"It's like my heart is a tooth, and it's got a cavity that can only be filled with children."

I bet the people if Gotham feel very protected knowing that the dark knight is watching everything they do. Here in Shropshire we can do one better, our batmen come in two's. I for one feel extremely relaxed knowing they are around even if they are more like the chuckle brothers in costume. Yesterday apart from Opeie changing for a brief craft session the boys stayed in costume all day and were running about solving crimes that I had made up.

After a couple of hours they both started to get a bit tired so we sat down at the table for a bit of craft. The day before while Mrs M was at the gym we went for a walk through the park near by looking for pine cones, me and Opeie had found some last week and bless Seth he wanted to be a part of it. I filled my pockets and as we ventured back to the car and Mrs M, we talked about how we were going to paint the pine cones to look like minions (the boys love despicable me).

I set the paint up along with googly eyes, card and extras and got to it. Firstly if you are going to have a go at this wash the pine cones and leave them to dry. We didn't and as soon as we started poking it with a paint brush all manner of angry bugs came running out. The minion idea turned out to be a great idea as we had left the lids off our paint in the garden during a previous craft activity but had huge bottles of the primary colours.

Okay so it wasn't one of our greatest craft ideas but it kept the boys entertained while the weather was looking pretty bleak outside. We've still got plenty of pine cones left so we will have to think of something else interesting to do with them. The afternoon flew by and before we knew it it was time to pick the boss of the house up from work so the dynamic duo jumped back in to costume, climbed into the Batmobile and the adventure continued!!!

 (Blurry i know but its virtually imposible to take a none blurry picture of two very excited crimefighters )

"Whatever is fair in love and war is also fair in crimefighting."

I wrote a post in November about the different kinds of building materials me and the boys use in the house, when i wrote the post i was really excited about writing this one but i knew it wouldn't be written until after Christmas. Back when i wrote the last post we had found some building blocks by Fisher Price that i hadn't seen before called Trio and the boys really loved them, especially Seth as the blocks are bigger than Lego and i think he finds them easier to play with.

As there wasn't much to play with in the box i decided to look on eBay to see if anyone was selling a bulk load of them but there wasn't. On the off chance i decided to look internationally and when i did i got really excited by what i found. First off I'd like to say that Fisher Price are amazing. Mrs M collects vintage Fisher Price toys and Ive been so impressed by the Batman Imaginext range which Seth has loved and equally impressed by the Batman Little People and Wheelies range which Opeie loves playing with. I did think there was anything else out there comic themed but as i found out during that eBay search there was a Batman Trio range that hasn't been released in this country.

We must have been really good last year as on opening our Christmas presents we realised that Santa must have stopped off in America to get some of the boys presents. Santa's the best (ill definitely be leaving him an extra mince pie next year). There were quite a few sets within the pile of gifts and the boys couldn't wait to get in to them. The Batcave is a great set and is pretty big too, what i and the boys loved most about it was how easy to put together it was, the instructions are really clear and because the pieces are bigger it takes no time at all to erect.

You cant have the Batcave, Batman and Robin without his evil counterpart. Good old Saint Nick kindly sent us the Joker Laugh Factory playset too which is colourful and lots of fun. This was the set that Seth had asked for for Christmas.

There are a fair few Sets in this range, one of the things i liked most was that 'The flash' got his own set with a vehicle, he's not one of my favourite comic heroes but i do still enjoy watching the John Wesley Shipp series and the boys love it too. I don't remember him ever driving around in a meaty vehicle like this though, i bet the insurance on it is a nightmare.

The most confusing of the kits was the Superman kit. The man of steel had Superhuman strength, Speed, Stamina, Invulnerability, freezing breath, super hearing, multiple extrasensory and visual powers, intelligence and regeneration but above all he could fly so I'm not sure what use he would have for an air craft??? any way its still a great little toy.

We did need another villain or it was going to be a very unfair battle, not that i want to give the baddies the upper hand but i do believe in a fair fight. The penguin and his umbrella rocket launcher was a great addition to our play.

When were playing with the Lego batman figures and the Batman themed things that we have built Seth loves a good Jokerbot, A battle with the Joker just wouldn't be the same without one so when Seth opened one of his presents to find a Trio Jokerbot he was a very happy little boy.

As i said at the start of the post im really impressed with Fisher Price, when your a dad that's in to comics and all things Super it can be difficult finding appropriate toys for your young children but Fisher Price has definitely helped with the introduction of new characters during our play time and overall i know it's safe. The only real downside is that many of the toys are not released in this country and seem to be exclusive for the US market. Luckily Santa gets to fly all over so it handy having a visit from that jolly chap once a year. Maybe this year Seth might get some of his Pirate Gifts from over the pond as they do work very closely with Mr Claus.

"The simple act of caring is heroic."

Seth is such a great brother, he really loves Opeie and they have a great relationship which obviously we love. Today Seth and Opeie were playing dress up and Opeie was wearing Seth's Batman mask/cape. It didn't fit him great and although he really wanted to wear it so he could be like his big brother, it was clearly uncomfortable on him. Mrs M looked online with Seth and they found a Batman mask and Batarang set which Seth loved and asked if he could use his Christmas money to buy it, then Seth being the very thoughtful boy that he is asked if he had enough to buy Opeie one too, hes so caring. Anyway Seth has just told me he's got something to say so I'll leave you with him...

"i was playing dress up with opeie and he was wearing my Batman cape, i had some pocket money left and i asked mommy if i could have a Batman mask that we had seen on the computer. there was 2 left at the shop so mommy reserved them. I really wanted to buy one for Opeie too so that we had matching ones. Pauly said i had enough money to buy both so me and Pauly went to the shop to buy them. I gave the money to the man in the shop and then we had to wait for our number to be called so i looked on the screen. Then i gave the other man the reciept and he gave me the two Batman masks.

After we went to Hobby Craft for a look and i brought mommy a candy cane and a house Christmas decoration because mommy loves Christmas decorations and she hasn't brought many this year. Mommy loved them. When we got home we played nearly all day in our dress up stuff, i played with my utility belt that Chris and Michelle brought me for my birthday. Pauly made a funny Bane mask using one of Opeie's bowls and some straws."

The boys as always had a fun afternoon running about throwing Batarangs around. I'm so proud of the way Seth is with Opeie, he really does love him so much and he is so caring and thoughtful. I never would have offered to spend my pocket money on my sisters when i was younger and that's not because I'm selfish we just obviously didn't have that sort of relationship. I really hope Opeie is the same when he gets a little older, the pair of them are going to be so adorable

'Gifts... but not from the pirates'

After receiving his birthday presents from Chris and Michelle early last weekend Seth decided that he wanted to write a post about them. I did write this on my phone during the week but have had so much going on that i haven't got round to writing it up until now. So here's the little fella...

"On saturday we was going to Blists hill with Chris and Michelle. When they got here i opened some of my birthday presents when it wasn't my birthday yet. Chris said i could open them early and i checked with Mommy, Pauly and Opeie to see if it was Ok. They said yes and i felt very excited.

There were two presents, I opened the first one and it was a book about Lego and how to build things. I shouted Pauly to tell him because we had been in Smyths and had been talking about. Were going to build some of the things out of it. I want to try and build some of the pirate things. I opened the second present and I LOVED IT! I wanted to play with it straight away but we had to go out, oh yeah it was a Batman utility belt i forgot to say.

When we got back from Blists Hill we got it straight out. It is so cool and i like it a lot. There's a mini case and you can put mini Batarangs in it. There is a torch and it shines a Bat symbol, luckily Michelle brought batteries so i could play with it straight away. It's got a grapple hook shooter, me and Chris were trying to shoot it into Pauly's apple pie and custard. Im really happy that Chris and Michelle are my friends and i love my presents. Thank you Chris and Michelle."

Well as you can probably tell weve had a pretty excited young super hero on our hands who loves strutting around with his gadgets close to hand. Thanks Chris and Michelle i think you may be invited into the league of heroes very soon.

"Allow me to break the ice. My name is Freeze. Learn it well. For it's the chilling sound of your doom."

It's new toy day at home, actually im saying that like its a rare occurrence. It seems that Star Wars has become a thing of the past,well at least until the start of the new school year. Its amazing how not having William about 5 days a week filling his head with nonsense about the force has changed Seth's perception of what it is he likes. (I'm now kind of hoping that this new found shunning of Skywalker and his friends isn't going to last as i have a big box of figures collected for Christmas). Maybe he just needs to be subjected to William in small doses. 

Its all about Batman at the moment so ive been taking full advantage of the Imaginext 3 for 2 offer at our local Toys R Us. The boys had had some pocket money so we took them to blow it all on the good stuff,Toys. Opeie fell asleep on the way so i sat with him in the car while Seth and Mrs M went and had a mooch. They came back to the car and Mrs M said they had picked some and put them behind the till.Oops!

Clever me hadn't told Mrs M that i had already brought a few pieces for Christmas and Seth had picked those exact ones, so there was an awkward moment for a second when i was the villain saying no I'm sorry you cant have those. Ill explain at Christmas that the reason why was because Santa had phoned us to say he had got them already for them.

I managed to talk him into picking some others that were equally as fun and to be fair Seth isn't spoilt ,even though i said no he is still appreciative of everything he gets. Because we have brought him up knowing how lucky he is that he has such nice things and parents that devote most of their time to him and his brother.

Anyway enough of my babbling, Seth wants to write about his toys today so ill leave you in his capable hands.

"On Sunday me and Opeie had been good boys so we checked our money boxes to see if we had enough money for some toys, we didn't but mommy and Pauly said they would put some more pounds in. we went to Toys R Us and i went in with mommy, mommy said we could have 2 big trucks a joker truck and a two face truck and a Batplane. we put them by the till and then Pauly came in and said i couldn't have 2 big trucks but i didn't feel sad or anything. then we went to look at the batman things together and we got the Mr freeze set and the Joker bin lorry and i was allowed to keep the plane. i was really happy with what me and Opeie got."

"My Mr freeze figure came with a gun its for freezing batman and robin or any policemen that come to get Mr freeze. he came with an ice lair that has a computer, he uses it so he knows when batman and robin and the police come to get him and also for his evil plans. there's also a frozen shaped thing that the goodies can go in and it looks like they are frozen. The Mr freeze character is my favourite part because i wanted the figure for Opeie's jail cell because there is a Mr freeze on one of the doors and all of the jail doors have the pictures of the villains on."

"The jokers bin lorry is cool and the bit with the hook goes down when you put the jokers feet in the twisty bit. i think its funny because its got no bin, i like to put all the batman figures on the back and sometimes Opeie's little cars, their also batman. sometimes i put jokers hammer car on there, i think it looks like a shoe. the thing i like most about it is i can put all the batmen on it and robin can drive it. They drive it because the baddies always take over the Batcave. Bane is the leader of the baddies and he always tells the joker and two face to beat up batman. Id really like the two face big truck so I'm going to be really good and hope i will get it for my birthday its on November the 1st."

"The plane has got a finger push up bit that shoots out disc's from the front and sometimes i like to put some other batman figures holding on to the blue bits so they can stand on the wings. It came with a different batman figure which means i have got 5 different batman's. i have lost a blue one, i think he has been caught and thrown in a crazy hospital because someone saw him walking around talking crazy that he's the real batman. The Batplane goes on the side of the Batcave, it has a little stubby bit that fits in the side. Later on were going to have a Batman battle, the baddies are going to take over the Batcave, Joker says... actually we will leave that for another blog post"

(seth wanted desperately to use an ellipses (...) as he has been learning about them at school)

Another great piece by Seth if i do say so myself. Well the figures are being set up as i type so i should end it at that and go and decide whether i am one of the good guys today or a trouble making baddie but we all know im going to be a baddie, thats what im here for mwahahahahaha...

"Still they cry out for him... for their hero and savior... but he is broken... and Gotham is mine!"

This week i helped my Dad move house which was a lot less stressful than i remember house moving to be. As i was leaving he gave me some birthday money for Opeie as i hadn't actually seen my dad for a few month's and we had been away in Florida on his birthday. My grandad added to the birthday kitty too which was clearly going to be burning a hole on my pocket until i ventured into Toys R Us to spend it.

Opeie has started playing with Seth's imaginext Batcave quite a lot, and when we went into Toys R Us they had a 3 for 2 offer on the Imaginext so i thought it would be rude not to take advantage.

Mrs M wasn't to happy about the fact that you press a button, lights flash on Bane and his skeleton appears on his torso making him look like he is being electrocuted (i guess it would be a bit much for a 17month old if he actually understood). But apart from that its a pretty cool little playset for 3-8 year old's apparently (or 32 year old geeks). Me and Opeie have had lots of fun with it especially because we already had the other baddies to go in the cells.

Opeie loves fiddling about with things and working out what the toys do etc, he looks so serious sometimes when he's concentrating.  The first thing he did this morning when i brought him in the lounge to let Mrs M sleep was go straight to the batman figures so i guess once i have finished writing this i will be joining him. 

Looks like i may end up unboxing one of the other things i bought yesterday to play with today even though i should probably start saving things for Christmas as it will sneak up on me as it does every year.

Opeie has just crawled over to me and has got really excited seeing a picture of himself on the computer, He loves looking at my blog page but he is going to love it a lot more when he gets older and him and Seth can read it together. I feel so lucky to have such an amazing family and would never take any of them for granted. Everything has fallen into place and i am exactly where i want to be, So i will be ending this a very happy boy.