Back to school tomorrow!

Today is the last day of the Easter holidays boo and hiss....! We are all back to work and school tomorrow. Emily has several tests when she goes back in french and english so she is getting all her books sorted today to get organised again. Samuel only has 12 weeks left of primary school before the summer break and then on to College. I can't quite believe that time has gone by so quickly.
Today in the house of Lang we are cleaning and getting all the uniform and pe bags sorted out. All the Easter decorations have to come down today and be put back into the loft.

I'm thinking of taking the children up to Cowslip for a last treat before we get back into our working routines. I am also going to talk to them about starting a bit of routine in the house so they can help and we all know what we are doing every day! Now we have added in horse ridding to the mix of after school activities and I am going to be working full time for the next 4 weeks, I think that we need to be quite on the ball before we end up in chaos.

I think I have half persuaded Benjamin to put up a shelf in the dining room so that I can display my tea pots and display decorations when it comes to special days and times to celebrate (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, birthdays, Jubilee and on and on hehe). I need him to make one as the ones I have seen to buy often are not wide enough to put my tea pots and large jugs on. I also think that he's quite good at making things and would enjoy it (maybe not enjoy the challenge of our very old plaster and lath walls!!)

I went out last night with Wendy and Suzy to a Feedback gig at the football club and although I didn't drink a lot my head feels a bit slow this morning. !!! this afternoon I mean as It's aready nearly One and I haven't done a thing yet!!eeekk The band were good though and we had a giggle.

hehe oh how sad :-)

The Grand National

Today was the Grand National. A race I both love and hate. It's fantastic to see all the horses at their best and racing but really awful when they fall, hurt themselves or as horrid as it can get never make it back to the stables. The horses definatly look like they are enjoying it all. The winner today was a horse called Neptune Collonges!!! One that obviously I didn't bet on!! The horse I bet on for Benjamin, called Sea bass, came in third - but again I did not bet 'each way' so no money for us.
There was sadness though as two horse had to be put down on the course! One of them was 'according to Pete' which was really sad. Tamsyn said that now dad has his own race horse on his cloud with him :-)
Daisy's horse who was leading right up until the last fence was beaten and I don't think we had a single winner in the family this year. They have decided to investigate whether another race should be held next year due to two horses dying this year and two last year and many before that so we shall see........! it's the Marathon next week, so another day of watching others run whilst I think 'I should be doing that!!!!' but it's raing so i'll stay here on the sofa hehe

Saturdays are for having fun

Samuel stayed at Wendy's last night and when I went over to get him this morning they had decided to all go out and spend the day at Nigel's Mum's farm to see the baby lambs eeekkkk. I took him over a change of clothes and he gave me a big hug and now he's gone of for a fun day playing in the fields with Harry and Myles.

I spoke to Rosa this morning and she said not to rush picking up Tamsyn as they had a children's fun day at Lewannick and Tamsyn was going down to play with her friends.
Emily is at home with me and we have decided to go up to New Look to have a proper look (we were there yesterday getting gift vouchers for her friend's party and she went with Ben last week but she hasn't had a propper look yet!!!). I'm out tonight with Wendy in town so I thought I might have a quick look myself!! Then we will go out to Lewannick and pick up the Wiggins herself.

Bradley's present arrived today so I'm going to take that up to him as well. I think he will love it. The combination on Lego and Star Wars is just the best in his house and ours according to the 'law of Samuel and Bean'

Poor Ben is on shift this weekend so we won't be seeing much of him.  His next day off is on Tuesday (sadley I have been asked to work in Liskeard that day so I wont see him for ages!!).

Well I was right Bradley loved his present and set to making it straight away.

Yummy xxx

Samuel went over to Wendy's tonight to watch DVD's with Harry and Myles. Tamsyn stayed at Granny Rosas and Emily spent the evening at a party! I had to pick Em up at 10:30 and we went back to Wendy's for hot chocolate with cream and marshmallows. Very yummy indeed. In the end Sam ended up staying with the boys for the night so I only have Emmi home!

More of the Emma in the house !!

I forgot to put up a picture of my last weeks Emma Bridgewater purchases! I bought some mugs when I was in  Plymouth (before we went to the cinema to see 'Pirates' which was fabulous). I ordered some bits on the net..... 15% off, so went a little mad. I also, with the help of Emily bought Samuel and Tamsyn their very own personalised mugs to put in their birthday box (pictures to follow after birthday's) I think that they will be so pleased :-)
I did manage to get the polka dot hen that I have wanted for ages and ages and was even more pleased when it arrived in time for Easter. It looked fantastic on my table with all the Easter decorations. I got the Sampler 'love' teapot and a clock for the dining room wall, oh I nearly forgot I got the polka gravy jug as well. hehe I keep saying I'm not going to buy any more and then find something else I 'need'. A point that Mr Benjamin brought up again yesterday. I agreed that I will stop when he stops buying any more fishing tackle .......! I think I'm safe for a good long while yet.

What do you think? The children were spoilt by Granny Mary as well, they all got baby Easter mugs.

Doesn't it all look amazing :-)

Emily has a horse :-)

Emily is the luckiest girl alive. Yesterday we met with one of the teachers at Launceston college who knows Mum and Emily to go and see her horses Cherry and Mojo. Sara is going to let Emily ride and look after her horses every Wednesday after school and other nights during the week if she is busy. Emily had her horse 'interview' yesterday and Sara is happy for her to go out and ride and use the sand school they have at the stables. She also gave me the name of a horse riding instructor who will come out to the stables and give her lessons on Cherry. We can't quite believe our luck and are so grateful and happy that it's unbelievable! We are out there again next Wednesday to have a ride. We are meeting with Sara again as she is going to tell us where the feed is kept and what she wants us to do every week. After that I think we are on our own!!
Emily went really shy and worried about it all and was quite nervous but she did well and it should be a fantastic opportunity for her especially in the summer, she can go out for long hacks and learn as much as she can about the horses.
I took a few photos of her and Cherry whilst she was ridding and brushing her. She can't wait to get back there. As I said, Emily is the luckiest girl alive!

Oh what a holiday!!

Easter weekend has been and gone. Lots of chocolate and eggs everywhere in the house. Every time I turn I see another bowl of half eaten chocolate or a small Lindt bunny, looking cheerful with his red ribbon and bell around his neck. Sam said he felt a little poorly this morning and this he might have overdosed on Easter egg!
We had a Granny convention on Easter Sunday. Mum came over with Granny Mary and Granny Cleo. We had a big roast and sat and watched Marry Poppins in the afternoon. Poor Ben had to work so he had his roast later.
Tamsyn decided that the Easter Bunny had come first thing Easter morning. She had woken around 6:30 and looked out my bedroom window and she couldn't see any eggs, (as Ben had gone to work there was room in my bed for a small one) but when she finally woke up again at 9 she looked and there were eggs all over the garden, in the hedge and around the courtyard!!! She was so excited and couldn't wait to get out there and collect them all up in her basket and bunny bowl.

Ben had to work again on Easter Monday and Andi was called back into work as well so the 'family day' together day didn't really happen as planned. In fact it went terrible wrong as just before Andi came back from work at about 7:30 we herd a thud from upstairs and then Bradley Bean came down and very calmly said "Aunty Karen I think I have broken my arm!!!!" when I had a look at it, it was well and truly broken and was sticking up in the most horrible angle I have ever seen !!!!!!! We sat on the stairs for what seems like a long time and waited for the ambulance to turn up and give him gas and air and strong painkillers and take him off to Derriford hospital. Poor little thing, he was so brave and didn't cry at all,even when he was in hospital and they were moving his arm around. Sadly it was so broken that on Wednesday he had to go back to Derriford hospital for surgery!!!! They put wires in his arm to hold it all in place and have put the biggest bandage I have ever seen on his arm. It would appear that he was on the top bunk bed talking to Tamsyn below and had leaned down to see her and slipped off breaking his fall with his arms outstretched OUCH!!!!! I have ordered him some lego Star Wars to make him happy, he can play and build lego one handed!!
The bunk beds have now gone!!!!! I got Ben to cut them in half and we now have two single beds in the girls room and I think I quite prefer it.  It also means that when we have other children over to play I don't have to panic!!

Gardening for dummies!!!!

I had no children yesterday! They went with Granny Rosa to the swimming pool and I was left on my own (Ben was at work!).
I decided in the morning that I would make a start on the garden! Now as many of you might know I am not very good at gardening. I seem to be unable to keep anything alive for more than a few weeks. My sweet peas last year were a big joke. They only climbed about a foot before they gave up and decided that they were too tired and under watered to produce any flowers that had a stem longer than a few centimeters!!!! This year I plan to get much better. Mum and I went to the garden center. I bought  some sweet peas called 'Royal Family' and some lily and dahlia bulbs. I also bought what are some of my favorite summer flowers, Ranunculus. I chose them in all different and bright colours so it would brighten up the courtyard and the front garden. Mum said that when she was small and lived at home she grew these as well and were her favorite.
I came home and like a good girl put my Ranunculus bulbs in cold water as instructed and left them for six long hours before I  planted them. I am quite excited at the prospect of making the outside of the house look all pretty and colourful.
I am going to have to enroll the help of the children I think to make sure I water them regularly as I know that I will forget like previous years.

I am beginning to decorate the house for Easter this weekend. I have been up into the back field though and cut a few branches of Blackthorn with blossom on it down to put in my big spotty jug. I going to get Em, Sam and Tamsyn to decorate it with the hanging eggs and put up all the other bits we have. We have an Easter decoration box's now which shows that, as with birthday season, Valentines and Christmas, decorating the house for celebrations is getting to be a nice Lang family custom.

Today we are off to Boconnoc Estate as they have an open day to walk around and see the gardens (how the big boys do it hehe). We are meeting up with Alice, my new boss, and her son Ammi. The sunshine is out again today which is in stark contrast from yesterday when it was bitter cold. I hoping it will be a really nice day. I think if it is not too late when we leave I might go into the fire station and see Uncle Andi and his friends :-)