Our First Sensory Dish


Oats, glitter, rice and foam shapes

2 willing children

Cups of water, spatulas and pastry brushes just some of the ideas from my Little Ones!

Using our hands to feel the textures. It was 'squidgy' and 'bitty'

Making oat castles!

We had so much fun!

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Happy Easter everybody! Another week has gone so it's time to link up my photos for this weeks hunt. I'll be doing the A-Z blogging challenge in April so please hang on in there with me as I see if I can survive a post a day(which is rare for me!)

Onto this weeks Scavenger Hunt Sunday:

Water


The sea was rough but the harbour was closed making for a rather more peaceful looking scene.

Empty


This chocolate bunny was full of mini beans...Until Little A got his hands on it

Fresh


Grabbing some fresh air after Midge's parent's evening. They both grabbed some twigs each and pretended to be Harry Potter on the way home. Sweet.

Weathered


I've dug this photo out of the archives because I love it. I would say it is a bit weathered from all the years being battered by the Cornish sea!

Ordinary


Nothing out of the ordinary for England. I love our big red phone boxes and would hate them to be painted another colour. In our town they have been painted black. Black! Speechless!

CupcakeMumma


10 Good Things March

Here is my monthly round up of everything that has made me happy this month. I'm linking this post up with EmmyMom and also with this weeks Reasons To Be Cheerful host, the lovely Seasider Claire. I know it's a lot of points for the link up but I'm hoping I can get away with it just once a month!

1) The first thing I have to mention is of course our Snowdon climb. This climb took place at the very beginning of March so had to come first really didn't it? I'm still incredibly proud of climbing right to the very top of Snowdon and raising so much money for Comic Relief with a wonderful group of people.


2) Midge had a fantastic parents evening this month with nothing but praise. She's really coming on with her reading after a slow start. Although there is still work to be done there her teacher reckons that come September when she'll be moving up to year 1 she'll be completely ready and it shouldn't phase her at all. Having your daughter being called a really caring, friendly member of the class is a lovely feeling. I'm very proud.

3) I sent out March's care package to someone who really needed a smile this month. I'll be doing my post shortly so please look out for it. It's only month 3 and it's getting harder but I'm getting so much out of my monthly gift giving I can't wait to continue.


4) Last night Husband stayed behind at work until 2am to learn some new 'stuff' in the work place. I was kind of dreading it to be honest because I'm not used to not having him around. He's in bed having a lay in and the children are happy this morning which is great. They were not too bad last night either so I'm also on good form!

5) Midge had her Easter bonnet parade yesterday. I didn't go because Hubby hardly ever gets to see her do anything school related so I gave him my ticket and told him to go. He really enjoyed it and Midge did too. She's gutted she didn't win but her bonnet was very cute. Some of the bonnets were just insane! I didn't realise how much competition there was amongst parents and these blooming parades!!


6) It's Easter weekend! I have an absolutely delicious Easter egg sat in the cupboard calling my name but I can resist until Sunday I promise! I'm really pleased at least Sainsburys has been decent enough to sell a good variety of free from eggs otherwise I wouldn't be enjoying this either!

7) I helped out on Tuesday with the school trip to a beautiful garden in Penzance. The children had a lovely time walking about and it really was the most stunning garden I've seen in a long time. I love helping out on school trips. So far I've been to the Eden Project for some ice skating with the children too. I hope they do some trips in Year 1!

One of the activities I had to do with my group.
8) Little A has been speaking more, yey! He's saying 'Night night', 'love you,' and even 'thank-you,' which is so sweet it melts my heart every time. He's growing up incredibly fast. I'm trying to do more things with him now such as sensory dishes and crafts but he's really taken to drawing on my walls at the moment so I'm not feeling the enthusiasm!!

9) I finally met up with a fellow mum I made friends with last year but because she was very shy then fell pregnant with what turned out to be a difficult pregnancy we didn't have any contact just before Christmas until now. Out of the blue she text me and we met up after the school morning drop off to have a few hours at her house. We totally reconnected and I got some lovely 13 day old baby cuddles. Best thing ever!


10) I'm really enjoying my blog again. I've stopped looking at all the stats which can make you feel a bit rubbish when only a few people have read a post on your blog. I have reminded myself that this is a hobby which i love and a memory making journey for my children. I'm planning on taking part in the April A-Z challenge which will see me blogging everyday. Keep with me though! A big thank-you to my ever loyal readers, I heart you very much!

Please link up your happiness with the 2 lovely bloggers mentioned above by clicking these badges:


Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy from the Heart

Heartfelt Acts March


This months Heartfelt Acts were:

1.  Thank your police or fire department
2.  Leave 5 random notes of love or affirmation in different public places.

First I set about doing the random notes. It was actually really hard to think of some words of encouragement or meaning but in the end I wrote a couple of those, 2 'love' notes to 2 members of my family and I wrote lots of little notes for my Husband.

1. I've been a sufferer of social anxiety for many years. It's now something that I can more often than not control. I saw an excellent therapist at my local doctors surgery but what really helped me was a book from my local library. It's not a book that gets checked out often, but I hope when it is checked out the reader will like their little note.


2. My husband and I went for a meal with Little A whilst Midge was in school. It occurred to me that while no one was around I could place a little sticky note somewhere but where? The menus caught my eye so I stuck the note on and placed another menu in front so it would be a surprise for the next person to come to our table.


3. I placed an 'I love you' note in Midge's lunchbox so she wouldn't miss me so much when I went away on my climbing trip for Comic Relief. I really missed them but then Husband sent me this photo to my phone and I felt so much better.


 4. I went to my parent's house on Sunday and went to see their cat who sleeps on my sisters bed. She's away at university at the moment so now and then I find I miss her and would love a face to face chat. I looked about her room and noticed a huge board she'd crafted to keep hold of her important notes and cards. I didn't have my notes on me so ripped a piece of envelope, wrote a 'love' note and placed it on her board. I hope she likes it.


5. My final note (or rather notes) are for my Husband. He's a bit of a joker, a bit of a lad and sometimes so lazy it drives me insane but he's supportive,loving and forgiving which far out weigh his more negative traits!


The next thing we did was to buy an Easter card for our local police station. Midge drew a lovely picture with 'Thank-you for keeping us safe!' written on. Although we've never needed them personally, we have called them to report crimes in our local community and when ever they have knocked on our door to ask if we've seen or heard anything about a situation they are always friendly. The other thing I really like about our local police is how often they wave and smile at the children as we walk about town.

Thank-you drawing for our police officers

Finally, the task I promised I would complete this month was to help a local charity. Midge and I went to our local store where we stocked up on food items for our local food bank. It feels good to help those with less than ourselves.

Midge really enjoyed this task and proudly posed for photos
Helping to unload the food into the Food Bank box
For April, the tasks are:
1.  Forgive Someone. 
2.  Send a care package (ex.  military, friend or family member in college, for any friend just because).

I'm going to take this task as forgiving someone that has hurt me before. Not just forgiving my daughter for spilling my milk on my coursework for example. Those little things are easy to forgive. I send packages out every month but for April I will think really hard. 
Linking up with Emmy Mom.

CupcakeMumma



A Day with Grandma and Pops!

Yesterday we had some fun with Grandma and Pops who live right by the sea (so jealous). We headed over in the morning and settled in by baking some gluten and dairy free Rice Crispie marshmallow bars which I saw on the lovely Melksham Mum's blog. They were absolutely delicious but I'm afraid we were too impatient to let the bars set! I've made some more tonight that's how addictive they are!


I started cooking dinner with my Mum when Little A popped his little self around the corner armed with his coat and shoes. Looks like someone wanted to go exploring! Midge set off first with Daddy because it took Little A and I a little longer to get ready but once we were all wrapped up it didn't take us long to find them!

We watched the seagulls trying to get some rest from the wind, waves crashing on the rocks and the boats gently bobbing about in the harbor which was closed off due to the sea becoming a bit rough. We walked almost to the bottom talking about the sea, how lovely it would be to rent a cottage for a week (or just simply live there!) before we decided to head back home and check on the roast.





Dinner was delicious. Midge had got Daddy to put a Thomas Tank DVD on for Little A and herself so we watched that whilst eating our roast in silence. Grandma served up a really, really good apple crumble (I hope she blogs it when she's ready!) covered in soya custard and cream. We didn't leave until it was almost half past five and we thought the children needed to be getting ready for bed.

We had a such a nice day and Midge was really worn out eventually going to bed and staying there until this morning. Little A unfortunately didn't have such a good night and ended up with us twice before settling again in his room. Tomorrow I'll blog about our first sensory dish we tried out before eating our tea this evening. It was actually lot of fun and Little A especially liked it. I think it brought back fun memories for Midge because we used to always do creative things together before Mummy got all stressy and uptight. Bad Mummy!!

I hope you all had a nice weekend? Are we ready for the Easter holidays!?

CupcakeMumma

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Asian


The Red String of Fate is an East Asian belief. It is said that the string will be tied around the ankle or wrist of those who are destined to meet one another or help each other in a certain way. I think it's a lovely belief.

Wavy


Draw


Midge did some drawings for me a while ago and I've been meaning to post them on my blog. This seemed like a good opportunity.

Soft


I'm starting a collection of Care Bears because I love them so much! I have 2 teddy bears and one plush keyring. I'm hoping to collect many more!

Texture


Did you know, a bee relies on the texture of some flowers to find their 'reward'? I love bees!



Reasons to be Cheerful!



I appear to have taken a few days off from my little blog (unintentionally I must add) Seems getting my final course units in and being reluctant to move from the covers on my sofa unless absolutely necessary has put a brief halt on my ramblings.

Anyway I'm back now and here are my Reasons to be Cheerful for this week!

1. I've nearly finished all my course work, bought a new table which has made my kitchen feel so much more homely and boosted my creative juices again. I know it seems sad to be over the moon about a new table but honestly, if you can't celebrate the small things in life I feel for you!

2. We finally have the money to purchase our train tickets in June for our family adventure to Cambridge. We're all really excited (as I know I have mentioned before!) but it's rare for us to have a holiday and we intend to spend a good 5 days up there before coming back home. All I have to do is not spend said money and wait to actually be able to book the train tickets!

3) Today we accomplished one our Heartfelt Acts. I walked around our local shopping store and picked up some items with the children to pay for and deposit in the local Food Bank. It felt good to provide. There are a lot of strong opinions on who receives these boxes but I don't care. In my heart I believe that those who are in real need do benefit from these schemes. Young children, older children and the elderly are who I think of when I donate to these causes although no one deserves to not be able to have enough money to eat.


I'd like to add that my younger sister is home again next week which I'm obviously very happy about but (and I'm sorry for this 'but') I'm possibly even more excited at having a delicious dairy free Easter Egg next week and planning a mini egg hunt for my babies!

Hope you've all had a good week despite the weather!


CupcakeMumma
Reasons to be Cheerful at Mummy from the Heart
                                                                    

My Wonderful Spring Swap

I recently took part in a spring swap hosted by the lovely Joy from Welcome to Daisy Row (it's a lovely blog, do check it out) As most of you will know by now I love a good gift swap so I got my friend Kat to pop my name in the comments whilst I was away from the laptop (so desperate I was to not miss it!)

I was partnered with Margaret  who blogs here and is such a nice lady. We exchanged a few emails, got a general idea of each others tastes and then all went quiet as we made (or bought in my case as I have been so busy studying anything crafty has escaped me- sorry Margaret!) our parcels for each other.

My parcel arrived on Friday in a butter tub (which was a requirement in the swap) wrapped inside a really rather nice pink bag (which Midge and I are already fighting over!)


I had some chocolate Easter bunnies and a couple of cute little fluffy chicks just to add to the whole theme of the swap. The children swooped on the bunnies very quickly, even Husband had a fight on his hands!


I received the most perfect cupcake bag which I have already used today to post my parcels and visit the library (so it works very well!) How perfect is this bag though seriously? I adore it. I only just noticed that Margret has sewn an angel into it too which is so thoughtful, I love angels and fairies.


Margaret had also made me a small bag which will be used for all my essentials in my bedroom (I don't want it to get ruined by putting mascara in it. I might store my nail polishes in there?) I also had 4 fabric coasters made for me which again are pink and cupcake themed. Happy CupcakeMumma.



Thank-you so much Margaret for these truly lovely and thoughtful gifts. Thank-you also to Joy for hosting the Spring Swap. I hadn't participated in one for a while so I'm pleased to have got back into them.

CupcakeMumma

BlogLovin claim

Scavenger Hunt Sunday

Lucky


2 healthy, happy, beautiful children. Do you need anymore luck?

Irish


Daylight


Pot of Gold


Yummy chocolate coins in my pretty pot.

Clover


Re-named from my childhood by Midge. He has an Irish appearance about him doesn't he? With all that green and orange. He was re-named after Midge started collecting clovers from a local attraction (we had so many) but I still call him Desmond!