And Another Year Goes By....

Well there is not much left of this year now, it started out with worry and hope that our little fat pants baby was all ok after his first scan flagged up an abnormality. He was and is fine, just like we thought he would be, but we still had that little concern right up to minute he was born.

We've had weddings to go to, babies be born, parties to host, days out playing in the sun, days out playing in the rain, snow, holidays with friends, poorly dogs, re homed chickens with next door, guinea pigs becoming stars and new beginnings with Daddies work, it has been a very busy year!

'H' being born brought its own little struggles into our life, especially for 'J'. He was then and still is very demanding in his little way, he likes things to be done right now and is very cuddly. He showed the dreaded green eyed monster quite early on, whereas it took 'A' a little bit longer and his was directed towards 'J' not 'H'. Any how we have overcome that now and just have to contend with toys being snatched away and certain babies screaming their disgust!

'J' started at West Chiltington Montessori with his big brother 'A', and has loved every second of it. 'A' stayed on at the Montessori this year instead of going off to school. I believe it has really helped him grow in confidence by being the eldest there, and also by having 'J' there with him. It is often commented on about how much he has blossomed out of himself and his learning has come on in leaps and bounds, something I'm not sure would have happened if he had been put into a large class full of children. He will easily make friends with other children when we are out, and surprisingly will often be the ring leader!

In the last few days 'A' has also become obsessed with drawing and writing. His pictures now are completely recognisable and he has been doing some sketches of a little plane this afternoon.

 This picture is of a party in the garden

'J' had an overnight stay in East Surrey Hospital due to breathing difficulties in the later part of the year. He responded well to his treatment and touch wood we have been able to keep on top of any recurrences.

'J' decided it was time to ditch the nappies a few months back, which was surprisingly easy, and we have had relatively few accidents. He is definatly one of those children who knows his own mind, right from the beginning when he had to feed himself. I'm starting (after 3 of them) to not worry about all those things that constantly concern you with your first child and just let them decide what is right for them. For example by 7months both 'A' and 'J' were confidently sitting unaided and eating 3 proper meals a day, whereas 'H' can sit unaided but with lots of cushions! and doesn't eat a great deal mainly because i cant get a spoon in his mouth unless he is holding it! Hes still a chunk though so I'm not worried!

There has obviously been some downsides to this year, the horrendous Chicken Pox for one. All 3 boys got it when 'H' was only about 10wks old, 'J' suffered worse with it, the other two managed to get over it quite quickly.

In the early part of September my best friend suffered a small stroke, which quickly became extremely serious as she then suffered more strokes that left her in intensive care with a very poor outlook for life itself. I found this one of the hardest things iv had to deal with in my life and luckily the worst didn't happen and after intense continuing therapy she is slowly coming back to the Shelley I know and love. I feel for her boys, but think they are coping and her partner has certainly made a difference.

Daddies business has gone from strength to strength this year and i hope that next year will be an extremely good one, with lots of opening doors. He finally has downed tools, if only part of the time, and is now operations manager meaning he gets to wear normal clothes to work, not smell of oil and diesel and gets to boss his ever increasing staff members around!! I'm happy that after all that has previously happened, he is where he wants to be, with a big outlook for the future 'Keyhole Automotive' is a lucky company to have him.

Finally Gaba and Pops have solid ground beneath their feet, and are happy where they are living. So am I as its not too far away!! :-) We have missed them considerably during the time they have been away in New Zealand, and the boys (and me!) are desperate for them to get back. 'A' has just informed me that Blue Bear  will be needing some pyjamas soon, so if gaba could just knit him some up that would be great!

Uncle D getting married was a big event this year, and I wish we could have been there with everyone else to celebrate it, but unfortunately the littlies, on a plane for that long, i would have pulled a parachute!

Anyway I enjoyed it all via Skype, so we didn't miss out too much!

It is also funny to note that today the boys have shunned their christmas toys, for all the ones that have been hiding in boxes, so the hotwheels, transformers and batman have made a reapperance!

Now if i have forgotton any thing then do accept my apologies, my brain is fogged and i am slowly flagging.

And then we ended the year with a horrible sickness bug, and Nana being in hospital over christmas. She is home now, our sickness has gone, and we can finally (yes finally, as we have drunk pretty much nothing)  raise a glass to the old year and see in the new!!

Happy New Year!!!!

If you go down to the woods today...

Well even though it is still raining, not hard though, and as we haven't been out for a proper walk for a few days we set off to the woods for a very squelchy walk!

 The boys found a waterfall, which they were running through and throwing sticks into for Milo

Observing the water running over the tree roots

Not one for carrying sticks on his walks, it was quite funny when Milo decided that he would take this 'branch' with him, it was massive and he kept crashing into trees and 'J'.

Once back home, not much has happened, I'm still not feeling great so we've watched a few films and the boys have demolished some sausages. A new book turned up 'The Sandman' part of the Rise of the Guardians series, that we are going to read before we watch the film.

This Christmas has mostly been....

In a haze of wrapping paper and happy children, christmas was celebrated in a subdued manner due to everyone being poorly :-(

Everyone loved their presents however and now we have to find new homes for an array of books, Lego, Hexbugs and of course Bullseye and Woody. The Octonauts cant decide if they want to live downstairs or up near the bathroom ready to jump into adventure at any moment! 'H' is desperately in need of his own little toy box to stop certain big brothers flinging his toys about the place.

The long requested Woody and Bullseye!

'H' and his Eddie the Elephant

Hexbug track being constructed

And off they go!!

Milo was very impressed with his 'flat cat'

It is unfortunate that this horrid sickness bug managed to catch us on the only few days you really don't want to be ill, and that Nana had to spend christmas in hospital on her own, but we have tried to make the best of it.

We have still managed to have an enjoyable few days, the boys especially, seeing family and picking through turkey! We even saw Santa again yesterday!!

 The requested 'police motorbike'

Over the Weekend....

So we start on Saturday with lots of rain again and pancakes for breakfast. The boys are really into drawing in their activity books, 'A' has recently got the hang of dot to dots so has been busy doing these. The activity books have led to some free style map making, and the maps have been filled with danger and mild peril trying to escape from the dreaded 'Katy' (their imaginary, very naughty butterfly friend).

'J' is quite happy at the moment when he is playing in the sink, either emptying water down the overflow or drowning his cars. 'A' joined in with him and they played nicely together, crashing planes and so on.

More drawing took place and I left them to it and took Milo for a walk, 'J' tagged along too, so my nice quiet walk didnt quite go according to plan, as we had to splash in all the puddles and walk very slowly! I also had to talk him out of wading into the following puddle!

Later in the afternoon we took the boys to Nana's house so Daddy and I could go and see our friend. She is now in a neuro-rehabilitation unit and is coming along really well and is being allowed to go home for christmas day :-) She booked Daddy in for her sons 16th birthday party next year, as he is a bit of computer DJ!

The weather got no better following this and I drove us home through floods and allsorts, by which time the littlies had all fallen asleep.

Sunday dawned as a dry day - horray - no rain!!

Today looked a bit like this; Pirate Pairs again, but it was with a lot of arguing!

'J' got the threading beads out, very good for his fine motor skills and 'A' joined in too.

They both made me a lovely necklace, which I have had to wear all day.

'H' had a mega sleep this morning and eventually surfaced around lunch time, when we broke open the cheese and crackers. The boys tried all the different cheeses and quite liked the smoked applewood and the gouda. 'H' has discovered houmous and its definatly a favourite!

One of our lovely friends came round in the afternoon, we havent seen her since the October halfterm so we had lots to catch up on. Daddy had to go and do a little bit of work and the boys have played duplo for the rest of the time. Constructing all types of towers and obstacle courses.

The Shortest Day......

Actually has felt like quite a short day today, maybe helped by the fact that 'J' took himself off to bed at 5pm as his throat hurt, 'H' dozed off at 6pm and its only me and 'A' left watching Fireman Sam.

To start with this morning we popped into play school to give the boys teachers a little present of home made honey comb and glittery cards :-)
I read through 'J's Next Steps, which is like a learning review, he is doing really well and above average for his age in the majority of areas they cover, his communication skills are excellent (we know that!) and his concentration is developing well. We need to work on thinking 'what will happen next....' when reading stories but that's about it. We had a little chat about 'A' as well, he is doing brilliantly and excelling in numbers and shapes. Next term they are going to do simple sums with him and will tie in what we are doing at home with play school for continued learning. His word and letter recognition is really good and he spends entire car journeys pointing out road signs and pub names!

It was Tatty Bumpkin this morning so we joined her for a Christmas Adventure through the giggle tree, in which we met lots of animals that all helped to decorate her christmas tree. We even had a game of pass the parcel, revealing gold coins for everyone!

Next we went into the garden centre and the farm shop to get some sausages for lunch. Once back home the boys started colouring in their Tatty pictures using pastels and felt tip pens. 'A' drew a map and wrote his name.

I had done a big clothes clear out from the boys, so we had bags and bags ready for the clothes bank. We loaded up the car went to the dump and then stopped off at Pulbrough Brooks for a quick walk in the woods with Milo.

That's about it for today as everyone went to bed not long after coming home :-)

Its raining its pouring....

The house is surrounded by a moat, more water than we have ever seen!!
We didn't venture out this morning, not even Milo could be bothered with all that rain, so we watched 'Hook' and played games instead. We started with Pirate Pairs, 'A' is getting very good at this type of memory game 'J' is still learning and mostly picks the same cards again and again! Next 'A' wanted to make words up with the Movable Alphabet. He said what word he wanted to spell, then tried to sound it out with some help. His favourite word at the moment is xray and he can spell that himself, as well as his own name.

'J' wanted to play with the Trace and Learn letters, and he sat quietly going through them saying the pictures and tracing the letters. The Toy Story cards came out after this and we played snap and pairs.

The boys were booked in for a haircut at 1230, so we ventured off out to the hairdressers. 'A's confidence in talking to people is growing day by day. He is speaking loud and clear and answering their questions in a positive voice. They got to sit in a mini version of a hairdresser chair which was fun as normally its just a booster seat. Both of them were chatting to the 'lady', as 'J' kept calling her, about christmas and they both sat still whilst she chopped off their locks.

I had promised them a cake if they sat still, so we went to the bakery and they chose finger donuts with sprinkles, 'J' wanted to have a look at the florist next door and admired all the flowers.

Once back home the paint and stencils came out, and more glittery Santa's, reindeer's and christmas trees were created. Hand prints, finger prints, a jam sandwich for 'H' (he loved it!!) and then the black paint appeared.

We made some mince pie cupcakes and some honeycomb, the latter as a present for their playschool teachers, and I did a shepherds pie for dinner. 'A' didn't want any, but did have some jelly before projectile vomiting across the kitchen - ugh! 'J' polished off his and jelly, a yoghurt, a satsuma and then some crumpets. 'H' really enjoyed it too, he couldn't get it in his mouth quick enough!

After putting on pyjamas we came downstairs for a cuddle, and watched a lovely animation called 'Lost and Found' about a little boy and a penguin. It kept them quiet for half an hour!

Not much....

We didn't get up to much today. 'A' was sick in the night again so he didn't go to playschool, which meant no one got dressed until lunchtime.

'J' disappeared off earlier and i found him playing with the Hama beads. He finds it quite difficult as the beads are very small, but it is good for his finger control so he perservere.
'A' has been making photo stories today. He thinks of a story and photographs the stages involved, then he reads the story out loud whilst looking at the pictures. They have been really good, I have offered to print the pictures out and write underneath them, but he is happy doing them his way.

'A' also was desperate to write out his teachers christmas cards by himself, i wrote the names down for him and he set off with his gold pen, he did quite a good job too!!

Beans on toast is a fave!

Coughs and Sneezes...

Coughs and sneezes spread diseases has been the sentence of the day, along with 'please put your hand up when you cough...'.
I had a friend come round today with her little boy, he is a few months older than 'H' and a lot more interesting to the boys, especially 'J', who could properly interact with him.
'A' has been in a very grown up mood throughout the day, showing that his capabilities and knowledge in things is steadily growing.

We made some chocolate fairy cakes in the afternoon.

It must be nearly christmas....

First thing this morning, after breakfast and watching 'H' do a bit of dancing, which is very funny, we got all the paints out and started to decorate the salt dough we had made.

The boys then decided a bit of stencil painting was in order, 'A' did another santa, rudolf and sleigh but this time used colour for different parts of the picture.

Daddies new r/c helicopter had been charged so they all trooped outside to try and fly it. 'H' and I got there just as the battery started to fade so we didnt see it in action, but the boys thought it was cool!
Fishers farm next for a run about in softplay, the boys met up with some playschool friends, so it made it even more fun for them.
On the way home we stopped at the wood yard to choose a christmas tree. I think the boys are finally getting into the swing of christmas this year, as they are very excited by everything!!

Tree being transported on daddies pickup.

So the tree is up and the lights were going on, and then......they didn't work :-( (they had been tested only last week as well) so daddy and 'A' made a mad dash to pick up some new ones, whilst 'J' and I made some more flat breads.

A decorating frenzy followed and the finished tree is revealed!!! The house is now aglow with lights, it looks very festive!

Lanterns in the Woods....

The boys have had a fun packed day today, started by them both going to work with daddy in his pickup.
They first went to collect some parts, stopping off for chocolate sustenance on the way, then on to Crawley where daddy fixed the SnapOn mans van. They came away with freebie hats and daddy came away with a r/c helicopter - like you do! On the way home they stopped off at the end of the runway at Gatwick to do a bit of plane spotting!!

The postman brought us a few parcels today, one that had come all the way from New Zealand!!
'A' has gone to bed wearing his glow in the dark T-shirt.

After some lunch we bundled, and I mean bundled, into pop's bone shaker of a vehicle (sorry!!) and trundled off to our 'Winter Warmer' at Tilgate Park.

First of all we had to make our lanterns. The boys chose a jar each and then using tissue paper and glue, set about decorating them. Tom, our guide fixed some wire around the tops to hang them from sticks that the boys had also helped to trim up using secateurs with daddies help.

The finished projects!!

At this point we all went off into the forest to find the campfire that was waiting for us. I must say at this point that it easy to forget that 'J' is only 2 and even though his legs are longer than your average 2yr old he does amazingly well at keeping up with everyone in all we do :-)

After walking for about 10mins we came into a clearing and our campfire.



We used a striker to light cotton wool balls that we had fixed onto twigs, to light the fire. The boys had a go at doing this with daddies help, sparks flying everywhere! There was one main rule around the lit fire, which was no walking within the log circle - daddy broke this rule and the boys made sure he knew it!

There was mulled juice and hot chocolate on offer, that was heated up over the fire. 'A' asked Tom, beautifully, if he could have a hot chocolate please and then both the boys sat on their logs, warm and cosy sipping their drinks. Whilst sitting, we were listening out for the blackbirds, that unfortunately we didn't hear, we did however hear a robin telling us it was time to put the fire out as it was getting too warm for him.

When it was time to go, the lanterns were all lit up and in a little procession we made our way through the woods in the dark, and by now the rain (again) back to the car park.

'A's favourite part was lighting up the lanterns and walking back in the dark and 'J's favourite part was having mulled juice by the fire. Daddy enjoyed lighting up the fire using the striker and I just enjoyed everyone enjoying themselves....even 'H' liked watching the campfire!