Hopes and goals for 2014

While the children are all happily playing with their new toys that Father Christmas brought them and Gareth is busy beautifying himself upstairs ready for our Christmas day, I thought i'd jot down a few thoughts. The busyness of Christmas often makes me stop and think about what's important and the past few days I've been thinking about numerous things. Firstly, and most importantly, my family's health. In many ways (mainly activities/exercise) we are all pretty healthy. The children are extremely active most of the time and do several sports after school and lunch time clubs. Gareth and I have always walked everywhere and only take the car if extremely necessary. Finley is also a very keen outdoor toddler and we would like it to stay that way. Therefore, we would like to continue this. We already do family bike rides, roller skating/scootering, swimming as regularly as we can. Next year we intend to add to our outdoor pursuits and Gareth is going to get Caden involved in archery lessons which I think would be really good for him.

In addition to our active lifestyle, one thing we really need to change is our eating habits. Sadly I am about 2 st over weight despite my activity levels and therefore I really need to lose some! I have tried this unsuccessfully since Finley was born 20 months ago, but this year I hope to try much much harder. Gareth and the big children have a very poor diet of far too many processed foods and snacks. And I just eat too much... Although my diet is much healthier than the others. I eat lots of whole foods, not a huge amount of meat and I try and limit my sugar intake. But there's much room for improvement... So improvement is what we will make!

I need to rush off now but I will pop back when I get a chance to add to this. x

In my life today

Not written on here for a while so here's a quick update. I need to go to bed soon as I'm struggling to keep my eyes open after my busy house worky type of day!

In the kitchen is a half eaten huge chocolate cake which I made for Talia's 11th birthday. Had great fun making it and even more fun eating it!! :-)

Pigs in a mud bath!

On the hob on a baking tray is a collection of polymer clay key rings I've been making for the stall i'm sharing with my friend at the school Christmas market and also for the grand opening of my Etsy or folksy shop (not decided which yet). I'm feeling very very excited about my new venture but also a bit nervous.

These little things will be keyrings...

I've already made these...

I will also be selling some crochet items (my new hobby)..

Wrist warmers in lilac sparkly yarn.

Black sparkly yarn.

Mine craft creeper wrist warmer.

Baby head band with a bow.

This last one will be a lovely bright rainbow pram blanket. So tempted to keep this one for F. 

Xxx

Life change? Spiritual transformation?

Just posted this on a forum I use... Thought I'd post it here too as I reminder to myself of how I am feeling...

...

I’ve been feeling a bit strange these past few weeks but I can’t put my finger on why. I’m not unhappy in the slightest. Maybe it’s a bit to do with dh getting his new job after being off for five months but it doesn’t feel like that. I got used to him being back at work really quickly so I’m sure it’s not that. My cat died the day before he started his job and our cat was a huge part of our lives (more like a dog than a cat as he was my little shadow, wherever I was so was he) but again, I don’t think it’s to do with that.
This is sounding all nonsense I know but just wondering if anyone else has ever experienced this.
I feel like I’m changing. Like I’m going through a life change but not quite sure what this change is going to be at the moment. It’s like I’m waiting for it to happen… But not sure what I’m waiting for.
I’ve made a few small changes myself recently in the way I manage money, I’ve learnt to crochet (something I’ve tried and failed at for ages) and I’ve started making my own jewellery… but it still doesn’t feel like it’s too do with that.
Oh gosh I’m aware I’m sounding quite insane right now but I guess this post is really just to air my inner thoughts… Whatever they may be!!
Does anyone have the slightest inclination of what I’m talking about?? (Feel free to just call me a loon and ignore my ramblings!!!) xxx

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Loving...

Loving that my baby boy is learning so much every day. He's nearly 15 months now and understands so much. This past week he's been understanding that it's not kind to bite other people and he now takes himself off to have a "think" at the back door and when he's ready he returns to give his victim a kiss to say sorry. His bites are getting less frequent to so something somewhere is sinking on.

Also loving the fact that just today we were looking at his book together and he began copying the animal sounds when we got to each page. :-) :-)

I also love how he's learnt how to go and collect his step if he needs to be that tiny bit taller!! :-) 

I love how close my three children are these days.

I'm just loving being a mama right now!!! :-) 

Day one of the big declutter

I am exhausted!! I started my mammoth chore of decluttering the kitchen today. And my goodness it was a mammoth chore too! My utility area is the space that not only houses the washing

machine but also houses all my craft supplies. These consist of clay, clay tools, acrylic paint, water colour paint, chalk pastels, oil pastels, paint brushes, canvases, art paper, tiles, jewellery making supplies, beads, shells, pebbles, glue, tape, felt, thread, wool, etc etc etc. I tried oh so hard to get rid of the stuff I haven't used for ages but I'm so so rubbish at getting rid of things. I'm such a hoarder and it pains me to throw things away. Especially craft things!

Anyway, the space above the washing machine did look like this (shameful photo):

Gosh it looks awful.

Now it looks like this:

Those two boxes need sorting still but at least I can now see what's there.

I forgot to take before pictures of the main kitchen but here are the after pictures.

It really was a tough job. I emptied out cupboards and cleaned the shelves. Threw away out of date flour that had been "saved" to make play dough with. Struggled to decide what needed to go and what needed to stay. And then I sat on the floor and sobbed. I sobbed because I find de- cluttering really hard. I want a lovely minimal simple house but I really struggle with throwing away things that I "might" need or which have sentimental value. So what I did today was a huge achievement. I managed to get two archive boxes of stuff to sell at the next boot fair and THREE bags of rubbish!! Three!! So, although the kitchen is not yet finished... It is much much better than it was and I am now feeling OK to carry on. 

.... and.... breathe!

It's been one of those days today where your blood rises to boiling point and you think you might blow! Various things triggered it but it all seems to boil down to one reason and one reason only. And that is the house. There's five of us living in this house. The living space isn't teeny tiny but we are quite rubbish at using our space well. I've read Simplicity Parenting over and over. I've read 101 Ways to make more space over and over but we still live on chaos. In five  years time we will have a 6 year old, a 13 year old and a 15 year old and if the house is still just as chaotic we will be in for a bumpy ride.

Some time ago I followed the advice from Simplicity Parenting and cleared out a huge amount of the children's unused toys. It made so much difference you would not believe. However over the past year or so "stuff" has managed to return and we are back to chaotic living.

So it's time to do it again... More so than ever now that F is with us. We live in a three bedroom house. N has the best deal so far. She has a double room all to herself and her goldfish. C had a tiny box room that fits a normal bed and nothing else (but he doesn't have a normal bed... He has a high sleeper with all of his things underneath). G and I share our room with F. FM's cot is beside or bed but more often than not he's in with us.

So its time to change.

Tomorrow I will begin my major clear out ... Beginning with the kitchen. In the hope it will help in us trying to live more simply... I'll keep you updated... Hopefully with photos! x

Our lovely boy.

R.I.P. Poo. xxx

October 2000-June 2013

Lost the rhythm of blogging

I'm not doing so well at blogging these days... Too much other stuff going on. So I'm just going to put a few pictures in instead...

Sunset on holiday.

Home baked wholemeal rolls.

Cheese tarts.

Honey and cinnamon cookies.

Our new veranda.

Friends

Dd is getting to the age where life is only really fun if a friend is with her. I can relate to that. It just feels sad somehow that she is beginning to need them more and us less... But I guess that's the way life goes when they start to grow up.

We've had a lovely half term. We seem to have done quite a lot without making any big plans. Tomorrow the friends we saw at the wildlife park are coming over for lunch and as it will be a day before C's 8th birthday we have decided to turn it into a bit of a party and have his cake early.

Talking of the cake, N and I have been slaving over that half the day. C wanted Pokemon on his cake so N has been doing an amazing job moulding the little figures out of icing. Unfortunately we couldn't find any of that black squeezy tube icing to draw on the facial markings so it won't look perfect... But I love it all the same and N had a great time making them. I'll try and get photos on soon.

It's F's 1st birthday on Tuesday so we'll be making yet another cake on Monday... So much for my diet!!! *Sigh *. xx

Friends...

Well, so far so good...dh and I are managing wonderfully so far not to shout. We are saying "yes" to the children much more than no (unless for good reason obviously) and add a result we've had a peaceful few days. Today has been a little more difficult as I've not been sleeping well so I'm SO tired... but I've still not shouted, and neither have they.

We had a lovely day yesterday. Dh stayed home to get on with garden jobs while I took the children to our local wildlife park with my best friend Dawn and her two children A who is 14 and R who is 8. It was bitterly cold but being with our very best friends we could have been in a cardboard box and still had a good time. I met Dawn when I was 11 when we first started secondary school. We've been through a lot together and still extremely close now. She's kind of my soul mate. Someone I can spend hours with chatting about nothing and never get bored. Time whizzes by and in a flash its time to go home.

Anyway, it was totally freezing all day with snow on and off but the children were having such a great time and to be honest,.. So were we despite the cold. After six hours of pacing the park in minus temperatures and an hour standing waiting for then to finish in the play area,  we really had to go home. Our bodies could no longer cope with the cold.

We said or goodbyes with the agreement that Dawn and the children would come to our house for the day next Friday. They live an hour and a half away... Where we used to live... So visits are normally few and far between... And with N and her recent anxieties it's been hard to get her to travel more than half an hour.

I'm assuming it was due to the cold of yesterday that made me wake up feeling like I felt this morning. Still freezing. Achey. Sore eyes. And oh so tired. Even so, we visited some friends for lunch and had a nice day. I am glad it's nearly over though. x x

Too much shouting!

So, dh and I have been in huge discussions this evening... And yesterday evening too. We've been discussing our family and all that's wrong with it right now. The main thing is the shouting. We all shout and its really getting me down right now.

Before the children got to 2 (ish) and 4 (ish) dh and I never shouted. We never argued with each other.... Rarely even had heated conversations. So what changed? The children started having arguments, we moved areas so dh was commuting a long distance so he was more tired and grumpy and I was (at the time) working 3 days a week and studying for two and exhausted. So with all that going on we got grumpy and shouty... and so did the children.

You see, children learn by example. So they were learning that if they weren't happy with something then you shout. The more they shouted, the more we shouted.... And so it had continued.

But now the children are nearly 8 and 10 and the shouting is getting louder and more ferocious. So something needs to be done. And it needs to be done now.

So dh and I have just made a pact that we will try to parent more gently and to try and not shout any more. Easier said than done after all these years.... But we can only try.

Where is spring?

A couple of weeks ago it reached 17 degrees in our town!! 17 degrees. I didn't even need a coat on and neither did 10 month old F. The skies were blue...

Then today... We woke to this!!

Seeing as we'd planned a day out including a picnic we were not impressed.

 So we decided to take a walk to the library and get some more books (we're all book obsessed in our house!)  And spend the rest of the day chilling, reading and crafting.

At one point daddy and F were taking a snooze so C and N starting some papier maché crafting and I decided to get going on sorting out our spring season table (just so I can pretend it is going to be spring soon!) I've got lots of ideas of what else to put on the spring table and so has N. We have ideas for painting, felt items, photographs, tissue paper items... Let's hope we continue to find time to do it all.

 What have I done with F this week? Water play, walks to the park, visited Nanny and Grandad, library visits, painting, messy play with cornflour, as always lots of looking at books, taking puzzles apart, baths and housework with F on my back in the mei tai.

Awareness stage, play centre and reorganising

F had been going through a particularly clingy stage at the moment. He is teething, he has a horrible cough and cold and he's 10 months - classic age for going through this. The once easy to put down to sleep baby is no more. He now cries so much if you don't cuddle him. This is fine as I quite like the cuddles. Having two much older children (7 and 10) you realise how quick the time goes and how previous these early years are. So this is a normal day time nap these days... But I love it!

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I took our boys to a new play centre which had just opened near us. F quite liked the ball pit but most of the time he preferred to sit on my lap and watch the other children. We're of there again tomorrow... Making the most of it while he's free to get in.

Least week my kettle decided to give up so I managed to convince my hubby to by me a funky purple kettle to go with my funky personality! :-)   

And then my microwave went too... So look what I got! :-) :-) :-) 

We had a bit of a shift around at home the other day. I'm getting constantly frustrated with our rubbish use of space! Our house is NOT tiny! We have two double bedrooms, a tiny box bedroom, a nice cosy lounge, a large kitchen/diner and utility AND a large conservatory... So as you can see... Not tiny. But we have too much clutter and not enough storage for what we actually need. We had a whole area in the conservatory for the PC but it's barely used except when we need to print something or transfer photos because everyone had tablets/smartphones. Do I got DH to build me some shelving for my endless pikes of books and positioned the pc neatly underneath. This means we can now fit quite a lot in a space which was just empty before. I still have lots of space on the shelves so I will make sure dh gets up in the loft to get my book box down asap! Either that or I will need to trawl the charity shops for new books to fill the spaces! :-) 

 This freed up some space in the conservatory and we've now moved the table out there to make a separate eating area rather than eating in the kitchen. I'd quite lie to get a small 2 person kitchen table for homework/breakfast (we all tend to eat breakfast at different times) and for messy play/art and crafts.

Snow, dishwashers and helping Daddy!

I've not written for a while mainly because I've not got round to getting my photos on my tablet. Now they are here so i'll update what we've been doing.

N having a rare half an hour building a snowman on her own! This girl NEVER does anything on her own so this was amazing to watch. She said she really enjoyed herself and wondered why she doesn't do things along more often. Not that she's done anything alone again since then.. but it was nice while it lasted.

We all had great fun in the snow... F included! I think he was a bit bewildered by it all!

G took the big two for a ride on their sledges to the village green to go sledging.

Oh... And F's found a new game! Let's Getty IN the dish washer to pull the baskets in and out! Therefore meaning daddy had to fit a safety gate...

F helping daddy fixing the telephone wire to the skirting board. I didn't manage to get a photo but every time daddy used his hammer F banged his little wooden hammer on the floor too.

Redundancy and lazy days...

So, my dh was made redundant before Christmas. He's now been of work a month and we're all still a bit up in the air. Due to a big lack of communication, his insurance or JSA had kicked in yet. He got very little in terms of a redundancy pay and so the money won't last much longer. He has two meetings at the job centre next week on Wednesday and Thursday so hopefully something will get sorted after that. In the mean time, we're a bit in limbo and I know he for one is starting to feel the pressure. I think once payments start he will settle down a bit emotionally and begin to start looking for a new job... But I can tell he's on edge right now.

Today, however, had been a bit of a lazy day. Dh took some garden rubbish down to the dump but apart from that we've not done a great deal. I did transform my kitchen table from this

To this:

And the other day I organised my craft area (and promised photos to follow)...

This may look a bit untidy but each cat food box is labelled with what is inside it... So I guess you could call it " organised chaos". :-) 

That is just about the extent of anything I've achieved today. Of course, I did the normal everyday things of washing up, cooking, washing up, loading the washing machine, unloading the washing machine and hanging clothes on the airer, putting clean clothes away, cooking again, washing up again... Blah blah blah...

There was great excitement in our house this morning. This is what we woke up to...

C decided to get dressed really quickly and go out to play for a while before school. We finally got out the door and plodded our way through the snow to school. F loved being in the sling... Up high so he could see all around him. He's never seen snow before so this was all new and exiting. I have to say, I did feel quite smug with myself strolling easily carrying F in the sling, when there were other parents struggling with their pushchairs and prams.

We got home after dropping the  big two off and I suddenly became very domesticated! I tidied and vacuumed the whole house. Then I made some flap jacks

... tried to be adventurous and put them into cup cake cases to make it a little different. Added a drizzle of chocolate to make them even better. Delicious even if I do say so myself!

Made some bread sticks for F

... which actually turned out tasting like a bread roll. Next time I think I need to do them thinner so they go crispy.

Then I made an apple crumble with a tiny bit of plum which I'm very proud to say used up all our " going" fruit. Trying to not waste food and use left over's.

Unfortunately I never had chance to take a photo of it after it was cooked... Didn't last long enough!!