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!

Back to basics.....

Today is day 1 of making sure I try to write the blog everyday!!  I want our journey without boundaries to be documented and I think I am letting it slip a bit.........

The boys are enjoying some free play this morning using Lego, Modelling foam and various cars.

Later on we are going to make some ladybirds for counting and possibly some 'red nose cupcakes'.

I have finally finished the washing from our holiday - hooray!!

This morning I have been trying to decide on food and party bag ideas for J's birthday party next weekend. After various inputs I think I shall go down the route of party picnic boxes for food (thank you Gaba :-)) opefully less mess to tidy up and little buckets with sweeties and bubbles in for 'party bags'. I hate crappy party bags full of toot that normally finds its way into the bin within hours of being back from a party!

I have found an excellent website littlepartybugs.co.uk that I can get everything from so thats what I shall be doing later!

Update on this afternoon goes along the lines of H sleeping from 1030am until 1pm, by which time we had to go out and get some kindling for the fire as it was freezing, and then we popped into see Gaba and Pops, where Angry Birds, the Duplo game and the Lego game were played before coming back for our shopping delivery.

Playing in bedrooms building tracks and watching Octonauts before dinner and a bath and bed.
Also seeing Daddy before bedtime was fun for them and him, as he thinks the last time he saw H awake was Tues night ???? It happens.

Holidays.....

We are back from our lovely holiday in Lanzarote, where we left hot, hot sunshine for snow....yes snow again.

Sharing knowledge.....still learning 

J and I made a volcano filled with real lava rock! It even erupted much to J's delight!! (basically so he could throw stones!)

A and daddy started to build a channel for the sea to run into 

Soon we were all helping, and we even made a loop on the end to let the sea flow back 

aaaahhhhhh!!!

Just a few pics as I didn't take that many, but others did so i shall upload them as i can :-)

One of the best bits of the hols was the boys gaining their confidence back in swimming on their own again. A was easily swimming the length of the pool and J wasn't too far behind eventually. Swimming is definitely on the agenda now we are back.

Boys were poorly when we were away and i don't think they are quite over it yet still. After a trip to Fishers farm today, where Gaba joined the 'fishers club', he fell asleep in the car and threw up when we got home. A was sick the night we got back and H is still coughing!! Boo to illness in small people!

A has been doing his Reading Eggs again with gusto, its amazing how much he has learnt and the words he now recognises  At Fishers earlier he sounded out and read the word 'Stop' by himself, both boys can read road signs and J is always telling me to watch out for animals  bends, skiddy roads! A is good at recognising the sped limits and then reading the speedo on the car to see if we are ok!

'Bad Piggies' and 'Angry Birds' are featuring heavily in our lives at the moment. Although a source of frustration for A, he is very good at them and working out the best ways of completing them.

Brave Young Knight...

Well yesterday saw Gaba and Pops arrive back home safely, the boys were sooo excited to see them and show them everything from Lego to Hexbugs to bedrooms etc!!
Is funny though because it suddenly felt like they had never been away, which was lovely :-)

Today dawned with an offer from friends to meet up with at Fishers Farm, which we did and we have been there ALL day, I am shattered as are the boys!

Lots of soft play done we headed outside for pony rides, not something the boys have ever been interested in, but the girls were so we went to watch. 'J' decided he would have a go, but after putting on the riding hat he said it was itchy and he would watch instead.

 'A' was adamant that he would have a go when he was older, until the last minute when he donned the hat and off he went!! He loved it and its on his list for next time. He was so good that they thought he had done it before - telling the pony (i think he was called Trigger) to giddy-up and then to whoa. I am so proud of him for being a brave knight and even more for the fact that he really did enjoy it.

An epic party weekend to come, I'm tired just thinking about it!!!