Living Arrows 34/52 (2021)

I’m super late with this week’s Living Arrows post – we had a busy week last week and then this week the boys have been having swimming lessons every lunchtime which somehow seems to make it hard to fit anything else into the day!

Last week we had Gabe’s birthday on Tuesday, although it’s felt like his birthday has been going on for weeks with him getting some presents on Toby’s birthday and then them having a joint party back in July! We still wanted to make sure he had a fun day for his actual birthday too though, so after opening some presents in the morning and going to the opticians (which just happened to be on his birthday, it wasn’t part of the fun!) we went to a local trampoline park and then to McDonalds for lunch.

My mum and brother came over in the afternoon, and the boys convinced my brother to play Super Mario Party with them on the Switch. And finally I told Gabe he could choose anything he wanted for tea and all he asked for was mashed potato! So I made him this… turkey dinosaur, broccoli trees and a baked bean volcano!

A plate with a turkey dinosaur standing up in mashed potato, with broccoli trees and baked beans pouring out of a mash volcano

And then I didn’t make another birthday cake after I’d already made them a minecraft cake for their party, and seeing as Gabe doesn’t like icing anyway he just got a candle in a chocolate brownie!

Gabe with a number 6 candle on a piece of chocolate brownie

After Gabe’s birthday the rest of the week was filled with two days at different summer camps (Street Monkeys and Forest School), and then on Saturday we met my friend Claire and her boys at another trampoline park. With the pandemic we’ve not seen them for nearly two years so it was lovely to catch up.

I mentioned at the beginning that the boys are swimming every day this week – they’re doing an intensive course before they go back to lessons next week. It’s been really good, Toby especially has made great progress in the pool.

Toby pulling a silly face with his eyes screwed shut

The boys have got one more swimming lesson today, and then this afternoon we’re heading off for a weekend of camping with friends, squeezing out the last bit of fun from the summer holidays before we go back to school at the end of next week. It’s going to be a big change for me too – I’m going back to school with the boys, working as a teaching assistant in the Reception class at their school… after six years of the self-employed life working from home it’s going take a bit of getting used to I think!

This is my ninth year taking part in this linky celebrating childhood, based on a poem by Kahlil Gibran, “You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth” .

If you’d like to see the rest of my Living Arrows posts you can find them all here.

Living Arrows

4 thoughts on “Living Arrows 34/52 (2021)

  1. The swimming course sounds like a great idea, ours start lessons again in Sept will have to look out for an intensive course for the holidays. Happy Birthday Gabe sounds like a great day and love the dinner choice. Oooo exciting I am sure it will go really well, but good luck for your return to the classroom x

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