Monday, April 28, 2014

Raf's ABC

Every now and then we do Raf's ABC's with him just to see what words are floating around in that mind of his! Also to see whether new favourite words have replaced old ones (usually train related), so eyes down...

A - Apples
B - Bees
C - Cat
D - Daddy & Duke the train
E - Eggs
F - Food
G - Goo
H - Hiro the train
I - In
J - James the train
K - Kitty cat
L - Leg
M - Mamma
N - Nana
O - Oliver the train
P - Picture
Q - Queue
R - Rafi!
S - Strawberries
T - Tires
U - Umbrella
V - Vanessa
W - Water
X - Xylophone
Y - Yo-yo
Z - Zebra

Make of it what you will! I'm surprised no bodily functions weren't mentioned...

Sunday, April 27, 2014

UK/Spain - 2014

In just a few weeks we'll be heading to the UK and Spain for a few weeks. Along with two colleagues, I'm taking 25 students to London for 11 days. It's going to be an interesting time! I was originally planning on just taking Charlie, but I decided that when he was a little infant who could be worn in the moby wrap...  I managed to forget that he'd be 18 months and on the move. And then we talked about me going on my own and Rich staying with the boys. Charlie, however, is just not ready for that. He nurses throughout the night still and given that he's never had even a night away from me, that I am there every time he wakes up, it began to seem like a very bad idea.

So we're all going. It's going to be busy and hectic (and incredibly expensive - oof). I'll be confined to London for most of the stay, and we still have the problem of Charlie being away from me as Rich was planning on hiring a car and taking off for a few days to visit some of his family. I just can't see how this will work. Honestly, it would be amazing to have a couple of nights kid free... oh the sleep I'm imagining. But the trip is already going to be tiring for the kids, with a lot of changes, new places, and new people. And Charlie is shy and reserved with people he doesn't know. So I have no idea what will happen. One of my sisters is visiting us in London for a few days (it's half term whilst we're there), so Rich and the boys can hang out with Rory and Freya.

We fly out to Spain to see mum on the day the students leave. Raf is going to love it. He's been there twice but can't remember either time, of course. My mum has a garden apartment with two pools and a playground outside her gate. The bay is just down the road with an absolutely beautiful beach.

We return on June 10th. I think we're seeing Rich's dad on the 11th. It's very bad timing for us as my in-laws will be in Spain (not where we're going) so we won't get to see much of them. This is such a shame as it would be lovely for the boys to get to know them more.

On the Thursday we're shooting down to Devon to see my two other sisters, Fiona and Rebecca, as well as old school friends. I can't wait to show the boys where I grew up and where I went to school. It's such a beautiful part of the world.

Last time we were all home (sans Charlie, of course) it was 2010.  I just happened upon a few pics from that trip. It's going to be slightly melancholy because dad won't be there, but lots of new memories to create.

Raf is very excited. He randomly told someone a couple of weeks ago that he's half English and half American. He said, 'I'm Americanish'!!


















Charlie and the Outdoors

Charlie loves being outside. No matter the weather, Charlie grabs his boots, goes over to the coat cupboard, and then takes one of our hands and tries to drag us to the door. 








Saturday, April 26, 2014

Easter

It was a lovely Easter Sunday here - primarily because we didn't have to rush off to be anywhere! It began with a morning cuddle with the boys (as every morning does), but it was extra nice because we didn't have to get up to rush off to work, gym class, and so on.


We were a little bit underprepared and so I had to run downstairs and lay the eggs for the 'hunt' to find the boys' baskets. 

 

Raf looks rightfully skeptical here as we check to see if the Easter Bunny has been... she apparently did and left his note to her and the carrots she'd partly eaten.


Rich made a yummy breakfast to fuel us for our hunt... yum. And Raf even ate strawberries after at least a year strawberry strike. Hurrah!


And then Raf spied the baskets outside... we pretended we hadn't seen them so we could follow the trail.

And off we go.... The boys had a blast, especially Charlie who was really into it!







Yay! We found our Easter baskets (well, tins). Easter book, toothpaste (Raf was incredibly excited!), a new water bottle, crayons and a drawing pad, and...


Oliver-the-train! Raf has wanted this train for a very. very long time. It's difficult to find because it's a collectible and on Amazon they can be over $100! I found two on ebay very reasonably priced, so we got one Oliver for each of the boys. This proved to be a very good idea, and Charlie's even had green wheels and Raf's didn't.


Oliver!


As soon as the boys had finished sorting through their baskets I took them for a walk around the block for a doggy walk. Of course the trains came with us.


We bumped into some of our lovely neighbours, and they invited us around for another easter egg hunt, so once Charlie was asleep I took Raf back over and we spent a lovely hour or so with Raf's good, little friend, Benjamin and his big cousin Ava.



Yummy! Enjoying their spoils.



Whilst it wasn't the warmest day the boys played outside most of the afternoon as dinner was cooking (rather late because of our impromptu egg hunt).


And a bit of digging in his new trousers... why not?!



Finally, a lovely dinner with some tofurky, spring vegetables, and lots of roast potatoes. 


And colouring and drawing with new crayons...


James the train.


Full of treats...  I did make some vegan cadbury creme eggs, which are delicious. I haven't taken a photo yet. They're pretty yummy