Verona Strauss.comjust because life is fun! …

holding the black lamb an hour after he was born

At 1pm the phone rang. I had just finished lunch and was reading a book called ‘The illustrated mum’. Mummy came in and said “We have to hurry. You have to get dressed straight away with a warm jumper, wellies and waterproofs!”

I wondered what was going on, and Mummy told me that one of the Ewes at Poppy’s farm was giving birth to her babies. If we hurried up, I might make it in time to see them being born!

I got ready in 20 seconds and lept into the car.

When we arrived, Flatty the ewe was eating grass, then she laid down and pushed a bit and then got up and wandered off! It didn’t look like she was going to lamb after all. I felt a bit disappointed, but we went inside and had something to eat.

When we came back out, it started to rain, so we bought Flatty into a polytunnel to keep her warm. She came out of the polytunnel and was exploring around the farm. Eventually she settled in the polytunnel in the most awkward place of all. She squeezed herself in between things so that we couldn’t get to her very well.

She took a long time to have her babies and we didn’t think they would come at all. Eventually she needed

Holding the white lamb while Mummy gives her a bath!

some help to have her lambs. T had to pull them out, but Flatty didn’t seem to mind. Flatty had a black boy and a white girl at 6pm and one of the lambs had their leg behind them which is why Flatty couldn’t push them out by herself.

It took such a long time, but I didn’t mind waiting because I really wanted to see her give birth. Next time I would like it if the sheep can do it on her own, rather than having to have help. The lambs are very cute and happy and like to be cuddled.

After that I had to start on my farm work - we still had all the jobs to do. So I went home very tired, ready for a hot bath, something to eat and bed.

It was a really sunny day and Daddy decided to prune some of the sycamore trees in our front garden. Out we went into the sunshine that streamed down our back and faces. There was a little breeze rustling our hair and the birds were singing their sweet songs.

Daddy got his ladder. He set it against a strong branch in the tree and climbed up. You see, my Daddy isn’t scared of heights! He started trimming the branches, throwing them down to me and I dragged them into a neat pile out of the way.

I wore my cap with eye protection so that no branches poked into my eyes. After Daddy had done one side, we went to our next door neighbour to ask if we could put our ladder there and take down the rest of the branches. I followed him in my yellow crocs.

Our neighbour said yes, so Daddy put the ladder on the bed having first made sure the plants were happy and he climbed up again. Soon he had finished, the branches were in a neat pile and I climbed inside to make a bed. The branches were prickly and I pretended I was a poor lost child in the woods called Wendy with only these branches to live in.

Daddy dragged the pile of wood nearer to one side and we both went indoors. Later in the week we will cut up all the branches and save the big pieces for our fire.

There once lived a girl called Sophie. She was seven years old and had brown, short hair and blue eyes.

One Thursday in November, Sophie was feeding her cat, Paddy and Paddy was purring around her. Her Mum came down “Goodness Sophie!” she exclaimed “what a mess. Look at all these things scattered around.”

So Sophie tidied up - there were books, jigsaw pieces, plastic money and lots more. It took her half an hour to tidy up. As she was finishing tidying her books her Mum came in. “Well done Sophie”, she said “I’ve just had a letter in the post inviting you to Megan’s party on Saturday at 11 o’clock. Would you like to go?”

“yes please!” said Sophie.

“I’ll just go and ‘phone now.” While Mum was gone, Sophie got herself some sandwiches and cucumber and thought about Megan’s party as she munched.

At last Saturday came and Sophie got ready to go to the party. At ten to 11 they started off. They knocked on the knocker and went in.

There was some music playing and the children were saying hello to one another. Sophie spoted Megan wearing a flashing badge, sparkly t-shirts and jeans. She gave Megan her present and gave Megan her present before running off to join her friends.

When all the guests arrived, Megan’s Mum, Judy announced that they would play musical statues. Sophie won!

She proudly took her prize and popped it in her party bag. Then they played sleeping lions and Holly won.

At 12 o’clock it was time for lunch. There were chocolate bars, sandwiches, crisps, biscuits and some very yummy Birthday cake. They had a little rest before playing pass the parcel. Sophie was the second one to unwrap the parcel and she got a hard boiled sweet and was very pleased. She put it in her party bag and played the rest of the game.

Soon the Mums came. Sophie said goodbye to her friends, picked up her party bag and ran to her Mother. “Hello darling!” her Mum said, “Did you have a good time?”

“Of course Mum!” Sophie cried, leaping into her mother’s arms.

Sophie’s Mother thanked Megan for having her and they left.

When they got home, Sophie went in to say hello to Paddy. She then looked inside her party bag. There was some cake, a rubber and pencil and a note saying ‘I hope you had a lovely time.’

“That’s very nice.” Sophie’s mother said “You may eat the cake now.”