FRS??

Being Home Alone with the lads has made me branch out into the Free Range parenting world this week - so much so that my 7 year old proudly told me that all the responsibility he had yesterday made him feel like a "nine or ten year old." Oddly enough, I've not had time for some years now to read the link and any of the (very many) articles I receive into my inbox, but the gist of it still stands for me. MPLST and I often hark back to the days where we were lost to our parents between meals.

Of course, the beauty of living in the middle of nowhere is that a) you can keep a reasonable eye on your little'uns without them actually realising, and b) the inhabitants of every house within walking distance knows who they are and where they come from. Lots of eyes in such a little space is very re-assuring.

This boring pre-amble is just a little of what's gone on. As usual, the only reason I'm blogging is for Her Ladyship. Any day this week, the pictures could have been the same, because pretty much all it feels like we have done is walk, walk some more and then walk a bit further....

After rugby today (where R scored a try!), and eats in the café (complete with mucky knees - but I wasn't disturbing the mutt just to get them clean breeks), we went for a walk down behind the post office in the village. It was a glorious afternoon, but it was blowing a hoolie as they say...

One of the better efforts of your hound



C has a real tendency to find the most difficult route around trees, despite the path. Makes a walk in the woods last a loooooooong time...

But trees do have their uses...



Maybe we should all take a break? Anybody got a Kitkat?



See how much easier it is on the path son?



There was obvious delight in getting down to this wee shore as access was backwards down a rusty old metal step.



Getting one good picture of 3 children together is one of life's new challenges...



Coming up was much easier...



Side on, you don't get the Monster Munch look...



Shame that the youngest looks stoned in this one. I was all set to get a good picture, but this was the very last one your card would take. Hey ho...



As Sunday's go, or even weekends for that matter, it's not been bad. I think they've averaged a minimum of 2 miles a day walking since the holidays started. Big boy must have covered 4 today alone. After all of that, they came home and played outside until 6 o clock.

Guess what tomorrow holds...more walking. The camera ain't coming though. 

Productive Days...

There are times when one must ask oneself if it is purely co-incidence that the most productive days are those when the wife is offshore?

We awoke to a glorious spring day, so after breakfast we ventured on a new walk. Junior photographer R took his camera and let me borrow it for the top and bottom pics. The wee boy did fantastically well, we must have trekked a couple of miles, and he didn't complain once. More importantly, he didn't fill his pants either....



The afternoon was eventful enough. O gave himself a nasty friction burn sliding down the pole on the basketball hoop. It looked sore - he's had dads tough love approach and appears to have manned up suitably. In fact, whilst I was weeding under the kitchen window later, I heard R shout that the dog had a rabbit and wouldn't let go of it. I turned around to see him holding her by the collar, so I said I'd be there in a minute. By the time I creaked by bones to the upright position, O was marching toward me proudly holding half a rabbit in his bare mitts, asking me what he should do with it whilst informing me that its eye was bleeding. Country living clearly isn't doing him any harm.

Compare that to his brother who found a "creepy crawly" in his bedroom nearer tea time. When pressed what it was, maybe a caterpillar or a millipede came the reply. It was neither, but between us we got rid of it, but O would have been so disappointed in us if he had witnessed our cack handedness! I can only assume R is destined for a job in the city, and it's not running pipes and cables through other peoples attics!

I suspect big boy is gearing up for a request soon too...but what for, I'm yet to find out. I got help in the garden today, he weeded the veggie patch off his own back. He then tidied his room without prompt. And to put the cherry on top.....he gave up screen time to walk the dog whilst dad finished the ironing (that's how you get it done, dear!)

His reward so far? We've also spent a little one on one time teaching him to tie his shoe laces, which he now seems to have grasped.

All I have to do now is get their bikes is tip top condition as they've been asking me for days. I'm on it...

The Snowdrop Walk - 2014

It's become a bit of a tradition at this time of year to do the snowdrop walk - but this year there was a little bit of a difference. Due to hectic social calendars, we couldn't meet up with our friends, the H family, but we did have the addition of our mutt to keep it entertaining.

 

It's becoming ever more difficult to get pictures of our three loons together. I noticed today that the eldest does that thing his dad does where he tries to shrink to fit other people. On the one occasion I did ask him to crouch down, his littlest brother decided to copy the body position, and therefore ruining the shot. I guess this is why they say never to work with children...

 



 

To explain the last picture, C would not let go of that dog lead for the whole walk. Even when he was falling on his face in the park afterward, he was still holding it as if his life depended on it. That'll explain the state of his knees.

 

R got a special Saturday night treat too - he got to stay up and watch telly with dad for an hour after the others went to bed. Won't be too long before we are going for a beer....

It's Official...

...Roary the Racing Car trumps Thomas the Tank Engine!

C is rather triumphantly showing off his Roary "big boy pants" before bed time, which, for the first time (we are on day four) are the first pair that have lasted a whole day. He's clearly feeling rather proud of himself, and why shouldn't he be? We went to Toddlers this morning, had a walk in the park straight after and another walk in the woods with the dog before school pick up. That's a successful days potty training in my book.



Back on Day 1, which seems a long time ago, we sent mum this selfie at work, which rather appeals to her. It's only right to include it on the blog for the book when it comes.

Days 1 and 2 consistently mainly of this...puppies are great for passing the time. How exactly did I do it with the other boys??

If You Look Really Hard...

...you can see Cassiopeia on his back!

I didn't realise when I wrote the last blow entry on Thursday evening that boyo would wake up on Friday morning looking this this. Just what you need as you run into a hectic weekend. He looks pretty chipper with himself here, that's mainly because I took the  photo in the morning. By late afternoon the poor wee man is struggling.



Between dog walking, swimming and rugby, I've tried to entertain him as best I can. To be fair to him, he has been dragged round fields and parks with the dog in the pissing rain, and never complained once. In many ways, he's probably been much easier to handle without his mum being here, because then she would have to do it all. As it is, he's happy to let dad read the books and provide the cuddles.

 

It was bloody nippy this morning, but the boys still made their rugby, whilst I wandered away with my eldest and youngest children (too many little brothers and sisters around the rugby club to stay with chicken pox boy). I think he enjoyed the one on one time with big sis.



The lads enjoyed their rugby - I managed to get a few photos for mum. I've made a rip roaring arse of editing the last couple though, and because I'm very rushed and very late today, they'll have to go on just as they are. If she is half the woman I think she is, she'll sort them and re-upload them for me.

Neither boy was too enamoured about rugby this morning, I think because they knew I was taking big sister away to walk the dog. Once there though, it was a good session. Game on next week - and surprise surprise, I am away for the next fixture for the adults too, which has been arranged for a Friday night, so a hit on two fronts for me!