Daddy and Holly's Deck Board Garden Chair

Holly has been a little poorly the last few weeks. It all started with a dark red patch that we noticed at the back of her throat a few weeks back. This prompted a trip to the doctors who was completely mythed as to what was wrong with her and subsequently sent her to have blood tests. The initial blood tests were scary to say the least as the doctor thought that there was signs of blood cancer. So after a very nervous week of waiting for further analysis of the bloods we have now found out that her red and white blood count is ok, but her platelets are high. So now they seem a bit more relaxed as they have ruled out blood cancer, but are now doing further testing to try and understand why the platelets are high. So worrying times....

With all this going on it makes you realise just how precious life is and that you need to spend as much quality time with the kids as you can. So last weekend Holly spent some quality time with her Daddy building a deck board garden deck chair just for me and her to use this summer. The chair was completely free as we used old deck boards and some left over screws that I had in the garage. If I do say so myself I think it has come out pretty bloody good and is very solid indeed. Holly now wants to paint it - in Rainbow colours!

Holly doing some DIY and helping me finish off our homemade deck board garden chair.

The finished article looks pretty amazing, will it looks as good when painted like a rainbow.

On a slightly different subject one of the things I really love about Holly at the moment is that I still get to read her bedtime stories. The boys are not interested anymore but might on the odd occasion do some reading on their own at night time. Holly's favourite book at the moment is a Princess magnet book that I bought her for Xmas. She literally has this book every single night and knows all of the Princess outfits off by heart. Basically each Princess has a skirt, blouse and crown which you have to put in place as you read the book.

Holly's favourite book, her magnet Princess book.

First and Last School Mothers Day Meal

Last week Tina got to go to Abacus school 2 days in a row to enjoy an early Mothers Day Meal with Holly first and then Josh and Brandon on the second day. This year was a little special for Tina in that it will be her last Mothers day school meal with Joshua as he moves up to the seniors this September.

We also had the mid year school reports the week before last and we couldn't be happier with all 3 kids. Holly is doing well in her Foundation year and is pretty much at the level she should be and putting in lots of effort. Brandon is keeping up his good work and showing lots of confidence, only downside was that he is still slipping the odd capital letter in the middle of words/sentences. 

Then last but not least, Joshua, the one we are always a bit nervous about. Well amazingly he has turned everything around and his teacher said that for the first time ever she was really excited to have a parents evening as she couldn't wait to tell us how much Joshua has knuckled down and improved this year. He has taken on board all the comments from last years poor report and is putting in good effort and now working at the right level (if not exceeding). His concentration levels have improved, his reading and hand writing have all improved, so very happy parents. As he had done so well the cheeky bugger asked if he could have a reward!!! We told him the job is not done yet and he has got to continue working hard and improving right up to the end of the year before being rewarded.

Tina's first Mothers day meal at school with Holly.

And Tina's last Mothers day meal with Joshua at Abacus School.

Speaking of Mothers Day, here is Holly doing some Mothers Day crafts to give to her Mummy tomorrow.

Lego Blow Football

At times it is always difficult to think of fresh ideas to keep the kids entertained and I hate taking the easy option out (which most parents seem to prefer) of either sticking them in front of an IPAD or a TV.

Anyway Holly still loves playing with Lego and last week I saw an idea for a game of Lego blow football which I thought was a really cool ideas. So when I got home from work last Thursday me and Holly set about building our walls (far more successfully and on a lower budget than Donald Trump) and goals for our blow football arena. We then set up some Lego men for the crowd, dug out some straws and a ping-pong ball and we were off. Of course Holly won but then she was cheating by using the straw as a hockey stick instead of a blow stick.

Mine and Holly's Lego made blow football arena.

Holly started off using the straw as a blow stick, but then changed it to a hockey stick.

We went head to head and Holly's taller yellow tower shows that she had scored more goals than me.

A Week in the Life of Olivia

As a little project for Holly’s Rainbows Club she was given their mascot Teddy (called “Olivia) to bring home for the week. During the week she had to involve Olivia in some of her daily routines and clubs and take pictures which she could then create a report to share with the rest of the club. Olivia has been sleeping in Holly’s doll bunk bed right next to Holly each night, she has been swimming, she had been dancing, she has had a seat at our dinner table each night and so on. We did forget to take Olivia to the Park Run on Sunday though, so Olivia got to miss out on a 2k run. Anyway Holly seems to have had fun with this little assignment and will be sad to see Olivia go back tonight.

Holly got to bring the Rainbow mascot "Olivia" home for the week.

Olivia slept in a dolls bunk bed next to Holly each night.

Olivia shown around Abacus school by Holly.

Saturday morning and Olivia was off to ballet class with Holly.

Monday night and she was taken swimming.

And then every night for the last week she has joined us at the dinner table, stealing Holly's food!

Comic Relief 2019

The kiddies all had a dress down day for Comic Relief 2019 and I think they tried to wear something red. The boys really weren't too interested this year and certainly didn't want to wear a red nose. So I bought them one of the Comic Relief fabric bracelets so that it at least looked like they had made a bit of an effort.

Holly however went to school wearing her Comic Relief hair band with red nose boppers on top!!!!

At work we were even less organised and the office had absolutely nothing planned. So late on the Thursday I organised a dress down day and then bought some cakes for a cake sale on Friday morning. In the end we managed to raise just shy of £60 which wasn't bad for such a late effort.

Holly all ready for red nose day at school.

A Weekend of Park Run PB's

So it was a weekend of PB’s for Holly and Brandon with their park runs. Joshua had a sore heel and couldn’t run hard so rather than not run at all he opted to be a pace maker for Holly. Well this worked out really well as our little Princess stormed home in a new PB time of 12:21 (and that’s even with stopping to take off her body warmer).

Brandon has consistently been in or around his previous PB time of 8:39 but this week he had a Year 6 boy that he knew and decided to use him as a pace maker. So he set himself a target of top 10 and to beat 8:39. Well out of 166 runners he didn’t quite make top 10 as he finished in 12^th place (but 4^th in his age group), but boy did he smash his time with an astonishing 8:12!!!! That means his average mile pace was 6:24/mile which for a 10 year old is pretty incredible.

I always set myself a long term fitness objective to be better at running and cycling than the boys until I turn 50, well Brandon might have just put paid to that as I think given my current physical shape, I would struggle to keep up with him over the 2k!!!

Joshua sets off as pace maker for Holly. 

Holly loving her Sunday morning runs and storming to a new PB.

Star of the day. Can he now run quicker than his Dad????

Giving Up Chocolate, Crisps and Biscuits for Lent

Really proud of Joshua as on Shrove Tuesday he decided off his own back that he was going to give up chocolate, crisps and biscuits for lent. I have told him it is a really good idea and if he can hold out for the full 40 days and 40 nights then there will be a reward for him. So far so good, he is 9 days in and as far as I know he has stuck to it. So lets see if he can hold out for another 31 days!!! He had to show real will power last week when walking home from school and a few of his friends stopped in the shop to buy a big bar of chocolate and were all sharing it out on the way home. Joshua was very proud of the fact that he turned the offer away despite them waving it under his nose in temptation, cruel sods!

Brandon Qualifies for the District Cross Country

Well don’t to Brandon. Seems he has carried on from where he left off last year with the Cross Country running and has qualified for the districts again. He raced in the inter-school event a week or so ago and finished in 4^th place out of the Year 5 boys (although it was actually 3^rd place but he was robbed in the finishing funnel). Anyway he was the only Year 4 boy from Abacus to qualify and moves on to the next round in good form. Clearly the early Sunday morning park runs are paying off.

Brandon will be the only Year 4 boy representing Abacus at this years School Cross Country.

Rory Paul's Christening 10th March 2018

Today we had the pleasure of dressing up and going out as a family to share in the celebration's of Rory-Paul's Christening which was being held very locally to us at St Andrews Church in Wickford. The woman who did the ceremony was quite jovial and light hearted which gave a real relaxing feel to the service. Rory-Paul was amazingly well behaved and just seemed to take everything in its stride.

This was the first Christening that the kids have been too and we had to explain what it was all about and why they weren't Christened. Joking around after the ceremony I did ask if they wanted to get baptised now and hey all responded no. Occasionally I do wonder whether we should have got Joshua, Brandon and Holly baptised - but me and Tina made a conscious decision a long time ago that as we are not in the slightest bit religious and that we don't go to church we felt it would be a bit hypocritical to get them baptised. Having said that, whilst we are not religious we did make sure we lit a candle for my Mum once the service ended.

After the ceremony we all headed over to Bowers and Pitsea Football Club for some drinks, food and a general catch up. We had a lovely day and want to thank Zoe and Nick for inviting us as we all had a great time.

Holly all dressed up and looking so grown up ready for the Christening. No longer our baby girl.

The Christening was at St Andrews church in Wickford High Street.

Quick selfie of me and Holly in the church.

Waiting for the ceremony to commence.

My two ladies.

The boys and me lighting a candle in memory of my Mum, their Nan.

Lovely family picture of the 5 of us in the church taken by Uncle David.

Zoe and Rory with all the God parents at the end of the ceremony.

Back at Bowers Football Club and the family all settle down for some drinks and munchies.

Holly enjoying her plate of food.

Updated picture of Nicky, me, Lisa and Michael. I hope our 3 kids stay close together in years to come and have many memories together like this.

World Book Day 2019

Today was World Book Day and the kids were all allowed a dress down day to wear a costume from a book character. The theme of the book character was "magic" and Holly went dressed as Else from Disney Frozen and Brandon went as "Frankie" from the Frank Lampard books. I think Joshua also dressed up as a footballer, but he left for school before Tina could get a picture of him.

In the afternoon Tina was allowed in to the school so that she could participate in some parent child reading sessions as part of the World Book Day. Holly seemed to really enjoy this.

Joshua gets Beauchamps High School

Today was a very special day for Joshua as it was the day he found out what secondary school he had been allocated. The e-mail confirmation was due to be sent out anytime after midnight and he kept on and on nagging me to check my phone as he was eager to find out. At 5.30am in the morning there was still no confirmation e-mail and so I went to Crossfit as normal. By the time I had finished training the e-mail had arrived and I was relieved to read that Joshua had been given his first choice of Beauchamps High School. I called him immediately from the car and teased him for a while telling him he had been giving James Hornsby or Bromfords before finally putting him out of his misery. He was a very happy little boy and immediately jumped on his pone to tell his mates.

So come Sept 2019 this will be Joshua's secondary school for the next few years.