Boxing Day outing to Eton (A)

We saw Windsor castle from the car and then the colleges of Eton, including some of the lovely fields and sports grounds surrounding the school.

Unfortunately Eddie gets car sick so we have decided no more car trips til we work out how to make it less traumatic for him...Seb, as you can see from the video, was in sporting form.

On the way home the castle was lit up and it looked magnificent. No pictures as the camera battery went flat.

Happy Boxing Day to you all! Heard from Sam and Becca that they got back earlier this evening safe and sound.

Reading the Enormous Crocodile on Christmas day (A)

3 of us seem more interested in the camera...but Seb, who is having a crocodile party next month, was mesmerised.

He also has an interest in reading the new baby book, 'There's a house inside my mummy' and it feels like he is the most interested/affected by the new baby's existence at the mo. Btw, Miss Jones' heartbeat was heard loud and clear 2 days ago when the midwife visited. Feeling very blessed.

Happy Christmas and New Year everyone...lots of love

xxxxxxx

Various Christmas activities (A)

Winter art by Eddie (A)

Only one more day of school! It has snowed lightly the last 2 days.

Q: What is faster, a T-Rex or a Cloud? (T)

A: According to the Internet, the answer is a Cloud (they seem to go up to 100 mph), whereas T-Rex's max out somewhere from 15 to 45 mph.

Whipsnade Revisited (T)

Bikes (T)

I've been having some trouble with Eddie's bike. The brakes are stiff, the brake heads get stuck against the wheels, the seat is too high. It's all a bit complex. Eddie and I went and bought a bunch of new tools and worked away for a while, but the brakes proved too complicated to fix - if I adjusted one side to make it further from the wheel, the other side gets closer. And vice versa. And none of my tools would fit the socket for lowering the seat. My new wrench did nicely grip the training wheel nuts, so I took off the training wheels. This gave me a little satisfaction, but it is also now a problem because Eddie really cannot ride a bike without training wheels, especially with the seat so high and the brakes so stiff.

Seb at the V&(A)

3 boys (T)

We really do have 3 boys. Roo is now joining in, imposing himself, unable to ignore. Here he is splashing in puddles with his cousin Zach in Regent's park.
Yesterday at Sam and Becca's, Eddie and Seb were having some sort of physical conflict over a spade and some spilt sand, and Roo got up from his little part of the garden, and came up behind Eddie to strike him (fairly harmlessly) with his own spade.

Last night, Sebi charged into the kitchen exclaiming "Eddie hit a seven", and Eddie followed up to tell how he'd hit the ball out of the living room in one clean hit. Playing Cricket had been Seb's idea, but Eddie had it how he wanted, with Sebi bowling and Eddie batting on and on. After those two got in the bath, Roo had me batting while he threw the ball repeatedly. We need that garden.

Miss Jones (A)

When I was just a little girl
I asked my mother, 'What will I be?
Will I be pretty, Will I be rich?'
Here's what she said to me

'Que Sera Sera
Whatever will be, will be
The future's not ours to see
Que Sera, Sera
What will be, will be'




we got a glimpse into the future today...!

it was inevitable... (A)

the short hair is back!

Another Tiger (A)

We love this game (T)

Make sure you have the sound turned on. Click here.

Eurostar boy (T)

As a belated reward for his toilet training, I took Eddie for a couple of days in Brussels. The modern stuff (all the European political buildings) is horribly uninspiring, but I think that is the point, given Europe's history of too much inspiration.

So no photos of that stuff, but a few of the other sites.

I asked Eddie at the end his favourite bit about Brussels, he said his breakfast in particular the "coco pops".



One of Eddie's many photos, in Brussels' ye olde square.



Finishing another waffle. This particular place had higher aspirations, but given tourist expectations of Brussels had succumbed and scribbled "Waffles - chocolate, vanilla" in red ink at the back of the Menu.



Autumnal Atomium.

3 persons (T)

Sebastian: often starts the morning climbing on top of dad, waking us up to the sound of a stream of sebastian-flavoured consciousness (spiders, octopuses, crabs, sharks). Sebastian is the one starting the most fights, but he has a sensitive side - he cracked his little fingers against my hand, and started to cry. Pointing at his fingers he said "these two are laughing, but these two saying ouchie".

Eddie: often gets reflective at the dinner table, and starts talking about whatever subject he has learned about at school - mountaineering, etc. The subject turned to Giants the other day (possibly from Shrek):
him: "Giants can eat houses"
me:
him: "God could eat the whole world in one bite."
me (taking theological opportunity): "ah, but God could, but he doesnt because he loves the world - he made it. And to give you an example, I love you, so I would never eat you."
him: "yes, and you dont have the right sort of teeth, the pointy teeth" (etc)
me: "yes, but that isnt really my point, I wouldnt eat you even if I could"

Reuben: is almost entirely sweet. He wakes up in bed, and just waits to be picked up, talking or in silence. He smiles at any opportunity, is always calm and quiet when held etc. But perhaps he's most distinguished by his petulance: he refuses to accept anybody saying 'no', and sulks if we do.

Wistful boys in a tree (A)

Happy boy in a highchair

The irony was that Roo had just come back from the hospital where part of his forehead had had to be glued back together...you can just see the white bandage tape.

The big questions (T)

I was entering a question direct into google, and here are the suggestions it offered me...the concerns of our age...

Streets of London (T)

Little Reuben on the streets of London. On the way home from the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the (and all over the) Royal Academy.

I'm still very small.... (A)

I am so sorry this scan pic is so ridiculously tiny, I seems to have forgotton all my photo/scan/whatever computery skills.......but, i wanted to post this lovely little one. He/she is waving and has one leg crossed over the other. At the beginning of scan it was actually lying on its front - something I have never seen before. On the day my big brother is 40 years old, this baby will be 20 weeks, and we will, God willing, be able to determine its sex. Will you want to know? I know I do!

Doctor (T)

I took Eddie to the Doctor's soon after we got back, picked up a school bug of some sort. As we sat there, he was eye-ing the small bed in the corner of the room, and after a while he said to me "Daddy, where do Doctors sleep"?

We clarified with the Doctor that she slept in a normal house like normal people, and did not even nap on the bed in her office.




Roo in Paris.



Anita on the Seine.

French BLogs (T)

I guess we've been busy, sick and overwhelmed by the number (if not quality) of pictures from our French sojourn. Here are a few classic landmarks of our motoring trip through Brittany, Paris and Normandy.





Blustery Brittany.




Mont St-Michel.





Driving into Paris surprisingly easy.



Trainspotting in Gare de l'Est.

The ferry to France (A)

Fish 'n chips in Devon (A)

iPhone (T)

We've gone iPhone crazy the last few months. It's like having a little online computer with you, all the time. Mostly this is an excellent thing. It also doubles as a child minder.

This is going on right now in London...(A)

Treehouse monkeys (A)

courtesy of Gemma

Shaggy dog story, with shaggy boys(T)

courtesy of gemma

On the way home from Hodgemoor Wood (A)

Tramp in the Woods (T)

Yesterday we went for a tramp in the woods.






The boys loved it, though I think the tramp was a little sick of it by the end.