A Mother's Ramblings

After sixteen years in the British Education system it has been imprinted in my brain that September is when the New Year starts. You get a new start and you can be a different person to who you were before the summer. Every September you can reinvent yourself as someone who is studious, on time, interesting and in my case on top of things.

I think that in other parts of the country this is called an Open House Egg. We call it a Bullseye Egg, because when we aim the sauce we yell "BULLSEYE!" If we get a direct hit.

Top Ender and Baby Boy have been enjoying The Tom and Jerry Marathons that have been on the last few days in our house. Top Ender was trying to explain an episode to me that I hadn't seen as she had thought it very funny.

Last week Nutella invited me and the rest of the family to breakfast at Legoland (I'll talk about the park in another post!). When I told Top Ender, it was like all her Christmases had come at once; Nutella spread and Legoland? Then the Nutella people were kind enough to send us a jar of Nutella and a big box of bread (Not just any bread though it was Hobbs House Bakery Bread) and it was open season in our kitchen with Top Ender thinking up new and exotic ways to eat Nutella.

Today there is 122 days until Christmas! I know that a lot of you are going to start throwing things at me, but really, that is a small number of days before everyone will be complaining that they have so much to do before Christmas and that they wish they were better organised for the upcoming celebrations!

Some say that The Stig might be Michael Schumacher or Ben Collins or Julian Bailey but I say that rumours are all that they are and all they should ever be!

When I went to Asda House last Wednesday I didn't know all I do now. You know how sometimes you learn about something after the event and you kick yourself? Well the first thing I would kick myself about is the live webcam that Asda House has in its Atrium. If I had known I would of taken a sign with me and told everyone on Twitter that follows me to watch at a certain time. If they ever forgive me for all the giggling that took place then next time I am invited back (please have me back Asda!) I promise to behave... apart from the sign I will be carrying!

Several years ago, Mummy and I decided that we wanted to take a trip to the USA - let's call it an American Dream. And, because we haven't been yet, but I keep going on about it, Mummy has decided I should write about it. It being the trip. That we haven't taken.

Oh Hi! Welcome back, come on in and sit yourself down. I know I have been a bad blogger and haven't posted for a couple of days and if I had my way I wouldn't be posting right now but I ended up editing a blog post for Daddy for tomorrow (come back then, its funny) and thought I should probably say Hi to you all whilst I was here!

Whilst we were eating dinner on Sunday Top Ender asked if she could get dressed before she had dinner the next day. We all giggled because she had meant breakfast, I told her that it was up to her when she got dressed (within reason) and the conversation moved on.

The other Sunday I was talking about Family Fun on a Budget  and I was talking about things that we do as a family on the cheap to make everyday a fun day. It got me thinking though because even when we go out as a family I still try and make it as cheap as possible and today I thought I would share some of my secrets with you.

Recently Clarks offered to send me a voucher to buy Top Ender some School Shoes. I ummed and ahhed about accepting it, but in the end I decided that I would. Why? Well I have to buy school shoes for Top Ender and normally they are expensive. We always use Clarks for measuring our children's feet and then the real push was that Tom Cruise annoyed me.

Reading this blog you might think that we don't know about having Family Fun on a Budget as at the moment it seems that every other weekend we are at a show or at the cinema , or on a day trip as a family and it must seem like we have money to burn, but its not true. Its just that with a bit of careful planning we are able to budget for events like I have mentioned but we intersperse them with events and days out that cost nothing or next to nothing, such as the ones that I have talked about before in my post Eight things to do on a small Entertainment fund  but are still packed full of fun! This weekend we don't have anything major planned, but you can be sure that we will be doing a few of the following!

Did you know that Little Dish has a cook book? Its called the Little Dish Favourites Cookbook and I knew because they sent me one. Top Ender has spent her time pouring through it looking at the various dishes, pondering on what ones she would request that I cook for the family. Baby Boy didn't quite understand that a cook book was full of recipes and wasn't something you were meant to eat and took a bite out of some of the pages!

Many years ago when Daddy and I had been married for almost a year, and we watched BBC News in the mornings before work (instead of cartoons as we do now) there was a segment on the Perseid meteor shower that was going to happen that night. Daddy foolishly agreed that at the best time to see them (which was at silly O'Clock at night) we would drive out of Milton Keynes and all the ambient light to the nearby countryside to watch the shower.

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue being held at the Mayfair in London. The whole family is a BIG fan of anything Disney and Top Ender loves the Disney Fairies and everything to do with Pixie Hollow! Having already seen the first two films and owning them on DVD, we knew that we were going to be in for a good time and couldn't wait to watch the film.

During July, Top Ender and Baby Boy entered English Mums Bake Off in the Children's section with their Wheat Free Fairy Cakes. A few days back Heather from Eggs Cream and Honey (don't you just love that as a name?) who was judging the competition announced the winners and to our surprise Top Ender and Baby Boy won!

Repeat it with me now. I'm not Broody, I'm not Broody, I'm not Broody. Do I sound convincing yet? I didn't think I did either. Damn.

When we went to Westfields Shopping Centre to see Mickey Mouse (and didn't actually see him) we noticed a MINI Countryman in the corner of the main plaza and discovered that there is a record attempt at getting as many people into a MINI as possible. Top Ender and Daddy are never one to back down from a challenge and so they decided to jump on in!

Top Ender loved the Panto last year that we saw ( Cinderella at Milton Keynes Theatre ) and loved putting on her own Pantos (with the Robinsons Put on a Panto website ) and so when she realised that this year she was old enough to audition for the local Panto she was very excited. I was even more excited because not only is Joanna Page in the Panto this year, but so is Stavros Flatley and Luke Perry! Of course we signed her up as soon as we were able to.

The Gallery theme this week was on playtime . I really didn't know what to use, I knew that there were lots of photos that I have of Top Ender and Baby Boy playing and even of Daddy, but I couldn't think of the words to go with them. It was all rather one lined "Top Ender and Baby Boy play so well together" or something. So I looked through my photos and nothing inspired me.

As part of our 104 Days of Summer or Family Fun on a Phineas and Ferb Scale , we needed some ideas that only took a few minutes to arrange. We had already decided that not all our days needed to be on a grand scale, that it was the Fun that had to be on a grand scale. The one thing that I know that can turn anything from small to big is imagination and so I told Top Ender and Baby Boy that they were going to go Deep Sea Diving just before Bath time. Of course my bathroom isn't built over an ocean and Top Ender and Baby Boy don't have any scuba gear or training, so this was going to be Deep Sea Diving with a difference. This was deep sea diving with food colouring...

We draw a lot in our house, I once drew JoJo from JoJo's Circus and it was so great that everyone knew who it was, without me having to tell them. I tried to repeat it and sadly it looked more like the scary clown from Stephen King's IT. I drew this picture of Top Ender which isn't that bad, but I am not going to try again. I don't want to mentally scar my children anymore than I already have!

It isn't just me who comes up with places and ideas of where we should go as a family, Daddy comes up with ideas too and this past weekend when we went to the Croydon Summer Festival  it was his suggestion.

On Saturday, Daddy and I took Top Ender and Baby Boy to London to see "The Go! Go! Go! Show", (after having been given tickets by Mummy Marketing) which is a family musical about a group of five friends and without giving too much away involved a sweet sock-stealing "Fluffalope", magic bikes and some fantastic songs that none of us have been able to stop singing...