These Boys

These boys. They are so much fun, so much of the time. There are also the days where they end up in the bath at 3pm because I just can't take the fighting anymore, and they LOVE the bath. Also, as  an aside, why is it that they can be playing brilliantly together, but the second I step in the shower and apply shampoo, the blood curdling screams start?

 This picture was from one of those days. See how they're totally fine, and not ripping each other to pieces? The magic of the bath, my friend.

So far today is shaping up to not be one of those days, thankfully. Aside from when I was in the shower, that's pretty much a daily occurance.  They've played with batman, they've tipped the lego all over the floor. They had jigsaw books out. They asked to watch Cinderella, and gave up on it. They asked to watch Tarzan, which got a little more attention. What can I say, princesses don't really cut it for them. Of course, this is how they chose to watch it:

 Hey, I never said they were normal. They love each other fiercely though. If one of them gets hurt (and it's not been caused by the other) then the other one will run over to see that they're ok. The fighting is accompanied by many hugs and kisses in this house. And oh, the hugs these boys give. full of love, yet also like they're trying to squeeze the life out of you. And they're my boys. As frustrating as they can be at times, there is far more than enough good to outweigh that.

I found this while uploading photos, and couldn't not add it, because it's cute and makes me laugh.

                                

He did fall properly asleep in the end, with my hand holding his head up. 

I'm trying to let the frustration go as much as I can, because they're growing so fast. Ethan is almost 5, and getting to be a big boy. And Sam is 2 and a half, and no longer my baby. I want them to remember a mum who was fun, not one who was shouting all the time. One who had time to play and let them make a mess and who didn't always respond with "in a minute." Speaking of which, we're going outside to play. I love these boys.

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Mother's Day

I had a lovely one this year :)

  Some of my most favourite chocolates, that I keep forgetting exist because they don't sell them in many places, which Rich remembered I like, without prompting ;)

 Two lovely cards from Ethan (left, made at school) and Sam (right, made in nursery at church, with what I suspect to be a fairly large amount of help!)

 A certificate from Ethan that he did at school, and did all the writing himself. Ok, so the date doesn't make a huge amount of sense, but I don't care! He has only recently discovered a desire to read and write and learn, and I love it.

Some lovely flowers chosen by the boys including this pink gerbera, also one of my favourite things.

The two loveliest parts of the day though were at church. First Ethan got up with the primary children to sing. He was first up, and it didn't look like it was going to go well at first when another little boy gave him a shove and a kick and he started to cry. So I started to mouth the words at him with a (slightly maniacal) grin to get him smiling. After a while he recovered and made me cry by belting out the words to 'every star is different'. Then later he and Sam went up together to bring me a flower and held hands very cutely, which is especially lovely when they do it in public ;)

After church I made camp on the couch and was made a delicious dinner and generally spoiled until bedtime!

I am incredibly grateful to the mothers in my life, starting of course with my own. She's a strong woman with incredible faith and a wonderful sense of fun, and I love her dearly.

I'm also grateful for Richard's mum, who brought him up to be a wonderful man, who is the kindest man I have ever known. He is respectful, hard working, and just generally brilliant.

And then there's me. I feel the responsibility heavily with these (soon to be 3) boys. I have to bring them up with love and respect, faith and happiness. They deserve the best, as do their future families. They deserve to turn out like their father. We're trying :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Robots and Spaceships and Aliens oh my!

It's been a while! So, what have I been up to. I made another baby quilt, this one for my lovely friend Harriet's teeny weeny new boy, the very gorgeous William.

Isn't he scrummy? Also how gorgeous is this picture. You can completely see the total adoration, and it still doesn't quite capture it. That house is bursting with love.

Here's the blanket - I'm very pleased with this one, the fabric was such a good find, boys are difficult to shop for!

 The two materials came as a set too, perfect for a matching front and back piece. There was also a third pattern, like the front with the squares, but the pattern was much larger and so would have been great for a big blanket, but not a baby one. I'm very fussy about fabric. Even though the blankets are (so far) all for babies, I don't like picking a fabric that's too babyish, as my way, the babies don't out grow the patterns too quickly! My boys each have one, Ethan's was made by his auntie Sheri, and has dinosaur patterns, and Sam's was made by my mum and has animals and palm trees and stuff.

Last weekend we took Ethan for a treat day - I read an article recently about how sometimes we can get so caught up on telling off our kids, that they don't hear as many I love yous, and recommended treat days where the child gets to make the decisions and you get to just have a good time with them. I'm making it sound hippyish, but that's basically the gist, and really, it's about quality time together, with the focus on one child (the article recommended taking the child out without siblings if possible). It's supposed to also help 'reset' the child's behaviour and your responses to it, sort of a clean slate.

 So Ethan chose Sundown Adventureland, a children's theme park about an hour away. We've been before with school so he was very excited to go, and asked if Daddy and Sam could come too, and off we went.

 First came the Santa ride. It's open all year round and Rich was very excited, as he is a massive Christmas lover. The boys were excited too, and we went on it twice. There are actually two Santa rides there, but the second one only opens at the beginning of November. The boys were not impressed.

 Santa's sleigh crossing the moon! The whole park is (dated) animatronics, so it all moves.

 Santa's map. I'm not sure he's getting the best time with this route.

 

 On the tractor ride, and apparently not impressed with my photography skills.

 Getting onto the Robin Hood ride. There aren't any pictures of the ride in progress as I was too gobsmacked by the animatronics. At one point you're practically flashed by Maid Marion!

Attempting to release King Arthur's sword. There were lots of other rides and play areas, but I'm terrible in that I always forget to take pictures and end up with random insights to the day :)

So here's the skinny - I'd definitely recommend it, it was perfect for the kids, the rides were not in the slightest scary or fast, and it's not too expensive. £11 for adults and kids, and under 2's are free. There are 2 indoor play areas with food available, again, fairly cheap, and really good. Best of all, once you're in, the only things you pay for are food (although you can bring your own) and the gift shop, assuming you want to stop there. That too is reasonable.

All in all it was a brilliant day, we had loads of fun, there was no tellings off from us, and his behaviour was brilliant, with no whining, which recently had become pretty epic. A win I think!

Next time - an update Sam's Loki jacket for Halloween, it's going well so far!

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!