My 13th week in photos

83 – Bear decided that green is the best colour for his skin.

84 – The creation of the Bear when left alone for a while – he was ever so quiet about it too. I think I need to buy shares in Playdoh!

85 – Bear’s birthday! What’s not to love, it’s green and has monkey’s on it!

86 – While this technically isn’t a photo I took myself, I couldn’t leave it out. Bear took this shot of his brother when I asked him to hold me camera on a walk, how cute?

87 – Monkey Bear, an outfit he got for his birthday! He decided to wear it instead of cuddling it =)

88 – Daddy’s creation. I think daddy had more fun than the boys with the Playdoh this time!

89 – Gryffin being a clever so and so, using spoons instead of getting messy hands.

Morning brain

I go into the kitchen with the intentions of loading the dishwasher and tidying the place up after Bear’s birthday yesterday – the post party mess ha!

I see two wine glasses each containing different amounts of liquid and I can’t help but run my wet fingers over their rims.

I am pleased by the sounds.

I pull down more wine glasses from the shelf, fill them with different amounts of water so each makes a different note.

I spend the next 10-15 minutes playing a song from the Lion King that I learned whilst in school.

I forget why I went into the kitchen in the first place and walk into the living room to play with my boys.

After around 10 minutes I then decide I should make a start on the cleaning after all it won’t magically disappear on it’s own!

I walk into the kitchen to put the dishes in the dishwasher and find to my surprise that it’s already half full.

For one glorious moment I believe that there are such things as house elves – there’s no way The Man would have done this.

Then I remember that I’d done it half an hour before, before I’d gotten seriously distracted.

Is it any wonder that my days are not too productive?

I think I need help…

A Bear of a birthday!

Today my very littlest man turned 4.

My baby is no longer so much of a baby.

While I’m proud of him in every way, I also feel rather sad that he’s getting so big.

I cannot for the life of me fathom why some parents wish away these years, if I could I’d keep him this age forever.

I know I shouldn’t feel sad, he had an absolutely fantastic day and rightly so – you can’t redo birthdays can you? They happen only once a year!

What should really have been a nice quiet affair with only the family invited – Nainy, Taidy, cousins and Aunties – turned into something more befitting of Bear. Silliness and no volume control reined supreme!

I’m so pleased he enjoyed himself, now I’m off to join my boys in the land of nod. I am shattered! I couldn’t care less that it’s before 9pm haha.

My 12th week in photos

77 – Who said dogs can’t do sarcasm?

78 – Creepy tree spotted on our daily walks.

79 – Unedited view from the top of the hill, it started pouring down on the walk back home ha!

80 – An addition to last weeks crochet circles – any easier to guess what they’ll be?

81 – Lizards like cuddles too!

82 – Making the most out of the pathetic dusting of snow. Yes Bear is scooting down on his bum.

Early birthday treat

Well yesterday was a whole heap of fun mixed with a dash of crazy!

On Tuesday it is Bear’s 4th birthday, for a special treat he decided that he wanted the whole family to come with us to Chester Zoo.

After a lot of discussion the date was arrange for the Friday before his birthday – yesterday. I booked a  minibus – a 12 seater, we really did take the whole family haha – tickets were booked and paid for and we were all very very excited to be going. That was until we woke up to a rather snowy morning.

After my initial panic thinking that we wouldn’t be able to go out in case we got stranded – well Bear has to have got the dramatic nature from somewhere doesn’t he? – I called everyone to make sure they were still good with the plans and wanted to go ahead. My family must all be insane because go we did.

There were a few hairy moments when the snow got a bit much to drive through but the minibus was a beast and my dad is the best driver going – complete love for my dad here. I would have killed everyone.  Well maybe not since I wouldn’t have even tried driving in it but still…

When we finally got to the zoo I was so glad we stuck to our definitely mental guns, the faces of all the littlies was priceless! The zoo is always a treat but to have snow too? I think that was Bear’s idea of perfection!

You may think it would be completely pointless to go to a zoo when most of the animals would be hiding indoors – only a brave handful of them dared the cold – but to give credit where it’s due, Chester Zoo has some fantastic indoor attractions. The littlies were absolute captivated and we spent the entire day there. The hilly paths were cleared of snow at several points throughout the day and the the other footpaths were gritted so there was no worries of the little ones slipping and getting hurt!

Flamingos braving the weather!

At one point during the day we did think we’d have to head home, the snow was coming down really heavily so we’d all agreed to sit and eat our packed lunches – we are all definitely slightly deranged – then head back home. The staff at the zoo were absolutely fantastic, we were able to sit in the main cafe with huge heaters. All wet gloves and hats were dried out, tummies were filled then we headed back out as the snow had stopped – no reason to leave early!

Whenever we got too cold or fed up with Bear and Taidy constantly pelting us with snowballs we headed to a different indoor section.

After one last snow ball fight we walked to the gift shop then back to the minibus. It was a rather quiet trip home, the state of the roads was a little better and all the littlies were wonderfully worn out.

I sat next to my little Bear,  just before falling asleep he told me he’d had a great day and that the Zoo was the ‘bestest’. I’ve got to say I agree with the little fella, despite the weather we had an absolutely fantastic time.

Outdoors

We are incredibly lucky to live where we live – a small village surrounded by farms and mountains as my boys call them. I’ve always loved going for random ‘adventures’ in the big outdoors and have always wanted to share this love with my boys.

After reading a few articles about the lack of outdoor activity and the impact this has on a lot of children I wanted to make sure I made even more of an effort with the terrible twosome. We haven’t been out much over winter, I am guilty of making all sorts of excuses mainly due to my dislike of cold. I hate being cold, my hands and feet have been a funny shade of blue since October – I think I may have some sort of circulation problem ha!

Anyhow, I made  myself a promise that no matter the weather I will get the boys out every single day even if they didn’t want to. This is what we’ve been up to recently!

 

 

Looks like they enjoyed themselves doesn’t it? You’d never have guessed that I had to force them out of the house, seems like I need to stop moaning about the weather in front of them haha, a little rain never harmed anyone!

My 11th week in photos

70 – A lovely sunny, dry, freezing walk to start my week with!

71 – The fluff’s very favourite possession, she even sleeps with it.

72 – Silence in the house then all of a sudden I hear a ‘Mamma, mamma, mamma!’ In runs Bear. ‘Mamma I’ve got the plox!’ Believable, especially when he’s clutching a red felt pen in his hand…

73 – A little play with some lovely 100% pure wool balls. Gorgeous but not what I needed, still it’s pretty don’t you think?

74 – Gryffin has been practising telling the time. He’s getting rather good at it bless his little self, he cannot for the life of him work out number 3’s though. The tricky buggers!

75 – A lovely walk and a splash in the stream with Bear, Ooo Ooo and the fluffy Lola. Fun was had and feet were wet =)

76 – Presents in the making! Can you guess what they’ll be?

 

My 10th week in photos

63 – After school bubbles in the garden =)

64 – Bath time boys – Gryffin’s seriously cheesy face

65 – Bear made a number 4 out of megablocks while I was busy making dinner!

66 – World book day. My cowboy and my dragon chilling before heading to school.

67 – Lola stole Bear’s monkey! Cheeky doggy!

68 – My handmade gifts for my mother, cookies, hand cut card and a hanging heart decoration.

69 – My gifts off my boys – handmade card, tissue paper flowers and a lovely selection of fresh flowers chosen especially for me. Gryffin also bought me two big bars of chocolate with his pocket money. He’s such a sweet little boy, I can’t believe how lucky I am to be his mummy.