A Mother's Ramblings

I received a discount code for a free personalised book, but I have gone and brought a second book after I received the first book, as the books really are fab! Every year my sister and I get together before Lent starts and discuss what we are going to do for Easter. We have a lot to plan, as not only do we need to plan the Easter Egg hunt, but we need agree what we are buying treat wise for each other's families, what we are going to spend, what type of treat we are buying and where we are going to go for our (now) annual Family Easter Day walk. We like to tell each other of bargains that we have seen and if we are straying from the "normal" treat of an Easter Egg what that treat is. This year I was very excited to tell her that I was going to be getting Baby Boy a personalised book from Penwizard  instead of buying him an Easter Costume... after all he already has a cute Easter Costume! I decided to get a Peppa Pig book for Baby Boy, as he is...

I love these videos from Daily Mugshot , even though I don't see myself as someone who is particularly beautiful there are images in the video of me where I think that I look good, pictures where I think that my nature shines through, pictures where I think that others might think me attractive (other than my husband and he has to think I am beautiful as he is married to me) and that makes me happy. The video of Top Ender is fantastic, she is so smiley and happy and I don't care what the little old ladies say... she does look like me... okay, okay and a lot like her Daddy. Top Ender has this amazing ability to laugh at herself and I love that this comes easily to her! She is so smart and self assured, if there is something that she wants she goes after it and this determination is going to do her good in the future. I am proud to be her Mummy. I can't believe how much Baby Boy has changed, he has the same smile as Top Ender and me, the same nose, the same eyes and the ...

I was sent some free ingredients to try out a Banoffee Cupcake recipe from the Baking Mad website, they looked tasty and so I made some They have a lot of recipes over at Baking Mad and I am quite often found reading the forum messages and scanning through the recipes to find something nice and new to make. The Baking Mad team thought I needed a bit of a challenge however and asked if I would be up for making the Banoffee Cupcakes. I can't resist a challenge.

One of the most important things to me is family. Having my family with me, having time with them and being able to share a meal with them makes me happy. And so today I am going to spend some time and have some fun with my family.

It's been a hectic evening as we went to celebrate Big Cousin's 4th Birthday at TGI Fridays. We all had a great laugh together, ate some pretty great food and were one of those annoying parties that you hate to be sitting near in restaurants because they are loud, move seats in order to talk to other people in the party and keep laughing at something that they all find hilarious. I think there is something reassuring about eating with family, even extended family as this was. I wonder if it is linked back to times when we lived in tribes or just because I am a mother and like to make sure that everyone is eating. I suppose that all eating is ritualistic, and that having the added benefit of family members close just allows us that extra feeling of security. Anyway we all had a really great time, and I took a video that is almost to funny to share... I just need to edit as it happened in the middle of a video recording and so is very long at the moment! ...

I love going through a Car Wash, I am not sure why. There is one of those car washes that you move through on a sort of conveyor belt near us, and when we went through it a few weeks back I decided that I would video it... So I thought that I would share it with you too! (Video at  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eHk-AfFpW0 ) I'm not the only one singing Car Wash now am I?

I have had such a great day today. I haven't done a lot, just hung out with my family and had a great meal. Talked to friends and written some letters. Been for a walk and played some video games. Oh and watched a few videos of me either talking to myself or dancing in a video lift. You can see them all at my You Tube channel and a lot of other videos including a car in a car wash too!

Top Ender and Baby Boy have had a bit of a thing about Freshly Squeezed Orange Juice at the moment. I think that it started because of Agent Oso getting a digimedal for helping two kids make some freshly squeezed Orange Juice for their Mom, but I have no idea why it has grown into something that they would continually ask about! Daddy and I decided that buying some large oranges and a Spritta Citrus Squeezer from Ikea might show them that freshly squeezed Orange juice every morning isn't as simple as it sounds. We were wrong. They loved it.

I am bad because I haven't been using the Xbox Your Shape Fitness as much as I should. It sounds like I am just making excuses doesn't it? Yeah, okay I get the point, I shall stop talking about it and start doing it.

When I went to the Sainsbury's Energy  event I was asked a couple of times if Baby Boy was okay now as I hadn't said on the blog if the  Corneal Abrasion  had healed or if there were any further problems. Consider my wrists slapped, I promise not to not update you in the future! Three days after we went to the hospital the first time, Baby Boy and I returned for his follow up appointment. I was slightly worried, because my friend Google  had frightened me with tales of corneal degeneration (and as Baby Boy had had a similar event happen twice in two weeks to me it was a foregone conclusion that he had it) and I was just waiting for the bad news. As anyone who has been to any hospital in the past knows, parking at hospitals is a pain. In the car park next to the area of the hospital that I needed to go to there was only space available. It was a parallel parking space. Now Daddy taught me to parallel park before I took my driving test many years ago an...

After we had returned home to wait for the Doctor or Hospital to call us because of Baby Boy's Corneal Abrasion we were distracted by a dripping sound coming from the kitchen. Baby Boy and I walked into the Kitchen and we were greeted by a big puddle over the floor and it appeared to be coming from the cupboard under the sink. Whilst Baby Boy rushed to grab me a towel I gingerly opened the cupboard to see water everywhere!

Baby Boy and I have been getting a lot of parcels over the last few days, and every package has had Bubble Wrap keeping the products safe whilst in transport. We decided that we should have some fun by playing with the bubble wrap, but we weren't sure what to do for the most fun! So we decided to do a bit of everything and film it! So I present to you our first video Dancing on Bubble Wrap! I know you can't wait to see what else we have been doing with the bubble wrap right?

It's balanced, there are the same number of sweets on each side!

When I was younger (my early teens) I would always buy More because I thought it was so grown up, I mean there was a feature about Sex every issue! As I got older there were a few magazines that I would buy, but as I worked in a Newsagents for many years I normally used the place as a library and read them whilst I was working! Of course I do have a rather large pile of Gardening magazines, Food Magazines and Christmas Magazines that I have had as gift subscriptions over the years and I do occasionally pick up magazines that are work related (need to keep up to date with the industry) and I always pick up the free magazines in Supermarkets, but the last time that I actually brought a magazine for me to read? Well, I think it was one that I was in... and that was a good couple of years ago!

Making Chores Fun isn't just about making it more enjoyable for me to do the chores, or even to keep Baby Boy or Top Ender amused whilst I do the chores and its not even to help my children to learn how to do chores, (although all three of those things happen). It's also about playing and learning about cause and effect and this is why I love when Top Ender and Baby Boy want to help out with doing the dishes. 

What a day to be talking about Passion eh? Valentines Day, a day to celebrate the love and affection between Friends/Family Members/Lovers/Partners/Enter Own Description Here. I do like Valentines day, not because it is a day that my husband tells me that he loves me, (he does that everyday and doesn't need to do anything special to show me), not because Top Ender wrote me a special note on the blackboard to tell me I was her Valentine, not because of any of the promotions that the shops do (although it is nice to see Chocolates on offer!) but because it is a day that I can look at my friends and family and realise how lucky I am to have them in my life. That is where the trouble started this year though. Looking at my friends and family I realised that I am the only one that isn't full of passion.

Baby Boy woke up at 5am screaming that his eyes hurt and that he wanted "MUMMMMMMY!" I managed to calm him down and get him to lay in his bed, with me gently stroking his face to calm him down. Just after 6am Baby Boy woke up again and Daddy took him downstairs. Every so often I could hear Baby Boy shouting that his eye was still hurting and even though he was in fine spirits we knew something was wrong and so I called for an early morning appointment at our local Doctor's Surgery.

Bloggers are a pretty sadistic bunch. I mean we are constantly looking at ourselves and comparing ourselves to each other in things like the Tots 100 (I'm 15th you know), Wikio (I'm 23rd there), award ceremonies (I won the bit I was a finalist in you know), our own Statistics and goodness knows what else that I don't keep track of, because I don't know about it! We compare ourselves, we track ourselves and then we tag each other in Meme's that cause serious damage to our eyes. Like this one which the oh so lovely Nickie at Typecast graciously passed on to me because she can't be bothered to read the amazing blog posts that I have been writing and she thinks this makes it alright. There wasn't even a bloody rainbow.  A rainbow would of made it all better.

Peppa Pig! Not sure how realistic a goal that is though...

"Top Ender do you want to practice your Violin before School?" I asked "Okay!" answered Top Ender It was the first time that Daddy has really heard Top Ender play with the bow, the last time it had just been random plucking of the strings and so he stayed in the living room listening to Top Ender playing the Hoe Down. Baby Boy was sitting on the sofa listening patiently. After Top Ender had finished her piece of music, she started to put the violin away. Baby Boy started to get upset as he was sure that this time, having sat some quietly whilst Top Ender played, having not fussed that he too would get a go on Top Ender's Violin. His bottom lip started to wobble, his eyes filled with tears and he shouted; "I WANTED TO PLAY ON TOP ENDER'S VIO-MA-LIN!" " Viomalin ?" I repeated "Saxo-ma-phone!" said Daddy "I WANTED TO PLAY ON TOP ENDER'S VIO-MA-LIN!" howled Baby Boy again I know I have said it before, bu...

Clockwise from Top Left: Top Ender, Baby Boy, Mummy, Daddy

We adore watching Studio Ghibli films and as you can see from last weeks mention of film themed days for the Half Term Holiday , we like to make watching the films a little more special, by theming our snacks and meals too. The first time that Top Ender and Baby Boy watched Ponyo they were enthralled as the film is so magical and so we knew that we had to buy it for them to watch again and again.There is a scene in the film where, Lisa (who is Sosuke's mother) makes Ponyo and Sosuke a meal. The meal is noodles, egg, ham and slices of spring onion and Baby Boy and Top Ender love to eat then when they are watching Ponyo too!

Most days it is just Baby Boy and I at home (as Top Ender is at School and Daddy is at work) and we have a long list of chores that we like to try to get done in a fun way. There are of course chores that we might not get done during the day, but end up doing after School like Cleaning the Stairs but it's still fun trying to fit chores around playing trains, drawing and watching Cartoons. One chore that we don't do as regularly as we should, but have great fun doing when we do get round to it is Cleaning the Car! In the winter, we tend to not wash the car ourselves (we like to have fun but we aren't stupid, it's freezing out there!) but we do like to clean the inside of the car! The first thing that we pretend is that the car is a treasure chest by opening up all the car doors and going round to each seat in turn to pick up any rubbish or toys that may have been left in the car. We use a carrier bag for the rubbish, and another bag for treasures! After we have don...

I am sure that I am not the only person in the world who when they are watching TV multi-tasks and also plays on the internet. This was what was happening last Sunday when I was watching PS I Love you and I saw a Facebook update from my sister that made me want to call her. When on the phone we chatted about the issue which was making her feel bad and then I decided to cheer her up by sharing some funny stories that had happened since we had spoken last.

I am determined that this February Half Term Holiday is not going to be full of the usual comments such as "I'm Bored" or "What can I do?", that's right I have a list of things that we can do this half term that don't cost a lot, keep all ages amused and can be done if it is raining! Yes, I am a woman with a plan and I thought I would share my day themed ideas with you so that you can use them just in case you need something to do during Half Term. I am guessing that the weather isn't always going to be in my favour (seeing as we live in the Britain and it's still Winter not Spring) so I have planned things that will be indoors, but with some outside time or exercise linked in so that the children can burn off some energy!