Living Arrows 28/52 (2017)

Toby fascinated by the Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway train

Well, after last week’s post when Gabe had slept through for two nights in a row, he actually managed two more…which is the most he has slept in his whole life! Unfortunately he ended the week with a temperature and normal service has been resumes as far as sleep goes but at least we know he can do it and I’m sure he will again. Until then I’m going to accept it and wait – that’s all I can do really!

Yesterday we went on the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway with Barry’s mum and dad. It’s a steam train in the Lake District and we had a lovely day out (mostly – days out with our two are never entirely stress-free!) Gabe seemed to have recovered from whatever was wrong with him at the end of last week and was remarkably un-whingey for most of the day. Read more

Living Arrows 27/52 (2017)

Toby playing on the beach in Blackpool

I feel like a broken record with these posts sometimes but the weeks just go so fast and we don’t often do anything very exciting!

Toby enjoyed his second settling session at school on Thursday, now he just has to wait 8 weeks before he actually starts properly. Only 8 weeks though, and my baby is going to be starting school – he’s not even four until next week!

On Saturday my parents were part of the team organising the National Scout Car Races – it’s something they have been involved with since I was tiny but I haven’t been myself for years. This year it was back in Blackpool so we went along with the boys to have a look. Read more

Living Arrows 26/52 (2017)

Toby eating peas straight from the pod in Grandad's garden

Well last week I said we were nearly there, and now we are actually half way through the year – I’m sure it was only Christmas a couple of months ago!

And as another reminder that time is marching on Toby had his first of two transition sessions at his new school last week. When I reminded him in the morning that he was going he said ‘but I’m not four yet’, so I had to try and explain (again) that he was just going to see what it was like and he won’t actually be going until September.

He was there for almost two hours on Thursday afternoon and by all accounts he had a great time. I was a bit worried he might cry and not want to go in because he can be a bit like that sometimes but all credit to the teachers they didn’t give the kids chance to get upset. We were waiting in the school entrance for a few minutes then the teacher came out, just said ‘in you come’ and it was a quick ‘bye’ and off they went. There were a few other children from Toby’s nursery there too so that helped. Read more

Living Arrows 25/52 (2017)

I can’t believe how fast time is flying at the moment – the last week seems to have disappeared in a blur of interviews, didn’t get the job moping, playing out, trips to the park and then this weekend saw Toby at two birthday parties!

Both of this week’s Living Arrows pictures are just iPhone photos that I managed to grab this week. Gabe’s picture was taken one afternoon after his nap. We went out on the street to play on scooters – after Gabe enjoyed having a go on Toby’s scooter with the seat on a few weeks ago we got him one of his own. The helmet is far too big but I don’t think he’s going to be doing any high speed falls just yet!

Gabe playing on his scooter in a helmet that is far too bigAnd Toby’s picture was taken at one of the birthday parties – I think he was enjoying his lunch!

Toby enjoying his lunch at a birthday party

Until next week then – which I can’t believe is going to be week 26 and we’ll be half way through the year already!

 

Living Arrows

Living Arrows 24/52 (2017)

I’m a bit late with my Living Arrows post this week – there are a couple of reasons for this. I normally write my post on a Sunday night but last night I was preparing for an interview I had today. It was for a part time teaching job starting in September – I’ll hopefully hear tomorrow if I’ve got it but it seemed to go well so fingers crossed!

The other reason I didn’t do my post last night though was that I just didn’t have any photographs of the boys to use! We didn’t do much last week or over the weekend and I didn’t get the camera out and I didn’t even have any usable pictures on my phone.

So anyway, when I got home from the interview today I got the camera out and snapped a few pictures – we’ve not had any close ups for a while and I really like the ones I managed to get today.

Toby being cheeky and hiding behind the curtain

Toby’s behaviour has been a bit all over the place the last week. Read more

Living Arrows 21/52 (2017)

Since my last Living Arrows post we’ve had quite a quiet week but then I had a very busy weekend. On Friday I went to Manchester to see Take That (which was amazing), and stayed over night. Then yesterday I was back in Manchester for the BlogOn blogging conference.

While I was away daddy was in charge and on Friday night Gabe treated him by being awake from 9:30 pm to 3 am then getting up for the day at 6 am. Seriously, I have no idea how he even managed to stay awake for that long!

Yesterday was much more successful by all accounts and the boys had a fun trip to the park in the morning. Gabe looks like he was really racing here (and I think he could really do with a haircut!)

Gabe playing at the park

Toby has been absolutely brilliant lately Read more

Living Arrows 20/52 (2017)

It’s been another uneventful week this week, although I have no idea where time is going at the moment, it’s just absolutely flying by!

Toby’s photo this week was taken when I was trying to get some pictures for my What Toby Wore post. He’s going through a phase of not really wanting to pose for photos, and if he will stand still he just pulls silly faces. So I got him to go to the far edge of the garden, put the camera in sport mode, got him to run towards me, kept pressing the shutter and hoped something would turn out at least in focus!

And I got this…

Toby running at the camera in the front garden

I think I’ll be trying the run at the camera and hope method again! Read more

Living Arrows 19/52 (2017)

We enjoyed another bank holiday weekend last week – in his old job Barry didn’t have to take bank holidays off so would often work them to save the annual leave for other times but now he has to take them and it’s actually quite nice to be forced to have some extra family time!

Last Saturday we went to the SEA LIFE Blackpool and had a lovely time seeing all the fish and other creatures. We had a day at home on Sunday with a visit from my in-laws and so on Monday we were all in need of some fresh air and time out of the house.

We drove over to the next village – it’s very picturesque with a village green that has a duck pond and a cricket pitch. We actually put an offer on a house there when we were moving but someone beat us to it! Anyway, just because we don’t live there doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it, although this was the first time we’d actually been there.

Gabe watching the ducks with daddy

We took some birdseed for the ducks Read more

Living Arrows 17/52 (2017)

After last Monday’s visit to the Gruffalo trail at Grizedale forest the rest of the week was back to normal with nursery for the boys and time to catch up on some housework for me.

On Friday we went to our local forest playgroup for the first time. Toby really enjoyed learning all about bees and doing some bee related crafts. And Gabe enjoyed most of the session in the carrier on my back, which saved me spending the whole time chasing him around! We’ll definitely be back again soon.

The weekend saw a trip to the park, pizza for tea (we even went out for it!), and a visit to soft play as one of Toby’s reward chart treats. Toby and Barry also planted some seeds and put them out on our balcony, hopefully they’ll grow and we’ll have some lovely flowers soon.

I took this week’s Living Arrows photos out in the garden yesterday afternoon while the seed planting was going on…

Toby in the garden with the sun in his hair
Toby has been a little superstar lately (most of the time at least). Read more

Living Arrows 16/52 (2017)

I’m a little late with this post this week – the long weekend has put me all out of sync. Actually though the main reason is that I fell asleep when I was putting Toby to bed last night so I didn’t get round to getting my computer out!

Last week’s sun seems to have mostly disappeared this week and we’ve had a pretty quiet Easter weekend. Last Monday though we met my friend Claire and her twins at a park near Warrington (we do a lot of meeting in Warrington as it’s about half way between our houses). It was very busy with it being the school holidays but we found a quiet spot to have a picnic and the boys all had fun running around.

Gabe showing his independence in the park

Gabe is a funny little character sometimes. Read more