"You’ve got to take life and ride it till the wheels fall off"

Seth has had the BMX buzz back over this easter holiday. After finding a dumped bike at the start of the holiday and spending an afternoon taking it apart and cleaning up the usable parts, I sold some unwanted things to fund new parts and the excitement of the new project was all the motivation Seth needed to continue our original project that we started last year. Seth has been doing odd jobs around the house and even wrote me a blog post a couple of weeks ago to make some extra cash for his creative ventures. This week all the new red parts came for the dumped BMX and Seth ordered a seat, brakes and calipers for his own bike that he has been building himself.

Having these projects on the go has been great and we've sat in the garden chatting and having fun while he learns his way around his new bike.

On Friday when he got home his new seat was waiting for him and he couldn't wait to get it on so that he could give his new wheels a test ride. The bike looks so nice but what really did it for me was the huge proud smile on his face knowing that he has built that bike himself. All we need now are the brakes which should be here very soon, then he's good to go.

Hi! its Seth, This bike has turned out great, I feel so proud of myself. I am looking forward to a cycle with Pauly. This was really fun!!!!!

As for our found BMX... Well, Seth put that together too and it looks amazing. We had a slight issue with the chain which neither of us could work out, but after a good night sleep we had another look in the morning and worked it out together, real team work. The boys informed me that day that the new 'Spider-man bike' as we have named it is for me as the boys want me to go on some Goonies style adventures with them. Don't mind if I do!

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love being a dad!!!

A bit of a belated short holiday post but we hope you all had a great Easter. Opeie spotted this Lindt bunny while we were out so i thought i would put this picture up for Nanny Roo.

Enjoy your chocolate eggs (if you haven't polished them off already).

All celebrate the zombie resurrection..... with excessive amounts of chocolate!!

It seems the older I get the more cynical I get with it. I'm pretty laid back most of the time but certain times during the year this side of me really comes out and this weekend is one of them. I guess you could say I'm a bit of an Easter Scrooge, I love the long weekend, the chance to catch up with friends and relax but as I checked my Facebook account yesterday i was greeted with an array of images of children with excessive amounts of chocolate. The yearly Facebook Easter competition had begun and it was absolutely ridiculous. 'Look how many Easter eggs my child has got' each status was screaming out. Surprisingly I didn't check it again yesterday as the first viewing had enraged me. Probably a little over the top I know but I just think that much chocolate despite being unhealthy is also unnecessary. And I just couldn't let it go, I could have easily gone on a commenting rampage but it was probably a good job I didn't.

Despite my eggstremely over the top Easter rage (haha), We did celebrate zombie resurrection Sunday today instead but without making a huge deal about chocolate and junk. Seth has been going on about a Lego kit for quite sometime, no longer available to buy in the shops so I searched eBay for it in the hope I could find it at a reasonable price. I did track it down for roughly the price it was sold for minus the box and instructions and when it arrived I was debating how to wrap it up for the boys.

We have an abundance of empty plastic eggs from Opeies 'surprise eggs' obsession in the house so as there was no box for the kit I split the Lego pieces into some of the eggs so that we could have a Lego themed egg hunt. It was a bit depressing to see £40 of Lego kit distributed in to 9  half filled small plastic eggs but I knew the boys would love the sentiment and of course the treats inside.

And to go with each egg a rhyming clue leading to the next. Seth being Seth guessed what kit it was by egg 3 but that just made the hunt more exciting because i had left the minifigures until last and he knew exactly who it was he was looking for.

At the end of the hunt there was another surprise, while many children were stuffing their faces yesterday me and Opeie were busy building our next large Lego build as part of the Easter fun. I didn't manage to complete it due to Opeie coming down with chickenpox and needing cuddles so i will write a post about it when it is complete but there maybe a slight clue in the picture below. The Lego Easter egg hunt spurred on a morning of Lego building which was great as Mrs M and Opeie were feeling a little fragile. Not the greatest of Easter weekends over all but as always i surrounded myself with some of the people i care about the most. 

Happy Easter everyone.

 

A little bit of craft to break up the day...

Today while we were out getting our food shopping for the week we popped in to a couple of shops to get some Easter craft bits for Seth's school. We picked up some plaster of Paris chicks and bunnies for Opeie to paint which we got straight to when we got home. It meant that i could keep Opeie occupied while Mrs M made us a tasty lunch.

I can never work out whether its the actual painting that Opeie loves or just making a mess, he had used up most of the paint painting the plate before it hit the Easter decorations, he had a lovely smile on his face though so he was having fun.

I probably shouldn't find it funny but I'm always entertained when Opeie gets paint on him or food down himself, he has a mini panic attack and needs it off him straight away. So it was most important that i had wet wipes at the ready.

We finished the painting and Opeie had a well deserved snack break before moving on to his Batman sticker book.

Opeie loves stickers (or stickies). They usually end up being stuck everywhere but he will happy work a room sharing out his stickers making sure that everyone is well covered, he's generous like that. No to think of a craft activity for tomorrow...

For more craft activities check out our other blog giftsfromthepiratescreate.com

"To create something you must be something."

Today is the first day of Seth's half term and were all so happy to have him at home during the daytime, Opeie especially. It was a morning of craft today and we all had a great time. With Easter coming up our craft plans have all been Easter themed. Were concentrating on getting our new craft blog up and running (giftsfromthepiratescreate.com) at the moment so the completed items that we make will be on there. There's been lots of painting, cutting, sticking and drawing happening today, Seth loves craft and can happily sit for hours creating, Opeie on the other hand has the attention span of a rock but he's happy just playing while were crafting.

After lunch we decided to go and see nanny and grandad as Opeie has been saying 'grandad' over and over again this week. Seth and Opeie really enjoy going to visit them and I'm not surprised, their lovely people and always make such a fuss of the boys. We did some building with our new toys (I'll write about those on the next post), We played hide and seek, watched some family movies of Mrs M when she was a little girl (very cute) and we got to hear grandad play the guitar (while Opeie and Seth helped with the strumming).

...Oh and Seth got to dress up as a bee keeper in Nanny's fancy hat, so all in all an excellent first day to the holiday. Were going to pack as much as we can in to this holiday so be sure to keep checking in on us and be sure to check out the new blog to find out what we've been making for Easter, they will be up soon.