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| made by Kez |
So ... following on from Christmas, it was my birthday. Hurrah! And I was totally spoilt by Kezia. Not only did she do me her very own card, but i also got a hand painted blue sparkly pony to help make my dreams come true. Who could ask for anything more?!
In February half term Kez and I took a wee trip to the big smoke with Grum and Grandpa to see Uncle David in Ealing. Kez, as always, was very excited about seeing David and took her new electronic reading books to show him. I think he nearly had the hang of it by the end of lunch ...
After lunch we went back to his lovely little flat that he shares with his girlfriend, Anna. For those of you don't know, my little bro runs his own sound engineering company and is also a very good drummer. As a result, he has an amazing little drum kit in his front room that Kez was dying to play! And so he gave her a lesson - she absolutely loved and actually showed a nice little aptitude for rhythm. She obviously gets that from me *cough* Once she realised that she was allowed to bang this particular instrument quite hard, she rocked it big time! I think I can probably see a drum kit looming into the future when she's older ... I shall thank Uncle David for that little gem later.
And so we skip merrily into March ... which saw the return of the equine side of our life. In March, I was given the best Christmas present I have ever had ... my dear husband bought me a wonderful 13.2 palomino pony called Bryn.
He's a welsh section C and I absolutely adore him. He has some truly lovely bloodlines - but I didn't realise that until I got his passport post purchase and researched the names in it. I can get his great grandsire as a Royal Doulton figurine, which amuses me greatly. He has some superb paces and does a lovely flashy trot when he's all excited - which is just hilarious when he's got little ole me on the back of him. Thelwell eat your heart out!
I was lucky enough to return to my old livery yard, and as soon as he arrived he settled straight in.
2 weeks after Bryn came to us, I went over to Aylesbury to get our gorgeous wee Gilda back from my aunt's house. It was so lovely to see her again and bring her home
As soon as she was home, she settled right back in again and her and Bryn have been best buddies ever since.
Gilda and Bryn meet from Emma Hooper on Vimeo.
We had missed having that mischievous little pony in our lives. Little old Kezia has got stuck straight back into being a 'gal wiv a horse' ... in fact, she has wanted to be really involved this time around. She actively now wants to care properly for Gilda, instead of just wanting to do jobs once in a blue moon. i can no longer go up the yard with Kez without her doing some of the poo picking and she insists on giving Gilda a full groom and hoof check each visit. It is absolutely adorable and really shows how much she has grown up in the last 6 months.
There was an additional highlight to March, especially for Kezia ... her Lower School PTA paid for an indoor ice rink to be set up in the school hall for the day, and every class got to have a lesson on it. Us parents were given our class's time so that we could also be there to watch and help. Kezia loved it. First few circuits she went around holding onto my hand ... then she moved onto holding just the barrier and by the end of the half hour she was rolling freestyle, so to speak. Ruddy amazing! I could barely stand up!
Just before the Easter Hols it was time to point our toes for another ballet exam. As always, we were allowed to watch the last class of term and Mr Maurice took the girls through one last final exam prep. All the preparation obviously paid off, as Kezia got another Merit. Colour us proud!
The Easter Hols couldn't get here quick enough - the end of the Spring Term seemed to take ages to get here! We had some lovely days out and reinstated our picnic days up the yard.
Grum and Kez had a surprise on one of our field days, as Kez picked up what she thought was a worm only to discover it was grass snake as it flicked itself out from between her fingers! Well, as you know dearest mamma is ever so au fait and at one with nature ... she used Kez as a snake detector from then on!
We ended the Easter Hols with a day trip to Audley End with Grum and Grandpa. It was a lovely day. They have a fantastic interactive nursery at Audley, which means that children (and adults) can use the rooms as if they were theirs (within reason, of course!) and there are toys to play with, chairs to sit on, things on shelves and in bookcases to look at and touch and some clothes to dress up in too. It was brilliant. Pops certainly seemed to find his inner vicar, as he occupied the chair by the fireplace for some light reading!
