Laura’s Life

We took a day trip to the island of Gigha on Sunday.  We used to go quite frequently but it had been about two years since our last trip so it was fun to go over.  We had planned to walk down to Achamore Gardens but the kids were meandering so very slowly that we soon ditched that plan and just had fun in the playpark and at the beach instead.  The playpark there is so much better than our own one so it is almost worth the ferry fare for that alone.

Evan on the ferry:

Aidan and Orin on the ferry:

Arlo (and me) on the ferry.  It was his first ever time on a boat so I had to take a photo to commemorate such a milestone.  It was so blustery though that we only stayed on deck long enough for the one snap:

The view from the ferry:

Evan watching the ferry pulling into the quay:

Aidan and Orin just arrived on the island:

Aidan and Evan studying a map of Gigha:

Some photos of the bay:

Me with Arlo - who is teething, hence the papoose munching:

Everywhere we go, we find fuzzy caterpillars:

Aidan picking brambles:

Chris:

More bramble munching.  They  must have eaten their own weight in brambles:

Bramble bush photos:

Boys on a bench:

Walking.  Really.  Slowly:

This cairn is made of stones visitors bring with them to celebrate the island’s independence.  We forgot:

Orin walking over a cattle grid:

A rosehip:

A bee on a blossom:

It’s another fuzzy caterpillar:

A red hot poker:

Playing in the playpark:

Aidan waiting patiently on his brothers:

Aidan climbed through this thorny bush to get to the beach just for the sheer merry heck of it:

The lens flare is weird and technically this photograph is wrong, but I still like it:

A view of the beach:

Boat on the beach:

Arlo and his Daddy:

Cute wee Arlo:

Orin on the rocks:

He thought he was a mermaid:

Evan looking out to sea:

Aidan playing in the sand:

Evan sprinkling sand:

Arlo and Mummy:

Orin playing on the sand:

Orin making a sand angel:

Wading in the sea:

Self-portrait:

Paddling in the sea:

Orin burying his feet in the sand:

Ean dancing on a rock:

Aidan’s feet:

Aidan playing in the sand:

Chris and all of his boys:

Arlo and me:

Trekking back to the quayside:

The ferry pulling in:

A final view of the bay:

Back on the boat, face plastered in bramble juice:

Back on the mainland:

Walking back to the car:

As the title suggests, this is a bit of an “allsorts” of an entry with photos that don’t really logically fit elsewhere but that don’t justify a post all of their own.

My orchid is sprouting blooms all over now.  I am not only chuffed with myself with not having withered it, but I am also pleased to have a flower I can photograph so frequently:

Arlo and his superman bear, Fergus:

Evan and Orin had to get in on the act too - and Arlo was not amused:

Orin requested that I take a photo of him with Spud the seal pup:

Photos of Arlo aged 16 weeks (and weighing 8lbs):

This is Arlo’s “Put the camera down now, Mummy” face.  All the boys have one.  Arlo has developed his very early:

Evan was a bit miffed that his big brothers both had Spiderman crocs while he just had plain blue ones.  I, therefore, treated him to some jibbitz to poke into the holes of his new blue pair, all on a superhero theme, so here he is chuffed with his new crocs:

Arlo on the baby gym.  He is really enjoying being able to kick the chimes:

Aidan’s nasturtiums:

Last weekend, we took a trek into Glasgow.  We had three missions we wanted to accomplish: identify possible bunk beds for Aidan and Orin’s bedroom; peruse dining room tables and chairs for future reference; and make Arlo a teddy bear in the Build-A-Bear Workshop.

Of course, en route, we had to pull over in a layby for a “boke stop” for Aidan.  However, on stopping the car, the boys noticed the bushes were full of brambles so then they all had to get out and pick and munch.  They picked enough to stain their tongues purple and still have plenty for an apple and bramble crumble:

Arlo also had a snack stop in the car:

It was Arlo’s first time facing outwards in the papoose, which he seemed to enjoy far more than facing inwards:

We decided to have a picnic in the car on the way home, as we were going to arrive too late for dinner.  So Chris nipped in to M&S to buy some bits ‘n’ bobs.  Here he is with his ingredients ready to whip together some sandwiches:

As a treat for being good in the mall, the boys were allowed to pick a Halloween toy.  They chose a packet of glittery spiders for 75p and were totally thrilled to bits with them.  Here is Orin with his regiment of spiders:

Each of the boys have had a bear made for them at Build-A-Bear.  I made Aidan’s bear and then each big brother has made a bear for the new brother in turn.  The older boys’ bears are named Rory, Archie and Hamish.  Evan was napping at the time so it was Aidan and Orin who made Arlo’s bear for him.  They gave it two hearts, one each, and chose a Spiderman costume for it to wear.  We also made him a Birth Certificate so Arlo’s bear is named Fergus.  Fergus is not all that smaller than Arlo:

Mummy and Arlo:

What, pray tell, is the point in wrapping a baby up all snuggly and warm if he just sloughs off his socks and then shoves his nudy foot out from his snugglebag?

Some photos from the nursery run:

Evan was transfixed by this dog driving the van:

Orin, Evan and Arlo watching a DVD in my bed:

We had a different kind of school run last week because, with us all having rotten colds, I decided to take the car.

Orin, therefore, was looking like the cat that caught the cream because he did not have to walk at all:

Evan made us listen to ‘Bonkers’ by Dizzee Rascal five zillion times per trip:

And somehow we still managed to find caterpillars to rescue:

Aidan has decided he is quite keen on photography.  Yay!  At last one of my children has chosen to share an obsession with me rather than with Chris.  I have given him my back-up back-up camera (yes, I have a back-up camera in case something happens with my first two) and he has been growing with confidence using it and really enjoying capturing images.

He first decided to try it when we went to the Aquarium so he was presented with quite a challenge given that there was low light and no flash and all the subjects were moving.  I think he did a pretty good job considering.  Here are his pics from the Aquarium:

His portrait of the baby ray was just as successful as mine:

Aidan now has an appreciation of how difficult it is to get small children to comply with the wishes of the photographer:

Aidan then experimented with photos taken at home.  I have found it quite fascinating to discover what subjects capture his attention:

Ew!

Princess Leia on a doormat.  I hope this does not symbolise Aidan’s view of women!

Aidan took his camera along to a playdate and enjoyed snapping photos of his friends while they were messing about.  It was quite interesting to have an insight into what they get up to while all the mums are downstairs chinwagging and eating biscuits.

Eoghan:

Joseph and Eoghan pulliblowing raspberries:

Abby:

Emma did not want to be photographed but Aidan persisted.  I expect he used a few of the techniques I use to force him and his brothers to appear in photographs.  My budding wee paparazzo:

Lewis holding a toy I assume they found amusing and worthy of a portrait because it appears to be a tarty cow wearing a purple bra and using a mobile phone.  Obviously:

We finally got around to opening a bank account for Arlo.  He was given a sorting bank and a calculator to welcome him as a bank client!

We also bathed Arlo in the big bath for the first time.  Here are the photos (with modesty  “white out” areas, of course!)

All snuggled up inside his personalised towel:

This is how we found Orin sleeping one night last week - Up Periscope Feet!

Some photos of Evan and Orin:

Evan took this photo of me with my compact:

Evan and me:

I had a wee photoshoot with Arlo using the colour accent function on my compact.  Here are the results:

Friday 4 September was the first anniversary of Tottie’s birth and loss.  To mark the day, we decided to release a lantern at the beach.  At least, that was the original plan.

The beach at Crinan:

Aidan looking contemplative:

The kids scrambling around on the rocks:

Aidan wrote Tottie’s name in the sand:

Evan on the beach:

Chris:

Me:

A view out to sea:

Aidan playing in the surf:

Arlo and me at the beach:

It was ultimately far too windy to send off a lantern at the beach so we decided to head a little inland.

Arlo asleep in his car seat:

We went to Kilmartin Glen where there was a slight breeze but not enough to interfere with the planned lantern release.

Chris letting go of the lantern:

The lantern soared off and up above the trees until it was just a white pinprick against the grey sky and eventually it disappeared.  It was very moving.

The sun sinking over the standing stones:

Chris watching the lantern:

Evan sploshing in mud:

Me just after the lantern disappeared from view:

A standing stone:

Orin inside a burial cyst:

Aidan inside the stone circle:

Chris and Evan in the stone circle:

Evan hugging a tree:

Aidan on his way back through the field:

Aidan beside a standing stone:

Orin clambering over a standing stone:

Evan playing peek-a-boo around a standing stone:

Arlo back cosy inside the car:

Orin decided he wanted to have a crack at breastfeeding Arlo:

On Thursday evening, Orin went along to Aidan’s “Back to School” disco.  Orin was definitely more excited at the prospect than Aidan was.  Here he is shaking his booty:

I have no idea what these moves are!

While I was sorting Evan’s bedroom following the big room swap, I plonked Arlo into Evan’s cot for a nap and he actually fell asleep in there, albeit with a foot sticking out of his sleepsuit:

Evan guddling in water:

Arlo sitting on his Daddy’s knee one night:

The dark shadow on this image annoys me hugely but it is still a cute picture of Arlo’s hand resting on Chris’ hand:

Chris took the oldest two boys swimming on Sunday and Arlo was napping so Evan and I grabbed some time to ourselves:

Making a magic potion:

Munching brambles:

Doing jigsaw puzzles:

Completing a number matching puzzle:

Playing the Wii:

We have been finding these fuzzy caterpillars everywhere and Orin and I have been doing our best to rescue them (Go, Diego, Go style) from potential squishing whenever we find them on the school run:

As the title states, these are random photos I took last week while experimenting with my camera on manual settings.

These are of the orchid my parents bought for me when Arlo was born.  It practically died but then somehow I (Ms Brownfingers) managed to coax it back to life and now it is blooming:

I took these in the garden one morning:

These were taken with my compact camera:

This butterfly was on the hebe in the front garden but I could not leave the kids unsupervised while I dashed indoors for my DSLR so the compact had to do, hence it is a bit blurred: