Maxitone Blog is live...

The first part of my Maxitone experience is now live on their site. I'm one of six bloggers taking part, and I'm "The busy mummy"

If you want to have a look, just click here.

Fingers are crossed that in 3 months time I will be rocking those bright blue skinnies that are hanging in my wardrobe waiting for me to wear them with a gorgeous top rather than a muffin top *shudder*

Wish me luck!

x

Half Term & Valentines printables.....

It's half term week now, and apart from visiting friends, going to indoor play hell centres, one of the things my two, little miss mostly, enjoy doing is crafty things.

After a quick scout on Pinterest, all in the name of research obviously, I've found six gorgeous free printables, there are literally hundreds on there!

1: One Charming Party

2: Eat, Drink, Chic

3: The Rubber Punkin

4: Kind Over Matter

5: Pumpkins and Posies

6: Eat, Drink, Chic

Now, all I need is to fill my printer with ink and away we go!

You can find me on Pinterest here
x

The Gallery - A Family Story

My Dad & his Sister

The theme this week is A Family Story. There are plenty to chose from, but this one seems the most recent in my mind, due to my Dad's 60th birthday the other week.

When he was a child, living at home in Ireland & surrounded by sisters, there is a tale that goes something like this....

He was sat on the bridge in his tiny little village of Glin in Ireland (population something like 50, and around 7 pubs) when all of a sudden he fell, into the river & split his head open on the rocks. He was taken to hospital and still has the scar on his forehead. The story has always has a different version told, depending on who you're speaking to. One of his sisters says that another pushed him, she of course, says otherwise. One saved him, we know that much, but Dad of course can't remember what happened! It's all told in jest, and nobody really believes that he was pushed, but it's like one of those mysteries that will never be solved.

On hearing this story Little Miss has become convinced that Aunty M did push Dada off the bridge, and she's really not happy about that! Especially as she loosened the bolts on his bike previously so that he went flying when riding down the hill! For a 9 year old, this is really important and it's still bothering her!

Like all brothers and sisters, they love each other & it's just become a family joke/tale now, there's no bullying anymore. But surrounded by 4 sisters you've got to feel sorry for him!

Don't forget to read the other entries.

I'm not very good at playing.....

It's the weekend, the hubs is at work and has the car. He's working til 6 tonight & 5pm tomorrow night, which leaves me solely in charge of the kids & flat.

This is my current view. Little Miss is watching iCarly, Little Man is, well, just destructing everything and anything he can get his hands on.

I should be building lego masterpieces, or creating artwork for him to scribble colour in, but I'm not. I'm sitting on the sofa wondering how I'll tidy up the flat, do the washing up & get the washing dry with one hand, and feeling a bit naff at how rubbish I am at being super mum.

Gwyneth Paltrow said she loves "Playing Mum" well, she would, because she probably has nannies, cleaners, cooks, gardeners, the lot, and while I don't want all of those, a couple would be good once in a while. She very probably doesn't spend 24/7 with her kids either, so it's a treat. (I know, bad mummy, I should appreciate all the time they're little, but you know, sometimes I'd like to appreciate quiet, or tidy)

See, I can have a spotless flat, I can have the kids entertained, I could even rustle up a 3 course meal if I had to, but I just can't get all three done at the same time.

So, I'm just going to sit here, let the Apple products entertain the kids for a bit and have a cup of tea.

Random-ness...

Walking to school the other day (in the snow as I knew the kids would like it, aren't I kind?) an old lady came up to me to say how snug Little Man looked in his buggy with his blanket, hat, gloves and big puffy coat. She then put her hand on my head and said I should be wearing a hat too.

I laughed (nervously)

She then went on to grab my hair, pulled it towards her and asked me if it was real? (Erm, as opposed to not being on my head or extensions lady?) I of course (why!?) replied yes, it is real, to which she stroked it, told me it simply wasn't fair that it's real because it's amazing, flicked my hair back and walked off.

I crossed the road with the hubs, turned to him and asked if that had actually just happened. His reply was something like, I told you it's a nice colour now. NOW. Like it wasn't a nice colour before huh? (yeah, he got it in the neck later....)

Anyway. Not really sure how I feel about hair grabbing lady, flattered that she felt the need to tell me, or freaked out that she grabbed my hair in the street for no reason!

Either way, I'll be walking past that road at high speed from now on!

and perhaps tying my hair up just in case.......

Fussy Kids....

We are at that stage of toddler-dom, the stage where he doesn't want to eat anything that might possibly look like it's good for you.

"I'm stuffed" is a common phrase at the table, and that's before he's even eaten one mouthful, but funnily enough, he's always got enough room for sweets and olives. Not that 'stuffed' are you dude.....

A quick google (yes, even though I've done it before, I want to check there hasn't been a new wonder idea) says things like "don't give them anything else until they start eating their meals" - my child is as stubborn as me, that doesn't work & just makes me feel like I'm starving him. "They need to try a new food at least 15 times before they'll accept it" - I really can't be bothered to cook the same meal 15 times to be told 15 times that he's stuffed. One solution after the other, none of them any good for me.

How about this one:

Grow your own. Worth a try? When we visit PYO places in the summer, he will happily eat all the goodies picked before we even get to the till (obviously I don't tell them that...) In Nanny & Dada's garden he'll eat fruit, veg, even herbs growing in the greenhouse & garden, and come running up to me to tell me that he "yuves mint" Little Darling isn't he......!?

So, I'm thinking, find some colourful, unusual vegetables (we don't have a problem with fruit, he'll eat that all day!) and let him grow it, water it, pick it, and then let Little Miss prepare it, then maybe, just maybe, he'll eat it? (Actually, would be good if I could get Little Miss to be a bit braver with her food choices too?)

The only problem we have with that, is the lack of a private garden, window boxes could work for the herbs, Dada has a million potatoes in his garden, so maybe digging for those will count.

Have you ever grown your own veg? What's the best ones for little people to look after? All tips welcome!

Oh, and if any family are reading this, yes, we'll be requesting to use your garden......!



  please note this is a sponsored post, but it fits in perfectly with my dilemma!

January Photo A Day

Throughout the whole of Jan, Fat Mum Slim ran a photo challenge over on instagram (you can click the follow me button at the top left) where you simply took a photo of your day following the descriptions. As you can probably tell, I stopped halfway through, completely forgot to finish it off, but I loved doing it, and thankfully she's doing it for Feb too, so I'll be taking part in that one! If you're on instagram, I definitely recommend taking part!

1: You - New Years Day = pjs and chilling on the sofa!

2: Breakfast - Diet Redbull, about the most I can manage

3: Something you adore - Pretty obvious that one! 

4: Letterbox - Our blue door!

5: Something you wore - Favourite perfume in the world

6: Makes you smile - My engagement & eternity rings

7: Favourite - Shallow maybe, but look how pretty they both are!

8: Your Sky - Gorgeous trees outside our windows 

9: Daily Routine - Cup of tea, computer, and phone

10: Childhood - My Mum & Me, when I was around 5 or 6? 

11: Where you sleep - Love that bed! 

13: In your bag - My gorgeous purse, a change of clothes for the Little Man and lots of other rubbish!

14: Something you're reading - A fab blog I found

15: Happiness - The husband home on a Sunday. Doesn't happen very often. 

18: Something you bought - Some of my favourite mags. 

So there we go, I missed a few! But I will have 29 pics posted here at the end of Feb, I hope.....