2013… Our Fantastic Year

Happy New Year everyone! Can you believe it’s 2014? I can’t! I was really proud of myself this year as it was the first time in about five years that I stayed awake until midnight! We had a nice relaxing NYE, starting with tea at Pizza Hut with my parents, followed by an evening of rubbish television, a chocolate orange and a few glasses of Bailey’s!

Looking back on 2013, it was a fantastic year. One of the best things about having a blog is being able to look back at what we’ve done this year… the things I baked, the places we went, the milestones and the little things too.

So here are a few of my highlights of 2013…

We started off the year with a huge snowfall. The darlings loved it and had so much fun in the snow.

I had another lovely Mother’s Day in March. I was spoiled with some fab presents but the best one by far was the beads Oliver chose for me. And of course, you can’t beat cards made by your little ones too!

April was a fun filled month, with lots of Easter fun and a trip to Eureka The Children’s Museum. But the highlight was going to Cbeebies Live. It was the second time we’ve been and was even better as all four of us went this time. 

The absolute highlight of the whole year was our holiday in May. It was simply the best family holiday ever. I wish we were going back this year, but we’ll have to make do with a UK holiday this year!

In June the sun started shining here in Yorkshire and we had lots of gorgeous day’s out making the most of it.

The heatwave in July was incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot in my whole life {in the UK!} Oliver finished pre-school and only in a few weeks would be starting school. We had a great day out picking the biggest, juiciest, tastiest strawberries!

Finally in September, the time came for Oliver to start school. Oh my little boy looked just gorgeous in his new uniform… and so grown up!

October was a quiet month. I celebrated my birthday with a chocolate orange cake. The best thing though, which I can’t believe I forgot to write about, was Disney On Ice. It was simply incredible!

And we ended October with a brilliant Halloween party at home.

On to November when the countdown to Christmas began with Santa’s reindeer parade through our village.

We also squeezed in a visit to Blackpool to see the Illuminations.They were actually quite good and it was like being a kid again!

 We ended our year with Lydia’s 3rd birthday. I made her a Hello Kitty cake and we had such a sweet little party at home for her.

Christmas Day was fabulous and topped off a such brilliant year for us.

So that was our 2013 in a nutshell!

I’m looking forward to 2014 so much. I don’t do New Years resolutions but I want to continue being positive and try have more courage to face selling the house I’ve lived in for 11 years and find a new bigger, better family home!

This Week #10

Oliver wrote his name in 30 Christmas cards for his classmates, bless him  ●  Absolutely beautiful sunrise  ●  Our small but perfectly formed Christmas tree  ●  Diamante nails for a night out… but one fell off! ●  We ‘lost’ Lydia one afternoon and found her asleep in bed!  ●  What the hell was I drinking on my night out?!  ●  Hubby brought me a much needed coffee in bed the morning after  ●  More glittery nails, this time in gold  ●  Loving the design of the December Glossybox  ●  And the contents are pretty good too  ●  Wrapping… done!  ●  I love the wreath on our front door  ●  I made some yummy Chocolate Fudge… a Christmas gift for Oliver’s teachers  ●  Getting my money’s worth out of my Nails Inc glittery polish set  ●  Lydia learned how to put clips in her hair!  ●  Wrapping my present from Hubby as I wanted the outside to look as nice as the inside!

Hello Kitty Birthday Cake

Last week was Lydia’s 3rd birthday. I just can’t believe she’s three! She’s the sweetest, cutest, kindest little girl, if I could keep her this age forever, I would! When I’m having a bad day or get a bit stressed, she’ll come and put her little arms round my neck and suddenly everything is alright again.

Of course I had the task of making her birthday cake and she wanted a Hello Kitty party and cake. As usual with my own kids, I only started making the cake the day before so it’s lucky that I love making and decorating cakes! I had a fab time making the Hello Kitty figure and it actually wasn’t that difficult. The hardest part of the cake was making the letters for Lydia’s name… I hate those damn letter cutters!

We had a little tea party at home with the four of us, plus grandparents, auntie and cousins. I decorated the living room with Hello Kitty bunting and pink balloons and we had matching plates, cups, napkins and tablecloth! She loved it.

After tea, we did some party games… musical bumps, musical statues and lots of dancing to Gangnam Style and What Does The Fox Say! It was the perfect party for a three year old!

My beautiful birthday girl.

Five things…

 

that have made me happy this week…

♥  The nights are drawing in and it will soon be the shortest day, but this week has been a week of the most beautiful sunsets… like this one which I photographed a few days ago.

♥  I had a wonderful time at my works Christmas party last night. We had a fabulous venue, gorgeous food, a fantastic live band, lots of dancing, drinking and laughter. The agony of my feet was so worth it!

♥  The prospect of lots of exciting Christmas activities this weekend. Tomorrow we’re going to Winter Wonderland which is a huge event each year with Santa’s reindeer, fairground rides, craft activities and stalls selling their festive wares. Then Sunday is our visit to the big man! We went to the same place last year as their Santa is the best ever… I actually believed he was the real thing!

♥  I’m loving glittery nails at the moment. The more sparkly the better! They might be a nightmare to remove but they just look so pretty.

♥  Only 4 sleeps until Lydia’s birthday and my baby girl will be 3 years old! Bless her, she’s so excited about her birthday and her Hello Kitty themed party. I’m looking forward to making her cake as I haven’t done a birthday cake for a while 🙂

What’s made *you* happy this week?

So It Begins…

 
The Reindeer parade through our village always marks the beginning of the Christmas season for us. It’s so magical when Father Christmas rides through the streets in his sleigh pulled by his reindeer.

So yesterday was officially the start of the run up to Christmas for us.

This year we positioned ourselves outside the garden centre which is Santa’s final destination where he lives in his grotto for the coming few weeks. We had a fantastic view of the procession coming down the hill towards us…. followed by a few hundred people! Lydia was so excited this year, she was really waving at Santa when he passed us which was so sweet it brought a lump to my throat.

When Santa was settled in his grotto, we went to say hello to his reindeer who were having a well deserved snack.

Then on to the playground which was probably the highlight for the darlings.

And we had to have a look in the garden centre at all the wonderful Christmas decorations.

While we were standing there waiting for Father Christmas to arrive, I thought to myself how I’d love to keep the darlings this age forever! It’s ever so magical for them which of course makes it all the more special for me to see them so happy. I know in the blink of an eye they’ll be grown up and the magic will be gone. So I’ll hold on to the memories and cherish days like yesterday.

Five Things…

Source

… that have made me happy this week…

♥ Bonfire night. We went round to my parents house along with my sister and nieces for a firework display organised by my dad. The fireworks were pretty tame but the kids loved them and it was wonderful watching their little faces watching all the sparks and crackles.

♥ Christmas baking. I spent the other evening researching all the Christmas recipes I want to make. I’ve compiled quite a long list which I’m kicking off todat by making my own mincemeat.

♥ Christmas shopping. I’ve made great headway into buying the darlings Christmas and birthday presents. I’ve almost got everything for them so just need to buy gifts for my neices and friends children. Being organised makes me so happy.

♥ Happy hair. I had my highlights redone and hair trimmed yesterday. I was so glad to see the back of my awful grey roots! I’m growing my hair and it’s just about reaching past my shoulders, which is nearly as long as I want it.

♥ Surprises. Oliver brought home a tshirt that hes made at school for Children In Need. It was a complete surprise as he’s never mentioned it. He has to wear it on the day as part of his schools fund raising activities.

What’s made you happy this week? 

Five Things…

that have made me happy this week…

♥ Oliver has finally fallen in love with his bike. He cycled 2.5 miles around Hollingworth Lake and loved it.

♥ I’ve been off work all week so that I could be there for Oliver’s first week at school and I’ve done lots and lots of baking!

♥ I bought my winter boots at the end of last winter so didn’t get to wear them much but I’m loving wearing them now and how comfy they are.

♥ We had a fab day out at Legoland Discovery Centre in Manchester. We went for a special treat the day before Oliver started school.

♥ Lydia has settled back into playgroup. I dropped her off this morning and she just gave me a kiss and skipped inside.

How are you spending your weekend? For a change we don’t have any plans but I think we’ll be spending some time with my parents and my sister and nieces as we haven’t seen them much this week. And if the weather behaves itself we’ll have a trip to the park or go for a long walk somewhere. We need to make the most of it before winter!

Child Free!

Here I am, all alone in the house. This never happens! Oliver’s at school, Lydia’s at playgroup and I’m off work this week. So I’ve got some very rare child free time on my hands. 

What shall I do? I thought about going shopping but I’ll only spend too much money on make-up and nail polish so I decided to get my blog on instead. I’ve got so many half written drafts and just haven’t had the time lately to get them finished and posted.

So I’ve got my coffee and cake {it’s never too early for cake!}, laptop and tablet {why do I need both?!} so expect to see a week packed full of new posts coming up!

Oliver Starts School

This time last year I was writing about Oliver starting pre-school. I can’t believe how quickly this year has flown and now he’s started school. 

Tuesday was his first day and I’ve never seen him so excited. He got dressed in his uniform in record time with no shouting encouragement from me and he even asked for some gel in his hair! 

The short walk to school was hilarious. He was so hyper I couldn’t get a decent photo of him. Luckily I took some nice photos the previous week when he’d tried on his uniform!

When we got to his classroom, his best friend was already there as he started a couple of days earlier. Oliver ran straight over and started playing with him. His new teacher Mrs Williams {who seems lovely} prised Oliver away and showed him where to hang his coat and bag, where to put his water bottle and where to put his name on the board. Then he was off. I managed to give him a quick kiss but he’d found much more exciting things to do. Walking home I had a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes but I managed not to cry.

So now I’m the mum of a schoolboy. I know it’s a cliche but it really does seem like yesterday that he was a tiny baby and suddenly he’s grown into a very tall independent four year old who loves his new school!

Five Things…

 … that have made me happy this week.

♥ A peaceful walk along the canal on Sunday afternoon. We live on a very busy {noisy} road but luckily we’re not far away from beautiful peaceful countryside which makes me appreciate it so much more.

♥ The smiles on the darlings faces when they opened their ‘half birthday’ presents. Both their birthdays are close to Christmas so we always buy them something special in the summer…. Oliver got a remote control crane and Lydia got a Disney princess doll.

♥ I bought my first ever MAC lipstick! I’ve got a few other MAC pieces but I’ve never had a lippie. I popped into Debenhams with a gift voucher that I’ve had for agea and treated myself to the shade Ravishing which is a gorgeous coral colour.

♥ I finished work on Wednesday {I just work mornings} and it was such a sunny day that I packed up some lunch and we had a picnic on the field across the road. Simply lovely.

♥ The smell of freshly cut grass after the field across the road has just been mown. Mmmmm.

How are you spending your weekend? We’re having a quiet day at home today as Lydia has got a tummy bug. I’m hoping it’s just a 24 hour thing like Oliver had earlier this week. At some point we’ll be going to the annual Food and Drink Festival in town where I’m sure I’ll spend a fortune on yummy food from all stalls.  And as I write this I’ve just had my new Glossybox delivered, which was a surprise as I’d forgotten all about it this month! Have a fabulous weekend whatever you’re doing.