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Week 17 – Monday Round-up

April 27, 2015 by Bel 1 Comment

As you’ll have seen, my blog was all scheduled and planned while I was away on holiday, and when I got back – it all went dead! I really wasn’t expecting to be as tired as I was when we got home, then of course Lily was poorly last week and now I’ve ended up a bit under the weather myself. As such, this week’s round up should be pretty brief and I’m really looking forward to getting it out of the way and moving on to holiday updates.

Anyway! Monday was back to school for the girls but Chris was off work. It was nice to have the day without them and alone with Chris as we hadn’t had much time by ourselves. We didn’t really do an awful lot, just hung out and watched some TV. Afterwards we went to pick the girls up from school and then we all came home and chilled out some more. During the night, Lily woke up poorly and this was the start of the rest of the week off. Megan went to school as normal though, all except Thursday when she was feeling a little under the weather too.

Tuesday Chris was off work but because Lily was home sick, we couldn’t really catch up on our TV. Instead Lily and I watched TV all day and waited for Megan to be brought home by her dad. On Wednesday Lily actually felt sick and I didn’t want to drag her out so mum came to pick Megan up for school and in the end drove her home as well. Lily and I spent the day watching movies and it was actually really nice. As I mentioned Megan was off school on Thursday so that lead to a really lazy day when we didn’t even have to leave the house. I wasn’t feeling the best myself either, so I took a nap which is so unheard of these days! Mum came around in the evening as it was her birthday and we had soup with fresh rolls, followed by Tiramisu cupcakes.

Finally it was Friday and Megan went back to school but Lily was still off. I dropped Lily at my mum’s as Nat and I had already arranged to go to the cinema and we saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. The showing was at 10.30am but it took majority of the day as I picked Nat up and dropped her off. I was back at mum’s for about 2.30pm and then stayed for a cuppa before heading off with Lily to pick up Megan. We went home, had takeaway for dinner and just chilled out. Saturday was a lazy day as well (no surprise, right?) and the girls didn’t even get dressed. Megan decided she wanted to make a cheesecake though and I needed a present for Morgan so I popped out shopping briefly and then gave Megan a hand making the cake.

No doubt I’ll post the recipe here soon but it was really good cheesecake. It’s actually all gone already. Anyway that was basically our Saturday. Then Sunday was the only day with plans but even then they weren’t till afternoon. We had a lazy morning but Megan got her homework done and then after lunch we headed out. We drove to Scunthorpe to meet my brother and his family and go bowling. It was actually a really nice afternoon – just the kids bowled and we all stood around chatting. Afterwards the kids had food and all in all it was very pleasant. We headed off around 5pm and came home. Chris ordered me and him some chinese takeaway and though I spent some of the evening with the girls before they went to bed, I then spent the evening with Chris watching TV.

It’s been such a quiet and easy week but at the same time I’ve really got nothing done. This week promises to be more interesting, especially as I start a new job tomorrow.

Week 50 – Monday Round-up

December 15, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

It’s been a really great week this week, other than work of course. Having Megan’s birthday party out of the way was such a relief and its been nice to just concentrate on life and of course her upcoming birthday too. It’s also been fun keeping up with our Disney Countdown, which right now has made me feel strangely Christmasy too.

Monday to Friday was work and school for all of us. Chris is still training in his new job at BT, my job is still a nightmare and the girls seem to be enjoying school – especially as it begins to wind down for Christmas. The girls had Singing Stars after school so I took the opportunity to pop into town, specifically Primark. Sadly they still don’t have any of the things I want and I’d also headed there for vests and the choice was pathetic. When I finished shopping, I headed to pick up the girls and we headed home. After grabbing some food, we settled down to watch Beauty and the Beast (our Disney task for the day) and by the time it ended, it was time for Lily to go to bed. After that I spent the evening on my computer, doing some blog posts and relaxing for what felt like the first time in ages. I also spent two hours playing on my iPad which was rather novel!

Tuesday after school we headed straight home, possibly via Aldi I think. I was very excited to receive two parcels from Minted when we got home – which I will be posting about later in the week. The evening was yet again chilled, this time with Nat calling around. We spent the evening chatting, while also making some jewellery – something I never thought we’d be doing together again. I also baked Megan’s cake, ready to decorate the next day.

Wednesday it was Lily’s school play and I was really excited to go and see it. However we had time to kill between school and the evening showing of the play, so Megan, Lily, Kristy (my friend from work) and I, headed into town and saw the Coca-Cola truck since it was in Lincoln for the day. Honestly it was a little disappointing but I’m still glad we could see it.

When we got to the truck, there was no music, no nothing really – well except a big queue. We decided not to queue though, as it was only for a picture with the truck which we took ourselves. They were handing out free mini-cokes and we each got one. Afterwards we headed into The Entertainer, just to keep warm. After a little shopping, we went to Burger King and the girls got some food. We then dropped Kristy off before heading back to school. Lily went to get changed and Megan and I went to get good seats. We saved one for Chris, who mum was picking up from work and dropping off for me. At 6pm the play started and it was finished by about 6.45pm.

We got Lily changed and headed home, wrapping Megan’s present from her and writing the card before quickly packing her off to bed as she was tired. Megan stayed up a little later than usual too, to help me make a start on her cake, but then she went to bed at 9pm. I worked on her cake, on and off all evening, in between sorting out her presents, writing her card etc. while Chris was kind enough to wrap the presents. It was about 11.30pm when we headed to bed and I was exhausted!

Thursday it was Megan’s actual birthday and though I’d given her permission to wake us whenever, it was 6.45am when she woke us, only 15 minutes earlier than we would normally be up. Her first present from us was an electric keyboard which we’d set up downstairs for her to find. We also got her some loom bands, a Where’s Wally book and a Hidden Mickey’s book. Later that day a case and headphones for her iPad also arrived (late) and I gave her those after school. She got a number of other presents, which I mentioned in the post all about her birthday celebrations. It was a bit of a mad rush that morning, making sure we had everything ready for school and then Megan’s birthday dinner after school – clothes, cake etc.

We headed out the door, hoping we had everything, going to work and school. Afterwards I picked up the girls and Megan’s friend Alex, heading to my mum’s house to get changed. I grabbed a shower, while the others got changed and ready. We headed into Lincoln for 5.15pm, for our table booked at Pizza Hut. There we met up with the girls dad, his girlfriend and their other grandparents. My Chris also joined us after work. We had a very pleasant evening together and then all headed our separate ways home. The girls went to bed as soon as possible, especially Lily who was on her second late night.

After the girls were both in bed, Chris and I struggled to actually stay awake. We were both ready for sleep at 9pm, but I forced him to stay up till 10pm, finally caving and heading to bed. It was much needed sleep though as we both slept right through.

Friday was a good day. It was the last day of work for the week and also Megan’s birthday had passed so the main stress and worry was out of the way. We arranged to have Megan’s friend Katai over after school, but unfortunately she wasn’t quite ready for us to pick her up and her mum offered to drop her off. Instead we headed to Tesco for some food and then to pick up a parcel too. When we got in from all the various tasks, Megan’s Millies cookie had arrived and we all tucked in. Sadly it was a bit later than I had hoped but it had been her one request – a cookie with a birthday message on, to eat for breakfast. Of course, we didn’t eat it all, so that Megan could have some for breakfast the next day.

Katai arrived around 6.30pm, just after I’d put Lily to bed. Megan and Katai spent the evening watching movies, eating popcorn, crisps etc. It was about 11pm when they went to bed but they were sleeping separately from Lily so I wasn’t too worried. In the morning we didn’t really hear them too much, so it was nice to grab a bit of a lie-in. I think Lily had woken first and gone downstairs, the girls staying upstairs when they woke. Eventually when I got up, I told Lily she could go up and join them and even at that point they weren’t too loud. Chris and I had a cup of tea and went downstairs, but as soon as the girls came down, Chris disappeared upstairs to hide.

At round 12pm I sent the girls up to get dressed, Megan having decided she wanted to go out for lunch and then go bowling. However they all messed around so much that even by 1.30pm they hadn’t come back down. In the end I went up to get them and see if they still wanted to go out and since they did, we headed out to Woodcocks in Lincoln to have some lunch. It was 2pm when we got there but it was really busy. It took a while to order and then even longer for our food to arrive. I had called my mum to see if she wanted to join us for a drink and so she headed over and sat with us for the whole of the meal. After lunch we decided to treat the girls to desserts but these took ages to arrive, meaning we were cutting it fine for bowling. To Megan’s disappointment, we decided not to go bowling and instead went back to Mum’s for a cup of coffee and allowing Megan to have a little more time with Katai. However at about 5pm we headed home, dropping Katai on the way home.

Megan wanted to distract herself I think, so she set to work on her first peg doll painting – Elsa. Lily wanted to participate too but since it was a delicate task, we persuaded her just to paint a picture. Afterwards it was Lily’s bed time and while Megan stayed up a little longer, I got her to bed early too so she could catch up on some sleep. I spent the rest of the evening watching TV and wrapping presents. Eventually Chris came to join me and we watched some TV together, before heading to bed.

Finally came Sunday and we really didn’t have an awful lot planned. We managed a little lie-in but luckily I wasn’t too tired. The morning was relaxed and chilled out, eventually getting dressed around 10.30am, ready to go and see Chris’ Nan. We took a mattress to the tip, headed up to his Nan’s and stayed for a cup of tea. We then went to Morrison’s for a few bits of food, dropping off some tomatoes with Chris’ Nan after. We then went to Next and picked up a kettle I ordered, finally heading back home. I spent the afternoon catching up on X Factor and even last week’s I’m a Celebrity which I hadn’t found time to watch. I also started to order a few last Christmas presents, making sure I was definitely organised. The rest of the day was spent relaxing really. I watched TV with the kids and just hung out, then blogged a bit and hung out with Chris.

All in all it was a good week, feeling busy but relaxed at the same time. We’re rushing towards Christmas and genuinely I can’t wait. The kids have 4 more days of school and I have 5 more days of work. I’m looking forward to two weeks off and some time as a family. Roll on one more week – let’s get it out of the way and onto the happy days!

Megan’s Birthday

December 15, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

I’m going to post later on today with my weekly round up but I felt like Megan’s birthday (and the celebrations generally) deserved a post of their own. Megan turned 10 last week and it feels like we were celebrating all week! The first sign of her birthday came on Saturday 6th, in the form of her birthday mystery party.

If you read my blog regularly, you’ll know I have been working on Megan’s party for quite some time. Not only did I agree to write her a murder mystery (without the murder) but I also ended up making four out of the eight costumes (four and a half if you count the costume my mum and I part shared). The first week in December was crazy busy – with the first 3-4 days being filled with writing the party and the rest being spent finishing off costumes that I’d been working on for weeks.

Though Lily’s didn’t quite get finished, Megan and Lily were young Anna and Elsa. I was pleased with their costumes and while I have a few additions to make, the girls were really happy to have “young” costumes, instead of the standard shop bought ones.

For Nat’s costume we had the great idea to do her costume part pink and part blue. It wasn’t quite how I pictured it but it turned out okay. Sadly Nat’s definitely didn’t get finished as it was missing sleeves, collar and the waist band. However it still gave the effect and I have promised I will finish it for her!

As Amy’s was the first I started, it was also the most finished. Missing only the collar piece, Amy’s dress for Snow White was otherwise complete. I was really pleased with it, especially the sleeves and I hope she was too!

Finally, my mum and I shared costumes. For Nat’s birthday, I had been the Evil Queen – knowing she would be the Evil Queen a week later for Megan’s. As such I was responsible for getting the cape, crown, balaclava etc. I didn’t really make any of it, except for ironing on white for the collar, to cover up the purple.

I didn’t get as much time to work on the food as I’d wanted – but we had a rough theme. There were Anna’s sandwiches, Anna and Elsa’s chocolate stack, Olaf”s carrot dip etc etc. Anything without a theme, feel under Sleeping Beauty’s bites. Megan asked if we could put blue food coloring in the lemonade and so that was our drink. As a “party bag” we bought Disney themed mugs for everyone (since everyone was a Disney character) and then placed a lottery scratch card in each. Sadly there was only one win and that was for £1. Megan’s Uncle Chris was nice enough to give it to Megan too.

The party went well and while it didn’t go quite as smoothly as I hoped, Megan and Lily enjoyed it and that was the main thing! That saw the end to Megan’s party, but certainly not the end to her celebrations.

On Thursday of last week, it was Megan’s actual birthday. Despite giving her free reign to wake me whenever she woke, it was only 6.45am when we got woken and we’re usually up at 7am anyway. Chris and I got Megan an electric keyboard, some Frozen loom bands, a Where’s Wally book and a Hidden Mickey’s book. Though it didn’t arrive until later in the day, we also got her a new set of headphones and a bag for her iPad. Lily bought Megan a Ravenclaw scarf and honestly she’s barely taken it off since.

As well as that, she got quite a lot of money from people, largely in dollars – ready for our Florida trip. I think at last check she had just over $200. On top of that she got a year’s membership to Movie Star Planet, a new dress, a novel, £20 for Next, £20 for Toys R Us, a board game and £10 in cash (I think that’s everything!!).

The day was spent at school and work but afterwards we all went out to Pizza Hut for a family meal. There was ten of us in total and actually it was really nice.

That saw the end of Megan’s birthday itself, but the celebrations still weren’t over!

On Friday night, Megan had her friend Katai over for a sleepover. Katai recently moved to Zambia, but she is back for Christmas. As such it was Megan’s one request, to have Katai over for the night and then spend the day with her on Saturday. The weekend started with popcorn, crisps, chicken strips, cheese bites and cherry coke, while watching movies. First we watched Enchanted and then The Game Plan. After that the girls went to bed. The next day we had a very chilled out morning and finally around lunch time I sent everyone upstairs to get dressed. God knows how, but it took them an hour to get ready and it was about 1.30pm before they were ready to go! We headed over to Lincoln with the plan to get dinner and then go bowling, but in the end it didn’t work out that way.

We went to a pub called Woodcocks for lunch and even though it was 2pm, the pub was still incredibly busy. It took an hour to get food and then because we ordered dessert too, it took almost two hours in total. When we eventually left, we went over to my mum’s for a little while, just so Megan could have longer with Katai. However we headed back after that, dropping off Katai on the way home. This officially saw the end to Megan’s birthday celebrations and now we’re moving on to Christmas! I can’t believe its only a week and a half away now!

Week 48 – Monday Round-up

December 1, 2014 by Bel Leave a Comment

Once again I haven’t kept up with my round-up post this week, so I’m going to make it a quickie. As you’ll have seen, I haven’t been very active on my blog this week and that’s because I’m still super busy making costumes and writing a mystery party – not to mention organising the Murder Mystery party we had on Saturday just gone. I know this coming week will be just as crazy so I’m hoping to get some post scheduled and not neglect my blog quite so badly this week!

Monday to Friday was work and school for everyone and honesty it dragged so much. In someways I was thankful because it meant that having so much to do, I actually felt like I had time to do it, but at the same time a week of work seemed never ending! Not only that but I started to feel sick towards the end of the week and that made everything worse!

Megan was actually off ill on the Monday and Mum had to look after her for the day. This meant that Lily didn’t end up staying for Singing Stars after school – which was nice as we all got straight home. I spent the evening working on costumes (as I did most evenings this week) and of course catching up with X Factor and I’m a Celebrity. Lily had pizza for dinner and we got to use our new Slice Sabre which I have to admit is very amusing. It comes on promotional boxes of Chicago Town Pizza and there are two different versions. There is even a game to while away the hours, once you get bored of playing with the pizza slice itself!

By Tuesday Megan was back to school again and feeling a lot better. The kids were with their dad so I was home a little earlier than usual. I spent the evening doing more dress making – this time concentrating on Nat’s Aurora dress. Wednesday was Megan’s class assembly and I got permission to be in work half an hour later, in order to go. It was a very funny assembly based on I’m a Celebrity (but I’m a Criminal) and was all about past punishments through the ages. Sadly I had to head to work afterwards but the day did feel a little shorter at least. That evening I attempted to start on Nat’s birthday cake but sadly it all went a bit wrong and I sent the cake with Chris to work the next day!

The following day was Thursday and I had Parent’s Evening after school. Mum met me there to look after the kids and I had my appointments at 4.45 and 4.55. The kids are both doing great and not a single bad word was said about either of them. I was absolutely thrilled and a very proud mum. After Parent’s Evening, the girls and I headed to Nat’s because it was her birthday. I’d bought her some Harry Potter stuff which you’ll soon find in a Hot Topic Haul additional post! We stayed for about an hour before heading home and then I spent the evening re-trying to make cake. This time it was successful though so at least I knew I was on my way in the huge process that is cake making and decorating! While waiting for the cakes to cook, I started to print out the murder mystery, ready for Saturday. Unfortunately the printers (both of them) didn’t want to play and I gave up as a bad job. I decided that buying a new one (especially in Black Friday sales), was probably the best way to go!

Friday I was so pleased to see, but at the same time I knew I’d not got as much done on costumes as I’d wanted to. Megan and I sat together and picked out some ribbons to order on Ebay before school, but then we headed off – knowing the evening would be a busy one! After work I headed into town to get a new printer and unfortunately got caught in traffic. I called my mum to get the girls from school and it was a good job I did as I was almost an hour later picking them up from her house. With my new printer, we headed back home but then decided at the last minute to head to Tesco for some icing (for the cake). While there, we had the brainwave to shop for the following day’s party while we were there and racked up a shopping bill of over £100!

That evening I started to work on my cakes and Megan made a Little Red Riding Hood to top the cake with. I also set up my new printer and got the murder mystery all printed out – killing both my new cartridges. I headed to bed at a fairly reasonable time as I’d been feeling quite rough all day and didn’t want to feel bad the next day. Unfortunately my internal body clock had me awake at 8am the next day and so I figured I’d just get up and get on with things. My voice was terribly croaky but luckily I didn’t feel too ill in myself. I wrote a list of everything I needed to do that day and then proceeded to get dressed and pop to the Post Office for some parcels and then to Boyes for a few bits of material. After that the day flew by with party preparations, cooking, cleaning and tidying – and of course Amy arriving. Everything went fairly smoothly and at about 8.30pm our Murder Mystery began. It was a fun evening and I was glad to see everyone and catch up. I didn’t drink as I was worried about feeling worse the next day but I didn’t really mind or care. It was well past midnight by the time we all headed to bed though and sadly I was awake at 8am again the next morning.

Finally it was Sunday though and the end of a long week – if not, the start of another busy one. I officially lost my voice though and spent majority of the day whispering to everyone. Funny thing – when you whisper, its almost certain people will whisper back! The whole household was whispering all day. I spent majority of the morning watching I’m a Celebrity as we had 4 episodes to catch up on. However I then had to take Amy to the station and then girls and I popped to Argos back in Gainsborough afterwards. Though I had big plans for how I would be spending the afternoon, none of it got done. I spent majority of the afternoon helping the girls finish their top secret Disney Project (all will be revealed later) and watching more I’m a Celebrity and X Factor. Afterwards I had some dinner, then a bath and finally spent the evening blogging while Chris was on his X Box. I have so much to do but being so ill I knew I needed some time out for me. However that now means I have Monday-Thursday evenings to get this mystery party sorted, not to mention all the costumes finished. It’s going to be a stressful week but fingers crossed I’ll get it all done!