Life: The good, the bad and the ugly bits!
Last summer I shared this pictured of LM and her best friend A when they were about 6 at a summer fete.
This week we had our Christmas fete and I was doing the face painting. They remembered this picture and really wanted to recreate it!
I wonder if we can get them to do it in another 6 years when they are 18, now that is one I would love to see 😉
How do you like their time hop photo? Have you ever recreated old photos like this?
We were recently invited to take part in a Top Secret Spy Mission by Spynet HQ. When LV found out he was going to play at spy’s he was over the moon and when the box arrived containing the Spynet Laser Tripwire he immediately set about deciding how he was going to set it up to protect his room from the enemy AKA The Big Sisters.
Priced at just £24.99 the Laser Tripwire consists of a transmitter, two mirrors and a receiver. Everything is adjustable so it is easy enough to align the laser, although it can get a little tricky once they are more than a few feet away from each other or when you’re trying to be clever and have all the bits on different levels.
The mirrors do have suction cups on the bottom and you are meant to be able to get them to stick to surfaces like walls and windows. I have to say that although we failed miserably to get them to stick to our walls but this didn’t take away any of the enjoyment at all. It actually meant that he thought of more creative ways to position the mirrors, like tying them to his bed frame! We didn’t attempt them on the windows, I’m pretty sure they would have stuck really well on the shiny surface.
The alarm that goes off once the laser is broken is quite loud and likely to send any would be invaders scarpering.
Being typical teenagers the girls soon got bored of being test subjects to LV’s tricks and so he set about testing if he could stop himself getting past the lasers. This lead to some hilarious limbo moves, think of a not so refined Oceans Twelve!
LV’s final word on the SpyNet Laser Tripwire is that it is really cool and great to trick people with. The only thing that would make it better would be able to reset the alarm by remote control so the receiver doesn’t need to be right next to the exit.
Oh, and to not try attempting a burglary with a two year old!
Do your kids like playing spies?
***Disclaimer: We were sent the Spynet Laser Tripwire to review for the purposes of this post, but all thoughts and opinions are honest and our own.***
The Halloween season is here and I am seeing many statuses flying around my social media feeds specifically about this day. Many are sharing crafts, carved pumpkins or Halloween recipes. Others are simply sharing their views on the day. These views tend to fall into these three categories.
This last type, fall into three categories of their own
Personally I am someone who ‘does’ Halloween mostly because we have kids, although we always had a bag of coppers or sweets at hand by the front door pre-children. We decorate a bit and enjoy carving pumpkins to put in the front window.
These are last years attempts:
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Welcome back to the very last Summer Days Linky of 2015 with myself and Karen from Stopping at Two. You can read more about it HERE. You can link your summery posts at the bottom of this post.
A big thank you to everyone who has joined in this summer, it has been a blast getting to read all your wonderful posts. I am playing catch up with some comments as I can’t comment on my phone but I have read them all and I have to say you are all fantastic!
A big round of applause has to go out to my lovely co-host Karen. She has done a brilliant job this summer and I really hope I haven’t frightened her off and she will come back next year and that you lovely lot will come back too 🙂
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I read today that Wales has had 58 days of rain during June, July and August, with July only giving us 6 dry days! In all honesty though, this number seems quite conservative and I’m really surprised it isn’t higher! It has really limited what we were able to actually do. After all, nobody sensible would want to drag 5 soggy children out and about, especially when the majority are well and truly out of the ‘splashing in muddy puddles is the best thing ever’ phase.
So, don’t judge me (because I know some of you will), but it has been a summer of screen time. From watching netflix or youtube on tablets, to playing xbox, even reading has mostly been done on phone screens this summer. No, it wasn’t perfect and we were all getting quite cabin feverish inbetween the rare dry day where I was literally throwing them out of the house just for a little bit of peace and quiet.
But boy oh boy did all those screens come in handy this year!
To combat the rain, one of the last days out we had of the holidays was bowling. No chance of getting rained on there! It was quite pricey at £88, but when you break it down between the 7 of us, it cost less than £12.60 per person for 2 games and a meal, so not that really bad when you think about it.
Next time we wouldn’t bother with the second game though, each one took over an hour and that was plenty long enough for everyone, especially O who hasn’t quite grasped turn taking yet!
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The handy thing about having big sisters is that there’s always someone to give you a helping hand, or at least a fireman’s lift, when you hurt yourself trying to climb a castle wall!
Welcome back to the Summer Days Linky with myself and Karen from Stopping at Two. You can link your summery posts at the bottom of this post or read more about the linky HERE.
What an absolute washout this week has been! It has been cold wet and miserable almost every day right through since last friday. We had hoped to have a nice family day out on Sunday as it seemed to cheer up a little on Saturday but we woke to torrential rains so only ventured as far as Argos to buy a new computer mouse and treated the kids to Burger King, instead of our planned picnic!
But never mind, it seems to be brightening up now so fingers crossed we will have some dry days this weekend. Yesterday, Thursday, was a beautifully sunny day and instead being able to get out and shake off all the cobwebs, we were stuck at home waiting for a bed to be delivered!READ MORE »
So we have just come to the end of a very soggy first week to our summer holidays. We are planning to go camping at least a couple of times during the next six weeks so I really hope the weather dries up at least a little! But this post isn’t about the future, instead I wanted to reflect a little on the last school year before we get flung head first into the next.
Do your kids love minions? Mine have a major slight obsession with the little yellow creatures, at 12 years old LM’s favourite outfit is top to bottom minions. It must run in the family though as even my brother has a minions t-shirt!
Over the last few years there has been a trend amongst new parents to boycott almost anything gendered. The sales of gender neutral clothing has sky rocketed, with many online stores offering unisex clothing which, as well as being some of the funkiest clothes I’ve ever seen, often come with a hefty price tag. But surely that cost is nothing compared to the costs of protecting your child from gender stereotyping.
Right?
I’ve noticed that parents of little girls seem to be the most outspoken on this subject. Complaining that ALL toys should be gender neutral and pink is pretty much the most hated of colours in existence, poor pink. You can’t blame them, with the toy aisles being full to the brim with pink sparkly dollies and princesses aimed at girls and green army toys, cars and dinosaurs targeted toward boys. What is there for the dino loving girls and dolly hugging boys?
But I’m afraid here is where I’m going to have to burst your bubble.
Speaking from experience. No matter how hard you try, when you have little girls, your house will eventually become a tribute to pink (and not the pop star). Even if you are one of the ‘gender neutral’ parents who carefully chooses their unborn daughter’s clothes to encompass all the unisex colours of the rainbow and avoids anything remotely girly. One day, even your house will succumb to the glittery side.
You may have balked at that first pink, frilly dress that was bought as a gift, or the pink and lilac woollen bonnet, full of bows and what can only be described as a mini feather boa, which was painstakingly knitted by Great Auntie Blodwen. You may have vowed never, ever, to put them on your child or even let the colour pink, or lilac, or anything sparkly into your child’s wardrobe again.
But the truth is, that no matter how hard you try….you will!
One day, that pink dress may be the last clean item of clothing after three days of constant vomiting from infant reflux. That bonnet, yes that one, might be the only warm hat you can find on a freezing cold day when you NEED to leave the house. And you will use them.
And guess what?
They won’t be the only pink things your daughter will be bought. Every birthday, and Christmas, and just because, someone will buy her pink clothes, pink toys, pink books, pink shoes.
And one day, probably when she is about three, you will wake up and realise your house is full of pink, girly stuff and your little girl will love it all. She will sit and comb the pink pony’s hair, nurse the dolly in the pink dress and push her around in the shiny pink pushchair. What is worse, is she will want more! Her letters to Santa will be asking for the latest all singing, all dancing (and pooping) dolly that all her friends at school have. She will want the latest Disney princess on her birthday cake and her bedroom to be all glittery and sparkles.
She might also love dinosaurs, tractors and splashing in puddles too, but in her heart, if it’s pink and girly she will want it, even if it’s just because all her friends have it. But don’t despair, her collection of pink paraphernalia and those beloved fluffy pencil toppers won’t become a barrier to her having a ‘proper’ job, whether that be engineer, archaeologist, nurse or whatever else her heart desires, because by the time your beloved little girl reaches her teens, the pink will have been replaced by black. Black clothes, black hair, black makeup and the girly toys will soon get the shove and replaced by boys. Now won’t that be fun?
If I were you, I’d embrace the pink while you still can!
I looking at some old photos recently of old friends, ones who stayed on in school after I left to go to work, ones who stayed on in work when I left to have babies. Some I haven’t spoken to for years after we’d drifted apart, I know some other parents will have similar experiences so I decided to write this open letter to all the non-parents out there on behalf of us all.
Dearest child-free friends,
When people become parents, especially if they have decided to have children young (or they just happen upon them earlier than expected) it is quite normal for non-parent friends to become distant. You might only live twenty minutes away, but after a year or so we have struggled to see each other a couple of times and it is painfully obvious that we both travel in completely different circles.
While one of us is pulling an all-nighter roaming from club to club and dancing with a cocktail in hand, the other will more likely be up all night swaying back and forth in a manic, yet rhythmic movement for hours on end, because if we lose that rhythm the colicky/refluxy/teething/just generally not happy baby will start screaming again!
While one spends leisurely afternoons sipping hot frothy, flavoured coffee, getting their hair done and flipping through magazines, the other is reheating their chipped mug of tea in the microwave, again, getting an up-do from the toddler with all the pretty clips (and a diecast car) and reading One fish, Two fish, Red fish, Blue fish for the millionth time that day.
It’s not that we are avoiding you, even after all the struggles to meet up, the last minute cancellations, the weeks and months of not replying to that text/phone call/ facebook message, it’s not that we love you any less. But, You know… Kids!
Here are some explanations to our seeming inability to maintain friendships.
I promise this stage won’t last forever, our children will grow up and soon we will be able to meet for lunch, take in a little window shopping, as long these activities happen in term time! But most importantly of all remember that one day, if you chose to reproduce, you will be in my shoes! But don’t fear, we will come visit and we promise never to comment on the baby vomit in your hair or the wet-wiped poo smear on your trouser leg.
Your dearest friends,
All the sleep deprived Mummies, Mommas, Mammies, Papas and Daddies everywhere xxx
