Monday 23 November 2015

Yankee candle haul

I arrived home from work today and to my surprise Hubby's car was already on the drive! Before I got to our front door he was stood in the doorway and said 'come on you! we are going to check out the Yankee candle sale'
I had noticed on Facebook that our local garden centre were having a Yankee candle party. I didn't mention it to hubs because im not one for spending money on myself. He knows I love Yankee Candles and usually gets me one for my birthday or xmas etc but to my surprise he had seen it on facebook too and decided to treat me!
The had a deal on where if you spent £30 you get a free goodie bag and a 15% discount on what you buy.

My favourite Yankee candles are Back cherry, clean cotton, wedding day and black cherry blossom. Ive noticed that the scents that i usually go for are clean/fresh scents and berry scents so I'm trying to try out something some seasonal and foodie smells. The gingerbread, Cinnamon and spice ones are not for me but I loved the smell of the berry trifle, There was also another one that smelt like candy canes (it had a ginger bread house and candy cane on the front)
I got 3 large jars and they were....
Black plum blossom - one of my favs
snow in love - this is a nice seasonal one
fireside treats - YUM!  
The 3 of these Jars with the 15% discount came to £50 
I wasn't really bothered about the goody bag as I thought it may just be one or 2 tea lights and a wax tarts but when the lady handed me the bad and I felt the weight in the bag I started to get excited!
Here is what I got in my goody bag for free!!
1 x medium Jar - Lavender
1 x small jar - Black plum blossom (my fav)
1 x votive - Honey and spice
2 x wax tarts - french lavender & salted caramel

So its safe to say Im a very happy bunny with what we got and my house is going to smell yummy for a while!! I would love to know what your favourite scents are, pop them in the comments box!
speak soon 
K

Saturday 21 November 2015

you tube blind bag craze!



right so I know I cant be the only parent that has noticed this but whats the fascination with kids watching the egg / blind bag opening videos! Munchkins is obsessed and would spend all day every day watching them if I let him.

Lately ive noticed how BIG the world of toy reviews has become! Munchkin will watch a shopkin basket opening video while they open up to 40 shopkin baskets and reveal each shopkin.
I love the way he uses the word duplicate because hes heard it being said on these videos.
Hes now into Mashems! due to seeing these youtube videos.
Munchkin is really showing an interested in wanting to do his own unboxing, blind bag videos so we let him record himself and then watch it back on the camers/laptop.

Please tell me that I'm not the only one who's child is completely addicted to these types of videos!

Family Years plans! bucket list

The day after we got married I got to thinking and suggested to Hubby that we make a brain storm type of thing with things we would like to do, places we would like to go and things that we would like to do. Then next year we can check back to out list and see how many of the things we can tick off.
Its not neccessarily a 'to do' list but more of a wishlist. Anything that isnt ticked off simply gets put onto the following year or removed from the list totally depending on how we feel and our circumstances!


Here are some of the things that are on our year plans list (or year bucket list if you like)

  •  Family holiday to Disney world
  • Go on more Beach days out together
  • Take munchkin swimmin more often
  • Go back to our wedding venue for a meal or afternoon tea
  • More picnics together
  • Family photo shoot/canvas
  • Take R onto a steam train in Breacon
  • Buy a DSLR camera
  • Go on a boat ride as a family
  • Laugh more!
  • Fly kites
  • Spend more time with friends and their children on days out
  • Look towards buying a house
  • New Car
  • More fun things as a family
  • Go out in the pouring rain and giggle together as a family
  • Andy promotion
  • New Laptop
  • Visit more places within Wales
  • Organise the house more (more storage)
  • Create a better blog and more content
  • Go back to Butlins
  • Collect conkers
  • Do more messy play with Munchkin
  • Create Mummy son time.
  • Do date nights in, once every 2 weeks
  • say 'I love you' at least once every day
  • Take more photos
  • Go to Bristol Zoo
  • Go for long family Walks
  • Do more home baking 
  • Try for another Baby
  • Make a family scrapbook
Go and create your list! its good to look back on!
speak soon 
K

Friday 20 November 2015

Honeymoon booked!! eeekkkk!

Yey!!!! we have finally booked our Honeymoon!
We asked for money for a wedding gift from our guests. some people find this cheeky but we didnt want gifts that we wouldnt use and alot of our guests had already said to us they would rather give us money then search for endless hours for a gift that we may not even need.
We put a nice poem in our wedding invites that explained we were asking for money to go on honeymoon if they wish to give something but their presence was more important than anything to us.

After the we got married and opened our cards we were so overwhelmed with the generosity of our guests. We sat down and talked about where we would like to go on honeymoon. We decided to have munchkin before we got married so leaving him at home while we went on honeymoon was NOT an option. We are a family and knew that we wanted to honeymoon as a family.....and where would the perfect place to go as a family be?!.......
Yep! DISNEY WORLD!!!


So we finally booked it for next year as it would allow us to save the extra we needed
next year is my 30th, Andys 40th and munchkins 5th so we thought it would be the perfect celebration holiday!
We have booked a Disney hotel as we wanted all the extras like dining, transport etc

I am sooooo excited as ive only been once for 1 week a few years before I had munchkin. Andy had never been! He thought Butlins was exciting so I know hes gonna love Disney!

Munchkin always talks about Disneyworld and how he would love to go.....we have decided to keep it a secret from him until on the plane or at the airport.
So im welcoming any comments on good tips and tricks for what to do at disneyworld and also good places to eat.

Thursday 19 November 2015

Yummy chocolate flapjack recipe

Chocolate flapjacks

These are an absolute favourite in my house, My boys cant get enough of it!

You will need....
150g butter
75g light brown soft sugar
3 rounded tbsp of golden syrup
250g porridge oats (I use smart price)
300g milk chocolate (I buy mine from home bargins 89p)

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan)
Grease and line a tin with parchment paper
Put the brown sugar, butter and golden syrup into a pan and gently heat until melted




Add in your porridge oats and mix together.



Turn out the oats into your lined pan, level and press the mixture evenlyand firmly with the back of a spoon.


Bake for 20-25 mins or until golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool for 10-15 mins


While your cooked flapjack is cooling melt your chocolate. I use 300g as my boys like thicker chocolate than the ones you buy in the shop but you dont have to use that much if you dont want to.


Pour the melted chocolate over and allow it to set.


Before the chocolate has turned into complete solid (soft but not runny) cut your flapjack into cubes or slices and place back into the fridge to set completely.


Then serve and watch them magically disappear!!
Enjoy!!!

Update & working guilt

Blogging has had to take a back step for me over the past few months as I went back to work! Ive had so many mixed emotions about returning to work as I've not worked since having munchkin!

I knew I needed to get a job as Hubs had started a new job in a new line of work and started as an apprentice so it ment in the short run that he would be on a basic wage until they increase it a few months in.
Munchkin was going full time in school so now was the right time for me. I only work part time (22hr) and I find that it is the right balance for me because I cant take munchkin to school then go back home, do some cleaning, washing and prep dinner then go to work. I finish work just after his school finish time so he goes to an after school club until I pick him up.
I was so lucky to find a job which gives me the same school holidays off so i don't have to worry about finding childcare within school holidays.
For the first month I had loads of feelings of guilt about him being at school for so long and not being able to pick him up at the school gates each day with everyone else. As time went on I realised that he actually loved after school club and me working allows us to still have nice holidays etc.

Ive been working now a few months and I'm loving it! 
I don't have many family members who live close to me so to be like 'Mum, can you collect from school today' is not an option for me.
Going back to work is bringing a little bit of confidence back for me and I'm enjoying the social interaction.
I have so so so much coming up on the blog within the next few weeks so keep your eyes peeled!!
speak soon!
       K

Sunday 9 August 2015

Play centres my idea of hell


I was sat in a children's play centre today, obviously with my little human! slightly creepy to go along without one of my own! We were there for a friends sons birthday. She hired out the whole play centre for the party as last year they had some trouble with other parents bullies children picking on their children. This was music to my ears (the hire part....not the bully's part!)

Most people Take their children to play centres to stimulate their darling little angels in a physical and social environment to progress their development.......Who am I kidding! Its when us parents are totally out of options for the day! Play doh, Check! Colouring, Check! Ipad apps, Check! yep We have reached the point where we just need to wear the sods darlings out or maybe you just needed to entertain them while you got your sanity back emails done or maybe you just need that bloody break with a cuppa tea!

I throw this out there and say.....I HATE going to play centres and I avoid them at all costs. 'Oh why' I hear you ask! I find play centres more stressful than anything! I would much rather be at home with 5 crazy kids nagging, running riot while I set up activities that take longer to bloody set up than the actual time the kids spend doing the damn activities!!
Walking through the doors your little human is literally bursting with excitement while ripping their shoes of the feet before you have even had chance to choke over the price of entry! 'Would you like the meal deal Madam?' why yes! let me sell my kidney scrape the content of my purse and pockets together!

So were in! lets find somewhere to sit amongst the pairs of people who choose to sit at tables for 6 people while resting their shoeless feet on the extra seats.
Before I know it I've been deserted by my little human! Gone! The panic and stress begins! I dump my crap at the nearest free table! My three year old is somewhere within this sea of children! My eyes search for him everywhere!....is he in the football area...nope, Is he in the baby area? Nope just a handful of ten year olds doing back flips into the ball pit! Is he in the Under 5's area?? Nope!......hold on! why the Hell not???? My eyes immediately rush to the over 5's area with the humongous slide while I try to contain the panic from creeping into my face. EVERYTHING goes through my head! What if hes climbing all the way up to that huge slide, what if hes too scared and gets upset! My ears pick up the sound of a child crying! holy shit! is it mine! where the hell is he!I knew it hes scared of that big slide!! I start to freak out and get up from my seat to search for my little human! I finally find him! in the under 5's area that I had already searched! That's the thing! as soon as you find them they go sodding missing again!
Back to my table I go scanning the other adults around me to see if its fairly safe to leave my stuff to go and get the cuppa that I've been waiting for! I decide to take everything with me giving up the potential ownership of our table!

Taking the sticky menu up to the till I decide to order a cuppa for me and some fuel food for my little human! As I'm waiting for my cuppa to be made I scan the room.....I am a people watcher after all. I see Grandparents that are having a break while nursing the little hairs they have managed to not pull out!
Then you have the baby club meet up mums that are pissed that their one week old babies cant go and play in the baby area due to the back flipping ten year olds.
The couple who have just had (or sometimes currently in the middle of) a domestic with swear words flying everywhere.
Then you have the 'careless cows' who children can often be found pasting shit out of other children, snatching toys, kicking, biting etc etc while their owners have no clue if their children are even in the same building any more! They will be the ones browsing Facebook the whole time they are there. If you get chance to approach these people regarding their brats childs behaviour they will claim that their darlings are just experimenting physically and socially and maybe it was your childs fault.
The heavily pregnant Mumma that just needs that break while she sits with a cuppa while hubby entertains the other child.
Then there are us worriers loitering under the daunting levels waiting and watching to see that our ikkle humans are ok and if they need our help.
Believe me you will fit in to one of these categories! And I'm sure you will see people for the other categories too!

Sat back at my seat I quickly finish my burning cuppa as Ive got 'Careless cows' Brats making grabs for it'. I begin to think I'm better off in the play area with munchkin so I grab my phone, tuck my purse somewhere I've never had to before and I surrender my shoes knowing there is a high chance that they wont be there when I get back!
'Mummy! I want to go on the big boy slide!' Oh god! there it is! the 'big slide' card! 'Ok hunny, shall Mummy come with you?' hoping he will say yes! So after squeezing through holes I thought only my head would fit through, climbing over bridges and worming my way through tunnels, 3 levels later we are finally at the top of the 'big boy slide' 'Hang on Hun!' I shout as he sits on the edge of the slide 'maybe you want to sit on Mummies lap?' in the blink of an eye he's  shouting 'wweeeeeeee' Gone! no care for me! I start my decent down the 'big slide' hoping not to go too fast and earn myself one of those damn slide burns! Instead Ive worked up that much of a sweat getting to the top that my now sticky jeans wont allow me to go down the slide anything faster than golden syrup sliding off a spoon! I finally reach the bottom and my little angel I stood there waiting for me with a beam on his face! 'Yey Mummy!.....lets go again' as he runs off towards the entrance of the tiny hole I took what felt like hours to squeeze through that starts the assent towards the 'big boy slide'. Oh god not again!

After a few more trips down the syrup slide I decided to admit defeat and return to my seat. Thankfully my shoes are still there. While I'm sat recovering watching,  I notice my little human being pushed around by some hellish children while they use language even Jeremy kyle would think was tame!
My inner crazy bitch of a Mumma wants to brave that assault course again to give them a piece of my mind, pick up my little munchkin and whisk him away from little shits like those! but deep down I know I need to allow him to learn that not every ones behaviour is good and how he can handle himself in that situation. Needless to say I didn't quite leave it as far as allowing him to figure it out for himself! I couldn't sit back while they continued to play out their own little fighting computer game on my son!
I shouted up 'come on down hun, if they are being mean don't play with them' to which my little munchkin came straight to me. We had a little chat regarding not playing with mean children and to come and tell Mummy. I soon get tapped on shoulder by one of the 'careless cows' asking me very abruptly why I told my child not to play with her children. I explained they were being mean pushing him over and she accused me of over protecting my son too much! she then shouted up to the 3rd level 'boys! for f**ks sake, be good otherwise I'm gonna lose my B*****d s**t on you both. Oh wow! time to eat I think!

I manage to entice my little human down to have his food before the wandering 15 month olds try to pinch food from his plate! Now I start to rest and chill a little! Call me over protective but when my son is not directly in front of me I worry if he is safe, is he climbing to high, watching he doesn't hurt himself on the slides due to the 15 year olds climbing up the slides as hes coming down, running around as adults are carrying cups of tea. Thing is no parent wants their child to be hurt so its in my nature to do whatever I can to protect him from hurting himself! Ok Ok I'm not wrapping him up in cotton wool but I constantly worry!
After finishing food I manage to convince him that he cant run around now because he has a full tummy and will be sick everywhere so we finally get our shoes on and leave.....As I get into my car I take a deep breath and RELAX!!!
Please tell me that I'm not the only Parent who feels like this about play centres! Between brats of kids and parents who couldn't even give a shit I find them more stressful than what they are worth!!

Thursday 30 July 2015

6st GONE! Weight Loss Journey




These are two photos that I've kept hidden for a long time. In fact they are the only two photos that were taken of me over a period of about 2 years. Would I pose for a photo....Hell no!!! as you can tell these top two photos were taken without my knowledge! One was put on facebook by a friend and she Tagged me in it. When it popped up in my news feed I nearly passed out! I knew I had put on weight but I had no idea it was that much!
Id crept into a size 20! I wouldn't have ANY full size mirrors in our home. The only mirror I would look into each hay was one to plaster my makeup on my face to make me feel better.
I knew I had to lose weight as I wanted to be able to walk up the stairs without breaking into a sweat and I wanted to stand at the school gate without covering up with a big jumper or coat in summer just to cover up.

I went to a Wedding fayre when we first got engaged and I looked at a dress from a wedding dress stall and thought it was beautiful! The woman who was working on the stall quickly rushed over and said....'oh gosh lovely! no good looking by there!...they wont fit!...the plus size are over there!' I had never felt so embarrassed in my whole life! Inside, my heart fell to the floor and I just smiled when I really wanted to cry and I just walked away. From that moment I promised myself that I would have whatever dress I wanted and no one was gonna tell me that I couldn't have this or that! I also promised myself that I wouldn't try on a single wedding dress on until id got nearer my goal.
I Joined Weight Watchers in Sept 2013. Please don't think I'm here to harp on about Weight Watchers but if your reading this then you are probably reading to find out how I did it.
I went along to my local weight watchers meeting and weighed in! The reason I knew something like Weight Watchers would work for me is I hate to fail so I saw each weigh in as a challenge and No way was I going to stand on the scales and have a gain!
Don't get me wrong, I did have a few weigh ins that resulted in me maintaining and even gaining but then it made me push harder for the loss the next week!
I found Weight watchers to be a fantastic plan and even now I still follow the plan somewhat! I think when you have lost so much weight on a specific plan that teaches you how to change your lifestyle it will always be part of you!
I weighed in at 15st 7.5lbs and in the photos on my wedding day I was 9st 8lbs.

It is sooooo achievable! you just need to make that leap and have the determination!

There are so many foods that I loved eating that I really didn't have to give up! Its amazing and has changed me for the better!

Do I want to go back to that woman on the dress stall at the wedding fayre and give her a piece of my mind....oh Hell yes! but on the other hand I'm a very strong believer in 'everything happens for a reason' and if it hadn't have been for that lady I would never have had the determination and drive to lose all of my weight!
Please don't think of this post as one that is saying everyone should lose weight. I know many over weight people that are the happiest and most confident people that I know! If your Happy, Fab! good on ya!. All i knew was that i was soooo unhappy and unhealthy and that's why I choose to lose weight.
If anyone have got any questions about Weight Watchers please feel free to ask! As Ive said I choose weight Watchers and it worked perfectly for me! I'm sure there are other plans that work well too but I've just been speaking on what worked for me!
NOTE:- Weight watchers have not asked me to do this review nor have I received any payment for this post.

Tuesday 28 July 2015

Screams in the night

Over the past 3-5 months R has been having really bad nightmares and thankfully its been fairly easy to settle him by going into his room and reassuring him that its ok and that hes safe etc.
However over the last 2 months my poor little monkey keeps having a really bad dream where he litterely wakes up screaming crying so bad! He screams about bees/wasps being all over his bed/pillow and before you can get in his bedroom he's jumped out of his bed and is shaking and crying so bad!
We tried to reasure him and pop a lamp on and show him that there are no bees in his bed but the dream is so real to him that there is no reasoning with him and hes completely convinced that there are bees in his bed.



When these dreams happen the only thing that works is either Andy or myself sleeping on the floor on R's room (he usually ends up joing one of us on the floor). I know hes not attention seeking as it always happends in the middle of the night and hes genuinly sooo upset.

I really have no idea why these bad dreams about bees/wasps have come about because hes not had any bad experiences with bees or wasps yet hes had the same dream now about 5-6 times.
There is also nothing that had changed within our lives that may have upset him to cause any bad dreams.
Can anyone shine any light on this? do your little ones have many bad dreams?

Keepin em busy!

Well......the school holidays are here and our wedding is all done and dusted I figure that its time to plan some activities for munchkin while hes off school!


Its easy to get carried away within your day as a mum, cleaning, tidying, washing dishes, hanging the washing, etc etc and if your children are anything like mine they are constantly nagging... 'mummy! come and do this!' 'mummy can we play games?' 'mummy can you play with my cars' and at times I do find myself saying ' not now babe, Mummy is busy' so I'm making it my aim to do as many daily activities other than free play as I can with him. Here is what we ideas we have so far....

  • Painting
  • colouring
  • Playing games
  • Playdoh
  • Music & Dance
  • Cooking
  • Role play (shop, house, hair dressers, picnic)
  • Face painting
  • Water play
  • Sand play
  • Gloop play
  • Bubble blowing through a straw
  • Making spider web around the living room
  • Cutting and sticking
  • Make fruit kebabs
  • Fly a kite
  • Feed the ducks
  • Go on a treasure hunt and collect pine cones, etc
  • Trip to the library

Obviously these are just some of the things we have come up with but you can find loads of activities on pintrest (yes I'm completely obsessed with pintrest).
I would love to know all of your plans with your little ones throughout the summer holidays!

Monday 27 July 2015

Colouring isnt just for kids!

I finally gave into my temptation and bought one of the adult colouring books that I've seen around for ages! I'd seen them in Asda, wh smiths, The range and a few other places and thought it was a fab idea as I LOVE to colour and always have so as soon as R gets his colouring book out my eyes light up!


I've been having a lot of stress put on me lately with the wedding coming closer and peoples unwanted views and tantrums becoming much more frequent.
I began to realise that a lot of my day was spend in front of a screen, maybe a phone, ipad, laptop or tv so I wanted something that would de stress me and not involve me being infront of any type of screen! So I decided that I would pick up the next colouring book that I saw! 
It happened to be in Asda so I picked up some cheap colouring markers and pencils to go with it and promised myself that I wouldn't let R get his mitts on them as that's where all of my stationary seems to go lately. 
I think the colouring book was around the £6 mark which seems extremely expensive however when you see the amount of pages and the detail in some of the pictures you will understand that they take a while to complete!

Here are some that I've completed. I don't claim to be an artist. I just just colour how I want when I want and where I want.
As you can see by the pictures below and the one above they do contain a lot of detail.
I would highly recommend these colouring books for adults as they certainly destress me and give me enjoyment.

Sunday 26 July 2015

Our BIG day!


Sooooo......our big day had come and gone and it went amazingly!
alot of the bits and bobs I did myself as I love being creative.
We have another few weeks before we get the official photos back but I have some that either family or myself have photographed.

So here is my table plan that I made. Its done on a mirror and each table is printed on pearlescent ivory card with ivory satin ribbon finished off with a brooch which I bought from Imagine doing it yourself and hot glued them on.
I bought the mirror from 'The Range'




Here are the table numbers that I made! I basically printed onto pearlescent card i then added ivory satin ribbon finished off with a brooch and diamantes on the numbers. I them backed them on a champagne card to add a bit of our colour scheme.

This is our guest book that we had made to match our wedding invites! This and the invitations were made by a fab company called byjo

I bough many different hair accessories for the bridesmaids many of which cost £30+ each but in the end this is what we ended up going with. The hair dressers put them at the top of their messy buns and they looked Fab! as you can see they are from Primark for £2.50.

My dress was something I really wasn't looking for and I was 100% looking for lace and every lace dress I tried on looked horrid on my so the girl in the shop suggested that i pick something to try on that is the complete opposite to what I've been looking for and from the second it went on I fell absolutely in love with it! The support this dress gives you is unreal! 
Its a Sottero and midgely dress called adorae!
I purchased it from an amazing shop Called All about eve who have shops in Newport and chepstow. I would recommend this dress shop to everyone as the service is outstanding and the selection is amazing!


As you can see from the above and below photos we had an ice cream trike! This was an amazing addition to our big day and all of our guests loved the idea (and the ice cream) a variety of cones, ice cream and toppings were available which saw Rohan eating 5 ice creams....yes 5!!!
The company we used was Icicle tricycle wales and he is amazing and so easy to get on with!

We only did a small candy buffet as we had another edible product going on too!
The jars were bought in home bargains (£1.99) along with the candy floss (29p each) im sure that we also bought the sign there too which was under £2.
The buckets were something i already had and also the heart bowls
(I do have some of the jars, bowls and scoops for sale)


We also had a chocolate heart from funky fountains that was filled with yummy chocolates!

I wanted to add a special something to my bouquet in memory of my mum so i added something blue to it too!  

We had this tshirt made for Rohan to wear the evening before the wedding as we were having a family meal then he could wear it the evening of the wedding as i wanted to change him into something more comfortable. I went into a uniform shop and they did us and amazing deal of £7 for the tshirt and printing.

Im in absolute love with our cake! i'd changed it about 3 times but im so so so glad that we settled with this one! The tiers we went for top to bottom is lemon, carrot, sponge and fruit. We choose to cut up the fruit one as dessert for the evening. 

We had an amazing dance floor and up lighters in the evening 


for my flowers i went for a bouquet mixed with roses, hydrangea and peonies all in ivory shades and the bridesmaids had ivory and pink roses.


For place names we hunted charity shops and boot sales for a year to be able to spell each guests name! I then glued the letters of each name together and painted the wooden scrabble holders in the peppermint blue to add some extra colour to the tables.

The bridesmaids dresses were one shoulder in a peppermint colour to go with the champagne.

For our chair covers we went for a white spandex with a satin champagne colour sash.


Over all we had the most amazing day it was so stress free! we opted for a very relaxed documentary approach with the photography which ment that we didn't have loads of people being dragged here there and everywhere.
I will be adding some of the professional photos soon! 
keep your eyes peeled!