! Except DD realised quickly and nothing was lost (as squeezed into bottom of fridge/freezer or eaten! We have a new one coming

@Xenia I imagine it is a similar course but she doesn't tell me very much.
@bigTillyMint Skye is indeed beautiful - went there on our honeymoon when it poured with rain but have also been there in baking sun.
@latedecember1963 Fingers crossed for the job applications

We were on Skye in spring 2019 at the end of a trip up the Western Isles, but it was only a few days, not long enough.

Sorry about the appliances. I will always remember the summer when I had repair men out (who all failed but had to be paid and then I had to replace all of fridge freezer, dishwasher and washing machine I think it was). in fact I think there was 4th too. All at once. I was trying to save money by paying for the repairs but in the end they could not be repaired.

"Xenia WeWork" premises (my house) is in operation this week with my son's friend "working from home" ie here for 3 days although they did all go to London yesterday as that friend had work in the office and my sons' law school. One twin says he is the worst in h is class of 15 and that his twin is 1st or second best bt it does not seem to bother him as reflects his effort (or lack of effort). He always seems to pull it out of the bag to do well in exams so hopefully will be okay for the final exams for these subject in January and they do seem to be gelling as a class of 15 people which they had none of last year being 100% online.

Just back from DDs masters graduate, which my parents ( in their 80s) managed to attend as well as her tow brothers . Fabulous day - I'll post a photo

One poor boy had travelled all the way from Calgary on his own for the graduation - it was his first time in Trinity College in person the day of his graduation, having done the entire masters online. We took loads of pictures for him .

@Carriemac, we're just back from DS's graduation too - the one postponed from last year. I felt for the grads who had nobody with them, 2 of DS's friends had no family there, so we took them out with us for dinner last night. The waitress thought all 3 were ours! 😲😆
We had a superb evening with them, they were all such great company & we had an excellent meal too, lots of wine flowed... 🙂🍷🍾🥂 They left us to go pub crawling & & asked us to meet them later at their favourite club - we said we would but we returned to the hotel for a breather & fell asleep!! What lightweights we are! 😆

Graduation was lovely, everyone happy and excited. 🎓 A really nice day. ❤️