Molluscum Contagiosum

Poor little Brandon has had a few wart type spots appearing on his arm and body which appear to be spreading and causing us some concern. After a second trip to the doctors they finally diagnosed it as Molluscum Contagiosum (which I had never heard of). So a quick google and I discover that:

 

Molluscum contagiosum (MC) is a viral infection that affects the skin. It most commonly affects children, although it can occur at any age. Usually, the only symptom of MC is a number of small, firm, raised papules (spots) that develop on the skin. They are not painful, but can be itchy. Although the spots can look unpleasant, MC is generally a harmless condition that will normally resolve in a few months without any specific treatment.

 

The GP advised that the NHS do not treat this skin condition in people who are otherwise healthy, individual spots usually clear up within two months. However, it is common for the condition to spread around the body, so it can take up to 18 months or more for the condition to resolve completely.

Routine treatment for MC, particularly in children, is generally not recommended because:

• the infection usually clears up on its own
• the infection does not normally cause any symptoms other than the spots
• the infection does not usually interfere with everyday activities, such as going to work, swimming or playing sports
• treatments can be painful and may cause scarring or damage to the surrounding skin

So for now we just need to keep and eye in him and cover the wart type spots with plasters to try and prevent them from spreading. If we really get concerned and it starts spreading much more then we always have an option to use our private health care from work.

Den Building in Thorndon

Today we took a trip over to Thorndon Park in ope of taking part is some kind of festive woodland hunt. Unfortunately the Xmas hunt was at the South Entrance and we were at the North Entrance so we decided to just have a welly walk through the woods anyway, play a bit of football and do some den building in the forest. Despite the near freezing temperatures, I think we all managed to get a good sweat on as we lugged lumps of tree through the woods to make the largest den by a country mile. We had a helping hand as we met one of Brandon's school friends, Jack D, over Thorndon. So we had 3 boys and the 2 dad's all helping with the build.

 

"What does the fox say!".

My two boys enjoying a woodland welly walk.

 

We made a slight modification to the Gruffalo mouse by adding a football on his head.

Work starts on our den.

Brandon giving a helping hand carrying some big chunks of wood.

Joshua getting stuck in to the build.

 

Its taking shape. You can see Josh inside making some seats and Brandon finishing off the doorway.

Seating and decking inside!

The back of the den looked very strong and weather proof.

Jack, Brandon and Josh sitting inside the den.

An extra cross member goes up for the option to add a porch!

Brandon using his muscles to try and pull a branch off.

All three boys with the finished den.

We had a great wintry morning over Thorndon and the boys got loads of exercise and fresh air by running around the woods and building our den. Despite all the exercise then still managed to come out and run the final mile of my afternoon run with me which makes for a perfect warm down. They certainly earnt the Infinity 2.0 time and movie relaxing time today!!! Surprisingly the two boys have really been enjoying watching the Transformers movie, so much so that Brandon now wants Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime for his birthday. We are really surprised that he will watch a film like this given that he gets scared watching The Lego Movie!!!

Jamie Oliver Turkey and Leak Pie

OK so its a few days late, but earlier this morning I found Holly's Xmas bibs so we figured she might as well get some use out of them. Today she was little Santa.

 

Holly with her little Santa bib.

This afternoon we managed to get Brandon to try Joshua's Flicker scooter out so that we could get an idea of whether to get him the same size one for his birthday. My initial thoughts were that it was too big for him and when Brandon first tried it, he felt the same. But after a little while playing on it and getting used to it, he seemed to think it was OK and was happy to go for the same size. I am still not 100% sure as the smaller blue one will definitely be the right size for him, but all his friends have the green one and the big question is how quickly he will outgrow the blue one if we was to go with that option. Decisions, decisions?

Is that a look of fear as Brandon tries Joshua's Flicker? His little hands can't reach the brake lever which is a concern.

But after a little while playing he appears to be getting the hang of it.

After lunch today I decided to cook our annual Jamie Oliver turkey and leak pie which we make with the left over turkey every Xmas. It has become a bit of a tradition in our house to have this dinner somewhere between Xmas and New Year accompanied with roast potatoes cooked in goose fat and brussel sprouts. Joshua did an outstanding job of helping me out in the kitchen and making the pie. He also thoroughly enjoyed being chief taster of the pie mixture and gravy as we cooked away.  

Before we started cooking the pie Josh and Brandon pulled the Xmas turkey wish bone. Joshua came up winner this time and has kept his wish top secret.

 

Joshua sampling the sauce/gravy that came out of the pie mixture.

Joshua pasting the egg mix on top of the pastry. We then carved in a J + J to indicated it was cooked by Jason and Josh.

Our finished pie fit for a King's banquet.

 

All 3 of the kiddies thoroughly enjoyed eating the pie tonight and the good news is there is enough left over for another day!

As this has become a bit of a family tradition for us I would hope that in years to come Joshua, Brandon and Holly will continue to make this delicious dish around the Xmas period. With that in mind I have decided to include on this blog the full list of ingredients and the cooking method so that they can hopefully reference this in years to come. I don't think I have ever posted a recipe on this blog before, but what better way of me passing the information on to them. Hopefully Jamie Oliver will not be taking me to court (as he did recently with McDonalds over the content of their burgers) for plagiarism of his recipe!!!

 

INGREDIENTS

2 rashers higher-welfare smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
½ bunch fresh thyme, leaves picked
olive oil
2 kg leeks, washed, trimmed; white end chopped into chunks, green end finely sliced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
800 g cooked white turkey meat, torn into big chunks
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour, plus extra for dusting
2 pints organic turkey, chicken or vegetable stock
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
500 g puff pastry
12 jarred or vac-packed chestnuts, roasted and peeled
2 sprigs of fresh sage, leaves picked
1 free-range egg, beaten

METHOD

For this recipe, you will need 800 g cooked white turkey meat, torn into big chunks.

This is dead simple, completely versatile and absolutely gorgeous. It's not a pretty-boy pie; it's a proper, old-school pie that everyone will be over the moon to see on the table. I'm putting leftover white turkey meat to good use here, but you could also mix brown meat in there too.

Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Put your bacon in a large pan on a medium heat and add your thyme leaves. Add a lug of olive oil and let it all fry off a few minutes. Add all of your prepped leeks and fry them off for about 3 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then pop the lid on top, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook away gently for 30 minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure they don't catch. There's going to be enough moisture in the leeks to keep them happy in the pan so they should be soft and melt in your mouth once they're done.

When your leeks are ready, add the turkey meat to them and stir. If you've got a bit of stuffing mixed in there you can put that in too. Add the flour, mix it in well then pour in your stock and stir again. Add the crème fraîche then turn the heat up and bring everything back up to the boil. Have a taste and add a bit more salt and pepper if it needs it then turn the heat off. Pour the mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan and let the wonderful gravy from the mixture drip into the pan while you roll out your pastry.

Get a deep baking dish roughly 22 x 30cm. Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with a bit of flour and roll your pastry out so it's about double the size of your dish. Crumble the chestnuts over one half of the pastry then tear a few of the sage leaves over the chestnuts. Fold the other half of pastry on top then roll it out carefully and evenly so you have a rectangle big enough to cover your baking tray. Don't worry if a few bits stick out here and there.

Spoon that thick leek mixture from your sieve into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Lay your pastry on top, tuck the ends under then gently score the pastry diagonally with your knife. Add a pinch of salt to your beaten egg then paint this egg wash over the top of your pastry. Pop your pie in the oven for about 35 to 40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. When the pie is ready, re-heat the lovely gravy and serve with your pie, along with some peas tossed in butter, lemon, salt and pepper and everyone's happy!    

Christmas Bowling

With Xmas and Boxing day out of the way, today we have had some time to sit down with the kiddies and look at some of their presents in addition to going out for a spot of shopping to let them spend their Xmas vouchers. After breakfast me and Joshua settled down at the Xmas table to start work on his latest airfix kit. Now don't get me wrong, I love video games and technology etc, but there is something really special about sitting their with your son making up a good old fashioned airfix kit. We only got about half way through the model today so still more work to do plus the painting. So watch this space for more updates. The good news is that Brandon is now also interested in doing an airfix kit and has asked for one for his birthday. I will probably look at the dinosaur or helicopter kits for Brandon.

 

Joshua acting very responsible with a sharp knife, scissors, glue and instructions as he works away on his Xmas airfix kit.

Carefully using a knife to cut the pieces out ready for gluing.

Doing all the gluing on his own. At times he goes a bit heavy handed and you need to wipe some excess off!

Before lunch we also shot over to Argos as the kiddies all had a voucher to spend from Auntie Chris and Uncle Steve. Joshua bought himself a bingo game which he is really proud of and also a microphone so that he can join his brother on the karaoke machine. Brandon wanted to buy and Minion fart gun but fortunately we managed to talk him out of it and he bought the red digital camera which he really wanted for Xmas but Santa didn't get him. Unfortunately the fart gun is now on his birthday list!!! 

Joshua with his new bingo / lottery game.

And Brandon with his new red digital camera. He has learnt to use it very well and is taking pictures of everything and anything.

After shopping and lunch we then headed out for a game of Xmas bowling at Hollywood bowl. We only had time for 1 game as it was quite busy plus it was close to Holly's nap time. Tina won the game closely followed by Brandon and then Joshua. Yes I came last and had my ass whooped by a 5 and 7 year old. I may be able to beat them at running, cycling etc, but they owned be at the bowling today. At least Holly can't beat me yet!!! 

Brandon checking out the score board at the bowling alley.

Joshua ready to take a shot with his 6lb ball.

As you can see he is really starting to get the technique and the hang of bowling (clearly he didn't learn from me!!).

Brandon did not use the ramp but still used the two handed throwing a bomb technique.

Trying to entertain Holly in between shots. She was intrigued by the coloured bowling balls.

Holly loved sitting on the floor and rolling a bowling ball backwards and forwards to me.

One day she wll be able to join in as well.

A defeated Dad after another lousy shot. Last place out of all 4 of us. Not good.

Towards the end of the bowling Holly started to get tired and so it was time for a quick snuggle while the boys had a go of Mario Kart and them home for an afternoon run.

To finish the day I went out for a 10k interval run and then came back home to find the boys both dressed in their running kits. So we went out and did about a mile and a half with them. Both of them did absolutely fab and didn't stop the whole way around. I am really looking forward to when I can start doing the weekly park runs with the boys.

Boxing Day 2014

We all enjoyed a fantastic Boxing Day 2014 in traditional style with all the family around our house for presents, food and games just as my Mum would have wanted. Boxing day was always her special day and I am sure she was looking down on us, raising a glass and loving the fact that as a family we still continue the festivities in her honour.

 

The two boys stayed up the latest they have ever stayed up and thoroughly enjoyed the day and being with the family. I think they finally went to bed around 11:20!!!! Both of them were absolutely shattered though and went straight to sleep and didn't wake until around 9am the next day. So a nice lay in for everyone. 

 

The Boxing Day festivities begin with the Xmas sacks in the living room.

Some of the bags were pretty full this years, others were very small and needed downsizing. No names mentioned.

Holly was sitting with me and helping me open my presents.

Brandon's turn to open another present.

Joshua with Zoe, Auntie Nicky and Auntie Lisa.

Holly tucks into a present that is almost as big as her.

She loved her little Disney bowling set from her cousin.

Throwing skittles everywhere.

One of Joshua's favourite presents was his LED water fountain speakers from Auntie Nicky.

As always one of our Boxing day traditions is the "Giant Granddad Xmas Cracker" hand made by me and the boys and filled by Santa. It seems to get harder and harder every year to fit all the family around the cracker! Maybe next year we need to think about going even bigger. The draw for the secret Santa presents went a little wrong this year as poor Amy didn't get a present and Holly ended up with two. Sorry Amy, we will make it up to you.

Everyone gets ready to destroy the giant cracker that we spent so long making.

3 - 2 - 1 and presents / sweets will be all over the floor in a frenzy.

One of the top presents of the year has to go to Matt's bluetooth beenie whih provided hours of entertainment in the evening. At times I think there were two heads in the hat listing to tunes that were being bluetoothed to the beanie from Auntie Lisa's mobile phone. Such a cool idea for those winter runs, or winter skating in Matt's case. Brandon looked so cool in the beanie and now wants one for his birthday.

 



Brandon looking cool with a bluetooth beanie on and his new Monster Inc t-shirt.

Christmas 2014

Christmas 2014 has been one of the best ever. Surprisingly Joshua and Brandon did not rise super early this morning despite them bouncing off of walls with excitement yesterday. Even more surprising was that Brandon was the first to awake at about 7:30 and promptly ran into his brothers room to wake him for the big day. In his haste to wake his brother he never even noticed the stocking Santa had left him on his bed. This was the first year that we have left a little stocking on the boys beds and it really worked well. Joshua was super excited when he saw the stocking and realised Santa had visited over night.

 

As usual we stayed disciplined and got all three kiddies dressed, washed, teeth and breakfast before they were allowed to open any presents. This also worked a treat as it is by far the quickest Brandon has eaten in a long time. Once breakfast was over the next 2-3 hours are a bit of a blur of chaos with toys and wrapping paper everywhere, boxes being opened, toys being played with, noise and so on. It was tough going trying to keep track on what the boys were opening, help them set up various toys and also keep Holly entertained with her presents. Myself and Tina barely had time to open our own presents and in fact between Joshua and Brandon I think they opened most of them as well!!!

 

It was absolutely lovely to be able to involve Holly more this Christmas and for her to be so much more aware. Last year she was just 1 month old and pretty much slept the entire day.

 

Joshua teaching his little Sister the finer art of tearing into Christmas wrapping paper.

Holly's first present of 2014. She does not look amused and is kind of looking at it as if to say "How the bloody hell do I eat plastic food?".

Brandon showing off his dinosaur helicopter that he has wanted for ages.

Our little scientist Joshua with his microscope set. I remember having something very similar when I was a boy.

Joshua with his infinity 2.0 set complete with Thor and Iron Man characters. One of the most used presents of the day.

One of Brandon's best presents is his VTECH Smart Watch. Its an amazing watch for teaching them the time plus it has built in touch screen, digital camera, games, count down timer, stop watch alarm, picture editor and so on. It is really cool and he hasn't stopped playing with it all day. He has recorded some songs on it, taken some Christmas pictures, used the countdown timer to clean his teeth and set his alarm for boxing day!

Brandon with his VTECH Smart watch.

Joshua didn't really want for much this year and the only thing he really asked for was a Flicker scooter. At first I said no as he has a normal scooter and an electric scooter. But since we had no other ideas for him then we decided to get it. This purchase was a bit of a risk as we couldn't get Brandon one as he already had two main presents, but we knew he would be jealous of Joshua's one and gutted that he didn't get one. The other dilemma we had was what size Flicker to get Brandon as Tina seemed to think he would be ok with the large green one we got for Joshua, however I felt he needed the medium sized blue one. So by buying Joshua the green one for Xmas we can let Brandon try it out and decide if it is the right size for him and then buy him one for his birthday.

Joshua opens his Flicker scooter.

Brandon's second favourite present was his karaoke machine, he is such a little performer.

Brandon busting out some tunes on his singing machine.

And it even has disco lights. I am sure this will get plenty of use on Boxing Day with the family coming around.

We didn't buy Holly too many presents as she has loads of toys and clothes plus her birthday has only just gone. However one toy we did get her was this little pink shopping trolley. What a great buy this turned out to be as she absolutely loves it and it is encouraging her to walk around as she pushes her toys around the living room. 

Holly pushing her toys around the living room in her new shopping trolley.

Joshua proudly shows his Flicker on a  glorious summer Christmas morning.

Learning to wiggle from side to side to propel himself along.

Joshua soon has the Flicker technique nailed, Brandon has not yet had a go.

And Holly is still pushing her toys around with a big grin on her face.

The trolley can also substitute as her first go-kart. She absolutely loved my pushing her around in it and spinning her from side to side.

At the end of a long day we all settle down at the table for our Christmas feast.

I have the pleasure in pulling the first cracker with Holly.

And here is Holly wearing her first ever Christmas cracker hat. This year she could also eat a chopped up Xmas dinner rather than blitzed up food.

So another Xmas draws to an end and after a few family games the kids are all in bed and ready to start all over again for Boxing Day (aka Wickmas).

As a final thought for the day, does anyone know if the tooth fairy works on Christmas Day and of so what the going rate for a tooth is???? Brandon has lost 3 teeth this year compared with Joshua's zero! But today Joshua complained about a loose tooth and promptly pulled it out himself. So after spending all last night doing the Santa/Elf roles, tonight I am back to being a tooth fairy.