Making paper snowflakes and Vileda review

Wow, life has been utterly hectic lately!

I always find this time of year manic, not just from the usual Christmas lead up with school performances and extra activities, but from it being 4 out of 5 of our birthdays within 3 weeks. We gave the boys a party each, which for me means more cake making because I never just make things easy for myself. But if all that wasn't enough this year we also had a nasty sickness bug which wiped out at least one of us for over a week (James was the only one to escape!) and also a friend's wedding too!

The snow day just about tipped me over the edge when I thought either Sam's party would have to be cancelled or no one would turn up...thankfully though we carried on and enough could make it!

So after all those very busy weeks, I was quite glad when the Monday came around and the boys school although not fully shut (they'd said if it was too dangerous to come in not to worry...I didn't fancy a 50min round trip with the buggy in the snow) we took advantage of a possible lazy day in the warmth.

We were all shattered, especially Sam who was still getting over the lurgy and his birthday. By mid morning I'd actually had enough of them and thought we should at least try and do something festive...I'd been in full on birthday mode up until then!

I decided it had to be something very quick and easy. So we made good old fashioned snowflakes from white paper.

It's something I used to love doing as a kid, and still fun to do now as you never quite know how it will turn out.

Simply get a square piece of paper, fold into a triangle, and fold again to a smaller triangle, and then for a third time.

Open up the third fold.

Bring both side of the triangle to the middle fold and cut off the excess paper.

Now the fun part, cut your design.

Alex had free reign and did his own thing, Sam was more frustrated (due to tiredness) and needed more help so I drew some simple triangle shapes for him to cut. With his snowflake I made less folds too, for ease of him being able to cut it.

Look online if you want a more challenging design too.

Once they'd finished we layered them in so much glue they went soggy lightly put some PVA glue on them and sprinkled with some glitter. We couldn't find silver glitter so made do with some bronze coloured one.

Most people would cringe doing this sort of thing at home with the glitter, but it's super easy to tidy with the right tools.

We had a Vileda 3 Action Broom to try out, now normally I'm not a great lover of brooms as I find they don't pick up the small bits of leave a bit of a trail behind them.

Once the boys had finished and there was the mess of the paper, glitter, and their snack all over our kitchen floor (which is a horrible vinyl...) I was thinking that the broom wouldn't be great if I'm honest as I never have much luck with brooms.

But this one was different, because of the 3 different brushes within the broom head it picked up everything really well and with ease. Even most of the glitter moved with it, and we all know how hard it is to get rid of glitter!

So if you're in need of a cleaning aid this Christmas this broom is brilliant for the quick jobs after crafting, baking, or when you get that call from an unexpected visitor saying they will be round in 5!

This is especially handy for us at the moment with Zachary crawling, I don't always have time to grab the hoover so can do a quick clean of our kitchen and hallway if need be (which quite frankly with 3 boys and a husband in the trade it's always needed)!




The broom was given to us to review but all thoughts and opinions are true and our own words

Blogtober: Babies

Babies.

That word might but the fear of God into some people, but for my husband and I we knew it was something that we wanted.

Admittedly at 19 when we found out I would be expecting on my 20th birthday it was a bit of a shock to the system, we were scared, I was panicked, I was wondering what everybody would be thinking of me, dreading the bump and the looks off of strangers. Most of all I was dreading telling my parents, so much so I made James do it!!

But once the idea had all settled and everyone else had started to get excited about it, and we had our home then I relaxed.

On the 20th November, 6 days early Alex was born at 7lb 10oz.

Two and a bit years later we got very broody again, and after a rocky few months where I felt dreadfully sick my bump grew and grew and Sam was born on the 9th December, 8 days early (thankfully as was dreading going late and over Christmas) at 7lb 14oz.

Sadly last year I suffered an early miscarriage. It shock me up a great deal, we've been so lucky and fallen pregnant first time so I just thought that my body would be great as it had been previously.

When we came around to the idea of having another baby I was so nervous, nervous and more aware of what could go wrong. I don't think that feeling ever left me during the whole Zac's pregnancy. Zac kept us waiting until his due date, 6th May at weighed in at 7lb 12oz.

I don't know where I'd be without my boys! They drive me mad, but they all give so much love!

Blogtober: All about me

I've been off the ball with blogging of late so thought this little challenge would be good!

I'm doing an A-Z of me.

A Alex

He's our eldest son, and nearly 8 years old. He's almost catching me up height-wise (up to my chin), a lively soul and very much into cars, football and computer games. He's challenging at times and we do clash, but he has a heart of gold under all the tough exterior.

B Boys

I'm surrounded by them! I have 3 sons with my husband, James, who can sometimes act like the 4th boy at times. I also have 2 brothers, and James has 4 brothers with only one sister, so you could say that I am rather outnumbered. It's a good job I'm not a 'girly girl'!

C Cars

I'm nearly 28 but alas I don't drive, James recently bought a car that is automatic, in a hope that I will renew my provisional (from when I had about 20 lessons at 17!) and have a bit more confidence in at least starting to learn again! Confidence is something that I severely lack in many ways!

D Danielle

That's me! And also the name behind my business Danielle Louise Designs. I'm on maternity leave at the moment but will be using a couple of my 'keeping in touch days' for a few Christmas markets. I love creating, it's my little bit of me time and escapism from every day life. I can't wait to have a little more time to start up again, I know that it's never going to be anything big, unless anything drastically changes but love creating art and keepsakes for people.

E Energy

Something I am very much craving right now, with 3 kids who seem to not know how to put things away in right places, cause havoc around the house, a husband who works lots and creates more mess than the kids, a baby that still doesn't like sleeping through night energy is something I rarely have these days!

F Family

Although they drive me mad at times, family is really everything to be, I don't know what I'd be or do without them. They are my life, I couldn't bare to be apart from them for long. Most our immediate family live close by, siblings starting to stray further afield now (James' brother in USA) but that makes moments together so much more special!

G Greed

I hate to admit it, but I always want more. Whether that's more me time, more money, more time as a family, more clothes, a bigger house. As much as I want to enjoy everything right now it's so hard to switch off the greed and hunger for more, as much as I am also so grateful for everything that we do have and what we have achieved in 10 years. 

H Hunger

At the moment I cannot stop eating, I think I got into bad habits from when the morning sickness stopped in pregnancy, and then breastfeeding just seems to make me hungry 24/7! I am known for getting very hangry (just like my father haha), feed me and my mood will change, especially if it's freshly baked cake!

I Ice cream

The perfect addition to any freshly baked cake! Also one reason I am slightly larger than I should be right now as I have been known to eat a fair amount of Ben and Jerry's since I was pregnant with Zachary!! 

J James

My husband of just over 3 years, and this September my partner for 10. We started dating when we were 17 and for a couple of our age have certainly crammed in a lot! 2 Houses, 3 children, 1 wedding, and lots of happy memories and stressful times in-between! James really is my rock, I do not know where I would be without him, he is such a hardworking and kind man, I feel funny writing man as he really is a big kid! But I love him so much, if only he would pick up after himself a little more ;)

K Kids

I always knew I wanted kids, and well that dream has come true and we have 3 beautiful boys!

L Love

Some other things that I love: chocolate, baked goodies, fresh sunny mornings, crunching through leaves, cold side of the pillow, being hugged to sleep, having my head stroked, craft shop.

M Mother

That is me now as much as I love it sometimes at home I wish I was called something else so I don't constantly hear MUM, MUMMY, MUM, where are you  MUM haha. Deep down I wouldn't have it any other way though.

N Nonsense

With 3 boys and James there is a lot of nonsense in our house, and well, if I'm honest I have to join in too sometimes...I'm not going to be seen as cool for long I fear so might as well give them a few laughs whilst I can get away with it!

O October

October is the time of year my mind has to go into overdrive. It's the month I HAVE to start planning (at least in my head) the upcoming 4 birthdays before Christmas, and also start stocking up on Christmas presents too.

P Popular

I've never really been the 'popular' one, I've always been pretty shy and hide behind other peoples personas. I would crave to have a friendly relationship (other than James) with someone that I can call no matter what time, about anything at all. Although I''ve had best friends etc, and I do have friends, but I'm such an introvert that I've not helped myself throughout the years

Q Queen

A band that the older two keep asking to play on Alexa. It's quite funny as now they are recognising the songs and singing along. Although Alex often asks for King instead!!

R Roast

Mum's home cooked roast is the best. I still can't manage to time a roast right when I cook it, no matter how hard I try I just get it right! I can never beat Mum's roast potatoes!

S Sam

Is our middle son who will be 5 in December, he's a funny little boy with such an infectious laugh! He loves snuggling under a blanket and watching a Disney movie or TV. just like Alex he is hot wheels mad too!

T Tentative

I am far to tentative! I always overthink, worry, and am hesitant to change. It's something I need to work on for the future!!

U Undecided

James would say that one of my bad traits is my indecision with so much!

V Voice

I need to find my voice more, not only to be more outgoing and vocal, but to speak out and get passionate about something and not worry so much on other people's opinions of what I am saying

W Work

I've only had one job, the one I started when I was 17 (I think), it was working in the stockroom at Next. To some extent I enjoyed it, and in some ways I would love to get back into some sort of work, but I've been out of work since 2012 as I didn't go back after having Sam so it will be a huge hurdle if and when it does happen!

X ray

I've had one X-ray before, I really busted my hand playing netball once. I took a tumble and landed on the tips of my fingers, my hand the next few days was very swollen! Thankfully it wasn't broken (somehow) I miss not playing netball, but with the 3 boys and out weekends already being taken up by football and parties I don't think it would be fair just now to take a few hours out on a Saturday.

Y Yes

Yes is a word I should say more rather than 'maybe', 'in a minute' 'after this job', I need to be more positive and take more opportunities.

Z Zachary

Last but by no means least. Zachary is our newest addition to the family, and he has slotted in very nicely. Although he doesn't like sleeping through the night (much to my disappointment) he really is such an easy baby otherwise, he's already got the Spencer cheeky grin like the rest of the family and everyone loves him so. Can't wait to see what he turns out like in the years to come, his personality is shining through already.

Behaviour charts vs jars

I can't believe that it's been 21 weeks since Zachary entered the world!

It's been crazy, fun, at times a little hard to juggle everything but I wouldn't change it for the world.

You may have read my last post  about our challenging behaviour from the older two, in particular Alex.

We first tried a type of tick chart, with really quite basic things on such as routine tasks etc, with Alex I added 'go into school well and Sam 'eat my vegetables'. Alongside that we had Pom Pom jars which they could put a Pom Pom in if they'd had a good day or did something nice, friendly, helpful without being asked. With these things in place I am pleased to say that things have improved. The last few weeks of term were still tricky getting Alex happy about school but the difference was we didn't have to physically drag him trough the classroom door!

I will admit I was dreading the start of the summer holidays.

At the end of term, I awaited nervously as I collected Alex from the classroom as I just didn't know which Alex I would be picking up, the happy, chatty chappy or the angry, aggressive and short tempered one.

I was worried we'd have a lot of the latter over the summer holidays, especially more worried about the weeks my parents were sunning themselves in Greek islands.

It turns out James had a week off before we went camping for a week, this broke up the holiday loads, and gave me a huge extra hand with the boys over the time where I had no one else to help me!

Of course over the holidays, routine and bedtimes seem to have gone out the window, so we stopped the behaviour charts we had started for the boys, but have kept the jars that they each fill with pom poms when they have done some good.

These jars have helped massively, obviously there are still times we want to pull our hair out with the kids not listening, Alex still has the odd anger blow out, but on the whole the outbursts are much shorter (thankfully).

The jars are a simple concept, Alex and Sam each have their own jar. When they do something good, especially something without being asked, they can pop a pom, pom (or in our boy's case a cotton ball as they figured they were bigger!) in their jar. For example, Sam got one the other day as he actually got dressed and brushed his teeth without being asked, this is a HUGE deal for us at the moment as he NEVER does this.

Once the jar is full they can get a small treat, in our case that is often choosing a hot wheel car, despite having over 200 in the house already!

I am hoping with the start of school and routine we won't have to go back to the tick charts we'd had, that sort of thing isn't really me, I am too forgetful but if the behaviour slips I will have to start it up again, if they get so many ticks a day they get a pom pom. Ideally I'd love to just have the pom pom jars and keep it simple.

I'd originally written this before school went back when we were busy finishing school projects, but here we are a month in already and the holidays seem like a distant memory!

The final weeks of pregnancy!

On Monday I had my final blood test and unfortunately along the way I had been bitten by a dog!! Luckily it really wasn't that bad but it had managed to break the skin in 2 places. Because I knew I was heading straight to the doctors I just rushed off-I do hate confrontation with strangers!!

I was quite shaken up, and as soon as the nurses in the room asked if I was ok, I sort of half burst into tears and felt very embarrassed. It was one of those moments when I really wish they hadn't asked if I was ok as that just let the flood gates open-at 36 weeks pregnant it doesn't take much at the best of times!!

Anyway whilst there I asked whether I needed to take anything or buy special cream and as they were unsure they said to ask reception for a call back from the doctor. Unfortunately I need antibiotics for the next week! So now have indigestion pains from them as well as baby!

Tuesday morning I had my 36 week midwife appointment (potentially could be the last...) and was pleased to see it was with my normal midwife this time (not that there was anything wrong with the fill in one last time), always nice to see a friendly face.

I was so pleased that the bloods came back fine, I have been on iron tablets since the last blood test and luckily my levels are around 12 so I am fine to have baby in the birthing centre.

I am so, so relieved with this, I found Sam's labour in the birthing centre so much more relaxing than when I had Alex on the ward, it really didn't feel like I was in the hospital at all, I do have a little bit of a fear of hospitals generally otherwise!

She measured bump which was all good, she noticed how tight it is under my ribs and how little room there is left, I was pleased to find out baby is head down, with it's body to the right and limbs on the left (explains the weird poking out bits I've had this past week)! Baby wasn't engaged, but in bed last night I had a really bad sudden discomfort down below a few times and lots of pressure, so I am wondering if maybe it is now or making a start!! EEK

I am tempted this time to try a water birth, the pools were in use when I had Sam, and I won't be totally disappointed if they are again, I just think it would be nice to try, and with this being my last pregnancy I would really like to give the opportunity a go. I am just wondering whether I would get too hot and then start feeling ill.

We are almost sorted with everything baby, my parents kindly took the boys away Friday night-Monday night in Bournemouth and as James had the weekend off we sorted out our room, cleared some rubbish from the house, and after a year of having no thresholds after laying our hallway floor we finally got them down along with some hallway lights up, as it was so nice weather-wise we didn't do as much as we had planned too. But we only really have the babies crib to make up now, the rest of the DIY will probably wait another few months to a year I'd expect!!

It was so nice to have some time to ourselves and just have ourselves to think about without worrying about feeding, bathing, and bedtimes! We caught up with some friends and family, and took a wander around Cirencester-where we had a yummy lunch!

Plus the boys had a fantastic time away and it was probably much needed as we really don't have much planned this school holiday!

So I am going to try and enjoy the last few weeks of pregnancy, despite the tiredness and general aches and pains, and also being without a working car at the moment (hopefully being sorted asap)! I also have a haircut appointment today which is much needed as I haven't had my hair cut in over a year and I so need it!!

Easter crafting: shaving foam marbled paper and Easter hats with Marigold.

We've been busy crafting this past week ready for Easter.

Spring is a great time of year to craft, the sun is out and it's time for lots of bright colours too!

On a day where Alex had gone to a friend's house to play after school I took it as a good opportunity to do some crafting with Sam one-to-one. Which I will admit I've not done enough of over the years!

We collected some cards and papers, chose the colours we wanted and bought some shaving foam. (Please read the bottle when buying...we bought the gel one first time and had to head back to be able to make this project)!

How to make shaving foam marbled paper:

Things you need

• Shaving foam
• Paint (at least 3 colours)
• Thick paper or card
• Cocktail sticks/kebab skewers/fork
• Tray with foil (saves on lots of washing)
• Ruler or something else to use as a scraper

How to make it:

• Make sure you clear a space, thanks to Marigold we had plenty of sponges and cloths to wipe down the table and kitchen worktops. 
• Wear gloves if you want to...this would be advisable if you wanted to use food colouring instead of paints.

• Set up the trays, and squirt a generous amount of the shaving foam all over. 
• Choose which colours you want to marble together and dab small blobs all over. 
• Using the skewers etc, make patterns with the paint. Tip: start off with bigger gaps, when you reuse the same shaving foam over a few times you will get a 'tighter' marble affect anyway. 
• Once happy with pattern made place a piece of paper on top. Don't press too hard, but enough for the paint to take. 
• Gently peel off the paper, place on the table.
• Using the ruler scrape the excess shaving foam off, press firmly when doing this.
• Leave to dry
• Put the excess shaving foam back in the tray and mix with the skewer again, repeat until you want to stop. 

I will admit this is quite a messy make! But it is fun, and I will also admit that we aren't too precious about our table as it's on it's last legs. Again having Marigold to help with the clean up was great-as you can see our table needed it!

We actually used these papers this weekend, the boys used templates and cookie cutters to cut out spring shapes for their Easter hats. 

These were really simple to make as it was simply a piece of card for each hat, cut into 3, 2 stapled to fit their heads, and then the extra piece bridged over the top. The 'grass and box of carrots' were from Asda at a £1/e I thought these were pretty reasonable! Using my glue gun I got them to tell me where they wanted their shapes placed.  

Hope you enjoyed this, let us know if you will be crafting this Easter!

This is a collaborative post with Marigold

A Christmas catch up! (A little late)

OK, OK. It's January and I am posting about Christmas, I apologise, but this is the last post catching up before we get into the new year-promise!

Early December we popped along to a local farm to choose our Christmas tree, we got a slightly smaller tree than previous years and actually I am glad we did. We got a 4-5ft tree, so nice to support a local farm, and the boys loved choosing it and were very excited about decorating it when we got home-I wish I was but in all honestly I was so tired and didn't really want it up the first weekend in December! 

When we got home we let the kids have free rein decorating it, I will admit on the Monday I did re-decorate it (I know terrible!), and got my craft wooden tree out for them to decorate on the landing upstairs. 

The finished tree

I think this is actually the best tree we have decorated, I stuck to golds, whites and reds, and there are a few of my own makes on there too! This actually lasted amazingly well, we had it up until the 5th January and it was still looking very green and hadn't dropped that many needles at all. I fed it with some lemonade and water this year and I think the lemonade definitely helps (for whatever reason I don't know)!

December was crazy busy! We had James's Birthday, Sam's birthday, James went to America for a week, Sam's birthday party, and then the last manic week at school with plays, discos, Christmas parties, fundraising and more (or course this was the week James was away too)! 

Alex's play was born in the barn, unfortunately I have no photos, we were able to take them but as he was at the back and I didn't have the best view it was just impossible, I was really hoping they would take individual photos in their costumes like in previous years, but apparently they didn't this year which is disappointing. He was a bird, so was in black with a big beak, singing his heart out, the kids all did a great job. 

Sam's nativity was on the last day of term, and it was super cute, the 3 and 4 year old's did an amazing job. Sam was a shepherd, handy as Alex was at preschool too so had no worried when sorting the costume. Sam loves singing and kept smiling away at me. They had some stalls afterwards, and we got lucky on the tombola for a change! 

Alex had Christmas jumper day on the Friday too, of course we had none and of course I then felt guilty and had to make one up on the Thursday night, sometimes being crafty has it's upsides! I had loads of people saying I should make these to sell next year...I'm not so sure after how long it took me to do!

As I mentioned above, James was away for a week in December, he went out to Florida with his family, his brother lives out that way and he whole family were heading out there until after Christmas. We all had the opportunity to go but in all honestly flying, especially long haul is one of my nightmares let alone when 4 month pregnant, and as it was for the week the boys were happy to stay home. With Alex being ill that week, and then seemingly developing big anxiety over eating and going out we were all very pleased to see James walk through the door that Saturday, he was so lucky with his journey home so was home about an hour earlier than we expected. 

That week before Christmas James was mostly off, we had our scan, and sorted the last of the Christmas bits, as ever we don't have the money for buying everyone presents so we did a big bake off on the 23rd! Photos can be deceiving though, it looks like we are happy families here, but in all honestly it was a day of the boys arguing and being hard work!

However we made lots, cranberry and orange shortbread, gingerbread with lemon icing, marshmallow, and cheese and rosemary straws. These all went down extremely well, I think my favourite were definitely the shortbread....although the other makes went down nicely too!

 Christmas eve was mainly spent having a quick tidy up, wrapping the last of the gifts, seeing a couple of friends and heading out to a Christmas service at the church we got married. It went by in a flash and it was soon time for pj's, hanging stockings, and leaving mince pies etc for the big man himself, Sam remembered we had reindeer food last year and was worried we hadn't got any this year so the boys quickly stepped out the front and sprinkled some oats out. It wasn't long before he visited!

I woke at 4am, and thought I could hear the kids, they were both up in Sam's bed chatting away like 2 old women, they sort of went to sleep at 5ish, Sam ended up in with us and I didn't get back to sleep, so was a bit tired the rest of the day! James and I didn't do gifts for each other again this year, and we purposely didn't get the kids much either, a. to save money and b. they just didn't need nor want much! The kids were happy with their bits, and actually didn't get a huge amount of time to play them as we went to my parent's for lunch, we were back there the following day as my grandparents were there, the following day we went to Reading to visit my other grandparents and all of my Mum's side of the family, as James' parents were back we also popped into them on the 28th, so it was a lovely but manic few days!! I will be honest even now in January the upstairs still has some of the boy's stocking fillers left on the landing as I haven't had the energy or time to sort much out!! 

So from our home to yours, we hope you had an amazing Christmas, a lovely new year and all the best in finishing those Christmas food gifts to make a start on healthy eating again (please say that isn't just us)!

Ninja turtle party on a budget

Another pre Christmas post to catch up on!

Sam's birthday was in December and it was the day before James was due to head off to America so it was quite a quiet day, he had preschool all day too which I felt bad about but actually I think he loved being with his friends! We had presents opened on the bed before school and my mum popped over in the evening, he requested a picky tea and I'd made him a ninja turtle cake-his favourite character being Mikey!

 He seemed so grown up, he was super excited this year too, so proud to show off his bag with his badge on as he walked through his school gate. 

I felt bad but Sam's party was a little rushed in the planning, with James being away that week and little money it was hard knowing what to do and when to do it, in the end I had to do it when James was away, which wasn't ideal but it meant him having a party and not missing out!

He is mad on Ninja Turtles at the moment, in fact given half the chance I think he would sit there all day watching it! So the theme was easy, and I decided having a few of his friends here with my Mum's help would just about be manageable!

With my 2 included I think we had about 10 people, it was manic, especially the first half hour, but once everyone was there we sat them down at the table. 

I'd bought some green paper plates in Asda and cut some printables out to make some ninja turtle faces. I'd printed off ninja turtle colouring sheets too. I got the idea from this post on Mum's and Munchkins.

I'd also made a 'pin the mask on the ninja turtle' game for the children to play, with some only being 3 I think a few of them were a little scared to wear the blind fold to play!

After that we had all the ingredients prepared and ready to go to make some muffin pizzas, if you know ninja turtles you know pizzas are their favourite food!

These were really easy to do and were a big hit with the kids, the adults thought it was great to get the kids making the bulk of their lunch themselves too!

Simply cut muffins in half, spread with a little of tomato puree (or a mix of tomato puree and ketchup if preferred). 

Sprinkle on some grated cheese, along with any veggies, and hams and pop in the oven for about 10 minutes or so. 

Whilst I sorted food, we played pass the parcel-I always do a few extra layers just in case so it took up a fair amount of time ;)

After lunch and mini Mikey cup cakes we played some dancing games and gradually they left, and I collapsed for the afternoon whilst the boys played with the new toys, all in all the party was actually not too stressful and the kids all seemed to have fun which is the main thing. 

Autumn half term fun, salt dough leaf imprinting

With any school holidays I am filled with both excitement and dread.

I love the lazy mornings and not having to rush around (no one likes the time limits of the school runs do they)! BUT the arguing between the boys and trying to keep them constantly entertained is difficult and wearing at times! Sam constantly asks to watch TV, Alex comes up to me every 5 minutes saying he's bored, and asks to play on some form of technology pretty much on and off all day!

Today was one of those days! Alex sneaked his tablet in the morning so was quietly playing that in his room, cue tears when I took it off him, after breakfast they started fighting over hot wheels cars and which one was the fastest or the best...this went on for some time!!

So after my shower and a bit of a shouting match I decided it was time to do something fun, I made up a batch of salt dough and we went out to collect some leaves (short walk to clear the head ache for me also)!

The recipe I used was simply, 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt and about 1/2 to 3/4's cup of warm water.

After returning i sprinkled flour over the table, got some geometric cookie cutters out and a couple of rolling pins. I let the boys pick the leave and also a couple of acorn cups they had found.

We rolled the dough to about 1cm thick, and then laid a leaf down upon the dough and lightly rolled over the leaf-hard enough to leave an imprint but not too hard to flatten the dough (this happened a few times with my two)!

They then cut with the cookie cutter, using a straw I poked a hole in each shape made in case we want to hang them at a later stage.

We placed them on some baking paper on a baking tray.

The boys also used acorn cups for making imprints, Alex had the idea of making circle indents in his dough which Sam quickly copied, we tried rolling the acorn cups to leave a pattern but this didn't really leave a great effect.

Once all the dough had gone I popped the shapes into the oven at about 140C and cooked for about 2-2 1/2 hours turning them over half way.

They came out reasonably well, whenever I have cooked salt dough in the past it has puffed so I am glad it didn't this time!

We may draw or paint on them another day...will update if we do :)

This was a fun and cheap activity to do and they had a great time.

Now TV kids pass review

Our kids were a little bit miffed when we recently cancelled our Sky subscription to help save a few pennies, so when we were asked to review the new Now Tv kids pass I jumped at the chance.

We already have a Now Tv account and use it on our Roku box so setting up the Kids pass was super easy, only taking a minute or two to add the code.

For £2.99 a month you get 6 live Tv channels: Cartoon network, Nickelodeon, NickToons, NickJr, Cartoonito & Boomerang, as well as being able to choose and watch the shows at different times, you also get box sets from Cbeebies, CBBC, and Milkshake. 

NowTv have worked with children to help design the new interface for the Kids section, I think it works really well, my 6 year old used it without any help and actually my 3 and 1/2 year old figured it out really quickly too-I found this out when he swapped shows half way through watching TV one morning! 

I like the fact they have added auto play so that the next episode shows without having go back to any main menus and choose again, especially for those times when us parents need a little break or to get some work done (come on we all do it don't we...)! Although this does sometimes make it a little harder trying to get the kids to come off of it!

If your child loves a certain programme it gets added to the top of the page in a favourites folder, as you can see my two like Paw Patrol like I'm sure many kids seem to!

I will admit Sam can be a bit of a telly addict, so when he was poorly this past week and off preschool whilst I had some craft orders to complete NOWTV really came to the rescue! He loved watching it from his awesome space rocket tent snuggled under his blanket with his special pillow too-so thanks again NOWTV :)

Alex hasn't had much of chance to watch it after getting a technology ban for some naughty behaviour/a very messy room, but I have a feeling it will probably get quite a bit of use over the summer holidays!!

If you wanted to try the Kids pass out, there is a 14 day free trial, more details on the website...

You know your a cyclist when...

So up until recently I had not ridden a bike in over 8 years, in fact that was only just on a week's holiday at a centre parcs in Holland, so I really haven't ridden properly since I was a teen.

That's had to change recently as some of you will be aware that I do not drive and Sam has now started preschool-which is by our house, not by Alex's school which is about a 20min walk away. So the only way to get between the two is by bike.

So we got my old bike from my parent's house (a boy's bike so my brother's could have it after me!) and bought a child seat for the back, I am about 3 weeks in and finally getting my balance and can finally go around the chicane at the end of the path!

Since becoming a part time, path cycling, cyclist I have noticed these things:

• People don't smile at you any more, even if it's another cyclist.
• You're not often let across the road unless unless someone if feeling particularly nice or you have another child with you.
• People like to judge and assume you're going too zoom past them when in actual fact I would always hold back and wait until there is room as I am just like that.
• People assume you to be rude and impatient.

• People see it fit to be rude to you: just this morning I was heading through the park by our house on the way to drop Sam off at preschool, I saw a mother and daughter with their dog in front of me, and a mum and pushchair coming the other way (who always smiles to me when I am walking-never even gives me a second glance on the bike). I slowed down and was happy just basically balancing behind the mother and daughter when a big gust of wind came and I said to Sam "wow that was windy wasn't it" to which the Mum heard me behind and got her daughter to try and move over, I was polite and said thank you and her reply "would help if you had a bell" and giving me a really filthy look. I was not zooming past, I was not rude, I was more than happy going slow until we would reach the end of the main path a mere 10M away, little does she know I have actually looked for a bell twice in our local Asda when the bike section has been near to empty. Little does she know, I actually wouldn't like coming up behind someone and ringing the bell, I'm happy just going slow for a bit. 

Argh sorry rant over, I just find it weird how people perceive you when you are on two wheels rather than on two feet. I'm just a mum getting my child to school like anyone else, there is no way I am confident enough to cycle on the road, and to be honest I wouldn't want to with a 3 year old on the back anyway, and anyhow it was a suitable bike path too! I just know that, that one comment said in the tone it was said in will play over in my mind all day now!

Do you cycle at all? Do you find that people see you differently than when you walk?

Anyway after a few weeks at preschool Sam is really enjoying himself which is fantastic, we only had tears once and that was more tiredness than anything else. I really hope he comes out of his shell a bit as he is very much like me in the sense of being shy with new people, but he seems to be getting on well and my fridge is now home to many paintings and drawings :)

Sam's 3rd birthday, and a Disney Cars and Planes cake

So last Wednesday my baby turned 3, and boy was he excited about it after desperately waiting after Alex's, mine and James' in recent weeks!!

Sam is a little character, every one thinks he is quiet, but he doesn't miss a trick and takes everything in! Once he gets to know you he will eventually talk, and he really can chat! He loves puzzles, cars and planes in particular, and can at times be a little lazy ;) he suddenly seems to have grown up a little, loosing his toddlerish ways, very good considering he will be starting preschool after Christmas (woop, woop)!

He is a HUGE lover of films, I will admit he often watches one a day when I need to get on my work orders, and it has become a little bit of a bad habit (oops). But he is a big lover or all things Disney and will happily sit through many of the pixar films in particular. His favourites being Cars and Planes, (although Toy Story, Wreck it Ralph and The Incredibles), and although it changed many times, he eventually settled on wanting a planes and cars cake-it was always going to be a chocolate one though!

I used the same chocolate cake recipe as Alex's Iron man cake, but I must admit I think I over cooked it slightly! I made one deep cake and then two smaller cakes and layered them up with some butter icing.

Then the fun/scary bit...decorating it!

He's asked for blue icing and that's what he got, it took me a while to do all the elements but it was really fun making the bottom half look a bit like radiator springs from Disney cars and then making the top half looking like the sky and using the planes shaped logo from the film cover.

I made some mini bunting for a finishing line using paper, cocktail sticks and a black pen, a little fiddly but it was needed I thought.  I cheated and used some of our mini figures as I didn't see the point in making icing ones!

We had a few of his little friends over for a party lunch, we didn't do games just had a play as in past experience, party games with 2 and 3 year olds is not a great deal of fun! Then in the evening we had family over for cake too.

He had a great day and loved all his gifts (mainly Planes themed surprisingly!) and is now looking forward to Christmas too!

A family holiday in the south of France (and day in Monaco)

Our summer holiday seems like a distant memory-the 30+ degree hear certainly does!! And yes I am writing about summer holidays in the October half term!!

Just after the school term finished we set off early on the Friday morning to get the Ferry to Calais-a little bit apprehensive as to whether we would have to wait for ages due the problems in Calais, but luckily we were early and they had space on the earlier Ferry. It was a long journey with the two boys (one with chicken pox in full anger too) down to nearly Dijon but we made it to our over night stop without any problems.

Our over night stop Hotel Hermes was great for what we needed it for, the restaurant on site was lovely and if we had been earlier there was even a small outdoor pool to cool down and relax in. I would definitely recommend it-although beware the rooms are very hot-no air con and the fan wasn't powerful-I did have to duck out at 12.30am to get medicine for Sam out of the car as the heat was really aggravating his chicken pox bless him-eventually he and I got to sleep!

We took things a bit too steady the following morning as both my Dad and James were tired from the drive the day before. Had we have known it was the French national factory two week shut down we may have left earlier. We weren't quite so lucky with the journey down that day, with the sat nav being stuck on 5 hours for a very, very long time out of about a 7 hour journey and taking a detour through the Alps due to an accident on the road we needed.

Edge of the Alps-one advantage to the detour

Eventually we arrived at the campsite in St Raphael around 7.30pm. We were staying in one of the canvas mobile homes along with my parents and one of my brothers. It was a bit of a tight space for all of us if I am honest but it was the only way we could go on holiday as my parents paid for the accommodation. None the less, the mobile home had everything we needed, and had air con in the lounge area which was needed in the 34c heat!

The campsite was probably the largest I have stayed on, but it wasn't noisy and I think you get some of the best facilities on the larger campsites. The pool area was fantastic, one extra large and really deep pool (which you were actually allowed to dive and jump into!), one slightly smaller pool with one tube slide, and the children's splash zone which is the best children's area I have seen on a campsite.

At the park- after a swim!

Enjoying the park as he wasn't able to swim due to chicken pox

The boys, especially Alex would have spent the whole holiday in the pool I think, and had we had been on holiday longer than a week I think he would have been able to swim a width of the pool (as unfortunately I can't afford lessons for him). It was so fantastic to see them having such fun in the pool, I think we all needed it to cool off and it was great to see how confident they had become in the water.

Although I have been lucky enough to go to France many times over my childhood years I have never been to this area before, and it really was beautiful. I wish we had explored more, but the 6 days we spent there went so quickly, I'd love to go back, maybe in May or Oct when it isn't quite as hot as it was a bit too hot to wander around and explore!

Sunset by our caravan one night

We had quite a chilled out holiday, a visit to the local beach, ice creams, a few meals out, one market, local towns, and a trip to Aqua Land with my aunt, uncle and 3 cousins who joined us on holiday on the Tuesday. Alex loved Aqua Land, for a boy who is scared of heights, stairs with gaps and not overly confident in water he was in his element, I didn't recognise the boy flying down slides by himself!!

Agay beach

We took a coastal drive one afternoon, such stunning views and some really amazing properties! Had we not have had the boys with us we would have pulled up along of the cliff/beaches that you could only walk to, I am sure it would have been quite perfect!

Views from the coastal drive

We also took a day trip to Monaco which was a nightmare to get to, we were originally going to get the train from Nice as thoguht the boys would love the fast train ride. After a hairy wait with some street people washing our windscreen at at set of traffic lights and then demanding money )after us saying no to the wash!), wiggling our way around the streets to find the station car park, Sam having a almost diarrhoea poo in the car park (in a nappy thankfully), rushing down to the station, to come across a huge queue and the train we needed to get arriving in 5 mins, with the following one being more than an hour later, we decided against it (and breathe that was a long sentence)! The only problem was there was tonnes of traffic getting out!

Eventually we made it, and it was pretty amazing, and definitely a glimpse into how the other half live! Alex and I really hate their car-parks though, underground, no air and winding and bending didn't help our claustrophobia much! It was such a hot day so it day make it hard work getting about, all we wanted was a drink! We met up with my Aunt and her family (my parents went here last Oct so stayed near the campsite) and headed up to the palace, there are some really great views from up here so well worth the walk it is also so pristine it almost looks like it isn't real, it's so surreal!

We also found the tourist train which was a great relief for our hot and tired bodies (and to entertain the boys) and also a good way to view everything relatively quickly with headphones to listen and tell you what you can see in many different languages (thanks to Sam pressing the button a lot when I was trying to listen! It follows some of the race track and also head up to Monte Carlo casino.

The holiday was soon over as soon as we got there really, it went by far too quickly and if we were to do that again we would definitely stay for at least 10 days as far too long to travel down for just under a week really. The journey back home was much easier as didn't really get held up in traffic, although it would have been a very different story going down to the south of France as the other side of the motorway was chock-a-block! Unfortunately James did a bit (a lot) of damage in the campanile carpark the morning we made our way to the Ferry. He managed to run over a rock which was next to our parking space creating about 4 grand of repairs (so insurance sky high next year)!!

Happy on the Ferry home

On the Ferry home

 I would definitely like to go back to this area one day, just without the major heat as I just melt and get a bit grouchy, we all had a great time and it was so, so nice to get some proper sun and enjoy a pool too :)