Laura’s Life

This was actually Aidan’s penultimate day at nursery but tomorrow all the kids (including Orin) are having a Medieval Banquet to celebrate the last day of term.  So this morning was when they held their graduation ceremony.

I did not manage to get any really great photos because I had Evan on my lap, the kids were intent on not posing at all and I was more involved in being a mother than a photographer (yes, for once!) but here are the snaps to commemorate the moment anyway.

They began by having all the kids sing a “Celebrate” song to the eight who are heading off to school in August.  Aidan is lurking in the back right of frame in the black t-shirt.

He was presented with a certificate and a childrens atlas.

This is a group photo of all eight “Rising Fives” together.

Aidan graduated from nursery today. They had a little ceremony for the eight kids who are starting school in August. They started the whole thing by having the kids sing a “Celebrate” song to those heading off to school. Aidan was embarrassed to have everyone look at him when his name was sung, turning a shade of fuschia, hence the giggling at that point in the video.

Aidan was sick on Saturday night so we did not get up to much over the weekend.  Well, I took Orin swimming but there are no photos of that obviously.  So here are some random photos from the past few days instead of a weekend activity post.

Aidan, Orin and I made chocolate fridge cake on Saturday afternoon.  It was so delectable!  And it was really easy to make too, almost as easy as crispy cakes but far tastier.  Yummy yummy yum yum!  Here is Aidan showing the cake as we put it into the fridge.

The kids escaped out into the garden at dusk the other night (hence the state of undress).  Evan is obsessed with playing football:

I really like this photo of Aidan.  No silly faces or grouchy facial expression.  Just looking like himself.

I feel like all of a sudden Orin is really into drawing properly instead of just scribbling away.  Here he is with his magnetic drawing board showing off his drawing of (what else would it be) Qee Gon Jinn fighting Darth Maul.  You can see the funny spherical figures are holding lightsabers:

Inspired by Aimee, I went to the website www.sp-studio.de and made portraits of the DP family as if we were residents of South Park.  I am not the biggest fan of the show but I think the animation style is cute.  I think these portraits actually resemble us a worrying amount.  I always knew I was a ball headed shortie!

Me:

Chris:

Aidan:

Orin:

Evan:

Yesterday I bought the boys some cream cakes as a treat.  They devoured them and thorougly enjoyed them but, my oh my, what a mess!

Evan was breathing cream.  It was coming in and out of his nostrils.  Yum!  The image helps me stay away from temptation.

Evan has discovered how to climb objects as tall as he is.  He can now heave himself on top of the toy box which means he can access the window sills and suction himself to the windows.  I swear that baby is part gecko!

Here he is, in his jammies, looking very proud of himself for having gotten up on the window ledge yet again.

We all went along to a Family Fun Day on Saturday afternoon.  It is organised by the nursery, playgroup and toy library the boys and I attend.  Chris is the group’s treasurer and, as such, was volunteered to actually oversee some of the activities.  He was in charge of a penalthy shoot out activity and a hook a duck game.  There were also raffles and craft activities, games and even a visiting fire engine.  I did not actually manage to take many photos (incredible for me, I know) as I was so busy.  The boys had a fun time and I think Chris enjoyed doing his bit too.

Aidan and Orin trying to hook ducks:

Aidan made a badge, a fridge magnet and a wooden puppet; Orin made a puppet; Evan ate biscuits:

Evan somehow managed to hook a duck (I suspect foul play - boom boom!) and also managed to get sopping wet:

Aidan helping to deflate the basketball game:

Orin in goal:

There was an activity involving wet sponges being lobbed at a member of staff.  Evan decided to sook the sponge.  Nice!

Everyone had a fun day!

The excitement never ends for this family, eh?

So the new garden furniture finally arrived on Tuesday afternoon and this weekend Chris built it up with the “help” of his three young assistants.  Now we have a table, chairs and sun loungers, all we need is a jug of Pimms and some consistently sunny weather to have a great summer lounging on our garden.

Here - of course! - are some photos.  The kids had just eaten lunch at the table so their faces are covered in Branston pickle - except for Evan whose face is covered in the chalk he had been nibbling.

The Marvellous Multicoloured Maggot Man!

Aidan and Orin duffing up Maggot Man.

Last Thursday I dropped Aidan and Orin off at nursery as usual.  They skipped in together, found their name signs and stuck them in the “who’s in” display and then ran off to do something together.  Sweet.

The theme the kids were working on was traffic and the older children had been taken on excursions with the road safety officer to learn about crossing the road and to conduct traffic surveys.  Aidan went along on those outings no problem at all.  But those trips did not happen on Thursdays.  So last Thursday the older children were supposed to be going on a bus ride.  Normally this would be something Aidan was very excited about.  However, when I went to collect the boys I discovered that Aidan had refused to go on the bus trip.  Apparently he did not want to leave Orin.  He felt it was unfair for Orin to be left behind and could not be persuaded to part with his little brother for even an instant.  Aidan has will power in buckets so the staff had to give up and let Aidan stay behind with the little ones.

Quite annoying but a demonstration of the intensely loving bond between Aidan and Orin.

And then the playleader told me that - only about ten minutes after Aidan got left behind - Orin punched Aidan in the face.

Ah!  The two sides of brotherly love.

I bought new chunky chalks for the kids at the beginning of the week and they have already worked about half of them down to stubs already.  They have drawn so much that there is barely any grey left showing on the path or patio.

Here is Aidan with one of his drawings, of a tractor, plus a piece of scrap fencing wood he coloured in too.

Here is Orin with his drawing of the Death Star blowing up Alderan.  Obviously.

Today they used “findings” from the garden to make a magic potion.  I was planting herbs at the time so all four of us ended up covered in muck.

They are saying “abracadabra!” in this one, hence the weird mouth shapes.

Aidan and Evan stirring the cauldron.

And then Evan tipped all the potion out.  All over himself.  Nice.