Joshua 5 Germany 0

Well the boys first ever World Cup ends in disaster with England losing 4:1 to a dominant German side. I think Joshua should now replace Wayne Rooney given that he scored 5 goals at the Little Kickers football club on Sunday morning. 2 weeks ago we were so proud of Joshua for saying Eng"er"land for the first time and had it as the ring tone for our phones. Joshua understands that England lost and now runs around shouting "Engerland not good". Maybe he should replace Fabio as well as Rooney - the new Enlgand player/manager is........

Also yesterday Joshua was sitting at the dinner table and was watching me use a knife in one hand and a fork in the other. For the first time ever he tried to copy me using both hands and a knife and fork, normally he would just use one had with a spoon or fork.

With all this hot weather the boys have really been enjoying the paddling pool and water pistols. I have to say it is quite nice to get squirted with cold water, and its even more fun charging around the garden and chasing around the trampoline shooting the boys. Here is me teaching Joshua the art of war with the water pistols.

In the end I am forced to surrender.

Brandon has not yet got the hand strength to pull the trigger so he is far less subtle. He just fills a container or a toy boat with water and blatantly throws it over you.

Huggle

Updates for this week - well firstly Brandon has moved up into his new class at nursery and has settled in very well. He seems to really enjoy playing with the cars in there. No surprises there really! Joshua has invented a new word called huggle. Given that he usually wants a hug when he requests this, I am guessing it is a mixture of hug and snuggle.

The two boys have been soaking themselves, the garden and everything else by playing in their Roary Paddling pool during this mini heatwave. Today the addition to their garden toys was this Roary racing car ball bit. Another great bargain picked up..........

Also the boys are still both being primed nicely for a future of outdoor experiences and camping. Today we set-up this nice little 2 man tent in the garden and as you can see both Joshua and Brandon enjoyed bundling their Dad again.

Ping Pong Pee

I returned from the Czech Republic this week and was amazed at home much the boys had both changed after just 4 days. Joshua's voice seemed very different, maybe he has a slight croaky throat or maybe its just the rapid speed they grow. I missed the boys like mad and flying back Thursday night there was a toddler on the plane about 2 seats in front of me screaming the plane down during the landing. Normally I would have been one of those passengers cursing the child to be quiet, but I was missing Joshua and Brandon so much that the noise was actually comforting and made me think of them even more. I wanted to get up and go and see the little toddler!

Anyway whilst talking with some of my work colleagues I picked up another great parenting tip this week. You see having seen Daddy do it several times Joshua has been showing interest in wanting to wee standing but I have been worried about his accuracy and the mess. Well the suggestion was to make a game out of wee time and put a "ping pong" ball down the toilet for him to aim at. What a great idea!!! So this weekend we purchased a bright coloured table tennis ball for each toilet and Joshua is loving trying to wee on the ball.

Its now just over a month away until my 24 hr race and time to start thinking about a basic camping set-up to see me through the event. Joshua and Brandon treated their Daddy to a nice little 2 man tent and some other camping bits for Father's day - what great kids eh!. We set the tent up at home and the boys loved it, in fact we had tears when I tried t put it away. I guess thats a good sign that we have another 2 keen campers in the house.

Anyway here is my little tent with the boys playing in it.

Joshua pulling a silly face on my little camping chair. It may be small but boy is it comfortable. Perfect for resting those tired legs during the race.

Brandon can stand on my chair and his head just about reaches the roof of the tent.

Joshua testing out my bed. OK its not going to be comfortable, but I will be so tired from all the running this will feel like laying on cotton wool with a sleeping bag on top .

Once the tent was away we had some major temper tantrums. So as I compromise I dusted off the old Graco Olympic playpen. Brandon absolutely loves playing in the pen, especially if you through footballs at him from the outside.

I think Brandon would quite happily set-up camp in here rather than his Daddies tent.

We have an escapee!

Now is this one happy chappie?

World Cup 2010

Before I get into the World Cup 2010 here are a couple of nice / rare pictures of Brandon getting to play with the bargain digger which Josh seems to have claimed as his.

The little guy found it hilarious when the builders hat slid down his face.

So onto South Africa 2010 and what is to be the boys first ever World Cup. Here is a picture of Tina and both the boys in all of their England gear.

And here is Daddy with the boys. Sorry no England shirt so its the Holland shirt for me. Always good to have a plan B back-up team for when England get knocked out.

And here is all four of us - spot the odd one out? Yes Tina is a female.

Joshua getting all ready for kick-off with his football whistle.

And Brandon warming up with his new mini England football.

Unfortunately Brandon was asleep before Englands kick-off against the USA. But Joshua stayed up until half time yelling "E-N-GER-LAND" whilst sitting on Dad's lap swigging a beer. Does life get any better.

Unfortunately Joshua's first England World cup experience was short lived as England drew 1-1 with the yanks (poor). Joshua got his redemption at football club today though by showing our boys how it is done with a whopping 5 goals. The coach said that all of them were on fire today and really mixed up the class introducing lots of new skills. And all of the kids were nailing the lot....... it must be World Cup fever kicking in.

Finally lets not forget on Friday it was Tina's birthday and so both boys got to sing happy birthday to their Mum and to take her out for a "nice dinner". The candles for her cakes were more like mini fireworks (see below) and not even Joshua could blow these babies out.

Race For Life

Firstly a big well done to Joshua and Brandon's Nanny, Auntie Nicky and cousins Zoe & Amy for completing the 5k race for life at the weekend. Given what their Nanny and Auntie have been through lately with the big C then this is a very worthy charity and a remarkable achievement. The boys enjoyed the day out in the park to provide support - and to give their Dad a 5k run around by chasing around after them both.

Both boys have been in the wars this week. Poor Joshua had to go for his first blood test at the hospital on Monday and little Brandon is going through more teething. Joshua was a complete soldier with his blood test and the hand spray they just clearly work very well as he didn't even flinch when the needle went in. In fact the first he knew was when they had finished and he noticed a plaster on his hand. With Brandon once again we have had 2 or 3 real bad nights with the teething despite the bonjela and calpol.

Both boys continue to get smarter and smarter. Joshua now knows the first line of our address and can also direct you to our house from inside the car - he knows exactly where he is going. Brandon's vocabulary is expanding at a rate of knots as he tries to replicate everything you say. He has also reach the stage where he now understands lots of sentences. For example you can say to him something like "go and give that bottle to Mummy" or "go upstairs as it is bath time" and he knows exactly what to do. The slightest mention of the word "Breakfast", "lunchies" or "dinner" and he drops everything and is hanging around the leg of his chair waiting to be picked up.

Young Masterchef 2010

3 of the most painful things a man can experience are 1) a kick to the crown jewels, 2) man flu and 3) a proper sickening dead leg. Unfortunately women can only experience 1 of the 3 so they probably won't fully understand this blog. Anyway poor Joshua had his first dead leg earlier this week and I felt really sorry for the poor boy. Me and Brandon were playing on the bed and Joshua decided to start jumping on the bed and then bundle us. The result was the fleshy part of his thigh landing right on the point of my elbow. For the next day and a half all we heard from him was "my leg hurts, Daddy did it!" - nothing to do with the fact he was jumping all over our bed. I bet the nursery think I am a great Dad - a 2nd dan in karate and a son with a bruised leg running around saying "Daddy did it!".

Brandon managed to get his first go on the ride-on horse in town today. Normally this is one of Joshua's Saturday treats but for once Josh was engrossed in eating. Brandon was looking up at the horse from his buggy as if to say "I want to go". So I let him on there and he absolutely loved it and held onto the handles for the entire ride.

Everyone knows just how much Brandon likes his food. Well I started to wheel the barlecue out of the garage for dinner tonight and the first thing he said was "dinner". So he has made the link between the barlecue and dinner. As you can see from below he is a bit of a dab hand on the controls and was more than happy to help out with the cooking. Maybe we have a budding young chef in the making.

Following on from "Bargain Hunter" blog earlier this week - check out the latest bargain which Joshua and Brandon's Nanny got them. The digger and scooter have now become second fiddle as Joshua favours performing imaginary missions on his tractor (replicating some of the story lines from the Joey JCB books).

You may not realise it but Joshua's little imagination is in full flow and in this picture he is actually moving a tree out of the way using his tractor.

Bargain Hunter

Well as a father of two hungry little boys to feed and an even hungrier bank account to pay all the bills, I am always on the look out for a good bargain. Last week I managed to pick up what I consider to be three very good bargains for the boys. Some of you have already seen the first bargain which is this rather amazing bouncy castle. Both boys absolutely love it and when weather permits them to play in the garden they are both constantly bundling each other on it and clambering out of the side windows. So what was the cost of this bargain - a big fat zero courtesy of a work colleague who kindly gave it to the boys.

I picked up the second bargain on Friday evening courtesy of e-bay and a kind seller from Maldon. I have been looking around for a scooter or balance bike for the boys and stumbled across this Lightning McQueen one in immaculate condition. Normally retails for around £35, cost on e-bay £7.50! Joshua is convinced it is a skate board like what Norman uses on Fireman Sam and keeps asking for the handle part to be taken off.

The final bargain is the dearest of the 3 but probably the show stopper. Both boys have shown a keen interest in diggers and dumpers from various books to their toy diggers and dumpers. Previous blogs have shown how I have been teaching them how diggers, dumpers, steam rollers etc work using sand and stones in the garden. Well I was hunting around for a cheap sit on digger that they could play with in the garden and won this little beauty off of e-bay for the grand sum of £10.50! It is in immaculate condition, comes complete with builders hat and is fully battery operated with full digger articulation. The intention was for this to be a cheap toy to dump in the garden for the boys to play with, but it is so good that we have decided to keep it indoors. Joshua seems very reluctant to share this one at the moment and currently is taking priority over his beloved Little Tykes Police Car. That might be a good thing for Brandon as he will probably now get more time in the police car.

The only bad thing about this digger is that I kind of shot myself in the foot by showing the boys how diggers pick up stones and sand. Yes you can guess exactly what happens now, the boys pick up all the stones in the garden and bring them in to the house to fill the digger up with. So now I am having to teach them that the stones and dirt stay in the garden and that we fill the digger with little balls or small toys when inside.