Things I'm loving...

Is it just in the UK or do Coca Cola have their 'share a coke with a friend' campaign anywhere else just now?

 

They have 100 of the most popular names in the UK on their bottles and you can check on their website whether your name is there. Mine isn't, but I didn't really expect it to be!

 

It's quite a clever marketing ploy because we would never normally buy Coca Cola but when the boys found their names we bought the bottle!

 

 

There isn't a David but Dave is close enough!

 

 

 

And they have the wrong spelling of Calum too but I was actually surprised that they had it at all.

 

There is no Alasdair though. Or a Kirsteen. I guess we are just a bit more unique :0)

 

 

It has been a better week weather wise this week. Definitely more spring like, although still not as warm as we would like for this time in May.

 

Still, it was nice to get some sunshine.

 

I grabbed 10 minutes peace to eat one of my hidden supply of Magnum Ice Lollies, then after taking the photo noticed the tell tale signs of boys in the background. How many can you spot?!

 

 

Finally, last weekend we watched the newest of the Herbie movies. James and Calum had seen it before but David and Alasdair hadn't. After watching it, Calum dug out his old Herbie car that he had been given for his birthday around the time that film was released and gave it to Alasdair.

 

Alasdair absolutely loved the film and has been playing with Herbie all week. He loves him so much that he has even been taking him to bed with him!

 

Tonight we watched the original Herbie movie, 'The Love Bug', which everyone loved even more. David seemed surprised when I told him that it had been filmed before I was even born!

 

Have a great weekend everyone!

 

 

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Wildlife watchers

A few weeks ago the boys and daddy came home from a Sunday afternoon walk with a jam jar containing a little bit of frogspawn.

 

The sand pit was still waiting for some decent weather to let us give it it's annual spring clean, followed by some nice new sand for the summer, and so since it was sitting empty it was decided to fill it with water and turn it into a pond for the frogspawn, until they grow up anyway!

 

The boys kept an eager eye on the eggs and were very excited to see them hatch into tiny tadpoles after about 10 days.

 

The tiny tadpoles are now bigger tadpoles but still have no sign of the little legs growing on them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alasdair (3) decided to put that boat in the top left of the 'pond' in for the tadpoles because he thought they might like it. Turns out that they do actually quite like it as we often find them gathering underneath it!

 

 

 

It's funny to see how mesmerised they can all be just watching the tadpoles swim around. James (13) had a friend round today and they both sat with the other boys watching for a while!

 

 

Calum (10) has always been our biggest wildlife/animal fan. Today he decided to start keeping a journal of wildlife he sees throughout the summer.

 

He has divided his journal into three sections: what he sees in our garden; what he sees when we go back to Lewis in the summer; and what he sees anywhere else.

 

He made a start on the garden section today. As well as writing about the tadpoles, he has been keeping an eye on some Blue Tits. In the photo above, if you look at the shed at the back of the photo you can just make out a nesting box on the top left corner. About 6 weeks ago we were in the kitchen when we saw some Blue Tits flying in and out of it. We also noticed one of the birds sitting on top of a tennis ball on the grass. We realised that the tennis ball was burst (thanks to Auntie Anna's dog!) and that the bird was taking bits of the stuffing out and then taking it into the nesting box.

 

The birds are still flying in and out of the box, and although we can't see inside it, Calum has been researching in some of his bird spotting books where he learned that Blue Tits usually lay their eggs in April and May.

 

 

Will keep you posted about whether we see any baby birds!

 

As for the tadpoles, well Alasdair keeps telling people they are going to hop into our house when they turn into frogs!

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Miscellaneous Monday

Well I can't quite believe a week has flown by since I last posted, but don't you just find that some weeks are like that?

We didn't have anything major on last week, just life really.

 

The boys were able to briefly see my dad as he passed through on his way home from a trip to Korea. I think that's his third time visiting there. My mum wasn't able to go with him this time as my youngest brother is still at school and has exams coming up but they have been quite the globe travellers the last few years with trips to Korea, South Africa and New Zealand to name just a few places!

 

Anyway, Calum collects bank notes and coins and so asked if Shen could bring him back some currency. His eyes lit up when my dad handed him a 3000 Won note. He was then informed that this is actually only equivalent to less than £1! As US dollars are also legal tender in Korea my dad also gave him a $1 note. Calum is quite chuffed with his growing wee collection of notes.

 

My dad has recently joined the blogging world too, so after plugging my husband's blog a few weeks back it's now time to plug my dad's. Especially this week as he has his trip to Korea on in with some video clips of lovely Korean singing on it. You can find his blog here.

 

 

There was more excitement for Calum this week. His (and ours) favourite band, Mànran, released their new album last week and the first 200 people who ordered would receive a signed copy.

 

Well look what was waiting for Calum in the post the other day!

 

Great tunes on it too. We love it!

You can listen to a wee sample of what they sound like on their website here. Go on, a bit of modern Gaelic folky type music. You won't regret it!

 

Ok, we'll that's two rather contrasting sites I've sent you off to tonight. I think that's enough miscellany for one night!

 

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Finally...

...our first barbecue of the season.

 

Last year we had our first barbecue of the season at the end of March, which to be fair is a little earlier than usual, but normally we kick start the barbecuing sometime in April.

 

Oh well, better late than never.

 

It still wasn't quite warm enough to eat outside, even though the boys (especially Alasdair) were very keen to do so, but for comforts sake we ate indoors. Barbecued food tastes just as good indoors or out!

 

Here is dad's eager helper keeping an eye on the onions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, the eager helper was wearing a new football top. He has quite a few football tops but no goalie tops and so he was quite chuffed to get this one today.

 

 

 

Typical of this boy though, it didn't quite stay in its pristine new condition for long! An afternoon playing football soon saw to that.

 

 

Football tops aren't meant to be clean anyway are they, and that's why we have washing machines!

 

And boy did he enjoy his burgers and onions too!

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Make it Monday - Arty Boys

 

 

James (13) and Calum (10) both love to draw so I thought I'd share a couple of drawings they did this past week as my Make it Monday tonight.

 

Firstly, Calum. He is working on this drawing for Alasdair (3). He wants to colour it in using watercolour pencils so he is waiting for me to show him how to use them as he hasn't tried them before.

 

I really like the way he has drawn this. It looks like the pencil drawings you get in the original Winnie the Pooh books.

 

 

 

James is working on this drawing of Link from the Legend of Zelda video games. He has started colouring it in now but since the colouring isn't complete I thought I would share the black and white version.

 

Now when he is working on a drawing he spends a lot of time detailing the eyes and the facial expression, which I think shows in this one.

 

 

 

And one more project of James'. He loves to get homework that involves anything arty. Recently he spent hours working on a poster about the Vikings for history and another one about Japanese food for Home Ecconomics.

This week his group in drama are to make an advert for a pretend soft drink. He volunteered to make the props for his group. This meant we had to buy some cans of fizzy juice, which we almost never do, so that he could repaint them. The other boys were only too happy to help him drink the contents so he could get to work! The background is from the original can, as is the price at the top, but the lettering and logo is his own work.

Don't they look great? I think I'd be tempted to try out a can of Pango Mango!

 

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Things I'm loving....

A short one this week, but exciting nonetheless!

 

I came across this image online this week and thought it would be perfect for hanging on the kitchen wall.

 

You can't beat a nice cup of tea with some homemade cake. Or scones. Or a wee chocolate biscuit. Maybe with some toast first thing in the morning. Well you get the idea.

 

The trouble is I've kind of gone off tea!

 

I just haven't had the desire for it and have completely lost the taste for it.

 

In fact, right now the thought of a cup of strong black tea (never with milk!) actually turns my stomach.

 

I'm not too concerned though.

 

It's simply because.....

 

......we're having another one of these......

 

 

Expected date of arrival?

Sometime in the middle of October :0)

 

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Mid-week entertainment

I was hoping to share James' prize winning animation tonight but its taking forever to upload, so instead it's over to Calum again for a little entertainment.

 

This is his solo from the local Mòd last weekend.

 

His tunes are - Ye banks & braes, Auld Lang Syne and Mairi's Wedding.

 

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Make it Monday - Crochet Shawl

 

I've been working on this shawl intermittently for the last couple of months. Just 10 minutes grabbed here and there, a little longer if possible! For once, it is a crochet project that I am making for myself!

 

 

 

Typically, I forgot to get a photo of it when the lighting was good!

 

 

It's still not finished. I want it to be nice and big and snuggly, so I think I am about 2/3rds of the way there.

 

I love the shell pattern in it.

 

 

 

 

I also love the wool, both it's soft snuggly-ness and its subtle shimmer. This photo is probably the best depiction of the actual colour.

 

The pattern for the shawl is available, for free, here.

 

I have a whole board full of inspiration for future crochet projects once this one is done on my Pinterest page. You can see what they are by clicking on the Pinterest button at the top right of the sidebar. Any suggestions from these as to what I should try next?

 

 

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Music, medals and shinty.

On Saturday it was once again time for our annual local Mòd.

 

The Mòd, for those who may have missed the posts from previous years, is a sort of Gaelic Music & Literary competition. The National Mòd takes place in October each year, in a different town each time. It is obviously a much bigger affair than the little local Mòds, and there are competitons for adults as well as children. Our local Mòd only has children's competitons and has, in my opinion anyway, a much nicer and far less pressurised atmosphere than the National Mòd.

 

Calum (10) was the busiest of our boys on the day. He entered 4 competitons and took a placing in each of them.

 

 

 

He came 2nd in Reading an unseen passage from the Bible (Bible Gaelic is harder to read than your average Gaelic book!); 2nd in conversation (his chosen subject - why I want to be a crofter when I grow up); 2nd in solo accordion; and 1st with the folk group he is in with a few friends from his class.

 

James (13) didn't enter any solos but he did keep up his reputation of doing well in the short film competition, winning first for his animation.

 

David (7) didn't fancy taking part in any solos either but had an absolute ball of a day, literally. We were at the competition from about 9am - 4pm. I had a craft stall which kept me tied up when I wasn't watching Calum but David didn't mind. A few of his friends were there all day too. They too were not taking part but had siblings doing various competitons and so the friends played football outside for the whole time. There was about half an hour when David wasn't playing football and that was when he was taking part in the shinty tournament. And about 10 minutes when he came in and wolfed down some lunch. Other than that, football. All day long. An ideal sort of day for our David!

 

Our team were beaten in the shinty tournament but everyone enjoyed a good game.

I think David had already run off to play football again when I took this photo of the other boys! Thankfully Calum had already taken part in all his solos by this point and had another couple of hours to tidy himself up before his folk group competition.

 

I'll finish off tonight with a lovely little clip of Calum's folk group. The children in it are all only 10 years old and I'm sure you will be impressed at how well they play together as a group.

 

 

 

 

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Little Crofters

Our Calum (10) doesn't have any grand ambitions for when he grows up.

He simply wants to be a crofter with some sheep, preferably living on Lewis, and helping out with the Hebrides Search and Rescue Team. He isn't too sure what he would like his day job to be, but he quite fancies the idea of being a Vet since he loves animals so much.

I can actually picture him fulfilling this dream too, driving about the island in his Land Rover Defender with his trusty collie dog by his side!

So he was really looking forward to our holiday last week when he heard that we would be looking after the animals of the friends whose house we were staying in. His job for 10 days was to look after their sheep and pigs. And the sheep were due to lamb too!

David (7) also proved himself to be a very worthy farmer. He, like me, loved the pigs. When I was born my father worked on a pig farm, not that I remember those days, but I like to think that this is why I have such a fondness for pigs!

Joy of joys for Calum, one of the sheep lambed early!

Sadly, because the lambs came early, and they were triplets too, one was already dead when it was born and another was quite weak. We nursed it through 24 hours (I say 'we' but I really mean my husband, Calum & David!) but it didn't make it past 24 hours.

Still, the 3rd lamb thrived and even experiencing the loss of the lambs hasn't put Calum off his dream of a crofting life!

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