Last week, Ben got his 3rd bronze merit award which means he is on his way through the merit system for the 3rd time now! This shows how well he is doing at school! 😉 Unfortunately, it was only me that went to see him get his award due to Aaron and Coby being ill at the time, so Kelly had to stay home with them. They are all better now though! Well done Ben! x
Ben’s 3rd Bronze Merit Award
A couple of weeks ago, Ben finally noticed that he has a couple of wobbly teeth! They are the two at the front at the bottom.  One is more wobbly than the other though!  During the day he noticed this, he ate 3 apples to try and get to the tooth out! hahaha It didn’t work though, and we are still waiting for one to come out! He has already prepared how he is going to sleep that night, just in case the tooth fairy comes and takes the tooth away! 😉
Ben had a great Christmas this year and had lots of wonderful presents from family and Father Christmas.
The day started at about 7:20 when Ben and the other two finally woke up and saw their stockings full out in the hallway. They all then dragged them into our bedroom as usual and jumped up on the bed and started digging in. Ben was very excited as usual! Â He had lots of nice little presents in his stocking and started chomping on some chocolate as soon as he found some! Tut! Ben was the first to finish opening his so he had to wait for everyone else to finish so he was looking through his presents which included various books, clothes and little toys.
Once everyone had finished opening their stocking presents, we all went downstairs and Ben was amazed to see so many presents under the tree! Â Like the other two, he was ready to dive straight in, but we said to hang on whilst we got some drinks and some proper breakfast (Coby was hungry!). Then we cracked on with the presents and opened those from Father Christmas first. Ben’s main present from him was a remote controlled Bowser Mario Kart Racer, which was massive! He was very excited with this and wanted to get it out of the box immediately, but we said to hang on till later first as there were many more to open! Â So we set about opening the rest, which we managed to finish before Christmas Dinner was ready. Some of the other presents Ben had were a small children’s guitar, a Minions hat, lots of Lego, clothes, books, a Fart machine (which he found highly amusing!), a wooden money box (made by Great Uncle Neil), Og On The Bog game, jigsaws and much more. He was very happy with everything he had.
He ate all his Christmas Dinner (and a bit more!) and then we sat back down to relax for the afternoon (after opening Coby’s remaining presents) and to look through what presents we had been given. Before tea time, we went online to talk to Grandma and Nan Nan, and for the boys to show them what they had been given. Â They had their tea and then went to bed as they were completely tired out after a very busy but very exciting day! At least this year no-one was ill!
So Ben had a lovely day and had some great presents, but we can’t believe it is his 8th Christmas already!
Here are some pics of Ben on Christmas Day –
The weekend before Christmas, we went to stay at Butlins for their final Christmas weekend extravaganza. We all had a great time, although the weather wasn’t great as usual, and this time, we stayed in a caravan instead of an apartment. This made it even more exciting for everyone!
Before we even got there though, we had an interesting trip in the car, as a pheasant decided to run out in front of the car and get hit! It was only a small thing but it made a massive thud and actually took the tow bar cover off the front side of the car! So we have to get another one of those now. As for the pheasant, we couldn’t see it when we looked behind us but I don’t think it would have made it.
Anyway, when we got to Butlins we had a great time. The caravan was really nice and had plenty of room. Ben and Aaron had their own room, Coby had another and myself and Kelly had the other. The caravan even had two bathrooms and an area outside to sit down and relax (although we obviously couldn’t do this as it was wet, windy, cold and the middle of December!). In the Summer months, I could imagine it being very nice there though!
We saw lots of shows over the weekend, including a Pantomime called ‘Aladdin Rocks’, Christmas Is Magic show, Scooby Doo, a band called Boomin who were amazing, The Skyline Gang (on several occasions!), the Skyline Snowstorm, SuperSlam Wrestling where the main even was a ladder match for the Butlins Championship, Queen Rocks and A Tribute to One Direction. I think that was about it! Kelly, Ben and Aaron also had a go at Ice Skating but were very disappointed as it wasn’t really ice, but slippy plastic which wasn’t even very slippy! They had a bit of fun though! We also went to see Father Christmas who did a little show in a blow up bauble outside in the Fairground and the boys got to meet him and have their photo taken with him (see below). They were very happy and Coby seemed to love it! They all got a little box of chocolate Reindeers from him, so they started scoffing those as soon as we had left the bauble. We also had good fun in Bob The Builders playground where the boys went on numerous rides, in the arcade and outside in the newly refurbished Fairground.  On the Saturday morning, we went Swimming which was great. As Ben can now mostly swim, he was able to go around the river section without me holding on to him and I think he really enjoyed being independent like this. Aaron is also learning to swim but hasn’t got the hang of it yet, so Kelly and I took him around with us. He was a bit wary of the guns shooting water at you but enjoyed it as well. Coby preferred to play in the little toddler pool that had a slide in! 😉 We also went to a craft session where we made Christmas Lanterns with the boys. This was a nightmare for myself and Kelly as we practically had to make them for Ben and Aaron whilst Coby was being very naughty and running around the room! In fact, Coby was quite naughty for the entire weekend really! Each show we went to, he wouldn’t sit still and watch, he was running around and running off, so Kelly and I were constantly chasing after him, so we couldn’t really relax. He was so bad during the Scooby Doo show that Kelly missed it all! Hopefully next time we go, he will be that little bit older and will just sit and watch the shows so we can all enjoy them properly!
Food-wise, Kelly had made pasties to bring with us and we also brought some pizzas as the caravan had a fully equipped kitchen. Other than that, we went to the pub for lunch on the Saturday and the new American Diner on Sunday where we had a massive burger which was very nice! In the Diner, the waiters and waitresses occasionally stopped and sang a song, like it used to be in America in the 1950’s. It was quite different but enjoyable!
So all in all, we had a great time at Butlins once again, but it just went so quickly! It would have been easier and more relaxing for myself and Kelly if Coby had behaved himself during the shows, but he is only a little toddler so we couldn’t really expect him to sit still all the time. Â Saying that, Ben and Aaron were very hyper and excited all weekend and had spells where they were naughty as well! All the shows we saw were great and we just had a wonderful time in the caravan and around the place. I think my favourite show of the weekend was by Boomin who put on a great performance, playing some great songs in their own style. Hopefully they are there next time we visit Butlins!
Here are some pics from our weekend at Butlins.
Yesterday, I went into School with Kelly and Coby to see Ben receive his 2nd Head Teachers Award for merit marks in his morning assembly. This is the 2nd time he has won this award now as he got through all the stages early last year as well, so it means he has had about 40 merit marks now in total since he has started School. This shows how well he has been doing! 😉 He will now start over again to get another 10 to get the bronze award for the 3rd time. Congrats Ben!
2nd Head Teachers Award
2nd Head Teachers Award
2nd Head Teachers Award
