Saturday, 11 November 2017

Letter to Santa

**This Post contains an affiliated link!**

So its almost time for Santa to visit and what child wouldn't like to receive a letter from the big man in red! I know James would love to get a letter from Santa and He is already asking me how long till Santa comes!


That's where Letter to Santa comes in! You can order a personalised letter for your child! With prices starting at £4.99  your child will receive a lovely letter from Santa! And on Christmas Day its self they will receive a text message! 


With Three different colour packs to choose from, where can you go wrong with ordering a letter for your child!


For the £4.99 pack you need to fill in the following information on the Letter to Santa Website - 
  • Age
  • Gender
  • Relatives name
  • Friends name
  • Desired Present for Christmas
  • An achievement from the year
  • Their Home Town
  • Preference of Santa Claus or Father Christmas

For £8.99 you get the same as above but with an added activity pack containing - 
  • Personalised Nice List Certificate
  • Door Hanger
  • A Photo of Santa's Reindeer
  • Double-Sided Festive Activity Sheet (Colouring, Maze, Dot-to-Dot)
I know that we will be ordering James the letter with the activity pack as he is five and for Freddie who will only be two we will be ordering him the £4.99 letter.

Letter to Santa are offering readers of Mummy To My Little Cheeky Monkey a 10% discount on letters and activity packs by entering the code B832 at checkout!

**We have not been paid for this post, but we do receive commission from any sales through out link!**

Wednesday, 8 November 2017

School Day Routine

I have never really wrote about our routine on a normal school day. So I thought I would give it a go!

The day normally starts between the six and seven when the boys wake up. Normally it is Freddie awake first, but there have been days when James has woken up first!

We try and get James dressed for school straight away as he likes to muck about, then one of us will take the boys downstairs and sort breakfast while the other has a bath or shower and get dressed. We then swap over and the other goes up for a bath or shower while the other does washing up and makes tea and coffee and dresses Freddie.

We are normally all ready by ten past eight at the latest. We normally chill out and let the boys watch Octonauts before starting the final rush out the door. 

We start putting the shoes and coats on and going to toilet at twenty five past eight, this starts with changing Freddie's bum and putting his coat and shoes on and strapping him into the pram. Once he is ready and strapped into his pram, mummy does the final check of all James stuff. In his bag he will have his hat and gloves, his reading book, his homework diary and his waterbottle. We then put in any extra things like permission slips and money he needs. 

We are generally leaving the house just after half past eight. It takes us five minutes to walk round to the school so we are normally at the gate for it opening at 0845.

First thing James does once the gate is open is have a look at the lunch menu which is on the window by the door. His TA normally comes to open the main door at 0850 and James is normally one of the first ones to bounce through the door and up the stairs to the year one class room!

Daddy then goes to work and Mummy and Freddie go home. I'm normally back in the house by 9am with a cup of tea while Freddie plays.

Freddie tends to go down for a nap at about 10am and he normally sleeps till at least 12, so that gives mummy time to get out the laptop and do emails and blog posts!

Mummy will normally have an early lunch around half past eleven while Freddie is still asleep and get the tea prepared for that night.

Once Freddie is awake its time for him to have his lunch and a bum change and a drink. We then watch some Cbeebies while mummy has another cup of tea. Freddie will often lie on the floor and play with his trucks and James cars.

We then start the wind up to school pick up around two pm. We start at about two fifteen by checking Freddie's nappy and changing him if needed. Then its time to get his hat coat and gloves on and then strap him into the pram. Once Freddie is in the pram mummy will get her self ready and get coat and shoes on.

We tend to leave to go up to the school at around quarter to three. This gives mummy a chance to catch up with James pals mums and siblings before the kids come out at three fifteen.

We are normally home by half past three, Where its drink and snack time for the boys while mummy finishes off sorting the tea out.

The boys normally have their tea between half four and five, Then its chill out and wind down time with Cbeebies. If James has been good he will get some time on his tablet.

Daddy finishes work at six so he is normally home around quarter to seven, so mummy tries to have both boys into their pjs and Freddie settled down with a bottle.

Both kids are normally in bed by half seven at the latest. Although Freddie is a terrible sleeper at the moment and has to be settled downstairs before being moved into bed once James is asleep, as if we try and settle them both upstairs they both seem to cause chaos!

So this is our daily school routine! Would love to hear about yours!! 

Wednesday, 25 October 2017

Freddie at 23 months

Oh Freddie how can we be only four weeks away from you turning two!

In the last month your speech has come on so much! You can string a few simple words together like where daddy and out there or up there! Your favourite thing to shout is where j after we drop James off at school.

Speaking of your brother you and him have got even closer. You absolutely adore each other! Now he is back to school you miss him during the day and when I tell you it's time to go and get him you get so excited!

We will be introducing you to the potty soon as you are starting to tell us when you need a new nappy by either shouting bum or getting your changing mat and shouting bum!

You are wearing all 18-24 mo th clothing and some 2-3 bits already! You are in a size 4 pull up and a size 6+ nappy at night. 

You are the most mischievous kid though! You are always looking for trouble! At nanas you have learned if you climb onto her sofa you can then climb into the window! You also run up and down the stairs at every given chance! You are totally obsessed with the washing machine and tumble dryer! We have to check the washer for toys before we use it!

You only have milk in a bottle at bed time, the rest of the time it's in your 360 cup! You live bread sticks and as I write this you are onto your third in the last half hour! 

You are definitely very much a mummy's boy still. You love nothing more than snuggling up in mummy's bed and cuddling into me all night!

I cannot believe you will be two next time I write to you
All my love
Mummy xxx




Sunday, 15 October 2017

#Blogtober17 Day 15 Old Photos

Old photos well I have a lot of them! That's what Facebook is good for, saving photos so you can go back and look at them years later! 


This is a photo of James on his third birthday and a photo of me when I was three! Everyone says that James really looks a lot like me at the same age. In fact James once thought this photo was actually him with a wig on! This is actually one of my favourite photographs of me as a child!

I really cannot see anything of Freddie in me as a child yet. I think Freddie looks more like his daddy!


I love looking back at old photos as they bring back so many memories. This one of me for example was June 2008 in Dublin just a couple of months before I met Andy. I had gone to Dublin for a few days with my best friend Michelle so we could go and see Westlife at Croke Park. We really didn't pack for the weather as when my flight landed a few hours before Michelle's it was scorching hot and I had to ring Michelle back in Aberdeen and tell her to bring summery clothes and I had to go and buy a few bits! 

This was taken on O'Connell Bridge over the River Liffy.


This is me and Andy the first time I went down to Surrey to stay with him and we went to Thorpe Park for Fright Night! The maze we went into was absolutely terrifying and I can remember shaking like a leaf when we got out! We had had to queue for hours as the Maze kept braking down! Lucky it was a nice day and we had friends with us in the queue!

This was also the day I met Andy's mum and dad for the first time! I totally fell in love with Thorpe Park this day and it was the first of many visits!

Some of the best photos for me to look back on are the ones from our wedding day. Even though I was ill, it really was the best day of my life! 

The photo of me and my dad was taken by my cousin Pete and it is one of my favourite photographs from the day.

The one of me and my mum, on the wall behind me is actually my mum and dads wedding photograph.

We were married on March 19th 2011 at the Sun Hotel in Warkworth, which is actually the village my mum and dad now live in!





My honeymoon definitely holds some special memories so looking at those always makes me happy although it was our last holiday. We visited SeaWorld, Universal Studios, Animal Kingdom, Magic Kingdom and my complete favourite was Discovery Cove where we got to swim with the Dolphins. 


The Dolphins we had at our experience were called Yoshi and Dexter and well I totally fell in love with them!

We also met Mickey and Minnie Mouse when we were at Magic Kingdom. There is actually a Christmas shop all year round at Magic Kingdom and we bought some Mickey and Minnie bell decorations for our tree that we have used every year since we moved into our  first flat in the North East in 2012.




Another photo that holds memories is this one my cousin took of my Nannie with James when he was about six months old.

James adored my Nannie and we both miss her very much. He was 21 months old when she died and he still remembers her and talks about her now. 

I really wish she had met Freddie as he really is such a little bruiser and the total opposite of his big brother! 









So for me I use old photographs to preserve special memories of special times.


#Blogtober17

Saturday, 14 October 2017

#Blogtober Day 14 Novels

Day 14 and it's all about novels.

Before I had my boys, I was a proper bookworm. I could often read two or three books in a week. Now I'm lucky if I can read two or three a year! 

My favourite authors are Cecilia Ahern and Cathy Glass.

I first started reading Cecilia Ahern's books when Nicky from Westlife started talking about them as she is his sister in law. I got her first novel, P.S. I love you when it was first released and I loved it!
I think I must have read it three or four times in that first year. The book was later made into a film and to be honest I really didn't like the film it was not true to be book at all. Another one of her books which I loved was made into the film Love Rosie, which was good, but again it was not true to the book.

I first got Cathy Glass books when I met Andy. He had read a couple of them and leant them to me as I needed a new book to read on the train when I was commuting up and down the country. Nine years on and I think there is only two or three of her books I've not read! Cathy Glass is her pen name as she is a foster parent and all her books are based on real life stories of children she has looked after. 



I've not really got any other favourite novels apart from the babysitters club series that I read as a teenager!


#Blogtober17

Friday, 13 October 2017

#Blogtober Day 13 Movies

So today is all about movies. I used to love a good romcom, but since having the boys I love nothing more than watching a family film with them. 

James went through a stage of wanting to watch the same film over and over again when he was a bit older than Freddie is now. We went through a stage of watching Bolt three or four times a day. It was the same with the Thomas movies! He would come home from nursery at 12 and all afternoon it would be Thomas or Bolt! 

Freddie, however has not reached the age to sit and watch a film. Not that I haven't tried! He just prefers to keep himself busy with toys on the floor!

When I was at university, it was in the days of Woolworths and cheap DVDs so I had loads of girlie films on VHS and DVD. 

My favourite all time film is Grease, closely followed by Mama Mia! Both of them I have seen on stage too! Grease I saw in Manchester when I was at university and Mama Mia I saw on Broadway when I went to New York with my best friend! 

So yes this is a short but sweet post as both me and James have been ill.

#Blogtober17

Thursday, 12 October 2017

#Blogtober17 Day 12 Love

When I first saw the prompt for today was Love, it did puzzle me at first then I though well what do I love and well that would be my family.

Andy, James, Freddie and my parents.

Those five people are the people I love most in the world. 
Then there is other things I love like my friends, cups of tea, watching football, Manchester United the list goes on!

Then there's destinations, I love Malta. I had many happy holidays there with my parents as I was growing up. Orlando I had a brilliant time here on my honeymoon with Andy. Dublin I had many happy trips there with my friends as I was growing up! Manchester I had three happy years living there while I was at university. I was walking distance to the city centre and spent many afternoons wandering around the shops or going to the old Granada studios gates to see who was going in and out of coronation street!

So yeah is is a really rubbish post for today but yes I love my family more than anything in the world!


#Blogtober17