June, for some reason, was a really hard month for me. I don't know why but I was just so anxious and at the end of June I got to the point where I didn't even want to step outside the front door. I felt panicky and really shaky. I think it was a lot of things that had just built up and anxiety was the result. A lot of anxiety. I also had an IIH (brain condition) flare up which played a huge part in the above. However, the kids still had a good month! We still did a few fun things. The start of June wasn't so bad.

The month started off really well. My new baby nephew was born! He is just adorable, so precious. I'm so excited to have another little nephew. I love newborn cuddles!

We celebrated the queens 90th Birthday but attending a British themed fete (everything was red, white and blue - The colours of the union jack). The kids all won some fab prizes on the tombola and lucky dip type stalls and there were bouncy castles etc! It was a fun afternoon :)
The boys went fishing with there dad a couple of times which gave Ellie and I some time on our own. We spent the afternoon along the river and treated ourselves to some fish and chips which was yummy!


We went to another summer fair! Local to us, about five minutes walk away which was very handy! There were rides and inflatables for the kids to go on! It was SO cheap, wrist bands were £3 each for the whole day. The kids had an absolute blast.



I read a fair bit (before the IIH flare up). Reading really helps me to relax and just unwind. I love getting lost in a book. I found a few good books in charity shops! I do love looking for books in charity shops and giving pre loved books a good home, hehe. I started a book blog and instagram dedicated especially to books! Yay! You can read my reviews and bookish posts over on my book blog aka Sarah's Book Hub


There was a lot of proud mummy moments in June, too! With Charlie preparing for high school and how well all the kids are doing at school. I am so proud of them all. Harry started swimming at school, he honestly hates deep water so I am truly proud of him for giving swimming a whirl at school. He's overcoming his fear.

 We have lots to look forward to in July. You can see our bucket list here. Charlie turns eleven years old and has induction days at high school. We also have a parents open evening at the high school, too! We have sports days and end of the year assemblies. School plays and concerts etc. I'm looking forward to all those things and we're very excited about the six weeks holidays! It'll be nice to have the kids home and a break from the school routine :)

How was your June? What are you most looking forward to in July? Let me know in the comments :)

This Sunday just gone, our village held a summer fair/fete. We have already been to one summer fete, to celebrate the queens 90th Birthday but this one we couldn't miss as it's literally five minutes walk from our house! The kids were SO excited! Even my teenager was excited - No, he doesn't look it in the photos because , well, he's a teenager and his constant face is "I'm a moody teenager and I'll never look happy even though I am" haha.


We got to the fair and had a little wonder around first. The wrist bands were £3 each and lasted the whole day! Unlimited goes on rides and bouncy castles! That was an absolute bargain and without those, there's no way we'd have been able to afford it! We got an ice cream and then the boys spotted some friends from school. They went around in a big group and I kept my eye on them and wasn't far behind them. Harry would pretend he hadn't seen me and when I asked him to pose for picture I got the "I'm a grumpy teenager" look, haha. I promise, he was enjoying himself! Especially once he found some friends to hang around with.


I couldn't take many photos as I hadn't taken my camera (It was too hot to lug that around!) and my phone was -typically- dying.


They all had many, many goes on the inflatables and bouncy castles etc. Ellie liked the Disney themed ones best, haha. As the day went on, it get busier and busier so we got a drink and a snack from the surrounding burger bars and food stalls! Which was surprisingly actually not over priced. And the kids got one of those refillable beakers, which worked out so much cheaper in the long run because it was £1 to refill with a slush puppy and they lasted AGES! Usually I wouldn't be impressed with the prices but honestly, they weren't bad at all!
We listened to some live music. There was a girl group who were 50s inspired but sang modern songs 50's style! They were "EPIC" - Charlie's words!



We also watched the dog show which was cool and also funny because a couple of the dogs were so excited to see so many people and other dogs, they just ran around the course doing there own thing - So funny and SO sweet! I actually think that may have been part of the "act" because it worked well, haha. Ellie won a rubiks cube on one of the tombolia type stalls. Charlie and Harry both won a balloon.. Sadly Ellie's blew away. Which she was upset about when we got home, bless her. I told her I'd buy a pack of balloons this week. Bless her.


We stayed for a good few hours and then decided we'd come home and have pizza for dinner and prepare for school the next day! The kids slept SO well, they were all so tired.
It was a fab day!

One of our absolute favourite places is castle park, we try to go there at least three times a year! We went there back in April and fed the squirrels, who are very tame! This time we decided to take a picnic along with us.



After we'd eaten our lunch, we deicded to go and look at the gardens and have a walk around. I have so many pictures of the gardens (it's a whole other blog post in itself!) We love admiring the beautifu views in castle park!




Isn't it all so very pretty?! Castle park is a truly beautiful place.

 We also wandered around and found a squirrel. We took a long a few nuts just in case the squirrels were around. We fed them last time we were there and it was such good fun! They love, love, love nuts! They were even eating out of our hands! (Don't worry, I took hand sanitizer with us)

 We spent ages watching this little squirrel burying nuts and running around, he was so, so cute! I just love them, as do the kids! They're adorable.

We did of course also play on the park playground, well, the kids did. I did not. I say back and watched them enjoy themselves on the zip wire, climbing frames and what not! They had a wonderful time and honestly, I don't think they'd ever, ever get bored of going to castle park, there is seriously so much to do!





We were all exhausted by the end of the day and I may or may not have fell asleep on the bus ride home, oops. We can't wait to go again in the Autumn though and jump in some leaves, hehe. We hope achieve more things from our summer bucket list before summer is over.

I hope you've all been enjoying the summer so far! Best make the most of it now because Autumn is right around the corner.

Sarah xXx

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This last week has been a bit chaotic. With the kids breaking up from school, end of term (leavers) assembly, as Harry is leaving primary school and moving on up to high school. There has of course been end of term  picnics and school plays, there has needed to be three of me but we got through it and it was really quite fun. We really enjoyed the picnic at the school, on the last day of term. The boys school play was absolutely amazing. Now that school has broken up for summer, we can really enjoy our summer holidays.



We started our summer holidays by walking along the river bank and feeding the swans and geese. Feeding the swans, geese and ducks is one of our favourite things to do!


 Ellie was a little afraid of them as the geese were after the bag she was holding in her hand! They were hissing at her. To be fair, they are quite scary (especially when they're as big as you are... They are as tall as Ellie!) but I explained that they wouldn't harm her and they were just hungry, greedy geese, haha. Ellie wasn't overly convinced but she did enjoy feeding them "They're not so hungry now" she said to me. The things with geese is though, they just seem to eat and eat. And eat. And eat! Haha. They are such beautiful, pretty birds though.

Charlie however, has no fear and couldn't wait to get up and close, lol! "They're okay, they won't harm us, they just want the food" he told us all". Harry wasn't convinced, he stayed well clear and instead of coming down onto the riverbank sandy beach part, he stayed up on the bank itself. Bless him.


We finished our little trip out feeding the ducks with an ice-cream and a cold drink! We sat and admired the view. I am so glad my children enjoy the scenery as much as I do! I think they find it relaxing, too.


How have you been enjoying the summer so far?
Sarah xXx#

Last weekend was bank holiday weekend and we really did make the most of it! I also thought it would be a good time to tick something off our summer bucket list.

The weather was (mostly) glorious. We decided to go on a bus ride to castle park again, it's one of favourite places, especially on a bank holiday because there's usually lots of activities and different things to do. We went last bank holiday weekend, too. We were super excited to go back.

I popped into pound and first to buy some drinks and snacks and also some snacks for the squirrels. We arrived just before lunch and had a little walk around the park. We spotted some squirrels and fed those some nuts, the kids and I LOVED feeding the squirrels. They are unbelievably tame and enjoyed munching on the nuts (not salted!) we gave them.

A photo posted by Sara ♡ (@sassyserz) on May 25, 2015 at 3:24am PDT

They were climbing up our legs and sitting on our knee, so cute and so tame! Charlie was quite amazed by them. They are so adorable! Ellie was all "Why can't we take them home?!" Bless. I explained we can't take wild animals home - they are not pets, even if they are tame, lol.


After feeding the squirrels and having a litle walk around the top half of the park, we decided it was time for lunch. We all decided on fish and chips for lunch, such a lovely treat.
We found a quieter spot in a quieter park and sat and ate our lunch.


We fed the pigeons the left over ships and bread roll, which they enjoyed, haha. We made our way back to castle park after lunch for a play on the play park and to check out the summer fete/fair.
Charlie and Ellie had fun playing on the playground, Harry just wanted to sit and watch for now.



The kids loved playing on the huge climbing frame and slides! It is SO huge the play area in the castle park. So much to do! They had a good play on the park and then we made our way down to the fete.

A photo posted by Sara ♡ (@sassyserz) on May 25, 2015 at 8:01am PDT

There were bouncy castles, Go-Kart rides, cheerleaders and other dancers, a magician and tombola stalls etc. It was great fun! Charlie and Ellie both picked to go on the Go-Kart rides, Harry however wanted to have a go on the stalls... throw the ball in the bucket and what not. We also won a big red cherry scented ball on the raffle! Such fun.

We stopped for a little rest, a drink and a game of football before heading off home.


We stopped off for a little look at the fish pond, which we were walking past any way. We were all shattered when we got to the bus stop! It was a really wonderful day, we had all had great fun and the little's were exhausted by the time bed time rolled around, bless.

A photo posted by Sara ♡ (@sassyserz) on May 25, 2015 at 7:59am PDT

Castle park is one of our absolute favourite places to go, there is so much to do. The play park is awesome, there's usually some kind of bouncy castles or inflatables, there's a pond, gardens and even a cafe! Not to mention the very old castle itself. We are so looking forward to going back again. Next time, we're going to take a lovely picnic with us, hehe. 


Sarah xXx

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