I don't know what's wrong with me lately. I haven't been sleeping very well at night, I keep waking up even though I am SO tired. I feel 'groggy' all day and just blah! Like, I am so, so tired. I actually tried to have a nap today but I STILL couldn't sleep, I kept waking up. I gave up trying to sleep and now I feel really kind of fatigue and just not really with it.. Drained perhaps is the word?! Do you know what I mean? It's hard to explain. I know that I'm OVER tired but gosh, what I wouldn't give for a good nights (solid) sleep!! I think once the kids are back to school and we are back into our routine, my sleeping will improve. Insomnia is not fun.

Speaking of going back to school... I have finally got the kids uniforms, I just need to get Ellie's shoes (I so hope Clarks have her size in stock) and she could do with some more blouses and another pinafore. She's gone off wearing trousers for some bizarre reasons. The school is open the day before the kids go back, so I'll be able to purchase uniform - school jumpers etc, that I can't buy in the store (they have school logs on). I am really looking forward to getting back into routine but I know how much I'm going to miss the kids and I really, really will miss them. We have a had a fantastic summer.
We had a fantastic day our crabbing last week. And we went to the air show the week before (I still need to write about the air show). The kids have really enjoyed there time off from school. I still can't believe that it's Harry's last year at primary school! Eek!! Charlie will be in year five and Ellie in year two. They are growing up SO fast.

Sarah xXx

1) We had a lovely day yesterday. I took the kids crabbing and they had an amazing time. It was such a beautiful day - best make the most of the weather now because the weather will be changing very soon.


2) The little's go back to school next week and yes, I will miss them greatly but it will be really good to get back into normal routine. I have brought there uniforms and what not. I do still need to buy Ellie's shoes though, hopefully they'll have her size in stock either the weekend or early next week!

3) I have had an eye hemorrhage which has finally better! My eye is no longer bloodshot. FINALLY! I do still have a chest infection, hopefully the antibiotics will help :)

4) We had a fabulous time at the airshow last week. The red arrows were brilliant! Seriously, super cool. Those pilots are so brave. Not sure I could do what they do, lol. 

Sarah xXx

Yesterday, we decided to make the most of the nice weather. The last week or so, it's been rather dull and wet. Yesterday however was very sunny and warm.
The kids have been wanting to go crabbing for a couple of weeks now, so we decided yesterday, that we would indeed go crabbing!

crabbing along the river.

We sat along the wall by the side of the river and sand and dipped out crabbing lines into the water. Charlie thought it was quite funny that crabs like bacon of all things! He was quite fascinated by that fact!

Fun on the sand and crabbing!

We spent a good hour or so crabbing for crabs. We caught around six or seven large crabs. And then we spent some time on the sand, building sand castles & paddling in the water. We also met up with my grandparents and spent a little time with them on the sand, too! It was a fab day.

The horse was very friendly, he came over to say hi!

After we'd finished crabbing we went for a little walk! We saw horses and ducks, geese and chickens. It was a lovely day out (cheap too!).

Sarah xXx

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mad mid week blog hop. 
Weekly Wednesday 

Monday - Pizza (we didn't have it the other day)

Tuesday - Hot dogs in buns & fries.

Wednesday - Chicken pasta with salad and french loaf.

Thursday - Chicken Tikka with naan bread and pilau rice.

Friday - Sausage, mash, peas, broccoli with gravy.

Saturday - Home made chicken kebabs with salad.

Sunday - Shepherds pie with carrots, peas, parsnips and Yorkshire pudding.

Sarah xXx

This weekend is bank holiday weekend and from Saturday 23rd August until Monday 25th August, petshopbowl have some amazing bank holiday offers on there website. Including Almo nature cat & dog food & many, many other products! 

Petshopbowl sell a very good selection of pet supplies from cat food, dog food and even products for reptiles and small pets!

We recently reviewed some products for our cat from petshop.co.uk which she really enjoyed :)

Have a fab bank holiday weekend.

Sarah xXx

P.S I also have a giveaway running until 5th September to win some Almo Nature cat food from petshopbowl.

Disclosure: I received a £15 voucher for my cat, from petshopbowl.co.uk for writing the post.

Yellowmoon sent us these lovely finger skateboards to design review along with some crystal star stickers. We also used the Gitto pens that we have reviewed in the past.

Each packet includes 12 finger skateboards and they are 5cm long. You can decorate them using stickers, pens etc. You can also perform stunts and have races with your friends. My three children loved racing them against each other. They pushed them along the floor and performed stunts, flipping them in the air using there fingers.
The crystal star stickers come in a pack of 280 priced at just £2.99. The stickers themselves are very pretty, sparkly and stick easily to the skateboards. 



They're very easy and fun to decorate! Ellie liked using the stickers best while Charlie and Harry preferred to colour there's in using the Gitto decor pens and then put the stickers on!
Ellie said "These stickers are so pretty, I really love the purple ones" She loved that her finger skateboard sparkled, hehe. 


These finger skateboards are £2.99 for a pack of twelve. They're aged 3 years plus due to small parts. I honestly think they're well worth the money. My little's loved decorating them and then playing with them afterwards. This is a lovely little arts and crafts activity :)

Yellow moon sell a very good selection of children's arts and crafts products as well as toys, party bag fillers and so much more!

Sarah xXx

We received this product for the purpose of this review. I was not paid to write this review. All opinions are my own, honest, personal opinions. 

#TriednTested 
playtime 

A couple of weeks ago, while we were in Liverpool, we decided to take the kids to fly there kites that they bought from the shop at Speke Hall. It wasn't THAT windy but it was quite breezy. It took a few attempts for the kids to get the hang of it. Although, they have flown kites before, it was much easier because we were on a VERY windy beach, which made it easier.



They were so proud of themselves once the kite was flying high in the sky! The kites almost got tangled together at one point. I wish my battery on my phone hadn't of died so I could have taken more photos. Actually, I should have taken my camera but forgot. Never mind.






It was really good fun, the kids had a wonderful time, as did I. It's really something all the family can join in on. They also had fun trying to catch the tail of the kite while it was high up in the sky, jumping and reaching for it, aww.



We're hoping to go kite flying again. On the beach next time though, when it's windy. I'll be sure to remember my camera next time!!!
Such fun.

I am so proud of them for persevering with it and learning to fly a kite! Charlie was like "It's an achievement" and he's right, it was! :)

How have you been enjoying the summer lately?

Sarah xXx

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I haven't joined in with the alphabet project for ages! I wish I had of joined in every week, this project is SO much!!
Owls. I love owls. Ellie also owls and between us, we collect.. you guessed it... OWLS!
(Please don't mind the messy window, it had just down poured!)


I got these owls for a bargain price of £1 or something like that! Aren't they lovely? I saw them in a charity shop window and had to go in and buy them. I adoreeee owls, hehe.

Sarah xXx 

This post is linked up with: 
The Alphabet Project.

 Yellow moon sent us this lovely football bookmark kit to review. Anyone who reads my blog regually will know that all three of my children LOVE football, so this football bookmark kit was right up there street!


This bookmark kit comes in a pack of four. Four individually wrapped assorted book kits! Each kit contains four bookmarks - containing a foam template, self adhesive foam (football related) shapes and instructions. Each bookmark height is 18cm and there is no glue required! The book marks and shapes are brightly coloured which really appealed to my little ones. Ellie said "I love the colours! They look so great" And Charlie especially liked that the "grass" was mounted onto a larger piece of foam, bless him.


My little's really could not wait to try these and make themselves a bookmark!
Because the foam shapes are self adhesive, the back of each shape just peels off very easy and sticks onto the bookmark template. They really didn't need any help in making these and got stuck right into them. Ellie loved the "googley eyes" best apparently, hehe.



They made there bookmarks really easily themselves. It's a fun, quick, easy arts and crafts activity for any child (aged 5+), especially if they love football!
They're really proud of there football bookmarks and can not wait to show them off at school, when they go back in a few weeks, hehe.

Priced at just £3.95, I would say they are well worth the money. We would definitely recommend them. These would also make a lovely gift for any child that enjoys arts & crafts & being creative. My children really enjoyed making them.
(If only H would let me take his photo!)

Yellowmoon sell a very good selection of kids arts & crafts goodies, as well as many other products. All very reasonably priced, too!

You can also follow yellowmoon on Facebook

Sarah xXx

Disclaimer: We received this product for the purpose of this review. I was not paid to write this review and all opinions are my own, honest, personal opinion(s). 

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Tried & Tested. 
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Creative Monday 

Well, I've been slacking when it comes to meal planning (again!). So I'm gonna get back into it.
I have bits in the freezer to use up..

Monday - Chicken nuggets, fries, spahetti hoops.

Tuesday - Home made beef burgers in buns with salad.

Wednesday - Sausage, mash, peas and gravy

Thursday - Home made lasagne with garlic bread.

Friday - Pizza day!

Saturday - Chicken curry, with rice and naan bread

Sunday - Sunday roast.

What's on your meal plan this week?

Sarah xXx 

Can you caption this photo?

We recently reviewed some cat products from Petshopbowl. Well, my cat reviewed them. And loved them.
I've teamed up with Petshopbowl to give one of my readers/followers a chance to win a bundle of cat food which includes:

• 3.75kg of Almo Nature Rouge Label Chicken Dry Cat Food 
• 10 Almo Nature Wet Cat Food Pouches in a variety of flavours

This giveaway is UK ONLY AGED 18+. There will be ONE winner.
Please read the T&C at the bottom of the rafflecopter.
Ends: 5th September at midnight. 

South Lawn at Speke Hall.

South Lawn at Speke Hall.

South Lawn at Speke Hall.

South Lawn at Speke Hall.

Pretty!

South Lawn at Speke Hall.

South Lawn.

Bees are at work in the kitchen garden at Speke Hall.

Kitchen Garden.

Roses at Speke Hall, behind the house.

Woodland at Speke hall.

Speke Hall, Liverpool. August 2014.

We went to Speke Hall last week, it's a big old Tudor house and it's truly stunning! We had an amazing time and really want to go back next time we're in Liverpool!

Sarah xXx

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The Black & White project
image-in-ing

When we were visiting Liverpool, we decided to go to Speke Hall, Gardens and Estate. Speke Hall is Tudor house set on the banks of The River Mersey. It's a very old, beautiful house with SO much ground, woodland and pretty gardens. There is seriously so much history there and it is so, so beautiful. I feel that my photo's really don't do it any justice. The house is also said to be haunted!



First of all when we got to Speke Hall, we paid our admission, we got a family ticket (two adults and three kids) and we were given a couple of skipping ropes and pair of binoculars for the kids to borrow, in a little red bag - easy for them to carry around. We also got a map of Speke Hall, which contained lots of information as well as a map! We decided to have lunch first. We took our own picnic with us. There's a really lovely picnic area at Speke Hall. There is also a restaurant too.



After we'd had something to eat, the kids wanted to go on the Maze, which is seriously AMAZING! The kids LOVED it. Speke Hall is also right by the airport in Liverpool so we got to see lots of airplanes very, very low because they'd just taken off, which was also quite amazing.


We went for a little walk around the grounds and gardens. Wow, just wow, it is so all so beautifully pretty and so well maintained. There's also lots of sign posts along the way, so we didn't get lost.
We had a little look around the kitchen Gardens (where the bee's were at work). The garden is lovely, lots of plants and fruit/vegies. We learned a lot, too!


We had a look around the courtyard and house, the house is quite dark and although you are allowed to take photographs, no flashes on cameras are allowed. Needless to say, the photos are a little dark (I've lightened some of them using ipiccy), but that's ok. The house is absolutely stunning and I am not sure what I was expecting but I was not expecting it to be as breath taking as it really is. While walking thru the halls and rooms, you can just imagine what it was like in Tudor and Victorians times because the house is so old! I really, really enjoyed it. I think my favourite room was 'The Great Hall'. It was just beautifully stunning. I really got a sense of all the history, it was truly amazing.


After we'd had a look around the house, we went and got an ice lolly/ice-cream from the barn shop and had a rest in South Lawn which is right next to the house (and also by a little shop). We then went on the woodland trail and found a little park/play area for the kids! Which they thought was fantastic. They loved the swing rope thingy. Ellie loved walking around under the trees exploring.


We made our way around the woodland trail, taking in the gorgeous surroundings.
We stopped again at the Maze and the other play area before we checked out the little gift shop at Speke Hall.

A thumbs up from Ellie!!!

There is seriously so much for kids to do at Speke Hall - two play areas, a maze, the house itself.. The gardens.. the woodland, there is just SO much to do and see! The kids enjoyed running around in the open spaces and burning off lots of energy. I would love to go back. We didn't get to see everything at Speke Hall and the surrounding grounds/gardens/estate. Next time we visit Liverpool I would certainly go back.
I wish we lived closer, I would totally invest in yearly passes because I think I could go there every week and not get bored and I know the kids feel the same!


There was a lot of staff around to ask questions and give directions etc. Charlie was all like "The people have dressed up in olden day clothes" Ha, he was impressed with staff dressing up, aww. That I thought, was a nice touch.

My favourite part? Certainly without a doubt - the house itself! I loved it.
The kids favourite part? Probably the woodland play area and The Maze. Although they did enjoy everything about our day out at Speke Hall.
Would we go back again? ABSOLUTELY!

A view of the River Mersey, from the top of the maze at Speke Hall.

Speke Hall is the best day out we've had for a long, long time. It was really great fun.

Sarah xXx

Please note: No one has asked me to write this blog post, it isn't sponsored in any way, shape or form, I haven't been paid for this post. We paid our own admissions etc. I am writing this post because I personally wanted to share our day out with the world! 
*All photos in this post were taken by me*

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