Silent Sunday

Reasons to be happy

 

My reasons to be happy

We had an amazing time in Blackpool at the weekend to celebrate my birthday. We spent Saturday on all of the rides at the Pleasure Beach followed by a meal out at a lovely Indian restaurant called Imli. Sunday we explored the local shops and the sea front picking up a few goodies to take home for family and friends. Mmm fudge!

 

I've lost 11lbs in a fortnight by calorie counting and I'm very proud of myself. It won't be long until I'm purchasing my dress for my brothers wedding in September and I'm looking forward to hopefully getting into something a little smaller and looking (and feeling) stunning.

 

 

 

My birthday was yesterday and I had a great day of retail therapy with my sister. I received some fantastic gifts including a variety of new Pandora charms for my bracelet, blu-rays and clothes. Thank you to everyone who sent cards, gifts and birthday wishes - appreciated!

 

 

  

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Reasons to be happy

 

My reasons to be happy

It's beginning to look a lot like spring! Waking up to sunshine is fantastic and walking through my garden of baby daffodils each day always puts a smile on my face. Sunshine is an instant mood lifter and I can already smell the BBQ's.

 

We had a lovely weekend at Drayton Manor and the weather didn't disappoint either. It was great to have a family day out at a theme park now that Mini Mes are a little older as they go on all the scary rides too - woohoo!

 

 

 

My weight loss continues and I'm not craving junk food at all as yet. I'm focused and completely in the right mind set to do this. My goal weight doesn't seem so far away!

 

We have a weekend in Blackpool ahead. It may be a little challenging with my diet but I can't wait to have fun at the pleasure beach, see my family, have a meal and drinks out to celebrate my birthday.

 

  

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Reasons to be happy

 

My reasons to be happy

Despite a few April showers we had a lovely time in Torquay, enjoying the last week of the Easter holiday. We had fun at the arcades and the beach, a wonderful day out at Crealy and a great time at Pennywell farm feeding lambs and handling newborn lambs, goats and miniature pigs.
Lovely relaxing time together as a family.

Both of the Mini Mes went back to school without any issues and they have done a great job with spellings and reading so far this week. I always find doing homework as soon as they come in the easiest option as then they can play afterwards without getting books out again after dinner or before bed!

I have lots to look forward to with my 28th birthday fast approaching, a weekend at Drayton Manor and another at Blackpool.

 

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Happy

Jamster + marshmallows = happy

 

There is something about sweet treats that always puts a smile on the Mini Mes' faces. Their little eyes light up at the sight of cake and lollipops or anything packed with sugar and E numbers.

 

We had a lovely meal out to celebrate Minxy turning 9 on Sunday and the jelly, brownies and ice cream made her grin ear to ear too.

 

 

What makes your little one happy?

I'm linking this with...

The theme this week is happy

 



Reasons to be happy

 

My reasons to be happy

The Mini Mes have driven me insane today with constant bickering since 6.50am but regardless of that I still just about have reasons to smile with gritted teeth!

 

 

 

Jamster had a lovely birthday. We all enjoyed lunch out and the Croods and he received lots of lovely gifts. I am grateful for friends and family that sent him birthday wishes.

 

We had a really nice Easter weekend and the Mr even got me a huge Thorntons egg which was a delicious surprise.

 

We had a nice afternoon out yesterday at a small local farm feeding the goats and lambs in the sunshine. There are tea rooms there and a little farm shop with great quality produce too to explore. The newborns were seriously cute and I've not seen bottles empty that quickly in quite some time!

 

I've received prizes for two competition wins this week, I rarely even enter any, and what lovely prizes they were too. Thomas Sabo Sweet Diamond earrings, necklace and bracelet and then a Kenwood Chef Classic arrived this morning from Whitworths Sugar for my Easter recipe... in total worth around £700 which is amazing.

 

 

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Silent Sunday

Reasons to be happy

 

My reasons to be happy

My little man is 7 today - Happy birthday Jamster! We are going to the cinema to see The Croods and out for lunch to celebrate. He has received so many lovely gifts from family and friends, all of which I am very thankful for! I don't know where the past few years have gone, he is a proper little man now.

It's half term which means no early morning wake ups and lots of fun with the Mini Mes. We have some Easter crafts and baking to do and we are heading to the seaside in a few days time too. I do love lazy days and a relaxed routine.

A good friend of mine treated me to lunch the other day to say thank you for all of the bits and bobs that I give her for her little ones. She is a lovely lady and it was really nice being picked up from work, taken to the pub and dropped back home after a delicious meal. Thank you!
 

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

Reasons to be happy

My reasons to be happy

We had a lovely half term and managed to do so much during the week; baking, days out, theatre, cinema etc. The Mini Mes have settled back into the school routine well without any issues and have been cracking on with spellings, reading and homework without fussing either!

We had a lovely meal out on Monday to celebrate my dad turning 54 and the Mini Mes were complimented on their good behaviour - proud mummy alert! We also had a lovely meal out last night but as a farewell gathering for my brother and his fiancee before they move to Liverpool (her home town) to live. They will be missed but they are only a few hours away thankfully.

Minxy started swimming a few weeks ago and I am really pleased by her progress. I'm quite fearful of water and I don't want her or Jamster to be like that so it's lovely to see her confidence building. Jamster will be starting lessons after the Easter break.

What reasons to you have to be cheerful this week?

5 Ways To Get Your Kids Involved To Organise Their Birthday Parties

Organising a child’s birthday party can be quite complex. That’s why it can be useful to get your children involved, after all it is their party. Rather than trying to find time to get things organised and prepared by yourself you can do it with them. The following article lists five easy ways that you can include your children; all of them are great ways to keep them entertained, occupied and receive a helping hand. It almost sounds good to be true.

Designing Invites

Kids birthday invites can be expensive but there are methods to save you money. Why not pull your resources and hand-make them, your resources being your children. They are full of creativity and also require amusement. Help yourself by helping them. Arts and crafts are a great way to not only amuse them but also provide them with a creative outlet. The only supplies you will really need is coloured paper or card, glitter and stickers. Here is a handy tip; print the invites out on the coloured paper and then let your children decorate. This will save you time and insure the invites are all legible.

Guest List

This one is quite obvious; of course your child will want to tell which friends to invite. Take this opportunity to get them to practise their hand writing and spelling. This is a great way for them to get the practice they desperately need without it being viewed as homework. You may have to check over the list and confirm the names of some of the guests but this should only take a few minutes rather than hours of guess work. Make sure to show your child any corrections, how else will they learn?

Preparing Food

Most party foods are simple and don’t demand much cooking time. What and excellent way to expose your child to cooking skills and gain an apprentice. Obviously they won’t be able to do everything so you will need to supervise. If you don’t feel comfortable giving them too much responsibility then they can plate the food, making funny faces and other odd shapes.

Planning Games

They can be your own critique, telling you what games will pop and which will flop. You can also ask them how long they would like to spend playing each game. For pass the parcel and the piñata you can make them yourself. More arts and craft and more activities to keep your children occupied.

Cleaning up

A mother can dream. If you can come up with some kind of compensation or turn it into a game you should be able to receive some kind of help. All you can do is ask.

5 Children's Party Theme Ideas

If you are throwing a birthday party for your child it is sometimes hard to find inspiration for the theme. You obviously want it to be kid friendly as well as being extremely accessible, in that you want both boys and girls to be able to participate. The best place to start is often, to simply ask your child. Children generally go through phases of deep interest in one subject and it is really nice if you can aim your theme to have their newest interest as the key element.

If you really are stuck for ideas and your child seems like no help at all, or perhaps you want to surprise your child so consulting them would ruin the wonder, here are some ideas to get you on your way.

• Underwater Theme – Under water is great, the decorations are easy for a start, just a lot of blue crepe paper and shiny material as well as maybe some fish shapes cut out from orange card. Both boys and girls can get involved and there are endless possibilities for costume ideas from sea creatures and mermaids to sailors and divers.

• Power Rangers – This is perfect for a smaller party, one where all of the children have access to the costumes. Power Rangers is better for a boy’s party but since there are female characters too it is not an exclusively male theme.

• Alice In Wonderland – A mad hatter’s tea party is just the ticket for a children’s party steeped in wonder and fairy tale magic. You might have to do a little more on the decoration front with this one but you if you really turn your home into a wonderland it will be a party never forgotten buy your children. But to make sure things don’t get too out of hand, why not involve yourself in the party as the host, there are plenty of adult mad hatters fancy dress costumes at Fancy Dress Ball.

• The Very Hungry Caterpillar – Another children’s classic, a Very Hungry Caterpillar theme is a really great call for attempting to make children more interested in healthy food. The party can surround the types of food the caterpillar eats throughout the book and your party games can be on the same theme.

• Toy Story – Toy Story is a classic for both adults and children alike. There is no one who has seen this film who doesn't hold a special place in their hearts for it. There are loads of different characters to choose from and both boys and girls can pick and choose from the trilogy of amazing films.

*This is a featured post*

A treasure hunt... for me!?

Yesterday was my birthday (yay) and although I hate the fact I'm getting older (Is 27 old?) I do get quite excited about presents, cake and getting lots of attention for one day!

The Mr starts work quite early so he wasn't there first thing but the kids came in to wake me around 7.30am shouting 'Happy Birthday' perhaps a little too loudly and carrying lots of lovely gifts and cards that they had chosen and the Mr had bought on their behalf. After opening them and the other bits and bobs I'd kindly received from family and friends I headed downstairs to get the kids breakfast and to get organised for the school run.

In the kitchen on the side there was a card for me from the Mr and under that a small piece of paper. Hmmm what was he up to? It was actually the first clue to a little treasure hunt around the house to find some more gifts - I thought it was so sweet of him and a lovely added surprise too! I ended up finding presents in the tumble dryer, dvd cabinets, printer and even in the boot of my car. He had really put some thought into it and I thought it was lovely that despite him working he had still been involved in making my birthday super special. My Kindle Touch in particular is awesome!

In the evening we had takeaway pizza for dinner and the kids were already deciding what flavour ice creams I should make first with my lovely new Ice Cream Maker that Jamster had chosen as his gift to me... He's a wise boy already, it's a present for me but beneficial to him too!

What flavours would you make - any ideas?
Has your partner done anything lovely as a surprise for you?

I made my collage over on piZap if anyone wants to give it a go - Thanks to I Heart Snapping for the tutorial!