Customized Canvas with CanvasChamp

Since photography all became digital over the last decade, I have very rarely printed out any photographs of the boys, So the only ones I really have on my wall are ones that were taken at James school last year. So when CanvasChamp got in touch and asked if we would like to review one of their 12x8 canvas prints we jumped at the chance.

We have a few canvas prints at home, but these have all been gifts from family. We have never actually sat down and ordered a canvas print ourselves.

The process of ordering was so easy, it literally only took me ten minutes to do the order. I chose to use a photograph I had taken a few weeks ago when we went from a walk into Newcastle from where we live on outskirts of the city. We were walking along the path on the Town Moor and Freddie was running chasing James. Even though it is from the back, you can tell just how much Freddie idolizes his big brother! I chose to use this picture as it was a beautiful photo of my boys as you can see below.

I ordered this on Saturday 28th July at 8pm and we received it at half past four on 3rd August 2018. I was so impressed with the speed of the delivery from the actual order going through to receiving the finished canvas!

The canvas is absolutely gorgeous! I love the size and the quality of the finished product! Now all I have to do is actually find somewhere in our house to hang it for everyone to see!

**Disclaimer: We received this canvas print free of charge in exchange for this review. All words and pictures are our own!**

One Week Down, FIVE to go!

So week one of the summer holidays is officially over, and I have survived having both boys with me 24/7!!!

Now people will read this and laugh as of course I had both boys with me last summer too, but last summer (2016) Freddie was not mobile! I could quite happily leave him on his baby gym and go into the kitchen to make lunch or a cup of tea!

Now this year summer 2017 Freddie is very much mobile, in fact he's running all over and pestering James something rotten!

So week one has been pretty chilled out, we have pretty much stayed at home bar a doctors appointment for mummy's dodgy knee, a trip to shop and a fun morning at our local sure start centre!

We also had Nana and Gaga drop in for a couple of hours too! 

The highlight of the week though for James was our trip to Newcastle on Friday where we went for a pub lunch with Nana and Gaga!

Week two we are going to stay with Nana and Gaga. So there will be lots of walking into the village to go to the river, maybe ice cream and of course lots of visits to the play park 

Summer Reading 2017

James is not the best reader for his age. He loves having stories read to him, but ask him to read to you and he gets grumpy!

This year at school, he has brought home books but most have lasted a few weeks before he has had them changed as he kept refusing to do his reading with us.

Now he is on holiday for six weeks and Mummy is determined to get him reading more so when he goes back he will want to do his reading.

So with that in mind I have designed him his own summer 2017 reading record book!

I thought that the school might have sent something like that home for the kids over the summer, but they didn't so I sat down on the first Saturday night of the holidays while James and Freddie were in bed and designed one myself! 

I designed both the cover and the inserts in Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7, Which is quite an old soft wear, but its one that I love! And even when I have tried new ones I always end up coming back to this one!

Below is what I came up with! The only difference between the cover below and the one I have printed out is that the printed copy has James' name on!

 


I inserted the cover onto the right hand side of a landscape Microsoft Word document to make a cover. I then inserted two of the record pages onto a landscape Word document, then printed them out, I then worked out which way to put the paper up in my printer to print on the other side to make the record sheets double sided!

I'm really hoping this encourages James with his reading over the summer, so when he goes back to school in September he makes a good impression on his new teacher and also that his old teacher and his old TAs are proud of him!  

James is Turning Five - The Party Haul

So with every party, you need a good party haul on stuff for the party! So this is our first haul for the Spiderman Party to celebrate James turning five!

First off we have the Spiderman party bags! These were £1.50 for eight at Tesco, who also have all their party stuff on offer for 5 for the price of 4! So four packets of party bags were purchased.

Next we have the Spiderman happy birthday banner. This was also from Tesco in the 5 for the price of 4 offer.

We have the number 5 candle for James cake! Last year we had candles spelling our James on the cake and they were such a pain to light so this year we have gone with just the number!

We also have some mini sparklers for the cake! James had sparklers on his first birthday cake so when I saw these at Tesco I knew I had to get them!

James is after a pinata so I'm on the hunt for a Spiderman one!! If you know where I can get one from please email or leave a comment below!

The next haul will be on the party bags and what is in them!

Summer Born

So most of you know I have a summer boy and a winter boy. I have been thinking about things you are not told about having a summer baby!

The most important for me is they could be youngest in their class, especially if they are late! James was due August 18th, but didn't arrive till eight days later on 26th August. This makes him the youngest in his class at school, and not by a few days, it's a month between James and the next youngest child in his class. There's actually kids in the school nursery with closer birthdays to his!

Another thing is their birthday will always be in the school holidays, but that also means friends and family are on holiday so having a party is a bit hit/miss. Last year there was only ten including James and Freddie at James party!!

Hand me down clothes can be wrong season! Freddie is into James old 12-18 clothes but I have a pile of 12-18 shorts that I don't think will fit Freddie come summer! 

Toilet training can be hit/miss. James didn't potty train till he was 3, that was literally two weeks before he started nursery. We had issues with James refusing to go to the toilet at nursery. So for the first few weeks we had to pick him up early or would get a phone call to pick him up early. Now a year on he will happily use the school toilets.

James is a reluctant writer and does struggle a bit with fine motor skills, this is also down to how young he is compared to the rest of the class.

If anyone has anything to add about summer born babies then leave a comment below! 

Confessions of a Summer Parent!

Summer holidays argh!!! This year Is the first year I have had to face the six/seven weeks holiday as before this year James had always been with me, but since he started nursery school last September and subsequently going to school this September, school holidays have become so important.

Our school finishes on July 22nd and goes back on September 6th so I have a grand total of six weeks and one day to amuse James. As each set of holidays have rolled round this school year, I have for it harder to amuse James as he has been desperate to go to school and see all of his friends. 

Lucky for us our local children's centre normally has at least one 0-5 group on, so I can take the boys along to that. But finding stuff to do the rest of the time is hard especially when daddy does not have any holiday off till the last week of the holidays and even then it's only two days and we will be down in Surrey visiting family.

Through James school we get a copy of a magazine called Primary Times and I find this fantastic as it has all the activities that are on at attractions in the North East listed! It also normally contains a few vouchers for money off entrance. We have used previous vouchers during other school holidays to keep James amused!

There is so much going to be on over the summer and these are just a few of the things happening in the north east, some of these I'm hoping to get the boys along too!

First off we have Warkworth Castle, which is literally a five minute walk from my parents house! They have stuff on every holiday and this summer is no different! Starting from the first weekend of the summer they have something on at least one day a week and also the village show is on 20th August. Primary Times also has a voucher for free child entry with a full paying adult. 

We also have Alnwick Castle, they again have lots on over the summer, for five weekends they have on Potter inspired characters. This is because Alnwick Castle was used as Hogwarts in the first couple of Harry Potter films. There is also the beautiful Alnwick Gardens too! 

For a child like James, who loves diggers then I think a visit to Diggerland is definitely on our list! 

We are lucky to have places like these a short drive away, so we will definitely be paying a visit to them. But for the days when we are at home mummy will be turning to good old arts and crafts and of course Netflix to amuse James. He's a real lover of Paw Patrol and Bubble Guppies so they will definitely be used to keep James amused on the days where mummy just wants to chill out.

So these are just a few of the things I'm going to be trying to do to keep my big boy amused over the summer holidays! 

This post is an entry for BritMums Confessions of a Summer Parent Challenge, sponsored by Anchor

Images supplied by www.ivtography.com