A Mother's Ramblings

For more Silent Sunday photo's go to Mocha Beanie Mummy

Not too far from where we are in Milton Keynes is a Forest called Salcey Forest and it is in Northamptonshire. We have been several times as a family, to walk around the routes as not only is it a great place to visit to see some magnificent trees and wildlife but it is also a great place to get a bit of exercise, especially on a Sunday afternoon to work off my infamous Roast Dinners! Last Sunday it was nice and bright and warm so we decided to head over to Salcey Forest to try to wear out Top Ender and Big Boy and we wanted to get a dose of Vitamin D too! We parked by the cafe and toilet block (the toilets are clean and big and the cafe is always busy when we go during it's opening hours) and paid for our parking on the very handy pay by phone option. There are three routes around the forest, The Woodpecker Trail, The Church Path Walk and The Elephant Walk. We have been so often and know the routes so well, we sort of just made our own walk up following a bit of The Church Pat

With it being the Summer Holidays we are having a few late night treats here at A Mothers Ramblings. Nothing too late, or too extravagant but late enough that for the first time in ages Big Boy is sleeping late in the morning allowing Daddy and I some extra time in bed to balance out the late nights! Earlier this week Daddy, Top Ender and Big Boy went to Asda for a few supplies for our trip to Camp Bestival and decided to buy some ice-creams for themselves as a treat to eat on the way home. When they got home Big Boy came and sat on the sofa in the living room and we filmed this... (Video can be seen at  http://youtu.be/xwQAa94EQvo ) As you can see even Willow (the cat) was pleased when Big Boy finally gave up and I got to eat the end of the ice-cream! Yay for late summer nights!

There are some chores that I'm not the one responsible for completion of, I don't mean chores that I get the children to help out with like Cleaning the Windows , but I mean I really just don't do them! I don't put the bins out (although I do), I don't put petrol in the car (although I will) and I don't mow the lawn (unless I am trying to induce labour). They are Daddy's jobs (he has a few others and always helps out if I ask him to) and he too understands that making chores fun means it isn't just the children who enjoy the benefits of making a chore a game. In the words of Mary Poppins; "In every job that must be done, there is an element of fun.  You find the fun, and - SNAP - the job's a game!" I would also add SNAP the job's done, but instead I will just let you sit there for a minute with that goofy grin on your face thinking about Michael trapped in the toy cupboard yelling "Let me out!". Now let me just be

We were given the Glamour Mansion from Argos to review. When I was younger I had the biggest Dolls house ever. It was as tall as me and meant that my Sindy's (I wasn't a Barbie girl) had plenty of space to store their clothes, working shower, working lights, red leather sofa and countless other accessories I had collected or inherited (Thanks Aunties T and C!). Top Ender did play with it a couple of times, but to be honest it just wasn't sturdy enough as it was made of plastic which is going brittle with age and cardboard. Argos let me know about the new dolls house, or rather Glamour Mansion, that they were going to be bringing out and asked if Top Ender would like to have one to review. Knowing that with the 60+ dolls and accessories that she has that this would make perfect sense we eagerly agreed. I don't know what I was expecting to arrive, but the Glamour Mansion was a very pleasant surprise. The dolls house is self assembly, but the wooden pieces are reall

After our Picnic lunch on the first day of our Summer Holidays , Top Ender and Big Boy started walking home holding hands. It was so sweet I had to grab a quick snap of it. I love this shot so much I am going to get it printed to put up in our home.

The first day of the Summer Holidays was a fantastic start to our holidays. We decided to go to the park in the morning before coming back home to do some chores and play in the garden. It was a great start to the day with all of us using the short walk as a wake up to the beautiful summers day. Because it was such a nice day we knew that we had to make the most of it and so we packed up a picnic and headed to the Blue Lagoon, a local man made lake. Although Top Ender and Big Boy have both been for walks around the lake in the past, they have never really seen the lake and they don't know the stories about it so we sat at the end watching Dragonflies dart about whilst I told them about the treasures of sunken cars, planes and a bus that await divers wanting to increase their skills.  It was a great way to spend a couple of hours, relaxing and chatting, eating food and trying to spot in the crystal clear water the submerged vehicles and we all caught the sun as wel

Head over to Mocha Beanie Mummy for more Silent Sunday images.

Just in case you forgot Rowse Honey paid for Top Ender and I to go to Latitude 2011. Last weekend Top Ender and I went to Latitude. Top Ender has already sort of given her impression of the day in  her guide to Festivals for Children , but now it's my turn! What can you say about a day spent in a muddy field listening to music whilst being rained on? Well, if you spent the Saturday at Latitude you would probably say something about it being amazing and an experience that I would want to repeat, and if possible to repeat soon! I was really disappointed that the two groups that we I wanted to see most out of everyone that was on we missed. I could have kicked myself but the problem was that I wasn't going to pay for a copy of the programme for the festival as I thought that it was too expensive, especially when there were a couple of boards up with the times of who I wanted to see! I also found the app that I downloaded from the apple store to be particularly useless, I

This Summer Top Ender, Big Boy and I are off on a world tour. For the next six weeks we are going to eat exotic dishes, learn about different cultures and customs take in a few sights and if we are lucky pick up some foreign languages. It is going to be exhausting cramming it all into the summer holidays, but we know that we are going to have fun together and hopefully learn something new everyday. Well, this isn't strictly true. You see we are going on a world tour, this Summer holidays but from our own living room, which means that we can do our 100 Free Things To Do In The Summer Holidays  too! The theme for our Summer Holiday this year is travel and so we are going to base all our activities around this, and just in case you want to join in I thought I would list out at the start of the week where we are going and what we are doing so you could join in! Each week we will visit the landmarks the country is most known for (either by creating them ourselves, finding some

We like making things in our house, it doesn't matter if it is a mess or a tower or dinner or things out of toilet rolls we just like spending time together making things! A few days ago Big Boy and I were a little bored and so we decided to make something out of toilet rolls (we have plenty of them around) and as we grabbed four of them we decided that we wanted to play bartender and we made glasses of juice. I'm not claiming to be the worlds best artist (It's okay I know I'm not) but I was pleased with the way that they came out as we knew what they were supposed to be. Just in case you don't know from left to right we have a glass of Lemon and Lime (see the lemon and lime wedges there are ice cubes too but I don't think you can see them), Raspberry and Blackcurrant (with Ice), Water (again with the ice) and Orange (See the orange and the ice?!).

When we went to Latitude last weekend it was Top Ender's first real festival and as such I had tried to warn her about what I knew about Festivals. As it was really my first real festival too this mainly consisted of information I had gleaned from friends who had been to festivals in the past and also what I had learnt from reading books where the main character goes to a Festival. As you can tell my information with a bit patchy and mainly aimed at adults so Top Ender has come up with a guide to Festivals for Children. 1) If it has been raining wear wellies. You will need to wear them because there is a lot of mud at Festivals and also the floors in the toilets are sometimes a bit disgusting and this stops you from treading your trainers in poo. 2) Wear Clothes you are comfortable in. If you are going to be dragged from stage to stage and from activity to activity you need to be comfortable. I think that wearing layers is a good idea as that way you can take a layer off if y

Last Friday Big Boy and I went on an adventure. I knew that I was going to be away from Big Boy for the whole weekend and so I thought that some quality one on one time might make it easier on Big Boy me  us. We started the day by Daddy giving us a lift to the far end of the high street. We walked through a church yard looking at decorative grave stones with carved marble hands clasped in prayer, Angels and prayer books and details of the loved ones who had been left behind. We carried on our adventure by going to the park and played on the swings and slide and climbing apparatus and made a friend who Big Boy played in the wild flowers with (and I think I made a new Mum friend too) before we both set off on the rest of our day. Big Boy and I walked up the high street, pretending to be a band performing on the band stand, looking in the shop windows at the wares for sale, laughing at the greengrocer who was juggling tomatoes and the butcher who was pretending to juggle his knive

This weekend, (apart from having gone to Latitude with Rowse Honey ) we stayed at my Nan's on the Norfolk coast. Spending some time on Sunday morning on the beach and watching Top Ender paddling in the sea reminded me just why I love the seaside so much.  Top Ender is seven and a little world weary, she understands far too much about the world she lives in and the pressures that effect everyday life. I swear I was a lot older than seven when I realised that the world can be a harsh place to live in. Seeing her on the beach though, running in and out of the waves, giggling at the coldness of the water, she was my little girl again, the one who loves cuddles and stories about fairies. There is such an innocence in digging your toes into the sand and splashing in the waves that I think everyone should do it when life is starting to get too much. Who knows maybe if we can keep that childlike innocence in our everyday lives, the world might just be a little bit better.

Pop over to Mocha Beanie Mummy to see more Silent Sunday pictures.

When from Curly and Candid tagged me in this meme I was actually quite pleased. Give five songs that you live your life by, your philosophies, your reasons for the way you react the way you do that is so easy for me so here are five songs that sum up how I live my life and how I would like to see my children live their life. Everybody's free to wear sunscreen - Baz Luhrmann Daddy creaming up Top Ender on a trip to London Right so technically this one is cheating, because this one has a tonne of advice in it all of which is something that I hope that my children will understand as they get older and apply to their lives. If there was ever a song to live your life by this has to be it.

Just like going on the School Run , there are chores that Top Ender, Big Boy and I like to do together. One of our favourites is cleaning the windows because we have so many ways to make this fun depending upon which window we are cleaning! Our main living room window is fun to clean because we are allowed to stand on the windowsill to clean it and because Top Ender and Big Boy know that when it is clean we will normally be sticking something in it (like Breast pad Snowmen or Hama Bead Easter Bunnies ) for a seasonal display! Top Ender and I love to clean this window together by standing on opposite sides of the window and playing noughts and crosses using window pens before wiping it all off and cleaning the window, but as Top Ender is getting much better at noughts and crosses than she used to be I'm not sure we will be playing that one for much longer... So that is how we make cleaning the windows fun, how about you?

Whilst watching the Sky One TV Coverage of the premier of Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part Two we were commenting on how different the actor's and actresses who play characters in the film look in real life. I told Top Ender to look out for Emma Watson, who plays Hermione because she has had her hair cut really short. When Emma Watson came on screen I said; "Look, that's Emma Watson, see I told you she had her hair cut!" "Hermione you mean?" asked Top Ender "No, Emma Watson, that is her real name" I answered "I thought you said Emma whatshername!" answered Top Ender I'm not entirely sure why I am posting this other than Daddy told me too, because he likes the idea of Emma Whatsername...

I was reading an old post from Diary of A desperate Exmoor Woman  where Jane googled herself and found out who she was (well who shared her name anyway) so I thought I would nick it and turn it into a meme. Will the real Pippa please stand up? Okay so using my real name I am; * An author and according to The Bookseller "We’re all thrilled that Pippa is coming to Pan Macmillan. Katy Henderson Loses Control is the funniest, cleverest and most original debut novel I’ve read in this genre for a long time." So there, my debut novel was the funniest, cleverest and most original... might read it, it sounds good. * I write A Mothers Ramblings.  Which is boring because I do. I also write at Pippa World though! * I'm a Psychologist, coach and mother  and I have lots of letters after my name. * I'm a front of house manager in Australia. I think that means I make houses look pretty. * I'm a headmistress in New Zealand and * I'm a florist. I always

I know I know wordless, but hang on a minute so I can explain this one. Daddy asked Top Ender and Big Boy to give a nice natural looking smile so he could take a new picture for his phone background and this is what happened.

On Saturday night, the Foo Fighters concert taking place at Milton Keynes Bowl could be heard at our house, which is around three miles away. As is normal for us we lay on our bed in the dark with the windows open for a few minutes each time there is a concert to see if we can "hear" what the performers are saying or singing. Top Ender had joined us (as she was awake) and had come back from the bathroom and laid down between us when Daddy said; "If you had been here a minute ago you would have had a dead spider thrown on you!" Top Ender looked horrified, so we explained that a few moments after she had left to go to the bathroom Daddy had suddenly started batting at his bare chest and sat upright in the bed and began using his phone (that he had been tweeting on) as a torch over the duvet. There on the bed was a now dead spider that had dropped on to his chest in the dark. Daddy disposed of the spider just moments before Top Ender's return. Top Ender sat up

When we went to see Shaun's Big Show , Big Boy was quite excited as he really loves the animated series of both Shaun and Timmy. We were all sat in the auditorium and as the show started Big Boy was immediately transfixed by the dancing sheep and Bitzer (the dog). A few moments passed before Big Boy realised that there was a huge secret that only he knew and he had to share with his family so he stage whispered to us; "There are people in those costumes!" Those in the seats around us started to giggle whilst we reassured Big Boy that we had known there were people in the costumes and that we had known they weren't real animals. The costumes were really great though.

We were given tickets by Cadbury's  Spots v Stripes Minute To Win It games  to go to Pandamonium in the park. I first heard about Pandamonium in the Park by seeing a leaflet in my Sainsbury's bag a few months ago. It was going to be a family fun day filled with Chinese culture and ending with a concert of the music of Hans Zimmer and John Powell. We were looking at going as Althorp House is only forty-five minutes away from Milton Keynes and when Cadburys asked if we would like to go as their guests and to try out the  Cadbury Spots v Stripes Minute To Win It games we started packing the car up ready for a family day trip out! Our journey to Althorp House was really lovely (as Big Boy and I went to sleep) and walking from the car park to the arena we invented a new fun family game called "Dodge the sheep poo" which Big Boy and I were a bit naff at as we both managed to step in some. The arena was huge, and as we went in we were given arm bands to write our co

We were given four tickets to see this show by Milton Keynes Theatre to and see Shaun The Sheep's Big Show. Shaun and Timmy are firm favourites in our house, so we were pleased to be invited to Milton Keynes Theatre to go and see Shaun's Big Show. It is being billed as "A Music & Dance Extravaganza" and that it is!  The show started and Daddy and I had one of those weird moments as we looked across to each other just to check that we weren't dreaming and this was actually happening as we watched a group of sheep and a dog dance on stage. Top Ender and Big Boy sat beside us were enthralled and didn't noticed as we joked about how they came up with the idea for this show but from the looks on the other parents faces as we glanced around we weren't the only grown ups with the same idea. Then something happened, I realised that I was enjoying the show as much as the children were, I was clapping along, tapping my foot and humming to the tunes