Brotherly bonds

The boys are really great mates. From the moment they all meet they have loved each other. I can see in the years to come they will continue to be great mates and it will be a matter of three against two. (kids V parents!) In a cubby house sent down by Great Aunty Bron
Matthew was besotted with baby Ryan

And very fascinated and gentle (they gentle but has changed!)

Playing together with some other mates

Then there were three! (How petrified does Ben look?!)

Three good looking trouble makers! (Ryan is standing behind the swim coz he had no pants on!)

Watching on, fascinated at Baby Ben's first bath

Ryans first touch of Ben

Christenings

Today, photos of the boys Christenings. They all wore the same gown (they had blue bows in the sleeves! To tone down the gownishness!) The gown was handmade by my mother and has been worn by all of her grandchildren.

Ben's Christening

Getting dunked. Here at the church at RMC.
Ryan's at St Matthew's Church at Newmarket Qld. Where Matthew and Nathan were christened

Matthew's Christening. On Easter Sunday at St Matthew's. Nathan was also christened at St Matthew on Easter Sunday some 25 years earlier!

Ryan was the star of the show, of course!
Ryan's christening was the day after my sister, Jakie's wedding. So my two boys were they best dressed kids to ever attend a christening!

Nanna Bev, Nanna Walker and Ryan

Never send your husband out unsupervised!

Yesterday I sent Nathan and the boys out to buy a new blanket for our bed. (It been a little cold down here! A wool blanket and doona have not been cutting it!)
Anyway they returned with a lovely blanket and................... a 32 inch LCD TV!!!!!!!!!!
The most expensive blanket I've ever purchased that is for sure. And as pointed out by Cid Nathan found a way to spend the money we are saving from no buying nappies!

Lets start at the beginning.

I was thinking last night that many of the people that read my blog haven't known me very long or they have known me for a really long time and would probably like having their memories refreshed. So I am going to start with baby pictures of my babies. And over the following days I plan to spoil you all with many more different pictures!

Matthew minutes old

Look at that proud first time Daddy! (Can you see the exhausted mummy in the background?) I threw this one in for you Cid. I thought you might like it!

Ryan minutes after he was born and less than an hour after we arrived at the hospital
Benny minutes old, on oxygen because you need it after having the cord wrapped around your neck, shoulder and neck again!

Barkley and the boys amazing adventure.

Last week Matthew really wanted to go and play with the girls across the road. I said yes but he had to wait for me to finish doing something. Obviously this wasn't what Matthew wanted, so he went out the back door and out of the back gate across the road. Nathan and I were chatting in the bedroom about taking the kids across the street to play when I said "Hang on that sounds like Matthew's voice across the street. We peered out the window to find Matthew AND Ben jumping on the neighbour trampoline! Nathan trudges across the street and brings the children home and their punishment is they cant play across the street until they can prove to us that they can follow instructions. We thought that was the end of the drama.Little did we know it was just the beginning.
At doggie dinner time there was no doggie! Our doggie NEVER mosses dinner. If it is one second past doggie dinner time he is knocking on the door and barking. Apparently when Matthew opened the gate he usher Ben and Barkley out the gate. It didn't occur to Matthew that Daddy should have rounded up all little boys and doggies when they came home. So after many frantic phone calls and listing Barkley as a missing dog and me fretting for Barkley all night. I found Barkley listed as a impounded dog! He was apparently picked up 5 minutes after he had escaped. And had spent the night in the pound! And it gets worse!
The poor dog is traumatised. Barkley has had issues since Busta went to the "farm". First of all I think he really misses his friend and secondly I think he thinks we may ship him off to the "farm" at a moments notice too! So Nathan retrieved him from prison, I mean the pound, where he was found cowering in his cage. Barkley was not a huge fan of sharing his living space with other noisy dogs. Good thing that he prefers noisy children actually! And since his return he has spent nearly every minute watching every move we make. When we leave the house he digs under the fence and goes looking for us. On Saturday Nathan was in the front yard filling up the trailer when I found 1 dog and 3 boys digging a hole and removing bricks from under said fence! Today we returned from swimming lesson to find our dog following us up the front path!
So we have come to the conclusion that Barkley needs a friend. Of the dog variety, that will hopefully not lead him into trouble like his human friends do! So watch this space for an announcement on our new arrival!

And STILL more bragging!

I am finally calling it. Benjamin Leslie Rickard is finally toilet trained! He is taking himself to the toilet or asking me to help him go! It has been over 8 days now! He is like a Pro. Even going as far as telling Matthew (who has issues) that only Ryan and Ben are big boys who use the toilet. (As was overheard at the breakfast table this morning).
So congratulations to me. No more nappies (except at night). Now what to spend all that extra money on?

Another Brag!

Matthew came home on Thursday this week with a Sportsmanship Award! We were very proud as we really try to encourage good sportsmanship over winning (although you try and teach a Rickard that it's not all about winning!). So we are very proud of our little boy!

Oh it is crinkled from the very creative way Matthew packs his bag!