Laura’s Life

Why is it that our kids are all joining Chris in his obsessions but not mine?  What’s not to love about family history when you are a small child, right?  Anyway, not only are they extremely into Star Wars but he has also now got them building towards fantatical about Lord of the Rings.  So when we went for a walk on Saturday we, of course, had to be jumping around like elves while battling orcs and gobins.

Evan used the play as an excuse to be a total mudlark and jump in ditches full of squelchy mud.  Here is he about to jump:

And here he is sticking his magic wand into a deep puddle:

Orin used being Frodo caught up in a giant spider’s web as an excuse to lie on the ground for a bit, wee slug that he is:

Evan on his throne:

Aidan having a rest after a particularly gruelling and grisly battle:

And the usual botanical photo, another daffodil:

On Friday, Aidan participated in a Fun Run in aid of the British Heart Foundation.  It was raining and blowing a hoolie so he did query what made the run fun in any way.  However, he did it and here he is proudly showing off his competitor’s medal.

The other night, on checking on the kids before we headed off to the Land of Nod ourselves, Chris and I found that Aidan had apparently swollen up like a balloon.  Turned out he had stuffed a squishy cushion up his pyjama top.  Goodness knows why.  Maybe he wanted to know what it is like to be pregnant.  Anyway, you know what I am like.  I had to take a photo.

Having worked on a larger scale last week, I decided to continue to aim for more of the same this week.  I was at least in the more familiar territory of drawing someone who was both nude and completely still and that enabled me to produce a much more finished drawing in the time I had.  I have to say that I am particularly chuffed with how the foot turned out since I am usually pretty mince at drawing both hands and feet.

Aidan is very proud of being grown up enough to have his very own wallet for taking money to school in.  He asked me to make this blog entry all about it.  It’s a Paul Frank one and Julius the monkey on the front looks not altogether dissimilar from Aidan.

Here are some photos of the boys playing in the garden at the weekend, grubby but happy.

Orin was saying how much he wanted to go to the After School Club with Aidan.  I explained that he needed to be in school first and asked if he was looking forward to being old enough to go to school.  His reply: “I don’t want to go to school because then I have to have a hairy bum.”  The mind boggles.  
 
At playgroup, I asked Evan what he wanted to do in the afternoon.  His reply: “Drive you mental.”  Seems about spot on.   
  
Orin found a lovely round bit of white quartz in the garden this morning and said he wanted it to go in Tottie’s memory box as a present for him.  Then on the way home he found a smaller bit of quartz and said he wanted it to be a present for Twinky.  Aw!  

I just thought I would share some drawings I did on Friday night.  It was a bit of a challenge for me as I was working on a larger scale than usual, I was drawing someone who was moving (albeit just the hands since he was playing guitar) and the model had clothes on!

My first attempt was kind of blah because the light was too direct on the figure to create interesting shading and also because I could not deal with the foreshortening of the left arm.  I took so long trying to place it right that I ran out of time for getting anywhere near a finished sketch:

My second attempt (which was also 25 minutes) was an improvement since I switched angles.  This eradicated the perspective problem with the arm and also led to more interesting shapes being created in terms of light and shade:

Neither sketch is a masterpiece by any sketch but I was pleased to have accomplished something on a larger scale than I am used to.

Astonishingly, it seems like Spring has finally sprung here with two lovely sunny days on the trot.  Consequently, Orin and Evan have had lots of fun playing in the garden - and, of course, that means I had an excuse to take hundreds of photos of my wee gnomes!

Evan on the wall:

Hiding among the plants on the wall:

A flower in the garden - your only respite from photos of the kids:

Indiana Jones dangling from my sugar maple:

Orin in front of the tree he decorated with action figures:

A cute shot of both my wee garden gnomes together:

Orin at the top of the slide:

I don’t remember my night of passion with a Great White Shark but nine months later this child was the result:

Peek-a-boo!

Evan on a scooter:

Orin being a Knight:

Two Knights duelling:

It is such a pity this photograph is not in focus because I think it is a cute one:

Orin climbing up high:

Traffic jam on the slide:

This shot of Orin amuses me:

Two dangling monkeys:

It had been several years since my last eye test and my glasses were beginning to fall to bits after many moggings by small children.  I, therefore, went for an eye test a couple of weeks ago.  My prescription had only altered slightly but I decided to buy new glasses anyway.  The optician encouraged me to go for something a bit different so I chose what is for me a radical departure in shape and style but still within my comfort zone in terms of size and colour.  I went to pick them up yesterday so here they are, the new spectacles.

Out with the old:

In with the new:

As an aside, yesterday I also got some new links for my Italian charm bracelet.  I got a camera to represent my photography hobby, a ladybird just because I like them and a wee set of blue footprints to represent both Tottie and the fact that I am a Mum to all boys: