What Eddie Wore!: Halloween Nutmeg

A few days late, but I've been really poorly.

Thursday was a Pre-School day for Eddie but he miraculously managed to come home clean and was willing to pose for some photos.

Halloween top: Nutmeg at Morrisons - £2.50 (current stock)

Green skinny jeans: Next (old stock)

Nutmeg at Morrisons currently have some lovely tops starting at £2 and I couldn't resist this Halloween one! I find they wash and dry really well and seem to keep their shape well-great value!

Girls Clothing Age Range Rant!

With the new season clothing ranges hitting the shops and Poppy needing a few Autumn/Winter bits, i have been looking for inspiration on my favourite blogs and Instagram accounts.

There are so many bits i love but as Poppy is now in 6-7 years clothing, everything I'm seeing is too young for her. She's in the 'Older Girls' section in most shops now which is so frustrating as the clothes look too grown up for her, not to mention the extra £5+ slapped onto the price tag.

H&M is the only shop that seem to cover a decent 1.5-10 years age range. I miss being able to shop in Next and Boots for cute outfits.

Does anyone else have the same problem?

Cloudy Cow Stationary

This is quite an overdue post but in August i was lucky enough to win an awesome competition run by Cloudy Cow on Instagram.

Cloudy Cow are an online shop stocking stationary and journal accessories.  You'll find all sorts from washi tape to stickers and post-it notes and i'll be surprised if you didn't find something you loved.

Everything is so cute and colourful and perfect for jazzing up your snail mail (yes some of us still write letters by hand!)

Poppy and I have been enjoying decorating letters and cards and i'm going to work on my organiser next.

You can find The Cloudy Cow's website here as well as on Facebook and Instagram

Christmas 2015 Gift Ideas- Framed photographs

It's that time of year again where we are all starting to think about Christmas presents-unless you are like me and start in May! 

One gift that family love to receive is a framed photo of the kids. I will always remember the huge collection of photos on the walls at my Gran and Gramps house of all their grandchildren.

We were recently lucky enough to win a competition prize of a mini photo shoot with VP Photography in Worthing. We had never had photographs taken as a family before so were a little nervous and didn't quite know what to expect. We really didn't need to be though as Vix's lovely little home studio was so cosy and welcoming, the kids instantly felt relaxed and comfortable - ready to strike their pose. 

I dressed Poppy and Eddie in some nice autumn/winter clothes but took along a Christmas jumper for each of them with Christmas cards and gifts in mind. There was also a dressing up box with outfits, accessories and props which was lots of fun.

It was so nice to be able to have a peek at the unedited images during the shoot and i was blown away at how good the photos were. If your kids are anything like mine they will either move , blink or pull an awkward "mummy stop taking photos of me" face, which makes getting a successful photo almost impossible.

We ended up paying for an upgrade to get extra digital images as there were so many good ones, including a photo of all of us as a family, something we haven't had up until now. VP Photography's prices are very affordable with mini shoots starting at £35 for 15 digital images, great value for the quality of images produced. 

You can find Vix's Facebook page here for lots of images of past shoots including some fun superhero and Harry Potter themed ones i already want to book.

The Love/Hate Challenge

I was nominated by the lovely Laura over at Mummy Lala to take part in the Love/Hate challenge. Here goes!

10 Things I Love:

1. My husband Greg and two children Poppy and Eddie- they come as a package!

2. Cross stitch- I have just got back into it after a 3 year break.

3. Pretty Little Liars, yes I am completely (quite sadly) obsessed with the US teen drama and since it's been added to netflix I watch it all the time, even if just to have something on in the background.

4. Being a stay at home mum- I'm not going to lie, it's very hard and money is very tight but it's the most rewarding job I think I will ever have.

5. Instagram- I can't get enough of it, i get carried away searching different hashtags and finding awesome new people to follow. At the moment I'm loving it for home decor inspiration.

6. Christmas- Best time of the year without a doubt! I actually prefer the lead up to the actual day! I still get butterflies in my tummy on christmas eve!

7. Living by the sea- I love where we live. We have lived in 6 areas of this town since Greg and I met and this by far the best. The beach and town are a 10 minute walk away.

8. Food- I'm not fussy, i'll eat pretty much anything but I have a HUGE sweet tooth so chocolate and cake are right at the top of my food loves!

9. Puzzles- Along with cross stitch, I find doing puzzles really calming. It really helps with my anxiety.

10. Coffee- I didn't drink it often until i had Poppy....enough said!!!

10 Things I Hate:

1. Anxiety- I have it bad, it sucks. I know it makes me who I am but it still sucks!

2. Wind and Rain- Together....especially on a school run

3. People with no manners- It costs nothing !

4. School run- There's a theme going on here ;)

5. The kids fighting- *pulls hair out*

6. Being on a tight budget- It won't be forever.

7. Being let down-

8. Ebay- I have so much to sell but I'm so put off by past bad experiences.

9. Fennel- i can't even smell the stuff without feeling sick!

10. Sinusitis- I get it every few months and have it right now :(

The second part was quite hard for me, i'm trying not to be so negative so it was heavily edited ;)

I'd like to nominate the following people:

Lauren at Belle Du Brighton

Kerry at Lived With Love!

Sophie at Cider With Sophie

Our Week... (5th-11th October '15)

Hey, so every Sunday evening I'm going to sit down and write about what we've been up to over the past 7 days. This week isn't particularly exciting but here's to the start of something new!

On Monday it absolutely poured down....ALL day! This meant a cancelled play date, coffee and catch up with the lovely Lauren and instead i dried myself off from the wet school run, watched box sets and sorted out my cross stitch threads.

Tuesday i had an epic baking fail...i have no idea what happened but they tasted good anyway! 

On Wednesday Eddie and i went to a lovely playgroup and met with Lauren and her little ones, I think we will try and go back regularly as Eddie loved the climbing frame and crafts on offer . When we got home we mostly played Lego. I also bought some mince pies! yes Christmas has started!!!

Thursday was a housework day. After school Poppy and I had fun playing the Ocarina. They are learning how to play at school, she's really enjoying it and when the chance came to order the instrument and book I couldn't really say no. I may have enjoyed it a bit too much, memories of playing the recorder and flute as child came flooding back.

Friday was quite an anxious day, Poppy had a school trip which i always get myself in a state about but i was kept busy by a course I do in the morning and snuggles with Eddie in the afternoon. Eddie decorated some awesome gingerbread men in Creche, he even asked if he could do one for Poppy which was super cute.

Saturday was a busy one. It started off with Poppy's morning yoga lesson, then in the afternoon she had one of her oldest friends birthday to attend. It was so lovely to see her with some of the children she first met when she was just a few months old at early parenting course. I also started putting some Halloween decorations up. The candle holders were a bargain at £1 each from Poundland and the paper chains were also £1 from Asda.

Sunday i woke feeling awful, this head cold just won't shift.  Greg did some gardening with Poppy whilst I sat with Eddie feeling sorry for myself. We decided to go for a walk before our food shop came. I absolutely love where we live, we are only 5-10 minute walk from the promenade and some lovely quiet parks. We took the scooters and Eddie finally has confidence to scoot for more than 10 seconds !!! Today felt like a proper family Sunday, how I remember Sundays used to be when i was little. We finished it off with a yummy roast dinner .

It wouldn't be a post from me without some food photos. Yummy veggie (and some vegan) food :)

Update...

Wow....well, its been a while.

I don't want this to be a negative post so i'm going to get it all out the way first. Basically the holidays weren't at all what we planned or hoped for. I won't go into detail but we had some personal things going on which made my anxiety creep back and stopped me from doing all the things we had planned. 

The kids are now back at school and pre-school which means ROUTINE! I absolutely need routine to function, the holidays throw me off whack and they are way too long in my opinion. I've done a lot of soul searching over the last month or so and decided its time to put myself first and do things for me for at least an hour a day. I have re-discovered my love for cross stitch and find it so relaxing. The pile of unfinished projects from 3 years ago are finally being finished. 

Amongst the chaos of the holidays we managed to have a family photo shoot with the lovely Vix at VP Photography. Her little cosy home studio  in Worthing was lovely and perfect for photoshoot first timers like us. Her prices are so reasonable for the amazing digital images you receive. We were lucky enough to win the photoshoot in a Facebook competition but upgraded to a larger package as there were so many gorgeous photos to choose from.

We are now into October which means Halloween and Christmas prep! yes i am one of those christmas obsessives. I actually bought my first present back in May and only have a few more left to get or make. This year will be on a budget and i plan to blog some money saving ideas for presents and decorations. 

Hope you've all had a lovely summer :)