Life at the farm

It was Caden's official birthday party and some friends he made came along. A friend of Jan's made a superb birthday cake in the shape of a dragon, which Caden is really into, so he was very happy. Plus it was very tasty as well. The candles made it look like the dragon was breathing fire! 

They have been bouncing around on the big trampoline because the weather has been so sunny and warm. Both Caden and Miles are much stronger, they have lost a bit of fat and you can see they have more muscles, with all the outdoor playing and exercise through play they are getting. It is so good for them. 

We took a day trip out one day with Marc, Bella and Jan. We took a picnic and ate it in the grounds of a lovely big castle. There was a mini castle too that the kids all played on. 

Back at the farm Caden and Miles love to play with the dogs. Caden has taken the puppy under his wing and is taking responsibility for her by bringing her water each day and food. He always makes sure he says goodbye to her before he goes anywhere. 

I take the kids to the supermarket sometimes. Here is Bella striking a thoughtful pose for the camera. They all have a mini shopping trolley each. Marc was on my shoulders. It keeps him safe. 

One morning I woke up to get the cows in for their morning milking and it was very misty. There was a mist rainbow. I have never seen one before. I managed to get a tiny bit of it in the photo but it is hard to do it justice. There was no colour, just a darker grey arc opposite the rising sun. 

Caden gets on well with Jan, they are here having a chat while the BBQ heats up. 

We took our kids to a local fair too.

Dodgems!!!!!! Raaaa! 

Bella and Miles fell asleep resting their heads on top of each other on the way home after the fair! 

The boy's French continues to come along. Miles now regularly uses French words instead of English and slowly the language is setting in for Caden too. 

Farm shows and birthday parties

We are visiting friends in France at the moment and the kids are having a brilliant time. We have been to visit a local farm animals show. 

The local (Charente) horses are absolutely enormous, we learned that they are used for pulling ploughs. 

Caden took lots of nice photos of the cows. These ones were competing for prizes.

The boys play on a hay bale.

Love this photo!

They slid about on the railing for a bit too, we tried some of the local meats from the butchers and had a look at the stalls and the tractors. 

Another day we went to a birthday party to a girl whose birthday falls on exactly the same day as Caden's. The weather was perfect and there was a big play area with sand and a pulley that Miles and Marc had a lot of fun playing with. 

Birthday food scoffage!

Caden's social skills have come along very well over the last couple of years. He makes friends almost as easily as Miles now. Here he is playing with one of the friends he made at the party. 

Miles and Caden playing in the sand. 

Caden gets a shoulder ride. We also went looking for the noisy frogs this day too by a small pond, the frogs make such a racket. They all leap into the pond when you get close, there are hundreds of them. It is so cool! We also found loads of tadpoles and saw some with little legs sprouting already. Spring is here earlier than England and the warm weather is a big incentive to get out of doors.  

Marc and Miles go fishing!

Caden takes a chocolate face selfie!

The kids have a bit of quiet ipad/movie time.

On Caden's birthday he chose a sponge cake which one of the dogs broke into the kitchen and ate (oops! It was funny though) so I took him back to get another which he was happier with anyway. We got magic candles which they all tried really hard to blow out but they kept relighting. Marc closed the shutters and we all sang happy birthday! Then the kids all gave Caden a present each from them. It was lovely!

Caden was very generous with giving up his presents to the others so Marc and Miles and I made the lego Ninjago set together and Caden took his favourite present (a tray of battered squid rings) and played some new games he had been bought for his birthday on his iPad while eating them. He is fairly obsessed with the various animal simulator games at the moment and I got him about ten different ones at 79p each on his birthday.

The boys continue to learn French, Miles in particular is doing well with picking the language up but both boys are getting the hang of it. They have been doing a lot of playing outdoors, jumping on the trampoline and just playing with stones, sticks, dirt and making food out of leaves, picking flowers for my hair and playing with the dogs. Wholesome happy kid stuff! 

 Educationally, we have recently had some interesting conversations about passports and the EU. We have talked about borders and countries and identity. They have enjoyed flying on the short flight over here and we have talked about clouds and how they form. Caden thinks that they look like he could just jump on them and bounce. We have been reading books in French and listening to French songs so they get used to hearing the language, hopefully this will be good grounding for their French lessons in the future. Caden loves to classify animals and we have looked at bugs together, counted the legs, talked about arachnids and insects. We have lots of good conversations about whatever he is interested in and he is confident with asking, which is great!  They are getting very used to animals and Caden continues to learn loads about Dinosaurs and sea animals. He is really into his dragons at the moment too. We have been listening to the audio books of how to train your dragon, both the boys really love the story. 

A little update

 My phone broke recently with a load of photos on so I had to replace it. I have only got a few photos from the last month to show what we have been up to. It has been eventful to say the least! 

Here are me and the boys beginning an airfix model! We got part way into it and had to abandon the project to save for another time as we moved the boat into the Marina to sell. We decided to get back onto dry land for the time being and we are moving into my Mum's in Yorkshire. 

One morning I made paper aeroplanes for the boys, here is Miles playing with both while Caden fishes

We met up with the boy's Grandad for a walk around Ogden reservoir in Yorkshire. They had a good playtime with him. 

Miles is looking more and more grown up!

We all had a good giggle at some hilarious spaniels that were leaping into a tarn after a ball... 

 At Auntie Fiona's one evening Milesy is giving cousin Ella a biiiiig hug! They love their big family in Yorkshire and spending time with all their cousins.