This is the best I could do, since the boys are now up visiting their cousins. George brought home Flu and was back to normal 2 days later. Not befor giving it to his little brother and parents. The little brother took 5 days, but the parents are still struggling 2 weeks on. Daddy has pneumonia and Mummy is trying to get rid of her chest infection on her own, since the antibiotics made her worse.
Anyway, managed to purchase a tree to help give the boys some Christmas spirit. Little soldiers that they are, they decorated it themselves, doing the best they could. Here's their creation and, to be fair, it's not half bad. Thanks boys for the Tree. Hope you can come back soon to see it again....

Turkey

George's oak leaf turkey.

Seasonal

Lots of pumpkins recently. The boys were able to choose pumpkins to scoop out and have carved (e.g. not Mummy, somebody else did the carving :) ). Nice breezy Autumn day.

Henry had a lovely time on his birthday. We celebrated on the following Saturday. He had a small birthday party at a local Ball pit and then came home for presents and a picnic tea of pizza. He had a lovely day but was shattered by the end. He really enjoyed his presents, funnily enough the noisy guitar and the bright Alien from each set of grandparents! Happy 3rd birthday, Henry.

Past few days

Here's a snapshot of life with G and H. We took a trip to a nearby House. Henry poses on a *very* large log. The House's gardens were lovely on this Autumn day.

George had to come home from school early one day after falling during playtime. He landed on a wooden mushroom. Both lips were cut and his gum tissue bled. I was not impressed with the white shirt of his uniform, but h2o2 and Vanish seemed to have done the trick.

I like this picture of Henry sleeping like the cat. I think he gets this from my side of the family.

Autumn!

George started Reception, Henry moved up to pre-school, Henry harvested his pumpkin grown from seed, and we flew kites on a breezy Sunday afternoon.

Henry enjoyed a leisurely boat trip along the Severn River near Worcester this afternoon. He was a star!

After dinner, however, we found him drawing on the carpet with crayons. I suppose there's a bit of balance somewhere in there.

G's first day at school

Here is what his school uniform looks like. Yes, that's a button down shirt and elastic-banded pre-tied tie under his jumper/sweater.
He has enjoyed his first, suffered no medical incidents, and looks forward to more.
Henry now gets to go to nursery on his own and enjoy some mummy or daddy time. :)

This is what happened when I asked George to go upstairs and find something to wear.

Soaring

The boys had the opportunity to fly their cousins' kites over the last weekend. A windy moor seems to be a good place. Henry spent quite a while with the dolphin kite, his other cousin's kite was a butterfly, and George spent a bit of time with the dragon kite. Good fun, but there is some technique to it which they haven't yet mastered. In due time. George's best bit was seeing them flying high in the sky. Henry kept being pulled down the hill; he was just barely big enough to hold on!

Summer Play

Some of the ways the boys spend summer. First up is shots from a local government funded Play Day event, where free children's activities were on offer to encourage play. This event had painting, circus toys, drumming, arts n crafts, boat rescue display and outdoor games. Without my encouragement, the boys picked up on the nerf golf. No critique on their form yet, please.
On our latest camping trip at the beach, the boys honed their sand castle making skills. With a gently sloping beach, they had time to dig the moats and build the castle and then watch how they stood up to the power of the ocean's waves. The outcome was expected, even with futile attempts to shovel out the water, but the anticipation was still good every time.

The boys and I spent several hours at a local historical museum, looking at old buildings, going on a train ride, having a picnic lunch. We were also offered a chance to help excavate the site where the ruins of a tile house had been. We spent 2+ hours digging through clay, where George found many tile pieces and Henry busied himself with the worm bounty (I found a brick). Fun for all ages. George shows off one of his tile finds and one of Henry's special toys - Sam, the frog.

Water Shooters

It's been a hot dry summer for the past few weeks. I consulted with DH about water pistols and after initial hesitation about 'guns' and George's incessant talk about guns, we decided to let them enjoy the fun of water 'shooters' (as long as we each got one too!) I can't help but wonder if I were a younger parent, would I have hesitated at all about some fun like this?
The result is lots of fun for all of us. At £2 each, these have a range of 6ft+ and are easy enough for the littlest one to use.

Update

Sorry for lack of posts. The time has been dominated with a dietary trial for George, trying to reduce the severity of his eczema. Eliminating foods has helped, but there's some confusion now in the process of adding items back in. He's still off dairy and all fruit except apples/pears/blueberries/bananas.
Henry is toilet trained in the daytime, and goes most nights without mishap. He seems to be quite a clever chap, at least with his numbers.
George starts school in September. He's been attending settling in sessions weekly and has a half day in a week. We've been shopping for his uniform; as expected, he's excited and I'm in disbelief!
The carrots we planted in March are yielding their crop. They're special stubby carrots which made them ideal for growing in a planter box. Recommended if you're short of land.

Anglesey

The boys were treated to a week long camping holiday in Wales. Based in Anglesey but we travelled to the mainland on a few days. They both loved it and want to go camping again. Not surprising since they got to sleep in a tent and see beaches, castles, mountains, trains and all the other miscellaneous activities.

Flight Path

A recent Wednesday outing was a long drive and then long walk across 3 football pitches to reach the end of the airport. Here you can sit under the flight path of arriving airplanes/aeroplanes. A bit noisy but also a bit of a thrill. That's Henry sticking his fingers in his ears.

Woodsy Walk

Went for a woodsy walk with the boys this AM. George took on the role of intrepid explorer and led us on all sorts of tiny paths. Henry took up an offer by the RSPB to help build a bug box. 4 nails, 4 pieces of wood, stuffed with pieces of bamboo for mini beasts to live in. They supplied the hardware and Henry supplied the labor, with a little assistance!

Boys' Day

It was Boys' Day again and the boys and I had the whole day off together! So we took a steam train ride to a small village for a picnic lunch. We also fed the ducks, walked to the nearby church, and met some locals (who gave us a packet of sweets). Quite a nice day to celebrate boyhood.

Farmers need to be creative these days. This one figured it out 20years ago and geared his farm to children and their parents. So woodland walk along the river, animal petting, an adventure play area and the requisite tea room. Worked well for us!
George hesitates to smile for the camera. He did offer his pirate face however. He is becoming suprisingly agile on play equipment!
Henry is a stubborn two-year old but seems to show interest in animals of all types. The big ones can scare him a bit but he's happy to stroke them if they're are small enough, and tries to pick all the bugs he sees, including spiders, bees and ants!

Friends

A picture of G & H with their friend James at a park one morning. You can't tell from the picture but James is younger than either G or H!

Here the boys are a little glum because they've each lost their bedtime story by not being good getting ready for bed. So they sat looking at their chosen book and 'reading' them themselves.

Overall, the boys are in a good place at the moment. They chat to each other, over each other, at each other. Same with playing. Henry is having a bit of the terrible-twos (stubborness, not wanting any help but not quite capable of much without some help). George is trying to deal with having a playmate but also someone who steals his stuff and interrupts his play.
I got a rare opportunity to take a picture with both of them smiling and looking at the camera at a local nature center.

I'm having a devil of time getting my photos uploaded. I think it's my browser being affected by my email account. So I'll have to settle with just posting some photos without my dialogue. These are of the boys on their 2 week trip to the US.
Both boys were fascinated with drinking fountains! And they enjoyed a carousel ride in SF and a trip to Fairyland in Oakland.

River walk

River walk in Devon with the grandparents and the boys. The boys liked throwing stones in the river and walking along the fallen trees the best. It was a nice outing.

Still a ham...

So this was over a week ago but the sun was shining, it wasn't too windy, and the temperature was 8C! The boys had forgotten what it's like to play outside so I had to force them but after playing for over an hour, I had to force them home again. Sunshine and play are a good thing.

Feng shui

I don't think this is good feng shui (or is it Chi?) for promoting high quality sleep! But Henry likes lots of books, his cd player with multiple cds, his disco light going and many stuffed toys. And sometimes that's not enough and he'll start singing (which we hear over the monitor). It pretty much carries on his persona from the day (a multi-media type kid). To make me feel better, I return after a half hour or so, or whenever he's finally asleep, to turn off the disco, remove the cd player and most of his books. How different he is from his brother, who loves his sleep!

Birthday season

This was George's fourth birthday cake at his party. Set at a church hall, with 20 other children and their parents. There was a games lady who did an excellent job playing with the children - except George, who enjoyed playing with a friend or two in the kitchen instead. He says he had a good time though, and we believe him!


George had his actual birthday on Friday. Low key family affair with his request - an ice cream cake.

Difficult to get good pictures of Henry these days - probably because he's always on the move. This pose is after shoveling biscuits in his face at George's party.