Strike day!

Today both Caitlin and Noah were off school with the teacher strikes.  I love school holidays…they both love school…but I love the lack of rushing in the mornings!!  We had a couple of plans for the day.  First off we were going to a play group that me and Austin always go to.  The other people I meet also have older kids but theirs were still in school, but they really wanted to meet Caitlin and Noah, and Caitlin and Noah really wanted to meet Austin’s little friends!  Caitlin went all shy when we got there and sat with me for most of the time.

After that we met Noah’s friend from school.  We were supposed to be going for a picnic in the park but while we were at play group it started pouring down so we went to a soft play instead and I forgot to take any photos!!!!

We had a great day though….

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School fair

Today was Noah’s school fair and I was down to help on the craft table!  I was really pleased because if I had to choose a stand to man I would pick the craft one!  I took Noah along to help me while Caitlin went to ballet.  He was a bit bored to be honest…..

…but I think that’s because on our way in he spotted this…..

He was desperate to go on it!  Our hour was up on the craft table so we had a wander around the fair, had a go on the tobola, bought a cake…all while we waited for Caitlin and Austin to arrive….  I thought he was going to go mad waiting for them, because I’d told him he had to wait for them to go on the traction engine!!!!  Or maybe the man who owned the engine would go mad with the questions….how big is the engine, what is that plank of wood for, what comes out of the exhaust…etc etc!!!!!!!!  Finally they arrived and he got to go on!

He loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!!  We then went back into the fair and had BBQ food and more tombola tries!!

Daddy’s birthday!

Today is Daddy’s birthday!!!!!!  I let them chose their own presents for him which resulted in some odd choices!!  Caitlin decided Daddy would like some chocolate and so picked him a set of chocolate tools which was good!  She also picked some cashew and pistachio nuts.

There were tears from Noah!  When I asked him what he wanted to get daddy Noah answered “a jet car”….I tried to explain that jet cars are very very very expensive and we couldn’t get one and he cried!!  Instead he picked a mini magazine and a football air freshener!!!???

We had to go to the school fair (more on that later!) during the day and then we had party tea!!!!!

I’d let Caitlin pick the cake we bought…at first she wanted to get a princess cake but in the end I persuaded her to get either a caterpillar one or a car one…she picked the caterpillar…..

…she also wanted to get 38 candles but eventually compromised on a number 3 & 8!!!!!!

Sports day

Yesterday was scheduled to be sports day at Caitlin’s school, but it rained and rained and so it was postponed.  This morning there were big black clouds looming and I was convinced it was going to be completely cancelled…but the rain held off and it was even a little bit sunny in the end.  Caitlin is in the yellow-hammer team (they are all named after a bird).  The first race she was in was one where you had to balance a bean bag on your head and walk to the cone.  Caitlin had a shaky start where she couldn’t get the bean bag to balance on her head!!  With a bit of help she was off….slowly!!!!

Then there was a dressing up race where they had to put on items of clothing along the way then take them off on the return journey….

There was also a skipping race and a running race….

…and the sack race which Caitlin was actually quite good at…

…and even enthusiastically threw herself across the finish line…

In the reception races the yellow-hammer’s came 2nd but overall they won!  The reception members seemed oblivious to this when it was announced though! They all just sat smiling on the grass along with all the other teams!

At the end there was a toddler race so Austin joined in…

Meeting Jasper

Tonight we went to meet Jasper, Ed and Lucy’s new puppy.  Caitlin was terrified at first, but she did stroke him and stand next to him….

Noah also wasn’t too sure, although he wasn’t as scared as Caitlin.  He happily stroked him but then wandered off to play with Caitlin and Lucy…

We didn’t stay too long as Jasper is only 11 weeks old and is still a lively little thing.  Austin loved him!  He was happy rolling around on the floor playing with him…

..and kissing him….

Austin also loved throwing the ball (at) for him!  Nice that Austin loved him but he has no chance of getting his own dog…or any other animal for that matter!!

To the park….

The rain just about held off so we braved the park!

I wish the good weather would come back, it was great wandering around in the sun!  We fed the ducks which Austin loved….

…until they got a bit keen and charged at him for his bread….

We then moved back to the play area where Austin and his friend mastered the giant slide…

(that’s Austin right at the top) Although Austin did cheat by climbing up the slide rather than the proper way up where the steps are just a bit too big for him!  Maybe to stop little ones going higher than they should but trust Austin to find a way around that problem!!!

Party weekend

This weekend we had 3 parties…one for each child!  Noah was first up with a friend from nursery.  The little boy was a bit upset though because his bouncy castle didn’t turn up!  The party guests didn’t seem to mind at all and had a great time playing musical statues and just racing around the garden!  Eventually the castle did arrive and everyone was very excited….

Next up was Austin!  One of his best friends turned 2 and she had a little party at home which Caitlin and Noah were invited to as well.  There was cake and playing and they all loved it!!!

Caitlin’s party was also a school friend (well 2 – they were having a joint party) at a soft play.  The party food was pizza and chips so that wasn’t so good, but we went out for Fathers Day afterwards so she ate there! 

For Fathers Day we went to chiquitos and had a very nice tea!  Then it was straight to bed ready for school!!

Some old photos!

I was looking through my mum’s old photos and I found some of me and my sister when we were Austins age….

I can’t believe how much I looked like my sister, I didn’t think we looked like each other but we did!  Here’s me at about 1.5 or 2 years old….

…and Amy at about the same age!

I also think Austin looks just like us too!!!!!!!

Austin starts swimming lessons

Today Austin started swimming lessons.  I wasn’t too sure how he was going to do but he was great.  Graham had loads of toys that him and Austin threw in the water and then he made Austin get in with him to go and collect them.  Austin had a floatation belt on and a noodle wrapped around his arms and gradually Graham let go of him so he was on his own with the floats.

He kicked his legs and actually made himself move along.  I think it will be a while before he does any completely unaided swimming but he did really well.  Graham seemed pleased with him too, although when Graham asked him if he’d had a good time he said no!!!  But he did say he’d had a good time when I asked him afterwards….

..and he especially enjoyed his reward of fruit buttons after!!!

Graham is a fantastic swimming teacher, he seems to know exactly how to teach each child…he uses a completely different style with all 3 of them and they are all doing really well.

X-Factor!!

Tonight I went to watch the X-Factor auditions.  It was a great night, but very long and shows you just how staged it all is.  You were encouraged to take photo’s of the judges coming in, I really wish I had known this and I would have taken my camera not just my phone!!  So here is a very bad photo of the judges!!!

We were also allowed to take a photo of Dermot…..

There was no photography of the acts allowed…but they were all ok apart from one really bad brother and sister act and another girl who you thought was going to be rubbish but was actually very good!  They spend so long on each act, we only got to see about 15 or 20 acts.  Everyone seemed to get 2 or 3 songs I suppose so they have a ton of material to edit from.  It took us 2 hours to get in and we were in the studio for another 4 hours!!!!!!  I would go again though!!