November at The Cupcakes

Half way through December and I just remembered I haven't posted about our goings on in November. Not that it was incredibly interesting! I spent the first 2 weeks with tonsillitis and then what I suspect was maybe a tummy upset or maybe it was just the tonsillitis having one last shot at me! Once I got over my various illnesses (haha) I set about posting off invites to my Aunts party before I forgot (despite it being 3 months away..) and hung out with the children a fair bit as it would turn out.

  • Little A finally got his long awaited Star of the Day award from his teacher
  • The town started decorating for Christmas and they popped Santa out on his bench which Little A and I couldn't resist seeing
  • I had some lovely happy mail over November. One favourite was the invite to my cousin's wedding next July
  • I visited my Aunt and Gran a couple of times
  • Had a fright with Little A at the doctors when he said he had pains in his side (nothing was wrong in the end)
  • I treated myself to some new pink wellies


Poorly me living off milkshake//Party invites//My star of the day!//Me and Santa// Roo and Santa//Wedding invite//train to Penzance//Non poorly Roo at the doctors//New pink wellies

  • Midge and I spent some time together which included making big, wonderful hot chocolates
  • Pops turned another year older. We had a lovely day and came back quite late from his house after roast and board games which included a very dodgy Scrabble
  • I treated the children to a Wetherspoons dinner (and I wonder why I have no money!?)
  • We walked around town after dinner the same night to admire the lights. The church had put on a lovely display
  • Both little ones wrote their letters to Santa this month

Midge with a monster hot chocolate// Pop on his birthday//Scrabble//Meal out with the little ones//A eating his pudding//Church lights//Letters to Santa

  • I made a great start on stocking fillers from Poundland
  • Enjoyed several Costa's with my friends as well as with my Mum where we tried out the Christmas cakes they're selling
  • We decorated the house and it looks very cosy now with the decorations and the trees all up
  • I made up a small gift bag for my Aunt and took with me on one of my visits. She loved the surprise
  • We got our Christmas jumpers out! This year they were given to us because we didn't have the money to buy new ones which was very kind
  • I baked my first vegan cake and it was lovely
  • We watched the official light switch on in town all together and Mr B bought some chips for us all to share. It was very cold but there was a nice atmosphere and we loved the tree the best. 

A Poundland pile//Costa and cake//Warm fire//Gifts for Fiona//Gifts for me//Midge in her jumper//Vegan chocolate cake//Siblings//Midge by the town tree

Such a good month despite the illness. I felt so rotten and it felt like it would last forever I'm just glad I got better in time for the things we spent time doing together. Here's to December!

Cupcake Mumma

Plymouth with Mr B!

In October (I know, so long ago now!) Mr B and I went off on a little trip to Plymouth as a belated birthday gift to myself. I had won some tickets in a Twitter competition to stay in a Jury's Inn of my choice. We were placed in a gorgeous room! It had free sparkling and still water plus Plymouth Gin, which neither of us liked buy hey it was there and was a lovely touch! Mr B got ridiculously excited by free toothbrushes and shower hats while I got straight onto the largest bed I have ever seen:

 Bargain first class tickets and something I can tick off the Bucket List!

Biggest bed I've ever seen

It was so big and seriously comfortable. Honestly, we had the BEST sleep in such a long time on that bed! We also had some romantic time taking a bath together for example...and getting wedged in the bath together. I thought it would be a call to the fire brigade at one point but proving we are a great team we got our asses out of that tub in time for dinner and a walk around Plymouth.

We walked around Plymouth doing some window shopping and popped into some of our favourite stores. We walked around the memorial and looked out at the view before seeing the lighthouse. I've never been up to these places before and it really is beautiful. I found myself getting really emotional at the memorial. 

 Memorial 




 Beautiful view including Plymouth's Lido

 Plymouth Lighthouse

We found a nice little chip shop to have dinner at before heading back to the hotel. It was so nice to get away for an evening. The children missed us just as much as we missed them but were happy with their Grandma and Pop looking after them for the night. We had a lush breakfast before heading home. We took a later train because there was an accident on the way which Mr B helped with but we got home to our babies eventually who although were happy to see us were more interested in what gifts we brought back! 

Chippy tea
Cupcake Mumma

December Goals



I think I did most of my November goals and although I'm a little behind I have set up some goals for December which hopefully I'll get to complete. It's such a busy month isn't it? And although we know Christmas is no surprise, the speed at which it has once again come has left me with a few things that need doing in the final days leading up to the big day itself! 

December Goals

Family

  • See my aunt and Gran before Boxing Day
  • Do something with just Midge
  • Enjoy a lovely family Christmas!

Money

  • Try out the finance app my sister goes on about
  • Pay off and towards both school trips
  • Do a meal plan

Me

  • To enjoy Christmas with my family
  • Enjoy some baking
  • Send out ALL my Christmas cards this year
  • Do some extra acts of kindness at what can be a difficult time of year for some
  • Be up to date with my letter writing

Cupcake Mumma

Having some fun and getting festive with JD Williams

I'm so excited it's now officially December! My tree finally went up yesterday and we have decorated the mantle piece nicely too. To help me get into the Christmas spirit, JD Williams sent me some lovely items to review, one in particular I absolutely adore. It's a very large throw, wonderfully festive and comes with 2 pillowcases too. I really wanted to make my front room feel more cosy so I decided to keep the pillowcases back and use the throw on our biggest sofa which is old and tired.


It's gorgeous! Everyone who has come into the house has loved the throw, from the design to the feel, it's made my old sofa feel so much more comfy to sit on! It's so big it wouldn't have actually fitted my bed because our bed is quite small. It's perfect for this chilly weather if you want to wrap yourself up and save the heating costs!


Next is making my room a bit more festive. I don't know about anyone else but my Christmas decorations tend to stay downstairs and mainly in the front room so upstairs doesn't look very exciting. You can solve that problem by making your bed look Christmassy! There was quite a variety of bedding to choose from on the website from traditionally festive to rather funny duvet sets. We went with this one:


It looks so nice on our bed and brings a bit of festive cheer to upstairs. It makes me want to bring some tinsel up actually!

Finally, something a little different. Although Christmas is the main thing on everyones' mind right now, Little A had no intention of going festive when he chose his new duvet cover for the recently purchased bunk bed. The duvet set Little A chose just proves what a variety of sets there are to purchase for different ages and themes. I give you...super cool giraffes:


I think it's fair to say we are all pleased with our JD Williams items. I love how my front room feels so different and it's all because of festive bed spreads and some bedding sets! Do have a browse for yourself, you can follow the links included in this post. Have fun!

Cupcake Mumma