Monday 31 July 2017

Our Weekly Meal Plan!! - #mealplanningmonday


I'm amazed! We ate nearly everything on last weeks meal plan. When the girls are off school and Stu is off work we tend to go off plan but last week went great. We did swap a couple of days round. It rained nearly all day on Wednesday and the mince & dumplings seemed perfect and on Sunday we fancied burgers so the roast chicken dinner was scrapped and I'm using the chicken up today.

This week see's Stu going back to work...The girls and I have a couple of things planned which should keep us busy and I am back to doing all the cooking but I will be roping the kids in to help.

This week on the menu we have:

Monday - Chicken curry, rice & naan bread....
Tuesday - Sandwiches, sausage rolls cakes and crisps....
Wednesday - Home made pizza.....
Thursday - Marmalade Sticky Sausages....
Friday - Tuna pasta bake....
Saturday - Hog Roast With Apple Sauce in breadbuns....
Sunday - Roast chicken dinner....

What are you eating this week?


Sunday 30 July 2017

Little Miss Independent. #MySundayPhoto

She wouldn't let me help with the baking of the cupcakes. Eesh. All she needed me for was to put things in the oven and get them back out.



Saturday 29 July 2017

A photo everyday for a year - Week 30 #Project365

The first week of the summer holidays have gone and we had such a lovely week. It has been so relaxed.


195/365 - 22nd July
A rare photo of me. Ready for a night out.

195/365 - 23rd July
It rains all day then the sun comes out when it's too late to do anything. 

195/365 - 24th July
Ellie tried out her new apron. We had great fun baking.

195/365 - 25th July
I changed the living room furniture around....The sofa is now in front of the window & I'm over the other side of the room in my armchair.

195/365 - 26th July
Funny face.

195/365 - 27th July
My fella finished off the painting in the bathroom.

195/365 - 28th July
Our brand new looking door in the bathroom....My fella got a bit carried away painting. lol


Friday 28 July 2017

We have had a relaxed week. #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:
I have said in my last couple of Word of the Week posts that as soon as school finishes I am sure all the stress I was feeling would disappear. We had the suspected ADHD to deal with and a boy in Becky's school being a bit creepy. Just as I thought as soon as we were walking home from school last week I felt relieved.

We baked scones, cupcakes and Ice cream cone cakes which I have a whole post about next week....We also tried out a gorgeous apron that was sent to us. We played computer games - The Sims mostly. Ellie came up with a great idea of making a town full of Disney princesses and houses for them...It kept her so busy and also made me want to play again....We've had a pj day, watched films and found time to have a look around the market.


Stu has had the week off work too....He has been working in the bathroom. Painting and regrouting the tiles which were looking a bit old and worn....He did start on Wednesday but got a bit distracted when he noticed the toilet was blocked....Ugh.

He spent about 3 hours trying to unblock it and the drain outside. It didn't help that it was raining. At about 2pm he gave up, admitted defeat and we started ringing around local drain unblocking companies....Lots never answered, some said it will be next week before we get to you and quite a few were going to charge us over £100 for a 10 minute job. We ended up ringing Northumbrian Water who kindly sent someone out within a couple of hours and said we would only be charged if the blockage was on our property.....It turns out it wasn't....The blockage was in the back street away from our house. Phew. If only we had rang the water board first...

Even with the drama of the blocked drain it has been a really relaxed week....The girls have been so happy and have been getting along which in turn has made me happy...It has been a great start to the holidays....I hope the rest of the holidays continue like this. Next week I have a few things planned to keep the girls occupied.


Wednesday 26 July 2017

Girls Personalised Apron from Arty Apple - Review!

Recently we were sent a lovely gift from the lovely Amy who owns the company Arty Apple.


Arty Apple specialises in bespoke, personalised gifts and nursery decor that are affordable, good quality and most importantly designed to suit each and every little one that they are made for.....Everything is made by hand and can be created to fit particular colour schemes, nursery and bedroom themes or to match to your favourite things.

A lot of the items are aimed at younger children and babies but I did spot the Personalised Aprons. They come in boys and girls versions and two different sizes. Age 2 to 6 (approx measurements 36cm width x 46cm length) and 7 to 13 years (approx measurements 45cm width x 64cm length)....

I decided to get Ellie the one aimed at girls...She would have been happy with either the boy's or girl's but I know how she loves a little bit of pink....

It arrived in such a gorgeous box and I let Ellie have the honor of opening it.....


Made with indigo denim and using vibrant pink neck and waist ties, they are the perfect combo of soft and durable.

It really is well made....Feeling it you can tell that it is quality material. The apron is a little on the large side especially on the strap which goes around the back of the neck but that is no fault of Arty Apple.....It is a good thing though....It will last a couple of years if not more! I always buy my girls things with room to grow and this is just perfect! 


The personalisation, Ellie's name and the cupcake is just beautiful....Ellie thought it was so special. She was amazed that someone actually made it for her. She felt like a real chef when we got around to baking and totally took over the kitchen making scones and cupcakes....


This Girls Personalised Apron and everything else on the Arty Apple website is just gorgeous and would make wonderful gifts for the little people in your life. 

This apron cost £15 and I would say it is worth every penny....The quality is amazing and the box it arrives in is just so special.....

We were sent this Girls Personalised Apron free of charge for our honest review. All thoughts and opinions are our own.

Tuesday 25 July 2017

Year 9 and 5 are done...

The girls broke up from school on Friday....This past school year seems to have really flown over.

Ellie and Becky both went off to school in September full of excitement in new uniforms. Ellie going into Year 5 has to wear a shirt and tie and Becky going into Year 9 has to wear a blazer....Over the year we have lost a couple of ties and Becky's blazer is still too big for her with the sleeves rolled under but we survived....


My girls seem to have really matured over the last year....They both enjoy school and are mostly happy there.

The girls have spent the past year getting to and from school on their scooters....The only thing is Ellie has a tendency to scoot off too far ahead and I have to practically run to keep up....The year 5 children are allowed to walk to and from school without an adult and she desperately wants to every day. On a Monday after choir practice she walks home with her friend. The roads are a lot quieter after the school rush and so far she has been brilliant....Next term I think I might take her on a morning them just meet her halfway on the way home....I have to give her some freedom.



Ellie joined the school choir in September and they put on a school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat along with a few other local schools....She really got into it and spent hours and hours learning all of the songs. She even gave up two Saturdays to go and do dress rehearsals. Seeing her and the rest of the children was such a special moment. They did so well.

Ellie was bullied off and on over the past year but I am glad to say everything seems to be resolved....There is still one girl who is quite nasty but now all the other girls tell her to put a sock in it. hehehe

The best thing about Ellie's year at school was doing a topic about World War 2.....They had a project to do at home and she ended up making World War 2 Biscuits. Since Christmas instead of doing P.E they have had drama lessons all themed around WW2. We went to see a performance a little while ago and they all did so well. Ellie has grown in confidence so much.....

We did have a bit of a downer at the end of the year....Ellie's teacher suspects she has ADHD....We are waiting for an appointment but her teacher gave me her email address on the last day of term so I can get in touch with her if needed. I could have hugged her. I was worried about what would happen if we get an appointment and they ask what the issues are at school and need to speak to someone....

Becky will be going into year 10 in September which is an important year for her....She will start her GCSE's. Eek! Earlier in the year she made her choices about what subjects she will take but a couple of her subjects have been changed....She is now taking Computer science, Geography, Health and Social Care and Statistics. Not exactly what we wanted but at least Computer science and Statistics go together....

Since Christmas Becky has been getting a lot more homework and I have enjoyed helping her with it. She did all about the book An Inspector Calls. One of the assignments was to write tweets as a character from the book and had real fun with it....It earned her a homework pass which meant she got to skip writing a huge essay....



I have very little to do with Becky's school life which is a shame....She obviously tells me about the social aspect of school but very little about what she learns....She brought home a couple of her books last week and it was interesting to read about what she has been doing in her lessons....We have had reports and parents evening and she is where she should be and in some subjects better. 

This year Spanish was a new subject to her and she enjoyed it but found it harder than French....Becky is really gutted she won't be taking French for her GCSE's but I'm sure she'll get over it...

The only subject she fails at is P.E....She hates it with a passion. When we went to parents evening we spoke to the P.E teacher who started chuckling when she saw us coming...She told us about one lesson where they were playing rugby and instead of tackling people she was just waving them past....Every year has been the same. Becky is just not a sporty person.

I am very proud of both of my girls....Ellie might not always do as well as she could but I am hoping in September with a little help she will and I am sure Becky will do great in the next school year. It is an important year for her as she starts her GCSE's....

Monday 24 July 2017

Our Weekly Meal Plan!! - #mealplanningmonday


Last weeks meal plan went pretty well...There was a few meals we didn't eat but sometimes things happen that messes with the meal plan....Usually me not feeling like cooking....Oops.

This week is the first week of the the school holidays and Stu my fella is off work too....He has said he wants to do some of the cooking which is fine with me....

Instead of getting the food shop delivered over the weekend we're getting it today....I have a few bits for baking coming and this afternoon we are going to try making Ice cream cone cupcakes

This week on the menu we have:

Monday - Sandwiches, cakes and crisps....
Tuesday - Bernard Matthews Turkey Chips & fries....
Wednesday - Tuna, pea and sweetcorn fishcakes with baked beans.....
Thursday - Mince & dumplings with mash & veg....
Friday - Pizza....
Saturday - Scampi, chips and peas....
Sunday - Roast chicken dinner....

What are you eating this week?


Sunday 23 July 2017

Saturday 22 July 2017

A photo everyday for a year - Week 29 #Project365

It is officially the first day of the holidays.....Hooray! I am so glad. 6 weeks of relaxed mornings, spending time with my girls and hopefully a lot of fun! 

Now for a photo every day....


189/365 - 15th July
My fella had a day off work and spent the afternoon building a shoe rack....It has really helped tidy the cupboard of doom.

190/365 - 16th July
Ellie and I reviewed a Fred's Box. She had a great time with the WWE Ooshies...

191/365 - 17th July
My new favourite cake. I may have eaten more than my fair share. hehehe

192/365 - 18th July
Presents for the teachers ready to take to school....

193/365 - 19th July
All ready for her school disco....

194/365 - 20th July
We received a lovely package from Arty Apple. A personalised apron for Ellie...

195/365 - 21st July
Schools out for summer....I had to get a photo of the kids on the last day to compare it to the one in September. 


Friday 21 July 2017

The countdown for the holidays is on! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:


At 1pm and quarter past my girls break up from school for the summer holidays and it can't come soon enough....We have been counting down all week.....

We seem to have had a rubbish end to the school year....Last week was the stress with the suspected ADHD with Ellie and this week Becky had a little drama at school with a boy coming onto this blog, taking and printing out photos of her and Ellie then having them at school.....I have since found out he had been bullying Becky along with another girl but what is confusing and very creepy is that the photos he took were just normal one's, nothing bad and they didn't really use the photos or my blog against her....They just had them.

I will have a blog post about it soon. I refuse to write an angry, ranty post....I will wait until I have calmed down. Becky is fine but it really made me think twice about posting photos of my girls online.....Becky said "why should they ruin our blog and our fun?". Some of her other friends who know about the blog are fine with it and think it's cool.....

Despite this the girls have had a great week at school....

Ellie has had a tea party for the headteacher who is retiring today, a disco, a film afternoon and has done a lot of colouring in.....Becky has been doing fun activities. They have mixed the year groups up and had them doing crafts which sounded fantastic and she has watched plenty of films too.....

I finally seem to be over the rotten cold I had....Stu had a full weekend off work so I could just rest which was what I needed....Last week I started watching Game of Thrones....I have tried in the past but couldn't get into it. This time I did. As of writing this I am onto the 5th series. hehehe Every spare minute has been spent watching it....

I am really looking forward to not having to deal with school things for just over 6 weeks....We have some things planned for next week. A bit of baking and we have some films to watch. Nothing really exciting but it will be nice to ease into the summer holidays. Stu is off work next week too so we might have a day out somewhere...I have no idea where yet. I think it depends on the weather....


Thursday 20 July 2017

50 Questions you’ve never been asked tag.

I saw this over on Call me Caz....I do love a tag and most of these questions are new to me!


1) Whats your favourite candle scent?
I don't really do candle's but I love a fruity scent.

2) What female celebrity do you wish was your sister?
Holly Willoughby. I love her. She seems like such a nice person and dresses so well. I would so pinch her clothes.

3) What male celebrity do you wish was your brother?
Jimmy Carr....He is hilarious. I was going to pick someone I have a crush on but that would not be right. lol

4) How old do you think you'll be when you get married?
70. lol There's no rush.

5) Do you know a hoarder?
My teen Becky....She tries to keep everything! An example of this is her school bag. Nobody needs about 6 tins of deodorants. lol

6) Can you do the splits?
Not any more...

7) How old were you when you first learned to ride a bike?
Probably about 5 years old...My grandad taught me.

8) How many oceans have you swam in?
One...The North sea counts?

9) How many countries have you visited?
Scotland and Wales so 2. I haven't travelled much.

10) Is anyone in your family in the army?
No.

11) What would you name your daughter if you had one?
I have Becky and Ellie but if I was to have another one I would call her Isabelle.

12) What would you name your son if you had one?
James....

13) What's the worst grade you've got in a test?
I did pretty well at school....One thing does stick in my mind. In primary school I sucked at spellings and quite often got zero out of ten in the tests.

14) What was your favourite TV show as a kid?
I loved Grange Hill, Kenan & Kel, Knightmare and Neighbours.

15) What did you dress up as for halloween when you were 8?
Probably a witch. I was always a witch.

16) Have you read any of the Harry Potter, Hunger Games or Twilight series?
I have read Harry Potter but not the others....I have seen all the films though. hehehe

17) Would you rather have an American accent or a British one?
An American one....I am guessing if I had one I would want a British one though. lol

18)  Did your mother go to university?
No.

19) Are your grandparents still married?
On my dad's side they are both dead and my mothers side I have no idea....

20) Have you ever taken karate lessons?
No, but I would quite like to.

21) Do you know who kermit the frog is?
Of course.

22) What was the first amusement park you went to?
Flamingo Land.

23) What language beside your native language would you like to be fluent in?
Spanish! It's such a beautiful language...

24) Do you spell the colour as grey or gray?
Grey. I always get confused to which one it is though...

25) Is your father bald?
Nope...He has a full head of hair....

26) Do you know any triplets?
No.

27) Do you prefer Titanic or The Notebook?
 Titanic. The Notebook just didn't do it for me...

28) Have you ever had Indian food?
Yes, I do love an Indian takeaway....

29) What's the name of your favourite restaurant?
The Fox Cover. One of our local pubs that has a restaurant.

30) Have you ever been to Nandos?
No! I never have. I just don't see the attraction with it.

31) Do you belong to any warehouse stores? (Costco, Bookers ect)
No but my friends do and we used to go and get the sweets for the school PTA events. I could easily spend a small fortune on things. hehehe

32) What would your parents have named you if you were the opposite gender?
Tony. I am so glad I wasn't a boy. Sorry to anyone called Tony.

33) If you have a nickname what is it?
I don't really but my dad calls me Kimbo.

34) Who's your favourite person in the world?
I can't just pick one....It has to be my fella and my two girls.


35) Would you rather live in the countryside or the city?
The countryside. We live in-between at the moment. In a small town.

36) Can you whistle?
Yes. Badly.

37) Do you sleep with a nightlight?
No but we leave the landing light on for Ellie and I have got used to sleeping with it on.

38) Do you eat breakfast every morning?
No. I rarely eat breakfast. If I do it is usually at about 10am.

40) What medical conditions do you have?
I have leaky valves in my heart, a double uterus and a dodgy back.

41) How many times have you been to hospital?
4 times over night....When I broke my arm as a child, I had my appendix out when I was 18 and when I had both of my girls. Many times to A&E. I used to horse ride and fall off a lot.

42) Have you ever seen finding nemo?
Yes. Hasn't everybody. lol Such a cute film.

43) Where do you buy your jeans?
Asda, M&S or Sports Direct.

44) What's the last compliment you got?
I don't know...One that sticks in my mind was from Ellie who said "You look like a real grown up" when I had got some new clothes a few weeks ago. lol

45) Do you usually remember your dreams in the morning?
Yes. Some of the things I dream about are so strange especially if I have been eating before bed.

46) What flavour tea do you enjoy?
Just normal Tetley tea. 

47) How many pairs of shoes do you currently own?
About 4. I am not a shoe person.

48) What religion will you raise your children to practice?
I'm not. I am not religious so if they want to follow one it's their decision.

49) How old were you when you found out Santa wasn't real?
I was probably about 9 or 10. It was so sad.

50) Why do you have a blog?
To record all the family moments which I would probably forget about....

I'm not going to tag anyone....If you want to do this tag go ahead.

Wednesday 19 July 2017

Fred's Box - WWE Ooshies - Review.

I have been a fan of the WWE (wrestling) for as long as I can remember. Way back when it was the WWF. hehehe My girls are fan's too so when Fred's Box got in touch asking if we wanted to review a WWE Ooshies box it was a big Hell Yeah! (I was channeling my inner Stone Cold Steve Austin).


The Ooshie Subscription Box is aimed at everybody over the age of five....I had heard of Ooshies but wasn't too sure what they were...Ellie my 9 year old knew what they were though and loved the idea of having some of her own.

Ooshies are squishy mini figures of your favourite characters that also double up as pencil toppers.

Within the Fred's Box you will receive between 2 and 10 Ooshies, a Fred's Box Pencil, a sticker and 2 design it your self postcards to send to family and friends or even back to Fred's Box if you would like to be in with a chance to win some goodies....


There are four different sizes of boxes:

Small Fred's Box - contains 2 Ooshies, a Fred's Box Pencil 2 x design it yourself postcards, a sticker and costs £3.99.
Standard Fred's Box - contains 4 Ooshies, a Fred's Box Pencil 2 x design it yourself postcards, a sticker and costs £6.99.
Medium Fred's Box - contains 6 Ooshies, a Fred's Box Pencil 2 x design it yourself postcards, a sticker and costs £9.99
Large Fred's Box - contains 10 Ooshies, a Fred's Box Pencil 2 x design it yourself postcards, a sticker and costs £16.99.

And there are four different themed boxes.Marvel, DC Comics, WWE and Disney. 

We were very excited to receive the WWE Ooshie box....
I could instantly tell who 5 of the 6 Ooshies were.


From left to right. Kevin Owens, Roman Reigns, John Cena, Randy Orton (I had to look on the handy sheet that was in the box because it was hard to tell if it was him or The Rock), Bray Wyatt and Booker T.

Ellie had a great time looking at who they were. She recognised a couple instantly but had great fun looking up who they were and seeing if they were rare or common. We got 3 rare's which made her very happy! 


She then spent the next half hour playing wrestling with them....They were a huge hit and has already asked for another box....

I think these are great boxes and I could see myself buying both of my girls them in the future. Even my teen likes to collect things like this. They would be fantastic as a treat.

When you buy a Fred's box full payment is taken up front for a one off gift or you can pay monthly for a subscription. Delivery is £2 for all UK orders, £4 for Europe orders and £6.50 per month for USA/Canada orders. Fred's Box say they will never send the same Ooshies twice so you will always get something new to look forward to each month.


As well as Ooshie subscription boxes Fred's Box also does Mystery subscription boxes which cost £11.99....In those boxes there is things like age appropriate reading books, trading cards, Fred's Box pencils, design your own postcards, stickers, crayons and other mystery gifts....

We were sent a Fred's Box free of charge to review....All thoughts and opinions are our own.