Holly's 11th Birthday

Thursday was Holly's 11th Birthday and as you would expect it was very Disney Stitch orientated. Several hours were spent on Wednesday night blowing up loads of balloons, making up birthday banners and wrapping lots of presents. 

Holly didn't really want any big presents for her birthday so she got lots and lots of smaller presents. Her main present was a camera with the capability of printing pictures instantly which is something she has wanted for some time. Other than that Holly got some new headphones, an electric toothbrush, some lip gloss, loads of cloths, slippers, shoes, a couple of Lego sets, a Stitch ornament to paint and so on.

On her actual birthday we went out for a really nice meal at the Harvester where we were also joined by Min and Lea afterwards who popped in for a drink and to give Holly her present. On Friday we continued the celebrations and after school we had booked tickets for Moana 2 for all 5 of us. Holly thoroughly enjoyed this and as then pretty wiped out after a couple of very full on days.

All ready for our little babies 11th birthday.

I spent about 2 hours wrapping present, making Stitch banners and blowing up balloons.

No main present but lots of smaller presents for Holly to open.

She was very happy in the morning and keen to open her presents before school.

A New York tracksuit which she picked out as it almost matched something Brandon wears.

It didn't take her long to rip through all the presents.

Just a few of the balloons I blew up all by myself ready for Holly's big day.

And then a tinsel screen to hide the Stitch  table cloth in the conservatory.

Holly working on a 1,400+ pcs Stitch Lego set.

She has been working away doing a layer every now and then. Tis is certainly keeping her busy for a while.

Birthday meal at the Harvester (Holly's choice for her birthday).

Brandon's 1st Concert - Tom Walker & The Script

Brandon is an absolute phenetic about music and pretty much listens to music all day long and only really turns it off when he goes to sleep. Anyway whilst we were on his Belgium football tour earlier this year we managed to buy some tickets to see The Script at the O2 featuring Tom Walker as the warm up act. I thought this would be a good concert to gently ease Brandon in to live music and hopefully not disappoint.

Well the concert definitely didn't disappoint and was absolutely incredible. From the venue, to the production, to the crowd interaction, the vocals - it was all amazing. Tom Walker did a 40-45 min stint to warm the packed O2 up and he sounded so good live, in fact me and Brandon both felt he sounded better liver than recorded. He was so good that we actually was worried for the Script in case their warm up act had topped what they were about to do. Anyway Tom finished with one of my favourites - Lights On, then it was time for me and B to get a beer before The Script.

The Script took it to another level and as good as Tom Walker was, he certainly didn't upstage them. They played all their classic songs and used a good mix of the center stage and the main stage with a spectacular light/laser show and fireworks to finish. Whilst we had seats right at the back of the O2 it was actually really good because it meant we could stand for the whole concert without blocking anyone behind us, plus we had a great view of everything going on in the arena. The Script started and finished big, one of their opening songs was Hero's and their finisher was Hall of Fame.

This experience has certainly sparked Brandon's interest for more live music and we now have tickets for Linkin Park in June '25 as our next live event. That is going to be so epic.

Proud Dad moment sharing a beer/cider with Brandon at his first live concert.

Roll on June '25 - this is going to be insane. Brandon is so excited he has a countdown on his phone screen saver.

Joshua's College Progress Evening

Earlier this week I had a progress evening over Teams with Joshua's tutor for his Electrical Installation college course. In school Joshua never really showed any interest and parents evening got to be a bit depressing as it was always the same old message about him being lazy, not putting in much effort, messing around etc.etc. So to be honest I really wasn't expecting anything different from college.

I was absolutely blown off my feet with the feedback from his tutor. He actually said he is really, really pleased with Joshua and that he is one of the top students and that he has absolutely no concern over him passing the course (good job I was sitting down). This was music to my ears and so good to hear after all the years of bad school reports. Finally Josh seems to have knuckled down or perhaps just found something that genuinely interests him.

The tutor also likes that Josh has started taking his own tools in and said that this is usually a good sign of a keen student who will progress. In fact he specifically commented on Joshua's wire cutters/strippers he got for his birthday and that they are so good he has thought about taking them himself a few times!

The only minor concerns we have are that the English has been disrupted a bit with substitute teachers and lessons being cancelled which is a worry as he needs to pass this. Also we found out he had bunked off a few of the Life Skills and Study Period sessions so his attendance was only 86% (but hopefully we have caught this early and Joshua now knows the importance of attending all sessions in his timetable).

So amazing news, really good to hear, fingers crossed he keeps it up.

Holly's 1st Pastel Painting

At school Holly has been starting to dabble with pastel painting and after 2 days work and 4 lessons she has produced this amazing mountain scenery picture. Perhaps I am biased because she is my daughter, but for 10 years old I think this is bloody amazing. Now she wants her on set of pastels for her birthday to continue doing more artwork. I have told her she now needs to paint me a shark picture for the gym.

Bonoween 2024

A little bit late on the Bonoween 2024 blog update which actually took place on Friday 1st Nov. Anyway finally here is a picture dump from the our annual Bonoween family get together (a bit mixed up and not in the correct order).

This year the costume award was probably a unanimous win for Amy in her inflatable dinosaur. The pumpkin carving  had a clear winner of Holly with her "Stitch" carving. Then the recipe winner was not so clear cut. It was agreed that in the interest of fairness Nicky's Mummy Frankfurters were to be rued out this year as they tend to win every year. So I think the next best was suggested to be my Spiced Pumpkin loaf, however I have to say my vote was for Lea's Twix Rocky Road chunks which I was still  enjoying several days after.

The sparklers were fun as usual. Pumpkin throwing was very poor this year (with me probably top of the list in terms of poor throws). Then Matt gave us his annual display with his swinging fire balls. Whilst over the park we also speared Holly's winning pumpkin carving on to the gates to Wick Country Park.

Scary pumpkin Rory.

Halloween Lisa and David.

Me and wifey (aka Bat Girl and Jason Vorhees).

Amy in her winning inflatable dino costume.

Amy eating Lisa.

Cunningly moved the Rocky Road to the side and not on the table so that not too many people eat it and I have left overs.

Nicky with her dinosaur costume.

Complete with back plates and tail.

The two dino's together.

Matt and Holly.

Amy dino eating pumpkin.

Some of the pumpkins all lit up

Our Halloween inflatable arch still going strong.

Min and Lea.

Lisa and David looking very orange and black.

Dead dinosaur Amy.

Rory and Holly playing Halloween Twister.

More Twister fun.

Sparkler time in the front garden.

Only Holly participated in the sparklers out of our 3 kids this year.

Rory was really looking forward to the sparklers.

He was a brave little boy and held them very safely.

More sparkler fun.

Holly's winning pumpkin carving sitting proud on the Wick Park Gates.

Holly with her winning pumpkin.

Matt with his fireball display.

New "Dad-cam" got some great pics of him.

There is a Matt in there somewhere.

Down on a knee making fire circles in front of his face.

Our house all decorated for Bonoween.

I think we did pretty good with the food spread again and as usual far too much.

Happy Halloween from the Smiths.

Me and wifey again.

We did buy Brandon a football pumkin t-shirt but he didn't wear it, much to our disappointment.

God she is growing in to a young lady much quicker than I would like!

Nicky's Mummy Frankfurters which are a staple of Bonoween.

Amy not feeling to good as the evening went on.

Zoe dressed as a character from Mulan (I think).

Help!

Lea's Twix Rocky Road - delicious.

Nicky being a proper Stegosaurus.

Dinosaur battle in our kitchen.

Love this picture of Matt.

More of Matt with his mask on.

Rory ready for some pumpkin throwing.

My shark pumpkin looking better lit up at night.

More sparkler fun with Holly.

Lisa loves the sparklers.

Not sure how my living room turned green!

Matthew joining in with the sparklers.

And I even had a little go myself.

Looks like a witch casting a spell.

David joining in with the sparklers.

Spooky 3 Mersea Crescent.

Our Family picture for Bonoween 2024.