Living Arrows 2019 46/52

Welcome to Living Arrows post 2019! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" Each week I post one photo of James and one photo of Freddie and share what they have been up to that week!

James started the week by going on a school trip to Beamish with his year three class and also the year five class from his school. They had a brilliant day! Later in the week they had a exhibition of photographs from their recent school residential trip and to end the week they had a Pyjama day to raise money for Children in Need. James also had aa trip to the Discovery Museum with Beavers to take part in a badge day. He tried lots of fun things that can be used towards badges! 

Poor Freddie started the week with a trip to the doctors after he developed a high temperature and a nasty cough. Mummy and James had come home from the Remembrance Day parade to find him curled up on the sofa feeling sorry for himself. Luckily he was well enough to be back at school come Wednesday! 

Siblings November

Welcome to the November edition of The Siblings Project!

I know I say it every month but really its November and the year is almost over! We have one more Siblings post of 2019!

This month's photographs were taken over half term when Mummy and the boys were visiting Nana and Gaga. Mummy, Nana and the boys went across to Amble and took the boys for a walk. On our way back to the car the boys found some huge puddles!

When we got back to the car we actually had to strip them out of their trousers and boots and in Freddie's case his socks as well! 

(AD) Christmas Gift Guide for 7 Year Olds

So its nearly Christmas and parents all over are trying to work out what to get their kids for Christmas. As a parent of a 7 year old I sometimes struggle with what to get him. I'm hoping that some of the things in this gift guide will give other parents of 7 year olds some good ideas on what to get them for Christmas or even 7th birthdays!

The first item we are looking at for James is Little Brain Paint Sticks. He has seen these advertised on TV for months and they look brilliant! 

Science Mad Chemistry Lab. James has started to do science at school this year and they have been doing experiments in their classroom. 

Even though this is for age 10+ we felt it was something that James would get a lot out of and that it would help him with his education. He has really taken to starting science this year in year 3 and he comes home raving about what he has been doing. A few years ago, James had a volcano kit when you added water to the two chemicals and it flowed like lava.

Then we have Heelys! Now James only found out these existed a few weeks ago when he saw his school friend with a pair on one night when we were on our way to Beavers. 

He had been asking for roller skates but we figured something like this would be safer for him! I cannot wait to see his face when he opens these. James unfortunately has inherited his clumsy gene from mummy, and mummy thought if he had roller skates he would probably end up in a&e with a broken bone!

Next up with have Paint Sticks from Little Brain. James has seen these advertised for months on TV and has been banging on about us getting some. 

The reason I like these is the fact they are twisty like crayons and you don't need water or brushes. I have always avoided paint with the kids, but these are something I can see James having a lot of fun with. 

Then we have the Which Way Game. This is another STEM item which we think is fantastic. We have been looking at a lot of STEM items for James this year as he is now in Year Three at school and we want him to enjoy his learning at school and at home. 

Its based around a programme on Cbeebies called Messy goes to Okido. The aim of the game is to help Messy get across the board to his friends.

Its aimed at 4-8 year olds so I can see this being something we can play as a family to teach both boys coding skills. Four fantastic new games from OjO for STEM fans are open for investment through the Kickstartercrowdfunding platform until 25th November 2019.

So these are just a few items that would be suitable for boys and girls aged seven plus. I think James is going to really enjoy using these. 

**We were sent these items free of charge in exchange for featuring in this Christmas 2019 Seven Plus Gift Guide**

(AD) Christmas Gift Guide for 4 Year Olds

So its Christmas, well it will be in around four weeks and its time for us here at victoriahockley.co.uk to publish our Christmas gift guides for 2019!

Today I am featuring gifts that are suitable for four year old boys and girls. Freddie isn’t actually four yet and wont be for another couple of weeks, so some of these gifts could also be used as fourth birthday presents as well!

The first item is the Pink Fong Baby Shark Song Puppet. Freddie is totally obsessed with Baby Shark and will constantly dance around doing the dance routine when it is played in the house. 

If we are early for picking up James from school he will often sit on the chairs by the back gate and ask me to put Baby Shark on YouTube for him. To use the puppet you move the mouth to start up the music of the entire song. 

Basically the faster you move the shark’s mouth, the faster the song will play or the slower you move its mouth the slower the song will play! I think this will be a huge hit with Freddie and probably also James who is seven!

Next we have the Mr Tumble learning pad. This comes with six activities to choose from including learning numbers, colours, shapes, letters and much more! 

Freddie has just started at our school nursery so something like this I think will help him so much, especially has the foundation curriculum has changed so much since James was in nursery, now children are expected to know how to write their own names before they move into reception class, which I think is crazy as James couldn't really write his own name till half way though reception. But he was the youngest in his class and was virtually a year younger than some of his classmates!

Next we have The Amazing Mystery Box. This product was originally launched in 2015 at Comic Con in London. 

Boxes can be bought on a subscription or as a one off. The box we received was the 24.99 one off box, with the value of the items being around £40. The items we received are fantastic. There are two model engines, a drink cup, a wallet, a backpack and a colour in table cloth which can be washed and recoloured! 

I have also been looking on their website and there are a few boxes that would be fantastic for James. As a special treat The Amazing Mystery Box have given us the code MYSTERYBLINDBAG and they will add in an extra treat with any box ordered!

**We were sent these items free of charge in exchange for featuring in this Christmas 2019 Gift Guide for Four Years Plus**

Living Arrows 2019 45/52

Welcome to Living Arrows post 2019! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" Each week I post one photo of James and one photo of Freddie and share what they have been up to that week!

Today is 11/11 where we remember all who lost their lives in conflict. Yesterday mummy and James took part in Remembrance Sunday with our Beaver colony. It sounds so odd saying our colony. James did us all proud wearing full dress uniform despite the cold! Mummy has lots of memories of taking part in local services when she was in the Scouts and Guides. 

Freddie had a fantastic week back at nursery. He was thrilled to see all his little friends again after being apart for a week! He came out of school on Monday literally covered in mud and sand! I have no idea what he had been up to!! He literally seems to attract mud wherever he goes! In fact mummy had to wash a pair of school trousers every day as he came home so muddy! Freddie is also a little climber and he has started to use our empty wine rack in the kitchen to climb the door frame!

Living Arrows 2019 44/52

Welcome to Living Arrows post 2019! If you haven't heard of the linky before, This was set up by Donna at What the Redhead Said and the name comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth" Each week I post one photo of James and one photo of Freddie and share what they have been up to that week!

This week the boys are back to school after lovely half term visiting Nana and Gaga. We all had dentist appointments on the Monday and then on the Tuesday mummy and the boys went to a local big Asda while nana and gaga did some messages. 

On Tuesday afternoon we took the boys across to Amble to go for a walk around the harbour and into the braid and the marina. Freddie managed to find some huge puddles, so much so that all the splashing actually filled his wellies with muddy water! Both boys were stripped out of their trousers and boots once we got back to the car!

Now we are on the count down to Freddie's fourth birthday which is in Three weeks eek!

Our Great North Elmer Parade

So its the fourth of November and the Great North Elmer Parade finished three days ago! I thought it would be a good idea to put all our Elmer photos in one place so we can see how many we found!

These first three were actually found before the trail officially launched!

19th August 2019

29th August 2019

7th September 2019

 
 

 

5th October

So we found 14 of the big Elmer's and 15 of the mini Herd! I think for us this was pretty good, especially as the trail started right at the end of the summer holidays so we didn't actually have time to go hunting once the boys were back at school!