Dad of Crazy Twins

We are a house of readers. I always have a book on the go (although I am not a fast reader) and Kate has about 16 on the go at once. The twins love to read as we have read to them since they were babies. I think reading is fundamental and every child should read. So...for this post I decided that I would list my "Top 5 Favourite Kids Books". These are all books that I didn't discover or hadn't read until the Twins came along and are in no particular order. My Top 5 Favourite Kids Books 1: Jump In by Ian Whybrow This is an underrated gem of a kids book. I discovered this when I picked it up at The Works in their "10 books for £10" sale one day. I had never heard of it, nor had Kate, but from the first read I loved it. A great rhyming book with a clever use of words, great illustrations and so much fun to read out loud. Whenever a relative or friend announces they are expecting their first child I buy them this book. There is a sequel called "All Ch...

This week I decided I would do things a little differently and let the twins take over my blog post. OK - so they are 6 and can't type so they didn't do every bit and I typed it up but I did let them decide what we would do. They both said they enjoyed answering questions about each other recently and that they'd like to do something similar. After a bit of discussion and thrashing about some ideas they decided they would like to interview their favourite person in the world....Aunty Spot! The Twiglet's with Aunty Spot They both came up with 5 questions each and they genuinely came up with these themselves and then interviewed her. Here is the outcome: Poppy Q1: Why do you wear glasses? Because I can't see far away very well! I can see things up close fine, but far away they get a bit blurry. Q2: What is your favourite book ever? Ever??? Probably "Matilda" or "The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe". I love them both. Q3: What ...

If there is one thing that kids are really good at it is being embarrassing. I know for a fact when I was growing up I did plenty of things that embarrassed my parents. I am pretty sure that the time my friend and I took the money his Mam had left for the window cleaner and spent it on fake blood and Monster Munch was pretty embarrassing. And I am sure my Dad will never forget the time our neighbour told him he had just caught me posting snowballs through the post box at the bottom of the street. I even know that the day I got Christened was embarrassing as I wouldn't stop screaming and crying to the point where my Great Aunt Ina walked out of the service. And that is just three things that I know of and that I can think of off the top of my head...I am sure if I asked my parents to write this they would have loads more stories. The Twiglets are currently 6 years old and they have embarrassed me loads of time but there are two instances in particular which I am going to share with ...

Earlier this week I blogged about the twins and their educational experience so far...from my point of view. That post was initially going to be the twins discussing school but my introductory blurb ended up becoming a whole separate post (I am guessing that will happen lots). So - as intended - here is my interview with the twins about school: Q1: What do you remember about your first day? Ruby: That I was too scared to go. Poppy: I was excited and I had my lovely hat on. Q2: What part of the school day do you enjoy the most? Ruby: Playing in the pretend café and playing on the computers. Poppy: I like playing on the iPad on a Friday. Q3: What part do you least enjoy? Ruby: Going outside in the big yard because there is nothing fun to do. Poppy: When my friend is rude to me but I tell her to stop being rude. Q4: What has been the best topic you have had at school and why? Ruby: "The Toy Box" was my favourite topic because I got to bring my soft toy in...

It is almost the end of May and the twins have 9 weeks left at school until the summer holidays. 8 weeks if you take out the May half-term. I have to say, as an adult, that "Year One" has absolutely flown by and it is hard to believe that "Year Two" is just around the corner. Starting "Year One" was a huge turning point in the life of the twins with regards to their independence, their education and their life with each other. We put the twins in to nursery when they were around 8 months old in preparation for Kate going back to work. They didn't take to it immediately but after a few "trials" they settled and they appeared to enjoy being there. They were only in for three mornings a week as Kate only went back to work for three days a week. My Dad and Kate's Mam would pick them up after lunch and keep them for the rest of the afternoon. They came on loads and they loved being there and made lots of friends and connected really well wit...

Ten years ago I would see adverts on TV that portrayed a perfect family life. Whether it was an advert for something as family orientated as "Disneyworld" or an advert for something as ordinary as "Birds Eye Fish Fingers" they would always portray a perfect family life. Dad would always be some ridiculously good looking man with perfect hair and perfect teeth and Mam would always be better looking with even better hair and better teeth. Then the kids, of which there would always be two and usually one of each gender, were stupidly cute with perfect hair and perfect teeth. Their clothes were always clean and ironed and none of them had bags under their eyes and they were always just so happy. Whether they were queuing up for "The Haunted Mansion" or eating perfectly cooked fish fingers with chips and peas they always did it with such radiance and happiness. I used to watch these adverts and I would look forward to the day that I would live my life like thos...

The day we had our first scan and found out we were having twins was surreal. Up until that point Kate had only ever mentioned it once in an "imagine if we had twins" kind of way but we never expected that it would actually happen. Once we found out we knew that we would have to tell everyone but the first people we needed to tell were our parents. We told all four of them individually for various reasons and this is what happened with each. The Scan Photos My Mam My Mam was the first person we told. The reason for that being that Kate's Mam works not far from the hospital so we decided we would go and tell her in person. I called my Mam at work and we had a conversation like this: Me: "Hi Mam, it's me, you OK?" Mam: "Yes - how did the scan go?" Me: "Yeah, it went fine, they did the scan and everything and checked all the stuff they need to check and, er, BOTH of our babies are doing fine" Mam: "Ah that's ...

Following my posts where I quizzed the twins on each other I decided to delve a bit further. It is a Sunday morning, I have been the nice parent today and let Kate have a lie in whilst I got up with the kids. We've had breakfast, played with some toys and now we are sitting on the couch watching "Thundercats". I decided I would quiz the twins to see what they know about Kate and then I asked Kate the same questions. Here are my findings: Q1. How old is Mammy? R&P: 36 K: 36 Q2. What is Mammy's favourite thing to do? R&P: Kiss Daddy (I am a good snog like) K: Spending time with family and going to sleep Q3. What does Mammy not like to do? R&P: Let us play with playdoh K: Cleaning Q4. What is Mammy's favourite thing to eat? R&P: Pizza K: Pizza Q5. What is Mammy's favourite TV show? R&P: "Eastenders" K: "Eastenders" Q6. What Film does Mammy love to watch with you?  R&P: "The Good ...

I am one of those people who always has a head full of thoughts and ideas. I always have been and I always will be. One of the reasons that I started blogging was because I had so many ideas and thoughts and memories and stories running through my head and I needed a way to get them out. I have actually found blogging to be quite therapeutic and liberating as it has made room in my brain. However, I am also one of those people who likes to try and do too much at once. In a typical week I can be at work for 50-60 hours and I need to fit in other stuff around that such as organising school and work runs in the morning, organising school pick ups, organising after school activities, food shopping, housework and whatever else goes on in a typical week. Throw on top of that the fact that I signed up to do a 12 month course through work and the admin work I do for the office (which I do during work time) including annual reports and campaigns. I take on quite a lot but I somehow manage to ...