Judo

The boys have decided that thye would like to learn Judo.
We happily went along to the 1st 3 nights so they could get a feel for it.
They loved it, so it is now a permanent fixture on their calendar.

Last week Alex even won the Trophy of the week for 'best improvement' he was so please with himself and we were so proud of our little Judo Boys.

Clever Mummy

My 2 have found 'super hero's'

Can more or less be anyone, Batman, Superman or even Spiderman.

Along with this is the fact that Alex's daycare has superhero capes and Alex loves playing with them whilst at daycare.

One day several weeks ago he asked if he could have a cape at home?!

Yea sure I replied and then realised that I would actually have to make one.

Now yes I can sew, I have been taught, I also quilt and cross stitch so making 2 little superhero capes should be no problem.

I borrowed one from daycare to get a general gist of the pattern and size and then off I went.

Alex ended up with a blue cape with a yellow 'A' on the back and Ben got a red cape with a blue 'B' on the back.

They are the best thing I have ever made for them, they love them.

Alex would wear his to bed, daycare, swimming and shopping if I let him!

New Skill

Today, Alex learnt a new skill.

The skill of being able to swing on a swing on his own.

He has learnt to kick out his legs and bend them back again to move himself.

He was so chuffed at his new skill he spent half the day out there, although when it rained he came in, and then rushed back out there with a towel to wipe the swing dry!

Purple Dinosaur

The Purple Dinosaur, otherwise known as Barney, has made another appearance in our lives. This time I am not sure how long he is here to stay as he is being taken everywhere.

Yesterday he had to go to Daycare, he was with us at dinnertime last night and today he went with us on errands, to the park and to the dentist in the afternoon. He is always there at bedtime, in fact that is where he normally lives.

Now neither of my boys have been that bothered by anything before, that it has to go everywhere with us, so this is rather unusual to have something constantly with us.

Alex telling daddy all about it

On the swing

Climbing rocks at the park

On the stand up roundabout

On the see-saw

Checking out the ducks on the lake

Oh yea, Ben was at the park too, but luckily there was no extra person or thing with him, just us.

Beachtime

Seems the boys have suddenly found some imagination, which is actually really cool to watch.

Last week they kept getting the 2 throw blankets we have in the living room and making a beach area with them.

Luckily one is blue the other is brown, so naturally one was the water and the other the sand.

They kept inviting Steve and I to hang out with them in the sun at the beach.

Then they would suddenly dive onto the blue blanket and pretend to swim around.

It was so cute to watch.

This is them having just dived into the water

WOW Toys

Several years ago I was looking for an areoplane for Ben because he was obsessed with them, we lived under the main flight path into Auckland Airport at the time, so he saw them everyday.

The only decent plane I could find was this one. A WOW toy, battery free, high quality, British designed, developmental toy which are guaranteed favorites with all pre school children.
It came with a pilot and an animal and has friction wheels, so you can run it along the ground and the propellers go round. It is a really solid toy and the best part is it requires NO batteries to make the parts move, which any mother will tell you is definitely a bonus.


This then lead us on to getting the helicopter, which is an animal rescue one, comes with several animals and the helicopter has a magnet, so you can pretend to fly down and grab the animal and fly it to safety. Again it has a friction button to make the blades go round and no batteries, in fact all WOW toys require NO batteries, so I love them.


We, over the time, have also collected the twin racing cars and the out door adventurer. Both allow much interaction and imaginative play, and everything goes together. All the people are the same size and can fit in any vehicle etc.


Alex has just found all these toys again in the toy box and now we regularly hear him playing along with them, talking to the people using lots of imaginative playing.


I think we might even have to look at getting another piece for him for Christmas as we need something aimed at his age group to get him, and although he loves all the toys Ben got for his birthday, we don't want Alex to suddenly jump 2 years in the types of toys he plays with when he is after all only 3yrs and needs to still learn what 3/4 yr olds learn at this age.

FireFighters

Our boys the firefighters.

They get caving hats of Steve's out of the garage and then they run around the garden answering all the fire calls.

They have their fire car and their hose.

This keeps them happy for ages.

Video on Posts

I have uploaded someone elses video from You-tube before on to my blog but I have never uploaded anything personal.
So this is my first attempt at up loading my own video.

We are house bound today as I am not feeling the greatest and it is pouring with rain, so Steve took the car to work.

A friend came for lunch and after everyone had eaten the kids decided that as it was not raining anymore then they would go outside.
This video clip shows you exactly what they got up too....

And there was me complaining to Steve that the driveway needed to be sorted before it filled with water!

If it will keep them happy for 10 minutes then I am happy to put up with the water.

Jigsaw

Ben is getting so good at doing jigsaw puzzles.

At the caravan last weekend he quite happily did his Postman Pat jigsaw.

It is nice to see him going off and doing something for himself, quietly without Alex bugging him.

Cafe

The other day I walked with the boys up to the post office to post all the invitations for the wedding.

Ben spent the whole time telling me how he wanted a big glass of milk from the cafe!

There was no way I was paying for a cafe to give him a glass when we could go home and have it for free.

So when we got home I told them to sit at the table and that I would serve them like they were in a cafe themselves.

I came and took their order and then delivered 2 glasses of milk with a plate of biscuits to the table.

They thought this was such fun and had a great time playing 'cafe' all afternoon, so much so that when daddy came home they made him sit down and be the customer while they set the table for dinner. They also wanted to look like waiters, so we pegged t-towels round their waists and gave them a pen and paper.

It was so cute.

Playmates

This is Alex with his best friend Eleanor.

She is the same age as him, in fact she is 5 days older, but we won't tell him!

Now when these 2 get together they are like twins.

Alex is a different person with her. He goes all soft and docile.

They play together so well and as Alex has just learnt a lot of imaginative play from Ben, then he can keep himself and Eleanor amused for hours.

As you can see in the picture they were filthy from having been playing for hours while Richard (aka Eleanor's dad) sorted out our tv, but they had had a blast along the way.

Boxes

When the house is full of boxes and the boys are bored, the easiest thing to do is give them some boxes and let their imagination run wild.

They had a great afternoon when I was trying to pack playing with a few boxes

Cribbage

Where on earth did this card game come from??
My parents can play this and now I find out so can Steve. He had the pleasure of teaching me over the weekend whilst at the caravan!
OMG what a game, I am sure he was cheating, although I have never played so wouldn't really know, but he definitely got into the cribbage spirit because I almost lost lots of points because I wasn't playing quick enough, but then seeing as I have never played how was I meant to know I could get the points!!
I am sure as I get to know the game more and understand it and know the scoring system better then I might actually enjoy playing it, but we will see.

I did look up info about where it came from on Google. This is what I found...

"Cribbage, or crib, is a card game traditionally for two players, but commonly played with three, four or more, that involves playing and grouping cards in combinations which gain points. Cribbage has several distinctive features: the cribbage board used for scorekeeping, the eponymous crib or box (a separate hand counting for the dealer), two distinct scoring stages (the play and the show) and a unique scoring system including points for groups of cards that total fifteen.
According to John Aubrey, cribbage was created by the English poet Sir John Suckling in the early 17th century, as a derivation of the game "noddy". While noddy has disappeared, crib has survived, virtually unchanged, as one of the most popular games in the English-speaking world. The objective of the game is to be the first player to score a target number of points, typically 61 or 121. Points are scored for card combinations that add up to fifteen, pairs (plus triples and quadruples), runs and flushes."

Steve was taking points left, right and centre! You gained one for this and if you did it this way you gained another, but if you weren't quick enough in taking the point someone else took it! I am sure half the points he took were made up, he could have said you get one for a Queen just because there is a Queen of England for all I know!

So for now I think I will just wait to watch my parents and Steve play together, then I might get a better understanding, although I know my mum tried to teach me many years ago!

Playing Together

I know it seems like a few days since I posted anything, 5 to be exact.

But there has been a lot going on and somethings got very stressful. Unfortunately something has to go by the wayside and getting on the computer to blog is one of those things.

But when you have your bank convincing you that you never had the $4000 there in the first place you do start to question things. It got sorted 24 hours later, but it was a very long 24 hours.

Also my lovely cousin Kerry got married this weekend to her lovely man Daniel.

So when I have the pictures sorted I will put some on so you can see my lovely 2 monkeys as the ring bearers.

Instead for now here is a picture of my 2 playing together so nicely.

With the way the days have been lately it is so nice to see them discover each other as play mates.

Chipmunks

Ben has been asking for several weeks if we can please go to Chipmunks. This is an indoor playland for kids, suited for kids from 0 - 10yrs.

Now we almost made it last Tuesday, but the boys both messed around so much as we were trying to get out of the house that I cancelled it at the last minute. I know I am a cruel mother! But it worked, because I told them that we could go to Chipmunks this week as long as they didn't mess around.
Ben even told daddy that he was going to Chipmunks and it meant he had to get up, have breakfast and not mess around before we went, so something sunk in!
Anyway, we got out of the door this morning in plenty of time and got there just as they opened at 09.30am, good time to get there as it is empty and quiet, just how my 2 like it, also the schools are back so no worries of big kids pushing them around.


Ben loves the big slide. You have a big hike up the side and then this enormous drop at the front.

It has taken several years for him to feel truely comfortable on this, but now he flies down with no worries.

This picture wasn't the greatest, but shows Ben coming down head first which is a great achievement for him.

Winter Time is Here

If you are lucky enough to live in the southern hemisphere, then you will know that winter has finally got here.

Well at least the rain and wind has got here to the North Island of New Zealand, if you are in the South Island then you have got the rain, the wind and unfortunately the snow as well.

So what do you do with 2 small boys when the weather is so awful outside..........?

You give them a cardboard box to play with.......

Or get daddy to pretend to be a horse!

Inside Play

Not much has happened over the last couple of weeks. Ben and Alex have just been discovering each other. They have now realised that they can play together and have lots of fun.

They push each other around the house having such fun.

Ben has also discovered that he can control Alex, mainly because Alex is like his little shadow! he will follow him almost anywhere.

Unfortunately the down side of this is that Alex was too eager on the climbing frame the other evening and landed head first on the deck! Yes there was screaming, no there wasn't any blood, just one very sore little boy with a dent in his forehead.
But to make matters worse, the next day in his eagerness to chase Ben in the lounge, Alex dropped the toy he was carrying, tripped on it and landed mouth first onto another toy on the floor. Again yes there was screaming , and yes there was blood, although luckily it was from a very little cut in his mouth, although the bruise on his chin matches the one on this head so well.
We will try not to get another bruise today or Daycare will think we have been attacking him all weekend.

The other thing my boys like is to climb. daddy was only putting something away and there they were, up the ladder before we knew it!
And all good mothers make their kids tents when it is wet and yucky outside. The boys had such fun with this, and it brought back lots of memories for me as well.