December 27th 2015 - santa and reindeer

My lil man was playing with an empty box and this reminded me and my sister of us many years ago when we were kids and we were using an empty box as a car.

My sis started pushing him round with the broom but was worried she would break it so we spent a good 10-15minutes trying to work out what we could use to move the box instead.  We decided that we could use string and duct tape.  Lil man decided that is was a sleigh and he was santa - he ran off and came back with a santa hat.  Then when my sister started pulling the box he said it was his sleigh and my sister was a reindeer.  To which he ran off and came back with a set of antlers for her!

At this point we did have a bit of a laugh, but my sis played along and was pulling santa in his sleigh around the room.  Then it got even funnier as he wanted to be the reindeer and made my sister be santa in the sleigh.  He couldn't pull it on his own so his brothers helped and as they did my sister split the box as she fell out of it!

We fixed the sleigh with more duct tape and the older 2 took turns in it as well.  THEN I decided I was going to be santa!  I got to the floor and in the box (just) and put my santa hat on.  My sis was still upfront as the reindeer.  Hubby had the camera and we couldn't do anything but laugh, it was so funny!  My sis tried and tried to pull me which made us laugh even more and then she managed to move it and i broke the box as I fell backwards and her forwards which made us laugh even more.

There was no alcohol consumed in us being silly  and having a good laugh but it was a great evening.

December 23rd 2015 - Sister

My sister lives over 5hrs drive away from us since we moved north few years back.  Sadly we dont see each other as much as we would like to due to her job and our money situation.  SO today is a good day as she came up to stay with us for christmas.

This pin is sooooo us:

 

I'm hoping that in the near future she will also move up here with us, not in my house as 1. it's not big enough and 2. we would kill each other after a week!  Here's to a good few days and christmas together.

September 4th 2015 - The Beacon

September 4th 2015 - The Beacon

There are only a few days left before the boys go back to school, and despite the fact my knee is still really sore we took the boys to the local museum today - The Beacon.

There is lots of hands on touchy stuff for them to try and use which is great for kids of all ages.  They really enjoyed the Sellafield exhibition as that had lots of things including big foam things to make a way to get rid of nuclear waste (balls).  They spent ages trying to work together (very hard for my sons) to build a track.

August 29th 2015 - Drayton Manor/Thomas Land

August 29th 2015 - Drayton Manor/Thomas Land

What a long day!  It was lovely but very long.

We were up, dressed, fed, car packed and out of the door by 08:30am.  What should have been 1hr 35mins drive took over 2hrs.  This was partly due to having to slow down through Leicester town centre and partly due to us having to do an emergency toilet stop at the side of the road and then a delay to get into the car park at Drayton Manor (we we're queing for 20minutes!)   By the time we had got parked, got my wheels out and sorted the suncream/hats and picnic bits it was almost 11am, we got our tickets and went in.

We met up with my friends husband and children just inside, they had gotten there before us.  Sadly my friend was unable to be with us as she had collapsed a few days before and was still in hospital, but rather than let her children down her husband said he would bring them and meet us.  None of us had ever met before (even my friend), we have only communicated via internet and phone for the past 5 or 6yrs.

My 3 boys and my friends 2 boys and 1 girl all got on really well together.  My boys are a bit older than my friends children and I asked my eldest 2 to look after her youngest 2 on the rides.  As it was a hot bank holiday weekend the place was packed and the ques were long.  It took 45mins to get on 1 ride!  So whilst they were on that ride I joined the que (on my wheels) for the next ride, once they came off it they came and joined me in the que!  This meant that they didn't have as long to wait for the next ride.  We did this a few times.   We also split up and the older kids went to que for 1 ride with adult and the younger ones stayed on smaller rides.

We all had a great day, the kids went on many rides and cost us all a fortune!  It was a shame I didn't get to meet my friend, but hopefully we will meet at somepoint in the future.  Her children are lovely and her daughter kept holding my hand.  The boys all played nicely together and her husband has a similar sense of humor to me.

We left Drayton Manor at 5:30pm and set off home, we needed to avoid the M6 toll road as we refuse to pay and said we would stop at mcdonalds when we found 1.  Obviously this did delay our trip home.  We finally got home very tired at 10:15pm.

 

August 27th 2015 - Places to go and people to see

August 27th 2015 - Places to go and people to see

Today has been a busy day.  The title should be people and places but it didn't sound right!  We are staying at one of our friends houses.  We had told her that we had few things to do etc and would be back just after lunch.  However, plans changed and she didn't get my message.

We started off by going to see my mum's best friend and the godmother to all 3 boys as planned.  Blake decided that he liked her pot of stones in the garden - not just stones but crystal types, clear fish etc, asked where they were from, his godmother didn't know and told him to take them.  So he filled a bag and said they would look nice in his fairy garden.

From here we went for Dinner with my Nan at a local pub.  The food was nice and the service was mostly good, but it took over 20minutes to pay for it because the people in front of us were argueing over the cost of their bill and there were 3 members of staff trying to sort it out.  This is where our plans changed as we were meant to be heading back, but my sister rang me and asked if we would go and meet her.

We went to meet my sister as not seen her since january and she asked if we wanted to go to Fineshade Woods in Northamptonshire, sounds far but it's only about 20minutes drive from Peterborough.  It wasn't anywhere we had heard of, which is a shame as it was really nice and certainly somewhere we would have gone when we lived that way.

We took out my Wheels so that I didn't have to walk and my sister said that I had a "granny mobile" - I don't care! lol!  We went round the woods to a tree house where the boys played for a while, lil man got stuck and had to be rescued from the top of it.  we then headed back to the smaller play area for a little while.

My friend we are staying with rang to check we were ok as she had expected us back a few hours before and she said she hadn't got my message.  She was glad we were ok but she was going out but told us how to get in house etc.  We were on our way to car when she rang anyway but we needed to go supermarket for party food for tomorrow so said would be an hour or so. It took us ages to pay in Morrisons as they had very few tills open and long ques!

August 25th 2015 - packing

August 25th 2015 - packing

Not to move but too go away for a few days.  Normally this isn't a problem as we take the big hold all with most things in and then 1 or 2 of the boys backpacks with the overflow stuff, plus anything else that we want to take.

Today was different though, we needed 5 peoples clothes for 4 days in as small a bag as we could because we had birthday presents, disco lights, food, sleeping bags and a mobility scooter to get in the boot of the car!

I managed to get most of the clothes in a small hold all and 1 back pack.  We had a wheeled suitcase with birthday presents and disco lights in.  The boot looked really full and we still had to collect the mobility scooter.

August 24th 2015 - Summer fun

August 24th 2015 - Summer fun

I know summer isn't over yet but I have a busy few days and then need to be getting everything ready to go back to school.  So I am doing our Summer fun list now.

So far this summer we have:

*had a friend and her children come to stay
*been to a farm
*been on a trail through the woods
*been and met a Viking
*made a garden gnome and wrote about what it did
*played in the paddling pool
*been to soft play
*been to the beach and played in the sea
*been rock pooling
*been to the woods
*painted with car wheels
*painted with animal feet
*been to SJA day camp
*had some bbq's
*toasted marshmallows on open fire
*had an outdoor fire at night
*grown our own veg - peas, carrots, potatoes and sweetcorn
*been swimming (eldest son)
*played on bikes and scooters
* played various ball games
*played with the olympics bits - sacks, egg & spoon, 3 leg race, bean bags
*played on wii
*played board games
*read books
*made a solar powered rainbow
*watched dvds with snacks
*made cakes
*played with lego
*played with trains
*visited an exhibition about minecraft
*made things from recycled bits of card and paper etc
*collected shells
*built a fairy garden
*got a new kitten
*been shopping
*played with cars
*played with animals and boats in water
*guessed what would sink and float in paddling pool
*made cardboard box cars and sat in them
*played tennis with hands and balloons
*painted our own t-shirts
*played football
*made posters from pictures in argos book
*had a pj day
*played with bubbles
*made friendship bracelets
*ridden a donkey (youngest)
*gone to a friends to play (older 2)
*made a crazy golf type course using plant pots and tubs etc
*looked for shapes in the clouds
*made paint blob butterflies
*made a rock pet
*sorted all the odd socks into pairs
*been for a walk
*had ice creams
*had water fights
*had normal fights with brothers
*watched tv
*walked round a maze
*been to a birthday party (middle son)
*played with animals and dinosaurs
*helped with jobs at home
*we have been to the park

AND most of all we have had fun!

With 2weeks until the kids go back to school we still have more planned - we are going to see our family, we are going to Thomas land for the day, we are going to the room on the broom woodland trail, we hope to go to the museum and anything else we can fit in.

It may seem that we have done loads and you haven't but most of these have happened at home and not cost us any money to do.  The craft bits have happened via stuff that is saved in the craft cupboard, the beach and rock pools are both less than 2miles from home so not cost much for fuel,

July 20th 2015 - Whinlatter Forest

July 20th 2015 - Whinlatter Forest

We have some friends coming to stay for a few days, and as the weather doesn't look too great we decided that we would meet at Whinlatter Forest.  This was only 15mins from the roundabout where my friend would need to turn to come to my house anyway.  It also meant that the kids could run around and make noise for a few hours.

We took our own picnic and sat in the car to eat it.  We then headed off to the slides and and water play and everything else.  The 5 boys all had a great couple of hours, all got wet and muddy and played really nicely together.

April 5th 2015 - Easter Sunday

April 5th 2015 - Easter Sunday

Happy Easter to all, whether you believe the church teachings that Easter is linked to the resurecction of Jesus or if you follow the Pagan/Wiccan ways and believe that Easter is linked to Ostara and the fertitilty Goddess Eostre or if you just enjoy the weekend off work, I hope that you have a nice day and don't eat too much chocolate and up ill.

I have spent the day getting back into my Family Tree thanks to a conversation with a friend yesterday who said about trying to find her family but having no luck.  I said I would help her if she could send me all info she knew, which isn't much, but there is enough to make a start.  As I was looking for 1 of her rellies I realised that I could actually view records on the site (something i've not been able to do in ages) so I started trying to sort the 1000+ hints that I have on my tree.  And the pin link is right for what happens.

Sadly I have hit a wall on my friends tree but hopefully we can sort this if we can get a copy of the marriage cert as this *should* tell us which of the 2 charles is the father!

February 18th 2015 - Haig Pit

February 18th 2015 - Haig Pit

As it's a very dull and overcast day, complete with sea mist and rain showers I decided that we would take the kids out to an indoor place - Haig Pit mining museum that is only a few miles up the road from where we live.  The first time we went to it was the day after it closed down for renovation, so we could only see the outside.  It re-opened on Valentines day this year.

We went, we saw we, came home!  Although what was there was interesting, the website made it look as though there was alot more on display etc.  The kids enjoyed the fact that there was alot of hands on activities and buttons that they could push etc,  and enjoyed the coal blaster that made loads of noise and scared me to death the first time they set it off!

Parts of the pit still looked as though they were being worked on, so hopefully this is the case and there will be more to see and do if we go again.  Sadly you couldn't get down to any of the pit parts or tracks, you could only go round the old engine house building.  Maybe this is because of health & safety I don't know.