Brave Soldier

Here is my brave little soldier proudly holding up his certificate for courage. This was awarded to him a week or so ago when he had to go for another blood test. My little soldier was ever so brave and didn't even flinch when the needle went into his hand.............and he sat and watched them do it as well.

Domino's

Earlier tonight I was sitting down with the boys reading some stories books. Somehow we ended up on the floor staking the books in a long row like domino's. Both boys absolutely loved taking it in turns knocking the first book over and then watching as all the others fell. Guess I will be out shopping this weekend for a set of domino's for the boys to play with before I end up ruining all their books!

We even advanced to wiggly snake like domino tracks.

After each run both boys would raise them arms and cheer loudly. Then I would get a finger pointed at me with the words "one more"! Of course one more never seemed to end as after each run it was "one more"!.

Doidy Cup

Just lately Brandon has started to become a bit of a "Daddy's boy" - more so than Joshua if that it at all possible. Of a weekend the little guy just will not leave my side and cries whenever I leave without him. Its a lovely feeling to feel wanted and needed by your children. Of course Joshua gets jealous and often I end up with both of them climbing and clambering all over me.

Anyway the first picture for today's blog was taken a few weekends ago. Its one of those pictures Brandon will hate me for when I dig it out in years to come. Yes, he is wearing a wig with hair curlers in it! The reason, well we was larking around with brave Auntie Nicky who is rapidly losing her hair due to the evil Big C and all agreed to try out some wigs/bandannas.


The next set of pictures are of Brandon playing "In and out the dusty bluebells" but using large pick up sticks to run through. As you can see the sticks are actually taller than he is. Remarkably the little guy somehow managed to break one which is pretty incredible given the thickness of them and the size of him.

And for the final pictures of today here is Brandon making use of Joshua's old Doidy cup and learning to drink all on his own.

Joshua is constantly reminding him - "two hands Brandon"!.

Joshua continues to get smarter each day and has now started to count items in pages on books very well. He has also started to complete some of the puzzles in magazines, like the mazes, and joining up the dots etc. etc. Also Joshua was back on top form at his football club today. The last 2 weeks he has lacked interest which I assume was due to the hot weather. Today his level of participation was very good indeed and he scored a record breaking 8 goals.

I wish I could be beside the seaside........

One of the things we all take for grantage living in this part of the country is just how close we are to the coast. Joshua has been nagging for several weeks that he wants to go to the beach and since today was such a beautiful summers day we headed out for a pleasant afternoon down Shoeberryness. The boys absolutely loved playing in the water, sand and mud and came home soaking wet and filthy - but that's all part of the fun with the beach!

The little dudes seem to have amazingly resilient pain threshold's when it comes to walking on the shingles. Maybe it is their small feet or light body weight. But Joshua was absolutely insistent on not wearing his sandals.

Little Brandon with a couple of handfuls wet muddy sand to throw at Dad and the camera - thanks buddy!

What a cheeky grin.

The tide was in when we arrived but within about an hour and a half the tide was rapidly going out. This was actually quite nice as it left a nice, large soft sand area with a few inches of water for the boys to play in relatively safely.

We managed to find a few live muscles and cockles which I opened up for the boys to show them the animals living inside.

Brandon seemed to enjoy tipping the water all over himself. Maybe this was his way of cooling down on the hot summers day.

But then Joshua wasn't any different.

And if tipping a bucket of water over yourself doesn't work, then just sit down in the sea.

Joshua doing some "dig dig".

I was dead impressed that Joshua recognised the big rocks in the background but even more impressed that he then remembered our "diggers and dumpers" book that we read which has a rock breaking machine. He was telling me how we needed a rock breaker to break up all the rocks.

Once the tide had gone out completely we moved base to the pool area so that the boys could continue playing in the water.

And here is a lovely snap of Joshua giving Brandon a hug. Brothers in arms.

All good things come to an end. And what a perfect way to end the trip than with a walk to the ice cream van.

Cowboys & Indians

The two boys massively enjoyed the bouncy castle which they were given a few weeks ago. However it already had some slow punctures before we was given it, and therefore its days were numbered and did not last much longer. So in the summer sales I managed to pick up a cowboys and Indians themed bouncy castle which the boys thoroughly enjoy playing on

And did you spot their new matching home made "Chuggington" T-Shirts?

Pre-School Soon

Brandon has now started to string a couple of words together. He says “good boy” very well and very clearly. His favourite word at the moment (along with his favourite toy) has got to be “car". Everything is “car”. Anyway here is a nice picture of Brandon chilling in the garden on a nice summers day.

Brandon has taken to Joshua’s see-saw and quite often sits on this and just rocks himself backwards and forwards saying “see saw”. At the weekend he was a bit of a Daddy’s boy and wouldn’t leave me alone (which was nice). Saturday evening we were on the trampoline and he just came up and gave me a lovely cuddle for about 5 mins or so. Here is the little guy on the see-saw.

Joshua is getting very good on his Lightning McQueen scooter now and has now ventured all the way to the shops on it. This has freed up the Lightning McQueen trike for Brandon to use. Also at the weekend we tried Joshua on a 12” bike with stabilisers and he is definitely ready for his first proper bike - I was amazed and shocked how well he could pedal and steer. He was managing to pedal the bike all around the shop and steering on his own at the same time. So I guess with his birthday coming up soon then a bike will be high on his list.

Joshua has also now started to learn some table manners. At lunchtime on Saturday he caught me by surprise as I took a mouthful of panini and then started to talk. He promptly told me not to talk with my mouth full. It must be something they are teaching the kids at nursery as we have not started to teach him this yet.

The other good news about Joshua is that he has been accepted into our local pre-school. So come September he will be doing 2 full days in his current nursery and then 2 x 2 hours afternoons in the pre-school. Its will be good for him as hopefully he will get to know some of the children that he will eventually go to school with and it starts getting him into the routine of going to a type of school more than twice a week.

Pixi Foto

The latest instalment from "Pixi Foto" is available and I have to say there are some stunning pictures of the boys here. How grown up does Joshua look in the pictures of him sitting down. So my next job is to get all these framed and then find space up stair walls which are very rapidly running out of space. Anyway if anyone would like a print of any of the pictures then just let me know which one and the size and I will print them off and send them. The pictures on this site have been reduced down significantly in size for web use and will not print off very well.