TUDOR DAY AT SCHOOL

I have quite a lot to post about but since I haven't worked out yet how to get the photos up in the order I want I will have to do them one at a time! Wednesday of this week was Tudor day in school were class 2 and up had to dress up in tudor costume and take in a tudor lunch box. Now you might think that a simple make do costume would do? Oh no we got sent home a full set of instructions on how to sew your own tudor costume!! I had a quick look on the net for fancy dress but all were coming in at around £16 minimum to buy. Me being me thought I can make it for less than that since I can sew. Hmmmmmmmmm Bad Bad Mistake. By the time that I had been to the charity shop to buy a white linen blouse to adapt and a faux suede skirt to make a waistcoat I was already up to £10! and I still had to buy fabric and feathers for the hat!! It took me an evening to make the waistcoat which I will say turned out ok thank god since I was making it the night before he had to wear it. Bless him though he was suitably impressed with my efforts and went off to school wearing my creation with no tears. Lesson learnt, order online early and swallow the cost soooooooooo much easier. Ellie had to go in as her favourite story book character which of course was Cinderella. (Sorry no photos). Last week was Red Nose day and Maddie had to wear her pjs and the older two had to go in red clothes and red hair. I was away in London with my Mum to see the Country Living Fair that day so I had to get them organised before we left. It was also the day that the cakes had to be taken in for the cake stall and each child had to have money for red noses and dressing up. I think poor John got a bit confused and had to do several trips back and forth to school before he got everything where it should be. I tell you the kids are keeping me busy even though they are at school all day.

I had a lovely time with my mum at the country living fair, unfortunately there wasn't much that captivated me, or rather fortunately for J and his bank balance!! Some of the jewellery was nice but the rest has all been seen or done before. I did manage to get Mum some glass baubles for Mothers Day to hang on her tree outside which were a bit different. Well I shall sign off this post and go and make the kiddos some dinner. I shall attempt another post later tonight.

New Hair Cut and Shoes

What more could a girl ask for? Yes I finally went and got the hair chopped a little bit today and feel alot better if not poorer (if that is a word?) I also managed to get myself not one but two pairs of shoes. I have been having problems with very sore heals now for a while and have worked out the that the black higher heeled shoes are doing in the outside muscle of my feet and the slip ons are damaging the muscles under my foot as I am scrunching up my toes to keep them on. With a trip to London to wander around the Country Living Fair on Friday I couldn't possible make the 5 hour shopping marathon with the current shoe state. So I now own a pair of lime green shoes and a pair of very comfy slip on trainer, sport shoe. I also managed to get a few bits and pieces for the kids for easter. The girls have got these great felt flower pots in a range of colours to put on their window sill to brighten things up. Yes John just shock his head. I got Euan some more Lego as he loves it and then I picked up a present for Al and Niki who have just given birth to a little baby boy called Kyle.

All in all not a bad day!

Tomorrow I have had my arm twisted to go to Laura Ashley with a girl from preschool gosh it hurt ;) I have some vouchers to use up so as long as I am controlled I shouldn't get in much trouble!! Me controlled yeah well the thought was there. The kids had their parent teacher evening tonight. Miss Ellie is getting on really well she just has a few gaps in her word construction. Euan is doing well in maths and reading but his writing is a different matter. Apparently he is a reluctant writer?*! The teacher thinks he will catch up but he is a long way behind at the moment. I am not sure how I feel about this. Part of me would like to see him go back and repeat the year as the Scottish and English systems are so different, however the other part of me says he will get on fine. I don't like to think of him struggling with things when I know he can get on fine as long as he is given the right instruction. I can't believe that we live in the same country and our teaching systems can be so different. Oh well I am sure it will all work out.

Well I had best go to bed I suppose. My husband went up ages ago so I am sure he will be snoring away by now. I have finished Maddie's very pink shelf I made on Sunday so just need to put it up now. Ellie's bed canopy is pinned but not sewn. Tomorrow I need to clean the house and do these drawings for the Village Ball as well as shop. I used to be quite good at getting things done in the evening but these days I just seem to be so tired.

Sleep tight don't let the bed bugs bite!

Girls Nite Out!!

Hello my lovelies yes I have finally got around to taking the photos off the camera! sorry but the nite out photos aren't that great if any of you have any thing better please can you email me them. I am glad to hear that you have been going out without me - how could you!!!!! no really keep it up and hopefully we might be up in May to say hello and get a nite out.

Look at these little cuties, Maddie misses you so much and you Keir, she wants to know when she will be coming back! Hope all is well Eileen and I will call soon.

Not bad for 92 years old. This is my Gran, my Mum's Mum. She had a lovely day the other week when she joined us for lunch and sat colouring with Miss Maddie. The kids all really love her which I think is fantastic as some times the older generation is a bit scary for the little ones. Euan is sweet he says he is sad that he never got to meet Great Grandad and that he misses him. Sometimes he can be so sensitive and other times I could kill him.

Sorry about the randomness of the blog just thought I would get the photos up instead of chocking up the system trying to email them to everyone. Love to all

SOFT, CUTE AND CUDDLY!

On Wednesday Maddie's nursery had a visit to a local farm where they some lambs were being born. When we got there we saw some absolutely gorgeous ones who were only a hour or so old. Maddie had a wonderful time looking around and cuddling them all, she also

bottle feed them which she particularly liked and

hand feed them for a while until one bit her finger bless her. She hasn't quite got the knack of keeping her fingers straight yet! but I must say who can resist the little cuties. These are apparantly Texel sheep which are raised for the meat and boy were they stocky little things with wide backs. The pregnant mums looked like they were two sheep stuck together. Maddie is definitely enjoying her nursery and has made a few new friends. She is going to play with her friend Molly next week which is really nice. I often feel Maddie misses out because she just picks up the older twos friends but with being at nursery on her own she has a chance to make her own mark. Apparently this year is going to be a big intake at the School so hopefully she will have a lot of companionship.

Okay so I am hopeless

Yes I know I am a hopeless blogger, I do have one excuse the first two weeks after the move we weren't on the phone or online. We had an absolute nightmare with BT trying to get the line connected. The first day it was supposed to be connected nothing happened, I rang and asked them what was going on and they said they would ring me back on my home number when they knew what the problem was, OK BT step one if I didn't have a fault and my phone was usuable would I be ringing you? Next day an engineer called but couldn't fix the fault because it was underground and he didn't go underground! Day three engineer two, no the fault isn't underground but up the lamp post over the road and he wasn't allowed to go up the lamp post?!! Day four, engineer three and four together, sorry love the fault is underground and we can't do that because we will need to get some traffic lights to look in the box. Alright I have had enough, use your initiative you have two vans, park one either side of the box with your hazards on and I will go and make you a cup of tea, if you manage to fix the fault I will even give you a chocolate biscuit. Amazingly we were connected in half an hour, never say the great british workers tea break isn't effective bargaining tool!!

Well we have just about settled in the rooms are slowly starting to come together but we are rather squashed in, boy do we miss the space of our last home. Storage more than anything is a problem. I have just about finished painting the children's rooms. Miss Maddie is pink (surprise surprise) Ellie is lavender blossom, lilac to me purple to John and Euan is Eau de Nil or green. We got him a cool duvet set in JOhn Lewis (yes I have been shopping!!!) which has planes, scooters and cars on in a combat style colour. We have painted him a massive target on the wall above his bed and are in the process of putting up a pinboard and magnetic board for all his bits and pieces in a bid to stop him using blue tack which usually gets stuck in my carpet. I will post pictures once I get chance to empty the camera.

Everyone in the village seems to be fairly friendly which is nice. I have been invited to a book club which is great, Sarah don't laugh! I am already on book three in two weeks so I have been productive just not in the right areas!! I have also been asked to join Friends of Crudwell School which is the board that does the fund raising for the village school. Could be a bad move we will see. I don't want to get to involved as I really need to start getting on with some work.

The kids seem to have settled in well after a few hiccups to begin with. The schooling system is very different here than in Scotland. Euan was in the year directly above Ellie in Scotland but here there is a year between them which was a bit confusing. Ellie as usual was doing fine but Euan was struggling with everything. Speaking to his teacher they reckon he is two months or so behind so we have some extra work to do with him. I did suggest putting him back a year but they don't think that is necessary. We shall see. Miss Maddie started Pre school last week and loves it. She goes for five sessions as in Scotland but because they are only open three days a week she goes two full days and one half day which is fantastic. It gives me a longer stab at things at home. She will start school in September which is so odd because she would have had another year in nursery at Angus. She seems so little to be starting school but I am sure she will do just fine.

Fergus seems to have settled in well to the new house, I was worried because there isn't really anywhere for him to look out onto the front of the house but he seems OK. We have a walk directly opposite which is great and it takes you nearly round the village on one side.

Not surprisingly I haven't done any work yet, I will promise Hilary! I am hoping to get the rest of the curtains finished in the next few weeks and then paint the living room as we already have the paint for there. After that it will be as and when we can afford it.

Love to all and we miss you all in Scotland, especially me and all the girls. Will hopefully post with some photos soon.