Nottingham Bloggers Meet Up

Just two years ago I started this little blog up, I didn't think it would become much, I just wanted my own little space on the internet where I could waffle on about life here in my bubble. Now years down the line and it's opened up so many wonderful opportunities but not just that I've met some of the nicest people ever.

This last weekend I headed off to Nottingham for a little blogger meet, that a few friends had arranged. I was so excited but also nervous as it was my first long drive since passing my test back in September. It was also the first time ever that I had drove on a motorway and my was that an experience.

After getting there in one piece I got parked up and headed to find Debs (Superbusymum) I finally found her in a Wetherspoons along with Jaime (The Oliver's Madhouse) and her super adorable son. After a good chat Jaime headed home for the afternoon and Debi and I headed around a couple of shops and then headed to find Deb's sister in law for a catch up. She also had the most adorable little girl who didn't stop smiling the whole time!

 We then headed to get checked into our hotel room and to just relax before getting dolled up to head back out that evening. While chilling in the hotel room Debi surprised me with a little black box and a card. A little confused as it's not my birthday till September I opened it to then find the sweetest card EVER.

I just had no words! I managed to splutter some thing out like "oh Debi" in between the tears! I'm over the moon! It was such a lovely way of asking too and I was very emotional! I also got a gorgeous four leaf clover bracelet that I haven't taken off since!

After a good natter over bridesmaid dresses and hen night plans, we started getting ready which is when Lucy (Mrs Bishop's bakes & banter) joined us to get ready. She was sharing a room with Jade (Late for Reality) However poor Jade had become ill in the afternoon. It was the first time meeting Lucy and she's simply lovely!

Later we headed to Ask for dinner and the food was lovely. It's the first time I had been to one and I'd definitely head again! Emma (Handbags to Changebags) joined us and it was so lovely to see her. We had meet at Britmums last year and had one of the funnest nights ever. After Ask we headed to a little bar and managed to chat the night away and even were the last ones there and we're pretty much kicked out. I haven't laughed so much since Britmums.



I can honestly say the people I met at the weekend are simply lovely and I hope there will be more nights like the one we had Friday.

Saturday morning Jade was feeling better so we did get to meet her and Lucy for breakfast. We also had a little trip to the Disney Store where I bought the kids all a little gift because I had missed them so much. I also couldn't resist buying Ben and I his and hers mugs...

I just love WallE!

Later Debs and I headed back to mine and I've loved having her stay the last few days. She headed off mid afternoon today and I miss her so much already! I'm hoping all the obvious hinting about the house a few doors up being up for rent pays off! 

Me and Mine - February

Wow this month has just disappeared! Tomorrow will be the start of a couple of busy and exciting months for us. It'll be all but mine birthday's so there will be plenty of celebrating.

This is quite a real photo from us this month. This is us on a typical weekend. We're not best up we're just chilling and vegging on the sofa together just how it would normally be.

Mummy is loving...
- new camera!
- Big Hero 6 (Best film ever!)
- getting away for the night with friends.

Daddy is loving...
- Planning our trip to Wales
- Open bars at work doos

- Movie nights.

Morgan is loving...
- Collecting stickers for the Big Hero sticker book
- Having his new best friend Debs (Superbusymum) staying
- Playing card games.

Ewan is loving...
- Collecting stickers for the Big Hero sticker book
-Heading out on the scooters
- Lego

Rhys is loving...
- Collecting stickers for the Big Hero sticker book
-Playing The Lego Movie on Mummy's iPad.
- Practicing his writing.

Abby is loving...
- Watching Hercules. (A million times)
- Playing with her Disney Princess Dolls.
- Cheese!

Instagram Round-Up Week 8

This week I've spent more time than normal with Morgan. My poor little poppet missed a bit of school but he's all fine again. All of top the top if him. 1, He's becoming such a dare devil while on his scooter and even attempting the no hands move! I'll be grey before I know it! 2, Morgan blew his first bubble gum bubble! He shouted me so loud I ran in the kitchen thinking something was wrong! BUT no he just wanted a photo! Oh the life of blogging kids! 3, The boys and I have been baking loads and this lovely pinwheel cookie with be on the blog Friday, a perfect make for Mother's Day!

4, Selfie alert! I don't always take photos of myself but I did that day because I really noticed how much I need a little sun! I could easily be adopted but the Cullens! 5, The amouth of love Abby show Bella is adorable! I love to be able to find somewhere to move to that allows pets because the children would love a puppy! 6, NEW SHOES! Just how cute and a bargain at £14.99

7, I saw this Big Hero sticker book in the newsagents and I had to get it. The boys are having so much fun filling it, it's lovely and it brings back so many memories of sticker books I had as a child! 8, This is not actually dog poo! This is my huge baking fail! I tried to make chocolate meringues and they were terrible and such a bad colour choice! 9, Lastly and simply... RAINBOW!!

Maternity Lingerie Survey

Hello!

I was wondering whether my lovely readers wouldn't mind doing me a big favor? My future Father-in-law has asked me if I wouldn't mind sharing this survey with you all. So if you don't want to consonantly read all about a broken family please follow the link.... (I'd like to marry his son one day!) 

Maternity Lingerie Survey!

The Ultimate Girly Night In GIVEAWAY

I have a lovely chance to offer my readers an evening of pure indulgence. I love nothing more than curling up on the sofa with a good DVD a ton of choccies and friends as company. So I'm giving around all this so that you can enjoy it at home!


This fantastic prize includes:

Brand new copies of Blended and the Other Woman on DVD from Cash Gen

A 7” gourmet chocolate pizza from Qwerkity, yes you read that right, a CHOCOLATE pizza!

A bingo board game, 4 x face masks and a £15 supermarket voucher for a shop of your choice (so you can buy a bottle and some snacks) from http://bingo.paddypower.com

Simply fill in the Rafflecopter to enter!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway is open to residents of the UK. To enter, correctly fill out the Rafflecopter options. The winner will be notified via email. If no reply is received within 7 days a new winner shall be picked. Prizes are non exchangeable, returnable and have no cash alternative.

Panasonic Washing Machines

Being a family of six our washing baskets are never empty. I'm forever picking up dirty sock and pants. My three boys whom are all under 7 certainly like to get messy! However they can't take all the credit as Abby doesn't go five minutes without tipping juice down her! I had been very lucky when it came to my washing machine as it never had any faults and had lived good few years. That was until on day when it just died. I couldn't get it to do anything. I called out the repair man and he had to break into it just to get the soppy clothes out. He informed us that he was going to cost way more to repair than it's worth and advised me simply to buy a new one.

Not something you hope to hear when you imagine how much a new one is going to hurt your wallet. My dear old washing machine had been a Panasonic and I wanted to stick with that brand, it had done me well over all those years and I felt like it was a brand I could trust. I also had a Panasonic Lumix G2 camera so I was a bit of a brand groupy. So off I went in search of Panasonic washing machines

It wasn't long till I found some good ones. For me it's always been bigger the better! My last washing machine had been a 7kg so I knew this was the minimum I wanted to get. Heck if I had a large house I'd end up buying one of those ones they use in hotels! How lovely would that be to have the whole weeks worth of washing done in one go! But that's a pipe dream.... my house at the minute it probably the size of one of those machines!

We setted on another 7kg and I couldn't wait for it to be delivered. You know when your a Mother when you get excited over washing machines! We've now had a new Panasonic washer for over a year and it's still going without any problems.

Widen your social life without leaving home – online bingo anyone?

By mrsraggle

When you have young kids, you certainly end up spending a lot more time at home than when you were young free and single. And though being a mum is great, there can be times when you’re at home with the kids all day that you feel a little bit isolated.

Of course, having kids brings you into contact with a lot of other mums, through nursery, playgroup and school. But sometimes, you can suddenly feel like you only ever speak to other mums, and talk about your kids and their kids. It’s good to find new people to chat to. One easy way to do this without having to book a babysitter is to meet people online. Playing online games can allow you to meet new people really easily.

Many of the multiplayer online games have chat rooms, but if you’re not into proper hardcore gaming, there are plenty of alternatives. For instance, all the bingo sites host chat rooms too. So when you login to play at a site such as 32red, Tidy or Cheeky Bingo, you can also enter the chat rooms and meet other players there.

It’s not something that costs a lot either. For example, 32redbingo.com give free playing credit when you first sign up. There’s a £10 no-deposit bonus for new players registering on the site, and then if you put your own money into the account, you’ll get £32 of credit if you put £10 in. That amount of money goes a long way in these games – many start at only a few pence per game, so it’s not a hobby that’s going to break the bank.

Online bingo’s a great game to chat alongside as there is very little required in terms of player participation. Unlike land-based halls, where you’d have to concentrate on the number calls to make sure no-one gets in before you, when you play online, the software does the concentrating for you. You can simply watch the numbers being marked on your cards while you chat to other players of the same game.

The chatrooms are always cheerful places to hang out as everyone’s there for the same reason – to have a laugh while they’re playing a game which just might bring them a big cash reward. Even if you don’t have a win, it’s still a bit of a buzz if someone you’re talking to has a win – and you get to congratulate them if you’re there when it happens. As well as other players, there’s always a chat moderator present to make sure everyone feels included, and to introduce chat games for people to win extra prizes. The chat games aren’t hard – it’s more about being first to type in the right answer. And you never know when you’re going to be lucky or not – but some people win more on the chat games than they do on the real bingo games!

Anytime that you’re feeling a bit lonely and want some grown-up company you can always find it at an online bingo site. And as each game only takes a short amount of time, they can fit perfectly into those moments when the kids don’t need your undivided attention too. Try it out for yourself and see who you end up meeting!

The Ordinary Moments Week 8. Playtime

Abby is becoming more and more independent. It's bittersweet as it's lovely that she's happy to head off and play on her own, but it's also a sign of how much she is growing up. I love just sitting back watching her because even though she can't talk yet she's very expressive. She'll have her Toy Story dolls and have them babbling together, or she'll be building a tower out of blocks and singing a made up song.

Her favourite toy at the moment is her "Baba" she takes her little dolly everywhere with her and it is so adorable. Recently she's started to care for it and not just drag it around. She pats the dolls bottom while she's having a cuddle and even strokes her face all in similar ways that I do to her. "Baba" even came to the hospital with her a couple of weeks ago and she was a huge comfort to Abby. 

For someone who can't speak, it certainly doesn't hold her back. Her little imagination shine through.

We're linking up with Mummy, Daddy, Me's The Ordinary Moments blog linky

Half Term Fun

The sun finally came out to shine this week and with it being half term we just had to make the most of it. The boys got some great scooters for Christmas that they haven't been able to go out on much so I tried to think of somewhere they would have a large space just for them to go whizzing around on. Then I remembered it's half term (I know I've already said this once) but I remembered how my old high school always leave their gates open so the public could come and use their field, so off we headed!


We invited along my nephew David to join us and my sister Penny and my Mum met us there. It was empty and Abby loved having the freedom to wonder around and I have the reassuring fences meaning she couldn't escape.



Morgan and Ewan got the hang of their scooters pretty quickly, it's all in the hips. Rhys however just couldn't figure out which part of his body he was meant to wiggle so I spend a lot of the time running around trying to help him. He's getting the hang of it slowly but at least he and the others all had great fun.



After just 20 minutes Morgan had become a pro on them and was showing off with donuts, riding with just one leg and even skids! These children will have me grey in no time!



I promised we're going to head back later today so that they can have another ride before school reopens. They also want to show Ben they new skills as he was away in London with work when we went Wednesday.

Rainbow Sprinkles Cookies

I haven't shared a recipe for a while so I thought I would share the children's favourite to make at the moment. These rainbow cookies are really easy to make which is probably one of the reasons the boys love to make them. I set them their tasks and off they go.

You will need...
225g Self Raising Flour
100g Caster Sugar
100g Butter
1tsp of Vanilla
One Tube of sprinkles

Step 1, Preheat the oven to 180C and using grease proof paper line two baking trays.
Step 2, Whisk together the butter (Room temperature) and sugar until creamy.
Step 3, Slowly add the egg and vanilla flavor.
Step 4, Add the flour and knead together in till it forms a ball. Then add the sprinkles until they are speckled through the ball.
Step 5, Roll out so that they are about 5cm thick and cut out whatever shape you like.
Step 6, Bake for 15 minutes or until a light golden colour.

I love making our own cookies and we always make enough to last the week. They go perfectly in Morgan's lunchbox and are a nice treat after dinner!

Personally I would have added more sprinkles to this batch however we ran out, but they still looked great even if I didn't feel they were perfect!