Halloween 2015

I absolutely love Halloween time and today we have had an absolute fantastic time with our pumpkins, dressing up and going out trick or treating. Our day started with the usual football training and I was pleased to see that Joshua was doing some light training today which was a first since his operation. After football the two boys had a football party over Bromfords school. Once all the football was out of the way, then it was back home to get prepared for Halloween fun.

 

Holly went to the football party wearing her pretty "Frozen" Halloween dress.

Joshua and Brandon sprayed their hair blue ready for the party and for the Halloween celebrations. Mind you the colour goes well with their football kits.

 

 

Pumpkin carving with the boys this year was thoroughly enjoyable, albeit very messy!! Brandon did a fantastic job and designed his own haunted house with bats all on his own on a sheet of paper. He then asked me to transfer it onto his pumpkin and then he cut it all out himself. Joshua wanted to carve a purple Minion and again as he struggled with the drawing, I copied the design onto his pumpkin and then he cut the entire thing out on his own. I think Tina was having kittens seeing him with a sharp knife, but the end result is outstanding and if I am truly honest it gives my simple Olaf pumpkin a run for its money. Joshua was even learning from me about how to do partial cuts though the pumpkin skin to get different shades of colour.

 

Me helping the boys do the messy part of scooping out the insides of the pumpkins.

And off we go, sharp knives in hand, let the artistic juices flow.

I marked out Joshua's purple Minion, but then he did a top job of cutting it out all on his own.

Brandon concentrating hard on cutting out the bats for his haunted house.

Brandon with his finished haunted house work of art.

Brandon's looking good all lit up.

Joshua's purple Minion came out absolutely fantastic and he is so proud of his work.

My Olaf looks pretty pathetic compared with what the boys have churned out. Not one of my best pumpkins.

Holly obviously could not carve the pumpkins however we still bought her a pumpkin and then in the morning Joshua helped to show her how to push in some plastic face pieces to make her own pumpkin design. What started like a simple one sided face soon turned into a cluttered, colourful, multi face design!!



Brandon teaching his little Sis how to design her pumpkin.

Holly wanted every single piece inserted into the pumpkin creating a rather colourful and cluttered design.

Scary dudes Josh and Brandon all dressed up and ready to head out trick or treating.

Fright Night comes to Wickford.

Holly showed no fear of the costumes or any of the Halloween decorations.

Holly changed her "Frozen" dress to a lovely little Witch outfit ready to go out trick or treating.

Holly looking as beautiful as ever. Loving her little Halloween tights as well.

Holly was absolutely amazing with the trick or treating and pretty much walked (I mean ran) around the whole estate tonight. She very quickly learnt that you knock on these random doors and the nice people seem to give you sweets which you then fill up in a little cauldron. Furthermore the clever little girl worked out that with her cuteness and charm she could go back to most of them and grab a second handful of sweets and not one said no to her!!!!



Holly taking some sweets from off the head of snake ladies snake.

One house around the corner that puts on the most amazing display even had projectors running this year which projected spooky animated pictures onto picture frames out side his house. Just amazing.

The creepy carnival featured the fortune teller, sawing the lady in half, bearded lady, Siamese twins, knife throwing, haunted carousel and so much more. Crowds gathered outside the house to take in the spectacle.

 

As the temperatures started to drop we headed home with lots of tired legs after loads of football and loads of walking. Even the sugar rush wasn't enough to keep three very tired kids awake for too much longer.

Holly's New Buggy and Baby Doll

With the boys occupied at Cubs camp and then Wizz Kids today we have used the time to do some long overdue jobs around the house and to take Holly out to explore some of the fantastic Christmas displays that are already out. Her first display was the Unleash Christmas display which we saw at B&Q whilst I was buying the materials to do our hallway flooring. Then after that we headed to Alton's Garden Centre as they usually have bar far the best Christmas displays and did not disappoint this year.

 

Holly Unleashing Christmas at B&Q.

A lovely polar bear and penguin display at Alton's.

Holly loved this spinning and sparkly Christmas tree.

Deck the halls with Holly............

Me and Holly meeting Rudolph.

Holly absolutely loved this musical, dancing, talking Santa and watched him intently. Shame it cost something like £175!!!

Have you been a good girl Holly?

Holly also enjoyed playing in the puppet theatre at Altons. Could be a good idea for her birthday. But probably cheaper to make than to buy.

Lovely Lapland type scene on display at Altons.

Holly also loved the light up animals and I had to keep lifting her up to see them.

This picture doesn't really show what was happening. But basically they had some laser lights shining on the floor and Holly was absolutely hilarious as she tried to chase them around.

 

 

Whilst we were out and about we also tried to get some ideas for Holly's forthcoming second birthday. In Smyths toy shop she saw this little play pram and pretty much pushed it all around the shop and loaded it with her shopping. There was no way she was letting us leave without buying it. So a bit of an early birthday present for my little girl.

 

It is quite amazing to watch her play with this. She puts her little doll in the buggy and pushes her around everywhere. In the car she sits and cuddles her doll to sleep and at lunch time she even tried feeding her doll some of her cheese. I think Tina is particular pleased to see Holly being a proper girly girl as opposed to playing with her brothers boys toys all the time.

 

Holly feeding her doll some cheese at lunchtime.

Out for a stroll with her baby in the buggy.

Holly cuddling her little dolly to sleep in the car. 

Cubs Halloween Camp @ Screens Scout Activity Centre

This half term both the boys have spent 3 days on the Cubs Halloween Camp which is being held in the Screens Scout Activity Centre in Chelmsford. It is the first time we have been to this particular Cub / Scout camp and when we dropped them off we struggled to find the place as it really is in the middle of nowhere. So much so that when was was driving there we saw a couple of deer and tonnes of pheasants running around wildly.

This particular camp is a Cubs camp but as their numbers were down they opened up the invite to the Beavers as well. So Brandon decided he would also like to go along. Over the last two days we have been getting several updates through Facebook and it looks like they are having a great time and participating in loads of fab activities. I am sure we will hear all about it, and more, tomorrow morning when we go and pick them both up. We know that they had to take Halloween costumes and spooky food ready for a Halloween party this evening.

All ready to start their Halloween Camp. Joshua now wearing the new dark green Cubs uniform instead of his old light blue Beavers top.

First activity for the kids was sumo wrestling. I feel sorry for anyone who went against Josh! Although I am not sure he should be doing this one week after his operation!

Brandon heads into battle against a larger lad.

Brandon gets over powered and it out of the ring. His little frame really isn't suited to this activity.

Out exploring the woods and looking for wildlife.

So pleased the sun came out for the boys as it was raining all morning.

They have all made their own Halloween masks ready for Trick-or-Treat on Saturday night.

They have had a go at some indoor fencing.

And of course no Beaver/Cub camp is complete without a camp fire and sing along.

Brandon the KS1 ICT Ambassador

Yesterday Brandon had a rare letter sent to our home which was addressed to him. We opened it quite excitedly to find out it was a letter from his head teacher Miss Daniells. The letter was basically advising us that they are establishing some new roles and are looking for ICT Ambassadors in each year. The teachers all nominated and Brandon was selected as the KS1 ICT Ambassador and will work with the ICT Leader to role out new ICT ideas throughout the KS1 year. We are so proud of all his is achieving both physically and mentally at the moment. It seems there is nothing he can't do if he puts his mind to it.

Norfolk Visit and Church Farm

To start the October school holidays we spent a fab weekend staying up in Norfolk visiting the boys Auntie Chris, Uncle Steve, my cousin Claire and Leyla. Once again we stayed in June's B&B which the boys thoroughly enjoyed and was all part of the excitement of the weekend. The family room is just perfect with a double bed, twin singles and space for Holly's travel cot, thus we all slept in one room. It is always nice to visit Norfolk and see the kiddies getting on so well and playing with Leyla.

 

On the second day of our stay we had a great day out on Church Farm followed by a lovely pub lunch in "The Hare". After that we went into Kings Lynn so that we could show the boys where their Daddy used to live when I was a little boy. Having not been back there for over 30 years myself, I was amazed how much it had changed and just how little I recognised. Queen Mary Rd and our house seemed so much smaller than what I remember it being. The back garden only seemed a 3rd the size that I seem to remember playing in with my bike and go-kart. Our old Wendy house which Dad built at the end of the garden is no more and the garage in the front garden has also now been knocked down. 

 

Ready for our cooked breakfast at June's B&B.

Mummy having a cuddle with her boys.

 

Always good to see the kiddies playing nicely with Leyla.

At Church Farm I was explaining to Brandon that the wool from his jumper came from the sheep's fur, but he just couldn't see it as the sheep was not brown like his jumper and the sheep's wool felt a lot rougher than his nice soft jumper.



Brandon feeling the woolly coat of a sheep.

 

Church Farm was themed for Sir Camelot during the October half term with loads of activities for the kids which included a hay castle, archery, shield drawings to name but a few.



Joshua and Brandon at Sir Camelot's hay bail castle.



Holly being the Queen of the castle.



Are you strong enough to pull the sword from the hay bail?

Holly enjoyed trying to mimic some piggy noises.

A goat playing peek-a-boo with Holly.

Joshua looking like a pro doing some cross-bow shooting.



Jester watches on as Joshua concentrates hard.

Cheeky Holly climbing the fence to get a look at the moo cows.

Holly getting very brave and stroking a goat.

Holly looking on at some piglets.

Me and my kiddies in a den at the farm.

I think Joshua is getting a bit bog for the pedal tractors (mind you I am not really sure he should be riding them after his operation last week!!).

Brandon still fits them OK and enjoyed having a pedal around the track.

Holly playing on a little mini-tractor.

Brandon and Holly on the pedal tractors.

Anyone want to throw some eggs at our prisoner.

Holly having a blast doing some bum bounces on the trampoline.

Picture of all of us off on a 25 min tractor trailer ride around the farm. During the trip the kids got to feed some chopped apples to some hogs.

Holly with Auntie Lisa and Uncle David as she points out some of the animals from the back of the tractor.

Me and my beautiful family enjoying a nice day out at Church Farm in Norfolk.

Brandon getting some airtime jumping across hay bails in a barn.

A little helping hand for his brother with Joshua giving him a push off!!

Huuummmm, woolly jumper not a good idea as the hay clings to it as Brandon rolls around have fun.

Really impressed to see Brandon's upper body strength getting better and better as he managed 3/4's of the way across the monkey bars.

Me and my boys visiting my past from some 30+ years ago at 40 Queen Mary Rd. Where has the garage gone from the front garden?

On the way back we had to stop off at Brandon Creek so that B could get his picture taken with the sign-post.

 

A very enjoyable weekend away and the three kiddies were all exhausted once we got home.