Living Arrows 2019 15/52

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!

The boys had a brilliant first week of the school holidays! We started the week by spending a few hours at The Centre for Life science centre. This was the first time I had taken both boys along to visit and they both had a fantastic time!

Then Tuesday it was time to visit nana and gaga for a few days! Both boys had a brilliant time even going to the dentist!

James ended the week by doing the junior park run with Beavers! 

Siblings Project 2019 - April

Welcome to the 4th instalment of the 2019 Siblings Project!

I really cannot believe it is April already! This month its mummy's birthday in fact mummy's birthday is only a couple of days away!

This month we have an invader in the photographs in the shape of Daddy! It is getting so hard to get a nice photograph of the boys together, that sometimes the only way of getting one is to say have a photograph with Daddy!

This month James is loving

*Beavers - He came home at the end of term with eight badges!

*Reading - He's been reading lots of books this month and earning them with is reward chart!

*Dreamworks Dragon - James found this while we were scanning Netflix and he loves it!

Freddie is loving

*Peppa Pig - He literally watches seasons 1-5 on repeat on Amazon Prime!

*Moo - He goes mental if he cannot find his Moo for a cuddle

*The Toilet - Freddie is starting to potty train so he loves visiting the toilet with everyone!

[AD] The City Is Where We're Going Next at Baltic

On Saturday just gone (6/4) we attended a very special event! We got to go to Baltic on Gateshead Quayside to experience their new family play exhibition "The City Is Where We're Going Next" By Simon and Tom Bloor before it was officially opened to the public on 8th April (Yesterday!)

Baltic is open seven days a week from 10am till 6pm and the best thing is its Free! When you have kids free things to do on a weekend or a school holiday are a must! Its even open on the Bank Holidays!

The information leaflet about the show informed us that the exhibition takes its title from an American landscape architect and urban playground designer M. Paul Friedberg's idea of enjoying the city. Through their art work the Bloor's encourage us to reconsider how we engage with the civic space and invite us to re imagine urban hostile places as sites of inspiration and possibility.

Both James and Freddie had an absolute ball! Freddie in particular was very taken with the giant balls and the traffic lights. He was also climbing on the brightly painted pallets and sliding down the other side! James loved climbing all over the pallets and both boys were totally thrilled with the two big dumper bags of rubber bricks! They sat for ages building towers and walls out of them!

Another big hit with James was the funny mirrors that were like the ones you get at fun fairs where you look really silly when you stand in them! The reclaimed road signs which were painted bright colours and had bits of coloured magnets on were another big hit especially with James!

We had an absolutely fantastic time visiting and we are already planning a return before the end of the school holidays!

"The City Is Where We're Going Next" is open seven days a week till 2nd June, Located on Level 4 of Baltic. 

You can find Baltic on Social Media at @balticmill on Facebook, @balticgateshead on Instagram and @balticmill on Twitter!

Living Arrows 2019 14/52

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 now on holiday for Easter! They actually get two weeks and one day this year as they go back to school and playgroup the day after Easter Monday

James came home from school with a letter about a school trip the week they go back to help launch their new project for next term, However its gonna be a tricky one as its to some gardens where they will learn about bees and pollination - James is terrified of bees! James also had his last Beavers meeting of term where he played lots of games and came home with EIGHT badges for mummy to sew onto his jumper!

Freddie came home from playgroup with his Easter egg from them! It was so lovely to see that they had taken his food intolerance's into account and bought him a dairy/soya/gluten free egg!

At the end of the week we paid a visit to Baltic for a special Bloggers Breakfast and a preview of their new family exhibition "The City Is Where We're Going Next" The boys had a brilliant time exploring and basically running around for an hour!

And finally on Sunday morning James lost his first tooth!

[AD] Estarer Childrens Backpack

With having two boys in school or playgroup all week, a decent backpack is something both boys need to have. James had his school bag replaced last summer, and Freddie started using one of James old bags, but once it came to him starting his preschool hours January just gone we knew he was going to need a newer and bigger bag. We could just not find one that we liked in the time frame we had to find one, So he started using James old school bag from Reception and Year One as it was bigger and it had a chest clip which I loved!

When we received an email from the lovely people at Estarer offering us one of their children's backpacks for Freddie we were thrilled! This is actually the first new bag Freddie has had for school since he started and I can see him using this bag for at least the next couple of years!

The four main features of this bag are:

• Light and Durable – The backpack weighs 0.46kg making it perfect size and weight for Freddie.
• Speciality Pockets – 1 main compartment with an adjustable strap, 2 pouches, 1 pocket, 2 front pockets and two side pockets.
• Chest strap – This helps to keep the backpack secure and on Freddie’s back, making it more comfortable when he is carrying it. There is also a trolley handle strap, so if we go away anywhere Freddie can still use his bag and we can just slip it over the handle of our case to make it easier to carry!
• Shoulder Strap – This is wider and adjustable to offer more comfort and support and to distribute the weight of the bag evenly!

Freddie started to use the bag for school the very next day and mummy was so impressed with it! There was plenty of space on the inside for all the things Freddie needs to take with him! There is even enough room for him to take a second spare set of clothes with him! 

I can definitely see Freddie using this bag all the way through the rest of playgroup, school nursery and into reception class! 

[Ad] We were gifted this backpack in exchange for this review and a review on Amazon.co.uk. All words and pictures are our own.

Living Arrows 2019 13/52

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 James has had parents evening which went pretty well, Gaga came with mummy as Daddy was late home from work and Nana stayed at home to look after Freddie who was getting very tired. I don't really find out much about what he does at school as he doesn't always tell us what hes done and the class blog is only really updated when they have done things. He also had Beavers where he made a mother's day present and bird feeders! 

Freddie is still loving playgroup and this was the first week where he actually went in on his morning sessions and did not cry at all! In fact we didn't even have any grumbles at all this week! Freddie has also been watching James and one of his pals climbing on the wall outside the playgroup/school foundation unit entrance and he decided he wanted to walk all the way along before his Thursday session! Needless to say mummy was terrified!

Six Toys My Six Year Old Loves

Welcome back to our fortnightly series on Things my child loves! This fortnight we are back to James who is Six Years Old and This week its all about Toys!!

So here we have six toys my six year old loves!

First off we have CB or Cranberry Bear giving his full name! This is the bear that James literally cannot sleep without! like Freddie's Moo, he came all the way to Majorca with us! When James was alot younger he would take CB literally everywhere with him. He actually went with James to nursery everyday for the full year! He started off being cuddled and then he moved into James draw and by the end of the year he was just staying in his school bag! I really think having CB with him got him through nursery!

Second we have his Dragon. Mummy actually bought this a couple of years ago in a charity shop for £3 and James has had hours of entertainment out of it! Especially as it makes noises! It was such a bargain as normally theses are at least £25

Next we have the T-Rex. James got this for his birthday last year as he is absolutely crazy about Dinosaurs and especially the T-Rex!

Now we have the Lego! Every parents worst nightmare! I literally find this all over our house!! But James loves to build things and Lego is is number one choice for building!

Next we have the Mega blocks. James adores building and currently he is using the Mega Blocks! I can remember at one point having about six or seven sculptures on my back window ledge that James had built out of mega blocks

and finally we have the Crate Creature! James saw these advertised on the tv last summer and he was desperate for one, but at £40 we were not going to just go and buy it for him, we did try and get James to earn the money for it, but that failed, so when we saw they were on offer before Christmas for just over £30 we decided to get him one and boy was he thrilled! He plays with it all the time!