Laura’s Life

Aidan had a Gruffalo Day at school on Wednesday.  Julia Donaldson read the book to the children via webcam and there were lots of Gruffalo activities during the day.  Aidan came home with some items he had made:

This is Aidan’s joined up writing on the back of his Gruffalo Child.  He has not got the hang of capital letters for pronouns but his handwriting is far neater than Chris’ already:

Aidan was allowed to bring his Beaver Scout troop’s trophy home for a couple of weeks, which made him feel very proud:

Unbelievably it has been a year since Arlo was born.  In some ways it seems like this year has passed so quickly but, on the other hand, it feels as if he is so much part of the family that it is impossible he has only been with us for a year.

The presents:

The Birthday Boy:

Aidan made a special card for Arlo with a love heart made of hama beads and signed by all three big brothers:

Cards:

Opening his presents:

Trying on his new alien dressing up costume:

Riding on his new digger:

What a difference a year makes: Arlo on his first birthday ….

…. and almost a year before:

 

It seems Arlo has inherited the wonky Platt gene along with the other boys, the one that makes them all stick out their tongues when concentrating:

Of course, Evan had to have a go of the dressing up costume:

I Spy Bag:

Happyland ambulance:

Space toys:

Arlo the cutest alien in the universe:

Evan and Arlo playing with the space toys:

“Happy Birthday to you!”

The cake:

Blowing out the candle with a bit of help from his brothers:

Diving in to the cake:

Our wee chocaholic:

Playing on his digger:

Playing with his I Spy Bag:

Since Sunday was a lovely day, we took a trip to the Sea Life Centre at Barcaldine.

A sea urchin:

Wolf Fish:

I loved this octopus.  I would love to have one as a pet:

Arlo was entranced by the baby rays:

I think they are brilliant too:

Anenome:

Lumpfish:

Shrimps:

A flat fish looking grumpy:

Watching the seals in the outdoor pool:

Aidan and Evan solving clues on their quiz sheets:

Seahorses:

Mermaids Purses in the nursery tank:

Sunbathing turtle:

Meeting a gigantic crab:

Snake-necked Turtle:

Aidan and Orin feeding the sharks:

Having a bit of a break:

Giant Pacific Octopus:

Anenome:

We were entertained by the frolicking otters:

The otters even did some synchronised swimming:

The boys then had fun playing in the woodland playground:

Even the biggest boy had a go:

Evan was starting to flag so he put on his best “fed up” face:

Aidan ready to go home too:

Chris:

Evan fell asleep in the car on the way home, lollypop still in mouth:

Because he was a good boy throughout the trip, Evan earned his last sticker on the chart and got to pick a reward from my prize drawer.  He chose a Venom figure:

For some reason, we decided to pay homage to ‘America’s Next Top Model’. Here was are embarrassing ourselves then, modelling head to toe, smizing and maybe even a bit of “barbie toe” to make Tyra and Miss J proud. Shame Leanne had the camera around the wrong way but you can still see us acting like utter tubes clearly enough.

For some unknown reason, the boys decided to tip a bucket load of ice cubes on to the trampoline. They had loads of fun jumping amid the ice and I guess it is one way of cooling down on a hot day.

Leanne, Aimee, Aaron, Jordan and Rhys all came over to visit at the weekend.  It was a lovely hot day on Saturday so we spent some time relaxing and being daft in the garden.

My siblings in the garden …

… and trampolining:

Rhys on the trampoline:

Orin found a leaf that was shaped like a heart:

For some reason, the boys took it upon themselves to dump a bucket load of ice cubes on to the trampoline.  That’s one way of cooling down I suppose:

Jordan on the trampoline:

Aimee and Leanne with the leaft heart:

Aaron:

The four of us together:

Aidan found a millipede:

We decided to go for a walk to Kilmory Loch.  Evan looked huffy as we set off:

My boys dangling from a gate:

Arlo:

Me:

Chris:

Jordan:

Rhys:

Orin with a dandelion puff:

For some reason, I love this photo of Orin blowing the dandelion:

“Do you feel lucky, trunk?”

Aimee modelling a daisy:

Leanne:

Jordan:

Orin having a rest:

Evan climbing a wall:

Aimee:

Aaron:

Velvet beetle:

Shoeless Evan:

Down at the loch:

Jordan holding a tadpole:

Aimee:

A cool bug on Rhys’ arm:

Aidan wearing his wooden trousers:

Rhys climbing:

A dragonfly landed on Aaron’s ear:

Paddling in the water:

This was taken a matter of seconds before Evan fell in the water:

Sunlight through the leaves:

Aidan dangling:

Just a random assortment of photos taken this month.

Aidan found a huge slug in the garden:

Arlo:

Evan’s horse balloon finally deflated:

Eek!  Arlo has learned to climb the stairs:

Playing in the garden:

A cool beetle we found on our wall:

The boys looking up Lego animations on YouTube:

Our wee Arlo, almost a whole year old.  It is hard to believe that this wee chunker with his turkey drumstick legs was such a wee scrawny mite just twelve months ago:

It’s like Arlo is auditoning to be in a Kiss tribute band with his tongue sticking out in every photo:

SpiderEvan helping Arlo to walk:

Arlo fell asleep on the floor so Orin covered him with a blanket and Evan gave him a teddy bear:

Chris bought Guitar Hero for the XBox and instantly dorked out:

All four boys playing in the garden:

Orin currently wants to be a tattoo artist when he grows up and unfortunately last night the boys decided to use gel pens to practice their inking skills on each other’s bodies:

On Saturday night, a group of staff and mums spent the night at Inverary Jail in order to raise money for the local charity that provides services and support to children and families, including the boys’ preschool and after school club.  It was a really fun thing to be sponsored to do.

The photos are not great because, for a start, they were taken in the pitch dark and they were also taken with my compact camera with its midgy flash.

Inverary Jail:

We were taken on an initial tour by warden Rob so as to get our bearings and hear his tales of spectral encounters:

We were then left to our own devices to explore the prison.  We started in the courtroom which was filled with freaky mannequins which creep me out in the daylight let alone the pitch dark:

The jury in particular was full of peculiar looking specimens:

Me in the pitch dark ready to explore the prison buildings:

Yikes!  It’s a ghost … or just a cardboard cutout that looks a bit like me:

The straitjacket.  If we had actually experienced a ghostly encounter, I might have been in need of this:

A mannequin picking oakam  and my first orbs of the night:

This guy freaked me out because I forgot he was there and when I arrived at the top of the stairs and the beam of my torch caught him it scared the stuffing out of me:

Do you see the orb above Julie’s head?

A second later and it had disappeared.  Amy’s face is priceless in this one:

Imagine having to scrub floors for eternity.  Being a ghost must be right boring:

Amy, Laura and Julie waiting for a ghost to give us a sign of its presence.  We waited a long, long time:

Mina on a hammock:

“Is there anybody there?  Can you make your presence known?  We’re a bit impatient so any time now would be nice.  Any sign at all…”

This mangey hound gave me the heebie-jeebies for some reason:

Orbs galore!

Back in the courtroom:

“Is there someone behind me?”

More orbs hovering above:

What a jaunty beard - just the thing to go with that nose:

“Is it not about time you lot left so the ghost can actually appear?”

Scary eyes on the scary mannequin with the scary facial hair:

Look at hoim - definitely guilty:

Officially the most glaikit mannquin in the universe:

Back in the cells trying to commune with spirits:

A dapper mannequin accompanied by a dapper orb:

Lorna, Heather and Alison trying to get ghosts to talk to us:

Tracey and Julie:

Laura and Lorna:

Sitting in the dark nursing a baby for what seems like forever.  I know how you feel, mannequin wifey:

Leaving the jail at dawn.  I survived!

Evan learned this song at nursery. It is all about the days of the week and he loves singing it. He specifically asked me to video him singing it so that he could share it with a “wider audience”. Cute. So here is the clip:

We found this note at the end of Aidan’s bed one night.  We had to laugh at the fact he chose the destructive option having considered some sort of peaceful mission.  Such a boy!