Monday 30 July 2018

Living Arrows 2018 31/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

We had a lovely time visiting my mum and dad for a few days last week.

Nana picked us up on Monday and we got up to their house for lunch time. The boys then went to the park for a while with Nana and Gaga
.
Mummy and the boys took a walk to the next town to pop to the shops. Then later mummy Nana and the boys went back across to Amble in the car and took the boys for a walk around the harbor and James went onto the beach with Nana while mummy tried to keep Freddie awake!

On Wednesday mummy and Nana took Freddie for a long walk around by the river and the village to get him out of the house! 

We came home on Thursday as the boys had their asthma reviews with the nurse which went really well! 

So the first week of the school holidays is now over and only another 5 weeks and one birthday to go!!


Living Arrows

Friday 27 July 2018

Living Arrows 2018 30/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

So the schools are now on holiday! Last week was pretty busy! Freddie had his last two sessions at playgroup for the year and we also had our last session at sure start since the group will not be running in September. Freddie also had his playgroup party and his long awaited hospital appointment.

James had a pretty busy last week of term, with his project outcome presentation. They also did their sponsored sit. They raised a massive £133 for a local charity!


At the weekend we caught a bus into town and had a wander round. We then headed up to nuns moor for pride weekend but nothing was open when we got there and the boys were grumpy so we walked up to Kenton Road to get the bus home. We then spent the afternoon watching Paddington 2!



Living Arrows

Friday 20 July 2018

End of School Review!

Its now July 20th 2018 and it is James last day in year one! I cannot believe how fast this school year has gone! I feel like I have blinked and its over!

Compared to Reception, I really think Year One has been the making of James! I remember his old Reception Teacher saying she thought he just needed the structure of year one learning and she was right! James is not one of those children who benefits from the learning through play that reception is based, He needed to have the structured time table of maths at a certain time and phonics at certain time and he has come on in leaps and bounds.

The main bases of learning for James in this last term has all been towards the National phonics test, sometimes I think there has been too much pressure on the kids as before the test James was coming home exhausted after having two hard phonics sessions a day rather than the one he had been used to.

The homework diary they use for years 1-6 have pages in the back for all the stickers the kids get and boy has James had a lot of stickers! Last year he barely got any, this year he has sometimes had two or three a day!

He has also had Star of the week twice, he's been very proud when he has come home with I his sticker which is given out in assembly by the head teacher, the certificate is then posted home. 

James also came home with an academic achievement certificate from his head teacher a few weeks ago! 

I am so proud of how well James has done this year! Year two is going to be even harder as they will be working towards the key stage one SATs!







Wednesday 18 July 2018

Mardles Magic Masks Review

James is your typical modern child who loves technology and everything that relates to his tablet. So when the people at Mardles got in touch and asked if James would like to try their Magic Masks we were thrilled.

The Mardles website says "Combining superbly designed masks with a novel “fits all” clasp, our masks do so much more than just look fantastic.
Use the free app and watch them spring to life in stunning 3D. Tap your screen for more fun and you can even see yourself in selfie mode! With characters ranging from Pirates and Princesses to Monsters and Lions, there’s a Mardles Magic Mask for everyone! Ideal for your perfect party or a Halloween with a difference."
James was very kindly sent the pirate, the dragon and the Viking masks to tryout. Mummy downloaded the Mardles App on to her phone. We got the masks out one day after school and they are fantastic! 

James absolutely loved seeing them come to life on my phone screen so much so that mummy downloaded the app onto James tablet so he could play with the masks as much as he wanted without the need for mummy's phone. The videos were so funny although Freddie did get a bit puzzled as to why his big brother was wearing a mask!
Priced at £3.99 per mask these would make the ideal party favor for kids at birthdays, weddings, christenings etc as it will keep them entertained for hours! In fact I'm already looking into purchasing some for James up coming birthday party! I think the five friends James has invited to his birthday party would absolutely love these as much as James!
We had so much fun trying these out and I cannot wait to explore the Mardles range further! I think some of the other brilliant products will make ideal birthday presents for our soon to be six year old!




**We were sent the product free of charge in exchange for this review! All words and pictures are our own!**


Monday 16 July 2018

Living Arrows 2018 29/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

This week has been quite a busy one with both James and Freddie having a trips and then to top it off we had parents evening all on the same day! James went to a sports event at Walker Activity Dome and Freddie and mummy went to Cullercoats beach with his playgroup!

We also had the annual singing picnic at James school! 

On Saturday, since it was a nice day we decided to walk into Newcastle from our house and back via the Town Moor! We then went to our favorite pub - The Old George for lunch! By the time we got home we had walked over seven miles!! The boys had a brilliant time running down the path chasing each other on the Town Moor and shouting Moo at the cows!







Living Arrows

Sunday 15 July 2018

Siblings 2018 July


Welcome back to the Siblings Project in July! 
How can we be in the seventh month of the year already! James only has a week left of school and then its six weeks off! We have James sixth birthday coming up at the end of the holidays, so the summer will be spent planning that!

This months photos were taken a couple of weeks back during all the hot weather we were having! After picking up the boys from playgroup and school we went into the back garden with a tray of water to play with! Freddie got himself absolutely drenched from head to toe! His clothes got thrown straight into the washing machine and his shoes went onto the washing line to dry!





The Siblings Project - Dear Beautiful

Thursday 12 July 2018

How to make a holiday with kids easier! Part Two

Welcome to part two of how to make a holiday with kids easier! You can read part one here! So here are the rest of the tips I gathered from my fellow bloggers!


Beth from https://twinderelmo.co.uk/ says A snoozeshade is a god send if you’ve got a little one in a pram/pushchair to protect them from the sun and helps them sleep when on the go.
A travel blackout blind is also really helpful as hotels rarely have good curtains to block out the light at nap times. – Now we have actually been using a Snoozeshade since Freddie was a few months old and we have just started using the Plus Deluxe version so this will definetly be packed into our changing bag for our holiday! Freddie doesn’t always nap but I have a feeling with the heat he might need a cat nap!

Jennifer from https://www.mymummyspennies.com/ says Our kindles were perfect for entertaining the children on the plane on our recent holiday to Croatia – I will be packing James Lenovo tablet in his hand luggage and I will be also packing our kindle fire into Freddie’s hand luggage. Both tablets take micro SD cards so we will be putting plenty of Cbeebies onto them for the boys to watch!

Hayley from http://www.missmanypennies.com  A couple of small games/packs of cards to keep them entertained in those boring waiting around times – I am looking to get a couple of small travel games to put into either James bag or into Andy’s bag to help entertain James with him being that little bit older than Freddie.

Adrienne from http://workingmumcambridge.com  I find its all in the planning! Lots of snacks and lots of party bag gifts – Lots of snacks will be packed! Especially as Freddie is dairy free. I will have to make sure we have plenty of stuff he can eat just in case he cannot eat his in flight meal.

Luschka from https://diaryofafirstchild.com/ says A good tip for travelling abroad with kids is to have a folder for all your travel documents and tickets and passports. Standing at immigration rummaging through suitcases looking for a letter of permission from the children's dad is really stressful! Have everything in one place and keep it there! – This is actually something we have already done! I have bought a document wallet for travelling! This already has our passports and our European health cards in!

Emma from http://readyfreddiego.com/ says If you have a child with allergies, Allergy UK does a card that is available in 27 languages stating what the allergy is and it’s severity – this is something we will probably have to get as Freddie is about to undergo testing for dairy and soya issues.

Beth from http://www.life-as-mum.co.uk/ says Easier said than done but TRY not to stress too much. Just take the day/night as it comes. The more you stress out it will feel more stress than it actually is– I am an absolute stress head when it comes to trips away with the boys! I have already arranged for the boys to go and stay with Nana and Gaga the weekend before we go away so mummy and daddy can sort out the packing without little hands!

Nita from http://mummywishes.com/ says Fly legsup! Was the perfect companion on long haul flights so that my little one can snooze like he was in first class! – this is something i will have to look into as we are hoping the boys will sleep as it is a 6am flight!

Chantele from http://twoheartsoneroof.com/ says Ear defenders if your flying with a very little one. It was Elian's first flight at 9 months old and we flew to California. The ear defenders meant the roar during take off didn't scare him. – James will be 6 when we fly and Freddie will be almost 3, but I still might take the ear defenders we have for Freddie just in case.




Monday 9 July 2018

Living Arrows 2018 28/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

The weather has been absolutely fantastic again! The boys are taking advantage of it and playing outside and we are going for a walk most mornings before we go to school, Then mummy and Freddie go for a walk before we pick up James. 

Both boys were going to stay up for the England match against Columbia, Freddie didn't even see kick off and James lasted till half time before he had to go to bed as he was so tired! They have both been really enjoying the World Cup, especially James! I think by the next World Cup I will have two football daft boys!

Freddie has been rather accident prone lately and has had a trip to a&e due to slamming a door shut on his hand and injuring his finger!

James has also had the first of his year two transition days with the second one happening later this week. He actually has the same teacher in year two that he had in year one so hopefully he will do just as well! 

The boys have spent this last weekend staying with Nana and Gaga to let mummy and daddy have a night out and time to sort things out in the house!



 




Living Arrows

Thursday 5 July 2018

How to make a holiday with kids easier! Part One

As you know we are going on our first family holiday abroad later this year and we are now under twenty weeks from our first flight with two children! I have been searching the internet to look for products that might make our trip a little easier and I turned to my fellow bloggers to get some tips! In fact I got so many tips I have having to split this post into two parts!


Victoria from https://www.lyliarose.com/ says: On our last trip abroad we got both kids a set of JVC Tiny Headphones and they were brilliant! They were able to listen to music, play games and read on their iPads without distracting each other or other passengers. They're in fun kids colours and come with stickers to personalise too so they loved making them their own – We actually bought James a set of these a few years ago and then got Freddie a set last year when we went to Alton Towers and we love them! These are already in the boxes for packing into the boys hand luggage!

Jemma from http://havekidswilltraveluk.com/ Hands down our baby carriers have been our best investments. They enable us to ditch the Pram which saves weight and explore tons of places that we wouldn’t have been able to take the Pram. We’ve loved the Tula rang– We currently have a We Made Me Pao Papoose but Freddie is starting to outgrow it so sadly I don’t think a carrier will be packed this holiday.

Emma from https://meandbmaketea.com/ says Calpol in sachets - perfect for a sick child at the airport! – Sadly for us this is not an option as Freddie is allergic to the colouring in Calpol and they only make the sachets with the coloured one. We will however use one of our doddle bags with colour free paracetamol in just in case of illness during travel.

Pete from https://www.householdmoneysaving.com/ says High concentration squash from either Robinsons or Oasis. They come in tiny bottles and you just need to add a few drops to water. It means that we don't have to make up loads of drink before we travel – These are brilliant! We used them when went to Alton Towers on the coach and also when we took the boys to London on the coach. These will definitely be packed into our cases and also into hand luggage!

Polly from https://www.ourseasidebaby.com/ says Trunkis! Although it takes a bit of effort to pull a Trunki along with my son on it, he does love his Tiger Trunki suitcase. The packing, pulling his Trunki along and then sitting on it while someone pulls him along makes any trip more exciting – Now this is something I have actually been looking into for our trip. At the moment we are going to be using a Mr Tumble mini case for Freddie and we are looking into a small case on wheels for James, But I keep wondering if a Trunki would be better for them both.

Ruth from https://www.craftwithcartwright.co.uk/ Some good activity books with stickers. Get them away from screens and doing something creative. Great for hanging around airports – This is something we have already bought! The boys have a Paw Patrol sticker book each for the flight. Plus I have a couple more on my Amazon wish list!

Samantha from https://www.northeastfamilyfun.co.uk/ says We load a portable hard drive up with their favourite movies and take it with us along with a USB cable. This is SO useful when you need some downtime or in the mornings/evenings if you need to keep the kids entertained while you're getting ready. Especially in places where there isn't any free WiFi or it doesn't have very good signal and tablets don't work as well. – Now I’m actually thinking about taking my portable hard drive and downloading some stuff onto it for the boys and buying an adapter to attach it to my iPad!

Stay tuned for Part Two of these useful hints!





Monday 2 July 2018

Living Arrows 2018 27/53

Welcome back to another week of Living Arrows hosted by Donna over at What The Redhead Said. If you are new to this then the name of the linky comes from the poem by Kahlil Gibran "You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth"

It is creeping closer and closer to the summer holidays for James and Freddie! We only have about 4 weeks left of term now! James has a singing picnic coming up with his school the second last week of term. All the families are invited in on the second last Friday of term afternoon and each class sings a song, Then the whole school do some together!! James has been having a ball practicing his songs at home! He's been singing Favorite Things from the Sound of Music for the last week driving us all crazy!

Since we have been having some nice weather we have been going outside into the garden before school if we have time and then leaving a little bit earlier and going for a nice walk before we go drop James off!

Freddie has been waking up so early! Monday he was awake at 0420! So poor mummy was up with him while daddy and James kept sleeping! Only plus side has been Freddie actually napped meaning mummy could sit and do some work!!

After school and playgroup on Tuesday we took a box of water outside into the garden and the boys had a brilliant time! Freddie was soaking wet!

James loves the filters on Facebook photos so we were messing around with them one morning before we went to school and this was my favorite one of him!



The SnoozeShade has been coming in very handy with Freddie! Its been so hot and sunny, but by using the shade it has kept him cool and happy on the school run!








Living Arrows