Laura’s Life

I bought the boys a set of twelve Gormiti figures as an end of term present.  I decided to organise a treasure hunt by hiding the Gormiti in the garden.  Aidan, Orin and Evan had a ton of fun seeking them out.

One of Aidan’s teachers gave him a bottle of bubble mixture as an end of term present so he decided to play with them in the garden and have his little brothers try to catch the bubbles:

Aidan also taught Evan how to blow bubbles:

These were taken the day before and are also of the boys playing in the garden.

They go through a pack of chalk a week drawing on the path.  It is one of their favourite activities:

Jumping Beans!

Inside the tent:

Monday was our final “proper” school run of the academic year so - just for the merry heck of it - I decided to make a photodocumentary of our everyday experience.

We set off from the house at 2.40pm. 

This is Orin strolling up the street opposite our house having already stopped to look for snails in the grass:

Arlo was not impressed at having been transferred from the moses basket to the double buggy and was protesting:

It should have taken us five minutes to reach this point but instead it had taken us ten:

Me looking hot and bothered because it was too humid to be dealing with the stress of how long the school run was taking.  This photo was taken to illustrate the fact that Orin is always at least ten paces behind the rest of us:

We reached the wooded cut-through at 3pm and were eaten alive by midgies as Orin took so long to dawdle along.  On my own, I can walk all the way to the school in 20 minutes without breaking a sweat but it had taken us 20 minutes just to make it a third of the way:

This is how far behind the rest of the pack Orin regularly gets.  That red blob in the distance is him:

Orin and I then have the same exchange of words every afternoon.  I ask him why he is not walking and he announces, in a very disgrunted tone, that he is walking.  I then ask how he can be walking while standing still poking at a hedge or sitting on the pavement.  He then begins walking at a rate so slow the human eye can barely detect movement while huffing and puffing loudly.  Here he is mid-huffy-flounce:

So by this juncture Evan was beginning to tire and was, therefore, getting a bit on the moody side too:

At this point, about 3.10pm, Arlo started bellowing because he was hungry:

I explained that we need to be walking faster to make it to the school with enough time for me to feed Arlo once there.  Annoyingly this just seemed to make Orin walk in an even more meandering style.  Leaves to pick, flowers to sniff, twigs to snap …

And then I discover that Evan has fallen asleep.  Sigh.

At about 3.15pm we reached the crossing.  This is the only pedestrian crossing in our town so the boys are always very excited to push the button to make the green man appear.  Ah, the small pleasures in life:

Why walk quickly onto the campus when you can tightrope walk along a kerb and make it take that bit longer?

Finally, at just before 3.25pm, we made it into the playground and I was able to feed Arlo while Orin played and Evan slept:

Orin was happy to be playing in the playground and suddenly had oodles of energy:

The bell rang at 3.30pm and Aidan was released soon after.  As I was stashing his bags and things under the buggy, Orin went AWOL.  Despite bellowing his name in an echoing playground, there was no response.  I began to panic.  Aidan went back into the school to see if he had gone in there - something Orin is fond of doing - and I sent my friend’s two daughters to look around the corner of the building while I stayed in the playground for him to return to.  One of the girls found him.  Phew!  He was just around the corner and must have been able to hear me shouting.  So then I had to get into the whole “If you cannot see me then I cannot see you” talk.

So, despite having made it to school in time  - finally - my stress levels were still rising.

Aidan and Orin casually strolling through the school grounds:

We made it off the campus at 3.45pm, which is ridiculous really.  This is Aidan waiting for Orin to catch up:

What’s wrong with this picture?  Both boys should be walking towards me but instead one is standing still and the other is veering off to his left.  Sigh.

Aidan waiting on Orin again.  Notice that no other school children appear in the background of my photos.  That is because they had all cleared off by the time we reached the path:

Oh look!  It’s Orin straggling again.  It was 3.55pm by this point and we had barely even started our journey home.  It is just as well that I love my wee Orin to bits because there are times when snails are overtaking him and I really have to summon up all my reserves of tolerance and patience.

By 4.10pm we finally made it back to the wooded cut-through:

By which time Evan was awake again ….

… and Arlo was both awake and content:

Another shot of Orin straggling behind and ignoring all pleas to speed up.  This was at about 4.20 and my patience was really getting frayed:

Dirt, sweat and tears as we finally near home.  He is cute though, which helps him get away with being so tardy:

I turned the key in the door at 4.30pm.  Yes, a journey that should have taken us an hour maximum had managed to take us just shy of two hours.

And this is one of the reasons why I am demob happy on the first day of the school holidays.  No more school runs for six weeks!

When we lost Tottie in September, Aidan wanted to create a space in our garden where he and his brothers could go to think about Tottie  -  he’s a deep thinker for a six year old  -  and he wanted there to be a statue to mark the spot.  I got the plaque months ago but it has taken me ages to find the perfect statue or garden ornament.  Then, a couple of weekends ago, I found this cute iron pig in a local gift shop and just had the overwhelming sense that it was the perfect thing for Tottie’s memory corner.  So finally we have a spot - on our garden wall - that is Tottie’s special place.
 
Here is a photo:

This photo was not actually taken on Fathers’ Day but it’s a cute one of Chris with Arlo and Evan so I am including it in this entry:

The following were actually taken on Fathers’ Day.  Chris took the boys on a “Journey through Space” - all from the comfort of their bedrooms.  Orin and Chris ready for take-off:

Aidan and Evan inside their rocket ship:

Aidan looking through a solar viewer (apparently):

Evan experiencing zero gravity:

Later, all the boys helped bathe Arlo:

Can you tell how unimpressed Arlo was?

My wee plucked pigeon:

All cosy again and getting snuggled by his brothers:

Photos of the bigger boys painting a couple of weekends ago.  Their usual approach is quite slapdash and the results quite abstract but they all actually took more time over their paintings and seemed to have a vision of how they wanted the finished work of art to look.  So maybe some of my arty side has passed on to them after all.

Arlo aged three weeks:

Orin and Evan planning a mini Olympics.  Evan is holding a timer and Orin is holding a medal.  I just thought they looked cute together:

My art club friends sent me a bouquet of flowers to celebrate Arlo’s arrival so, of course, that was an excuse for me to take loads of photos of flowers:

Evan and the flowers:

I set up the baby gym for Arlo to play on.  He seems to enjoy it:

Evan in his jammies:

Arlo and his Mummy (our first photos together since he was first born):

Inspired by Christine’s comment on the previous post about the lack of baby photos of Aidan, I decided to make a post devoted to what my wee fellows looked like as babies.  I thought it might be interesting to see if they looked similar or not as babies.

I don’t have many of Aidan loaded onto the computer since we did not have a digital camera back then.   I am afraid what I do have, therefore, is scanned in and quite grainy as a result.

Here he is aged just four days old - and already throwing me dirty looks:

Aidan aged about four months:

Orin just a few hours old:

This is Orin aged about one month old:

And aged about four months - what a wee chubba!

Evan just a couple of days old:

And this is Evan about the same age as Arlo is now:

Just because I am on a nostalgia kick, here is a photo of all three of my bigger boys together:

And one of my favourite series of photos because it reminds me how challenging it is to get a successful photo of all three boys together:

Just think: now I have to try and get a portrait of all four boys together.  I feel my hair turning grey already …

The photos in the last entry of the boys playing on the climbing frame have inpired this retrospective of photos of them playing on the climbing frame.

Look how much they have all changed!

This wee roley-poley dumpling is Orin:

Aidan aged about three:

Another one of Orin:

Aidan aged four:

Orin aged about 18 months:

Evan aged one:

Here is one of those “restores your faith in human nature” type stories.  One of my sister Leanne’s colleagues has a sister who was housebound with a broken leg or something and was looking for a job to keep her occupied.  So she knitted Arlo four gorgeous wee jumpers, two white and two blue.  They are the absolute perfect size for him too and, since we could not find any outer wear in the shops to fit him, they were very much needed.  I was very touched that a complete stranger would be so generous and thoughtful.  Here is Arlo wearing one of the cardigans:

Arlo makes his Daddy look like some kind of giant:

Orin has been telling everyone how Arlo doesn’t have any proper clothes and has to go out in public in his jammies.  But my friend Alex bought him this wee outfit so, while the feet flap about a good deal and he needs his sleeves turned up, Arlo now has a set of proper clothes he can go out and about in while he waits to grow into his wardrobe:

Orin holding Arlo:

Evan holding Arlo:

And smooching:

Tiny wee funny face:

Evan and Orin on the garden wall:

Two swinging monkeys:

Playing on the climbing frame:

Sliding:

Aidan got home from school and joined in the fun:

“Three craws sat upon a wa’ …”

The many moods of Aidan:

The title says it all really.  These photos record Arlo’s first bath at home, assisted by biggest brother Aidan.