Party Time!!

On Friday we celebrated my middle son's 5th birthday.  It's mad to think that it's been 5 whole years since he barged his way into the world 5 days before my planned c/section date!  Creating drama from the start with a prolapsed cord and being rushed into theatre for an emergency c/section, sometimes it feels like I haven't stopped with him.  Still, I wouldn't have him any other way!

On Friday my mum and sisters came round and we had a bit of a family tea party.  We bought Aled some games to go with the second hand Nintendo DS that my mother gave him.  We thought it would be funny to give him the games before the DS.  Along with the DS, my mum also gave Aled a little case to keep his games in and an embroidered t-shirt.  My sister Susan gave him a t-shirt she brought back from South Africa and my sister Helen gave him a Lego Darth Vader torch.

After some snacks, we brought out the cake.  Aled is really into the Lego Batman game at the moment, so I baked a rectangular and a round cake and hubby shaped and decorated it to look like the character Harley Quinn from the game.  Judging from Aled's face, I think hubby did a good job!!

Yesterday we had a birthday party with some of Aled's friends.  As the boys are huge fans of Lego and of Legoland, we decided to hold the party at the Legoland Hotel.  On booking, I checked what was included in the price and although at first glance, it appears quite pricey, I was surprised at just how much you get for your money.  We got 2 hours in the hotel restaurant, table decorations, a buffet for the children, party bags and the cake!  When you think about adding that all up for a standard party in a hall, you would be looking at roughly the same cost, so I thought this was fantastic value.

Having already been pleased with my choice of booking the party here, I didn't expect to be completely bowled over with what we received!!  We got up to the restaurant and was shown to our own cornered off section of the restaurant.  One of the most child friendly things that the restaurant has (other than the play area in the middle of it) is the tablecloths.  They are like a giant colouring in sheet and with crayons on the table, the kids got stuck in! 

We then let the kids head off into the play area.  They all had a great time running around and with Xbox's set up with Lego games, the boys were in their element!  Our host was always around making sure that we were happy with everything and even offered teas and coffees for the adults.  So often at children's parties the parents are forgotten, so this was a really nice touch. 

When I gave the nod, the food was brought out.  I have been to parties at soft play centres before and have never been that impressed with the spread, but this one was fantastic.  There was plenty there to eat for not just the kids, but also for the adults as well.  I had booked for 12 children but only 9 turned up, but even with 9 kids and 6 adults there was still loads left over!

After the kids had finished, we let them go back to play.  Hubby took some of them to the outside play area and they had a great time running around out there.  Before we knew it, it was time for the cake.  Our host came out with about 5 other members of staff and we all sung happy birthday to Aled.  The cake not only looked fantastic, but I can confirm that it also tasted wonderful as well!

The cake was then taken off to be cut up for the party bags, which were also provided as part of the package.  Inside the party bags, we had a Lego mini-figure and Legoland pencil, notebook and rubber.  We did add to it a little by putting in a bag of Haribo and box of raisins. 

I would like to say a huge thank you to Legoland for making my son's party such a fantastic one!  I would recommend them completely to anyone considering where to have a birthday party in the local area.  

Jackie. x

Our School Holiday So Far...

Don't you just love school holidays?  For the working parent, the drive to work is quick and stress free and for the stay at home parent, the option to get up when you want and not have the usual morning rush is great.

I have had both of these so far during the holidays.  Last week I was working, so the boys went to the childminder or nursery and I managed to get into work early pretty much all week.  My eldest had gone on holiday to Butlins with Laura from Tired Mummy of Two as he is friends with Laura's brother, so I only had to worry about getting the two little ones ready for the day.  PJ had a great time from what he tells me.  Thank you Laura for taking him with you.

This week I am home with the boys.  We had planned to go out as a family to Legoland on Sunday, but as the boys weren't 100%, that had to be postponed until the next day.  I was a bit worried about taking them by myself on the Monday without hubby there to support me, but thankfully, the boys didn't play up too much.

We managed to check out some of the new attractions, such as the Hero Factory and we also watched our first 4D movie in The Legends of Chima.  Both of which were fantastic.  I can see that I am going to have to buy some of the Lego Hero models for Aled's upcoming birthday!  I was really impressed that the boys kept their 3D glasses on throughout the whole movie.  Both the boys were fasinated with the movie and I caught Noah reaching out to try to touch the characters when the appeared to be really close!  I was a little bit worried with how Aled would react to the 4D element of the movie, but when the 'rain' and 'snow' came down, he loved it.  In all the times we've been to Legoland, I can't believe this is the first time that I've taken the boys in to the Imagination Theatre!


We also discovered that Noah is now well over 1m tall, meaning that he can go on some of the bigger rides.  I couldn't wait to get the boys onto Pirate Falls.  I think the picture speaks for itself!

Enjoying a milkshake

Yesterday we had some medical appointments to go to, so not as much fun.  After a bit of rushing around first thing due to the boys letting us have a lie in, we head off to PJ's CAHMS appointment.  The sessions are going really well and I'm positive that at the end of his treatment PJ will be in a
much better place.  As PJ's sessions are 1-2-1 with the therapist, I took the little ones off for a donut and milkshake (well, mocha in my case).

As soon as PJ was out of his appointment, we then had to dash off to Windsor for Aled's check up at the eye hospital.  It wasn't all good news for Aled though as after 6 months of wearing his glasses, his weak eye hasn't improved as much as it should have.  Therefore, Aled now has to wear an eye patch for three hours a day.  Thankfully, he is at a great age where we can tell him that

'Pirate Aled'

he's like a pirate and he is happy with this.  I also know that there is a girl in his class who wears a patch, so it's not something that is strange to him.  The box of patches that we have been given is great and there are 5 different fun designs on them, so he has a choice of which one to wear every day.  Yesterday he wore the blue with aeroplanes and today a red one with dragons.

For the rest of the week, we have a trip to the airport to pick up my mum tomorrow and then a playdate with a friend at the new soft play centre that has opened up in my town.  I'm also looking forward to our predicted warm day on Sunday and will hopefully manage to get out again then.

I hope you are having just as much fun as we are this Easter holiday!

Jackie. x

Monsters and Bangs

This weekend we had a fantastically spooktacular time.

My little Frankensteins

Cakes made by Kate at Buckleberry Bakes & Makes

On Saturday the boys were invited to a Halloween themed fancy dress joint birthday party for my friends daughters.  Not wanting to spend a fortune on a costume for them, my mum made them both a Frankenstein mask using her embroidery machine and I teamed that up with a black top and jeans.  I thought that they made a very cute pair of Frankensteins (but of course I am rather biased).

It was great seeing all the kids dressed up.  Every child got into the spirit of the were all dressed up.

We had a great time at the party.  There was a bouncy castle and other than for a bit of food, the boys didn't want to come off it!  My friend made a bat cake and a goth princess cake for her girls, they both looked amazing!

The weekend didn't end there though.  On Sunday we went off to Legoland Windsor to watch the fireworks.  I was working, so I met up with everyone a bit later.  Hubby, my sister and the boys arrived at Legoland about 12.30pm and had no problems with getting into the park.  We were worried that the park might be full, as the fireworks are very popular there, but it wasn't too bad.  The park was suitably decked out with pumpkins and cobwebs everywhere.

We went on a few rides and watched the pirate stunt show and the puppet show at the Duplo Theatre, both of which my boys loved.  At just after 4pm we decided to get something to eat, so headed off to the Pasta & Pizza restaurant for some food.  I do have to say, this did spoil or day a little.  It was quite busy getting into the restaurant.  I'm guessing that alot of people had the same idea as us to get some food before the fireworks.  We found out that the kids eat free offer had ended the week before, but luckily for us, they are still doing the kids eat free after 4pm offer for annual pass holders, which we are.  It would have worked out a very expensive meal without that offer and it wasn't exactly cheap anyway!  The price for an adult all you can eat meal has gone up to £11.95 per person.  We went up to queue for our food and this took about 20 mins to manage to get food!  As we had to take it in turns so that someone stays at the table with the boys, it took a relatively long time for us to all get fed.  It didn't help that other guests were pushing into the queue and there was quite a few stressed looking people! 

Eventually, we were all fed and watered and we made our way to find a good spot for the fireworks.  We were told by a member of staff that it was extremely busy in Miniland, but there is a viewing point in the Driving School attraction which was much less busier as less people were aware of it.  We decided that we would go in there.  We found a nice spot and waited for the fireworks to start.  Unfortunately, the rain decided to come down then, so we did get rather soaked!  Not long after the fireworks started, Noah fell asleep in hubby's arms.  The day must have worn him out!  Aled thoroughly enjoyed it though.  I was glad that my sister bought the 3D glasses, they really made a spectacular fireworks display look amazing!  The glasses have little pixels in them, which when you look at a bright light they give the impression of lego bricks.  Looking at the fireworks with the glasses made it look like hundreds of lego bricks falling from the sky.  It really was fantastic!  PJ took some fab photo's using his iPod.

We had originally planned on staying after the fireworks for a little while, until most of the traffic had left, but as Noah had fallen asleep we decided it was best to try to get him back home to bed as soon as possible.  We made our way back to the top of the park, along with the rest of the crowd and into our cars.  I was very impressed with how easy it was to get out of the park.  It took me 10 mins to get from the car park barrier at the top to the bottom of the hill.  The car park team had installed temporary traffic lights on the roundabout, which made exiting the park the easiest I have ever found it.

All in all, we had a fantastic weekend, although Noah has now got a chest infection, which I think may be a result of being out in the cold and the rain.  I'm hoping that it doesn't spoil our half term!

Jackie. x

Superheroes and Theme Parks

Hello again.

We have had a rather fun packed few days.  While everyone else was caught up in the Opening Ceremony on Friday night, I was busy making my Superhero costume for work on Saturday!  As I have mentioned before, I work at a local theme park and last weekend was our Superheroes event.  Staff members (and guests) were encouraged to dress up as superheroes.

GS Girl!

After a quick trip to the supermarket, I was unable to find a suitable t-shirt (really, when I don't want one, they are everywhere!!), so I ended up getting a plain tanktop and some felt.  I drew out a design and then cut it out of the felt and stuck it onto the top using fabric adhesive.  I then got about a meter of plain red cotton fabric, cut it into a trapezoid shape and pinned it onto the top using safety pins.  Voilà, a superhero costume.

Captain America & Thor

Of course, we didn't want the boys to be left out either, but I did cheat for their costumes and bought ready made ones.  Say hello to Captian America (Aled) and Thor (Noah).  They loved being able to wear their costumes all day and, for the most of it, they kept them on!  Occasionally Noah did take his costume off for about 10 mins 'to be Noah again'.  I am loving this age with Noah and the funny little things he comes out with!

The fun didn't stop there though.  Saturday night was also a kind of 'Date Night' for me and hubby.  The girls night out that I was supposed to be going on ended up getting cancelled, so me and hubby went out instead. We went for a Chinese at a local restaurant, which we have been to many times and as it always is, the food was gorgeous.  After the meal we met up with some friends for a 40th birthday party.  All in all, we had a great night and rolled home, rather merry, at about 3am.  My sister was sleeping over, so I was happy in knowing that I could just send the monsters in to her when they woke up!  Hubby did end up getting up with the kids and I had a lie in until about 11am on Sunday.  Perfect. :-)

On Monday, as a treat to the eldest PJ, we went to Thorpe Park with my mum, sister and a friend of PJ's.  We hadn't been before, so it was all new for us.  PJ, his friend and my sister went off to go on the big rides and me, the little ones and my mum explored the more tamer rides of the park.  Having researched the park on their website, I was rather disappointed to find that the man made beach area was closed.  I was planning on spending alot of our time in there, knowing that there isn't much for the younger boys.  We ended up going on about 5 rides that were suitable for the boys, some of them a couple of times.  The rest of the day was spent just walking around the park.  The boys really enjoyed watching the wave of water from the Tidal Wave ride come down over the bridge onto the pathway and by the end of the day I gave up trying to keep them away and let them go into the splash zone!

I was also a day of firsts for my mum.  She told me that she had never been on a carousel before in her life!  She got to do it three times on Monday! She also came onto a couple of the faster rides so that the boys could both go on together.  I think she was more scared than Noah on those!  The boys really enjoyed it and the older ones had a blast.  Although the queue lines were quite long for the big rides, we were lucky on the ones that we were able to get on and didn't have to queue for more than 10 minutes for a ride, which for my boys is a blessing!

Thorpe Park

Well, that is all the fun we are going to have for a little while going by the weather report at the moment!  Aled's speech therapy starts back up on Thursday for 4 weeks and I have *finally* got his appointment for the Child Development Centre, which is also this Thursday.  I really hope that the appointment goes well and we get the outcome we need for him.

Until next time..
Jackie. x

My Week That Was - Week 3 (The Half-Term Edition)

Look, it's Monday and I am doing My Week That Was on time!! lol.  Last week was the double bank holiday and also half term.  It didn't go quite as planned and although I was determined not to, the Great British weather did mean that some of my plans were postponed.

On Monday we decided to go off to Legoland to renew our annual passes.  Thanks to my weekend job, I had 50% off vouchers for the Merlin Annual passes, so we decided to get those this year, rather than just renewing our Legoland pass.  We got there about midday(ish) and by the time we got the annual passes sorted and walked down into the resort, the weather wasn't too great.  We managed to get one ride in before the rain really started to come down.  I had heard about the special Lego Jubilee Queen model that was there, so I insisted that we went to the Miniland area to see it.  The crown of the Lego Queen is encrusted with 48 tiny diamonds, worth thousands of pounds and looks rather pretty.  As you can imagine, there is a security guard there at all times looking after the little Lego Queen.  While we were there admiring the Queen, Aled calls out that he can see the Queens boat.  We had watched the Jubilee River Pageant the day before and I was rather impressed that Aled recognised the Lego model of the Queens boat.  I do find it fascinating of how much detail goes in to these little models.  After visiting Miniland we got the Hill Train back up to the top and hubby, PJ and Noah went for a wonder around the Star Wars area.  Aled thought that the area was 'too scary' and didn't want to go in, so we wondered around the shop.

Lego Queen with real diamonds

The Lego Queens Boat

On Tuesday we had a little Jubilee party at my mums.  It was originally going to be a family BBQ, but we had to change our plans due to the weather.  We got there for about 10.30am and me and mum went off to Asda to get the food.  We tried not to go too mad, as there weren't many of us.  When we got back to mum's, my step father was already there.  Not long after, my sister Susan came, followed by my other sister Helen with her stepson Brandon.  We put out our party food and tucked in.  It was a nice afternoon spent with my family and something that we really should try to do more often.  During the afternoon, it came about that mum was babysitting Brandon on Wednesday.  We decided that it would be nice to take the kids off to Legoland for the day.  For the rest of the afternoon we watched a bit of the Queens parade on the tv and then highlights of Monday nights concert. 

Our party buffet

As stated above, we went off to Legoland on Wednesday. I must admit, I wasn't expecting it to be as busy as it was!  When we got there we had to park in the overflow car park, so had to walk a fair distance up to the resort.  While walking up the hill the heavens decided to open and there was one hell of a downpour!  We were soaked!  We waited at the top under the shelter by the turnstiles for mum, Susan and Brandon to come.  They weren't too far behind us.  After going into the park we headed off to the Discovery Zone.  I was aware of a Ride Challenge that Legoland was doing during the half term to get special edition badges, so we collected our entry sheets.  The aim was to go on the rides listed and get a stamp.  Once you collected all of the stamps, then you go back to the Discovery Zone to get your badges.  We used this as our guide of where to go in the park, along with some of the boys favourite rides.  It was Brandon's first time at Legoland and I think he had a blast. He loves aquariums and fish and so the Atlantis ride was a huge hit for him.  As part of the Ride Challenge, we took the boys on some of the bigger rides that we don't normally do.  Some of them, such as The Dragon's Apprentice and Knight's Quest Noah was able to go on, but others he had to miss out and Susan and PJ took Aled and Brandon on.  I wasn't sure how they would be with rides such as Viking River Splash and the Jolly Rocker, but they loved them!  We ended up not leaving the resort until past 6pm and it did take us a while to get out of the car park.  With all of this and then traffic back home, I ended up late for work that evening!  It wasn't particularly busy at work, but my being late did mean that I ended up finishing slightly later than usual as well.

A few of my pics from Legoland

Thursday and Friday we ended up having 'duvet' days.  I had initially planned on going to Chessington World of Adventures on Friday, however, we (I) were still pretty knackered from Wednesday.  On top of that, the weather was pretty atrocious as well and it just wouldn't have been much fun being out in it.  Instead, we gathered up our duvets and vegged out on the sofa for two days.

On Saturday and Sunday I was back at work.  Saturday was pretty good.  After I had finished my shift I decided to get my lunch in the staff canteen.  Normally I go straight home, but I was feeling rather hungry.  After buying my lunch, the managers were there giving out free Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  Thank you very much!  It was really yummy (even more so as it was free!).  Saturday evening I baked up my second Herman batch (I promise I will do a post about this soon!!).  Sunday I had an early night with my book, but ended up not sleeping very well, resulting in me lying awake for hours until past 3am with all sorts running around through my mind.  

Well, there we go.  I don't think this week will be quite as exciting as last week, although it is only Monday, so who's to say what's to come!

Don't forget to click on the badge at the top there to see how the other bloggers week went last week.

Jackie. x

Bank Holiday Fun

As it's Good Friday and our only weekend day as a family together, we decided to spend the day at Legoland Windsor.  Normally we drive there, but today we had my 13 year old's girlfriend with us, so couldn't all fit in the car.  The solution, we decided to take the bus!  Now I have been driving since 2001 and getting a bus is not something I do very often and certainly not something I enjoy!

Waiting for the bus

I did a bit of research on the net of the costs and thought, at £16 for a family ticket, not bad.  That's about as good as it got!  Off to the bus stop we all trundle and ended up waiting about 50 minutes for a bus.  50 MINUTES!!  I understand that they don't run a normal service on a bank holiday, but really, they didn't seem to run to any timetable!  We got off at the town centre and luckily the second bus to Legoland was waiting at the terminal so we were able to get straight on.

We then get to Legoland and head straight for the puppet show.  We were just in time for the showing of 'The Three Little Pigs'.  Brilliant, the kids loved it (and so did the grown ups). While the show was on, we also had our picnic.  My biscuits from my last post went down a treat.

Pirates of Skeleton Bay

The older two went off by themselves so that they could enjoy the bigger rides and we went off towards the pirate show.  Aled does love the pirate show.  As usual, it was great.

Me and Aled dino spotting.

As our boys are Dinosaur mad, we headed off to the Dino Safari ride.  After a 30 minute wait, we finally get on the 2 minute ride.  That was the only ride we managed to get on, the rest of the park was just rammed and the queues were humongous!

We did manage to do some of the things that we don't normally do, such as play with the lego in the Build & Test area.  The boys loved the giant lego bricks and also the earthquake simulator and seeing their creation get knocked down!  I don't know who was the bigger kid in there, the 2 year old, 3 year old or my 32 year old hubby!

From there we wondered around the maze and then onto the Enchanted Forest, a cute little trail with lego animals in it.

A little walk around the resort and then we get a phone call from the older two about 4pm to say that they were waiting for us.  We head off up to the top and have about 15 mins to wait for the bus.  As we were leaving the park, we get handed a box of cereal!  Very random, but thanks! lol.

On the bus home, Noah starts to chill out, but Aled is just as hyper.  Back we get to our town centre to find that there is a 55 min wait for the bus home!  Bugger that we thought, so got us a 6 seater taxi!

We are now about to start a family game night and have Harry Potter Cluedo set up and ready to go.

Jackie. x