The boys and their favorite toys; Thomas the Tank Engine.

I thought a lot about toys and what I wanted to spend money on. My priorities were not so much about education (which seems to be the marketing byword for toys these days) but to keep plastic to a minimum, buy second-hand or vintage where possible, stick to quality, well-made and well-crafted toys and toys that were open ended (blocks, lego, paints, boxes, playdough). Mostly, I think our toy choices have been successful and our wooden Thomas would be one of the most beloved, both by us and the boys.

The Captain can spend up to two hours engineering complicated routes and elaborate disasters for his trains to cope with, including landslides of dirt as you can see above (I went inside to get a cup of tea...), sometimes he even has the tracks running from room to room.

It is hard to decide what he loves more, the hours spent setting it all up, the playing, (I really should say crashing) or the time he sometimes spends simply admiring?

The Mulch Mountain

Across the road from us, a house is undergoing a fairly major renovation. The boys have just adored all the associated activity. In particular, the diggers,trucks and cement mixers that have been roaring up and down their long driveway. Recently there have even been tree surgeons chopping down some absolutely enormous trees. Naturally, they are fascinated by all this and unfortunately are not content to observe from the house. Instead, I have to sit on the nature strip with them so that they can project manage the whole operation. With the tree surgeons came a mulching truck and once again they stood mesmerised as the workmen fed the trunks and branches into the mulcher and then they watched fascinated as the mulch streamed out into the truck. As we were watching all of this the workmen asked me if I would like some mulch. "Ooh yes please," I foolishly said. I seriously thought that they would give me the equivalent of a couple of bags worth or at the most a big wheelbarrow load.

Shortly afterwards we left to go to swimming lessons and upon our return I discovered that they had indeed left us some mulch. They had emptied the entire trucks worth onto our nature strip. As I stared in dismay at the mountain of mulch, the boys in stark contrast were delighted. They immediately mounted an expedition to the top with the kid from down the road. Hesitantly, I rang Ross (who rather inconveniently was on the Gold Coast working) and warned him that we had a little mulch problem on the nature strip. What do you mean there is a trucks worth of mulch on the nature strip, he exploded? After I had explained the whole story to him his instructions were to make a sign saying free mulch and then to ring everyone we know and ask them if they would like some mulch!

Two weeks later it is all gone! The sign worked. We literally had people stopping and filling up trailers, utes and even plastic buckets with mulch. I am so grateful to all our lovely neighbours. We actually have met almost everyone in the street now, thanks to our mountain of mulch!

Mulching the garden was actually suprisingly satisfying and inspired us to do lots of other much needed gardening. Even "Bill and Ben", my super-cute flower pot men got in on the act!

Nicasso's latest masterpiece!

Collecting The Captain on wednesday from pre-school he gleefully waves his latest painting at me. "Oh it's lovely darling," I dutifully say. "Yes Mummy," he says to me in his loud clear voice, "it is of you and Daddy drinking wine." All the other mothers nearby smother giggles and the teacher is practically in hysterics. "Don't worry" one Mum says kindly to me, "Alexander's first word was 'wine!'"

Note, the wine glasses in our hands (not bad for a 4 year old!) I can't believe that this is what he chose to paint us doing though! The little monkey! :

The Captain's Clash with a Filing Cabinet

This is what happens when you combine a kamikaze daredevil with an antique oak filing cabinet. Three stitches and a wound so deep that you could see bone. Every person in emergency gasped in horror when the triage nurse peeled the temporary bandage off his head on our arrival. Only the day before I had been admiring his smooth forehead and thinking how handsome he was...

This is what it looks like now that the stitches have been removed. Apologies for the clothes peg hair clip. In this male dominated family we naturally, have a hair clip shortage and my bobby pins were not up to the rigours of a 4 year old boy. Thus, I had to improvise with the clothes peg! Don't worry Captain, that scar will make you look more authentic when you play pirates now!

Baby Pirate has a new identity... Cranky Cowboy!

My favourite sulky cowboy!

Baby Pirate is growing up so quickly I can hardly absorb the changes. He swims in the pool now unassisted. Well, with the bubble on but he does NOT like anyone to hold him or indeed hover around him. He adores playing with his big brother's Thomas trains and the vintage Little People toys. He is obsessed with his beloveds, "Witchard" (a lion soft toy) and "Beee-arrr" (a winnie the pooh bear). He is the polar opposite of N, who did not form an attachment to any soft toys or blankies, whereas H almost always has one of his beloveds in his arms 0r is dragging his blanket (a muslin wrap) around the house/garden/neighborhood with him. I am trying to confine the comfort items to the house, hence the sulky face in the above photos! He is eating us out of house and home and has a worrying sweet tooth! He loves going for walks around the neighborhood in the pram or sitting on the back of my bike in the toddler seat as we ride around the nearby lagoon/lake and wetlands. Every morning without fail he asks to go to the beach and looks so crestfallen if I say no. He has the most divine smile and has a full compliment of teeth,yes even the 2 year old molars! (Don't you know you are six months early stupid teeth?). He is already kicking a soccer ball around quite proficiently and is currently eyeing off the Captain's old balance bike. It won't be long before R starts grooming him to win the Tour de France.

Baby Pirate's Digs

Now for the little one's room, this is still a work in progress so please excuse the cowboy/nautical theme clash and the lack of toy storage. Not sure if I want to go down the expedit path again (see the Captain's room), but I am not a huge fan of toy boxes either. Off to google toy storage ideas now!

The Captain's Bedroom

After seeing The House that A-M Built's (I don't know how to post a link otherwise I would!) beautiful boys bedroom and playroom, I decided to take some pictures of the Captain's room. I am now a bit sad that I never thought to take photos of his room at Clovelly or Seaforth. Tomorrow I will take some of Baby Pirate's room, although his room has more of a baby Cowboy theme. If I could get The Captain to part with the cowboy night light I would put that in The Baby's room but N adores it. I totally understand his reluctance to part with it though, it is one of my favorite things in our house!