Thursday 31 May 2012

Herbie ( VW bug ) tee



My boy turns three next week. My boy loves Herbie and can spot a VW Beetle a mile off, excitedly proclaiming 'Herbie'
I'm excited to give him this t-shirt as I know he'll love it. I used some thrifted t-shirts for the applique and had a really, really, relaxing time hand stitching these - it was lovely. 

Though the slight wonkiness of Herbie was not intentional I think it makes it more realistic - don;t you think?





As the boy is three, H&M do great duo packs of t-shirts and I was loving the hand stitching, I put together this one for him too.



Somethings never get old

It's been a while since we had a messy Ben post, this week provided more than a few photo opportunities of the Master of Mess in action - love this boy :)


Nutella (lets be honest Aldi's version half the price for near the taste suits me and let me just say it made great banana and nutella bread) on bread, the boy scraped off the nutella and left the bread. Totally takes after me in this respect - straight from the jar with a spoon is my favourite way to eat it or on pancakes with ice-cream. Nutella is not allowed in the house very often as it just speaks to me all too often.

This was a classic - never trust a quiet child moment. 

Quiet Ben whilst mummy is doing something on this occasion equalled Ben sat on the table with Mummy's pencil case and specifically decorating his body with Permanent Green marker oh and a bit of biro but PERMANENT GREEN MARKER!!! Google search    'how to get permanent marker off skin' produced rubbing alcohol with debates as to if Boots sold it at the pharmacists or if it was something chemists needed to order in - fabulous. However, I must say a moment of true mum magic - I'd heard hair spray got out biro so thought it was worth a shot and would you believe it voila 'hair spray removes permanent green marker off skin'. I will be adding my findings on the matter to all yahoo forums when one can find a moment :)


To see the Bleakley's we went



This weekend we headed for Southend (or 'Sarf-end' as we like to say to be truly authentic) to visit with Jennie, Jonnie, Evie and Gracie and enjoy the delights of the Sarfend airshow. The sun was shining and we heade up the promenade through the exhibition stalls. 





The boys went in a fire engine, Ben literally leapt into the driver's seat. 



Once a red inflatable red arrow had been bought for both of them, they were happy and ready to watch some planes.


The Blades were really cool  and totally fearless.




Ben the pro plane watcher with Gracie's binoculars :)



The setting of the beach was just a great back drop to the displays. Easyjet's 200th plane flew over - a completely orange plane


One of the highlights for me was seeing the Battle of Britain Memorial display - the Spitfire, Hurricane and Lancaster Bomber. I felt moved thinking how important these machines had been and of course the men who flew them during the war - a truly awesome sight and sound.



Joseph and Gracie had an important mission to bury the inflatable red arrow. The same red arrow was later lost when it blew out of mummy's bag, whilst we were eating ice cream. Fortunately Joseph has a kind little brother who let him borrow his.


On Sunday we went along to the Romford Stake Conference. It was a really good session I felt prompted about obedience and regular temple worship along with really praying for inspiration about how to share the gospel more and take up the challenge of invitation during the month of  June. The slow traffic on the way back to the Bleakley's gave Nathan and I a good chance to talk about these things and we are going to try and make it possible to have one of us participate in temple service once a month. A challenge for sure but reach for the moon and you'll hit the stars, so they say.

(Just on a side note -Joseph managed to work his way two rows back to a boy called Ben who had Star Wars lego, oh and at one point Ben was pretending that the straw from his drink was a gun and was aiming shots at the stand - let's hope people thought we were investigators :))


In the afternoon, Joseph and Gracie played really nice together and pretending to be a Princess and a King (in his royal green robe) put on a birthday party. The room was decorated with blankets and the cushions were cakes decorated with duplo sweets  - love their imagination. Ben and Evie also played nicely together it's like they sorted themselves out into age groups naturally. 
A lovely weekend - hope to repeat again.

Wednesday 30 May 2012

Garden turn outdoor theatre

The sun's been out the past couple of weeks and I/we've loved it. Afternoons in the garden; washing load after load on the line; lunch and tea on our new table (salvaged from the Crawford's skip along with chairs and a parasol and brought back to life with a good jet wash - it is fab). 



My favourite thing has been Joseph putting on shows about pirates, kings and knights and dragons on his ship. We have to wait til the imaginary light has changed from red to green and then he performs either a 'small' or 'long' show. 




A few of them have involved rescuing treasure from a cave with a  dragon in it. All begin 'once upon a time' and end 'happily ever after' and then of course there is applause.



                Love how my boy tells stories :)

Saturday 5 May 2012

Sofa conversations with my boy


Joseph : When I grow up I will go on a mission and you and Bendy will stay at home and Daddy will just come with me.

I don't want to get married .. I just don't like kissing and I don't like dancing, it's silly.