Laura’s Life

It was a cold, crisp and - most importantly - dry day on Hogmany so we took the kids for a trek to Kilmory Gardens.

I was trying to be “arty” with this photograph by framing Aidan through the sundial.  Unfortunately he has a rather skew-wiff facial expression.

And a different view of Aidan through the sundial:

Aidan climbing on a fence:

Lichen on a fence post.  Doesn’t everyone take snaps of that?

Evan weaving in and out of fence posts:

Playing shop with the sundial as the counter:

A robin red breast.  OK, so it’s no magestic sea eagle but this was the best ornithological shot I could get:

Sitting in the windows of the folly:

Aidan pretending to be a giraffe:

Chris:

A warty tree with twisted branches that I love.  Maybe because it reminds me of me:

Another photo of tree trunks and branches:

Aidan pretending to make a fire by rubbing sticks:

Orin perching on a branch:

Evan sitting on a branch:

And then in a wooded glade, we came across a trio of pixies sitting on toadstools ….

… and an old goblin too!

I liked the texture of this bark:

And the contrasting textures and colours of this image of turquoise lichen on bark:

I’m going through a bit of a phase of liking photos of doors and windows right now:

I thought I would post some photos of Evan wearing the Barcelona Football Club shirt that he got for Christmas (along with a matching football).

“No more photos, Mummy.”

We thought is was cute and apt that the shirt we picked out for Evan had the name Messi on the back.

“I’m cute and I know it!”

These pictures are of the boys on Boxing Day playing with their Playmobil Roman set.  Santa turns out to have bagged a bargain since the gladiatorial arena (which I knew was ex-display) was chock full of extra figures and accessories.  The boys love acting out scraps between gladiators and feeding prisoners to the lions!

Logan riding in his new bike:

My brother, Darren, popped by to visit with his son and daughter, William and Jazmine:

Christmas began surprisingly late for a household containing three small boys.  When it did kick off, the first event was to delve into the stockings and see what Santa had left in them - presents or coal?  Lucky for them, they had been good enough all year to earn presents.

Then they came downstairs to discover that, despite the lack of chimney, Santa had made it into their Grandparents’ house and had apparently bust a gut cramming all the presents in.  Seriously, I think Santa hobbled away from Glenrothes and straight to the chiropractor!  When you consider that the pressies for adults in this pile would not even fill a shopping bag, you can see what a ton of goodies Aidan, Orin and Evan received.

The trio tearing into their presents:

The Grandparents / Mum and Dad / Bert and Karen:

Uncle / Brother Aaron:

All wrappings shredded and presents opened, we headed out to the Chinese restuarant to consume our all-you-can-eat buffet.  Nothing says Christmas like gluttony after all!  This is what our table looked like, rather reminiscent of a medieval banqueting table I think:

Take a deep breath for the roll call: There was Chris and I and our three boys; my parents, Bert and Karen; my sister Leanne, her husband, Barry, and sons, Jordan and Rhys; my sister Aimee, her partner, Ryan, and their son, Logan; Barry’s dad, George, and siblings, Shereen and Ryan; and Ryan’s parents’, Thomas and Marianne, and wee brother, Owen.  So that’s thirteen adults, five children and two babies.  I could not even begin to estimate how many Olympic swimming pools’ worth of food we consumed between the twenty of us.

Chris and Aidan:

Aidan with a tempura prawn smile:

Orin’s ”Wallace and Gromit” grin:

Evan tucking in:

Mum and Jordan:

Rhys doing an impression of a basking shark:

Barry with Rhys and his brother Ryan:

Logan:

Shereen and Aimee:

George and Dad:

Leanne and Rhys:

The only photo of me on Christmas Day so I have no choice but to post it:

Logan in his shirt and tie:

Logan and Aimee:

Merry Christmas!

Laura, Chris, Aidan, Orin and Evan wish you all Happy Holidays and Best Wishes for 2009!

And because I cannot make a post without photos being shared, here are some professional pics of us taken back in late September.

My parents have two pet tortoises, Biba and Willow, and the boys like to hold them whenever they go to visit.  Actually, Evan is not too sure just yet about holding them; Aidan enjoys it in short bursts; and Orin absolutely loves holding them.

Maybe they should start saving for a trip to the Galapagos.

Today the boys’ Advent Calendar contained what must be one of the most random toys ever invented - an “instant circus”.  The process begins with some capsules:

These get added to hot water:

They gradually pop and expand:

Until they take the shape of various circus items in sponge form:

Thankfully the capsules came with a helpful packet that described the contents.  So the items are, from left to right, a clown holding a small umbrella, a clown sitting in a car (upside down in the photo), a bear holding a balloon (when did you ever see that at a circus?), an elephant on a pedestal (that one had not fully formed yet) and a lion leaning on a pedestal.

How bonkers and random is that?

Aidan got his first school photo taken about a month ago and the prints arrived home with him on Monday.  I think the photographer actually did a good job of capturing his personality and likeness.  Such a handsome wee chap!

This is what Christmas with Evan looks like:

A denuded tree and utter bauble carnage!  The tree has only been up since Saturday and already I have repetitive strain injuries from hanging baubles and ornaments back on the tree several times a day.

Aidan and Orin never mogged the tree in this way.  I guess if they were Christmas elves then Evan is being the naughty Christmas pixie!

This morning Chris, Evan and I went to see the primary one and pre-five unit’s nativity production, a musical play called “Whoops-A-Daisy Angel”.  Aidan was Joseph, complete with biblical beard, tea towel head-dress and red headband.  We could hear him singing all the way through since he has quite the set of lungs on him.  He did not seem to have any concerns at all about performing in front of so many adults - though he did roll his eyes a few times.  He was so adorable.

Despite arriving early, we did not arrive early enough so we were in the “cheap seats” - thankfully not so late for standing room only - which means my photos did not turn out so well.  Nevermind.