Wicked Wednesday: Brownie Brat!

I turn my back for one second and discover my sixteen month old

just casually hanging out on the table with a brownie for breakfast.

What's the problem mum?

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Linking up with the lovely Brummy Mummy for #wickedwednesdays

Where we live

So we recently moved to a new town and although it is only ten minutes up the road it wasn't a place we had explored much. 

So it's been fun finding and trying out the new shops, cafés and parks. Since the Baby is now allergic to his pram we've started taking him on Sunday walks in the forest behind our neighbourhood. 

He loved exploring in his little wellies and splashing in the puddles. It got dark very quickly and was quite marshy and so he had to be carried some of the way. He gets quite heavy nowadays! 

There is a railway track running alongside the forest and the Baby likes to listen to the trains going past. He likes picking up sticks and banging the bushes. 

We got photo photobombed by a dog! The baby is very curious about dogs but gets a bit scared when they bark at him. He likes them from a distance shall we say. Similar to his mother!

Where do you like to spend your Sunday afternoons?

Me on a Monday

It's been an up at the crack of dawn, super organised and prepared for a big pressure day at work, obsessed with target grades, pushing, coaxing, encouraging, offering baby wipes to a Year 10 boy with his girlfriends lipstick, literally, on his collar and this question from a Year 7, "can I draw someone being hung?" Gorging on custard filled donuts and a peruse round the supermarket as a special treat for a stressful day at work. Then back to the grind with marking and planning. Roll on my day off... This cheeky face at bath time helped a lot!

One Photo Twenty Words

Have you ever seen the Friends episode where Joey wears all of

Chandler's clothes?

Turns out the Baby has too.

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Linking up with the lovely Abi over at Creating Paper Dreams

52 Saturdays

I saw a really cute notebook / diary in the gorgeous stationary department at Salts Mill called 52 Saturdays. I was racking my brains over who I could buy it for. When I realised sadly that I just wanted it for myself.

It made me think though that Saturdays are so rare and precious that they should be recorded. Imagine if I had documented my Saturdays in my single days compared to nowadays with my little family. How different they would be?

So today started with a lie in. Normally the Belgian takes the Baby swimming at 8. So after I've packed their swimming things I get to go back to bed. No swimming today but I did lie in till 9.30 and woke to a freshly cooked pain au chocolate. Ohh la la!

The Belgian did some web surfing whilst I  finished last nights dishes and cleaned the kitchen. I built towers for the Baby to pull down and we played with his favourite thing right now...cars.

We made play dough monsters with some autumnal coloured sensory play. He started eating the sequins and tipping the tray up so we put it out of reach for a while. 

He napped 12.30-1.30 then had cream cheese on toast, pear as raisins for lunch. During nap time I made a start on my mountain of marking and planning. I  being observed fake Ofsted style on Monday and needed the peace and quiet to get my head round things.

We tried a new cafe in the next town for lunch. It's Italian and the Belgian had a panini and I had a flat bread pizza. We were really impressed as it's all cooked fresh to order and you can choose three of your own toppings. They also had different drinks like San Pelligrini which makes a nice change from the usual. The Baby had a chocolate milk in a glass bottle and drank from a straw and looked very grown up. I didn't take any pictures as we were so hungry. I will be back though and may do a review of it for fellow Leeds folk.

We wondered round the charity shops with the Baby holding both our hands, again so very grown up. 

We headed home and just chilled for a bit. The Belgian and the Baby skyped his grandparents in Bruges whilst I baked some pumpkin and cream cheese puffs with some pastry that needed using up. They were pretty tasty.

The Belgian and the Baby headed out, with the pastries, for a fireworks display and bonfire at our friends house. We rescued the baby carrier my dad used for me from our garage so that the Baby wouldn't go near the bonfire! 

Cinderella stayed home and did more planning and marking with several episodes of Parenthood on in the background. I seriously love that programme and it routinely makes me cry. As does marking and planning, but in an entirely different way!

My boys returned home later than arranged and I my momma heart was upset to hear that my little baby screamed for the whole display. I felt guilty, like I should have been there, or he should have been wearing ear muffs! 

I snuggled with him and read him a few stories before putting him to bed. The Belgian and I watched x-factor with Brie sandwiches and cooking chocolate. Cos you know sometimes a girl just needs some and it's all your have in the house!

What has your Saturday looked like?

Friday Finds...

Here are some links to things I have been loving lately:-

1) I would never identify myself as either a fashionista or a fashion blogger, but the whole capsule wardrobe concept has caught my eye recently. I love Elise's blog for her gorgeous Project Life layouts and stationary, but I loved her capsule wardrobe post and it got me thinking. She also linked to this glam gal's blog all about minimalist fashion. It has made me re-evaluate my current wardrobe and definitely made me think differently when shopping. I may even do my own post soon - you never know!

2) Not sure if it's capsule wardrobe or not, but I love this cute sweater for winter.

3) This cushion is the cutest thing ever - can I have one?

4) These turkish delight chocolate brownies sound so tasty and the perfect antidote to this miserable weather in Leeds! To get the recipe you have to donate to Children in Need so your helping a good cause too!

5) And lastly cos its Friday and I love this song and this is funny and silly. Did I mention that's its Friday?

Guilty Pleasures

So motivation to blog was running at a low today, but I want to follow this through.

I looked at some of the blogvember topics, to give me a kick start, and this one caught my eye.

I have many, some I am more or less inclined to share than others.
So I just asked The Belgian for his opinion on my guilty pleasures and he said hummus and scrapbooking. I don't think he really understands the concept.

So...

1) Instagram - I am crazy addicted to both instagraming my life and catching up (read - stalking) other people's lives on it. I have been known to buy crockery seen on Instagram, feel like life always looks better through a filter and have planned days out depending upon how Instagram worthy they are. I have to check on it the minute I get in, before I go to bed and sometimes when I wake out of habit at 4 am.

2) Country and Western music. This had early roots as my dad played a lot of country records and cassettes when I was growing up. Our particular favourite was Crystal Gayle and I still know all of the words to her greatest hits. When I studied in Georgia I went more mainstream with a passion for Tim McGraw and Dixie Chicks. I love that the songs are all stories. Much better than that new fangled dance music which is nothing more than a bass line and repetitive lyrics. Country music has heart and soul. Oh and a truck named Bessie.

3) Sales. Discounts. Coupons. I will travel like thirty miles just to cash in on a ten pound off groupon coupon to get my hair done. I know I'm probably spending the same amount of money in petrol, but I can't resist a bargain. I get those money off emails in my inbox and think 'wow 25% off I need to see what I can get in Gap as this deal is too good to pass up on!' Even if I don't need anything. Just cos. Give me a store card to give me points and I will shop there to see them rack up and then after spending thousands I will get £10 off my shop. A free shop? Such a thrill! 

Am I right?

Wicked Wednesday: Devilishly handsome

What the devil has she dressed me in this time?

Me on a Monday

It's been a pumpkin carving, pumpkin pureeing, pumpkin soup making, pumpkin muffin devouring (recipes and details to follow in case any of you have giant pumpkins lingering), roaring trade of trick or treaters, Halloween party attending, ice-cream farm hanging out, posh hotdog gorging, church attending, park enjoying, house cleaning, book marking, talent show watching, relative catching up on, cute clock purchasing kind of weekend.

                       And yours?

   As always joining up with the lovely 

       Sian's meme 'Me on Monday'

Sunday Scrapping

So it seems I am alone in attempting blogvember (yes apparently it is thing and this is the hashtag) but I am not alone in feeling like blogging is decreasing. I get it people are busy and haven't got time. Perhaps it gets frustrating if not many people are commenting and some people are in it for the numbers game and want to get good 'stats' but I blog because I enjoy it.

This is my space. My chance to share what I am up to and what I am creating. So without further ado I share a layout. Poorly photographed but made with love. Yes I still sometimes scrapbook. 

You may remember that I did monthly updates on my little baby for the first year of his life. They are still some of my favourite posts to look back on and I did photo shoots of him each month to go with them. But also because I knew I would scrapbook them at some point and I am almost done and so I thought I would share a month with you.

I used a 12 by 12 paper pad so that all of the papers coordinated already and it took some of the guess work out of it.

The other great thing about this paper pad was the cut apart tags page and O layered these up at the bottom. The glasses and mustache works perfectly for a layout about a little boy. 

I embellished with the cute Studio Calico wood veneer stars which are making their way onto every layout recently. They are so adaptable. 

The journalling is hidden as there wasn't any space for it and the layout already looked very busy. The other convenient part was that my blog post provided the journalling so I didn't have to cast my mind back five months!

I used Crate Paper wooden pegs and American Craft chalk board stickers to add some dimension and interest. Thanks to my sisters for some birthday parcels bursting with craft goodies. Apparantly the TkMaxx in Hull is quite a treasure trove for crafty bits - who knew? 

What have you been creating lately?

November Blogging Challenge

So I remember last November a challenge going around blogland to blog every day in November and I have just decided that perhaps this is the push I need.

I have all of these at stories and ideas going round in my mind that never make it to 'print.' I have read many interesting blog posts recently about the decline in blogging - in fact the lovely Lexi Bridges has the tag line Instagram killed my blog on her Instagram and this is so true. Now you can instantly share a layout, mini book or card straight away and make it look pretty with a nice filter - so why take the time to blog it too?

I especially found this article by Ashli over at Purple Mail Box to be pertinent about the decline of blogging - we have become a scrolling society who want all of our information in small sound bites. I waste so much time nowadays on social media pinning projects and checking others people's out on instagram and twitter rather than actually creating and doing the things that I love. Silly really. But inspiration can help - only if we act upon it I guess.

Well I enjoy writing and I have always struggled to fit what I have to say into a text or a sound bite. In fact I was famed at uni for leaving three part answer phone messages as I struggled to fit it all into one message! Why should I condense? This is my space...

Perhaps I don't blog because most of my photos nowadays are taken on my phone and so the quality is not the best. But then you start I wonder why you blog and who for and so in order to blog everyday I am going to embrace imperfections. I have so much to share but so little time.

So today I will just leave you with a Saturday selfie of my boy and I. We took a little autumnal stroll to the shop this morning for a Saturday paper. I decided to leave the pram at home and he just walked clutching onto my hand with his pudgy little hand. Before he always hated having to hold hands and wanted to run off and do his own thing, but he has improved lately and is holding our hands really well. He had a soggy, half eaten rice cake in the other hand. His new winter Parker all zipped up tight and his stripy bobble hat on - and miraculously it stayed on! 

He is growing up so quickly that sometimes it is nice to pause and capture a moment.

Anyone else want to join in the challenge? I do realise I am posting this quite late and so you may decide to join on tomorrow - that's okay too! Or just commit to blog more in November...

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?

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?

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? 

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!)