A lovely winters day

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I don’t like winter when it is grey, wet and gloomy, but give me clear blue skies and fresh frosty air and I absolutely love it. I love to get bundled up warm and go for a walk in the crisp air before heading somewhere cosy to warm up afterwards. After a wet week last week the forecast for the Saturday was for a perfect winter’s day, so we made plans to walk over to our local country park. It started out just as us then we thought we would see if the in laws fancied a stroll with us, then hubs’ younger brother decided he would like to come for a bit too.

We strolled over then after meeting up with Granny and Granddaddy had a play on one of the playparks.PhotoGrid_1453220093982

Uncle Simon arrived shortly after and we headed in to one of the cafes to warm up with a cuppa and cake.

My teacup is empty at thhis point by the way!

My teacup is empty at thhis point by the way!

Then it was out for another explore. It was interesting making sure LM stayed away from the lakes as she does love water! She enjoyed strolling along with her family though.PhotoGrid_1453220373293

There was a really funny moment where another little one of a similar age saw LM and began ecstatically waving and shouting to her. They had a little meeting of minds here I think and then LM wanted to follow him and his mummy instead of coming with us haha!PhotoGrid_1453220433587

We continued our walk via the site of roman villa that hubs and I remember playing on when we were kids.PhotoGrid_1453220693786

Randomly there was loads of pretty shellfish shells about (assuming they were dropped by birds but did they get them from the lakes?) some had ice in and Monkey very cutely
decided that they were “baby ice” that were missing their mummy. Daft little cutie!PhotoGrid_1453220742447

We got the selfie stick out at this point to get a shot of us all and didn’t too badly with hehe.20160116140127

By now it was getting toward lunchtime so Uncle Simon headed home and we popped into the other cafe for a bite of lunch and to warm up with another cuppa.

Food obviously tastes much nicer from Mummy's plate

Food obviously tastes much nicer from Mummy’s plate

Last stop of the day was feeding the ducks with LM repeatedly shouting “dah” “dah” at every duck she saw haha. She says dah to other things too but will always shout it at any duck picture or duck she sees so I am pretty sure she means duck some of the time. PhotoGrid_1453221025658

Then it was time to head home, with a quick stop for a family selfie along the way.20160116_131512

20160116_132147A lovely winters day.

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Tempting Fate

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Do you believe in fate? Are you superstitious? I don’t think of myself as a particularly superstitious person. I walk under ladders and on cracks on pavements. I can never remember if black cats crossing your path are meant to be good or bad luck. But.. and there is a but… There are some things I do seem to believe in. I recently read a post from Mama at My Kid Doesn’t Poop Rainbows about sods law. This is one I know well… as do most parents I’m sure. When you need your little one to nap, they are bound to be wide awake, and when you want them to stay awake, you guessed it, they are fast asleep. I won’t go on but you know what I mean.

Then there is tempting fate… And I can’t help it, from experience I do set a bit of a store by tempting fate. No matter how irrational I also believe it to be and how much I know that saying a particular sentence is NOT going to change the course of events… There are some things I will not say for fear that doing so will have disastrous consequences. And I’m not alone in this.

My husband has a thing about saying the Q word in reference to work. Quiet. The moment you say “ooh it’s quiet today” you can guarantee a catastrophe the likes of which have never been seen before meaning you are run off your feet and working late and stressed beyond belief. So the Q word is never uttered by him at work, and I have to admit I was the same when I was working too

Linking back to sods law, one thing that I am sure many parents will not do it discuss how well their child/ren are sleeping. Woe betide any parent who mentions that their child is sleeping well. Whether they are referring to on that occasion or in general.. It feels like a mistake to utter the words just in case by saying it you cause then to wake screaming!

On a journey you absolutely cannot utter the words we are making good time, or hasn’t it been a good journey so far… Because you know that you will then hit an epic traffic jam or every road leading to your destination will have been closed resulting in diversions that spread the length of the country.

These are just things I know to be true. You can say something positive and then it feels like the powers of fate decide to do the absolute opposite… Purely with a sort of “ha! In your face” motivation. Even writing this feels a bit ridiculous I grant you but then why I do I believe it?

So every now and then I like to try and tempt fate to doing something nice for me instead. For example right now I am going to say this. We are in the midst of a serious phase of poo escapage. In truth it has only happened twice (but come on, when it comes to poo, surely once is more than enough?), once when a certain cheeky madam removed her nappy and stepped in it… smearing poo across the floor, and a second occasion which resulted in fishing poo out of the bath. Shudder. So I am saying again, that we are in the grips of a serious phase of poo escapage in the desperate hope that the powers of fate choose once again to prove me wrong (please, please, please, please). What do you think of my chances? 😉

Do you believe in tempting fate? Or am I writing utter nonsense in yout opinion?

Siblings January 2016

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Parenting 2 kids can be a lot of hard work, there is no doubt about it. But one of the best things about parenting 2 kids is watching them grow and develop together. I love watching my two have fun together, yes they annoy each other and bicker and snatch toys from each other but on the whole they get on brilliantly and I couldn’t ask for more. Monkey especially is so good and tolerant of his baby sister thank goodness and it is lovely seeing them together. So without further ado here are a few shots of my gorgeous pair over the last month.

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LM is screaing with joy here I promise!

 

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dear beautiful

8 Films that make me smile

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Christmas is over, the decorations are down and it is back to work and the day to day routine. I’m actually really enjoying it at the moment but it’s not uncommon for the January blues to strike so I thought I would share a few films that make me smile whenever I see them. So if you get hit with the January blues (or February in fact… my hubs gave me a very cheerful statistic about February being the month when most suicides occur, lovely!) and its cold and grey outside, curl up, get cosy and watch something to make you smile.

20160106_140029The Day After Tomorrow

Ha, bet you thought this would be a list of chick flicks and rom coms right? There are some of those but come on, who doesn’t love a good disaster movie? I’m not sure why but this has got to be one of my favourites.

Storyline: Thanks to global warming Earth is hit by a series of super storms which change the face of the planet and start another ice age. Dennis Quaid is the only scientist who spots this coming but, uh-oh, his son is stuck miles away in New York with a few friends. Cue the best line of the film “I will come for you.” He he full of fab effects and awesome scenes. Just good fun and totally cheesy but makes me smile.

20160106_135819The Sound of Music

An oldie but such a goodie. Happy music and a goody two shoes Julie Andrews frolicking about in the hillside but it’s just so much fun and the kids are cute. Love it.

Storyline: Julie Andrews is a terrible novice nun so they send her to be governess for the 7 (?!) children of a very strict ex sea Captain (Christopher Plummer) whose wife has died. She is obviously the best governess ever and a perfect new mum for the children. She and the Captain fall in love and all looks rosy except for the arrival of the Nazis who threaten to throw a spanner in the works.

p26085_p_v7_abWhat Women Want

This one always gets terrible reviews and okay it’s a bit cheesy and predictable but it is such good fun. I got Hubs to watch it with me over Christmas and he said he had a smile on his face the whole way through. Just good daft fun from start to finish.

Storyline: Mel Gibson is a chauvenist pig advertising exec who missed a promotion when it was given to a woman – Helen Hunt. A freak accident leads to him being able to hear what women are thinking. Cue much fun and him using this new found talent to steal his new boss’s ideas and get her fired. But of course, he ends up turning into a much better person as a result and falls in love along the way. Cheesy? Oh yes! Full of fun? Double Yes.

20160106_140047Julie vs Julia

A must for everyone but especially bloggers and foodie lovers. Maybe not good if you are trying to diet as there is tonnes of delicious food but it is brilliant. Meryl Streep is awesome and so funny and I love Amy Adams.

Storyline: Julie (Amy Adams) hates her job in New York and loves cooking. She challenges to cook all of the recipes from a Julia Childs recipe book and writes a blog about her journey. On the flipside we go back in time to meet Julia Childs, played by Meryl Streep, at the time she is learning to cook and writing said recipe book. Both parts of the story are hilarious and wonderful and it’s just a really feel-good film.

20160106_140139The Help

Bit of a political one this one but such a lovely story makes this tale set in a time of racism and segregation heart warming and so so funny. The way “the help” were treated is horrific but they get their own back, and come on, who doesn’t like a good bit of comeuppance?

Storyline: 1960s Mississippi and a society girl (Emma Stone) who doesn’t quite fit in has dreams of becoming a writer. She has the great idea of persuading the black women who work for the upper class white families to share their stories of life as “the help” raising their children and cleaning their houses, much to the horror of their employers. Great fun and you have to watch it.

20160106_140122Somethings Gotta Give

A rom com with a bit of a difference as it isn’t all about the young and the beuatiful. So so funny watching Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson navigate the world of sex and romance for the over 60’s. Brilliant acting obviously and it is so so funny and heart warming.

Storyline: Jack Nicholson is a rich and successful batchelor who only dates young women, much to the disgust of Diane Keaton when he is dating her daughter (Amanda Peet). They hate each other on sight but when he has a heart attack they are forced to spend time together, and even though she is dating his doctor (Keanu Reeves) the pair end up falling in love.

20160106_140235What to expect when you’re expecting

A must see for parents and parents to be. Unlike the usual glossy view of pregnancy being all about happiness and glowing women, this film very amusingly shows the realities of pregnancy. There is also a fantastic group of dads who take the kids to the park every week, headed by Chris Rock so I am sure you can guess how funny that is.

Storyline: The film basically follows a number of couples as they discover they are pregnant right through until birth. Dealing with everything from flatulence and wetting yourself to relationship troubles and miscarriage. A fantastic cast including Cameron Diaz, Rebel Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Elizabeth Banks and as mentioned, Chris Rock. Just great fun and like I say, parents will love it.

20160106_135753Matilda

I love Roald Dahl and this has got to be one of my favourites. What kid wouldn’t love to have magical powers meaning you can get your own back on the people who treat you badly? It’s full of so much wonderful language such as “festering pustule” and “carbunkle” it is great fun from start to finish.

Storyline: Matilda is born into a family who doesn’t appreciate her and she is generally left to her own devices. Sent to a school presided over by the awesome Principal Trunchbull who hates children, things aren’t looking much better for Matilda, until she meets her lovely teacher, Miss Honey. Oh and did I mention? Matilda learns she has magical powers meaning she can move this things with her mind. This enables her to get her own back on Ms Trunchbull and her family. Great fun.

Ooh I could probably go on forever as the more I think about it, the more films I can think of that make me smile! Rom-coms such as Wimbledon and my new favourite About Time are just lovely and cheerful. Both the Sex and the City films make me smile, and the second one especially with the honesty for how hard being a mother is! More good fun action romps include White House Down and Olympus has fallen… the latter including the wonderful line “Let’s play a game of f**k off, you go first.” haha But I won’t go on.

The point is, don’t get hit by the January blues, watch something that will make you smile instead. What films are guaranteed to make you smile?

A Winter Nature Walk

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Some mornings it is completely bonkers in our house. So bonkers that I feel like if I don’t get myself and the children outside immediately then I will completely lose my sanity. Ever feel like that?

Wednesday was one of those mornings and thankfully it did not coincide with a torrential downpour type of morning. So by 9am (it was a no playgroup day) the kids and I were wrapped up warm and out on a walk in the cold foggy morning. And you know what, it was mainly lovely.PhotoGrid_1452254000135

LM was being really grizzly but she loves getting out (often presenting me with shoes and coats when to illustrate her point) and Monkey jumped at the chance to go out too. He said he wanted to find conkers. I did point out that it’s not really the time of year for conkers but said we could go to a good conker spot and see what we could find.

It wasn’t too far away and when we got there I let LM out of the buggy for a wander while Monkey and I searched. We found lots of conker shells and half a conker that had been half-eaten presumably by squirrels. No pictures of it though as at this point I wasn’t planning a blog post (bad blogger). Then Monkey found a stick who he decided was “stick man” of course. The kids were very cute wandering round and exploring and it was lovely.PhotoGrid_1452254165376PhotoGrid_1452254235126

Then LM got grizzly (I did say it was mainly lovely) so it was back in the buggy and on we went. I decided to continue the nature hunt theme though and Monkey and I looked at all the different colour berries and were talking about why the trees were bare etc. It was lovely and LM was enjoying looking at the berries and bits too.PhotoGrid_1452254458452

There was the obligatory bit of hide and seek (Monkey loves hiding…. All the time) and LM got out a couple of times too to explore the bushes etc. PhotoGrid_1452254582188

It was freezing but lovely and just nice to get out and escape the insanity that being indoors a lot can result in at this time of year!

Playtime Ideas at 14 months

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20151228_101743 (2)Little Miss turned 14mths a couple of weeks ago but with Christmas and everything I never got round to writing an update. So I thought for a change I would write about what playtime we have been up to instead. One of the things I love most about being a stay at home mum is being able to watch my children learn and grow in front of my eyes. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in the drudgery of day to day life, laundry, cleaning etc. and I forget to stop and really pay attention to the way my littlies play and the way they are learning in their playtime.

Little Miss is at such a lovely age, she is so inquisitive and so full of fun, it has it’s challenges of course but I love this stage of development and watching her learn all of the time. Here are a few of the simple playtime ideas I have been using lately to encourage her learning.

At this age toddlers love posting things and sorting things. Monkey was the same at this age so the first few activities are a variation on the same theme really.

Posting in a pringles tube

We rarely have pringles but at Christmas we did and I have kept the tube as it really does make for perfect toddler playtime. LM adores putting things in the tube then either tipping it out to start all over again, or reaching in and taking them out one by one. She can spend ages playing like this, look at the concentration on her little face. It is fascinating to watch her and the things she is learning when she picks up the various objects. For example this gray bit of duplo, instead of grabbing it in one she was fiated on picking it up on the smallest part of it using her pincer grip, and only did it that way which I thought was very cute.PhotoGrid_1451917206583

Then when we played it a few days later she was insistent on picking up two objects in her hand at once. It was lovely watching her work out how she needed to change her grip in order to be able to pick up both items at once and she did really well.

Plastic cutlery sorting

LM is randomly a little obsessed with our dishwasher, she always has been and she especially loves the cutlery holder. Now obviously we don’t let her play with it when it has dirty or sharp things in there, but occasionally I will get it out with some of our plastic cutlery as she loves putting the cutlery in and taking it out again.20151217_082305

Water Play

Also in the kitchen, LM still loves playing in the sink and quite often ‘helps’ with the washing up, splashing about in the sink while I clean up. She does like sorting here though too and likes putting things on the drianing board when she has finished with them.

Pasta Play

The good old Tuff Spot comes out for this one as it helps contain the pasta but it’s not essential. Basically I give LM some dried pasta and a few kitchen bits like a measuring jugs, some measuring spoons etc and let her have an explore. She has great fun taking things out of one container and putting them into another, and pouring them out all over the place and again it is lovely to see the concentration on her face. I also thought it was so cute when she started stirring an empty jug with a spoon and then brought it to her face to eat!PhotoGrid_1451917046555

Early pretend play

Though obviously she is very young LM does like to get involved with her big brother’s pretend play. She has started to pretend to feed her baby a bottle of milk and when we have teddy bear tea parties she likes giving food and things to her teddies to play with. It’s funny though as she also loves feeding people, whether you want to eat the food she is giving you or not haha!PhotoGrid_1451917723282

I also adore it when she is playing with cars, pushing them along the ground and when she makes planes fly through the air copying us doing the same. Adorable. 20151228_151843

Hide and seek

One of LM’s absolute favourite games is hide and seek. She loves peeping out at me or me peeping out at her and it is lovely to see her playing with her brother too. It is good for little ones too, teaching them about object permanence, and when we are playing it with a toy I love seeing her trying to work out where it is going to jump out from next.20151223_095115

Reading

LM loves books and learns so much from them. She is getting really good at turning the pages herself but she is also learning a lot from the books themselves. Some of her favourites have a lovely rhythm to them and many contain little hidden learning. I really love a peepo book called “Where’s baby’s belly button” where the babies in the storie are hiding certian things, eyes, mouth and belly button. I point out each part of their body on her too and she has now started copying and pointing at her belly button, feet etc. along with the story which I love.PhotoGrid_1451922231742

The “That’s not my…” series are so lovely too as they are so touchy feely and she is learning about all sorts of different textures through these stories. Another favourite is Rainbow Rob which as well as being touchy feely also talks a lot about colours and has a great message about being yourself – which is a good lesson in life I think!

Climbing

Our little lady is well and truly at a climbing age. She gives me heart failure at times but I do think it is important to let her explore, to a certain extent. She is getting really good at climbiing onto the little Ikea chairs we have in the conservatory, and she has been loving climbing ladders at the playpark to reach a slide. She does stumble at times but she tries so hard and like I say, I think it is important for her to learn.PhotoGrid_1451917318057

One area I need to be braver with is messy play. By this age Monkey had been exploring in sensory activities like homemade finger painting and playdough etc. but I haven’t been brave enough with LM. I am determined to rectify this soon though so there will be a second instalment of ideas when I do!

#ToddlerApprovedTuesday

Wintery Walks

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The last couple of days the weather has been more what I expect at this time of year, after such a wet and miserable Christmas. We are lucky, I know, that we don’t live somewhere that has been remotely affected by the extreme rainfall and flooding and I am so very grateful for that. Nevertheless the weather has been weird this year, warm and wet! So I have enjoyed the colder turn the last couple of days.

The air has been crisp and fresh and though very cold at times it has been the perfect weather to get out and have some fun with kiddies on a couple of wintry walks.

The first was just us as a family. It didn’t get off to the best start as Hubs asked me to pick up his flask of tea and, not realising it was open, I managed to spill it all very me. Cue one very painful scalded hand. Ouch. But after some cold water and aloe vera we carried on and walked to a nearby shopping centre and then stopped at a park on the way home.
The kids loved being out and about running round like loonies and especially enjoyed the play area.

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On New Years day we were out again. My parents popped over and we went for a lovely walk to a park at the local school. There was lots of fun and smiles and larking around before heading home to warm up with some yummy hot soup.
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Nice to get out and about and burn off some energy in the fresh wintery air.

Goals for me in 2016

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Most of my posts on here are about our family life and the kiddies especially. Inevitable really as they are the most important things in my life but for now I thought I would write a little post about me. I’m not particularly setting new years resolutions as I don’t think you have to start something new just because it is the new year. The being said there are changes that need to be made and things about me that I want to focus on and now is as good a time as any to start.

Diet and exercise
Yep, starting with the obvious one. I have been eating way too much for quite a while, even before Christmas and have definitely not worried about indulging over the Christmas period. I am not beating myself up over this, life is too short and I have enjoyed myself. But, and there is a but, I am not happy with the added weight I am carrying at the moment.

Our scales broke a while ago and we haven’t replaced them so I don’t know how much I actually weigh (I find it better to judge based on how my clothes fit anyway) but I am carrying it a bit differently at the moment. I’m pear shaped and have always carried extra weight around my hips and bottom. Now though, I guess as a result of being stretched from having 2 children I am very much expanding around my middle and ooh do I hate it! I have been wearing legs and tunics and dresses loads as it is more comfy than squeezing into jeans and it is time to tackle it. I’m a big believer that if you are unhappy about something then you are the one who needs to change it. So that is what I am going to do. No matter how much I enjoy eating, I don’t enjoy carrying around the extra weight so need to change.

Of course the main thing is going to be watching what I eat again. I have done weight watchers before and find the points really help me be aware of how much I am eating etc. so I will be doing that again. No fad diets here, just sensibe eating. Exercise is going to play a big part too though. My friends and I have been swimming once or twice a week for a while (thank goodness or I don’t know how huge I would be) so that will continue and I want to make it a definite twice a week thing. I also want to do more yoga or pilates as I really need to strengthen my back.

I’ve always had a few problems with my back, especially my lower back but since having kids my upper back can get terrible too. (All the carrying and stooping over etc.) It gives me horrific headaches from the referred pain and I know I need to work on strengthening my core and my whole body. There is a great pilates class nearby I was supposed to start a couple of months ago but, well, it hasn’t happened. The first week I didn’t go as LM had croup, the next week hubs Grandpa died that day, then I was ill, then I was preparing to host hub’s grandpa’s wake, then Monkey had croup, then I did actually go but the woman running it had the flu and cancelled the class! Then I was out for a meal and then it was Xmas week and they closed. So it has been a catalogue of disasters but I really want to try and go in January.

I’ve also been wondering how I can squeeze some yoga in to my day as I have a couple of good dvds and even 10 mins of good stretching here and there would be better than nothing. Every evening at the mo hubs does bath time with the kids and because I am shattered, unless I am sorting laundry I am generally lying on my bed playing candy crush until LM gets annoyed and I play with her while hubs carries on bathing Monkey. I am trying to make this a bit of yoga time instead and I have managed 2 days so far! Hopefully I can improve on that and hopefully it will contribute to me feeling better, fitter and stronger.

Postnatal Depression
I haven’t talked about it much for a while because I have being doing so much better on antidepressants but the time has come where my doctor has suggested trying to see how I feel about coming off them. There’s no rush obviously but it has been over 6 mths and I guess you don’t know if you don’t try, right? So she has suggested taking them on alternate days to see how I feel. I started this right before Christmas and sadly it didn’t go well. I would skip a tablet and feel fine all that day, but the following morning I was feeling very stressed again. I wondered if it was psychosomatic but I would have thought that if that was the case then I would have felt anxious on the day I skipped a tablet, rather than 24hrs later?

Anyway I got quite anxious and stressed and after a chat with my husband, who was concerned about the way I was reacting to things, we decided I wouldn’t try this until after Christmas. Christmas can be stressful enough as it is and he didn’t like seeing me reacting the way I was when things were at their worst. I am trying again now though and so we shall see how things go this time. If I react the same way again then I will tell my doctor that I don’t feel ready yet, as I don’t want to pressure myself into coming off them until I am ready.

I also hope to make a bit more time for me and my friends this year as it is all too easy to be consumed with family life, though I know it does me the world of good to just be me from time to time. It’s a difficult one as my kids are the most important thing in the world to me but I know it is good for them to have time with their Daddy and with their grandparents and good for them if I feel fresh from having a break. The doesn’t always make it easy to leave them though or take away the guilt when Monkey gets sad about me going. Which happens.. even some time afterwards and even if he had a lovely time at the time, he just comes out with the fact that mummy going somewhere made him sad. Talk about pulling my heart strings! But I know he has so much of me that it isn’t a bad thing for me to do things for myself sometimes too.

As for the blogging…. I um and ah about it a lot and think about stopping but the truth is enjoy it. I am always thinking about what else I can blog about. I am never going to be a huge blogger, I just don’t have the time or energy. I don’t contact pr companies or fight to get what I can… If someone would like me to review something and it is something I would genuinely use then I will review it. Otherwise again I just don’t have the time or energy. But that’s OK because it is a hobby I enjoy and the rest doesn’t really matter. I am going to make more of an effort to engage with the blogging community though and my favourite bloggers in particular. I can be very insular by nature and tend to hide away rather than joining in with things but this can mean I miss out so I want to try a bit harder with that.

I am also going to try and be a bit more organised. While Hubs has been off we have done a lot of sroting round the house, the loft and garage are much more organised as are many of our cupboards and the conservatory is possibly the cleanest it has ever been. So this should help. I have aso been rubbish at doing things like sending thank you cards over the past year which I hate so I am going to try and be more organised in that respect too.

So I say I am not setting new years resolutions… but I guess I am. I just hope that they are realistic and achieveable though rather than pie in the sky objectives that will fall by the wayside after a few months!! Over all I think I just want to be happy this year and I hope that by making a decision to change the things I dislike that I can achieve that and feel better overall.

Are you setting yourselves any resolutions this January? What would you like to achieve over the next year?

Our Family in 2015

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So the end of the year is approaching and I am not going to do a full look back at the past year… but I thought it was a good opportunity instead to have a look at all the me and mine shots of our little foursome taken over the past year, to see how much we have all grown and changed.family 2015

Some shots are better than others (ahem June!) and the only shot I have of the four of us for December is a pretty rubbish selfie on the bed on Christmas morning… but it is a shot of all of us and you can see how different the kiddies look compared to January, with LM obviously changing the most throughout the course of the year.

There is much to come in 2016, birthdays, a wonderful holiday with my parents, hopefully house sitting for friends in Dorset again, Monkey starting school in September (eek) and generally enjoying our children grow and change every day. I know people say life with children doesn’t get easier it just changes. .. but I have to disagree. Yes there are always challenges, that’s life, but the challenges are different as the children grow and I personally find that things do get easier as the little onesgrow out of the baby stage.

This time next year LM will probably be talking… she may not be napping anymore and at 2 may even be on her way to being toilet trained. Monkey will be at school and hopefully doing well. It will be a very different Christmas and our lives will be different. I can’t help but be excited to see what else 2016 has in store for us and I plan (or hope) to enjoy every minute as much as I can.

Happy New Year to you and all the best for 2016. Thanks for reading!

Run Jump Scrap!

Christmas 2015

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Wow, well that’s it, Christmas is over for another year eh? And what a wonderful Christmas it was in our house. Really magical. Mainly for the sake of posterity here is a quick round up. (And it is quite picture heavy – be warned! :))

Christmas eve and Monkey was so excited to put out the food for Father Christmas and his Reindeer.20151224_182915

Christmas morning and our Little Minx unfortunately woke up around 530. Yawn! We managed to all stay in bed till 615 when she started getting unhappy and woke her brother. Being Christmas we then all piled into our bed with stocking for the excitement of opening our stockings. This is a tradition I remember from when I was a kid and love carrying it on with ours. Wonderful to see Monkey’s excitement at all the little bits and bobs Father Christmas bought him, and though she didn’t have as much LM was very happy with her pressies too. A couple of very attractive family selfies were taken on the bed then it was time to head downstairs.PhotoGrid_1451288565218

We’ve started the tradition that in addition to stockings, FC leaves a wrapped present for each child under the tree and a joint one. Monkey was thrilled to see the food had been eaten and drink drunk and was so excited by his presents. Then we all gave each other some presents. Monkey was massively excited with his Woody toy and LM loved her happyland bits though I think she was wondering what was going on, as well as enjoying it all.PhotoGrid_1451288856877

Then it was time for our yummy traditional fry up breaks something else I remember from growing up. A real treat for Christmas morning and Monkey even ate some of Daddy’s black pudding… and he loved it! Good boy!

We were hosting Christmas at ours, which is about the 4th year in a row. We love doing it, are luck to have the space and it does make it so much easier to have the kids at home where they are comfy for naps etc. This year was the turn of having my family all round. So far the Christmas Dinners have been a joint effort or very much down to Hubs, but this year was the first year I have cooked it all on my own and thankfully it went really well! We did our favourite cider braised ham with honey and mustard glaze instead of Turkey (controversial I know) and of course all the trimmings. Because we are planners we have all the timings written down and for Christmas they are even laminated and honestly it takes so much stress out of it as I knew exactly what I needed to do and when. I was really proud of myself and dinner went down a storm!christmas meal

We all got some truly wonderful presents. I got a beautiful necklace from hubs engraved with his and the kids names, my parents got us annual membership to an awesome farm centre nearby and one of my brother’s gave us vouchers for a meal out including the offer of babysitting – the perfect gift for any parents and so thoughtful! I can’t list everything here but we really were all spoilt with such thoughtful presents. Hubs’ best present was a drone I got him. He has been saying he wanted one since we went to the gadget show and though I have very much vetoed the £2000 ones I found a very cheap one on amazon and it has been so much fun over Christmas. A couple of pictures taken with it haha he needs some practice but they aren’t bad! Not the best quality when it is dark though.drone

We went for a little walk in the wet in the afternoon to clear our heads a bit and get some fresh air and it did the kids good to get out of he house. Plus they loved having fun with their uncles.PhotoGrid_1451314758910

A few other piccies of all the fun throughout the rest of the day 🙂PhotoGrid_1451289267224

That night when the kids were in bed it was time to rouse our sleepy selves and play some games. Always so much fun and much laughter ensues. Got to be one of my favourite parts of Christmas laughing and having fun with my wonderful family.PhotoGrid_1451314882914

The next day was the turn of hubs’ side of the family and they all came round for yet more presents and a lovely buffet. More yummy food for us all. Again we were all so spoiled with wonderful presents and had so much fun. The kids adore all of their aunts and uncles and grandparents and we are so so lucky to have all of the family so close both literally and figuratively.PhotoGrid_1451315052317

So there we have it, we’ve eaten, drunk and certainly been very merry. What a wonderful happy magical Christmas

How was yours? Ihope it was everything you could have wished for.