An Arty Day Out At The #LoveGrays Event

Crafts / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

On Saturday the girls enjoyed an arty day out at the #LoveGrays event on in town. The Mr pointed the event out to me as he spotted it on facebook so I decided to drag the girls to town to see what was going on.

We only stayed for an hour or so as it was cold but the girls really enjoyed themselves!

#LoveGrays event

Eva headed straight to the stage where local’s performed across the day. She joined in with the dancing and Izzy followed but spent most of the time just staring at the stage or trying to be cute when the photographer’s were around.

We decided to go see what crafts were happening and the girls joined in drawing the things they love in grays. Izzy drew the ‘park & boats’ and a few other little pictures happily chatting away as she did. Eva drew her teachers & had hers put up on the display’s.

I actually loved the way the displays had been made with large reel’s stuck together and painted. They soon filled up with postcards by kids filled with pictures & writing about why they love Grays.

The girls then moved to another table where they got to pick a picture from a copy of local history books and stick it to a piece of card & draw/decorate/write on it however they wanted with Posca pens.

I was quite impressed with Eva coming up with the idea of outlining parts of hers.. I half expected her to just add hearts & flower’s everywhere haha! Eva loves these activities which are run by Metal  to get people involved in arts across Southend and south Essex.

Last summer we attended the Village Beach event too where Eva earned a certificate for designing & printing on a tote bag. She still has her bag & loved receiving her certificate last year too! We will definitely be keeping an eye out for any other upcoming events!

Do you have anything like this running in your area? Do you or your kids enjoy getting involved in events like this?

2nd Leibster Award

Uncategorized / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
second leibster award

I’ve been nominated for a 2nd Leibster award by the lovely Jo who blogs over at FirstTimeValleyMam

second leibster award

So the rules are;

  • Thank the person who nominated you – and display your award with pride

  • Answer the eleven questions put to you by the person who nominated you
  • List 11 random facts about yourself
  • Nominate and link to other bloggers that you think are deserving of this award

  • Give them 11 questions to answer and let them know they’ve been nominated!

 

Here are my 11 answers:

  1. What is your favourite book? The secret garden. Even now as an adult it’s such a lovely book to escape into.
  2. If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go and why? New Zealand. It’s such a beautiful place and as my granddad/great granddad (I can never remember as I didn’t know them) was Maori but I’ve always been fascinated by the culture & wanted to visit because of it.
  3. Where was the last place you went on holiday. I’ve never been away on a proper holiday but we stayed in Deal, Kent when Eva was a baby and it was a lovely break!
  4. Do you have any tattoos? If so how many and do they have meanings. I’m so fussy I can’t afford the kind of tattooist I’d trust so I currently have 0!
  5. If someone said you could do out any room in your house which room would it be and why? My living room. It’s an absolute state and really needs doing!
  6. Favourite chocolate bar. Galaxy caramel smooth.
  7. Summer or winter and why? Summer. I can’t cope with the cold anymore it turns me into a miserable moaning cow!
  8. What other blogger would you really want to meet with? Tracey/Mrs A from Hooks and Dragons. She’s absolutely lovely & my twitter mummy so I need to meet her soon!
  9. A night in with food and a mate or a night out in a bar with a group of mates? Night in with food every time!
  10. Preferred social media ? Twitter!
  11. If you could ask anyone a question who would it be and what question would you ask? Wow this one is tricky.. I can’t actually think of a good question for anyone! 😧 I would probably ask someone like Stephen Fry a really silly question 😂😂 

 

11 random facts about me:

  1. I would stay in my PJ’s all day everyday if I could!
  2. Most days I do stay in my PJ’s all day, real clothes are uncomfortable.
  3. I struggle to talk to other women, I generally get on better with men.
  4. I’m a Leo.. RAWR!
  5. Watching boat’s go along the river from my window is something I spend far too much time doing.
  6. I HATE COFFEE!! Yep. I said it. I love tea though!
  7. I’ve never had cheesecake… apparently that’s weird haha
  8. I had to google Tom Hardy when everyone was banging on about him reading bedtime stories on cbeebies! I actually wouldn’t.. haha!
  9. Reading a book is something I’m determined to do over the next month or so as I haven’t read in months other that children’s books.
  10. I am clueless when it comes to most Actor’s/Actresses names so always get confused when talking about them.
  11. Music is almost always on when it’s just me and the girls!

My Nominations are Tash from Boundforsomewhere & Mike from The Misadventures of Mike

 

My questions for my nominees are:

  1.  What is your all time favourite film and why?
  2. If you could own any car or motorbike what would it be?
  3. What is your favourite way to relax?
  4. What is your greatest achievement?
  5. If you could achieve one thing this year what would it be?
  6. What one thing have you been meaning to fix or replace but just haven’t gotten round to?
  7. Where is your favourite place to visit & why?
  8. Do you have a favourite meal you just couldn’t live without?
  9. If you were offered a £10,000 or a self sufficient island which would you go for?
  10. Where would you go if you had the offer of an all expenses paid family holiday?
  11. What book do you have next in line to read?

Our Favourite Books This Week – Week 2

Our Favourite Books This Week / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Carrying on with our favourite books this week the girls have again picked 2 books they have individually enjoyed and one I have read them which they have enjoyed too.

Izzy’s Favourite books this week:

Izzy got 2 new books this week from one of the pound shops, both are Little Miss books by Roger Hargreaves. She has Little Miss Helpful and Little Miss Trouble.. Izzy is definitely both haha!

I wasn’t surprised by Izzy’s favourite page in Little Miss Trouble. She giggled loads at this haha!

She thought it was funny when Little Miss helpful mistook the flower’s for weed’s.. not sure why but she was clearly amused!

Eva’s favourite books this week:

Eva chose Disney’s Toy Story and Disney’s The Little Mermaid and Spot from her bookshelf this week. It’s amazing to see her reading so quickly now. She will read several Disney books in a row now!

Eva’s favourite part of The Little Mermaid and Spot was when Ariel said ‘You’re a big hero’. She like that Spot had done so well.

Andy’s birthday party was Eva’s favourite part of Toy Story. She liked the toy’s using binoculars to watch the gifts being opened.

Our favourite book overall to read together this week:

They chose Disney’s Cinderella as their favourite book we have read together this week. Both girls have always loved me reading them Cinderella for some reason.

Izzy loves the blue dress at the end and the mice, Jaq & Gus! Eva loved the ending where the Prince married Cinderella and they lived happily ever after.

What are your children’s favourite books this week?

Our Favourite Books This Week – Week 1 

Our Favourite Books This Week / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

I love reading a fun book to the girls. Although we don’t read every night before bed we read most days. Eva now reads independantly quite a lot of the time but still likes to read out loud to anyone willing to listen. Izzy loves to be read to and is able to ‘read’ a book to us looking at the pictures.

The girls having such a passion for reading is something I’m extremely proud of to be honest. I think it’s brilliant for children to fall in love with reading and get lost in the magic of a good book. I try to keep their bookshelf filled with a variety of books and try to take the girls to the library too when I’m feeling up to it so we decided to start sharing some of our favourite books each week starting with this post!

So here are Eva’s favourite books this week:

Eva chose 2 books from ber bookshelf this week. She really enjoyed reading Disney’s The Aristocats and Bambi Grows up.

Eva says she loves the end of The Aristocats when Duchess & O’Malley get to live together, she really likes the pictures throughout the book too especially all the cute kittens! What’s your favourite part of The Aristocats?

 

Bambi being born was Eva’s favourite part of Bambi Grows up. She thinks he looks cute all curled up when all the animals come to see him.

Izzy’s Favourite books this week:

Izzy chose 2 books she borrowed from the Library. Ben & Holly’s Little Kingdom – Magic School and Mr Men & Little Miss – Shapes

Izzy loves the Jelly flood in Magic school and giggles her head off! She asked Eva to read it several times this week. The girls have loved sitting up at the table reading this together and it’s lovely to watch and listen to.

 

Her absolute favourite was the Shapes book though as she learnt all the names of the Mr Men & Little Miss aswell as learning to recognise shapes well enough to ‘read’ the book to someone herself. She also gets up at the end to dance and sings the ‘I am a shape’ song from Mister Maker haha!

Our favourite book overall to read together this week:

Tinga Tinga Tales Why Monkeys Swing in The Trees is a bo0ok .y girls absolutely love! The Tinga Tinga Tales books are always fun and colourful and both girls love to read along shouting excitedly when the crocodile goes ‘SNAP!’. I will definitely be looking for more in the series to read to the girls as we all enjoy them.

Reading can be so much fun for kids with such a huge variety of books available. What are your kids favourite books to read? Do you like any of the books the girls have chosen this week?

My Sunday Photo – Harley Davidson 

My Sunday Photos / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

Harley Davidson
Anyone that know’s me well knows I would absolutely LOVE a Harley Davidson, in purple of course! This Harley the Mr spotted is pretty cool too and owned by a guy who served in the para regiment and was enjoying a pint at the same pub as him.

I love the sound of a Harley engine and love wandering past the lakeside store and seeing them all outside… I’ll have to see if I can snap my dream bike for a #MySundayPhoto soon! Do you have a dream bike too?

 

Photalife

A Crazy Few Weeks

Family / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple

It’s been a crazy few weeks after I discovered last Wednesday I was entitled to PIP when I woke up and checked my bank account. A letter followed that afternoon. I didn’t quite know how to feel to be honest so I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog. I was quite relieved to have the back payment and be able to sort a few thing’s we needed but at the same time it made me feel quite low. My Anxiety & Depression have spiralled our of control because of Chronic Pain at the moment that I need this just to help me do simple things and make life a little less stressful!

I’ve found it hard to write or join in properly on twitter again which is quite frustrating but I’m feeling a little bit better about everything now and trying to focus on the positives.

It’s been a struggle to get out and about for month’s thanks to anxiety and pain making my life hell. I’ve been able to get taxi’s over the last week or so, something I usually avoid because of the cost. It’s been quite nice to go out and not hurt instantly from walking there or panicking about missing a bus or train. I have a lot of different appointments coming up with CBT, Psychology etc. It’s difficult having to go alone as the Mr has to look after the girls. Now I know it won’t be half as stressful going alone as I can take a taxi and not be late or stood waiting in the cold for up to 30 minutes!

I’ve been able to sort storage for the girls room so they have no excuse for it to be too messy. Hopefully saving my back from hours of tidying. Something I stress about regularly. I feel a bit guilty as I should have a quick tidy in there every day but I struggle to keep up with it all, hopefully now the girls will know where to put everything and keep it cleaner.

I decided to treat myself a little to try and make me feel a bit better about myself. I had my hair cut last week and then the Mr dyed it for me with my usual Schwarzkopf XXL Live Mystic Purple dye! He even did my brothers hair too which made Alex happy. It’s definitely made me feel a little less-self conscious being purple again.

a crazy few weeks

I bought a dinner table so we can eat properly at a table as a family, great for Family dinner’s! My brother Alex has found our family dinner’s give him a sense of normality and family life he missed out on growing up and he loves that. It’s nice for me too as I rarely see anyone these day’s, now it will be much easier so we can do it more often.

Although our day out this half term didn’t quite go as planned as 360 Play in Basildon were full and had to turn us away, the girls had fun in the arcades at Hollywood Bowl. I was a bit gutted but also quite grateful as the noise in the arcades was bad enough! I felt pretty anxious but with my brother there I managed to stick it out long enough for the girls to have fun.

Martyn & the boys came over this week too for a Greek day, it turned into a not so Greek day with only shields and swords being completed.. me playing with bubble wrap and paint may not have helped haha! It was a rather noisy busy day all round but it was nice to have a catch up and the girls obviously had lots of fun.

Today Eva is off at a Disney Princesses and Princes workshop at the Thameside Theatre run by Creative blast. I surprised her and kept the day a secret right up until the last minute when I pulled her Elsa dress out and explained what she would be doing. She was a little confused at first bless her as she thought I had something important to do haha! The lady at the desk explained what would happen across the day and Eva got excited, even more so when she had her dress on! At the end of the day they are putting on a show which we will go and watch 20 minutes before the end of the day at 4pm. The day only cost £22.50 and it was a fairly small group of kids so I’m sure Eva will have lots of fun getting involved with the others!

 

#VicksTricks & Our Tips To Help Beat Colds

Britmum's Linky Challenges / 7 years ago / RelentlesslyPurple
#vickstricks

#vickstricksThis post is an entry for the #VicksTricks campaign. I was sent a lovely package to help us out including Vicks First Defence. Very comforting to have on standby in this cold weather!

 

My girls are regularly coming down with some nasty cold or bug especially with Eva at school, it’s completely unavoidable! We’ve all felt a bit rough over the last week so our #VicksTricks package couldn’t have come at a better time. We usually know they are coming down with something when they get a temperature, something 60% of parents agree on according to research carried out by Vicks.  We use infant Paracetamol to help bring down a temperature. When the girls are ill we spend a lot of time snuggled up on the sofa having cuddles.

50% of parents agree irritability & tantrums are another one of the first signs their children are coming down with a cold. My girls do get irritable and rather emotional, it can be difficult to soothe them with just cuddles and other distractions are needed.

Here’s a few ways we keep them amused:

  1. Read books – My girls love being read to when they are poorly and occasionally fall asleep.
  2. Watch films – New or old favourites keep them occupied for an hour or so at a time. (If you’re lucky they’ll fall asleep haha!)
  3. Colouring in – I tend to find their favourite colouring book.

Almost half of parents agree another sign their little one is coming down with something is loss of appetite. It is most definitely a tell-tale sign with my girls as they LOVE food! It can be difficult to get them to eat but we do have a few tricks.

We offer these

  1. A small snack buffet – Kids are even fussier when ill so we keep it small and simple cucumber, cheese, breadsticks/crackers & fruit.
  2. Yoghurt! – No matter how ill my girls are they never turn down a yoghurt.
  3. Fruit smoothies – Tasty and filling!
  4. Warm Chocolate milk – Helps soothe them off to sleep.

We use Vicks vapour rub to help the girls breathe easier and to clear up any nasty coughs. We find tying a muslin square with Vicks on to the bed post helps them sleep much easier too! Did you know it’s great for kids aged two years and older, but it’s proven to work just as well for adults too.

The Mr cooks up his delicious magic soup in the slow cooker for dinner with meat, potatoes, stock, pearl barley, lots of onion & garlic and any other veg we fancy throwing in! It is a magically warming soup which has helped us get through soo many colds over the years. It can be kept over a few days too, it just needs to be warmed by the bowl.

Talking of magic, have you seen this magic #VicksTricks video?

What tips & tricks do you use?