Best Buddies......

Snapped a pic of the boys yesterday morning having an apple and a chat together. ...I love that they can still spend so much time with each other!

We had a drama yesterday too as the aga was meant to be lit, but water was found in the tank so a major drainage operation was due to be scheduled in. Luckily however, daddy is a super duper mechanical fixer and he sorted it himself so we are lovely and toasty now with the aga and the fire on!! :-)

J at playschool today, the reduced number of children really has made a massive difference to him and his self confidence has soared. It also showed on Wednesday when we went to Tatty Bumpkin and A and J strutted their stuff to the new littlies!

A and H had the playdough out and A has made a penguin copying the one from the box. He also made a superstrucs vehicle following the instructions in the booklet.

After collecting J and a little friend we went and played at a friends house, made a chocolate cake (that the naughty great dane ate half of!) And a chocolate Swiss roll. ...productive afternoon I think.

A went to his first karate session this eve and really enjoyed it even though he just watched. He picked up some moves too and hopefully wants to go back next week :-)

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Little Things....

Came downstairs this morning to A sitting at the table writing out numbers 1-12, from memory not copying anything.  He was so proud of himself and I was super proud of him too!! It also came just at the right time, as I had been thinking that we hadn't done much letter/number formation recently....he was one step ahead :-)
J is coming on really well with using Reading Eggs, it is a daily request at the moment and he really enjoys it.
H has finally learnt that he can escape from his bed....thanks to J who has taught him well in this and other areas of dangermouse antics!! H has also gone to bed and to sleep without screaming this evening...he is listening to Heart FM instead of his lullabies........

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Snow buddies....

A has become interested in watching the 'buddies' films with the puppies in. Today he is watching Snow Buddies, halfway through he has located some big boxes and taken them outside to construct a sleigh. he has used cellotape with some help (must get a dispenser! ) has moved it into the little play house so it doesn't get wet and has started to paint it. Grey and yellow. He has had to mix the grey himself using black and white and made the yellow into lightening flashes down the side. He has added string for the reins and has decided on using Milo our dog, and Betty a friends great dane as his sleigh dogs, as they need to be strong to pull him. Now he has gone back to watching the rest of the film to get some more ideas. Makes me happy to watch him and hear him say 'mummy why do people not do this all the time, its cool!'

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Messy stuff.....

Soap flakes and water created mega bubble fun!  We added paint, red and yellow to make orange. We whisked and stired and rolled cars through it. A did some writing in it and after we had finished, H paddled in it. Definitely something we will do again as there are so many different things we can do with it :-)

New Fish Tank

A quieter day for Sunday after the excitment of Castles and Tunnels, and we had our new fishtank to get ready.

Daddy setting it all up

Bob and the gang happy in their new home

Took Bob a bit of getting used to as he kept banging into the glass but he is far more active now and so are his little buddies, one you can see to the left just behind the weed.

H is off now as well walking along the furniture and properly crawling to attack all things belonging to his big brothers!!!

Dover Castle

Saturday we decided to go off on an adventure to Dover Castle and hopefully meet the King.

The journey down was fine, boys all watching DVDs and only a few 'are we nearly there yet?'s. Boys were quite excited about going to a huge castle and J was impressed that he might see the King!

First off we went on the 'Operation Dynamo' tunnel tour. Very dark and very interesting, you go into different rooms and watch projections and hear about the planning etc of Operation Dynamo. One of the best parts was the projection along a wall that kept moving along it had props and  it felt like you were seeing it properly. A very visual and audio tour that the boys could keep up with. They liked looking at the communication equipment and all the different rooms that were used.

Next stop was the 'Hospital' tunnel tour, again very dark but this time you follow an airman who has been injured on his journey through the hospital (which in fact was only really a dressing station, and once patched up the injured were sent on to proper hospitals). It again is visual and audio and even had the smells that associated with particular areas i.e antiseptic in the wards and food in the kitchens (J liked that, he also would have liked their dinner!) Lots to look at here and as we were at the back of the tour we could meander thorugh slowly taking it all in. An impressive part for the boys was that the toilets and basins in the tunnels were exactly the same as in our house, the guide said people often don't think they had toilets in the tunnels, but of course they did.

Out of the tunnels at the edge of the cliff

Guns

It was ridiculously windy at the castle and we were lucky not to blow away! After some lunch and a look up the viewing tower out to sea, we just about saw France, we set off to have a picnic as Daddy was getting hungry :-)

Next stop was to be the Castle itself, lots of steps which the boys coped with very well although A decided he would not like to live in a castle because of this!

 Knights helmets along with swords and bow and arrows

 Very impressed with the shields

 King A and King J

 Stiring up some porridge in the kitchens

Sitting on the stool and turning the spit

Unfortuantly we just missed the King but we did see a Lord and some other characters walking about in costume. There was also a beautiful stained glass window but I don't have the pictures of that, I shall get them though. It was a lovely day and the boys did really well they were interested and enthusiastic and were complemented by the tour guide on their behaviour within the tunnels.

Once home A made a map and then proceeded to take us on his own tour of the tunnels, pointing out the places where the soldiers slept and ate and even the shed were they kept their toys.........!!

Always learning...... :-)



End of May.....

Lots of learning has taken place this last month, in all shapes and forms, for all including myself as we go through the days past. If we can have a moment during the day when all 3 boys are happy and not grumping about something then our day has been good - oh the joys of the small people!

Both A and J have become scooter crazy and can be seen pretty much every morning zipping up and down the path, practicing new 'stunts' etc. We do now have to take our scooters everywhere where there may be a chance that we scoot.

We also got A a new bike and upgraded J's with new stabilisers, at the moment they are happy to ride up and down the path but thats about it - im sure it wont be long before they are properly off!!

A has taken a massive interest in Roald Dahl and we have read 4 of his books, just starting the 5th at bedtime, which he looks forward to each night. We have also discussed various parts of the books and have written down his comments so we can refer back to them when he chooses to reread the books himself.

So far 'James and the Giant Peach' (he has seen the prodution at the theatre) 'The BFG' (we now have the DVD) 'Georges Marvellous Medicine' 'Fantastic Mr Fox' and 'Danny the Champion of the World'.

 Playing in the new sandpit

Playing on the activity tray

As March Comes to an End.....

April...still cold. If only the wind would go away I'm sure it would feel a lot warmer, you look outside at the beautiful blue cloudless sky and imagine it to be, damn this misleading weather!
I seem to have lost a week in my blogging so will attempt to bring things up to date.
J's birthday last Wednesday saw him turn 3 and become the proud owner of many Batman toys... and some walkie talkies....

Last week he was lovely this week he has become the monster that lurks beneath  tiring and trying to deal with on an constant basis but there it goes.

A couple of explorers down by the pond

On Saturday Daddy took the boys to see 'Monsters Inc' at the cinema (their first experience of this) which they enjoyed but struggled with towards the end. Like most children they can only sit still for so long!!

J was a banshee in the afternoon so he and I went for a walk up to the woods so he could get some fresh air and play with sticks. It was actually really nice just to go for a walk, not because we had to take Milo out, but just because we wanted to.

Easter Sunday = Easter egg hunt in the garden in pyjamas!! Successful!! H enjoyed his little bunny and the boys enjoyed their eggs. As expected J whined on about another egg and another egg so in the end ate 9. He wasn't sick.

Gaba, Pops, Uncle T and Aunty J came round for roast beef - extremely tasty - and treacle sponge. They spent quite a bit of time doing playdoh with J and A.

Bank holiday Daddy went to work for a bit so we decided to brave the crowds and go to Fishers....wasn't that bad but we didn't stay long...just to do the Easter Egg hunt and have a chicken lay us a creme egg!!!

Later in the afternoon we all ventured out to B&Q and got some new garden furniture and a BBQ all extremely good prices - always a bonus!! Now we just need the weather!

We discovered that the Sussex County Ploughing Match is to be held at the farm this weekend, so cold or not we shall be having a BBQ!!!!

Playing in the woods and having our lovely friend from up county come to see us was how yesterday panned out, the boys even managed some trampoline time and bubble blowing before they froze!

Today has seen us go to Tilgate to the swings with Gaba, and have lunch at the Smith and Western. Yummy.

The wind has changed direction today and the house or kitchen i should say is defiantly colder. It would have been nice if the Aga could have held out for a few more days but nevermind, the 1st April is normally when we turn it off, its just not normally soooo cold still!!!

A's drawing of some cacti  :-)

Bit More Sickness and J's Party Weekend...

Yes that's right, the sickness bug hit us again, well me actually and so far everyone else has missed it - thankfully. I had a lovely Thursday planned for the boys but it wasn't to be, as I felt too awful to do anything. A was very good at being 'man of the house' and looking after J, he even took a phone call from daddy without me knowing and informed him that I couldn't come to the phone as I was being sick.

Friday was another day and feeling better I took the smallest two to Gabas so A and I could create J's birthday cake and grab any last bits and bobs. A trip to Sainsburys, Truffles for coffee and cake and the pet shop took us a while, but it was lovely to be out with just my big boy. He however decided that being an only child was boring and not at all fun, likewise J felt the same the other day at Fishers when he was on his own.

The Sweetie Cake Creation!!

A ate quite a lot of the buttercream whilst we were decorating and soon felt sick, he did a good job of sticking the sweeties on and didn't eat that many!

Saturday. Party Day for master J!! He was very excited but not quite sure what was going to happen I don't think. Once all was ready we set off to the leisure centre to set up and J saw his cake for the first time. 'Wow' and then silence then 'is that for me? you can all share it and my friends' bless him.

Pre Party Family Picture!

Party was a great success all his little friends enjoyed themselves, he enjoyed himself, minimal mess to clear up due to the use of party boxes for food and lots of lovely presents to open when we got home.

Now when we got home there was another surprise for the boys - BatGrandad!!

Lots of lovely presents to open including a guitar, puzzles, money box, books, games, DVD, dinosaurs and a massive set of plasticine from grandad and penny. So it goes that he would start playing with his old cars again......

A new book arrived today 'How to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk' I like to read about and try different approaches with the boys in some areas of parenting and tend to pick out bits that are relevant to us and put them in to practice. I started reading it and today we have put some of the ideas to the test, and they have worked :-) for how long I don't know but its a start!!

Daddy has put up J's new bedside light, so he couldn't wait to go to bed and have a story. I left him leafing through the book again looking at pictures, just like A used to and sometimes still does although he prefers to  do some Lego building before he goes to sleep.

The Plasticine came out first thing and stayed out for about 2 hrs worth of continued modelling. Angry Birds was the theme of the day and we modelled some of the birds and the piggies.

J built a tower for the piggies to sit on and they took turns at trying to knock them off

Daddy then made a Stop Frame Animation using our models. I will try to upload it tomorrow as our internet connection is really slow today.

I took Milo out earlier and I don't think I've ever been so cold!! Absolutely freezing!! We then went on a mission to get J's birthday present - completed! Then went to Gabas for roast dinner. Cheeky H stole a roast potato from off my plate and happily wiped his hands all over Pops's nice white t-shirt, treacle sponge for pudding was appreciated by all.

J had his present from them whilst we were there....

You can't quite see his face but the word WOW featured again!!!

Hours of fun have been had driving into people, vrooming around the room and so on.... definitely a hit on the present front!! He has got very good at controlling it in the short time he has had it. Its due to be charged again over night for more action play tomorrow, he is desperate to take it outside in the mud!

Arty After Dinner...

J wanted to go to Fishers this morning, so after dropping A at playschool and taking Milo for a run around the woods, where we got stuck in lots of mud, we headed for home to collect Gaba and off we went.
Lots of building work going on at Fishers at the moment so its quite exciting for the boys!

New arrivals!! 

Bongo playing! 

Bouncy...bouncy!!

Just before we left J had a mega tantrum, not sure why really......but it lasted all the way home and then some!!

H has now decided that standing is the way to go and will try to do it at any opportunity, even throwing a wobbly until you stand him up when he becomes all smiles again!

A thought a bit of arts and crafts was in order after dinner so out came the glue and glitter, feathers and felt, and even scissors for cutting practice, which A is getting very good at.

A's spring creation from playschool 

I gave H a feather to play with, he loved it and he took delight in tickling J who was in hysterics!!

Lastly the face paints came out - they are not the best but I turned A into a puppy and both boys took it in turns to transform me into an interesting animal possibly a dog too!!

Has Spring Sprung???

Beautiful spring day today...long may it last!

Boys went back to the Montessori today so it was just H and I, haven't been big child free for about 3 weeks and it was lovely. I went down to a friends, caught up on all the gossip and had lunch before picking up the boys and taking Milo for a walk.

Dinner was a chore this evening as they were all being pesky, all were extremely tired including H and they have since gone to bed early.

I have had some more people say yes to coming to J's party and some say no, all accounted for now there are 9 coming, which is fine by me! I'm hoping to spend Friday morning with A so we can do J's cake and get any last minute bits and bobs and then we have been invited to Westows in Hove for a run around in the softplay.

Teeth..

Thought I would document the fact that H now has 4 teeth and possibly another 2 on the way - is this the reason for the snot and general ickiness?? Proberly not but hey ho!

He also is standing at the chair/table and when sitting down he has that look that says 'I want to move...but how...' Milk intake has gone down dramatically, but food intake has risen so still in balance.

We went to B & Q today with Gaba in search of wallpaper for H's bedroom, but found none that leapt out saying buy me! Tried Wilkos too and that was even worse!

Fishers in the afternoon for a play with friends, luckily under cover as the weather was horrendous - hail that covered the roads white and rain like you wouldn't believe!! All the children in there today seemed to be easily upset and ours were no exception, H had a proper choking episode - not fun - but he recovered quickly and was laughing afterwards, unlike me!

Back to Montessori tomorrow after a few weeks off because of our holiday, only 1 more week and they are off again for Easter! Lots of Easter craft activities planned for them and hopefully a swimming trip to end our week.

Rain...

Another rainy day and our new path flooded as did the garden, never seen so much water!

Lego creations by the dozen, the new 'Lego Ideas' book has been well thumbed and you can see when A has looked for inspiration in his creations.

J has been building towers of towns from Duplo, and Hotwheels are creeping back in to their playing.

We had a 1st birthday party in the afternoon, pirate themed with a bouncy castle. Boys loved it as their was only 4 big children inc them and they knew the other 2 boys from previous days out. Lots of cake consumed and chocolate coins, so I was expecting a hideous bedtime, but in fact it went well and they were asleep quickly. Leaving us to relax (!) in peace in front of the fire.

Rainy Saturday...

H is doing a lovely dance whilst I'm sitting here writing :0)

More Lego games and Angry Birds today, slotted in between taking Daddy to pick up his truck, shopping for birthday presents and visiting Grandad for his birthday.

Whilst in Boots earlier a security guard kept wandering past us....J has never been so well behaved in a shop!! He was convinced he was a policeman......I didn't like to enlighten him until we had finished!!

As we were in Chichester late this afternoon, Daddy decided we should have a wander around the farm shop near to where we used to live - mainly so he could check out the ciders and beers they stock.

I found some DinoPasta for the boys, which they have since had for tea with a 'lava' sauce. Yummy.

We also got some delicious fudge - but that didn't last long!