Benjamin's birthday

At the end of May was Benjamin's birthday. We had a big party at our house and all the usual suspects came over to celebrate his oldness!! we also went off, Ben, myself, Andi and Tanya on our Tuesday treat day
(one Tuesday in eight weeks we are all off together ), went off to Padstow to go crabbing for the day xx We had loads of fun and I won the crab competition hehe

Caught by Andi.

Tanya trying to be a crab!

Our very yummy desert :-) bought at Rick Steins in Padstow

Benjamins birthday card and beer :-)

A nest fit for the Queen bird :-) !

Aunty Kate and Tamsyn decided last Friday that the birds of Launceston had nowhere posh to stay! They had collected some sticks after the picnic in Kate's garden and Uncle Penny assisted further when he cut down some of his hedge ( not especially for the nest building I hope hehe). Kate was very excited as she got to use her new glue gun eeeeek and they made a masterpiece fit for a bird or a few my little ponys!

Tamsyn has decided that Kate should come over every Friday night now for craft night !!!!! Poor Kate - she can never go for a night out now or work in the pub as Tamsyn wishes to craft. Decided that our craft sessions can be a bit hap-hazard to fit in and around life :-)

The next craft session has been booked and they are going to make initials decorated with buttons...... watch this space.........

May has gone and I'm now poor and tired hehe

Well , May came and went in a bit if a blur! It was full of birthdays and parties and fun and chaos as expected for birthday season. It was fab and the children loved every minute of it xx

Samuels birthday cakes :-)

Tamsyns birthday box full up with yummy presents, including Pinkie Pie the build a bear my little pony :-) !! 

More birthday cake ( I have no idea why I don't loose weight !!) 

Tamsyn had her birthday party with two of her school friends and her little cousin Daisy. They went to 'the little button shop' in a village close to town and had a  workshop making heart wall hangings. The girls absolutely loved it and worked so hard to create their masterpieces :-) fabulous value for money and we now have a very keen sewer in the family. 

My new little niece Eleanor 'Nell' was born and she is mega cute eeeeeeek unfortunately she had to spend over two weeks in hospital as she had stopped breathing and was quite poorly for a while ! Big scare for the family and her poor, but very strong, Mummy, Daddy and big sister Emma. She is now better and has spent her first weekend at home all snuggled up with her family xx

May has been the month that Emily and Samuel plunged into the sea and started their surfing lessons :-) Sam got a wetsuit for his birthday and was very keen to try it! They have been going for three weeks now and doing rather well. Sam got surfer of the week this week which was amazing!

An hour or two for me :-)

The workshop that Tamsyn did for her birthday was so fab I thought I would book myself onto a short afternoon course at the same place. It was all a bit hap-hazard and chaotic for the first half an hour but I think they have only just started doing some of these courses and tiny teething problems are you be expected and embraced - this is how we all learn. The lady Sarah who owns the place is such a lovely friendly lady you can help but love it there. I decided that I would like to have a go at free hand machine embroidery. I have seen courses run by Poppy Trefry in St Ives but they are a lot of money for one day. I have even bought one of Poppy's books in order to have a go myself but never got to it !

But for two hours I 'had a go' and made a little picture of Launceston castle which I love. It wasn't as hard as I thought so will defiantly be trying it again. 

Isn't it so cute ? I love it so much xxx it has all the things I love in it! Pink spotty fabric, Launceston castle, jubilee flag, bunting, and apple trees :-)))))))))) very happy Karen ! 

Birthday Season is upon us YEAH xx

It is today the 4th of the good month of May. The month in my house that is as big as Christmas! The month that all my babies (not so now!) get another year older, the dog ages 7 years and poor Benjamin gets closer to 40 *snigger snigger*
The month of May or 'birthday season' as it is known among family and friends is very exciting. Emily, Samuel and Tamsyn have their birthdays within 14 days of each other! - 1st, 6th and 14th! Jetney the dog's birthday is on the 17th. Cousin Daisy has her birthday on the 18th. Benjamin's birthday on the 31st finishes the month off nicely. In between all these dates are various cousin's and friend's birthdays which turns the month quite expensive!!! To add to the birthday chaos Aunty Amy's baby is due next week (9th of May) and my lovely new neighbour, Laura, decided to join the May club and her baby is due on the 27th of May hehe. I love it and we all have so much fun. Far too much cake is eaten, lots of balloons, lots of bunting, lots of candles, lots of presents, lots of people, lots of everything.......!
A new Lang house tradition is the introduction of the Lang 'birthday box'. I had it made last year by a vary fab gentleman, who although I discovered it late managed to get it too me on time for the first of May, start of birthday season. The children love it and Tamsyn and Samuel both said last week "it's about time you got the birthday box out"!

It was Emily of the Lang's birthday on the 1st of May and she is now 14!!!!! OMG OMG OMG OMG I  feel quite old now. She had to go to school and even had a mock English exam :-( which wasn't pleasant. She did have her friends over after school though and had her favourite tacos for tea. My friend Hayley the great cake maker made her some fab cup cakes with a Mexican theme.

They are the most fabulous tiny cakes ever ever. Emily and her friends loved them.

She had stacks of money and lots of money given to her and even had flowers delivered!

You cant have a party without party rings!!!!! 'Them's the rules.....!'

Making very fantastic lemonade

Yesterday the girls and I decided to make lemonade. We have not made it before and Emily and Tamsyn had great fun squeezing the lemons. I think it will become a firm favourite in our house, although not so often as the amount of sugar that went into it was frightening! We have decided that we should make it for picnics and for birthdays and party's and any other Lang gathering. It was so easy to do and tasted so very yummy.

I'm sat here watching Comic Relief in a state of shock and disbelief!!
Watching how parents and grandchildren go withought food and therefore can't take their HIV medication just so that their children, grandchildren can live!!!
 How children of Emily and Samuel's age in Africa are bringing up their younger brothers and sisters because their parents have died!
How centres in this country help young people who have tried to take their lives in the most horrific circumstances and who support them to rebuild their lives and turn it into something positive!!
I'm sat here in my very warm and cosy home watching something so hard to comprehend. Watching children in need of urgent help. Families in crisis whilst my yummy children are sleeping in comfy beds with full tummies, knowing that tomorrow when they wake up all will be well, all will be fun and all will be the same as it was today!


It all seems a bit silly in light of the films on telly I have just watched but to raise money I have
just come back from a night out at the very fabulous Cowslip learning to crochet!! I paid ten pounds to spent the night with some very clever ladies making the most beautiful things. The children wore non school uniform and took in their pounds. We donated and played games in TKMax whilst shopping and I also bought four Emma Bridgewater mugs made especially to raise money for Comic Relief!
The final nights total has just been announced on the telly and its a record breaking £75,107,851 the most ever raised in 25 years!!!


Jessie J did something a bit more drastic than crochet!!!! she now has no hair!!! good on you girl xx

Im going to carry on watching through tears........!

Fairy alert

In the half term we took Tamsyn and Daisy to a photograph studio in Tintagel. They create the most wonderful pictures of all things magical and fairy like. The girls didn't know they were going and decided it was the best surprise treat ever eeeek xx

Back from the ........

It's been age's and age's and age's and I have found my way back here and want to write again. Millions of things have gone on over the last five months! Some of them fantastic, some amazing, some silly, some horrid, some just really busy, some relaxed, some trying to escape, some just the best and very very yummy but always very Lang like hehe.
Dad's birthday fund raising went really very well. Andi, Ben and I completed the Grim Challenge in Aldershot. 8 and a 1\2 miles of running through mud and freezing cold water. I actually loved it even though I managed to badly sprain my ankle which is still causing me some problems even now! The run and my usual open house party on his actual birthday day managed to raise £1235.00 which is the very best yet and the most amazing total.

At the end of the race xxx

Mr poorly ankle !!!

Christmas was lots of fun (the lead up to it completely frantic as usual and all a little bit last minute!!). I had Granny Sandra and Granny Mary join us as well as Liz, Stew, Tom Ruby and Liz's mum. My table looked fabulous with all my new Emma bridgewater joy plates and bowls and packed with 12 of us all sat around it. I loved it all and the day was as chaos and as fun as it could be. Far too much to eat as usual and the children getting far too much ....... as usual!! the holidays went like a blur
I got the most fabulous tea pot ever eeeek

We are now in March and the sun over the last two days has decided to come out. The difference walking out of the house in the morning with the sun shining is amazing. Not having to fight your way to the car in the wind and the rain is an utter blessing. Its making me think that we need to tidy up the garden and make it look pretty again. I think this weekend I am going to organise the troops and clean the courtyard, cut the grass and get Master Lang painting the summer house. I think it's time to give it a good clean out and put up some curtains to make it nice for Tamsyn and her friends to play in. The front garden is going to take a little more thinking about and some hard landscaping so can wait for when Ben is around to help!

Im going to try and remember to post lots of photos of our adventures and whatever we are up to. I loved looking through older posts and looking at the book I had published of previous years and hope to make another one at the end of this year to keep to read when I'm old and can't remember !!