Happy Birthday Peter - 2 Today

We have all had a lovely day celebrating Peters 2nd birthday!! I still cant believe that he is 2 already, scary!! After opening lots of exciting presents and cards we went to look at some stones for a new fireplace. Then we went to Mcdonalds for lunch, Peters favourite. The climbing frame there was well utilised again. The afternoon was then spent playing in the pool and getting very wet!! We also got very slightly sunburned!! Dinner was a very civilised affair, topped off with a very tasty chocolate birthday cake.

Lots of love, us. xx

Happy Birthday Grandma Irene

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday Dear Grandma Irene

Happy Birthday to you!!!!

Welcome Magellan!

We have just taken delivery of our latest new friend. His name is Magellan. Magellan was a famous explorer like Christopher Columbus for you historians out there. He is the same age as Josh but a little bit bigger. Rosie has been so exicited all morning. The two have settled in well and we are hoping that they have a long and happy friendship. The goats are also pleased to see another four legged friend in their field.

The last two weeks have not been all work for us. We spent a lovely day with some friends and their grandchildren for starters. Bill and Maureen arrived for a day of fun and excitement with Adam and Charlotte. The children settled in very quickly to their days activities. Kirsty very kindly took Charlotte to the valley. Poor Charlotte was unaware that boots were necessary!!! She came back an hour later with Kirsty and Peter looking a tad muddy and wet. They had great fun though. Thankfully a pair of clean socks, trousers and shoes were found!! Josh and Adam disappeared for hours, playing either in the garden or making a railway track in the bedroom. Climbing trees and hiding from the girls was the flavour of the day. All of the children, including Maureen, enjoyed the quad bike and not to be left out Bill was allowed to cut the grass with the new ride on mower. He was a little bit distraught, as not only did it have a reverse gear, unlike his own, you can also empty the back without leaving your seat. AND you have a holder for your beer!!!!

We have also entertained the family of Monsieur Le Baron, our neighbour. His daughter was visiting for a week with her husband and son. They live in the beautiful mountains in Nice. The children played nicely and Madame Le Baron was brought to our house as well for coffee and brioche. She is a lovely lady. We were invited to Monsieur Le Barons the following Sunday for coffee and cake. A lovely time was had by all. Tasting the home made poire and calvados was not to be missed.

Anyway love to everyone and another update soon.

xxx

The New Arrivals

Well, we are now into April and the weather finally appears to be improving apart from the odd frost in the morning and some strong winds. We even managed lunch on the lawn yesterday!!!! The snow did not worry us this time, thank goodness. We were however prepared with at least three days of logs in the kitchen just in case!

Our family has increased this week with two new arrivals last night. They have horns and four legs, yes, you guessed it, two Billy Goats Gruff!!!! They have yet to be named, although Andrew did suggest Billy Bob and Billy Bob Bob!! The kids were not pleased with this suggestion though so any ideas please let us know. The winner of the naming competition is entitled to one free bottle of red wine at the housewarming!!!!!

I was very pleased with myself last week. Two major achievements. The first was asking the neighbours help with finding some more wood, no mean feat, as he is very scary!!! The second was visiting the quarry and managing to order 25 tonnes of stone!!

The latter of these achievements though has caused a few problems. The lorry arrived this morning and promptly missed our turning. He continued to the neighbours house and then could not turn around at the church very easily. The local farmer in his tractor was killing himself laughing when he passed me at the end of the drive. The lorry driver then decided that there was no way he could get to the top of our drive, the lorry was far too big!!! He said he would come back later, hmmmm, we are in France, when is later???? However, he did finally arrive at gone four o'clock with the first of the smaller loads. He was much more at ease with the smaller lorry which delivered just over 10 tonnes of 20/40. For those of us now in the know, that is lots of little bits of stones between 20 and 40 mm in size!!!!!! He promises to come back shortly with another lorry load.

We are now starting our preparations for the impending arrivals. Sasha is looking decidedly plump at the moment!! We are hoping that we should have some good news by the second week in May. We will of course be looking for names for the millions of puppies that I have a funny feeling are going to arrive.

Preparations are also underway for the housewarming in May. It looks like we will have between 40 and 50 people coming so we are hoping for good weather so that full use can be made of the surroundings. Remember your wellies for the stream racing!!!!

Anyway I will leave you for today with pictures of the new arrivals. Love to all. xxx