Family Time at Prezzo

During the half term last week the children and I met up with my sister and her daughters for a lunch treat at Prezzo. The school holidays gave us the perfect opportunity to get together with the children to enjoy some food. 

Prezzo have made family dining even easier and family orientated with their new La Famiglia Feast sharing dish. We, as a family love to sit and eat together and regardless what others have everybody wants to dig in and try other meals which when you are out can be a bit difficult. But Prezzo have created the perfect feast for a family. One large bowl of pasta, side dishes, drinks and even ice cream. One bowl for everyone to share. This is ideal for families and a fantastic way to come together over some delicious food.

20 Questions to Ask your Children

Have you seen the latest craze on social media where parents ask their children a series of questions? As you can imagine the answers to the vary from child to child dependent on age and gender. But you can guarantee that the answers will portray a variety of sentiments. They really do give us a glimpse into their imaginative minds. So when Shepherds Friendly asked me if I would like to have a go and ask the children a series of questions I thought it would be a great idea. I love the idea of asking the same set of questions next January to compare their answers as they get older.

Their answers made me smile, made me giggle, made me gasp and, of course, made my heart melt. This is what they said...

#FoodieseekerFriday - Seuss at Sea and Fun for the Kids

For this weeks Foodieseeker Friday post I thought I would tell you all about the children's activities. As I am sat writing this I have two excited twins telling me to click here and there! To prepare the children for the Dr Seuss adventure on board Carnival Vista they already have Dr Seuss teddies and books so they are already familiar characters. In true Carnival style there are so many Dr Seuss themed activities, including the legendary Green Eggs and Ham!

The Green Eggs and Ham Breakfast with the cat in the hat and friends is going to be a breakfast like no other. The dining area will be brightly decorated and filled with all of the fun of Dr Seuss.

The menu makes this a truly unique breakfast. The menu is full of classic Dr Seuss style poems to describe the culinary delights that await, such as...

• Do You Like Green Eggs and Ham? "Would you, could you, on a boat? Try them while you float. Try them and you may, I say."
• Scrambled Super-Dee Dooper-dee-Booper, Special de luxe a-la Peter T Hooper Omelette's "We'll crack'em and shuck'em and chuck'em in pans. We'll mix in some beans and use fifty five cans. We'll mix in whatever you wish; feel free to create your own stupendous egg dish."
• Truffula Tree Pancakes "Those pancakes! Those pancakes! Stacked high as the trees. I've been searching my whole life for stacks such as these!"
• From There to Here, From Here to There, Funny Belgian Waffles are Everywhere "One berry, two berry, red berry, blue berry. Waffles with whipped cream, waffles without. Just tell us which one; no need to shout."
• Fox in Socks Steak and Eggs "Don't blab such blibber blubber! Try to say filet mignon topped with two fried eggs, Bearnaise sauce, chopped potatoes and grilled tomatoes. Now is your tongue numb?" 

Introducing Organix Punk'd!

Now that the summer holidays are here I know that my kids will be saying"I'm hungry!" even more than usual. I am sure that I will not be the only parent hearing this. My kids never seem to be full, they always seem to be hungry so finding a snack that will fill them up, give them the energy that they need for lots of play but they need to be healthy too.

Thankfully my children are not too fussy and will quite happily snack on fruit but sometimes they want something more. So when I discovered that Organix are bringing out a new snack bar for older children I was excited to find out more.

Introducing Organix Punk'd!

27th February - 4th March 2016 - One Picture Everyday For One Year

This week has been a tough one. I have had my medication for depression changed yet again. Thankfully the new one seems, so far, better than the last.

This week has seen a lazy weekend, a tea party, cake, flowers and walks through puddles. This is my week in pictures...

Saturday 27th February 2016

On Saturday I managed to have some crochet time which was lovely. I got behind a few days with my sky blanket but now I am almost caught up.

Sunday 28th February 2016

Travelling With Children Over Christmas

As the Christmas holidays arrive I am sure many of you will be thinking about travelling with children. Whether it is to travel to visit families or whether you are going on holiday travelling with children can be hard at the best of times but with the added excitement of Christmas it is even more important that they have plenty to keep them occupied.

Here are my top tips for keeping them busy on long journeys.

Pack a Festive Packed Lunch

How many times do you hear from the kids "I'm hungry!" when on a journey, I know ours say it a lot. So the best way to keep their tummies happy is with a festive packed lunch. If you look in the supermarket there are some fantastic, disposable plates, napkins and straws which will make the pack up even more fun. Even add a cracker for a bit more excitement.

Keeping Our Homes Secure

I don't know about your children but the twins are obsessed with playing with keys. House keys, car keys or toy keys, they love them! We have often had to look through the toys to see where they had been playing with some keys.

So when I was asked if I had ever thought about using a key safe, it did get me thinking. What would happen if the twins got hold of the house keys and lost them? What would happen if the car keys got lost?

We would be lost!

It is amazing how keys can mean so much and how much we take them for granted.

You may have read in the past that we are planning to to extend our house next year and change the kitchen setting. When I took a look at security websites, such as Fast Keys I was amazed by how many home security and safety items that they provide and how they could fit into our house. When it comes to refurbishing the kitchen a key safe will be top of the list. The safe pictured below would be my ideal choice. Not only will the colour blend in but there are hooks for 100 keys and will keep them fully secure and safe from little fingers. This slim key safe would fit perfectly behind the door, it is not big or bulky or obtrusive. It is discreet and adds an extra bit of security to the home.

Photograph courtesy of Fast Keys

Healthy Fruity Halloween Treats with Aldi

When Halloween comes around it is fun the have lots of goodies. But the goodies do not always have to be full of sugar and nasties!

So when Aldi challenged me to create six healthy treats I was definitely up for the challenge!

Here are my six spooktacular treats!!!

Children's Activity Booklet - Perfect For Half Term!

It does not feel like the children have been back at school for two minutes yet we have a half term coming up! Yes, the children have just next week to go and then it is a week off!

I always find the autumn half term a difficult one. The weather is not always great so you cannot guarantee that you will be able to go out or let the child play out in the garden. So it is essential that you have some back up plans and are prepared for days inside.

I have already got some baking activities planned after the twins pointed out a few recipes that they would like to make. But other than that, so far, I have been stuck. Since they started nursery they have wanted more structured activities to do, so when I was asked if I would like to look at some activity booklets that are available online to keep the kids busy I jumped at the chance!

Stuff4Schools have created this fantastic online activity booklet which can be downloaded and enjoyed by all. It is full of fun activities which will keep the children busy on a rainy day
.

Eat Your Veg Campaign

When I received an email asking me if I would share Eat Your Veg I was amazed to read some of the statistics that they were sharing.

Healthy eating, particularly in the children, is a subject which I feel passionate about. That is why I decided that I would share Eat Your Veg with you. I am in no way being compensated for this post, I just honestly believe that after reading the statistics that I am going to share with you, you will re-evaluate how your children eat.

Eat Your Veg is a charitably funded project which is aimed to encourage UK families to add more vegetables to their daily diet.

Recently CBBC reported that more than half of children do not eat a single portion of vegetables a day.This worrying statistic shows why we need to think more about what our children eat and get more veg into their diets.

How Does Your Garden Grow? Week 1

Monday was Joseph's last day of the Christmas holiday so I decided to venture out with the three children on my own. Now that the twins are getting bigger and as Joseph matures this is now a lot easier and more enjoyable to do. All three of them loved being out and amazingly the twins just wanted to walk with Joseph which gave me a fantastic chance to take some pictures.

We went to visit our favourite local gardens, Normanby Hall. I have now shared pictures of all of the seasons from the gardens. It is lovely to return over the year and see the changes and developments. We will no doubt be renewing our annual pass when the time comes.

Monday was a beautifully sunny day which gave me a lot of photo opportunities with the sun rays shinning through the trees. The peacock even posed for us on this visit.

This is how Normanby Hall's garden has grown...

As always I am sharing my How Does Your Garden Post with the lovely Annie from Mammasaurus

Point and Shoot - 4th October - 5th October 2014

This weekend certainly saw a mixture of weather! We really did have a bit of all sorts!

On Saturday we saw terrible rain and wind in the morning, which was followed by glorious sunshine. Naturally after so much rain there were plenty of muddy puddles which gave me a fun idea for the twins. So on went the wellies and coats and off the three of us went on the hunt for puddles. They giggled and chuckled the whole time. As their jumps got bigger inevitably so did the splashes. By the time we decided to go home and show the hubby what we had done they were soaked! But they had such a good time and every child should jump in muddy puddles!

On Sunday it was a cool but lovely sunny day. On days like that, we headed out to our favourite place to visit, Normanby Hall. This year we really have had our monies worth out of our annual pass. It has given us so many fantastic days out for free! During this visit we all noticed how the signs of autumn are really showing. There were so many dried, fallen leaves. The children loved ruunning through them and listening the the crunching and rustling under their feet.

This has been a lovely weekend full of quality time together as a family. Just as we like it!

Here is our weekend in picture...

As always I am sharing our weekend in pictures with the lovely Em at Snowing Indoors - Point + Shoot

Busy Day, Bad Night

As predicted, yesterday was such a busy day.
Despite all the rushing around it was a great day!
After swimming, I took charge of the twins so that hubby could watch the football match that he had been wanting to watch for weeks. After lunch I made some more of my lemon and courgette cupcakes which have become quite a favourite. Especially with Isabella. She can say cake! Whenever she knows there is a cake around all you can hear from her is
"cake, cake!"
Whilst I was in the kitchen the match finished a draw and we were ready to head over to the field day. As I started to walk round with Joseph the heavens opened. So we had to make a quick dash home. This was not a good start to our outdoor plans! Joseph was so disappointed. We decided that we would still go to the BBQ that was planned as there would be some undercover area to shelter from the rain if need be.
On our way there the sun started to shine and the rain appeared to be going away.
It had been a long time since I had seen my old work colleagues. When I say a long time, it is probably only a few months, but it felt like a long time. As we got closer I got more and more nervous. I know that this is ridiculous, these are some of my closest friends, in fact they are my closest friends! When I was at work we all got on really well and when I was working full time, I spent the majority of my time with these people. I was nervous that I had changed too much, or that I would not know what to talk about. Come on, I'm a stay at home mum, when people ask me what I've been doing it is all children and home related. But as soon as I saw them all my worries vanished. It was as if I'd seen them last week. Of course I could still talk, the children had not taken over my brain completely! It was lovely to see everybody and I sincerely hope that we all get together again soon.
What also added to my worry was how the twins would react to new people. I really should not have worried about that either. Taylor was straight off to grab a ball to play with. Isabella was a little bit more reserved. For maybe 5 minutes she stood with me holding my hand. But then she too was off to play ball with Taylor. There was not one tear! I was so proud of all three of them. Joseph went straight off to play football and the twins relished the freedom. They loved being outdoors and being able to run around and have mummy and daddy chasing them left, right and centre! We must have looked quite comical. I'd start a conversation, then mid chat I'd dash one way to get one twins and hubby would dash in the other direction for the other. It was fun. I feel so blessed with our children. However it was nearing the twins tea time so we needed to be off. As I was saying my goodbyes I was hoping that it would not be the last time that everybody gets together as I had thought it would be. I guess it won't be if we all make an effort every now and then, and I hope that we all do.
We managed to get the twins home without falling asleep, which was a major concern for us. If they fall asleep at that time of the day you can guarantee that we will have a bad night. I sat in the back with them and had a fruit pouch on hand to give them to keep them going. Hubby decided to go home via the most bumpiest, uneven road there is. So you can imagine how hard it was it squeeze some fruit onto a spoon and feed the twins whilst trying to keep steady and stop bouncing around! We all giggled on the ride home, which also helped to keep them awake.
We were even home before the end of the field day and managed to call in for the last half an hour. Everything that we had planned may not have occurred in the original order thanks to the rain, but we did them. The rain did not beat us!
After the twins were in bed Joseph went out for a birthday tea party, my mum and dad arrived with an Indian take away. So we settled in with some great food, a drink, a movie and brilliant company for the evening.
After such a busy day I was looking forward to sleep. However our little angels had other ideas. Every time I started to fall asleep one of the twins would stir, cry out or loose their dummy. I was up and down until gone 1am. Then Taylor was in bed with us from about 4am, I think! Therefore I did not get the sleep that was needed last night. But I did not get up with Taylor until nearly 7am which is a lie in.
So here I am on a sunny Sunday morning writing whilst Taylor has his milk and watches Mickey Mouse, its a good start to the day.
I may not have my career as I did have but I couldn't be happier with my new career as mummy and housewife.

Not The Best Outcome

Well today was the dreaded D-day. The day we would find out whether the cancer had slowed down or not.
Unfortunately we got the heartbreaking news that it has not slowed down. So now we really do need to face the harsh reality that this is something that will not go away. It is here to stay and it will inevitably leave us devastated.
As I have said before I cannot imagine life without my grandad in it and nor do I want to but I know, that one day, I will have to face that outcome but until it happens I really do not need to deal with that. Call it denial, call it what you will, its my defence mechanism coming into play and that's how I will cope until then.
But I have made a promise to myself to go over more often, even if it is hard work for me on my own with the children, the hard work will be worth it because I know, deep down, that if I do not make more of an effort now, one day I will regret not doing more. They have always been there for me. During the good times and during the bad times that I've been through they were always there for me. They never lost faith in me and I am proud to say that I didn't let them down.
Since being very young I can remember them having a huge impact on my life. This is why I am finding this all so hard to digest, he has always been there, I want the twins to know their Gramps as Joseph does and enjoy having him in their lives as I did when I was a child.
The only way forward, for me, is to go on as normal, well as normal as possible, and just be there whenever they need someone.
I pray that the new medication slows it down so that we can have some more time to create more memories.