Laura’s Life

Saturday was the annual Fyne Families Fun Day at our Community Centre.  My Mum and Dad were visiting so they came along too.Arlo playing with a balloon:The boys each got a tattoo:The boys were excited to be able to climb inside a real fire engine and explore all the equipment:The boys and their Grandpa in front of the fire engine:Orin in the play area:Dad helping Arlo rock on a rocking horse.  Spot the over-protective Granny:Evan trampolining:Arlo had a go too:Mum:Dad:Orin and Evan see-sawing in the play area:Aidan inside the play house:Arlo in a tunnel:The boys had their faces painted.  Evan was a vampire:Orin opted to have a bat across his eyes, spiderwebs on his cheeks and a spider on his nose:“Does Sir like his new look?”Aidan was a lizard monster:

Chris is attempting to engage the boys in the World Cup by having them each support a team.  He has bought them each a t-shirt with their own team on it and a South Africa football too.

Arlo is supporting Brazil:

Evan is supporting Italy simply because his favourite food is pesto pasta:

Orin is supporting Germany because he liked the flag:

Aidan is supporting England because his Daddy was born in England and supporting Scotland is rarely, if ever, an option in international tournaments:

Just a couple of short videos of the boys playing on some swings. They have remembered that my compact camera has a video function and demand to be filmed from time to time.

Another random selection of photos showing the kiddliwinks getting up to all sorts.

Arlo helping his Daddy build the new dining room chairs:

 

Arlo has found a method of getting up to the window - by pushing over and standing on all of the toys beside the toy box …

… which also helps him reach the TV and DVD buzzers that I thought I had placed out of reach:

We allowed the boys to stay up (for a while at least) to watch the Eurovision Song Contest.  They all got into their jammies and dressing gowns:

Arlo is fascinated by the washing machine:

On Wednesday morning I was looking after my friend’s son who was not in school because he has chicken pox.  Evan and Joseph made muffins:

Arlo riding on his digger:

Arlo fell asleep all of a sudden while clasping an aquadraw pen:

Playing in the garden:

“Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk I’m a woman’s man, no time to talk … Ah-ha-ha-ha stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive”:

Suddenly Orin’s legs have grown:

Cheeky trio:

Arlo playing on a swing:

All four boys on the swings at once:

Aidan trampolining:

Arlo wearing his trendy wee skinny jeans about to hop on a bike:

It was school sports day last Wednesday so Chris, Orin, Evan, Arlo and I went along to spectate and cheer Aidan along.

Orin and Evan finding a spot from which to spectate:

Arlo:

Orin and Evan decided to amuse themselves by scaling the fence like Spidermen:

The participants arriving:

Aidan’s class arriving on the playing field - Aidan being the one in the red t-shirt waving the water bottle:

And the Little Emperor said, “Let the games commence!”

Aidan lining up for the flat race:

Sack race … in plastic bags:

Egg and spoon race:

This is how Orin does sport:

… and again:

Arlo wanted to have a crack at doing the Spiderman shuffle along the fence:

Orin’s friend, Ellen:

Orin took his place in the starting line-up for the flat race for the incoming primary ones - Orin being the one in the red t-shirt:

Orin in the sack race:

Orin holding hands with Ellen:

The clan relay race with Aidan taking his turn to run:

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.