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Schools out for summer and it looks like this ...

We had a great day at Clifton park. the boys ran wild and free (well within eye sight). It was a great park for them, great equipment which was big enough to feel exciting to our now advancing in years, older boys. The splash park was so fun and even though it was a little bit on the cool side, they loved it. I loved watching Ben take the lead role with some of the younger children. It's good for him to be able to have time to adopt a leading role sometimes. Winston loved it that he got attention from a big boy and Seth then copied what Winston and Ben were doing too!

Joseph sticks true to his water baby nature. He doesn't seem to feel the cold. I love how he wanted to help Seth have the full experience of the fountains. We later bought a bag of tokens for the fun fair rides. Both Joseph and Ben paid careful consideration to what they would spend their tokens on.

Look at that face!!! So proud that he's on a ride with the big boys and girls. He has played so hard this week. Naps have been forfeited unless we've been in the car and so most night he just crashes.

I love that we have still got 6 weeks of this.

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Worst quality picture ever! But this is the look you get when you question how many ice creams/ lollies he's had already The answer may well be ' 2 or more than likely 3 and why should that matter, they're nice and I want another. If you take it off me I'll scream!'

School's out for summer and we celebrate by having a sleepover on the landing! A bit of a cliff hanger there for Ben and an obstacle course for anyone navigating in the night, to get to the toilet.

We've just been over to Granne and Grandad's to celebrate Mum's retirement at a point in the afternoon there was the following conversation -

'Granne, some people call me a nerd because of my glasses'

'Oh dear, well that's not very kind of them to call you that. I don't think that'

'Well....probably I am a nerd because I do know a lot of stuff!'

Love how my boy can turn a criticism into a compliment. I think he does know a lot of stuff about the things that matter. 

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I am obviously pants at doing this on time, but I am benefiting from having the project as a hint to blog regularly and remember some of the small moments each week. 

Wimbledon week! It's like a time where you think 'How on earth are we at Wimbledon time again?' The weather was great this week, long warm days. We've watered the plants together, Seth using 'ephant' watering can and I've had those moments where you just wish time could stand still.  In this photo, we were watching a bit of the Sharapova v Williams semi final. It was a noisy affair, with them both being squealers/grunters. Seth imitated every noise they made. It made me chuckle but he was deadly serious!

It was Stake athletics. The first for 4 years! Being reigning champions we were keen to retain. Though we were missing some of our quality competitors we had more quantity than other wards and Joseph was more than willing to take up spots on the 12-14 year old team. He ran 800m and on the final 100m stretch made a sprint finish which made me well up. he also did both the 100m and 400m relays. the dot on the photo above is him! On the 400m relay, he got cracked by the baton of another competitor (9 year old) as he overtook which really upset him -.' He cracked my heart!' 'he was cheating!' 'I just want to go back and bash him!' He was also openly tearful when Selby were announced as coming in third overall. I can see that in the future when he is actually the right age, with his determination, Selby won't be coming in a respectable third!!

There are some photos which feel like you dipped into the future and are looking at your children in 10 years time. This is one of those. Our Ben, handsome as they come. He is so tired after a long year at school and everyday is asking if it's the holidays yet! 

Fireplace redo

So, back in March I announced to Nathan that I wanted to repaint the fireplace in the dining room. He looked at me and said 'Well if you want to do it, you do it but I am not rescuing you.' A bit mean perhaps, or perhaps just a man who has come to the rescue of his wife's DIY impulses one too many times. I laugh at the thought of when I decided to knock out the bricked up fireplace in the dining room at Starch lane, one afternoon. he came home to a chimney breast heaving with soot!! Happy times and it was totally worth it in the end!

Anyway, after 4 tubs of paint remover and three months most of the black paint was removed and a yellow enamel revealed, I then under coated it and repainted it using chalk paint and to say I am thrilled with the result is an understatement! And I did the whole thing by myself!!! The hubs is proud of me too!

I only used half a tin of the paint so the trolley got a redo too!

How to make a bed.

We all at some point had to learn to make a bed, it's his turn! He's not happy about it, apparently all he does is work, all the time!! I sure loved watching his techniques;the shimmy under the duvet and creeping up the wall was my favourite!

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This week was bliss, a mini heatwave!! One night both Seth and Ben ended up in our bed, not unusually but the additional heat made it slightly unbearable so I legged it to Ben's empty bed. At 6:00am true to form, I heard the bounding sound of Joseph leaping out of bed but then I got to witness him immediately fall to his knees and say his morning prayer. Seriously one of those jewels of a moment. He was surprised when I spoke as obviously I wouldn't normally be there. I told him how lovely it was for me to see him pray without being told to. he told me he prayers for the poor to have nice food and nice water because he doesn't just care about his family. 

On Saturday we went with Dad as he went to the temple with the youth. We met up with the boy cousins, Granne and Grandad and went and had some fun in Astley Park.

This picture depicts how much the boys feel the morning rush!!  Er, like not at all and quite frankly it does my nut in!! But I do love to see them play together. 

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We had a lovely few hours at East Park in Hull yesterday. The boys enjoyed playing in the park and made friends with another couple of boys sharing footballs, Seth very much in the thick of it. There was the episode of the ball getting stuck in a tree, then many a missed attempt at throwing up a shoe to hit it out, only for a shoe twice to be stuck in the tree as well!! East Park has a small but free animal kingdom with; snakes, goats, wallabies, miniature ponies, nosey sheep, deer ( which Joseph was adiment  were Okipi??? Apparently this type of deer are a stage on Sumdog??) alpacas and a variety of birds including peacocks. Unfortunately the water area is now closed but the boys were appeased with the Kyber Pass with its manmade rock formations perfect for climbing,hiding behind and making one mum feel rather anxious about the numerous 'what if' scenarios it presented. Anyway we came a way unscathed fortunately, and then went to collect Daddy who was visiting a friend nearby. We then got to go out on a date to see Jurassic World which was extremely jumpy and my coping mechanisms (clapping, smacking Nathan on the arm and talking to myself) for such were apparently dramatic, loud, funny and might I add totally called for!! The boys had a great time having a BBQ with the trusty clan of babysitters (G&G,AA,AA & UJ) The had a bike ride to the park and watched half a DVD and to say we left them at already 7 o' clock it is no wonder they were extremely grumpy at church this morning. Worth it though!