Greg was not looking well enough to go to school this morning, so he stayed at home. He's got a nasty cold and cough, although miraculously his spirits lifted after a very short while at home. Curiously after a few hours our other loyal foot soldier had reported in sick from school!
Lewis is desperately fond of Lego, and he's forever modifying his collection of vehicles. If you look out on his blog you might find this turned into a crane lorry or a pipe laying digger or.....
Lunchtime today with Miranda from a sequence that comprised me getting in close, followed by her trying to touch my lens! I was looking at the 'thumbs' and thinking what a descriptive sequence they were - sometime there's one that stands out, and other times it's just the moment that is being described.
The stress lines are showing in this picture, poor little Miranda! There was a great shot a frame before this but sadly the focus was just off and a bit distracting - she had an incredibly pained expression. When you see the set of teeth that she has, you wonder just how she manages to eat anything. But under normal circumstances those six little teeth all at the front can devour food as quickly as Gregory
This morning as the sun came up we were talking about a cat called Mrs Chippy that sailed down to the Antarctic on Endeavour, Shackleton's thwarted mission to the South Pole.
The boys love playing games after tea, and Lewis loves winning more than playing! Top trumps are a particular favourite, and tonight we played the Outer Space version, which can prove mentally demanding - do you know your Quasars from your Black Holes?
Gregory in his chainmail jumper with quizzical look on his face! He was in a very funny mood tonight, as though he'd eaten some strange magic indgredient that had affected him.
It's difficult to capture Miranda's little bits now as she moves so fast, and as is about as co-operative as a small puppy. So here's an arty detail whilst I have a chance. Those toes will never be as small again...
It's not every day I open my email and find such a lovely picture waiting for me, but tonight this arrived from my sister Juliet. I have precious few pictures with myself in, and this one is a gem, so thank you Toots! Me and Mrs Mippy, plus assorted members of my clan
Lewis has been wearing his toolbelt today, as we've been repairing fences after the winds of the last few days. It's great when you get some help with all the odd jobs, but it'll be even better when I can get the two of them to go out and do them without my involvement! Oh happy days...
It has been very stormy here today, with very high winds and heavy rain passing over. It was quite scary when we woke at dawn with howling winds banging the trees into the weatherboarding on the house - and now we've got a few fence panels to repair into the bargain....
It's Lewis' turn on the blog tonight, as he's been a very good boy! We needed to get a new homework regime in place and things happened gracefully tonight - despite Miranda having fairly acute teething anxiety!
She's supposed to be eating her cake, but has taken to feeding the organ grinder instead, which naturally she thinks is very funny!
One of those "butter wouldn't melt......" moments as little Miranda starts to get excited about the prospect of a little playtime after lunch. She's getting quite good with her buggy now, we managed about 10 complete circuits of the living room before she fell down today! She'll be out on the street soon....!
The middle of January, and who'd have thought we would have weather like this? It was a glorious morning so we walked from Beaulieu Road Station over to Denny Wood, played on "the Dragon" for a while and then headed back to the Beaulieu Road Inn for lunch. Simple peasant fare washed down with beer, who could ask for more...
This shot was taken by Gregory at teatime, and shows the scribe in unusually humorous mood! What's not showing in the frame of course the Rum Punch, the elixir of life (depleted)
Finger food in our kitchen tonight, with Miranda wearing an off the shoulder Broccoli number with matching Bib! If you're wondering how her hair has so much body, now you'll know the answer...
It's considerably easier to show things being done, than not being done! Here's Mrs Mippy trying to walk away from the kitchen sink duties, and then remembering that she can't quite make it to the other side of the room.....without crawling!
We are very close to those first few steps, but despite lots of effort and encouragement from the boys, she's quite determined to keep us guessing. Lewis reckoned he saw a wobbled balance and step, and we have lots of scooting around perimeters, but as yet nothing that needs outdoor shoes.
A slightly unusual take on Gregory at Calshot with those lovely beach huts behind...! Half the fun of photography takes place in the darkroom, or the Lightroom as it's now called!
Greg is making very good progress with his reading and writing at the moment. Fortunately coinciding with Mrs Mippy being a little more independent, as it's surprising how much time it takes to sit down next to him and get those words and letters formed in an orderly manner! Not only is he enjoying writing but he's doing alright with his Flash cards and reading from some of Miranda's books too. Now we have to fed the fire!
This photomontage of Gregory reflects the madcap monkey that he is, part dreamer and part clown. His expressions range the full gamut of human emotion, and I don't think I have ever felt the need to make an image that wasn't already there for him. However this one, created in a moment of idleness (before yesterday's picture) is a winner.
Lewis and I have been having a bit of bit fun with Photoshop, and this is one of our portraits. Don't worry there wasn't a tornado over the Solent!
Continuing the "names" theme a while, this picture was created via the images online at Flickr http://flickr.com/photos/jonbrown/ and courtesy of http://metaatem.net/words
This one from our recent visit to the Science Museum as I've been stuck in my office all day long, trying to get back into work mode... I love the multi layering in this picture, the combination of mysteriousness and those mice and the greeny tint to the picture gives it a spooky edge!
Lewis "I Maxwell" Brown on the left taken at the Science Museum a few days ago, contrasted with Gregory "Sea More" Brown at the Aquarium in Bournemouth over Chrsitmas.
First shot of the year, and start as we mean to go on..... It's Calshot and we're on the beach again in the glorious sunshine. We had a nice walk all the way along the beach and up to the Power Station, where it was blissfully quiet. The boys threw stones to make patterns in the water and even tried to make a pair of water skies!
