Silent Sunday 8th September

Ami your 13 months

This last month has flown by 

your growing up to fast

you are doing so much each day

each day you move further from being a baby to being a toddler

You love the outdoors

and have no fear (at all) 

you love to run 

you love to climb

you love to wonder and spend ages exploring

you love playing with babys 

but not as much as you love playing with your brother

he makes you laugh and chuckle so much

You love animals and favourites being dog dogs and birdies 

you point at everything 

and even get cross when you dont get what you want

you give lovely kisses so cute

you learnt new words this month

you can now say dog dog, Aston, hello and whos that

Oh and not forgetting cat

your so clever

You love fruit especially na nas 

in which when you eat one its all you say

you wantto feed your self

and have started using a fork

Ami you are so so cleaver 

We love how much you grown up

you a lovely funny girl 

and such a blessing to be around 

We love you loads Ami bear 

Is your little one starting school? How to beat those first day nerves (for you and your child!) Guest Post from Galt Toys

Is your little one starting school? How to beat those first day nerves (for you and your child!)

For both parents and children alike, a child’s first day at school can be very nerve-wracking and highly emotional. For the little one, the prospect of spending the day with new people they don’t know, doing new, unfamiliar activities can be very daunting. For parents, especially mum, the prospect of spending the day apart from the little person you have enjoyed so much time with over the last few years wrenches at us from within. Unfortunately, without education, the world as it is would cease to be, and it is a necessary part of growing up and of life; a rite of passage if you like.

How can you beat those first day nerves for both of you?

For mum and dad:

Make a plan for how you will fill your time

Spending a day sat alone looking at a toy box or all the pretty pictures and creations your child has made you will only make you feel worse about your little one being absent, so you have to make a plan. If, like so many of us, you rarely get time to make your house immaculately tidy, today is the day! You may only have a half day initially, but it is amazing what you can get done. When was the last time you sat and read a book while drinking a hot cup of tea or coffee? Do it! Enjoy the time you have for yourself.

It’s OK to cry…

Your baby is no longer the needy little infant who suckled at the breast, relying on you for their sole nutrition any more, and it is a lot for you to deal with. It is absolutely fine to shed a few tears, whether publicly or privately. Most parents will share your sentiments and it is nothing to be ashamed of. Try not to appear too upset in front of your child though!

For you all:

Take advantage of previews and tours

When your child’s school offers you a look around, take it. Talk to the teachers, look around the classroom, and make sure you are comfortable with the place your child will be spending a large part of their time from now on. Go together with your child so you can talk about it afterwards and help you both prepare for the big day.

For your little one:

Make a big deal of preparing for school

Get them a new lunchbox, buy a nice pencil case, and tell them how fabulous their uniform looks when they try it on. Let them go for a walk in their new school shoes, perhaps practicing the school run. Build up excitement for the big day so they are looking forward, rather than looking toward school with fear and anxiety.

Talk about the fun they will have…

…and listen to their questions. Some children want to know what they might learn and do to help them relax, while others may ask questions to settle their nerves and get reassurance that all will be well.

You should try and make school work out to be a positive thing for the whole family. A child should look forward to attending, and you should make the most of your time (or the cheaper childcare if your little one was previously with a nanny or childminder – we all know how expensive it can be).

About the Author

This article was written on behalf of Galt Toys. Galt Toys have been manufacturing toys for over 175 years, and know a thing or two about toys…and having fun!

Reasons to be cheerful week 28

Its my favorite time of the week, where I can look back at the little blessings in our lives, the little things that make us happy. This week has been quite chilled so not a long essay but some little pointers an insight to our little life.


1) Pants went back to school yesterday, he wasnt too pleased mainly because he was apprehensive about doing more work now he has gone up a year. I think he forgot that he would be seeing his old friends and he had a good day.

2) what lovely weather at the moment, here in the South East its boiling! We went down the beach after school yesterday and plan to again today. Making the most before the warm weather goes and will need more layers. Boo!

3) We enjoyed a lovely day down in Whistable as a family, with our busy summer it was hard to find a day where we were all around to do something. Allthough my husband has been ill since getting back from Holiday. It was still nice.

4) Start work soon which is very scary, although I feel I have had far too much time of and wish to be at home all the time. One day maybe I do enjoy nursing its just the faff of sorting childcare out is a big issue!

5) Pants is 7 soon and we saved some money to go in a little holiday either Centre parcs or Legoland hotel were not sure, but as usual so last minute. I cant believe he is going to be 7 where does the time go!!

Our Last day of Pants summer Holiday!

Before Pants went back to school we wanted to do something fun before the reading books come and the homework starts and soon we have forgotten about the summer and soon thinking about the winter. after much decision Pants decided he wanted to go to an arcades to spend some change he had saved. Im not a lover of arcades but he wanted to go so I thought why not. So of we went to Broadstairs so we could go to the beach and to a few parks also.

So off we went on the train the kids excited, Pants was having fun talking about how to escape the train if there was a fire! I was happy to be outside in the sunshine, I cant stand to be indoors on such a lovely day. I thought i would get it over with so we went to the arcades first and after some unsuccesful attempts on trying to win a toy on the grabbing machines, and winning a little toy on the 2p machines we went to the beach. The beach has become a little bit of a pain with Ami lately she just wants to explore and Pants wants me to help him dig a hole! It is a lot of effort with a baby who just wants to find some stairs and climb. We then walked into Broadstairs passing the arcades so I said why not try one more time, me on the peppa pig machine Pants trying to win a minion. I looked round and he finally won one! I made his day we have spend far to much money trying to win a silly teddy! So of we went looking round the shops in Broadstairs, we even came across a playmobil castle in a charity shop and made a note to go back but forgot and then it was closed.

We then went to a play park were of Pants went to play lego batman with whoever wanted to play with him, and me and Ami played (well I say play stopping Ami jumping off the apparatus and injuring her self!). She now can climb a ladder and get herself down the slide. Then she decided to get more daring and try things that were far to difficult which resulted in her running and jumping of a high part of the apparatus! scary but she didn't hurt her self and wanted to do it again. she doesn't have any fear. We then went to another park whilst waiting for a train where a dog went under the pushchair and took pants minion toy and ran round the park. The dog owners were so embarrassed as they tried to get it back (I found it rather funny). Was a lovely day with me and my little monkeys Im sad the holidays are over it went by far to fast.

The great blogger Bake off: week 2

Ok i will have to apologise I am not a great baker but I love the Great British Bake of and saw that there was a blogging bake of I just had to take part! Paul and Mary would be disappointed but me and my son enjoyed making and eating our goodies from this week! I thought I would try something easy and something that we had in the cupboard already so I went for chocolate breadsticks, I thought how bad can they be the kids love them. So there I go to start and my scales stop working so I had to use cups as a way to measure flour for the recipe! 

For the Dough: 

300g Strong White flour (2 1/4 Cups) 

2 teaspoons of caster suger

1 x 7g sschet fast-action dried yeast

1/4 teaspoon of salt

225ml Lukewarm water

For the Finish

75g of chocolate broken from a bar

1, Put the dry Dough ingredients in a bowl mixing by hand then pour in the lukewarm water. Gently press and squeeze everything together untill it creates a smooth, soft dough. Any dry crumbs left add a little bit more water and if to wet add more flour.

2, Sprinkle the work surface with flour , then turn the dough out onto it. cover your hands in flour and flatten and press dough to make a rectenagle measuring 22x30cm .

3, Sprinkle the Chocolate evenly over the dough, starting one end roll up the dough into a spiral, the gradually stretch out the roll to 34 cm long. Then flatten to make it measure 34 x 16 cm rectangle. carefully slice the rectangle into 16 strips that are 16 cm long.

4, Pick up the strip and  hold one end in each hand. Gently twist the strip, giving a little stretch, then set it on a lined baking sheet. Do the same with all the strips leaving a 3cm gap between them. Cover the sheets loosely with clingfilm and leave for 20 mins , mean while pre heat the oven to 220'C.

5, Uncover the baking sheets and place in the oven. Bake for 12 mins until golden. An extra 5 mins for a more crunchy texture. 

6, Remove the bread sticks from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool down. 

Here is our finished product, I went a bit of recipe and didnt measure the sticks or count 16 out. They ended up twice as wide as I would of liked and also forgot as my little girl woke from her nap and distracted me. We ate them dipped in nutella they were good the kids loved them and were so easy to make. They may not be bake of worthy but I enjoyed making them and actually doing some baking! 

Silent Sunday 01/09/2013