I am so behind on blogging, seriously, I have had no time, what with the kids being off school and having a headache, I've had zero chance to write this post, which I have been meaning to write for over a week. Eek.
Anyways.



The other day we went to our local sumemr fete. There was lots of bouncy castles and activities for kids. I treated the kids to a wrist band each, which entitled them to unlimited time on the bouncy castles etc. It was great fun!


Ellie and Charlie really enjoyed riding on the donkeys. Ellie now has a fascination with donkies and ponies, bless.

Harry spotted a lot of his school friends there and went off to play with them on the bouncy castles. Needless to say, he really didn't want me taking his photo because apparently it's "embarrassing" Haha. I did take a couple though.
Charlie had a go at archery. Which he loved! The fella that was on the archery stall was brilliant and taught him how to use the bow and arrow. Charlie is small for his age and struggled to hold the bigger bow, so he used the smaller one (which is almost as big as him!) Bless. He did so well at this! So proud of him. Harry also hada go but I got no pictures because of the above reason, lol. He did super too. Bless 'em. Ellie enjoyed the bouncy castles best and the tombola, such fun.

We enjoyed a lovely picnic that I packed and I treated the little's to a slush puppy as there was no ice cream van this year. Boo. It was a fun packed day and didn't cost a lot at all! Each of the kids won prizes on the tombola/raffle. Harry won some soft drinks and posh biscuits. Ellie won some sweets and Charlie won some sweets, too. Yay!
We can't wait to go again next year.

Sarah xXx

This post is linked up:
#LetKidsBeKids
Point & Shoot 
Living arrows

What makes me smile this week..

1) The weather - It has been truly beautiful weather, a little hot at times but it's nice to see the sun and actually have a decent summer! I have a lovely tan (not that I've been trying to get a tan mind). The little's have been enjoying the weather, too.
The thunderstorms were rather amazing! Lots of lightening forks and funky coloured skies. I didn't manage to get a photo of the lightening but I did manage to get this photo of the sunset and thunderstorm both at the same time. It was sunny, thundering and lightening while the sun was setting, it was a bit weird.



2) It's officially the summer holidays! It's a very welcomed break from the school routine. It's lovely spending extra time with the kids and what not. We're just chilling out this week, no plans. Just chillaxing and enjoying the weather in the garden.


3) Last weekend we went to the summer fete. It was such great fun! The kids had a blast on the bouncy castles (thank goodness for wrist bands & unlimited time on the bouncy castles and activities). They loved riding on the donkey's. :)

So those are my reasons to be cheerful this week. What are your reasons to be cheerful this week? Why not join in the blog hop which is hosted by Lakes Single Mum.

Sarah xXx

We spotted a peacock when we were on our way home from our grandparents house. It was just sitting there, perched on the wall, enjoying the sunshine. Isn't he pretty? It was rather lovely to see a peacock, I haven't seen one for years!!




We also saw some swans, who were rather greedy and wanted to steal Ellie's Ice cream, lol! Ellie isn't a fan of swans after that experience! Bless her. It's such a beautiful swan though.

 And I of course HAVE to share photos of out beautiful tortoiseshell cat 'Lotti' She is my baby!



The little's also got to the chance to ride on a donkey at the summer fete last weekend! They thought it was great fun!! To be honest, I kind of wanted to ride on the donkey myself but I didn't wanna make a spectacle of myself, I would probably have fell off knowing my clumsy luck.

Monday - Chicken burger, chips and beans.

Tuesday - BLT pasta salad with french stick bread.

Wednesday - Jacket potatoes with various fillings (baked beans, coleslaw, tuna, salad etc)

Thursday - Chicken Korma with rice and naan bread

Friday - Lasagne with garlic bread.

Saturday - BBQ chicken salad

Sunday - Sunday roast.

This post is linked up with At home with Mrs M.

Yesterday we went to a summer fete! They had donkey's there.
Charlie and Ellie both really wanted to have a ride on a donkey!


Charlie also had a ride on the donkey, which he LOVED and wanted to go again. And again. And again. Haha.


 There was a women there who was holding onto the rope/lead thingy (what's it called?!) walking around with the donkey, while the kids were riding! They really enojyed it! I'll write more about the summer fete in another post, so be sure to look out for that.
I wonder if there will be donkey rides along the seafront this summer?

Sarah xXx

This post is linked up with:
The black and white project. 
Living arrows 
Magic moments 

 

My reasons to be cheerful this week...

1) It's almost the summer holidays and I can not wait! Neither can the little's. It'll be a very welcome break from school runs, uniforms and just the general school routine. The kids are really looking forward to beach days, picnics and just chilling out at home. It will be nice to spend some extra time with them, too! I need to finish planning our days and what not. Hopefully we'll achieve some of the goals on our summer bucket list.

2) I'm looking forward to this weekend. It's also Ellie's school fete, although the boys will be at there dads (they're going to a BBQ and going fishing, so they'll have fun) it won't be the same without them but it's some much needed mummy and daughter time. Fingers crossed the weather stays nice.

3) I am feeling so much better than I was this time last week. I'm still not 100% but the sore throat has gone and the cold isn't as bad as it was! Summer colds are the absolute worst, so glad it's going now.


The little's ALL got really good school reports and I am so, so incredibly proud of them all. Harry is doing brilliant in all subjects but he could do with practicing his handwriting a bit more. Charlie needs to practice his times tables up to 12x tables and Ellie needs to continue adding and subtracting etc. We'll work on all those things over the summer! They have seriously done really, really well at school this year. Did I mention how proud of them I am?!


So those are my reasons to be cheerful this week, what are your reasons? Why not join in with Lakes single mum blog hop and share your reasons to smile this week :)

Sarah xXx

Old Macdonald had a zoo by Curtis Jobling & Tom Mclaughlin

Roll up, roll up! Read all about it! Elderly farmer wins lottery!

Old MacDonald, of MacDonald's Farm, is the talk of the cattle market and the most eligible pensioner in the paddock. With wellington boots, a jaunty flat cap and a spanking new muck-thrower topping his shopping list, lottery winner Old MacDonald has one million pounds burning a hole in his dungarees. He just needs to find the right things to spend it on...
Find out what happens when Old MacDonald wins the lottery, sells his farm and buys a zoo. And what a zoo it is...
Old MacDonald had a zoo, ee aye, ee aye, whooooooaaaahhhhh!
"Old MacDonald had a Zoo is terrific!" Lorraine Kelly

Publication date:
27 March 2014
Format: Paperback
Age range: 3+
Price: £6.99


Ellie and I couldn't wait to read this book together, she loves reading just as much as I do! She is a proper little book worm and her reading has come a long way the past few months! There's nothing she would rather do than read a book! 'Old Macdonald had a zoo' was no exception. 
Ellie loved the story of this book and as we were reading we sang the tune to the words of 'Old Macdonald' "It's like old macdonalds farm rhyme about a zoo instead" Ellie said! 


It's a really lovely picture book, beautifully illustrated and easy enough for Ellie to read on her own (well mostly!), she's six years old and loved reading this book! 
Her favourite part of the book was 'with a stomp stomp here...' this page had a lovely pop up page or 'flip-tastic flap' which Ellie thought was great! This book has other flaps, too! Which is a great way to keep the kids interested in the book! It really is a lovely story. 
We giggled our way thru this lovely book. 
We would recommend this book. 
You can purchase this book from EgmontUK. 


Sarah xXx 

We received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own, honest, personal opinion. I was not paid for this review.

Linked up with: 
read with me 

 

I was tagged by  bug, bird and bee.
I do love these blog tags, it's such a fab way to get to know other bloggers and make friends :) 

Currently I am:
Sitting with my feet up before I have to get the kids bathed and ready for bed! I've had a rather busy day today, grocery shopping.

Reading: 
I've not had a lot of time to read this month so far, but I did download this for my kindle the other day. 

This weeks meal plan:

Monday - Spaghetti bolognase

Tuesday - Chargrilled Chicken Pasta with salad and french stick.

Wednesday - Sausage, egg, oven fries with baked beans.

Thursday - Sausage stew *kids fave!!* (slow cooker)

Friday - Pizza day!!!

Saturday - Beef burgers in buns with salad and potato wedges.

Sunday - Sunday roast.

Sarah xXx 

Linked up with:
At Home With Mrs M

Today Ellie and I went for a lovely walk while the sun was shining. Ellie also took her pink scooter with us on the walk. She loves riding her scooter. We took a lovely Barney snack with us, too!
It started to raining while the sun was out so we decided to stop for a rest and a snack, under a little shelter.

We sat down on the wall, next to some lovely beautiful flowers and bushes, Ellie couldn't wait to tuck into her Barny snack, hehe.

"Aww, look, such a cute little teddy bear" Ellie said. Bless her. Ellie wanted to try the chocolate Barny bear... "Yummy, she said, it;s very soft and nice"

We recently reviewed a Belo & Me kids cooler bag.
Belo & Me have kindly offered one of you very lucky people a chance to win one in a colour of your choice.

We reviewed the red kids cooler bag.

• Made from recyclable PP material
• Strong comfortable handles 
• Easy to wipe clean
• Fasten with strong velcro

To be in with a chance of winning your very own Belo & me cool bag, enter via the rafflecopter below.
 a Rafflecopter giveaway


Sarah xXx

ThePrizeFinder.com

Linked up with 
Freebie Friday
Winning Weekends

Belo & Me sent us this lovely Kids cooler bag to review. We've previously reviewed the kids Belo & me little lunch bag, which Ellie just loved!


Ellie was really excited to use this bag and show it off to her class friends. On sports day, her school had a picnic at lunch time where parents were invited. I packed Ellie's lunch in this very cute cooler bag. I could fit in quite a bif of food and her 2 juice carton drinks! It's a perfect size and it kept her lunch lovely and cool. The bag size is 28cm x 21cm x 14cm


It has a handy little handle to hold, making it comfortable and manageable to carry around! The handle is really strong and the lunch bag fastens with strong velcro. Ellie loves the design. She loves the animals on the front, we obviously reviewed the red bag, which is bright and perfect for the summer! The bag itself is made from recyclable PP material and is easy to wipe clean.  

We can't wait to use this bag again!! Lets hope for some warm wearther and sunshine! :) 

The kids cooler bags come in three colours, purple, blue and red. Priced at just £5.95, which I think is well worth the money. It's good quality and well worth the money!
I would definitely recommend this kids cooler bag, it's perfect for packed lunches and picnics.


You can also follow Belo & Me on Twitter & Facebook.

I am also hosting a giveaway, for your chance to win a kids cooler bag, enter here.

Sarah xXx 

We were sent a Belo & Me little lunch bag for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own, honest, personal opinions. I was not paid for this review.

I think some body is happy with there Kindle, hehe.

Yesterday Charlie, my little tiny Charlie, turned nine years old!! Nine!! Wow. I honestly can't believe that this time (2 minutes ago) Charlie entered this world. He weighed 5lb 3oz but was quite sick and was diagnosed with kidney reflux at around 10 days old. He went down to around 3lbs, tiny, tiny! He finally got better and now he's a happy, cheeky, mischievous, funny, little nine year old, healthy boy!


He was so excited in the morning, he couldn't wait to open his presents!! I had to let him open them before breakfast, I think he would have burst with suspense otherwise, haha. Bless him!
He opened his presents, he got a new school bag, pencil case, angry birds goodies and what not. He marched off happily to school with his new school bag, stationary and of course some sweetie goodies for his class mates.



After school, he opened the rest of his presents. Charlie has been wanting a kindle for a really long time, he loves reading and he's always playing on my kindle fire and reading his books on there, so for his birthday we got him a kindle fire! His face was priceless when he opened it. Bless him.

I treated Charlie, Harry and Ellie to fish and chips for dinner, (Charlie's favourite!) we ate them outside in the garden and enjoyed the weather.  After dinner, we all sang 'Happy Birthday' to Charlie and had some Cadburys flake birthday cake. Which is the one Charlie picked, talk about yummy!


We spent the rest of the evening playing games, making loom bands and playing games on the kindle. Charlie also got some reading in, he LOVES reading on his kindle. I think it's such an educational piece of technology! He also loves playing maths games on it.
]By the end of the evening the kids were shattered, had a nice bath and watched some T.V, followed by bed!

Over all Charlie had a wonderful Birthday! He is so looking forward to his day at the beach during the six weeks holiday - I asked him what he'd like to do for his birthday and he said "A day at the beach with a picnic and some crabbing" so that's what we'll do in the summer holidays, an extra treat for his birthday :)

I still can't believe he's nine years old! It's craziness.

Sarah xXx

Linked up with: 
Point & Shoot 
Whats the story 
Magic moments 
Living arrows 
lets be friends blog hop 

Publication date: 15th May 2014
Age range: 3+
Price: £6.99
The Funny Fingers are an oddball family of digits who find fun and humour in everything around them. Even when their miserable neighbours, the Terrible Toes, try to spoil their happiness, the Funny Fingers manage to turn a mishap into an exciting adventure.
This is an original, feel-good new series with accessible, commercial appeal. Young children and parents can also mimic characters with their own fingers as an additional activity while reading.'

Ellie and I sat down together to read this book. It's about a family of fingers who love to have fun! The neighbours (two toes) however, don't like having fun and really don't like the finger family having fun!
"I love the characters, they're great fun and the story is very exciting" is what Ellie had to say about this book!

We giggled our way through this book, Ellie really enjoyed it! She loves the part where the hot air balloon popped best! Her favourite character was Errol, the foot mosnter, the thought of a foot monster is halarious, according to Ellie!

Priced at just £6.99 from Egmont, I would say this book is well worth it in my opinion. It's original, funny and unique with beautifully illustrated pictures to keep children interested and entertained!

The next book out in this series is called 'The Funny Fingers Have a Party' which comes out this September (2014) and Ellie is already looking forward to reading that! :)

You can also follow Egmont on youtube.
Sarah xXx
 
Linked up with: 
Read with me. 

We received a copy of this book for the purpose of this review, all opinions are my own, honest, personal opinion.