Hi all,

Well today has been a busy one here and as much as I'm loving the spring weather, I don't feel to be getting out in it very much. I have been having a bit of a busy weekend of housework, dance classes, kiddies shoe shopping, kiddy sleepovers, laundry and laundry and laundry!!...

This afternoon I spent a couple of hours making "tooth" fairy cushions for my friends children as a gift. They have turned out really nice and I'm looking forward to giving them out. 

Isn't that so cute ??!! It has a little pocket on the reverse side for you to put your tooth and for the tooth fairy to leave a treat or coin. 

I will, hopefully, be enjoying some of the sunshine tomorrow that has been predicted. Happy Bank holiday everyone...hope you are all able to enjoy it. 

Hi guys,

So today was an early start for me and my mum, 6.20am on a Sunday morning to travel, with a car full of wares, to a local car boot sale. 

After arriving at 7am and setting up stall, we stood, shivering for most of the morning and sold over half of what we took. 

Dad came down with a flask of hot chocolate and some homemade bacon sandwiches, bless his heart. Hubby came with the children and my little girl helped on the stall. She loved playing shop keeper for a while and wants to come to the next one in 2 weeks.

Feel tired after such an early start and such a full on morning, so now relaxing  with a cup of Yorkshire's finest tea and surfing the internet.

Hi guys,

So, today is going to be a looooooong day. I'm home doing SAHM stuff today for the most part but, after school pick up, it will be getting super exciting and busy. 

This evening we have tickets to see Sleeping Beauty Ballet at The Grand Opera House in York. I'm so excited to take my little ballerina and show her just what all these dance lessons could turn into for her if she wants and tries hard. 

She's made for ballet really. Ever since she was able to stand she's been on her tip toes. She is elegant and graceful for a 6 year old and she loves the attention she gets being the only one in our family who does dancing. 

She'll be a tired little ballerina by the time we get home tonight though. Bless her. 

Blog from March

Hi everyone.

Wow, what a weekend we had, Saturday came and went and it was craziness. 2 birthday parties for Lillie, back to back!

First party was at the dry ski slope for snow tubing which she absolutely loved but had me stood in temperatures of 1 degree for 45 minutes. Needless to say I was blue!

Its so worth the cold to see her having an amazing time. 

Home for a quick outfit change and party number 2 was a disco, much warmer and a cup of tea too so I was a happier mummy...

Hardly saw my boys though so felt a little sad about that. 

Sunday was a stay at home day filled with housework, playing with the children and homework too.  Lillie learned all about the Great Fire of London for her homework and did a lovely job with her homework, Toby was happy to play puzzles and do some drawing and Harrison, being the big boy, was busy with his computer. 

This evening I have been out at a friends trying to organise a birthday party for her little girl. I think we have it sorted.:)

Hi all, 

Well the sun is shining and the washing is blowing on the line. The garden looks happy and bright for the first time in what seems like an age!

Having 3 children at home during the Easter school holidays has proven to be challenging and not in terms of their behaviour but because finding a common ground for activities is almost impossible. 

Whatever I choose for us to do will inevitably be inappropriate for one of them purely due to age. Almost 13, 6 and 2 years is fairly widespread in ability and interest!!

Today, however, my almost 13 year old has a friend to play so he's happy, and the younger 2 are enjoying the garden. 

Lillie has been painting rocks and has made a little rock family for us to enjoy in the garden through the summer. Toby is enjoying playing with his dumper truck and the pebbles, drawing pictures with chalk on the patio and kicking his ball. 

I'm enjoying being able to let the children into the garden without the risk of frost bite!.... I've also enjoyed a lovely cup of Yorkshire tea in my Yorkshire garden...

Back to school tomorrow for 2 of them and back to a routine for us all. It's been a long Easter break this time, almost 3 weeks!... I wonder how many days it will take me to readjust to the early starts..:)

Hi everyone,

Well we've had a busy and fun week. Having decided on a topic for the week we have  enjoyed making crafts, reading stories and finding out all about animals.

At our local garden centre we found a display of decorative animals. We looked at them and talked about how real they looked. We especially liked the nest with little spring chicks in...reminding us that spring is just around the corner.

We have added elephant hand print crafts to our display too today instead of the cotton wool sheep we intended doing, I decided it would be quicker and easier although I actually still want to make the sheep ...I just love them...:)

We had a lovely evening yesterday with my niece and her partner who called for drinks and a chat. I always enjoy spending time with my family and in laws. 

I spent a little time today watching some of my favourite Youtube channels and have seen a beautiful hairstyle I want to try on my 6 year old daughter, Lillie, but it looks seriously complicated... can my fingers and brain manage it I wonder...heehee....

Well that seems like all for today.... except to say I'm hoping for a relaxed evening and an early night to recharge my batteries. Maybe a trip to the park tomorrow weather permitting. That should bring about chances to look at some wildlife and to take some lovely photos.

Hi again

Part of what I enjoy is trying new hair updo's on my little princess. I just love how they look. She is in Year 1 at school and has to wear her hair up every day, so I try to make it pretty and different. I like the thought that she can express herself through her individuality and her lovely updo's are part of that. 

Here are a few of my faves with a big thanks to Cute Girls Hairstyles, Babes in Hairland and Hairstyles for girls on Youtube and Facebook for their inspiration.

As you can see... I try to make them look as pretty as I can... My princess is gorgeous so her hair should be too..:) .... Hope you like the styles.... check out the aforementioned  channels to see how they're done.

Welcome to my blog. I wish to show you around my home a little via photos. Like I said its a modest home so don't be expecting grand things!..Haha....Lets start with my Lounge diner. As you can see its messy... washing and toys are things which causes me problems.

Then there's the conservatory aka playroom. This also, due to lack of space, is home to my tumble dryer.


My kitchen is very small... but I seem to manage so its not too small!.. 

Like I said....modest family home!

Garden space is quite compact but is working for us... 


3 upstairs bedrooms and family bathroom

Master bedroom

Purple is my favourite colour as you can probably tell. 

Thanks for taking a little look.

Joanne

February 20th

This week we have been trying to focus on doing fun things with the children as its the half term holidays.

On Monday we took them to the swimming pool and although the older 2 enjoyed it, my little baby was very cold. His little lips were blue....taking him to Dr to check that out as it happens sometimes when he gets out of the bath too. 

Following the fun at the pool, we took them for lunch at McDonalds.... never a great healthy option but the children love it as a treat.

On Tuesday we did some work on our topic of the week. This week is just week 1 and we have put a display up on the wall which my daughter loves. We are learning about animals. Choosing our favourite animals and talking about them. We are doing animal crafts and colouring and today the younger 2 children each coloured a picture of an animal and the letter relating to that animal... ie R for rabbit. They seemed to enjoy that. 

Today we have made pictures using the letter C for cat... we added a head, ears, legs and tail and they turned out cute. Also looked at French words for animals with my 6 year old and made a sign with paint for the topic display...les animaux. We looked at a board book called Animal Sounds and made the different sounds together and had fun acting like a snail and a frog. 

Tomorrow we are going to be making pictures of sheep using cotton wool balls, we'll be doing some grouping of animals into Farm, Safari and Domestic. We will be looking at patterns on skin and fur and we will make our own animal print patterns.

On Friday we are visiting our local Pets at Home where they have a show and tell information session about one of the animals in the shop. We hope to learn lots about whichever animal they're discussing. After this we'll be making sock animals using pipe cleaners, googley eyes and pom poms for decoration. 

Here is a picture of some of our work on display.. I'm so excited by the response I've had from the children. Everyone seems to be enjoying it. 

Getting started - New Year, New beginnings

I decided to get into blogging on a regular basis and so here goes. 
So much has happened since July. My husband was made redundant from his job and is still trying hard to look for work. 

Life as we know it seems so different now. My anxiety problem is creeping back up to a worrying level and I find myself feeling stressed a lot of the time.

On the other hand I've been trying to keep things as normal as possible for the rest of the family, like a good momma.

Today I've mostly been working around the home as it was snowing and I didn't fancy falling down and spending the rest of the week with a sore backside!.... 

I picked up some lovely items in the Boots sale though. 

Tried to eat some healthier alternatives today too. Oats for breakfast and soup and cheese salad sandwich for tea. Lunch was a bit crappy.....Pot Noodle (don't ask) and 2 slices of buttered toast (I said I tried!!!)

Taught the baby a lovely family lullaby which he sang back to me like a little angel....It makes my heart overflow when he's that cute.... 

My Princess had her first disco dancing club tonight and she was disappointed with herself because she's not the best high kicker!!... We're going to work on making her legs a little more supple. 

Big fella came home in the wars.... some kid had him round the throat on the school bus.... had to phone school to have this looked into.... oh the joys of pre teen boys!

All in all a reasonable day.... hopefully this evening will be nice and relaxing and I'll sleep well...

Goodnight  x