How much is 2 1/2 tons?

So how much soil is 2 1/2 tons of soil? This much! Steve ordered some topsoil for the remaining veggie patch. "How much do we need?" he asked me. "I don't know" was my answer. So he ordered 2 1/2 tons, I guess by recommendation of the guy from the topsoil place. It arrived on a lorry. Luke was ever so excited! And they tipped it in our driveway, where much of it still remains, 3 days later. Between the 3 of us (Me, Steve & Jude) we must have wheeled about 60 wheelbarrows full into our veggie patch. There's still about 1/2 a ton left in the driveway but we will put it to good use.

So the veggie garden is almost finished. Here's hoping that something actually grows. I've never managed to keep even a house plant alive, so I guess its wishful thinking that we will have a bumper crop of juicy organic, caterpillar free vegetables this year. Yesterday was a glorious day again so Steve dug in the remaining four pallets. One of them is for peas, one for carrots, one for parsnips and one for red cabbage. At the moment they are still seeds so there's not much to see. I also planted in 2 blackcurrant bushes, 4 raspberry canes, and a red currant bush. There is still one patch left which we will grow beans and pumkins in. I'm hoping that now all the digging is done it will get a lot easier. I have made an earwig trap out of a stick, some hay and a small plant pot as there seems to be a lot of earwigs that like munching on juicy leaves. I don't know if the trap will work, but I hope so.

Luke has yet another streaming cold and is very miserable again (this is him this evening eating chocolate cappucino powder whilst I was cooking the dinner). The last cold he had lasted 4 weeks. He finally got rid of it 2 weeks ago and now he has another one! I'm starting to wonder if it is an allergy. This one started on Friday when I was cleaning out under our bed. It was very dusty and I pulled the bed back and was hoovering. Luke was sneezing terribly and has had a cold since then. Today I bought him some vitamins (although I don't like giving the kids synthetic vitamins) and some echinacea drops. I've also been feeding him lots of berries. I sometimes wonder if spending the first week of his life on antibiotics killed any immune system that he had.
On Sunday night when we all went to bed we each found a card on our pillow from Sam. Cute little dog in saucer cards that he got at Christmas time. My one read
"Dear Mummy
I love you so much
You are like Lush in my bath
You make life exiten and keep
me nice and fresh
From Sam"

Isn't that just so cute! And I love Lush in my bath too :)
I'll be sad when the kids grow out of leaving little notes on the pillow. Jude left me the cutest letter in my bed a few weeks back that had me in tears. It read...
"To Mummy
I love you as much as a manchin with 600 chimnies and 500,00 satalights! How much do you love me? I have written you a story and I hope you like it. One day in a faraway castle there lived a queen and she had six sons and she was to choose one to be crowned king. She didnt know how to. She didnt know who was and wasent wise. SO the next day she got 6 eggs and gave them to 3 of her sons (she new the others werent wise). One said lovely eggs! The other said There a bit sour, and the other just said thankyou mother for the most kind meal. So he became king and they ALL lived happily ever after. Jude xoxoxoxox"

I think we have a budding writer in the family, and a wise one at that. Those notes will both go into my little box of precious things.

Well, I got a funny email today from Davy "Hi Hazel As you know, I'm constantly on the lookout for ever more imaginative ways to brighten up your blog, so how about this one: Heather fancies a couple of days of serious pampering, and apparently tea and heavily buttered toast in bed just isn't good enough, so she would like to know if you fancy two or three days away at a health spa. I've linked one below, but it's just an example -- there are plenty more. Do you think Steve could cope with the kids for a couple of days? I've already volunteered to look after Catherine and since Steve is three times better with kids than I am, it should be no problem to look after three. I don't think she has a date in mind yet but I suppose late May or June would be best as it's bound to be a lot busier in the summer months. Can you let us know. Davy the failed masseuse."

So I'm off to a health farm! Wahey! I've always wanted to spend a few days in the lap of luxury beautifying myself. I certainly need it. I said yes straight away, then I thought about the cost and what else we could do with the money. But I got an email from Steve saying that I deserve to go and pamper myself for a weekend. No need to ask twice! And just to top it off, Steve is going to take me away for a weekend in October. He wont tell me where yet, although I know it is somewhere I've never been before, with an E in the title of the city! Yes, I'm getting clues again. Just like I did for Brussels last year. Steve sent me 3 clues over 3 weeks and I had to guess what the surprise was. This time I've had 2 clues and I have no idea when I will find out for sure.