We Love London

The sun arrived just in time for us all to head to London for a few days. We've never taken the kids on a city break before so we were all excited to be getting on the train and experience London together. The kids insisted on dragging the cases to the train.

After arriving at the wrong hotel - only a minor set back as we walked to the correct one around the corner - we dropped our bags and headed straight out. First stop was The Shard and a trip to the 72nd floor. The sun was shining and with no clouds around the views were amazing.

We then jumped onto the tube and headed to Covent Garden - we had a wander about watching the various street performers, the kids were enthralled by them all. Then we headed to Masala Zone restaurant nearby for curry, we all had the Thalia which was really good. We decided to walk back to the hotel via the London Eye down the Embankment.

We had a little drink at a lovely bar/restaurant close to the hotel before we called it a night - the kids were excited to know what we were going to do the next day.

We stayed in the Southwark Premier Inn, the location, staff, rooms and breakfast were perfect and having filled our plates more than once - croissants were the favourite thing for pink monkey - we headed out to our first stop of the day the Natural History Museum. After standing in one of the longest queues I've ever seen we soon made it inside and headed straight to the Dinosaur exhibition

There were more than 20 exhibits we could have looked at but the kids chose to look at the mammals and Earthquakes (as it had a shaking room in it). After a couple of hours we decided to head back into the sunshine towards Hyde Park where we would stop to have lunch.

We walked through Hyde Park, stopping for an ice cream and a play on the kids park, then continued on down through St James park to Buckingham Palace, as pink monkey knew the flag wasn't flying so The Queen wasn't at home. By this point all the walking had taken its toll so we headed back to the hotel for a relax so someone could recharge their batteries.

A mini recharge did the world of good and next stop was to jump onto a boat trip and head down the Thames

Spotted around were various Sean the Sheeps - raising money for GOSH - every time we found one the kids loved it, especially pink monkey who insisted on having lots of pictures taken. It was time for food so we went to Zizzi's near to the Tower of London - we can never go wrong with the choice of pizza and pasta so everyone was happy. After everyone was well fed it was time to head back to the hotel but once again we decided to walk back. It was getting later now but the lighter nights and the warmer weather meant it was perfect for us to all stroll home via Tower Bridge and The Embankment

Day 2 was definitely a success, we ended the evening with a drink in the hotel bar before heading up to bed - 4 exhausted but happy people.

Day 3 was our last day and we only had half a day to squeeze a few more things in. First stop was Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and a special request from blue monkey to go to Westminster Abbey.

Then we headed towards Hamley's toy shop - the walk took us past the statue of the Duke of York, cue a sing-along

 I remember being taken to Hamley's as a child and loving it and I wanted to see if my children thought the same. They both had some spending money and both picked out a treat each, but blue monkey said "it's good Mummy but there was too much choice" very profound indeed. My opinion was it needs an update.

Final stop was lunch at Wagamama's and a walk through Borough Market on the way to catch the Tube back to Euston.

It was a fantastic, fun packed few days we can't wait to take them again.

2014 in photos

What an amazing year - this is April-December (Jan-Mar need downloading from the laptop)

Can't wait to see what 2015 may bring

Perfect weekends

It's been a busy couple of weeks here but we've had some perfect weekends. 

The sun was out last weekend so ensuring football was packed we headed off to Heaton Park to burn off some energy. Watching blue monkey climb the huge slide not a care in the world makes me realise how grown up he now is - he's certainly not the baby I like to think he is. Pink monkey was happy keeping her feet closer to the ground.

Then off to play football - in the summer the park can be so busy but luckily for us there was lots of space to kick about. All four of us ran around not sure who was the best player.

Then it was off to see the animals and an ice cream treat before dragging everyone up to the highest point of the park.

It was just one of those perfect unplanned afternoons to round off a lovely weekend.

This weekend M and I have been child free. Both nights out at friend's for meals - and I drove so no nasty hangovers. Clothes shopping - I don't want to look at my bank balance! Decorated blue monkeys bedroom - with some help, it's being a long process but nearly done now. Then last night when all jobs were done we had steak for tea and poured some red wine and watched 22 Jump Street - it was just a lovely end to another perfect weekend.

What did you get up to? 

Macmillan Coffee Morning

When my Dad was ill we were lucky enough to have a great Macmillan nurse who came to visit him regularly and who we could turn to when we had questions. When nothing more could be done he was the person who helped arrange my Dad's last few days in peace. So Macmillan Cancer is a charity I love to support as I know what a massive difference it can make to peoples lives - and sadly so many of us are impacted by the C word.

So today I arranged the annual coffee morning in work. Luckily I work with people who enjoy baking as much as I do. My contribution was the "ice cream" style cupcakes which I've been wanting to make for ages. I saw the strawberry syrup for sale in Aldi as part of their baking event which gave me the opportunity to finally make them.

There were Cookie Monster cupcakes that looked great - L was very clever making them - banana loaves, lemon drizzle, flapjacks and cookies, various flavours of cupcakes and some impressive eclairs.

Everyone found something they liked. 

 

Some of the plates were piled high!

In total we raised £200 a great amount for Macmillan it will help support another family through a difficult time.

If you are having a Macmillan coffee morning I hope it's a success - and I do know how many sprinkles are on the cake! 

Great Brandleshome Bake Off

This week has been the local Scarecrow event. 120 families and businesses built scarecrows ranging from Star Wars to Rapunzal and everything in between. There was a map so one night after work and school we drove round finding as many as possible the monkeys loved it especially the Spider-man with the button saying press here - E was the brave one who pressed it and the theme tune came on - cue mini dance in the street.

Today all the scarecrows were moved to the local church where the prizes were announced - Spider-Man rightly won one as did an amazing farm display.

There was also a cake competition being held so I thought I'd enter. I don't have lots of spare time I work full time and have 2 children so yesterday in a hurry I scoured my cake books and found a John Waites raspberry and white chocolate cake receipe I'd made once before and thought would look good. I baked it yesterday and made the white chocalate ganache this morning to hold it together luckily not too stressful and I thought it looked nice.

I had a feeling though that the other cakes would be decorated and I was right there were some brilliant creations - the scarecrow in the allotment was amazing.

We left before the results were announced - I certainly didn't expect to be in the top 3. An hour later we are all in the garden and I'm chatting to my neighbour "did you get your prize?" she asked. "Prize? What prize?". I'd won 2nd place I don't think there was a a prize but there're is a rosette floating around somewhere and I am happy with that. Apparently my cake tasted great - and that's what's important - looks aren't everything! 

So a successful weekend. Plenty of baking ahead as I'm organising the Macmillan coffee morning at work on Thursday. Are you taking part?

Comfort baking

When my weekend is hectic I like to squeeze in a quick simple bake - it's therapeutic knowing that in 10 minutes something will be in the oven and in the hour it bakes I can get through some more of my to do list with a lovely treat to look forward to at the end of it. I have a go to cook book and normally a go to page - Mary Berry's Banana Loaf - and dependent on what I have to hand I either bake it exactly as it says or add something extra. This weekend I decided to add some blueberries to it - I love the way they pop in a cake the juice so vivid when you cut into it.

Here's how it turned out - and a big thumbs up from the kids. 

The Mary Berry receipe is:

100g butter softened

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 ripe banana

1 large handful of blueberries

225g self raising flour

1 level teaspoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons milk

Mix all the ingredients together - putting in the blueberries at the end and folding them in.

Oven 180 bake for 1 hour.

Next weekend is the Brandleshome Bake Off I'm wondering whether to enter and if so what to bake.

What's your comfort bake? 

A fresh start

So I've been MIA for a year and what a year it's been. I've missed this little space and want to start again - if I'm allowed. 

This sums up our life at the moment 

Lots of love and smiles and plenty of baking being squeezed in. 

So I'm going to restart where I left off a year ago. This time though I'm going to be writing more about what I love, baking, making, eating, drinking and adventuring with the monkeys. 

Where's the time going

I can't believe how quickly the last couple of months have gone and how life is going so well.

The 3 of us have been up to lots. We had a trip to A&E with pink monkey for a nasty cut next to her eye - after getting glued back together it seems to be healing well. Blue monkey had a great parents evening report. We went to Disney on Ice - maybe a bit too princessy for blue this year. They both got Build a Bears for being so good.

I've started decorating the house pink monkey's bedroom is first it's quite a big job so will take a few weeks til it's finished.

I've been enjoying myself - today I went off to Liverpool for some shopping and lunch at Jaime's Italian. 

It's now half term and I've got the next week off to spend some lovely time with the 2 monkeys. Tomorrow we are off to see the dinosaur at Manchester Museum with our friends - blue is very excited.

Busy busy busy

KIt's been an unbelievable busy few weeks here. Blue monkey is settling into year 1 and so far all seems to be going well. Pink monkey is loving pre-school she also has homework to do although she's far too busy telling her big brother what to do with his.

I went to a great work do - it was a fully functioning fairground and one of the best nights I've ever been to. 

I've also organised a cook off at work for all the team - if I say so myself it was a success - and completely original - so am awaiting all the other teams to do it next.

The other weekend I went to the Ramsbottom festival - the rain stayed away saw some great bands and went with a special someone - it was a great day - although I have realised CrabbiesAlcoholic  Ginger Beer is not for me!

Then last night I went to see Wicked with the girls - we've had tickets for 6 months and I had no idea what the show was about but it was brilliant - one of the best stage shows I've seen.

Blue monkey has started tennis and football lessons now - it'a great to see him enjoying all these new things - and means our weekends are busier than ever. Dropped a few balls this week but today managed to pick things up and get back on track - sometimes it feels over whelming making sure everything is sorted for all of us - but luckily that feeling is fleeting and after a day of organising it doesn't feel too bad again.

This week the plan is for us all to go scarecrow hunting - there's 60 scarecrows in various gardens around the local area - so we can go around and find them all and score them. I've promised the monkeys every night after school we'll go and find some - so something fun to look forward to.

This is a bit rambling but realised lots has happened recently - my tiredness is probably not helping!

My new man

Ops I've not blogged for a while it's been a busy few weeks lots to catch up on but today I'll tell all about the new man in my life!

I've been umming and ahhing over getting a cat for a long time - but once I told the monkeys we were getting one I had to stick to my word. Now we have our very own home and I know we are settled then it felt right. I phoned the RSPCA we got assessed and within 48 hours we were picking Bubbles up. He's about 8 months old but no one knows for sure as he was a stray. I knew it might take him some time to settle in but no he was in and happy within an hour - he's got a lovely temperament and is at this moment sat on my knee which is his favourite place. The monkeys love him and he loves playing with them. Even my mum seems to be a bit smitten. 48 hours in he's made himself at home and made our new house feel even more like our home.

Why I love this house

Ten reasons why I absolutely love our new home:

1. Our garden - perfect patio for drinking wine and eating, and a lovely garden for the monkeys to play in. 

2. I've been able to buy new items as its ours and I don't plan ever to move again (new sofas, tv, dining table) things I love not just make do.

3. Extra space - the conservatory is brilliant.

4. Kitchen cupboards - lots of them

5. Washing machine in the kitchen - not in a cold garage

6. Following on from point 5 - a space above the washing machine to sort laundry - something deeply satisfying about clean laundry 

7. The chance to redecorate and make the monkeys bedrooms perfect

8. Having such a great cycle way 30 seconds away - already used it lots

9. Being able to hang the washing in the garden (ok I might have gone a bit mad on the washing reasons)

10. It is all mine and it feels like our home already - I just LOVE it.

One week in

We are all settling into the house - furniture has been built, homes have been found for things and it really is beginning to feel like home.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day, we had a trip to buy school shoes - relatively pain free. Then had a walk on "the lines" a long pathway that follows the old railway lines - it is going to be a great place to run and cycle when we finally get ourselves moving again - or to rephrase when I get myself moving and stop being so damn lazy.

A friend and her little girl visited in the afternoon and it was lovely to watch the monkeys all playing in the garden.

I managed to get lots of washing on the line.

Something that was impossible in our old home. Garden has not been touched yet but luckily it will be easy to keep under control.

I spent Friday evening in the garden drinking wine, eating pizza and reading - a very chilled out night after a busy week ..... I just won't mention the leak from the bathroom!

My friend bought me this as a house warming gift - it sums this house up perfectly.