"What can't be said can be written. Because writing is a silent act, a labor from the head to the hand."

Its been a great week this week for being included in peoples top dad blog lists. Today we had a lovely email from the guys over at Dotcomgiftshop to let us know that over on their blog they had added us the their top ten favourite blogs in the run up to fathers day

http://www.dotcomgiftshop.com/blog/blogs-by-dads

Its so nice to know the blog is being enjoyed as i spend a lot of time writing about what we get up to and I'm so passionate about making my family smile. To all the other dads out there i hope you have a great Fathers day. Thanks Dotcomgiftshop.

"The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one."

 

I had a great email a few nights back that really made my evening. Gifts from the Pirates has been included in the Top 100 Male blogs over at chivalrous.co.uk . Its always nice to get emails like this and know that the blog is getting some unexpected recognition. I love writing and its so easy to stay motivated when you are writing about something you are so passionate about.

Thanks Bob, it's nice to know who our fans are every now and again.

Science at Home - Ribbit Ribbit , it's a tad pole exhibit

Gerald our garden frog seems to have left us a rather unexpected gift.... The other day Pauly noticed some tadpoles in the paddling pool , which is in our neighbours garden whilst feeding the rabbits. 

I mentioned it at work and one if the girls got very excited and asked me to put some in the air tight tub she quickly passed me. So, yesterday before work I filled the tub with about 50 tadpoles only to find the boys at the back door eagerly waiting to see the specimens . 

Opeie assumed they were fish, 

or "fish-eees" as he excitedly shouts- anything in water with a tail , is a fish, according to Opeie .

Seth asked if we could get some tadpoles of our own for the garden , which I agreed to as his excitement and smiles were hard to say no to , and lets be honest tadpoles aren't a big ask ! 

So today, after work , we put on our wellies , and headed out into the garden. 

Opeie however was more interested in the Lolly pop he had, as he'd never had one before .  Seth was excited as he had never seen tadpoles up close before . 

I asked the boys where they thought the tadpoles would feel happiest , and after a long hard thought Seth decided on a round plastic Garden bucket . 

I asked Seth how he thought tadpoles grow into frogs , and he looked closely and realised some had started to sprout legs . We then thought about how best to make it easy for the grown frogs to be able to get out of they plastic pond . 

I explained to Seth about tadpoles needing rain / or stream / spring water as they couldn't survive in tap water . He asked why can't survive in it, why do we drink it ?! Good question my boy , but lets not get political on the blog just yet. We spent the next 10 minutes looking for rain water in the garden and surprisingly found a lot, mostly in the old hanging baskets . 

Finally we rehoused the tadpoles into their new home and they seem happy , especially since Pauly moved them into the shade. 

I will keep you up dated with tadpole news! 

Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Live Competition

 As most of our readers know, we are huge Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom fans. Holly actually graced the top of our Christmas tree this year for the festivities as Opeie wanted her as our fairy.

We are very excited to announce we have teamed up with the Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom Live,  from the makers of Peppa Pig and the producers of the two hugely successful Peppa Pig theatre tours comes the first ever stage version of the BAFTA award-winning TV animation, Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom. And we have tickets to give away!

The Little Kingdom – where everyone is very, very small – is home to Princess Holly and her best friend Ben Elf. Holly is a young fairy princess who is still learning how to do magic properly and sometimes her spells don’t work out quite right. Ben is an Elf. Elves don’t do magic but they are very good at making things. Ben doesn’t have wings like Holly but he flies on the back of Gaston the Ladybird.

As we’ve often mentioned before, we wish we could have a pet Gaston in our house, as he is brilliant! Who is your favorite character ?

In this exciting new musical adventure, Ben and Holly have fun and games helping Gaston clean up his messy cave; they go on a trip to The Big World with tooth-fairy Nanny Plum; and still have time to plan a surprise for King Elf’s birthday party, complete with an unplanned jelly flood.

Packed full of games, songs and laughter, this is an enchanting and magical visit to the Little Kingdom, live on stage for the very first time. This beautiful story of elves, princesses and childhood innocence will delight all the family.

This brand new UK tour is now on the road until July 2013 and we have 1 family ticket up for grabs at the venue of your choice, subject to availability. (A family ticket is for 4 people, minimum 1 adult. The tickets are non-transferable. No cash alternatives, accommodation or travel are provided in this competition.)  For further show information and tour dates: www.benandhollylive.com

To enter please submit your answer to the question below, together with your performance and venue choice. Click here to see dates and venue choices.

 Q: What is Gaston?

Caterpillar
Ladybird
Snail

‘Like’ Our Facebook page , where the winner will be announced.

This exciting competition closes Saturday 23rd February

Good luck to everyone, we would love to see your Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom photos on our new Facebook page, so get sharing!

..... A sneak peek, 

New friends and kind words...

I spend so much time writing about the boys, Mrs M, friends and all the nice people that we come in to contact with. These people are important to me and i love writing about the people outside of our family because the boys can look back at the posts and see who played a part in the fun that we have. Until last week i had never read a post written about us/me by someone else and in the space of a week giftsfromthepirates have appeared on two great blogs.

After meeting Em, Annie and Ezra last week, our new friends from snowingindoors.com, Em wrote a lovely post about us and what we got up to. I can see how Seth felt now when we were mentioned on the Batblog. It's so nice to know that we have friends out there that really enjoy knowing us, ill be honest after some of the things i have been through over the last few years i had given up on the idea of making new great friends but it just goes to show there are lovely people out there.

If you would like to read the post and are interested in the adventures of the snowingindoors family then click below...

Literally a Gift From the Pirates

 I love these photos taken by Em...

Then after writing a response to an article i read that upset me, my friend Alice from bigmilkthing wrote a beautiful post pegging me as some sort of parenting Guru, which was really nice. I'm not of course, but who doesn't like reading nice words about themselves. Its spurred us on to collaborate on a post which has the makings of quite a fun post for both Alice and her boys. So again, I'm really thankful for new friends.

The Link below (proud to be  a 'moron') is to Alice's lovely post and if your interested in reading more about the family behind bigmilkthing then be sure to check them out...

Proud to be a "Moron"

Thank you both for such great post's and i look forward to future adventures with you both xxx