27 Oct 2014

Me on a Monday



It's been a finally getting my split ends chopped off, visiting a pumpkin patch (more to come on this later this week), feasting on milkshakes and scones, karaoke singing starring cheesy Abba hits, enjoying autumn comfort food like jacket potatoes and chilli, family walk in the forest, cheeky baby climbing radiators, sofas and anything he can find and missing our lie in as clock changes mean nothing to babies kind of weekend. 




   What have you and yours been up to?

26 Oct 2014

Happy Halloween!


Growing up we always celebrated Halloween. Even though it is not really a holiday that is celebrated much in England. However, it does seem to be getting more popular and the shops are certainly decked out in style and I guess it is a nod to how Americanised we are becoming as a country. Just like most teens now talk about going to see a 'movie' or how 'awesome' everything is as they eat a pop tart for breakfast.


My mom (not copying Americans this is the South African way to spell it too) always took us trick or treating and we really enjoyed it. What six year old wouldn't love copious amounts of sweets and going out in the dark dressed up? We mostly went to neighbours' that we knew and we had some funny responses with one lady trying to give us money (and we were most put out when mom refused), someone gave us us a whole packet of biscuits as this is all that they had and a particularly stern neighbour sent us away telling us he didn't believe in Halloween!

We also had some great parties at church and I particularly remember spook alley one year where we had to put our hands into eyeballs (grapes) and brains (spaghetti) and it was terrifying and funny all at the same time. When I first moved to Leeds we met a Halloween enthusiast who threw great parties and went so far as to get actual pigs brains from the butchers and aimed to make all the girls (and some of the bys) cry in his truly terrifying spook alley which also involved strobe lights and life sized corpses hanging from the ceiling.

Now I have my own little boy and I wonder which of these traditions we will follow. I know that last year we celebrated the holiday in two ways:

1) We attended a Halloween themed baby sensory where the little babies had to dress up and the lovely Nicola, who ran it, created an amazing Halloween themed backdrop. They also got to have tummy time on some inflatable pumpkins and feel autumn items like leaves and pine ones. I definitely made the most of it and got lots of good snaps on my big camera.

2) My sister visited from London and we took the Baby to a pumpkin patch in Pontefract. It was amazing with lots of gorgeous pumpkins, a carving station, story time with a huge pumpkin and a yummy cafe were we stocked up on steaming bowls of pumpkin soup. We went again this year and feel that it was even more of an adventure now he can race around amongst the pumpkins rather than lol around on the floor for a photo shoot...although getting a photo of him standing still was tricky. We just about managed with this one:-


We have just been to my friends Halloween party / cake sale for McMillan cancer. Instead of a pumpkin we opted for a little devil this year...


What Halloween traditions do you celebrate in your families?

20 Oct 2014

Me on a Monday...


Okay so this is going to be 'Me on a Monday' for the last few weeks. 

It's been a birthday celebrating, eating a naan as big as your head, getting spoilt by my family and friends, girls night at the delicious cheerful chilli with platters and platters of yummy food, the Baby stealing my chocolates, a rare date night with the Belgian to see Gone Girl a gripping thriller, poor baby teething and night time screaming and lack of sleeping for us and lots of cuddling and calpol and napping when baby naps on my day's off and chocolate muffin baking, lots of sneaky Project Lifing (with some actual scrapping action scheduled for the blog this very week), pumpkin patch visiting, chilling out on a gorgeous autumn afternoon at the ice-cream farm, birthday party attending (how happy does he look) and lots of chasing after our very active little man. Wouldn't have it any other way, hey? 








3 Oct 2014

Guide to a successful British Food Festival Family day out...


1) Arrive early so that you have time to check out all of the food trucks before the crowds arrive. Play 'I've seen this truck at Trinity' game. Feel disappointed there are not more (or any) samples.



2) Find the kiddy friendly area and marvel at all the cute attention to detail. Baby clocks the crafty table and tries to eat some beads. Distract him with a round of mini golf and he tries to eat the burger and chips.  Drag him kicking and screaming away from the kiddy area.
 




3) Take it in turns to watch the Baby whilst you go and purchase your chosen dish. Bring back to the table and hope that you can eat it before The Baby kicks off.
 



4) All try a little bit of each others so that you try a dish from each continent.
 

5) Let the Baby run loose and then try to get him to sit on a bench to watch some of the entertainment. Instead he stands on the bench and then falls off. Have an awful moment when he is screaming his head off and everyone is staring at you like your the worst parent ever. Ahhh! Find First Aid tent. Your sister decides to take a photograph to capture the moment and gets told off by the First Aider and told to delete the photo. Ooops! Then have to fill out ten forms as they issued us with an ice-pack.
 

6) Watch the entertainment and encourage The Baby to clap. He is over his bump already. 
 

7) Force The Belgian to join in with the break dancing. I LOVE these photos. He actually did quite well and may well have a future in hip hop. He was just hoping for free noodles and instead, of course, the little boy and girl he was up against won. Roar with laughter as The Baby heads onto the break dancing mat and throws some shapes.






8) Relax at home and vow never to eat anything ever again. Ever. 


(Please excuse the sideways photos - I know there is a way to amend this but I am feeling lazy!)

2 Oct 2014

Me on a Monday (*ahem*) on a Thursday...


It's been an auntie visiting from London, farmers market in the sunshine, Yummy Yank baked goods scoffing, sour dough bread perusing, street food festival attending, street food treats deliberating, neglectful head banging, ice-pack avoiding, new suit for daddy purchasing, very poorly mummy, box set watching, daddy slaving over a roast dinner, mummy eating plain toast instead, run around at a forest park, red faced due to neglectful bruise kind of a weekend! 






How was yours? Probably a distant memory by now. 
So The Baby has just smeared my lip balm all over his face, my bag and the floor best dash...


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