Living Arrows 2018 52/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

Its Christmas Eve and it is also the second to last Living Arrows post of 2018! I feel so proud that I have stuck to this Linky every week! Ok its not always made it up on a Monday but it has always gone up! 

So this week the boys are now on holiday from school and playgroup! James is so exhausted from a busy term at school! He has literally not stopped and has worked so hard this term! Since he started Beavers back in September his confidence has gone through the roof! On a morning at school he will run off with his friends to play and I won't see him again until the TA comes to open the door to let them in!! In the last week of term it was pretty busy! James had his Key Stage One Nativity, a Christmas fun day, the whole school carol service at our local church and also a school talent show! By the end of the week he was exhausted!

Freddie has had a brilliant time at playgroup this term! The two sessions a week have really helped him become more independent and he is so happy to be away from me when he is there! He has made some lovely little friends and from January he will be with the little brother of one of James friends on his two morning sessions! In his last week of term he had a trip with mummy to see Santa at a local shopping centre! We met at his playgroup at just before 9am to get the bus across with some of his little friends! There is a Blogmas post coming up on his reaction! And lets say it was not too good!

 Then on the last day of term he had a Christmas Party with some of his little friends! The playgroup had assigned each child to one of the party slots and Freddie was in the 0830 slot! This was good practice for us for January when he has two 0830 start sessions! He also got picked up by Nana and Gaga on Wednesday as mummy had to be at the church for James school carol service and I didn't want to have to rush down from the church to collect Freddie and then hang around to get James. Freddie also had a party on Thursday morning with Sure Start, His last time going there before he starts his 15 hours!

Living Arrows 2018 50/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

So James had his school fair last week which he had a brilliant time at! The same day we had an electrician out to install some new sockets in our lounge and kitchen so nana and gaga came to keep mummy and Freddie company and then nana came with mummy to the school fair and to collect James while gaga stayed at home with Freddie and the electrician. James also got to go and see Santa at the fair. This year was so much better he chatted away to Santa I think it helped that he recognised his voice as his deputy head! Last year he refused to go in and sent mummy and Freddie in his place. 

Freddie has had a brilliant week at playgroup! He is running in so happy, and normally when I pick him up they had to shout for him at least three times before he actually comes to the door! In fact a few times one of the staff has had to bring him to the door as he's too busy having fun! On Tuesday when mummy took him up he was such a little monkey running the whole way!

We finished the week by going to visit nana and gaga for the night as daddy had his works Christmas party and mummy didnt want to risk him waking up the boys when he came home in early hours of the morning! 

Living Arrows 2018 49/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

The boys are now on the countdown to Christmas! The diary is getting very full with Christmas events from School and Playgroup! 

James has his school fair later this week which he is very excited for! I think it's more the early finish from school at half past one he is looking forward to rather than the fair itself lol! Then they have Christmas Jumper Day and also a Christmas fun day!

Freddie has a trip to see Santa coming up and also a playgroup party! He is really enjoying himself at playgroup and we have had no tears when going in for a few weeks now! I expect that will all change come January when he is in every day except a Friday!

Mummy is going to miss having her little side kick around but he is going to have an absolutely brilliant time doing more sessions with his little friends! In fact two of his sessions will be with the little brother of one of James best friends and when those two are together you get total mayhem already!

Living Arrows 2018 48/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This has been a pretty busy and fun week for James and Freddie as we finished the weekend with Freddie's 3rd Birthday!

James has been pretty busy at school as they are gearing up not only for the Key Stage 1 Christmas show, but also the project outcome for their essential question of "What Mysteries Does The Sea Hold?" He has been singing a sea shanty none stop for the last couple of weeks, so mummy is really looking forward to going to see what they have learned this term!

Freddie has had a lovely week at playgroup and he went bouncing in with a smile on his face both days! Mummy can't believe that come January he will be in everyday except a Friday! 

When mummy went to pick him up on Tuesday they had to shout for him four times to come to the door to meet mummy! He absolutely loves going to playgroup and I think it has done him the world of good! I only wish we had been able to do something like that for James at the same age! And when we walked up on Wednesday, well thank goodness mummy had sense to put Freddie's wellies on as he literally jumped in every puddle between our house and the school!

For Freddie's birthday we decided to invite Nana and Gaga to the house and have a small party with party food and cake! We decided to have a quiet day as next year he will actually be at school on his birthday and we will have probably had a party for his school friends on the weekend before!

Our photos for this week were actually taken on Freddie's birthday! Freddie absolutely adores his new scooter and he also got a car track which he loves to share with James

Living Arrows 2018 46/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This last week has been such a crazy week as the boys were back to school after the half term holiday. 

Although poor Freddie had a chest infection so he ended up missing playgroup and being at home all week with mummy. By Friday he was feeling much better so mummy decided to walk Freddie to get James from school, Well on the way home, Freddie decided he had enough of walking the way mummy and James wanted to go so he decided to lie down on the floor!

James took part in his first remembrance sunday with Beavers and he looked so smart in his uniform! He had a brilliant time with his Beavers and really looks forward to going to his meetings on a Thursday night!

Living Arrows 2018 44/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week the boys started their half term holidays! It was a busy week leading up to them finishing school and playgroup for the holidays!

On Wednesday it was a busy day for mummy especially! It started at 0845 when we dropped James off at school then it was straight into the school office as it was the harvest assembly so mummy had to bribe Freddie to keep him quiet! It worked so well till the end of the assembly when James and his friends were leaving to go back to their classroom and he saw James and some of his friends and he started shouting hello to them!!

Once we were back home at twenty to ten it was chill out time before leaving for playgroup at 1130! Once mummy got in from dropping James off it was a quick lunch then back to school for half past one to build boats with James and his classmates for part of their project! 

After leaving the school just after half past two it was straight to playgroup to get Freddie, a quick walk home to drop off his bags and then back to school to get James at three fifteen! Then it was home a quick snack and change for James he was due back at school at four for the school Halloween party!

Lucky for mummy, daddy was going to pick James up from the party so I could concentrate on getting tea finished for mummy, daddy and Freddie!

Thursday it was a normal day of school and chill out for mummy and Freddie before picking up James, getting him fed and changed ready to leave for Beavers at twenty five to six!

Friday was the start of half term so we got up and walked across to Tesco to do some shopping before James went to Nana and Gaga's house in the afternoon!

Living Arrows 2018 43/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week has been about getting back into routine and normal life after our wonderful family holiday! It really does not seem like only last week we got home!

This week James was invested into Beavers and he also gained his Global Issues and Creativity badges! He is absolutely loving Beavers and I am so glad I signed him up for it as it has done him the world of good to make new friends that do not go to his school! Last weekend we went shopping to get James a costume for the school halloween disco and also the halloween party at Beavers! James knew he wanted to be a Werewolf so lucky for us Tesco were selling a werewolf costume this year! He knew he had to try it on when we got home!!

Freddie has a great week! He loved being back at playgroup with all his little friends after our holiday! He was a bit sad when I dropped him off as he wanted to go get James as he was really missing him after him being by his side for the last ten days! Once James was home from school though, Freddie never left him alone and wanted to play with him constantly. On Sunday we went for a walk down to Aldi as a family and poor Freddie fell asleep in the pushchair. Once we got home we did have to eventually wake him up and this photo of him was after we woke him up and he just wanted to cuddle into mummy!

Living Arrows 2018 42/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week we have been on our first family holiday abroad to Alcudia in Majorca. The boys had an absolutely brilliant time! 

They both had a fantastic time playing in the pools at the hotel and also on Alcudia Beach! We had two days down at the beach and one day trip to Palma Aquarium. The rest of the time we either walked down to Alcudia Port and Beach to look around the shops or we were in one of the many hotel swimming pools!

We also spent half a day at the Hidro Park which was next door to our hotel so we got free entrance as hotel guests!

This weeks photos of the boys were taken at Palma Aquarium. James loved climbing on the giant shark in the outdoor play area, where as Freddie was completely entranced by the fish in the big shark tank!

Living Arrows 2018 41/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

It's been another busy week getting ready for our holiday! James has had a great week at school and is getting so excited about our upcoming trip! On Saturday we went to a BBQ at James Beavers Scout Hut! The boys had a brilliant running around and James loved showing daddy and Freddie where he comes for Beavers. Mummy has actually already got Freddie's name down for Beavers!

Freddie had a great week at playgroup again! He loves going for his two sessions a week! I am wondering how he is going to react in January when he goes in for more as once he turns three he gets his funded 15 hours. So we have decided for him to do one full day and three half days as a morning session and two afternoons! On Monday Freddie had actually got up for the day at 5am do he ended up crashing out on the sofa for an hour!

The boys have decided or should that be James has decided he wants to share a room with Freddie so once we are back from holiday we are going to start putting the plans into motion to redo James bedroom and make it into a room for both of them, starting with getting them bunk beds!

Living Arrows 2018 40/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

Our Holiday is getting even closer and we cannot wait! Mummy and Daddy did the majority of the packing last weekend while James and Freddie went to spend some time with Nana and Gaga for the weekend. 

James is getting along with his glasses really well! So far we have only forgotten to take them to school once, So mummy had to run home and collect them and take them back to the Key Stage One door where James TA met me to take them up to his class room!

James had his beavers meeting on Thursday night which he loves! I'm so glad he is enjoying Beavers as it is something for him to do outside of school and make friends that he does not go to school with!

Freddie is still loving playgroup! He is such a good boy for them, although he is such a monkey at home! He has taken to pouring his water all over himself meaning he is going through at least two or sometimes three sets of clothes a day!! He also likes launching his dry cereal across the room so mummy and daddy are doing a lot of hoovering!

Before we took James into school on Friday, we had to pop into playgroup for the photo day! I took James with me to see if we could get a nice photo of the boys together! It was actually a no go as Freddie would not sit down!

After mummy dropped James off at school on Friday she popped into the school hall for the Macmillan coffee morning. Although this year poor Freddie could not have any of the cakes due to his dairy intolerance. He was pretty grumpy about that! But mummy made sure she had some of his dairy free snacks with her!!

Nana and Gaga came down in the afternoon and collected the boys before taking them up to their house for the weekend!

Living Arrows 2018 39/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week Freddie and James have been pretty busy with school and playgroup. 
James has had his second lot of spellings to learn at school and we also collected his glasses on xxx. I'm hoping these glasses will help James to improve his reading and writing. He has been so stubborn towards his homework, reading and spellings this last couple of weeks but I think it's down to not being able to see them properly. 

He was also made up to come home with Star of the Week! He got given a sticker in assembly and then a certificate was posted home, which mummy proudly put up on the kitchen wall!

James also had a science day at school last week and they all made slime/gloop aka cornflour and water with food colouring! He was also talking about seeing a giant tortoise in school too!

On Wednesday James had a forest school session and parents were invited in to join the fun! Mummy had a brilliant time with James making a kite, a dream catcher and also a hedgehog out of a pear and sticks! 

Freddie has been quite grumpy and waking up at silly am in the morning. He has cried at playgroup drop off again but been full of smiles at pick up. He is not seeing the dietitian for his intolerances till November and mummy is finding it tricky as he keeps having reactions with a bad tummy from either hidden dairy or hidden soya. We didn't realise that most bread companies actually use soya flour, so the poor thing has been having toast most days!.

Living Arrows 2018 38/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

So we are now back in the full swing of the school and playgroup routines. James has really settled back into school and with his friends. He is loving the fact he is allowed to scoot to school on his scooter. 

On Tuesday we headed straight across to Tesco so James could get his eyes tested. At this appointment we found out that James is long sighted and now needs to wear glasses in school and also at home when doing his reading, homework and on his tablet. The appointment took forever as they were running slightly late and then they ended up needing to put drops in James eyes. So by the time we got home it was time for tea and bed for both the boys! His class are also doing forest school at the moment so Wednesday it was an extra bag to remember his wellie boots! James also had his second Beaver's meeting on Thursday night so mummy took him and then came home and then went back to pick him up! He is really starting to enjoy Beaver's, and mummy is thinking about going back into scouting.  

Freddie is loving being back at Playgroup. He went bouncing in on Tuesday but on Wednesday the poor thing was crying his eyes out as he had seen James coming in from forest school and he wanted to go and see him.  We haven't started going across to our new group yet on a Thursday as Freddie had a dairy reaction so was a little poorly and slept most of the day. Then last week mummy had to go to the dentist so we had to go to nana and gaga's house plus it was also daddy's birthday and it was Beaver's for James!

Not the best photos of the boys this week! Since they have been back to school and playgroup its been so hard to get nice photos!

Living Arrows 2018 37/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

James has been back at school now for a week and he is loving it! He was only back in school for one day before he was on a school trip to Bamburgh Beach and The Grace Darling Museum. Then on Thursday James had to be collected early as he had a hospital appointment at 3pm to collect the equipment for his sleep study. James has very big tonsils and snores quite badly so the doctors decided we needed to do a sleep study to see if he needs them removing. Then on Thursday night James had his first Beavers group! 

Freddie also had his first days back at playgroup for this term. He had an absolutely brilliant couple of days being back with all his friends and making some new ones. He did cry a little bit on the Tuesday at drop off but he soon stopped. It was also the first time he has been in playgroup since he was diagnosed with being intolerant to dairy and soya, so mummy had to go through it all with the staff and go through his inhaler and when he would need it. It's a whole new routine for Freddie as the Sure Start group we went to from him being 7 weeks old has stopped running so I have decided to start taking him to the toddler group I used to take James to over in another part of town. 

Living Arrows 2018 36/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week has been brilliant as daddy has been off work on holiday and we did so many fun things!! 

We came home from Nana and Gaga's house on Monday and stopped off at Aldi to pick up a few bits. We then came home and chilled out for the rest of the day!

On Tuesday we started cleaning and tidying up the house as it was time for a mass clear out! Mummy dropped a bag of clothes off at the charity shop and returned the boys library books as well!

The boys were also treated to some new shoes on Wednesday! James needed school shoes, PE shoes and new wellie boots. Plus Freddie needed some new shoes for the autumn. Nana and Gaga came over for a while as well as they were bringing back James Birthday presents that we couldn't bring back on the bus, they also helped us to do a few bits in the garden and Gaga cut Freddie's hair! 

James got his back to school hair cut at the barbers on Thursday morning while mummy and Freddie were at home! Freddie was strapped into his high chair with the kindle fire and Peppa Pig while mummy did the mass label of new school uniform for James ready for next week. Mummy also made sure the boys bags were packed ready for their first days back at school and playgroup complete with spacers and inhalers!

Friday we headed up to Tesco to do some shopping and to get in the bits we needed for James party on Sunday like pizzas, drinks and popcorn!!

We ended the week with James birthday party on Sunday afternoon at our house! He had four of his friends over to have pizza and watch The BFG Movie!! 

Living Arrows 2018 35/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

So the biggest thing to happen this week was James finally turned six years old! Mummy and the boys have been at nana and gaga's house since last Monday as we all had dental appointments and then Daddy had to go away for a couple of days with work. 

On Tuesday we went to the local nature reserve at Hauxley. The boys had a brilliant time running along the path. Freddie started off in his pushchair, but we let him out for a run. It was so cute seeing James holding his reins! 

Wednesday started off pretty quiet. We did a video call with daddy before he went to work. Mummy had some work to do on her iPad, so James curled up watching YouTube kids and Freddie was watching Blaze and the Monster Machines on the kindle fire. 

Daddy got back on Friday night and mummy went home to meet him and to also sort out some bits for the holiday without the boys being around! We then went up to nana and gaga's house on Saturday morning.

On Saturday mummy and daddy arrived at Nana and Gaga's around lunch time, James had decided since it was a nice day he wanted a BBQ in the back garden. We had such a lovely time! Both boys were so excited and hyper that we didn't get them into bed till half eight!

On James Birthday Freddie was awake at 6am and we had to give him milk and cereal in bed to keep him quite till James finally woke up around 7! Then it was downstairs to open his presents! We had his big present of a scooter hidden behind his other smaller presents!!

Later on we went to the local pub The Hermitage for their amazing carvery!

Living Arrows 2018 34/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week started off with a quiet day at home. James was meant to go and get his eyes tested, but the rain was so bad and Freddie is going through a stage of not wearing his rain cover on the pram I had to call up and re arrange it. Now he has it after school in the second week of term. I promised him a McDonalds tea if he's a good boy for me!

So instead of going across to Kingston Park we had a movie day at home! We started off with two of the Wizard of Oz sequel type films on Amazon Prime but they were not all that good. We then moved onto Free Willy and Free Willy 2!! I have been trying to get the boys to watch films from when I was a child/teenager and so far we have watched ET, Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory and now Free Willy and Free Willy 2!!

We also built a den in our lounge out of kitchen chairs, James duvet and James blanket! All went well till Freddie destroyed it!!

James ended up with a doctors appointment on Wednesday morning so we went down for that then went to Aldi to get some milk. Then it was Free Willy 3, Peppa Pig and Dinotrux for the rest of the day till daddy got home about half past four!

Thursday Freddie had a doctors appointment to discuss his on going issues with dairy and soya as we are waiting for his dietitian appointment, but we need to organise a GP letter for when we go on holiday to allow us to carry Almond milk through security at the airport. 

Finally we got to Friday! End of the week and this mummy was ready to chill out and have some family time before a busy week of us going to see Nana and Gaga and getting ready for the hype of James birthday!