Me on a Monday

It was a woolly hat wearing, soft playing with gusto, rejecting the toddler section, forcing mummy to follow me down the rainbow slide, meeting up with a friend for a play date, daddy sanding doors, watching series ten of Grey's Anatomy, church attending, lovely Sunday lunch at our friends house with lots of yummy roast potatoes, book marking and target setting and cookie gorging kind of a weekend!

And how was yours?

52 Saturdays...

Today started with a lovely lie in for mummy whilst my two boys went for an early morning swim. Breakfast was toast and pancakes for the Baby - swimming always makes you hungry. I did some dishes and other fun jobs like laundry. 

I built the bricks into towers and he pulled them apart whilst daddy had a snooze. We played with his cars and trucks. He loves anything with wheels nowadays. 

The baby napped for a record two and a half hours. I made a scrapbook page of his first birthday after being inspired by Jill Sprott's colourful and vibrant layout. 

The Belgian and I had pumpkin soup and salt and pepper crusted white bread. Then he headed to the garage with he sander whilst the Baby and I headed off on a play date.

We ended up at a huge soft play centre and the Baby was in his element diving and climbing and dancing and driving and whizzing down the slides head first!

We had hot dogs and baked potatoes for tea. We read some books and then had bath time where the Baby decided it was fun to throw all his toys out of the bath! He was pointing to the sink and making noises and I realised he wanted his toothbrush. I wouldn't say he brushes his teeth but he likes sucking on it!

The Belgian and I pigged out on donuts and Chips Ahoy popcorn cookies whilst watching three episodes of Greys Anatomy in a row.

How did your Saturday look?

Five Thoughts on Project Life

1) Washi tape is everything

2) Repetative stamping is a simple and effective way to embellish 

3) Cutting up 12 by 12 papers makes great cards as you never get enough of the big ones in a kit

4) Orange, grey and black is a great colour combo

5) Simple is best

#Pinwin

 

Are you addicted to pinning?

Do you find yourself spending your creative time just pinning things for the future?

Do you never get around to actually making all the things you pin?

Do you ever make anything you pin?

So, most of the time my answer to all these questions is yes, yes, no, no but today was a Pinterest win as I actually made two of the things I pinned.

1) This delicious pumpkin cheesecake trifle as we had friends for dinner and pumpkin purée aplenty in the freezer. It's my kind of dessert as it was largely whipping and assembling. Try it! You'll like it! If you like pumpkin...if not don't follow my Pumpkin Everything board.

2) On my Fun for Toddlers board I pinned lots of baby sensory activities so today I raided the stationary section of our local Asda Home and got some stash. We had fun creating monsters - even if the Baby got distracted trying to eat the googly eyes!

Have you had any #pinwins recently?

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?

_________________________________

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.

__________________________

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...