Summer Holidays

It's been pouring today which can only mean one thing - it's the summer holidays!!! My daughter loves nursery and is absolutely devastated that there is no nursery for six weeks. I am a little bit as well as I am a creature of routine and feel a bit lost when I have six weeks without our usual routine to fill! We had our "summer holiday" in January so we will be staying put this summer but I have been scouting about the Internet looking for ways to keep the kids going!

Staying in Scotland means that you need to be prepared for rainy days in so I have invested in a Chad Valley colour in playhouse. It was only £6.99 in the Argos sale and so far has been money well spent as it has provided two whole days of entertainment. The kids have even had their dinner in it. I have come to accept that it is not going to look like a quaint Snow White cottage but instead be a scribbley mess but the kids are having great fun (although my son coloured in himself, my daughter's legs and the floor as well as the house).  If the weather improves I will take it outside and let them paint it. There is no way on earth I am letting them loose with poster paint in my living room though!

A very poor quality picture of the colour in house!

The only drawback is that takes up a bit of space. It is only cardboard and won't last forever so I can put up with it until it falls apart!

There is quite a lot of cheap/free stuff going on around us during the holidays so I plan to take full advantage. The Avenue in Newton Mearns has something happening each week. From Monday they have animals from Amazonia in so we will be visiting. The mall in East Kilbride has a beach set up for only £1 entry and it is also East Renfrewshire's Early Years Festival which is worth a look at. 

Further afield I will be using my National Trust membership to its fullest. Our favourite places are Greenbank Gardens, the tractor ride at the National Museum of Rural Life and Culzean Castle. It is my son's birthday during the holidays so we will be going to one of the local Farm Parks to celebrate. He loves them. I love them too - bouncing pillows are the best!

Aside from all this we will be doing the usual park trips etc. I will be going early though as they are nuts during the holidays and drive me a bit nuts to be honest. My daughter will want to go to soft play but I am avoiding them like the plague. Bad at the best of times, the stuff of nightmares during the holidays!!!

Hope you have a nice summer hol. If you are getting away I am very jealous!!! :) 

Vic x

The Dummy Fairy

I think my son is going to have his dummy until he is 16. He is only coming up for two so we are not near the "totally embarrassing" stage yet but I would quite like to get it off him. I have started to sow the seed by telling him about the Dummy Fairy. I got carried away and my story got more and more elaborate. It is now in the following incarnation:

The Dummy Fairy 

Toby Brown is a lovely little boy.
He does as he is told and shares all his toys.
The only thing he would never leave ....
... is the battered old dummy he keeps up his sleeve.

It was grotty, it was chewed, it smelled kind of bad.
But on the matter of dummies Toby was a stubborn lad!
He kept it close, he kept it near.
Losing his dummy was his greatest fear.

One fateful day his Mummy said the dummy had to go.
These words came to Toby as a terrible blow.
"Dummy fairies need your dummies to stop the fairy babies crying".
Toby wondered whether or not his Mummy was lying!

"When fairy babies cry", she said, "the sky turns grey.
Rain thunders down and you can't go out to play.
You are now a big boy and don't need your dummy.
Giving it away would make happy fairy babies and a happy Mummy".

Reluctantly Toby agreed to give the dummy away.
He needed the sunshine as he loved going out to play.
That night the Dummy Fairy visited the sleeping Toby Brown.
She found the dummy under his pillow after having a good look around.

It was gifted to a very grumpy fairy child.
The baby's mood instantly changed from furious to mild.
When Toby Brown woke up the sun was shining in the sky.
This was all because a fairy baby had something to stop her cry.

I told this to my son. I didn't think he would instantly give up his dummy but I thought he might at least give it some thought. Wrong! "MY DUMMY" was his response!

Bubble Trouble

Hi,

It's been a while since my last post because I was away over the weekend and this required packing of military precision and generally a lot of running about. We were off to Center Parcs. My husband and I are now veterans as this was our sixth visit!!! No more city breaks for us! It is very relaxing though and there is tons to do for kids. It can be very expensive if you shop at the "Parc Market" or do lots of activities.  We thought we were wise to all this but this morning we had brunch at a Cafe Rouge and were charged £4.50 for a basket with 12cm of baguette in it and two mini pastries (very mini pastries). I was not chuffed and asked the waitress if that was it for £4.50. She said yes then went on a rant about how much Mr Center Parcs made each week but how badly he paid the staff. She said that Mr Center Parcs even takes a cut of any tips that are paid by card. Anyway, I am going all militant and am going to email my feedback of how ripped off I felt. I am sure they will be bothered! I think perhaps its time to find another location for a hol!

Having said all this we had a brilliant time and the kids love, love, love it! We went with my parents which was nice. In fact my mum provided the highlight of the trip. She was running a jacuzzi bath and put bubble bath in it. We then heard much kaffufle as a mountain of bubbles grew out of the bath tub. It was the funniest thing I have ever seen. The picture below does not do it justice as my mum had got rid of much of the evidence before it was taken. It's the kind of thing you would quite like to do but know it would end in disaster. My mum said she just didn't think :)

I am off to tackle washing mountain.

Til next time.

Vic x

33 Things I Have Learned!

Yesterday I turned 33. I am feeling quite reflective so here is a list of 33 things I have learned in my 33 years:

1. There is no time like the present.
2. It is rare that things will be given to you on a plate.
3. Little children can be unreasonable.
4. Little children are super funny.
5. Poor preparation equals piss poor performance (a sailor told me that and it's so true!).
6. You are what you eat - strict dieting does not work for me.
7. Not to worry about getting older - as my mum says, the alternative isn't great!
8. Jimmy Cranky is a woman!!! I was quite old when I realised this.
9. Trust your instinct - you are probably correct!
10. If you are waiting for a delivery it is likely to arrive 5 minutes before your time slot expires.
11. Quite a lot about gardening courtesy of Mr Bloom from Cbeebies.
12. Be bold, be brave, be you - cheesy but you can't make life decisions to "fit in" or please other people - it does not lead to happiness!
13. Exercise sucks but it is a necessary evil.
14. Makeup is great!
15. I will never be a blond. I have tried a few times with disaster consequences.
16. I like crafts and I don't care if its sad!
17. You can achieve most things if you are resolute about it.
18. Soft play is horrific.
19. I really like colouring in!
20. I like "Ideal Home" magazine and I don't care if that makes me middle aged!
21. That big presents are not important but a little thought goes a very long way.
22. In the same vein, my children prefer my time than my money. We have more fun playing together than with some expensive toy.
23. That I need a capsule wardrobe of some description - sick of buying inappropriate clothes.
24. Having your eyebrows threaded is amazing!
25. That I have a competitive streak (see Sports Day!)
26. To have patience.
27. That I should always dilute my wine with soda on a night out.  It prevents a bad case of the day after horrors.
28. That I better start a consistent skincare regime. Apparently the face you have at fifty is the face you deserve - eek!!!
29. That I hate coffee and should give up trying it.
30. That you shouldn't waste time trying to get people to like you if you have vibes that they don't,
31. To stop moaning about housework - it will always need done just need to get on with it.
32. Doing scary things can be liberating - like the blog!
33. That when in doubt ask yourself "What would Beyonce do?".

Phew!

Vic x
http://pinterest.com/pin/184929128421644108/

Sports Day

Today it was my daughter's nursery Sports Day and she WAS going to win according to herself. I never won anything in Sports Day during my childhood. I wasn't really that competitive. On reflection I think I thought I couldn't do it so I didn't try. My husband, on the other hand, was very sporty at school and very competitive by all accounts. My mini Jessica Ennis took part in two races and came second then third. Very respectable and she is uber chuffed that she got two stickers.

That was all well and good until the teacher uttered the dreaded words - Parent Race time. This was dreaded for two reasons, firstly I don't want to do it, secondly I know my husband will try to tan everyone else's asses and this could be embarrassing! I was correct on one count, true to form my husband forgot that he was at a preschool Sports Day and left everyone in his wake. He is endearingly proud of himself. All the other parents probably think we are total asses! I had asked him earlier why he had worn his old, grotty work shoes that day. It transpires that this was because they are comfy and he thought he would run faster in them. Like I said, he is competitive!

When it came to the mum's race I grudgingly lined up with the others. Then something crazy happened - it turns out I am competitive too!!! I felt I was going to come last for the first part so something in my brain switched and I ramped it up to come a respectable joint third! Who knew I was a competitive sports woman :) .

After the race everyone had a sticker apart from my son. My husband wasn't giving his up so I had to give him mine as he was crying. He lost it and I am ashamed to say I am a little gutted- I have never won anything at Sports Day before!

Vic x

A sunny day and Jumping Clay

My daughter loves to make things whether it be baking, sticking, painting or dough. The messier the better. I love making things with her (although I develop a nervous tick when all the different colours of play dough get squished together - my personal pet hate! I don't think it's any fun otherwise though!) In order to further satisfy her love of all things messy, today we went off to Jumping Clay (www.jumpingclayscotland.com) and she absolutely loved her (suprisingly unmessy) class.  The class started with a story (The Hungry Caterpillar), she then made her own caterpillar and lollipop out of air drying clay, then coloured in some more food for him. The class cost £5 and was well worth it as she has been talking about it ever since. The lady that runs Jumping Clay, Meabh, was absolutely lovely and even made me a cup of tea. If food is the way to a man's heart, tea is the way to mine so I will definitely be going back! The only drawback was that we were inside for an hour on such a nice day. My daughter was so excited about going though that a suggestion of the park would have been met with outrage.

On the subject of kiddy crafts, below is a link to a really good article on 50 ways with play dough. Who knew you could make so many different types!!! We have made some before and it is a fun and cheap thing to do on a rainy day. Hope you like it.

http://pinterest.com/pin/184929128421536998/

By the way I would like to point out that this is not a sponsored post. We simply had a lovely time at Jumping Clay!

An "Empty"

Yesterday morning I had "an empty". I am not sure if this is a Glasgow thing or not but if you are a teenager and have "an empty" it means parents are out,  party (and chaos) at yours. My husband and his Dad had taken the kids to see Ben and Holly at the Theatre Royal and I had the house to myself for a whole morning. The possibilities were endless. I could do a Homer Simpson and run around in my pants, I could eat chocolate without trying to pretend I'm not when the kids catch me, I could take a shower without a couple of mini Peeping Toms barging in, I could read a magazine cover to cover, I could watch whatever I want on tv... In the end I decided to "just quickly clear up" this turned into a two and a half hour marathon. I am very disappointed in myself. I did manage to have a shower in peace. I was just settling down with the Hollyoaks omnibus when they all arrived home.  Apparently Ben and Holly was good but expensive.

It has been a lovely bank holiday weekend in the sun.

Vic x

Ps. Does anyone know what to do with ten million carrots? I have made carrot muffins, about to make carrot soup. I am then off down the street to try and find some hungry rabbits. I think they have been multiplying in my fridge (the carrots - not rabbits - that would be awful but solve my problem). I feel I can't throw them out as I have my mum saying "think about all the starving children in the world" in my head. I was a fussy eater as a child and heard this a lot!