Aaron's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘presents’

Well, we didn’t see this coming at the start of the year!  

A global pandemic hit the UK towards the end of March which meant that the Government issued a mandatory lockdown throughout the country. This basically forced everything to close, including schools, clubs, shops, pubs, restaurants, leisure facilities and for people to work from home or not work at all and be put on a furlough scheme.  Since the start of the year, there had been rumblings that a virus was ripping through China and moving west throughout the World, and it eventually did unfortunately.  So on the 23rd March, the UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, gave the lockdown order for the entire country which basically meant the country stopped.  Lots of people had started dying so there was really no choice in the matter.  Everyone had to stay in their homes and were only allowed out for a maximum of 1 hour of exercise per day or for essential food shopping.  This lockdown carried on until the 10th May when small changes were introduced such as allowing people out more but having to ensure social distancing of 2 metres between households and the phased reopening of schools, although it was left to the schools to decide when to open.  Everywhere also needed to be Covid secure, otherwise they weren’t allowed to open, so a lot of work had to be done at shops, workplaces and at schools.  On July 4th, most of the lockdown measures ended although people still had to practise social distancing and were told not to hug anybody, especially those people that were elderly.  At this point, over 30,000 people had died in the country and it was the most bizarre and scary thing that has ever happened to any of us!

The boys did really well throughout the lockdown, even though we all missed our usual Easter celebrations, our annual trip to Woodlands Camping, a proper birthday for Coby, Aaron and Kelly and we obviously couldn’t see any family for months.  The main issue was really the closure of schools though, as we were expected to home school the children, even though we were both able to work our usual hours from home.  So it was quite hard, especially as Bickleigh school were quite rubbish with it all really.  They eventually sent home work for them to do but it wasn’t really very planned out and it was quite stressful for us.  We tried to go for a walk after schooling and work every day and actually discovered loads of new places in Woolwell, including paths down to Drake’s Trail, a tramway line and a swamp.  We had lived here for years and didn’t even know all this was here!!

Bickleigh Down School decided that they could open again at the start of June, after the half term holiday, but only for certain years.  So it ended up that Ben and Coby were able to go back to school, as they were seen to be in the more crucial years for education, and Aaron had to stay home and be home schooled.  It was a relief that they could go back and they both wanted to but we had to have a good think first, as the virus was still bad and a lot of other parents kept their children home still.  But we decided to send them back and they both really enjoyed it.  Obviously, it was Ben’s last year at Bickleigh so him going back to school was a very big deal as it was the last few weeks that he would have at primary school.  It was all different though as they all had to take packed lunches, had their classrooms rearranged, on days they did PE they would have to go into school in their PE kit and not change all day as they weren’t allowed to change at school anymore.  There was also a one way system around the premises to drop off and pick up the children and only 1 adult was allowed to on the grounds, so both Kelly and I couldn’t go in and drop them off or pick them up, although we did once by accident and Mrs Conday ‘told us off’.  So it was all a bit surreal and Aaron ended up not going back to school for the rest of the school term, which meant that he had been home since the end of March – 4 months, and missed half of Year 5!

Here are a few of the normal events that took place during the lockdown period.

Easter

For Easter this year, the Easter bunny still came and hid lots of little chocolate eggs around the house but we were unable to go anywhere or visit anyone during the bank holiday weekend.  Instead, we held an Easter games day on Easter Sunday, which we all enjoyed, especially the boys.  The games were nice and simple but were all a bit of fun!

Coby’s 6th Birthday

It was a shame that Coby couldn’t have a birthday party this year but we still had a good day.  I had the day off and so did Kelly.  Coby was very excited in the morning and got up by 7am and we went down and he opened his pile of birthday presents.  His main present this year was a Mario Kart Hot Wheel Track, which he thought was amazing.  He also had some other bits and pieces as usual, which he was very happy with.  We got the track up and running and then went for a walk in the boiling hot, sunny weather.  We went for a long walk around the woods and back along the tramway which we had only recently discovered during mid morning.  We then got home and Kelly started cooking some party food for dinner, which was very nice, and we ate it outside.  We then had a quiet afternoon with Coby playing with his presents and had more party food for tea.  During the day, various people turned up to give cards and presents to Coby, socially distanced of course by them standing on the steps and us by the front door!  Coby had a nice day anyway, even though it was a very strange birthday!

Aaron’s 9th Birthday

Aaron was in the same boat as Coby as he couldn’t have a birthday party either.  We would normally have been at Woodlands camping for his birthday but that was obviously cancelled as well, so we had a similar day to Coby’s birthday.  Aaron was also up bright and early and Kelly and I had taken the day off again.  Aaron practically ran downstairs as he gets very excited when it is his birthday and Christmas!!  His main present this year was a digital motorised Hot Wheels track, which he was very happy with as well!!  He had some other bits as well, including the mandatory Lego set! haha We then went for a cycle up to the field as he wanted to ride his bike around for a bit before coming home and Kelly putting some party food on to cook for dinner.  We ate it outside again although the weather wasn’t as nice as it was for Coby’s, but it was still warm but quite windy!  He played with his presents for the day and we had more party food for tea.  Like with Coby, people popped over during the day to give him a card and present and we had to socially distance out the front.  He had a nice day but was a little sad that he couldn’t have had a proper party with his friends but he will have to have one next year, even though we said 9 years old is the last year to have a party.

Kelly’s Birthday

It was also Kelly’s 36th birthday after the easing of lockdown had started and typically it was on a Saturday!  We didn’t do too much during the day, just relaxed at home and watched a movie in the evening with some goodies as we were still very wary of going anywhere and not everything was open anyway, such as public toilets, etc.  Most places were still shut so it would have been a walk on the beach or up on Dartmoor that would have been our options, but we decided against it still, as there may have been lots of people doing the same.  We did get a takeaway for tea though – our first one for months!!

P.E. With Joe

The Body Coach, Joe Wicks, who has been doing fitness stuff for years, suddenly came into the spotlight when he started doing a live PE session each weekday morning at 9am, for the duration of lockdown.  It was an amazing idea and now the entire country (and World) love him!  It was basically a child friendly HIIT session for 20-30 mins each day where he also had a bit of fun and asked questions on various topics and mixed the sessions up with roulette wheels and dice to determine which exercises would be done when.  It was really good.  He also put together some PE With Joe T-Shirts whereby all donations would go straight to the NHS to help staff who were basically working 24 hours, trying to save people’s lives who had been infected with Covid.  Needless to say, we all got a T-Shirt although they were out of stock for several weeks and our only arrived towards the very end of lockdown.  He made absolutely loads of money, which was great!!  The boys did several of the exercises and it ended up being something to put on at 9am every week day, before they started their home schooling.  They had great enthusiasm to begin with but then it waned a little to the point where Aaron would rather get on with his actual schoolwork to get it done and finish early!  Ben and Coby still kept up with it on most days though.

BBQs

I think we ended up having a BBQ every week of lockdown as the weather was mostly glorious.  It was hot and sunny for weeks which gave us no option but to have a BBQ! haha

What a strange few months it was!!!

We all had a wonderful Christmas Day this year and for the first time ever, I didn’t have to go in and wake the boys up to tell them they could get up!  The night before, Aaron, who got up at about 3am last year and snuck downstairs, managed to get us to say a time that they were allowed to get up on Christmas morning. He wanted it to be 6am but we said 630am would be fine, as Kelly has to go down and put the Turkey in to cook by 7am anyway.  Kelly and I were awake by 630am anyway, but at about 6am we could hear them whispering to each other in their room so I had to tell them to be quiet, which they did, but they then got up just before 630am with Aaron and Coby rushing in to our room saying ‘Merry Christmas!’.  They were full of it and were dragging their stockings behind them in to our room as well.  Ben was lagging behind a bit as he was acting cool, but he was very excited as well to see what he had got.  Before we even had chance to get out of bed, Coby was starting to open his presents so we had to tell him to stop and wait as Kelly had to put the Turkey on.  So they all sat on our bed and waited for Kelly to return before we all opened our stocking presents.  Coby and Aaron must have gone through their stockings at opened their presents in record time as they were finished before Kelly and I had barely started!!  They were all very happy with what the received from Father Christmas which includes books, clothes, chocolates, small toys and a Fart Ninja each, which they all thought was hilarious!  They cracked in to some of their chocolates and sweets there and then, which was allowed, only because it was Christmas!!

We then went on downstairs to see if Father Christmas had left any presents for everyone under the tree – and he had!!  There was a big pile of presents under the tree from relatives and also a small pile of presents for each and everyone from Father Christmas in front.  Coby, again, was about to dive in and start opening them but, as tradition in our house states, we had to wait until we had some shortbread for breakfast! haha So we had biscuits and a drink and by this time, Aaron and Coby were ready to burst as they were desperate to start opening the main presents!!  We then commenced the opening of the presents, one by one, person by person, until they were all opened.  We had to stop for various phone calls and for Kelly to sort some bits out for dinner, but we were all done by late morning, which was quite early for us as we have, in the past, had to continue to open presents after our Christmas Dinner.  We all had some great presents and the boys were extremely pleased with what they had.  Ben received Harry Potter Cluedo and a Harry Potter Knight Bus 3D Puzzle from Father Christmas, a FitBit, a Harry Potter 1000 piece puzzle, Harry Potter PJ’s, a new boot bag, a large stationery set and a few other things.  Aaron got a Tube Racer set and a Garbage Truck from Father Christmas.  He was especially happy with the Garbage Truck as he had asked Father Christmas for it for the past 2 or 3 years! He also got a Bugacular game, some new earphones, Hot Wheels Creator, the new Everton kit, a robot to build and control via his tablet and some other bits and pieces.  Coby had a Glow Pad and a Crayola Art Set from Father Christmas and an Everton kit, a Lego police car, a Teksta Robot Puppy, Where’s Wally game, some Everton PJ’s, a Hot Wheels Dino track, a Pop Forky and a Spiderman Art Table.  Of course, they all wanted to open each of their presents as they received them so we had to keep telling them to hang on until all were opened as bits would get lost.  Coby didn’t listen though and opened several of his and then we had to hunt around for the bits for some of them!

Our Christmas Dinner was lovely again and we all scoffed loads and were fat and full afterwards!  I even fell asleep briefly in the afternoon which I have never done before on Christmas Day – must be getting old!!  We spent the afternoon looking at the presents and helping the boys open and put together theirs, before we had a video call with Grandma, Darren and Marina to wish them a Merry Christmas and so the boys could show them what they had got.

Ben, Aaron and Coby then had something to eat for tea, as they were hungry by this time, even though they had been eating sweets and chocolate all afternoon!  They then went to bed by 8pm as they were all shattered so Kelly and I were able to get some food and finally relax a little and look at what we got, though we were tired out as well.

We had all had a lovely and exciting day filled with good food and fun! It just went way too quickly again! Roll on next Christmas when I will be 40!!

Christmas Day this year was lovely and we all enjoyed it thoroughly. It was also the first year ever where the boys had to come and wake me and Kelly up! They managed to stay in bed until 7:05 as well, which was a miracle but typical really as they are usually up much earlier than that and we wouldn’t have been mad if they got up earlier on this one day a year!! haha

They were all excited when they saw their stockings and dragged them into our bedroom and up onto the bed. Coby could barely move his as it was packed to the rim and was almost the same height as him!! Before we dived into the stockings, Kelly had to go down and turn the oven on for the Turkey as we had a massive one this year which would take all morning to cook. The boys could hardly contain themselves during the waiting but just about managed to hold on until Kelly came back upstairs. Everyone then started opening their stocking presents from Father Christmas. The boys all had some lovely stuff including the usual chocolates and sweets, books, clothes, little things to make and other goodies. They were all very happy with what they had!

Once we had all opened our stocking presents, we ventured downstairs to find that Father Christmas had left lots of presents for everyone. Again, the boys could hardly contain themselves, especially Coby who was extremely excited! But we usually have shortbread for breakfast before we open our main presents, so we had that and a drink and then set about opening our presents, one at a time.  As usual, Coby wanted to play with each present that he opened but we had to keep telling him to hold on until they had all been opened, otherwise bits would get lost.  All of them had some great presents from Father Christmas, us and family. Coby’s main presents were a new scooter, an Everton training jacket, a dinosaur robot, a new electric toothbrush, a remote controlled truck, some new indoor football boots and a box of Lego. Aaron had a brand new Fire HD tablet with case and bluetooth keyboard, a Racing Track Set (like Scalextrix), an Everton training jacket, a Lego Camper Van (which he had been after for months!) and an electric toothbrush. Ben had his very first mobile phone and Harry Potter case, an Everton training jacket, Guitar Hero Live for the Wii U, Nerf Laser Ops game, some new bluetooth headphones and a Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit game.  They all loved having all of their presents and were very pleased when they opened each of them! 😉

We just about managed to open all the presents before dinner time, which we were all looking forward to! We had a lovely Roast Turkey dinner with starters and everyone scoffed loads! Dinner was actually slightly later than usual this year so we didn’t actually get time to watch Christmas Day Top Of The Pops during the day as the boys wanted to get on and play with their toys once we had finished eating. As usual, we then spoke to Grandma, Darren and Marina and Nan Nan and Pops on the laptop and we all told them (and showed them) what we had got. The boys were manic and trying to show them everything!! They then wanted some tea so they had some food and had another short play until it was bedtime.  They were all tired out but didn’t want to go to bed obviously, but Kelly and I wanted them to so we could have some peace! They eventually went up to bed at about 8pm, which was later than planned, and went to sleep, so Kelly and I sat down and relaxed for a couple of hours, though we were both tired out as well and I think we went to bed before 10pm!

We had all had a wonderful Christmas Day and our presents were all awesome from everybody.

Christmas Day this year got off to a rocky start as Aaron and Ben were caught downstairs at 6:05am. Apparently, Aaron was ‘too excited’ to not go down to take a look to see if Father Christmas had come and left lots of presents, so he went down stairs before 6am and had a good look around and even turned the kitchen light on and picked up the key for Father Christmas to get in from by the front door and put it on the kitchen side. He had also had a look at several of the presents and knew who most of them were for and had counted some pencils that Father Christmas had left around the presents for them. I had thought I heard a noise downstairs as well but I thought it wasn’t the boys and was perhaps the heating instead, as they know full well that we all go downstairs together, after opening the presents in our stockings upstairs first. I couldn’t believe it when I saw Aaron and Ben creeping back up the stairs when I went to investigate. I was quite mad and so was Kelly! So they were sent back to their beds as it was even too early for me, and Coby was still fast asleep. Aaron ended up crying but it was apparently him who went down and then came back up and got Ben, who should have known better though, to go down again with him. Naughty boys!

We eventually allowed them out of bed at about 6:45am, as they had somehow woken Coby up by now. Kelly had already been down and put the Turkey on as it was so big it would take 5 hours to cook! Yum! So everyone came into our bedroom and we opened our presents in our stockings. The boys had some good stuff. Ben had some clothes, lots of chocolate, some new books inc an Ant Man book and a ‘How to be a superhero’ book, a crystal growing kit, Uno (card version), Match 2018 annual and some other great bits and pieces. Aaron had a Spider-Man book, Cars 3 2018 annual, clothes, lots of chocolate, a new Hot Wheel Monster Truck car, a gold panning kit, Cars 3 Top Trumps, a smelly Alien book and other items. Coby had some nice clothes and lots of chocolate, a PJ Masks book, a dinosaur book and soft toy, a PJ Masks little mug, a dinosaur in an egg kit where he had to get it out, a PJ Masks 2018 annual, a little squidgy PJ Masks figure and lots of other nice things. They were all very happy with what they got in their stocking and were tucking into the chocolate and sweets already!

We then went downstairs had saw the huge amount of presents under the tree that Father Christmas had left. Coby was amazed but the other two had seen them already so were quite sheepish! We had our usual shortbread biscuits for breakfast (which we always do on Christmas Day) and started opening the presents. It took us about 3 hours to open everything as we did have to stop for the occasional phone call and for Kelly to put things in and out of the cooker for our Turkey dinner. We all thought that it was smelling lovely!

Everyone got some really nice presents and the boys were so excited (especially Aaron) but mostly well behaved. Kelly and I were quite surprised at how calm Coby was, although he did want to open every present up and take a proper look when he got them, but we had to keep telling him to hold on until all the presents had been opened. All the boys got some roller skates from Father Christmas, which is what they all asked for, and some knee and elbow pads (apart from Coby who had some already). They also got a remote control helicopter for Ben, 3D Qixels for Aaron and a PJ Masks backpack for Coby from Father Christmas.  We then cracked into our main presents, which were piled high under and around the tree.  The other presents that Ben got were Battlebots, Harry Potter Top Trumps game, some more books, some clothes, a Volcano kit, Harry Potter Top Trumps (different to the game), some Lego, Roald Dahl DVD, Ghost Hunt game, a Saltrock hoody and some others. Aaron got a Playmobil Police Van, a Mega Garage, Buggaloop game, Everton T-Shirt, more clothes and sweets, a flying Minion, Soggy Doggy game and a Minion dressing gown. Coby got a toy BBQ set, a Robo Turtle, Magic Trax, a PJ Masks Innotab game, Everton T-Shirt, more clothes, a Batman remote control car, a Don’t Drop Chase game and a massive wooden train set. They all loved their presents!

We managed to open everything before sitting down to a lovely Roast Turkey with starters and dessert. The boys scoffed quite a lot (as it was so nice!) and then went and played with their toys, whilst Kelly and I sat down to watch the annual Top Of The Pops show on TV (recorded). We played with the boys for the rest of the afternoon before speaking to Grandma, Uncle Darren and Aunty Marina on the laptop. The boys then had some tea, as they were somehow hungry, before playing for a little while more before bedtime. They all went up just after 7pm as they were all tired out, especially Ben and Aaron due to them getting up so early! Kelly and I then relaxed and had some cold meat for supper before heading off to bed ourselves.

It had been a really good Christmas Day, once the issues in the morning had been forgotten about. Everyone had really great presents and lots of things to look at and play with over the rest of the Christmas period.

Aaron’s 2nd birthday didn’t quite go to plan unfortunately! Ben managed to get Chicken Pox at the time so our plan of going to Pennywell Farm on the day before his actual party was cancelled as we couldn’t take Ben anywhere. At this point, Aaron didn’t have Chicken Pox either so it was a bit of a shame really.

On his actual birthday, which was a Saturday, we had planned to have family over and to do a BBQ. But due to Ben being ill, not everyone came in fear of catching it as well or passing it on to those who had never had it, although some people did still come and we still did a BBQ.

We were up a good time that day and went down to the front room which was all decked out in birthday banners, birthday balloons and presents for Aaron. He was very excited to say the least, and Ben was also very excited! We gave him a new garage set, a pack of cars, clothes, a wooden jigsaw and a couple of other things. He is obsessed with cars so he loved those, and I had to put the 3 level garage together straight away! He also opened the cards that had arrived for him but he was more interested in the toys!! 😉

Just after 12pm, family members started to arrive and give the little man their presents for him. He had lots of other things such as a couple of electronic Dinosaurs that talk to each other, books and games, remote controlled car, clothes, a car track mat for their bedroom and some money. At this point he didn’t know what to play with first and didn’t really eat anything much all day apart from biscuits as he was too busy playing!

All in all it was a good day, but it was a shame not everyone could come due to Ben being ill.  The BBQ was good as well, as the boys always enjoy a BBQ, and Gramps got sunburnt even though he was wearing a jumper! Aaron had lots of nice presents and cards so thank you to everyone that gave him something! 😉

Here are some photographs from his birthday.  We still can’t believe he is 2 already!!

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