Homework

Following on from the weekend we now have two very poorly boys. Both laid up with a viral infection and on antibiotics. Neither of them eating much and neither of them sleeping too greatly of a night time. Lets hope the antibiotics kick in and work their magic soon and get the boys back to health and their usual lively selves.

The poorly boys wrapped up on the sofa.

A poorly and tired Brandon will sleep anywhere and in any position.

With Joshua starting school this September I need to get more disciplined with sitting down and doing homework with the boys. Currently I seem to really struggle to fit homework into a busy schedule and at best manage two or three times a week. The trick here though is to try and make homework fun and enjoyable for the children so that they want to do it. This week I have tried a couple of little learning games with the boys using their letter/phonic cards, the fridge magnet letter set and the chalk board.

The first game was finding the magnet letter on the fridge and then putting it on the machine. So I would hold up a random letter from the card pack, and then taking it in turns the boys would have to go to the fridge, find the correct letter and press it into the letter machine.

For the second game I wrote the alphabet on the chalk board and then using the letter/phonic cards I showed the boys a random letter. They then had to go to the chalk board, find the correct letter and then rub it out.

Overall it was a real success and both boys enjoyed themselves so much that we managed to complete the whole alphabet, then numbers and then moved onto shapes! Maybe I am in the wrong profession and should have been a primary school teacher.

Chelsea Youth Squad

Unfortunately Joshua has had a bit of a virus this weekend with a temperature over 100 degrees, So football club was pretty much out of the question for him, but he did at least manage to go swimming (he can now swim 3 lengths of a 25m pool). For Brandon it has been a sporty weekend of bike riding, two football clubs and swimming. Brandon still wants to continue with Little Kickers and often tells you he does not want to go to Forest Glade. However this week he was a little superstar at Forest Glade and did the whole hour session with very little help and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Given that he is the youngest and smallest in the club then it makes this achievement even better. Maybe his enthusiasm and motivation came from the yellow bib that he wore (of course he had to be on the yellow team).

Brandon sporting his yellow bob and practising some ball skills at Forest Glade.

The boys were also both spoilt this weekend by their Auntie Nicky and Nanny. Brandon with yet more cars and Joshua with a rather cool ball gun which we have all felt the raft of. However naughty Nanny has bought the two boys these gorgeous little outfits ready for Auntie Joe's wedding which we will be attending later in the year.

Brandon's catalogue pose.

Joshua trying to pull off the sweet and innocent look, butter wouldn't melt..........

Abacus Acceptance for Joshua

Some great news received yesterday. Joshua has been accepted into Abacus Primary School which was our first choice for the boys. Joshua is over the moon with the news as he already has some friends which started there last September and a few of his friends from pre-school will be starting there with him this September. So the countdown starts with only 4 months left at pre-school and nursery before Joshua embarks upon the next phase of his schooling. Time to get saving to buy his first school uniform, yellow polo shirts with a purple sweat shirt and grey trousers. Brandon will be jealous that Joshua gets to wear a yellow shirt every day for school. But the good news for Brandon is that it is about 99% certain he will also get accepted into the same school as sibling applications are the nr.1 category. So he can soon also wear the yellow shirts to school.

“Does it look like I am sucking my thumb!”

There is no doubt that Brandon is the Cheeky Monkey of the two boys, however Joshua came out with a very cheeky remark recently. More often than not when Joshua gets tired he will start to suck his thumb. Anyway at the weekend we were driving home from Lakeside and he was looking and acting really tired and Tina remarked that both boys look tired. Without thinking Joshua immediately responded with “Does it look like I am sucking my thumb!”. Attitude!

Its no wonder the boys were tired as they had spent a lot of the weekend at football clubs and swimming. Joshua has recently managed to swim 3 whole lengths of a 25m pool without any help. Brandon often spends most of his time in the baby pool still because he does not like getting cold and the baby pool is always much warmer. I am still looking out for one of those float belts type devices as he got on really well with that during our recent Disney holiday.

Whilst talking about monkeys, Brandon has been taking lessons off of Joshua on how to climb like a monkey. At the weekend both of them managed to climb up on the roof of their play house and at one point were standing on top. Its only a matter of time before one of them falls or the roof of the house caves in. Unfortunately I can’t really say much given that I was probably just as bad (if not worse) at their age by climbing on the top of the 6ft wooden play house that Dad had built us in the back garden.

The little monkey climbing the roof of the play house.

Then there was two little monkeys! Anyone know the max. weight limit for a plastic play house roof?

Both boys are getting on very well with the letter recognition and the phonic sounds. I try and take every opportunity to incorporate some learning in everything we do and everywhere we go. Even a simple trip to the Wick Park can include some fun learning time. Last week me and the boys were using our feet to write their names in the wood bark on the floor. Then randomly picking letters which the boys then had to race too and see who got the correct letter first. 

Brandon finding the "h" in Joshua.

Brandon has a much longer name than Joshua which took up a bit more floor space and was difficult to capture in a picture.

Brandon successfully finding the "r" in his name.

Finally, tomorrow is the big day when we find out if Joshua has been allocated his number 1 choice for infant school. Fingers crossed for that one.

40 Year Old Strong Man

Today's blog update is a bit of a catch up from various days over the last week or so. Firstly to conclude the Easter weekend we managed to squeeze in a trip to Barleylands in addition to the swimming, Duxford etc. We was hoping that Barleylands would have an Easter egg hunt for the boys, but unfortunately there did not appear to be a huge amount laid on. The boys did enjoy having 3 or 4 goes on the mini train.

Joshua and Brandon on the Barleylands mini train.

Cousin Amy joining the boys on a ride through the farm.

The boys must have got about 8 or 9 Easter eggs each this year. Needless to say they will be rationed and probably hidden away soon. However Auntie Nicky bought the two boys one of those chocolate Easter eggs which the children can decorate themselves. The boys thoroughly enjoyed squirting the chocolate glue and sticking on all the sweets etc.

Adding some sprinkles to the Easter egg.

Brandon just getting started on his egg.

Squeeze me....

The squirty chocolate was a bit hard for Brandon, so I squeezed it on and Brandon stuck the sweets down.

The finished item. How cool. And it has some white chocolate....

Everyone knows that I like playing with the boys toys just as much (if not more) than they do. The domino train is still always a winner when we get it out. This was my latest domino creation for the boys to destroy in about 3 seconds flat. 



The domino snail.........

The title of this blog clearly refers to my 40th birthday. As most people know, 40 has been a bit of a mental barrier for me and I have to say that I was not too excited about the big day. To me it just seems like half way through my life, over the hill and on that slippery slope down. One really great thing about this birthday was that it was the first year where both boys really understood it was my birthday and thoroughly enjoyed giving me presents and cards and then singing happy birthday to me. Joshua even woke up the day before my birthday, came downstairs and said "Happy birthday Dad" without any prompt - how sweet.

This was the carrot cake birthday cake which the boys helped make for their Daddy.

And here they both are helping me blow out all the candles.

Nicky, Zoe and Amy kindly looked after the boys for the evening of my birthday as Tina took me out for a stunning meal in Jamie Oliver's Barbecoa Resturant near St Paul's Cathedral. One day it will be nice to go somewhere special like this with the boys, but at 3 and 4 years of age fine dining might be a bit too much.

Anyway 40 has been and gone now and if nothing else I can still claim to be arguably one of the strongest and fittest in the family (yes I am blowing my own trumpet). If anyone doubts that statement then check out these strong man pictures lifting an entire car with the boys inside (at this point I should also probably issue and Health and Safety statement or something and say words to the effect of, "don't try this at home").



Press-ups with Joshua in his Little Tykes police car. This should be an Olympic sport at London 2012.

  

Clean and jerk with Brandon in his Lightning McQueen car.

When I am complaining about having a knackered back for the next 6 weeks, then at least you know the reason why.

Easter Sunday @ Duxford Air Museum

For something a little different this weekend we took the boys to Duxford Air Museum along with some of the other members of the family. I have to say that Duxford has changed a lot since I last visited and makes for an excellent day out. The boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves running around all the planes plus having a few craft activities to participate in. Last night was probably the best nights sleep we have had in a long time as even Joshua slept in until nearly 7am (so he must have been knackered).

We started in Hanger 1 with the Eurofighter.

The boys were pretty amazed by the sheer size of this bomber.

The other hall in hanger 1 has a stunning array of planes on display.

There are plenty of activities in the upstairs area of Hanger 1 to teach the children about aviation and some of the history. 

Here is Brandon learning around aerodynamic shapes in a wind tunnel. He found it hilarious to let them go and watch them slap into the back of the tunnel.

Listening to some of the old war time stories.

Even a yellow plane in Hanger 1 just for Brandon. He insisted I tool pictures of all the yellow ones.

Just how big is this engine?

Brandon inside Concorde for the first time. For Joshua it was the second time as he also went on Concorde at Brooklands Air Museum some time ago.

The very impressive Lightning.

Joshua and Brandon with the yellow plane.

Within Hanger 1 there are 3 or 4 planes (including the Concorde) which you can actually climb on-board. Brandon was on a mission to get on a yellow plane which was proving to be a bit of a challenge.

This yellow plane was hung from the ceiling, but Brandon still wanted us to lift him up to get inside.

Brandon all smiles in the cargo/bomb bay of the Vulcan bomber.

Finally Brandon gets in a plane that has a bit of yellow in it.

One mean looking helicopter.

Joshua and Brandon posing with a soldier in front of a Messerschmitt.

I believe I can fly..............

Hanger 8 has a very impressive ground warfare display with everything front tanks, to armoured vehicles to bomb disposal units. The settings which have been created for the vehicles are just stunning and really add to the enjoyment of this display. Its amazing how much the children can learn from going to places like this. Even down to number learning - I had both boys reading out the numbers off of numerous aeroplanes and tanks as we walked around the various hangers.

Joshua by one of the tanks.

Then Brandon's turn.

Brandon trying on an old soldier's helmet, Its amazing just how heavy and solid these are (Hence why I am holding it on his head!).

A nice picture of Joshua getting flying lessons from his Uncle David.

After Hanger 8 we moved onto Hanger 7 which was probably my favourite of the day for several reasons. Firstly they had one of my favourite planes of all time on display - The SR-71 Blackbird, and secondly they had the arts and crafts stuff out for the kiddies to get involved with (and the parents of course). 

My favourite the SR-71 Blackbird.

The first craft activity the boys did was to make a badge each (we didn't have time for the airfix kit unfortunately). Joshua made a green badge and there are no prizes for guessing what colour Brandon picked. After the badges we moved onto the Rocket created. Basically they provided the tube, tape, scissors, straws etc for you to created your own rocket and then blast it horizontally along a 50ft wire using compressed air. The kiddies absolutely loved watching their creations blast off. 

Joshua drawing the windows on his rocket ship (assisted by Auntie Lisa).

And this was mine and Brandon's rocket ship creation.

The finished Joshua rocket proudly being displayed.

And Brandon with his finished rocket - and a big smile to go with it.

Joshua was first to load his rocket onto the launch pad. The kids then had to turn the key, press a button for 5 seconds and then hit the blast off button.

Brandon was up next and had no difficulty launching his own rocket.

Despite mine and Brandon's rocket looking better than Joshua's and Lisa's, we have to admit defeat that Joshie's did fly better than ours. They both went pretty rapid but mine and Brandon's was spinning around where as Joshua's and Lisa's was dead straight. 

Some more impressive planes in Hanger 7.

Today was a rare occasion when all 5 of the grand children were together so it was a nice opportunity to get a photo of them.

Matt, Zoe, Josh, Brandon and Amy.