Day 29  Yesterday I wrote about how Austin loves to follow Hayden around and play with him.  Well, another great thing about having a big brother is that you get to play with all their old toys too!

Over the past few days, I've been having a sort out in the boy's wardrobes; moving things to Austin's room that Hayden has outgrown, getting out some of Hayden's old toys that were put away a while ago, finding space for new Christmas toys, and boxing up some things that neither of the boys use anymore all ready to go to a new home somewhere.  If you know me, you know how much I hate clutter and unused things and how I LOVE to organise, so I guess you could say I've been in my element, lol!

Austin thinks that it is great opening his wardrobe, seeing a different box in there and opening it up to see what new puzzle or activity he has found!  Sometimes Hayden has been playing with him and helping him and it's so funny hearing him say, "Oh, this used to be my favourite game!", like he did with this one today.

Day 28  I think it is safe to say that the boys have a pretty typical brother to brother relationship.  One minute they can be sitting quietly together, the next they are running around the room chasing and and jumping on each other, and then the next minute it all gets too rough and the fun is all over!   However, more and more Austin is getting to an age where he and Hayden can play alongside together.  With nearly 4 and a half years' difference between them, Hayden often likes to go off and play what he likes to play, but of course Austin thinks his big brother is the best thing ever, and will follow him around the house so he doesn't miss out on anything Hayden is doing!

So, after lunch today, this is what I found.  I was a little worried it had gotten too quiet up the hallway (which usually isn't a good sign!), but the boys were both happily reading books on Hayden's bed.  Austin loves to look at Hayden's dinosaur books, and it's probably a good thing that Hayden is now moving out of his dinosaur 'phase' as he doesn't mind Austin looking at them - and it means that he can look at his "Star Wars" books in relative peace!

Day 27  When asked what he would like to do today, Hayden's reply was to go to the swimming pool.  To a parent with a child who has a huge fear of swimming, this is a huge thing!  So we weren't going to miss the opportunity and it was off to the pool we went.  Hayden still has a long way to go, but he will now go in a swimming pool if he knows he can touch the bottom, he will move around the pool on his own fairly confidently, and he is even starting to put his head under the water because he knows he can do it!

After our morning swimming, it was a quiet afternoon at home, with Steve staining the front deck, and some 'new' friends coming to visit.  Hayden decided he wanted to get out his new Meccano set to make something, and happily read the instructions and started to build his robot by himself.  He did a great job, pretty much getting all the way to the last two instructions without any help!  He was very proud of his first attempt at Meccano!

Day 26  It was a busy day today; Austin had a birthday party this morning, and then this afternoon I had my first shoot of the New Year, a gorgeous Naming Ceremony with the most adorable wee girl.  It was a perfect day for both!

With a busy day ahead, I decided that I should probably take my photo for the day earlier rather than later!  And so here are the two boys, still in their pyjamas and watching TV - a pretty typical Saturday morning really!

Day 25  Wow, half way there!  It was yet another afternoon in the garden for me, finishing clipping the hedge and then spraying weeds!  Making progress though and I think the big tidying up is pretty much done for now.  Always a list of things to do still though! 

When we're out in the garden on a gorgeous days like this with the sun shining and the doors wide open, the boys spend their time going between playing inside and outside, sometimes playing together or off doing their own independent things.  Sometimes they discover something really fun to do and play for ages - like today!  The boys have worked out that if they turn the outside taps on around the back of the house, they can make a great big puddle right down the length of the concrete, which makes for a fantastic track to run up and down through - and you get really wet! 

Now unfortunately I can't share my absolute favourite photo from today.  Instead I will share a 'safe' photo of the boys - before Austin decided to run up and down with no clothes on (think cute little bare bottom running away from me).  I'll just have to save those ones for his 21st ;)

Day 24  It has been another day in the garden today for me, this time trimming back all the hedges! Once I start doing a large job like this, I don't tend to stop - even to take photos!  However, Austin and I did do the much needed huge grocery shop this morning as the cupboards were looking incredibly bare after our trip away!  It is always a mission with Austin in tow, as he would much rather 'help' get items off the shelves and put them in the trolley rather than sit in the trolley these days, much like his big brother was at the same age!  He was just as keen to help me put the groceries away when we got home too, for a little while at least.  I just wish that I could get this excited about putting away groceries!  (For the record, he doesn't even eat ham, and he was doing this with every item he pulled out!)   

Day 23  It's been an 'outside jobs' day today after being away on holiday for a couple of weeks.  The day was mainly spent pulling out weeds and cutting back plants and trees.  I can never work out why the garden always seems to grow so much more when you are away for two weeks than when you are at home for the same amount of time!  On the good side of that though, we did get to pick lots of ripe strawberries and baby carrots from our veggie garden!

Admittedly, the boys did spend most of their day playing, but I did put them to work this morning helping me wash the car ;)  I'm not sure how clean the car really got (even though I was pretty wet!), but at least it was cleaner than it was before!

(I don't often play too much with different styles when I'm editing photos, but I did try something a little different with this photo.  Sometimes I don't necessarily like an image in saturated colour, and I was going to share this one in black and white, but ended up with this first!)