“If there's a better definition of love than mutual benevolent insanity, I haven't heard it.”

We all have a bad day every now and again, one of those days where you feel like you could either scream or cry at any point and that was Opeie yesterday. He's an over thinker like me and I could tell pretty much as soon as he'd woken up that he was processing some heavy thoughts. It's been a really confusing couple of years for him and Ive done my best to try and help him navigate through it all, sometimes though talking about it just doesn't work and instead you need to do something a little bit crazy to take you mind off of all the head traffic.

So as the weather was a bit rubbish on and off yesterday and Opeie was clearly in need of lots of cuddles, we decided to have a movie day. It would have been far too easy to throw a load of blankets on the sofa though and where's the fun in that? Like I said we needed something to take his mind off of everything so after a little chat and a few giggles we decided it was a good idea to take the trampoline down in the garden and put it in his bedroom.

I love a bit of spontaneity, and little crazy activities like this are really good for the soul. As soon as the trampoline was up and was covered in blankets, Opeie had an hour playing with his friends online and then we gathered snacks and chilled out watching movies. In no time at all he was back to his happy self and the rest of the day was all smiles. Sometimes it really pays to be a little bit creative with your time and showing a little bit of genuine effort goes a long way with kids.

"Whatever good things we build end up building us."

I loved growing up in the 80's/90's. Childrens TV and Movies these days don't seem to have the magic that they had back when I was young and impressionable. I would get lost in Saturday morning TV, and films like The Goonies and Back to the future must have seemed to my parents like they were being played on a loop. One thing I would have loved from these days back then though are the LEGO movies. The movies are a constant flow of building inspiration and some of our custom builds have come from watching these amazing movies.

The LEGO movie opened up all sorts of building fun for us, with its series of fun mini figures and its creative kits to coincide. As soon as it came out on DVD it was nearly always on in the background while we sat building together. The LEGO Batman Movie came out and instantly became the top building inspiration movie (in fact we watched it this evening as we built). The Batman Deathstar came off of the back of this and ended up being such a great build. 

And now we are weeks away from the release of the LEGO Ninjago movie, With some interesting kits and an amazing Minifigure series to get us all inspired again. With the release of all these fun movies, this is such an exciting time for LEGO and I'm excited about what we could possibly end up building together after the boys have seen the movie.

While we wait for the upcoming release though we have been feeling up bags collecting the Minifigure series and building a couple of the kits. There's nothing quite like a great selection of products to get you revved up for a movie release and the Manta Ray Bomber (70609) and Master Falls (70608) have done just that as the boys are desperate to know how they fit in to the movie.

With a huge selection of new parts from both the series and the minifigure range, LEGO have again added to our ever growing brick empire at home and we couldn't be happier about it.

The boys have got their eye on the LEGO City 70620 kit, which as awesome looking as it is, is sadly another of those LEGO kits which is a little out of our price range. Thanks to the online instructions though I think we may build our our own but in a completely different style... watch this space.

The LEGO Ninjago Movie hits the cinemas on October 13th

"Brass shines as fair to the ignorant as gold to the goldsmiths."

A month ago we were lucky enough to be invited to an event at the Birmingham symphony hall. It turned out to be probably the greatest evening of 2016 so far and had a huge impact on both myself, and the boys. We're all huge fans of music in various ways and we've wanted to get the boys interested in an instrument for quite some time. 

When we were given the chance to work with PBone last year I jumped at the chance as it was something so different to anything else we had written about before. The boys loved it from the moment it hit their lips and they had been sporadically watching YouTube videos trying to play those notes better. The show at the symphony hall ignited something in Seth and I think that hearing the songs from James Bond and taking in the awesomeness of the city of Birmingham Symphony orchestra was really inspiring for him. As we walked down the stairs at the symphony hall about to leave (and in an excited voice) he asked if he could please have trombone lessons.

We arranged his first lesson that following week, which he loved and this week sees the 5th lesson for him. I always wanted to learn an instrument when I was younger but was never given the chance so being able to do this for the boys is really rewarding. 

While at the show at the symphony hall we got to try the new pBuzz which had just been released. The pBuzz is a really interesting instrument because it is a completely new instrument. As expected I was useless and couldn't get a peep out of it, but the boys, as always, put me to shame and blew a loud long note.  The pBuzz has been created to introduce young children to the world of brass instruments. With its light and easy to hold shape it is the perfect starter instrument for children as young as 3 or 4 . Seth's new trombone lessons have got Opeie wanting to be even more involved in what's going on so he's been playing the pBuzz hoping to keep up with his big brother.

  The pBuzz website offers a free downloadable PDF of starter songs for new players and the lettered/numbered notes along the slide can easily have you playing straight away. With the introduction of instruments into the home, I'm really excited about what's going to come next for our little musicians and I hoping that this new exciting passion of Seth's is something that stays with him.

"We don't create a fantasy world to escape reality. We create it to be able to stay."

Having two boys is great, especially two adventurous boys. Ever since Seth was a little boy he has wanted to recreate all the stories I have told him about my own childhood years. He cant get enough of my past adventures, favourite toys and movies and music I loved while growing up. I do everything I can to fully embrace their ideas and being a big kid at heart myself I love that feeling like I am reliving my adolescent years. Building a den was always top of my list when i was at home playing alone. I didn't have the greatest home life at times with parents that were at each other throats a lot and I remember that throwing a sheet over two chairs or hanging blankets off my top bunk to build a cocoon gave me a chance to disconnect from what was going on around me.

'The base' is something I have integrated into our play times on many occasion but this time around these makeshift hideaways have a much more positive impact on the boys development. There is no need to hide away from anything upsetting and they are something we can enjoy together. Of course they are there for the boys to play pirates or soldiers, pretend they are cowboys camping out with their horses but they are also there for us all to cosy up, read, books and catch up on our favourite shows on Netflix. 

When it comes to the way we entertain the boys, many of our experiences of our own upbringing is recycled and I believe its a lovely thing to pass on as it shows a real connection. The boys had been introduced to Dr Seuss early on as his stories were my favourite growing up and Mrs M has installed her love of Dick Bruna into them too with her huge collection of Miffy books. Thanks to Netflix there is an ever growing catalogue of cult shows that I remember rushing home from school for. Although its not in their catalogue at the moment, I got to re-watch the X-Men animated series which was one of my favourite shows growing up. Danger mouse has now been added which the boys are getting into over dinner (I'm hoping Count Duckula will also appear at some point too). This evening I noticed Pete's Dragon is also there too (I loved that film as a boy), So I'll be looking forward to showing them that too.

 The effort we put in as parents and the way we communicate with these little versions of ourselves is so important. The experiences we have gone through, our hobbies and interests and the things that made us happy growing up can build some pretty strong foundations for an amazing parent/child relationship. 

Build a base, go on an adventure, share the TV shows you loved as a child because as a parent whatever effort and love you put in you will get back tenfold.