Journeys Are My Diary

Life, Adventures, Entertainment and more - A little bit of everything blog!

Megan’s Birthday

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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 49 – Monday Round-up

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This week I’m going to try and be good – and keep up with my round up posts. I’ve started off well, as its Monday that I first started writing this!

Monday to Friday was work and school as usual. Monday was a nightmare day at work but honestly its become pretty standard these days. Once I was finished at work I drove to the girls’ school and sat outside for about an hour, waiting for them to finish Singing Stars. While I sat and waited, I worked on Megan’s birthday Mystery Party, with the hope it would force me to get something actually planned. When the girls were finally done at 4.30pm, we all headed home and got ourselves dinner, did the dishwasher and caught up on X Factor and I’m a Celebrity. At about 6.30pm we started to decorate the lounge Christmas Tree and it was about 7.40pm when Lily finally went to bed.

After Lily was in bed, Megan and I sorted out the tree in the dining room – our secondary tree, which is themed Disney Villains. It didn’t take us long and once we were done, Megan and I sat down for a bit of a cuddle before Megan too went to bed. Once she was gone, I settled down to write a blog post for Twice the Mum and catch up on a few things online. I then tried to actually get some of Megan’s party typed up, before eventually watching Walking Dead with Chris and then heading to bed.

Tuesday the girls were going to their dad’s after school, but it was also their school fair and the girls were singing in choir. As such I met them after school and took them to fair, before waiting around till 4pm when they would sing. At 4.30pm the girls were finished singing and they left with their dad and I headed home. When I got back, I went straight into writing Megan’s party again, knowing I had to get a lot done still. I worked on it majority of the evening, especially since the girls didn’t get back till 8pm. We had a quick bedtime story and then once they were in bed, I continued to work on Megan’s mystery game. Chris had decided to make quiche and mince pies so he was in the kitchen all evening. I had quiche about 10pm and it was amazing but I knew it would blow my weigh in the next day! We went to bed about 11pm, after watching some TV.

Wednesday the girls were both really tired – especially Lily. I took them both to school and was glad to know they didn’t have school in the afternoon as they were going to a Christmas Carol service at the Cathedral, as part of school choir. After my work, I went to meet the girls at the Cathedral and stayed for the service. When we left, we went straight home and got on with dinner, but Tangled on to watch for our Disney task. Lily went to bed pretty much straight after dinner and I worked a bit on Megan’s party, to get it finished. Once both girls were in bed, I spent some time just relaxing and doing some bits and pieces I needed to catch up on before later heading to bed with Chris around 11pm.

Thursday was the first day that we didn’t have anything on after school. With the mystery party pretty much written, I went back to sewing. The girls and I caught up on I’m a Celebrity while I sewed and sewed and sewed! Megan drew some beautiful Disney pictures but Lily wasn’t really in the mood for doing her Disney task. I actually made sure both of the girls were in bed a little earlier. Later Nat came around and we did yet more sewing, of course while having a girlie catch up. On Friday I really needed some time out as it had been a long week. When we got back from school we got dinner and sorted out some washing, the bins etc. I started to sew and sewed for majority of the evening. However when Chris got home we ordered takeaway AND got a bottle of wine, before spending the evening catching up on some TV. Luckily, since I was done with the mystery game, I could easily sew and watch TV, whereas earlier in the week I’d had to be in silence.

Finally it was Saturday and Megan’s party day. I spent majority of the day sewing Lily’s costume, then in the afternoon I went out shopping with Lily to get the food and some last minute bits. The whole day was a bit of a rush but we got there in the end. The party went well and Megan enjoyed it – which of course was the main thing. After the girls were in bed, Nat, Tom, Amy etc all stayed to chat and it was nice to just have some time together when we weren’t all drunk! Eventually Nat and Tom left though and we all headed to bed, not far off midnight.

On Sunday I woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep so I got up. I managed to get two blog posts done, X Factor and I’m a Celebrity watched, all before midday. Everyone piled into the car and we took Amy and Olivia to the station. We all then headed to Lincoln for Christmas Market. Typically it rained the moment we were out of the car and we all got soaked. It was also freezing cold. However we made the most of it, wandering around and buying a Bratwurst, a Pork and Stuffing Bap and three hot chocolates. We also had cinnamon nuts which we brought home with us. All in all, we were at Christmas Market about 2 hours and while it was nice, I missed going at night when it was dark. Also if I’m honest, I don’t feel like it was a good this year either.

We all came home, completely drained. We spent the rest of the day/evening chilling out. We watched TV, we played Disney games and we basically just monged. I put Lily to bed at just gone 6pm and Megan went at 7.30pm. I then spent the evening blogging and watching more TV. Chris went for a bath and when he got out, I went for one. Afterwards we watched some TV before grabbing an early night.

I can’t possibly explain, just how busy this week has felt. I honestly haven’t been able to concentrate on anything other than Megan’s party. While I was happy to do it, I’m pleased its now passed. I’m really looking forward to this coming week – with Megan’s actual birthday – and then the build up to Christmas. I feel like finally December can be enjoyed!

Planning a Disney Mystery Party

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Everything is SO Disneytastic in our house right now. I have a Disney Fashion Competition running on my blog, the girls are working on our latest craft project (connected to our upcoming holiday to Florida) and more upcoming, I’m working on a Mystery Party for Megan’s birthday. That’s on top of all the regular Disneyness that goes on here anyway!

Megan turns 10 on December 11th and for a very long time she’s known she wanted a Murder Mystery for her party. Being the daughter of someone who throws Murder Mystery parties every month, has definitely rubbed off on her. In fact, she’s actually stood in for someone at our parties once before (and soon will be doing again). So when she suggested a Disney themed Murder Mystery for her own birthday, I wasn’t at all surprised – in fact, I was determined to make it happen for her.

Instead of a murder mystery, we’ve decided just to make it a mystery. Since the themed is Disney, it seems most unlikely it should feature a murder. I gathered a group of my friends and family together, all of whom agreed to take part. Megan let them pick their parts themselves and I’ll be writing the mystery game around them.

We have:

Megan – Young Elsa
Lily – Young Anna
Mum – Evil Queen (Snow White)
Chris (my brother) – Hades
Chris (my partner) – Grumpy
Amy – Snow White
Nat – AuroraTom – Olaf

I will be taking the part of a Narrator or Story Teller, just to guide the story along.

Though I haven’t written it all yet, I have started and I have a rough idea what I’m going to do. I’m sure once the party is over, I’ll be updating to let you all know how it went! However on top of that, I’m also responsible for a lot of the costumes… majority of which I’m making from scratch.

Megan and Lily as a young Anna and Elsa, is definitely proving an interesting task. I think I have their costumes pretty much figured out but with lots of pinning on Pinterest and then lots of printing out for ideas. In total I think their costumes are about 3-4 different patterns, just to make the one costume!

After that I have Amy and Nat’s costumes to make – Snow White and Aurora. I’m already well on the way with Amy’s but I’m yet to start Nat’s (possibly tomorrow when she comes to visit). As well as that, my mum is being the Evil Queen and as I am being the Evil Queen the weekend before (Nat’s birthday Murder Mystery), I’m sorting out a costume that will do for both myself and then to be borrowed by my mum for Megan’s.

Though the costumes and the writing of the game are my main tasks, on top of that I will be catering for the evening. I’ve already written up a list of food ideas, all to suit a Disney themed finger food party. For Halloween, Megan and I spent the whole afternoon in the kitchen preparing food, I can only imagine that her birthday party will be the same, if not more! I am pretty excited to make Disney themed food though, so its not really worrying me.

As I mentioned above, Nat’s birthday party is the weekend before. She too is having a Fairytale themed party, though its not specifically Disney, just general Fairytale. Her party IS a murder mystery, not just a mystery, but the layout of the evening will be quite different for that I’m sure. That said, like with the Evil Queen costume that my mum and I are sharing, I’m hoping to share a lot of other aspects too. Decorations, food ideas and other things can hopefully be used for both parties. As we’ve already held one Fairytale party for my birthday last year and an Alice in Wonderland party for Chris’ party last year, fingers crossed there won’t be too much extra outlay!

Anyway, watch this space for more updates and more information. I have 18 days and counting to get ready for Megan’s party and that’s obviously not including days at work, time for sleep and Nat’s party the weekend before! It’s going to be a busy couple of weeks… in fact, I should definitely get back to my sewing!