My Week at a Glance #2 {23/03 - 29/03}

Last week was a quiet one for us with my eldest son Finley coming down with a virus on Wednesday and being sent home from Pre-School as he was so poorly. But we somehow still seemed to fill up our week even if it was a quiet one.

On Monday we had some friends over for tea after Pre-School and we decorated Easter gingerbread biscuits for pudding. The boys loved having a friend join them for tea as they usually just get little old me and the hubby.

On Tuesday we had my best friend & sister in law over for lunch with their little ones and we enjoyed a walk to our local shops.

Wednesday was the day I got the call that Finley was poorly. I had just got to a playgroup with Noah and had to shoot back off. Once home we had a chilled day on the sofa trying to get my little monkey better.

Thursday was another quiet day with Finley a little better but still no quite himself. So pyjama day it was.

On Friday we had my Mum and Nan over. I love seeing them and having them here. I got to go for a run when they arrived and then we enjoyed lunch after a little walk.

Saturday I had a girlie shopping trip which included wine, food and lots of shopping.

Sunday was a chilled one at my nans playing dress up with hats and doing puzzles. And eating lots!

I'm linking up with Working Mummy and Wife for this weeks My Week at a Glance. 

My Primark Haul

As written in a previous post (Shopping, Wine & Giggles) I got to go on a girlie shopping trip on Saturday. I picked up some fab items in Primark and as unpacking my shopping bags realised what great stuff I'd purchased that wanted to share with you!

Primark really is a great place to shop. Some people don't like it and fair enough that is their opinion but for what I need and the fact I am a stay at home mum on a budget, Primark is my go to for clothes. Since last summer I have lost a little bit of weight so a lot of my summer clothes don't fit anymore. They have since been put on ebay and have funded my shopping trip lol. With our South Africa trip fast approaching I needed to get some summery clothes as I don't think jeans and jumpers would do me over there. Here is what I got!



I'll start from the top and work my way down. The top green and black tops are simple cami tops which for me are a must have in the summer and these were a bargain at £4 each. I live in these during the summer and they had loads more colours that I may have to go and grab some more after our trip.

The red top (looks orange in the picture) was a steal at £10. It will be perfect to team up with a pair of dark jeans or black trousers. It can be left casual or would be great with a nice big necklace to dress it up.

The long blue and cream skirt was £6!! I know - amazing! This again can be worn casually with a cream cami top or dressed up with a nice top and necklace.

Now onto the green skirt. I bet you can't believe how much this was. £1!! Yes £1 I didn't type that in incorrectly. I am so looking forward to wearing with skirt in the spring with tights and also in the summer teamed up with a nice pair of black sandals.

The green shirt was £8. It's what it is, a shirt but can be worn in so many ways and with so many things.

We are now onto the shoes and if I could have had more I would have. The shoe selection is fantastic and has something for everyone. I tend to go for flat shoes as being a mummy this is just more practical and I'm not great in heels anyway.

The first pair are these gorgeous royal blue sandals. They were £6. They had them in a few more coloured but I was drawn to these. They will be great with jeans or skirts or with just about anything if I get my way. I've a feeling these are going to be my go to sandals of the summer.

I wasn't to sure with these grey beauties on the rail but I am so glad I tried them on because they are gorgeous. These too were £6. They are perfect for the spring as they are a cross between pumps and sandals.

Now they had these in orange and I was so tempted to get them but orange is a colour that doesn't go with everything and unless you have a lot of orange in your wardrobe they wont get much wear. So I went for the neutral colour and they are so comfortable. I hope, as they were in the shop! These were the most expensive of the lot at £8.

I could have got so much more but I restrained myself as I don't think my wardrobe can hold much more stuff. I need a clear out of the winter stuff once the sun comes out and then maybe treat myself again.

I got a few other bits from other shops like a black t-shirt that is a must have in a wardrobe and a pair of cream chino shorts. These are rather boring but I also wanted to share these with you.

These were an absolute bargain in Dorothy Perkins at £7. I have been after some harem trousers for a while and when these were on the sale rail I couldn't say no. I'm thinking these may be my aeroplane trousers as they are so comfortable. But do look like pyjamas haha.

These are all in the wash at present and I cant wait for the sun to make an appearance so my bargain purchases can too.







My Captured Moment #12

When I fell pregnant with my youngest, Noah, we were all so excited. To become a family of four and for Finley to become a brother. I had always known that I wanted my children to be close in age and the boys are 22 months apart.

As we approached the end of my pregnancy I began to worry about how Finley would take to another baby in the house. As at that stage he was still our baby. He was also the only grandchild on both sides of the family so he had always got all the attention. We prepared him as much as you can with a 22 month old with things like talking about the bump and bringing the Moses basket into the living room so he could get used to it. We also moved him into his new room so he wouldn't think the new baby was taking his space.

He was still very young so didn't know where we were going when we dropped him off at my husbands parents and I went off to hospital but when we returned we had Noah. As Finley ran down the path he looked so much bigger than the day before when we had left him with his Nana and Dandan. We introduced him to Noah and tried not to make too much fuss but he instantly loved him and was besotted with him. Yes he had his moments when I had to feed Noah and I couldn't get down and play but over the whole he adored his new baby brother.

And this picture is of the first time he met Noah and I love it. It's a moment I will cherish forever and am so glad I was able to capture it. 

Today was a great day

I needed to write about today. As it has been lovely.

 

It was just me and the two boys. We didn't have any plans for today so I asked Finley if he wanted to pop into town. And his answer was 'Yes - Costa!'. Haha he is definitely my son! So I got a few bits done around the house and then got us all ready to go. We live about 2 miles from town and I like the walk, apart from the huge hill in the middle, but it gets us some exercise. I bundled Noah into the pushchair and Finley onto the buggy board and off we set. The sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. Finley kindly jumps off the buggy board at the start of the hill so its earlier to push the pushchair up and then hops back on at the top.

 

We got into town about 11 so headed straight for Costa, Finley whoop whooping as we got there. We ordered our usual of a skinny chai latte for me and a babycino for Finley, which he shares with Noah. As he had been so well behaved the last few days and we seem to be cracking the no little wee accidents I bought them a chocolate brownie that Finley had been eyeing up. We sat down, boys munching on their brownie and he able to enjoy my coffee and watch the world go by out the window.

This lasted all of 5 minutes as they eat so fast but as I was still drinking my coffee I got out some banana Soreen bars for them to munch on. Treats are my saviour!

 

From here we had a few bits to get, buy a new toilet seat & toilet brush (fancy!), print some photos and go in search of Mr Tumble and his spotty bag in the toy shops for the Easter bunny to bring on Sunday (my husbands idea, they would be happy with a kinder egg). We also popped into Clarks to get Finley some doodles. You know the summer is on the way when you can get the doodles out. I then quickly ducked into a couple of clothes shops to have a quick look at the sales they had on. To my surprise the boys allowed me to do this, and while in the changing room they played with their 90p hot wheel cars quite happily that we had got in Wilkinson's.

 

As we emerged from New Look it was raining. And I had no rain cover. Or umbrella. And I looked at my watch and was surprised to see it was close to 1. So I treated us to lunch. We headed to Boswells which is a little café in the centre which isn't to expensive and they do great children's meals. The boys both had chicken nuggets, chips and beans for £3.50 each. A real steal. They sat happily munching on their lunch which still playing with their cars.

I kept an eye on the weather hoping the rain would stop. With the boys finished we got everything together and started to make our way home. Not before we popped into W H Smiths for some cream eggs for our brownies we are planning to make on Friday. We managed to make it home before the heavens opened and with Noah fast asleep in the pushchair Finley got all his vetch out and played happily while I got a little bit of work done while every now and then helping him to set up the track.

 

Today has been lovely. They can be hard work and I do sometimes dread going out alone as the can play up but today was a good day. And it was lovely having time just us 3, even though we did miss Mr C. We're very much looking forward to the Easter weekend with him.

 

Wicked Wednesdays #11

Me & Mine - March 2015

This month seems to have flown by. Once again we have jam packed the month as we do each month. I think this may be the main reason it goes so quickly. It has been lovely with lots of family time and days out.

We started the month with a little bit of baking which I normally shy away from as I'm not that great with mess but it wasn't too bad. And Finley loved it so that's always the main thing, I keep telling myself! We had World Book day which saw Finley go to pre school dressed as the Gruffalo, his most favourite book character at the moment and I was lucky enough that Sainsbury's did a Gruffalo costume. (I'm sorry I cheated!)

When the sun shone we spent a lot of time outside, whether it be in the garden, on walks or to one of our favourite places at the minute - our local Arboretum.

We have filled our weekdays with playdates with our best friends which involved tea, cake and lots of playing.

We had a day with nothing planned in the middle of the month so I loaded the car and took just the 3 of us to soft play as we were getting cabin fever from being home most of the week. The boys, and me, had a great time with Finley doing some Mothers Day crafts making me a card and a bouquet of flowers from crate paper.

March also saw Mothers Day which I was lucky enough to spend with my little family along with my Mum and Nan. We had the best day just chilling at eating far too much food at Mum's house. I am incredibly lucky to have my husband that made me feel like a queen on Mothers Day, like he does most days.

Just last weekend we spent our Sunday at the local farming college for their Lambing Weekend along with some friends of ours. It was a brilliant day and the boys got to get up close to all sorts of farm animals, Noah wasn't that much of a fan though. It really was a great family day out and memories were created that will stay with me forever.

With Easter fast approaching as we creep into April, we have been to an Easter craft session this week and made some lovely Easter bits. We spent the day with my Nan which saw the boys posing with Easter bonnets, and a Santa's hat!

Our last day of March saw us spending it with an old friend and her children. It was great to see our children playing together as we once did 25 years ago. We stopped off on our way home at my husbands Grandmas house to say hi and the boys were treated to many biscuits and Easter eggs.

Mummy is loving:

Woodland walks

Running in preparation for my 10k in May

Lighter evenings

Daddy is loving:

Football

Days out with the boys now the weather is picking up (well it was)

Our sister in laws easter gift of a cardboard egg full of sweets

Finley is loving:

Toy Story

Scooting on his scooter

Feeding the ducks

Noah is loving:

Cats (totally obsessed)

Mr Tumble

Chocolate

I'm looking forward to April that has lots of fun things planned for the family. And to eating lots and lots of chocolate!

I'm linking up with Lucy at Dear Beautiful for this months Me & Mine.



My Ordinary Moment #9

After my day shopping on Saturday I was looking forward to a day with the boys on Sunday. The hubby had a few jobs to do around the house and I knew the boys would just get under his feet so I organised to go and spend the day with my Nan. We headed off once Finley had finished his football session and got to hers about 11.30. It was raining and the wind was blowing a gale.

As we walked through the door her house smelt amazing as usual, full of Nan's cooking. She was in the kitchen cooking us a shepherd's pie for lunch. Perfect! The boys love coming to my Nan's, probably because she feeds them biscuits and chocolate on demand, but it's somewhere different to roam and try to destroy lol.

Noah loves her fridge as it is covered in fridge magnets that she, and my Gramp when he was alive, have collected over the years on their travels. And they travelled a lot! After we had all filled up on her scrummy shepherd's pie we piled into the living room to watch Mr Tumble and to raid the toy basket. Every single toy made an appearance and they are obsessed with her fire place. Standing on, lying on and driving cars along the cold marble in front of it. Every time they go near this is makes my heartbeat faster as I'm so scared they are going to hurt themselves but nothing will keep them away unless I was to sit on it!

The boys then found their way into Nan's bedroom and started to bring out all the puzzles we had been hiding as they just get emptied and left. While in there the boys found a father Christmas hat and an Easter bonnet my Nan had made at one of her many classes, this one being a craft class.

And while they had these one I tried to take some pictures. And I love all of them! Some may be blurred and they may not be looking at the camera but the pictures capture their happiness and the happiness that they bring me.

They bring smiles to the rainiest of days.

I'm linking up with Katie from Mummy Daddy Me for The Ordinary Moments.



Shopping, Wine and Giggles

This weekend I got to go on a girlie shopping trip to Bath. We planned to go on the train as this would mean we could have a few glasses of wine with our lunch and we also wouldn't have to worry about parking charges. I was pretty excited as I can't remember the last child free shopping trip I have been on.

 

We planned to get the 10.47am train, the train takes about 10 minutes so we would have been in Bath by 11. The trains had other ideas though. The train was delayed for 30 minutes due to earlier train line problems. This didn't dampen our spirits it just meant we could get in our first coffee of the trip and also take a selfie.

 

Once the train had eventually arrived we were on our way. We luckily got a seat so had a quiet 10 minute before our busy shopping trip. There was a lot of shopping to be done! Our first stop was Primark! My hubby and I are heading off to South Africa in April with his work so I needed to get a few summery bits. And Primark was definitely the place. Thankfully I picked up a basket on my way in as after being there half an hour I had filled the basket with loads of clothes and 3 pairs of shoes! At £6 a pair of sandals they couldn't be refused!

 

I needed to try on the clothes as I find the clothes sizes in Primark to be a bit hit and miss and also some things look great on the hanger but not so when on. I took in my trusty personal shopper in the shape of my best friend as she will tell the truth. And I can tell by her face if she like it or not so she's the best shopping buddy. Out of the 12 items I took in I came away with 6 of them. And one of the items was this green skirt for £1!!

 

 

After our hour in Primark we were pretty hungry so we headed to a lovely pub called The Westgate. It is situated just down one of the little streets just off of the main high street and it really is a hidden gem. It very cosy with lots of sofas and tub chairs. The walls were covered in a selection of gorgeous wallpapers and lots of cupboards holding some gorgeous ornaments. We headed upstairs and found ourselves a table. After studying the menu we ordered our food and waited for our wine to arrive. And it was certainly well deserved after our Primark haul!

 

 

While waiting for our food to arrive we chatted and laugh and just generally enjoyed our child free time. With these two girls I can talk about anything and we do. And when our food did arrive it was well worth the wait as we it was amazing! I opted for the chicken burger with bacon, lettuce and guacamole with a side of fries.

 

 

Once we had refuelled and finished our second glass of wine, we paid the bill and headed off to some more shopping. First stop after lunch was Dorothy Perkins. And as usual I headed straight for the sale section. I managed to get some harem trousers for £7 which I have been eyeing up for a while with the plane journey in mind.

 

From here we went to H&M. I absolutely love it in there! But I didn't actually get anything in there but I did try on a few bits. One being this hat!

 

 

I haven't laughed as much as I did on Saturday in ages. Just about the most random things. All three of us have the same humour so we laugh at the same things and know what each other is thinking. We were laughing at just the look one of us was giving something or someone. 

 

New Look was the next stop where I got some shorts, the same as the ones I wore most of last summer as they are so comfy and go with everything. By this point we were all shopped out and coffee was needed. And I needed Costa, and cake! So we went back to the top of town and headed in for coffee. We sat around a table drinking coffee, eating cake and talking over the day and our purchases. There was also some silences which weren't at all uncomfortable as we are all so comfortable in each others company. And talking about the most random things I wont bore you with!

 

We had been in Bath for 4 1/2 hours but it hadn't felt that long. We made our way back to the train station. Just as we got to the platform our train pulled up. Perfect timing. Jumping on the train, with sore feet from all the walking but still happy from such a fantastic day we made our way home.

 

As the hubby had taken the boys to see his parent at the seaside I hadn't felt the feeling to rush home to them as I knew they were having fun. And this was great as I just got to enjoy myself and take my time. I arrived home at the same time as them and I couldn't wait to give them a huge hug.

 

Having my own time is great but coming home to my little family is the greatest feeling in the world!