Little Superstar

One of the really nice things about the weekend just gone was playing football in Thorndon Park with the two boys. Both boys play together really nicely and it was lovely to be chasing around and passing the ball between each other, This was really the first time we have all played football and the boys have understood the concept of passing the ball and playing together rather than on their own.

On the subject of football Brandon had his first official football lesson at Little Kickers this week and he was an absolute superstar. He pretty much did the whole class and took to it like a fish in water. He participated in all the warm up, the ball skills, the little kicks, the goals............even the coaches were impressed for his first lesson. Obviously he has had the benefit of watching his big brother for 6 months or so and learning from him. He was so proud of himself to be wearing his own football kit at last.

Here are a few video clips from Brandon's first football club lesson.



Tree Climbing

A pleasant Saturday afternoon walk around the lake at Thorndon.

And the great thing about Thorndon is all of the logs and trees which me and the boys can climb all over. Boys will be boys.

Check out the haunted looking tree in the background.

The fearless one leaping off of a log into the arms of his Daddy.

Exploring some of the nooks and crannies to find the creepy crawlies. Like I said, boys will be boys.

Brandon taking a shot at the steepish hill up to the haunted tree.

This tree is excellent as it is hollowed out almost like a boat. Great for a bit of role play, or simply rolling the footballs up and down.

Peekaboo..........

This is inside the tree - yes the boys got extremely dirty. But once again I say it, boys will be boys.

The two boys crossing paths as they trip trop across the bridge.

A little game of hide-n-seek in the woods. The white t-shirt sticking out of the tree was a bit of a giveaway. Joshua decided to hide in exactly the same place when it was his go!

Throwing stones into water as usual.

Leap of Faith

With all this nice weather around it has been nice to dig out some of the old garden toys for the boys to play in. Brandon absolutely loved the Roary racing car ball pit. The balls usually end up scattered all over the garden - everyone knows just how good his throwing arm is.

But he doesn't just throw the balls around. The fearless daredevil duo found it rather amusing to leap off of the decking into the ball pit. How funny is this..........



Other news for Brandon is that finally he has his very own big boys car chair. A Themed Toy Story chair with built in cup holders. He absolutely adores his chair and currently screams his head off when ever he has to get out of the car. He keeps saying how comfortable it is and can even climb in on his own.

Last weekend I took the boys over the Memorial Park again and as always I got caught by the ice cream van. Brandon had an orange flavoured calypso for the first time and man did he enjoy it. He polished off the whole ice lolly. He went and sat himself down on the steps to a slide and pretty much didn't move. How adorable does he look lapping up his lolly.

The Pox

Well the breaking news is that for the last few days poor Josh has been suffering with the dreaded chicken pox. I know everyone tells you its better to get it out of the way when they are young, but as a parent it is a horrible thing to see one of your children go through. Joshua has always been very prone to illness and sickness, so as you would expect he has the full on chicken pox with the temperature and sickness as well. The worse news is that bathing the boys tonight it looks like Brandon now has two spots on his tummy. So after months of waiting to join football club, his debut tomorrow may well be postponed if he shows more signs of the dreaded pox tomorrow morning.

So we have been keeping Joshua at home and as the weather has been so nice there has been plenty of garden time. We dusted off the boys tent and set that up for them to play in - although Joshua made this a garage for his go-kart.

The poorly boy inside his tent - but still smiling.

Joshua is prone to climbing. He will climb everything and anything. Here you can see he has pulled over a garden chair and is climbing the parasol frame in order to reach for the crank handle.

And if you thought that was bad enough - here he is having climbed from inside the conservatory, out of the window and then shimmying along the window ledge!!!

Of course you cannot keep a child cooped up indoors 24-7 just because of the pox. So I took Joshua for a walk over the park where there were a lot of very hungry birds waiting for us. Joshua was getting very brave as we were surrounded by swans and geese and they were getting very close to him.

Here is Brandon learning to blow bubbles for the first time.

And whilst his bigger brother has been sick, Brandon has made the most of stealing his "bog boys" car seat and as you can see from the picture below, he absolutely loves it. So I guess the baby seat needs to go and we will be shopping for another Disney Cars chair.

Recently we had a good year at work and achieved our objectives for last year. As such our hard work was rewarded with a bonus. What better way to spend a bonus than treating your boys. Joshua has shown a real interest in my camera and so we bought him one of those V-tech digital cameras. Brandon on the other hand is a pure cars man through and through. He always seems jealous of Joshua's Little Tikes Police Car, so Brandon chose a Little Tikes Lightning McQueen car for his treat.

A rare occasion when Brandon let Joshua have a go in his new wheels. He made Joshua ask him first though!

And the chase is on.............Joshua in hot pursuit of his little brother.

Beach Boys

The weekend just gone was the first stunning weather of the year with near 20 degree temperatures. All winter the boys have been nagging to go to the beach, so with the sun shinning we had no excuse not to take them. Enjoy the pictures of the Beach Boys.

Joshua braved the water up to about waist height (he ended up taking his trousers off and just wearing his pants). What a brave soldier as that water was cold!

Brandon is obviously the more sensible of the two boys and stayed warm on dry land.

I love this picture of Brandon with the fishing boat as the back drop.

And as always - throwing stones into the water.

Josh starts digging the channel tunnel.