A new bed for Austin

Richard has been making Austin a new bed for a few weeks now and it is just about finished enough to sleep in.  The kids were still at my mum’s so we moved his room around and put it up there…..

It’s quite high and there is no ladder on it just yet, but the cupboard next to it kind of creates steps up to it.  I knew Austin would be able to manage fine just with those…and sure enough on attempt number one he was up and in straightaway.  He was a tiny bit hesitant on the way down but even that only took 2 tries before he was confident getting out.

There are little cupboards on the inside by the mattress which just need their doors, but he loves his new bed!!!  And it creates a little bit more floor space for him to play on!

Britain’s Got Talent

Today we had tickets to be in the audience of Britain’s Got Talent….so my Mum came over to watch the kids and we set off for Salford.  We got there quite early but all of the guaranteed tickets had already been given out.  We were told that if we queued up we stood a 50/50 chance of getting in, so we decided to wait.  They have to allocate way more tickets than spaces in order to guarantee that the audience is full which is fair enough as the tickets are free.  We waited for over 2 hours some of which was in the rain.  We did get to see Ant and Dec…..

That photo doesn’t really do them any justice as it makes them look a bit miserable but they were really smiley and came over to talk to a woman in front of us….and it was raining!

After they had filmed Ant and Dec and some other crowds bits it was time to see if we’d managed to get in….and really annoyingly not one single person got in!!!!!!!  I thought it was really out of order that they had led us to believe we had a chance of getting in when we didn’t, there was a lot of annoyed people!!  I did write and complain about being lied to, I appreciate that the tickets are free and there is no guarantee but it’s not on to blatantly lie in order to gain a crowd for filming purposes!!  Anyway they seem to be refusing to reply…and not just to me judging by their facebook page!!

After BGT…or NOT BGT as it was for us…we did a bit of shopping and then went to a family 18th birthday party.  There was a magician there…and he was amazing.  Somehow managed to get Richards signed card into his shoe and then across to a paper clip my Aunty was holding.

Noah to another party….

It really is party season for Noah!!!  He had another one to go to, a little girl in his class.  This one had a disco with some games, they started out with dancing….  (this is him dancing with one of his best friends – not that you can see him!!! but you get the idea!)

The DJ also did a few games with them, one of which was name that tune.  He wanted artist and track…needless to say it did not work….none of them had a clue what he was on about!!!!  There was party food during which Noah and another friend were plotting….

…go on…it’ll be funny….

…ha ha ha ha………got it!!!!!!!

….hilarious I got a party ring!!!!!!!!

After the fun at food time there was more dancing.  And just like at the other party he was dancing with a girl from his class…except this time it was a different girl!!!!!

He danced with her for ages….although to be fair he does talk about this girl a lot!!!  He met her during the first week of school and even Austin knows her name!!!!

Again she is loads taller than Noah.  It’s weird Noah always seems quite tall because he is pretty much the same size as Caitlin but it would seem he’s average if not on the short side!!  Mind you both J & B are tall!!  He looks so funny in this picture….he pulls such funny faces!!  “Jack-the-lad” Noah….

Then it was back to being squashed by the boys!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Icy weather

It has gone really cold and icy…but that hasn’t stopped Noah wanting to go out in the garden…and so out he went, along with his little shadow Austin, and even Caitlin didn’t want to miss out.

They all had a great time riding around on their bikes…..

 

Weird how they don’t care that there is barely enough room to get going!!  Austin had his first proper go on his balance bike, he’s just about tall enough now!

They played on their bikes, in the various bits of ice that they found dotted about and just generally playing about.  Caitlin was the first to get too cold and come in, but Noah and Austin stayed out to play football…they both put their new goaly gloves on and Austin looked hysterical..like he had giant comedy hands!!!

Noah is really into football at the moment and is desperate to join a team somewhere..trouble is they are all at weekends and we’re hoping to go away in Alfie at the weekends once the weather gets a bit better.  They both spent ages playing football….luckily not kicking the ball too hard since they were facing the back windows and door!!!!!!

Austin had a great time copying Noah…he copies everything he does.

 

Party time

Noah went to a party for a girl in his class.  She had a clown…Mr Dazzle…and he was great.  The kids loved him, they had dancing competitions where they could win bracelets and the person with the most bracelets at the end got a prize.  Noah was dancing away, well jumping about really, with a little girl S.  Funny really because he’d never mentioned her before but at the party they were almost inseparable!!! 

The kids were all fascinated by Mr Dazzle’s rabbit and at the end of his show they were all allowed to meet it…..

After the food (where Noah sat next to S) there was some music and dancing…with S…..

They were very funny together, they were dancing and holding hands…..

Back to school

This week has been back to school and both Caitlin and Noah have been moved up a stage in their reading.  Noah is doing amazingly with his and even pinched one of Caitlin’s books and read the whole thing only needing help with the odd word.  Caitlin’s reading has also really come on over Christmas, she seems to be able to read anything you put in front of her.  She even does the voices for the characters, it’s very funny.  I’m not convinced she performs very well in school because she can read all of the books they send home really easily, but she is happy and making great progress, and picks up any book she fancies from her shelf once she has done her school books.

It would seem that every child in Noah’s class has a birthday around now….over a third of the class is born in January or February…so he has been getting party invites left, right and centre!!!

Today was also back to swimming and all three of them got straight back into it….but they are all (well not Austin actually!!) completely exhausted…

Last day of the holidays

We had one day left before it was back to school so I asked the kids what they wanted to do…they both picked soft play and the weather wasn’t great so we did that.  Noah asked specifically to go to Zoom, his reason being that when he went there on his birthday last year he wasn’t allowed to go on the big blue slide because he wasn’t old enough and he really wanted a go!  He’d asked if he could pretend to be 5 and I’d said yes.  I know he is more than capable of going down the very steep slide and he is 5 very soon, so I figured it was an informed ability based decision rather than an age one.  Anyway we got there and they played for about 45 minutes before the slide was opened…they only open it once every couple of hours and it is under constant supervision to make sure no-one goes until it is clear and no little ones stray on etc.  So I told Noah he could go….but he then decided he was too scared!!!!!!!!  He is apparently going to wait until he really is 5!!  I should have taken a photo of the slide…it is steep but I know of other soft play’s that have a similar slide that is just open to any daredevil!!!!!!  They all had a great time even without the slide.  I’m sure one day we’ll go back and actually go on it.

It was then time for baths and early nights ready for school in the morning….

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Visiting Nan for New Year

We drove down to see Nan on the Friday after Richard finished work.  Caitlin played with her ipod the whole way down…..she had a great time alternating between playing games, listening to music, taking photos and taking videos…it was brilliant.  Noah played on his a bit and also watched Cars with Austin.

It was a bit wet so we didn’t get out too much but we had a good time.

They got to open their presents from Nan….

karaoke machines….a cool flower pen…

…and a very noisy police car….

Caitlin also got a pedal racer which will no doubt make for a good video post once the weather is a bit better.

We had some indoor fireworks which Noah found very exciting….

..but Austin weirdly found very scary!!  I’m not sure if he was scared of them or became scared when the person next too him got scared?

We had a great time, although the kids didn’t stay up until midnight, they were all too tired from too many late nights and early starts.  Then before we knew it, it was time to go home.

Sale shopping

Richard was off work and the kids had got some money for Christmas so we went sale shopping.  Caitlin had a voucher but she forgot it so she couldn’t get as much as she wanted.  She got another outfit for her build a bear, Rosie, that she got for her birthday.  Noah and Austin did really well….they bought some fake Lego that was half price so they got these 2 big boxes of bricks for £18….

Noah also got himself a hat, scarf and gloves set and a torch.  And Caitlin and Noah got headphones as the ones that came with their ipods kept falling out of their ears!  We had some lunch and looked around some other shops then we headed home to play with the Lego.  With help they all built this….

and this….

Austin really surprised me by making the little police bike completely by himself.  It wasn’t many pieces but he’s never really played with Lego before.