Both Boys Birthdays and Back To School Panic !!!!

All of a sudden I'm in 'Back to school' panic mode. How on earth did I not check and wash the boys PE kits in weeks 1 – 5 of the school holidays! After finally boil washing the crinkled up stale sweat-smelling shorts and t-shirts, I discover both boys have out grown the kits anyway. That includes the fairly expensive trainers I'd purchased just months ago. This leads me to nervously make my reluctant children try on their school trousers and tops, as I suspected- everything is now atleast a couple of inches too short. How can this happen in just over a month?
School shoes are 'ouchy' now, socks and pants barely pull up, and the 'back up' school uniform 'essentials' I smuggly bought in the Aldi sale – are either too big or too small. Add this to the fact I neglected to empty lunch bags on the last day of term (leading to mouldy mutant cheese monsters evolving in the seams , plus quite possibly a new species of fruit fly!) and we've got quite a large and expensive shopping list.
Luckily, or unluckily- August was also both boys birthday month. Ofcourse this was a bit costly- but we found a great joint-party venue , in Shepton Mallet Leisure Centre. For £75 they provide a huge hall and boom box, a bouncy castle, about 15 diddy cars, balls and hula hoops, tables and seating. I did mini lunch boxes for all 18 children, and ofcourse – although they didn't have to, everyone brought lovely gifts and cards. These included some cash and even an Argos voucher!
Along with Grandma chipping in, and also buying some funky school supplies as birthday presents, all is not lost. Phase two of the plan involves mad dashes around the local charity shops- and a trip to Clarks village to have the boys feet measured properly.
​All the clothes my boys have outgrown, and their old 'babyish toys' now they are 6 & 8 years old, will go back into charity shops ( though I haven't told them this yet!)
Despite some dodgy weather, we've really enjoyed the hols, but I think everyone is about ready to get back to the school routine. I hope they'll remember all the fun things we did, like messy science experiments in the garden, the trip to Wookey Hole and Watchet Harbour, Yeovilton Air Show and watching “The Emoji Movie” at Wells Film Centre. However, boys will be boys, so they'll probably just tell their mates about the underground roller-coaster they built in Minecraft !