Brandon's B Day Cake

I couldn't find a Hot Wheels birthday cake for Brandon so he had to settle for the next best thing - Lightning McQueen. The center piece is an indoor firework - perfect for setting off the smoke detectors! Brandon had a good effort at blowing out the firework and then once that had gone out we lit his 4 candles for him.

 

The Lightning McQueen cake and firework.

Now thats what I call a candle.

Then it is time for the normal candles.

Brandon gets ready to huff and puff.

Unfortunately I kind of forgot that Brandon doesn't actually like these types of sponge cakes and so my efforts are wasted. So lesson learnt, for Saturday I will buy him a simple, plain chocolate cake.

Happy B Day - 4 TODAY

No sooner is Christmas out of the way and Brandon's birthday is upon us. After a late night last night to decorate the house, wrap presents, sort out a birthday cake etc. it is finally B Day. So a big happy 4th birthday to our Little B. Surprisingly he did not wake up nice and early all excited about the day ahead. Instead me and Joshua ended up going into his room and jumping on him at about 7.30am. Joshua already had his presents and cards for his brother ready and gave them to him straight away. Joshua bought his brother a hot wheels water wall track and some hot wheels top trumps (do you spot a theme there!).

 

Hot Wheels happy birthday banner.

The table all decorated with hot wheel table cloth and hot wheel dangly decorations.

Brandon was very excited when he finally got up and saw all the decorations and birthday banners hanging up. In fact this was probably one of the quickest times he has ever eaten his breakfast as he knew he could not have his presents until after he had eaten. 

A happy Brandon with his hot wheels scene setter.

And of course everyone knows Little B loves his balloons.

Without further delay it was time to let him crack into some presents, but his main one was saved until last and was tucked away, hiding in the garage. This was our strategy to convince him to leave his presents behind and leave the house ready for nursery. 

Joshua was very well behaved and watched on as his brother ripped into presents. In fact Joshua was doing a good job of picking up the rubbish and putting it in a recycling bag!

Brandon opening his Wii Monster Jam driving game. The theme for this birthday is definitely Hot Wheels and Monster Jam.

His play doh brick building crane.

Proudly showing off his "4" badge before heading off to nursery.

So with his coat and shoes on it was time to reveal his main present. So out to the garage where there was a huge 6ft+ long cardboard box hiding underneath it his bright red 12V 2 seater electric hummer. Man I wish I had one of these as a kid, working horn, working front lights, two forward gears and a reverse, seat belts..........this is one cool ride. Needless to say we had no trouble getting Brandon to go to nursery as he cruised there in his new ride. As expected Joshua was very jealous and very keen to have a go himself. Brandon was really good and did let his big brother have a couple of turns.

Brandon's first drive of his Hummer, closely watched by his big brother.

It fits him absolutely perfect and he had no problems at all with driving it and reaching the pedal.

And off he goes in the Force Land Hummer,

Working front lights when ever the accelerator is pressed.

Before arriving at nursery we dropped Joshua off at Abacus. Brandon was the most popular boy in the playground with all the other kids wanting a piece of action with the Hummer and crowding around it.

The max weight limit for the Hummer is 30kg's which is less than combined weight of both the boys. However we did let both of them ride together for a short while.

A top tip for anyone thinking about buying your child a 12V Hummer: Consider where you are going to build it and where you are going to store it unlike me. As it was snowing I built the Hummer in the lounge and spent about 1.5 to 2 hours doing so. Once we were satisfied it was time to hide it in the garage only to find out it did not fit through the living room door. Doh!

 



London RAF Musuem

Today we took the boys to Hendon RAF Museum in London for a day out. The museum is only 45 mins away and with free entry and only £3.50 for parking it is certainly value for money. Joshua and Brandon seemed to thoroughly enjoy the day and both seemed to learn so much about aviation. Joshua was a little mythed as to why there were no soldiers there and he kept asking whether the planes flew and were in the war.

 

The entrance and into the Eurofighter hall.

I want to fly jets!

Joshua wanted his picture taken underneath this plane.

The boys were fascinated with the planes that had the bomb doors open to show how they dropped their bombs. This one dropped a Brandon.

How cool is this, 2 days before Brandon's 4th Birthday he gets a picture with a plane with a "4" on it.

My boys posing next to a blown up Lancaster.

Believe it or not Brandon took this picture for me.

If you look closely at this blown up Lancaster cockpit you should see a Josh and Brandon somewhere.

Joshua in front of the pay load of the mighty Vulcan bomber.

How on earth did they ever get a Vulcan in the bomber hanger.

Of the modern era the SR-71 is still my favourite. But one of my all time favourites is still the Lancaster. He are me and the boys with the massive flying fortress.

Apparently this yellow helicopter was Joshua's best bit of the day.

The boys operating one of the interactive LCD's to learn about the Kangaroo plane behind them.

This is your captain speaking, please fasten your seat belts and prepare for take off.

Joshua was learning about the pedals control flaps and the leaver controlling the pitch. Brandon's feet couldn't reach the pedals.

The interactive learning area of the museum is always a hit with the kids and this is the area where arguably they learn the most from their visit. Simply by playing with the cockpits, learning about how air provides lift, learning trajectory when dropping bombs, etc.etc. 

But little B got to sit in a glider cockpit.

Joshua learning how to steer an aeroplane.

Then it is B's turn as Joshua stands look out or is he the front gunner man.

More flying time. This cockpit allowed the boys to control the flight of a model plane in a wind tunnel.

And it wasn't all planes. They also got to go in some copters.

This looks like it would make a great shape for a kids bed.

But for now it is an indoor climbing frame.

The boys learnt the importance of the spitfire.

In the Battle of Britain hanger you can take a walk through a rather large sea plane. Although despite its size outside, it is pretty cramped and small inside.

This was the beast from the outside.

So another great day out for the boys and something different for them to talk about at school tomorrow when they are asked what they got up to at the weekend. Having gone to football club prior to going to London, amazingly they both still dragged me down the swimming pool once we got back. So a very busy, very full on and very tiring Sunday!

Joshamania

What yah gonna do when Joshamania runs wild on you?????????

5 More Sleeps to B Day

Well it is now only 5 more sleeps till Brandon’s 4^th birthday. His main present arrived this week and I spent nearly 2 hours building it up for him last night. Just got to remember to get the batteries charged up the night before and then hope that the weather is good on his birthday so that he can get out and use it. Anyway Brandon’s Nanny has been updating her chalk board daily with the countdown to his big day……….

 

 

 

Both boys are doing very well at school lately. Joshua got another star of the day recently and is bringing home harder and harder books to read each week. It still amazes me to see him reading a book himself! Brandon has pretty much learnt his first 3 sound sets and can almost get through all of the cards without making any mistakes. During P.E. time Joshua has learnt to play dodge ball and so just lately the conservatory has been transformed into our dodge ball arena as me, Josh and Brandon blast each other with a soft ball. It seems the only rules are no head shots and no trying to catch the ball. Both boys really enjoy playing though and everyone knows what a good throwing arm little B has.

I have also taught the boys our little toilet rhyme to help the environment and save water. So don’t be surprised if Joshua comes out of the toilet saying, “If its yellow let it mellow, if its brown it has got to go down!”.

Mr Frosty Frosty Snowman

For the last week the boys have woken up every morning almost in tears at the absence of the forecast snow. They have been itching to have snow ball fights, go sledging and make snow angels. However all good things come to those who wait and finally the snow arrived. So we were up bright and early to get Brandon's football club out of the way before heading off to hit the snow.

 

Its great to have these kind of weather conditions as it means the boys can make use of some of their winter gear which we bought for Lapland. So on went the ski bottoms, ski socks, ski jackets and mittens and off we went. To start with I had a great workout pulling both the boys on their sledges over the park. We had sledge races, sledge donuts and sledge wipe outs (man over board!).

 

Sledge racing with my boys.

 

We even managed to sledge across the bridge, a perfect photo opportunity with a beautiful background.

 

Brandon launching a snowball at me. Trust me you don't want to catch one in the face from his right hand!

 

The lake over Wick Park was completely frozen so we had a little competition to see who could throw a snowball the furthest.

 

There has been one bad thing which has come from Lapland so far (although it could be a good thing if Joshua has got the message). In Lapland we went snowmobiling across frozen lakes but this was in -10 deg C with 4m deep of ice under your feet. Well Joshua saw our frozen lake and his first question was can we go on there!!!!!!!! So we had a quick chat about the differences between Wickford and Lapland and the dangers of ever going on a frozen lake. Hopefully the message has sunk in and he never gets tempted to try his luck out. One thing is for sure and that is that he will NEVER be allowed over the Wick Park when the water is frozen without me being there with him!

 

Joshua launching a snowball into the lake.

Little B pulling his sledge back home as we rush back for Joshua to go to yet another party.

 

It seems the boys have been cooped up in doors for so long that it was lovely to just be outdoors and all having fun.

 

After Joshua's party we decided to clean the front pathway and used the snow to make "Mr Frosty Frosty" the snowman as Joshua called him. I have to say I was rather proud of this creation complete with arms, boots, nose, hat, pipe and a walking stick. Unfortunately we built him on a bit of a slant and gradually he tipped over before our very eyes.

 

 



Fortunately I got a good picture of Mr Frosty Frosty before his demise. Shame the walking stick didn't prop him up a bit longer.

All in all a very fun day had today. Snow is so rare in this country and I am sure my boys will not want to be going out building snowmen with their old man in years to come. So I make no apologies for taking a selfish family day and making the most of conditions and hopefully creating some fond memoeries for the boys to look back on in years to come. All the house hold chores were on hold for a day and we even cancelled our weekend swimming ritual to make some quality family time. Joshua was even a little star helping me to clear the driveway of snow. He worked like a trooper for nearly an hour with a brrom and spade clearing away the snow. I was so proud of his help that I made a point of giving him some pocket money afterwards.