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We have made it to April, 2011. Here are two boys showing off their acheivement awards from Manly West. In April we have had the Easter school holidays and the start of the second term of the year. Both boys went to ‘vacation care’ at their Mum’s office and loved every minute. Both have lost a tooth (or two) and no one has had a hair cut.

Today was the last day of the 1st term of 2011. The end of MIGO’s first full term of school. A double whammy day for the Todd boys. At Manly West they give numeracy and literacy awards at the end of each term and the two apples of my eye received one each. JFGP received his award for “excellence in Mathematics” and MIGO was rewarded for his “keen interest in numbers”. It fair brings a tear of pride to my eye to have a couple of swots on the team. Although they have also joined the Chess club, and that may be a nerdy step too far.

Here are the two boys in question in March, 2011. Since we last published a photo we haven’t done much. We did go to Jervis Bay and dress as Romans, but aside from that they have been spending most of their time at school and then recovering from being at school. This year the boys are in before and after school care and adapting to a new routine. Instead of lounging around the house in their pyjamas until 8:30 and then sauntering down the road to school they have to get up early, get dressed (usually whilst still complaining that they are asleep), have some breakfast and then be out of the house by 7:30. Then after school they stay until we pick them up at 5:30. After a quick dash home it’s time for homework, dinner, bath and then into bed. With all of this going on there isn’t much spare time for causing havoc and mayhem.

It would appear that I have been remiss. A quick check of the archives shows that I haven’t shown you any photos of the kids since November 2010. I have been taking them, honest. In fact if you check the photo set you will see entries for January and December. The December one is a bit different as it was the official family photo from Christmas 2010.

This one is a bit late, but has been up on flickr for a while. Here are two small boys in November, 2010. In the month since the last photo the junior members of the team have been on their first camping holiday. As a sign that they are growing up the smallest member of the team has attended his initiation at Manly West and is all ready to start at big school next year. He has the uniform the hat and the bag and he has taken to wearing it to pre-school most days. Photos will be forthcoming of a small boy and a very large bag.

It’s ok. We survived. The Todd family went on our first camping holiday for a weekend. Although the weather forecast had been dire for the previous week and we drove down under grey skies and drizzle Saturday dawned bright, sunny and hot. We spent most of Saturday and Sunday on the lovely white beaches of Jervis Bay. The ankle biters and I, with “help” from some of the other kids in the party and the team civil engineer, dug an enormous hole. And what do you do when you’ve dug a big hole in the sand? Why, jump in it of course. According to two small boys this camping lark is quite fun.

Here are the two apples of our eyes pictured in October, 2010. They have just come to the end of two weeks school holidays, a small break before the final term of the school year. Many people have gone away, we didn’t. Mum was working hard on a hardware upgrade and I have no holiday. It didn’t stop two small boys having a great time. They have play dates, been to the movies, tried a couple of new parks and spent far too much time playing computer games. In fact they even persuaded Lesley to let them rent a couple of Wii games for a few days last week. Now I just have to explain why I won’t be buying them their own copies of these games.

Here we find our intrepid small children in September 2010. A little larger, a few more teeth (this time) and to show that spring is in the air JFGP has even taken his socks off. This month’s highlight for the boys was the renewal of our passes to the local swimming pool. This means free and unfettered access whenever they like. Or at least whenever they can persuade someone to take them. So excited were they that they made SWMBO and I take them one Sunday afternoon towards the end of August. The air temperature was in the low teens and the pool temperature not much warmer. In order of “northern-ness” the family rankings were: last - SWMBO, not quite as soft - MIGO, equal rock hardest - JFGP and my good self. I think I need say no more.

It has been a while, but here is the latest instalment in my occasional series “two growing boys”. Since the last time they were featured on this blog the boys have had a birthday each during a visit to the mother country. This had two great advantages for me - no birthday parties to fund and less presents to buy because the baggage allowance wouldn’t allow much. They did have a great time and were spoilt rotten whilst we were away. But that has all stopped now that we are back home. The poor dears now have to exist on a diet of bread and water and endure regular forced marches, all the way to school and back.

We have been in the UK for the last couple of weeks. Sorry for not posting anything sooner but here are some snaps. Today we went on the rattler to London (from sunny Bracknell) and went on the London Eye. Here is the proof. This was the first time Granny Perry had been on the train to the capital for the best part of 30 years, but the trip went smoothly. The weather was sunny and the skies clear so we could see most of London during our ‘flight’.

Here we have the great hopes for the household in their usual pose. Here in Sydney Autumn has finally arrived and sensible people have started dressing in warm(er) clothes. Some members of the household have taken to demanding hot water bottles and extra blankets at bed time. They are in for a rude shock when we visit the UK in July, I suspect that they will be demanding thermal underwear as soon as we touch down at Heathrow.

Here we have the two little charmers in April, 2010. We have survived the Easter school holidays, including a trip to Albury and Wodonga. Some say that it is the wild border country, we just couldn’t spot the joins. I did try and convince JFGP that he needed his passport every time we crossed from NSW to Victoria (and vice versa) but despite some initial gullibility he just wasn’t buying it. Back to the drawing board.

Here we have the junior members of the team in March, 2010. Not a lot has happened since last month’s photo, although it is getting towards the end of the first school term of 2010 and everyone is getting a little tired and emotional. Not least the parents of these two little charmers.

We’ve just had our annual weekend at the beach in Huskisson, and a great time was had by all. Most of us were expecting a couple of quiet days by the beach with the evenings spent in convivial conversation, good food and perhaps a glass of wine or two. Little did we know that Team Reeve had been plotting and planning. With the aid of a range of suppliers (“it’s amazing what you can find on eBay”) we were all kitted out with full pirate gear and participated in themed events including a treasure hunt. To quote our t-shirts “To err is human, to arr is Pirate!”

Many apologies, December and January seem to have slipped by without much in the way of photography. But I am pleased to show you a picture of two smalls boy in February, 2010. In the last 3 months they have had a fine old time with 2 holidays, 3 trips to various soft play facilities, an outing to feed sharks and rays, a Christmas full of presents and delights, and a return to school for a new year.

In 1995 I bought an album called “Tall Blonde Helicopter” by Francis Dunnery. Last night he played most of it in my living room. Accompanied by stories about the events and people that inspired the songs he was singing Francis managed to engage and entrance an audience largely made up of people unfamiliar with his work. Well, to be honest, apart from Chris and Tom (who came with Francis) I was probably the only one in the room to have listened to more than one or two of his songs. But at one of Francis’ house concerts it doesn’t matter whether you know every chord (and word) of every song or if you’ve never heard a note of his before. With wit, warmth and an infectious enthusiasm he draws everyone into “the jacuzzi” and shares stories, insights, philosophy and a side order of therapy to entertain and inform. For the best part of two hours he had a room full of people firmly in the now and not worrying about their pasts or their futures. What a top bloke. What a top evening.

Welcome to November, and here is the monthly shot of JFGP and MIGO presented for your “haven’t they grown” pleasure. Note the particularly fine outfit that my youngest son is wearing, the only way to get it off him at the moment is to offer to mend the holes in it. Pretty soon the whole suit will have more repairs than original material. The competition now is for you, dear reader, to spot the differences between this month’s picture and the one from last month. Answers on a postcard, or in the comments below.

I appear to have missed September, sorry about that. But here is the second in our series of pictures of two small boys growing up. You can see the first one here. It’s a bit more than the calendar says, but we will call this month 2. I would try and give you a running commentary on changes, but apart from hair a bit longer (MIGO) and shorter (JFGP thanks to a haircut) I can’t really say that a lot of things have actually, you know, changed. See you next month.

I have decided to start a project. With two small boys in the house and around all of the time its hard to see the changes that are going on in and around us. They must be growing because the food bills are staying high and only the other night JFGP told me that I would have to get a different pair of pyjamas out for him the following night because the ones that I had provided were too snug. Although he did graciously allow that he would wear them for one more night because it would have been too much bother to change them now that he had got them on.

It is July and the ankle biter’s birthdays (JFGP turns 6 and MIGO turns 4 in the next week) are fast approaching. Small boy’s thoughts then naturally turn to presents and parties. Luckily SWMBO was on the case and organised a sports activities party for the boys and a few of their close friends. Presided over by Terry the small people got to run around for a couple of hours, interrupted only by breaks for light refreshments and the odd rain shower.