July at The Cupcake House

July went quickly here for us. It started with a lovely trip out with the school where they had arranged a Tesco trip for their farm to fork initiative. It was a good trip out with reception, I really enjoyed it. The trip wasn't the best I've been on but it was important for the children to learn about our food produce and I was surprised how many little ones knew so much about the different fruits and veg on offer; nice one guys! 

I picked up my new glasses, one pair is nicer than the other pair but shh, don't tell Mr B, he bought them both! The black pair are my favourite and I wear them the most although still not nearly enough..oops. I re designed my blog but as you can see that didn't last very long! I love pink I really do but it felt like a good time to go back to a nice simple look that stands out a bit better. I hope you all agree?

I had a few Costa trips both alone, with friends and with my Midge on a day after school where we had to do different school pick ups for the disco night. So annoying going to and fro so I though a hot chocolate was the best idea and it's half way to school so much easier. I caught up on my snail mail (although now I'm very behind again!) and got to watch my Mini Cupcakes at their Sports Day which they both did really well at again this year.  

Roo on the bus to Tesco, My new glasses, Blog design (now old!), Snail mail, Midge at Costa, A refreshing drink at sports day, Roo at sports day, Posing with his medal, Midge and Roo looking out to sea

We had a lovely family day out in the middle of July meeting up with my parents and cousin who I hadn't seen in a long time. We walked around Porthleven taking lots of photos. It was a misty day but it was nice to walk around. Back at Mum's house Little A helped prepare a picnic tea which was lovely. My Aunt and Gran joined us so it was a real family affair. 

I did the Race for Life with my Mum bringing my Dad and the Mini Cupcakes along for moral support. We did the race 3 legged (the only ones mad enough!) and raised just under £200 which we were so, so pleased with! 

Little A at the cannons, Porthleven town hall, Roo preparing lunch, Lunch ready for devouring, Me and my medal at race for life, Mum and I at the race, Peppa looking guilty, Mr B eating pasty and being circled by a seagull! Mr B and the Mini Cupcakes

The last bit of July went really fast. It was a whirl of making and giving teacher gifts, helping in the classroom, baking and buying cakes for class parties and finding whatever was required for the different themed days that the school was doing to make the end of term as enjoyable as possible. Mr B and I got some quality time before the holidays kicked off and Little A got a brand new football kit courtesy of Daddy. He looks so cute don't you think?! 

Family photo!, Teacher gifts, Mr B and I having some us time, Roo in his new football gear, Me and Roo having a nap, Roo at his leaving ceremony, Both children on their last day, Cake I baked for Roo's class to say goodbye and thank you

Cupcake Mumma

Day Trip #3 The Man Engine in Cornwall

The Man Engine is an amazing tribute to Cornwall's mining history and I loved that I got to take the children along to see this amazing 10ft plus man engine because I really thought of him as a real work of art not just a tribute or something to go down in history for it's height and meaning, I thought it was wonderfully made.

The Man Engine came to our local town after visiting quite a few towns before ours, it was actually nice to have something like this come to us rather than missing out because I couldn't afford the travel (usually the case) 

Loaded on the lorry before being bought out to show off

We waited in the crowd for about half an hour before the choir sung Camborne Hill and other songs and there was a brief talk about why The Man Engine was built, plus a moments silence for those miners who lost their lives all those years ago. He then slowly rose up, overlooking us all. We didn't see a great view of him at first but after 15 minutes people started to leave so we walked around town to get him front facing and it was amazing!

Overlooking Camborne

The children were mesmerised by him and I was really impressed by him too. He was able to move his arms up and down, his head side to side and accepted a giant Cornish Pasty from the towns Mayor which was pretty cool. As more people left we got closer and closer until eventually we saw him slowly coming down which was cool because we could see his face and helmet and all the smaller features you miss when you're further away,

The Man Engine being collected to go onto his next town

Midge and A posing, they loved The Man Engine!

After we saw him being loaded back onto the large lorry we browsed some shops and got some lunch from one of the local bakeries. Midge wanted a sausage roll and Little A really wanted a proper pasty like 'the big robot had' so that he got (and the last one much to the grown men in the queues disappointment!!)

Midge enjoying her sausage rolls

Little A extremely pleased at getting the last pasty!

I then treated us all to a hot chocolate. We got to sit for a bit and chat about what we had seen and I got to explain a bit more about why people had built The Man Engine. I'm sure it went in one ear and out the other but at the time it was nice to discuss! We went home shortly after to relax and look through the leaflets we had picked up. I'm putting one in the book I'm making for my American pen pal, hopefully she'll think it's pretty impressive too.

Summer Day Trip #2 Plymouth

This trip was planned for a long time but Mr B and I thought leaving it as a summer holiday treat might be a really nice day out. We caught an early ish train straight to Plymouth which wasn't much fun because it was fully booked up and was a hunt the spare seat game for a while! We all got to Plymouth in a good mood and set off to explore the town, sticking to our plan of sports shops, primark, lunch and a little browse around.

I took Midge to look around a shop and met Mr B and A in a sports shop where I picked up some new colourful trainers for Midge and Mr B got some football bits, A picked up some much wanted goalie gloves and new wellies. Primark was on everyone's list and Mr B treated us all to some new clothes which were well needed! We had to go on the carousel first, naturally..

 A on the round about ride

 Blowing the paper off the straw in Mcdonalds

Midge used her spending money on this cute owl

Afterwards we went for some lunch picking the Big M for the little ones, they were happy with that choice! Midge changed into her new outfit just before we headed home (now that was a long journey, mostly in between carriages and on the floor!) we got home safely though. Going through our new stuff waited until the next day, we had a snacky dinner then all went to camp in our bedroom.

Dressed in some new gear after a good day shopping!

 Mr B and A having a funny moment

So yet another outing enjoyed by us all We don't go to Plymouth often because it's obviously not a cheap day out but every once in a while it's good fun to go as a family or sometimes just Mr B and I. Actually, we're heading back in November just Mr B and I after I won some hotel tickets so that's something to really look forward to!

Cupcake Mumma

Day Trip #1 The Regal Cinema Redruth

On Wednesday I took the children on the first trip of our summer holidays. I'll start by saying now it cost a heck of a lot more than I ever intended! The night before, I checked out the cinema film listings, nothing really caught my eye. Midge had already seen the new pet movie, I can't bring myself to watch the BFG (I know it's had rave reviews and I'm sure it's a wonderful film but I so love the book and the original that I'm firmly in the old camp with this one!) I saw they were showing Angry Birds as the bargain movie so we chose that one. All the seats were £1.99 but I was charged for 4 seats which I was refunded at the end. I purchased the small popcorn but didn't have my glasses on so couldn't see how much this was going to cost but each one must've been over £2 because my total (minus the refund) was around £14...not as ouch as a regular film but still ouch for my budget.

Me, A and Midge

Both the children were really well behaved. It was A's first time going to a cinema and it was in my mind that he may get overwhelmed but he was really happy watching the film snuggled into me. The film must've been about half hour late due to technical issues but eventually we got there and the film was really funny. I'm glad we watched it and hope there's another one coming out in the future!

Happy A in the cinema

After the cinema, the children wanted something to eat so we picked something up from the bakery: A cupcake for Midge and a pasty for A. I saw a little toy shop where midge picked up a lovely hair clip pack and A bought a minecraft box. I'm annoyed that I paid £3.99 for the box and it was ME that lost his toy on the train on the way home! If it was him I'd have said 'tough luck' but it was all my fault so we headed to the supermarket on our way home to get Mr B some pop and buy a replacement toy for A. Luckily he chose a £1.50 car this time!

Midge with a cupcake, A with a pasty on the train.

We all had a lovely day together. Midge and A saw their friends on the train so they had a 5 minute natter. A loves train travel so it was always going to be a thumbs up from him! We all enjoyed the movie and I'm pleased our cinema does a bargain offer like that now and then. I'm just a little peeved that I spent so much on the first outing!

What have you been up to this week?

Cupcake Mumma

Last Day of School 2016

A cake I made for the reception class to say goodbye

I have real mixed emotions about my children finishing their school year. I'm finding with A I'm really excited about his next step in education and I've had some wonderful support from his teachers and other staff in regards to his transition. His teacher next year is known by us and him as she taught him in nursery and we had a great parent teacher relationship then and still get on really well now. I don't believe he'll struggle to settle in any less than most of the children in his class and in fact, most children going from a play based learning environment in reception to a year 1 class where it's more structured, involving guided reading and a morning of English then Maths, phew! It's going to be tough for almost all of the children so I'm not worried about A as much as I was a few months ago before we had his meetings.

It's Midge that is giving the me the most anxiety. Last night I couldn't sleep so stayed on the sofa for a bit thinking and it just hit me that she's going into year 4..year 4!? That means she has only a couple of years left of primary and I feel so, so nervous for her. She's so quiet and sensitive and has had a few issues at school with the other girls. It's fair to say that my own experiences of school and seeing my girl almost following in my footsteps in regards to wanting to be friends with everyone and be kind, not wanting to upset anyone and being pretty shy brings back a heck of a lot for me and whilst I am not showing my insecruteris or anxieties in front of her, I'm really struggling to get over the fact that she's getting older and it's like, where the heck has all this time gone?

Anyway, they were both really excited yesterday. Midge has a post on her own blog about her last day. She left sobbing, A left hyper as anything, no idea what they fed them at their party! A had a small graduation ceremony which was lovely if a little long winded, he received an award for his phonics and hard work. Midge came home with her certificate yesterday which was for 'always being a fabulous friend.' I couldn't be happier! They both looked so grown up in their non uniform and trotting into school with their teacher gifts. A left school with a lovely goody bag from his teachers which I thought was a lovely touch.

 Last day of school photo!

A's goody bag

So now it's time for the summer holidays and I am looking forward to them. I'm not sure I can compete with last year but i'll give it a good go! I'll be posting up my summer bucket list soon as we all have ideas we want to share and put some adventures on our calendar!

I hope all your little (and big!) ones had a lovely final week of term and weren't too sad to say goodbye to their friends and teachers (and some cases schools!) Have a lovely summer holiday and do share with me any fun plans and outings you have!

Cupcake Mumma

Lands End with The Family

During the summer holidays we all ventured over to Lands End, somewhere that my Father in Law and his partner wanted to visit while they came over from France. I was suffering after my tonsillitis still and the antibiotics had started making me feel quite unwell but I'm still pleased I went because I had a wonderful day.

On the day we visited the Shaun the Sheep exhibit which showed off the behind the scenes making of the movie. We saw sets from Shaun the Sheep and Wallace and Gromit and even saw Timmy Time too. The exhibit had drawing to have a go at and large character models including a sheep, bunnies and a rocket which the children loved.

A rather big sheep!

Little A very pleased to see Timmy

Midge and T with a rather cute chicken

Tacing  cartoon characters was fun

We went into Arthur's Quest which scared the life out of Little A so I very quickly found the exit point leaving Midge with her cousins. She said it was scary but very fun. We ventured over to the 4D cinema which was showing a short Jurassic park film. This was my first 4D experience. Little A was better than I thought, not keen on the water that sprayed from the seats but then neither was I! I enjoyed the experience but not as much as a normal cinema film showing! Midge mostly hated it, especially the seats moving but at least she can say she tried it!

We bumped into my dad before lunch whilst he was working which was a lovely surprise. I had a jacket potato while the children went off for a walk with their Granddad. We also enjoyed a picnic earlier in the day; a good old fashioned car picnic! I managed to go in some shops and we all sat down to look at the view which was, naturally, a very beautiful one.

We all had a wonderful day and it was lovely for the children to see their grandparents, cousins and both their aunties too.

Cupcake Mumma

Reasons to Smile ~ July/August

I completely forgot to write July's Reasons to Smile, so like last time I'm going to be writing July and Augusts in one post. I'm also linking up with several lovely blogs to share some happiness.

July

Little A did so well at nursery and had the most amazing teachers, I am so grateful to them.

Nursery graduation went so well and I was incredibly proud of my little man.

-Both Mini Cupcakes did great at sports day having fun and enjoying the day.

-Meeting lovely ladies at a blogger event and trying on some gorgeous lingerie.

-The paramedic who was very kind to me despite realising I was having a panic attack and nothing worse. I felt awful for wasting his time, he told me off for apologising so much in the end and made me feel a lot better.

-The last pre nursery run hot chocolate date with my little A who will be going to reception next week! No more pre nursery Costa dates!

-Staying at my Mums place for 2 nights alone gave me some great thinking time and I returned home feeling less stressed and pro active at the end of July.

-An email I received about reviewing something cheered me up. I'll be able to share with you soon but I'm just thankful for my blog, you lovely readers and those people who obviously must think I do good work because otherwise they wouldn't work with me again!

August

-Our week away in Cambridge seeing lovely things and spending time with family. Two of the things that mean so much to me.

-The Bake Off coming back on the television. It always inspires me to bake and I do love to bake when I'm in the right frame of mind.

-A summer holiday that has passed a lot quicker than last year and been full of so much more fun.

-Recovering from my tonsillitis and rather nasty UTI which wrote me off for three weeks. Thankful for a lovely GP and medicine that very much helped me recover!

-For my wonderful parents.

-My mother in law taking our dog for a week so we could go away. It was such a relief when our Peppa got on with her dog so we could just enjoy our holiday. So the dog got a holiday too!

-Our 3 night stay with my parents and the Mini Cupcakes. It was fairly relaxing, nice to spend time at home and go into the seaside village to look at the views, boats and the little market stalls.

-The children are looking forward to school which is a relief. Midge is a little nervous but Little A doesn't seem too phased

-Spending time with family at Lands End and Trevaskis farm where we ate delicious strawberries by the bucket load. Yum.

-With the lack of sun it's still been ok to have hot chocolate with tonnes of marshmallows!

Cupcake Mumma

Spiders, Snakes and Sod That!

I had the tickets stashed for 3 weeks and Midge counting down the days, everyday, until it was time to see Mark's Ark at the local library. At 9.30am sharp Midge answered the door and in rushed her 3 cousins equally excited. I'd thought long and hard about going to this mini showing of reptiles and spiders but finally decided it would be nice for Hubby to spend some time with the children (read, there was no way I was going anywhere near hairy, disgusting spiders!)

I waited for them all to come tumbling through the door and 2 hours later that's just what they did. O came in saying how he had held the snake and the big lizard and showed me a peice of reptile skin he'd managed to keep (shudder) I popped it in an envolope to avoid any further excited waving of it in my kitchen. Midge ran in excitedly shouting about how she'd held a spider....

 I was actually really proud of her when Hubby showed me this photo. I can't believe the little girl who drove me nuts on holiday moaning about spiders and webs actually held a hairy 18 year old tarantula. Little Z held one too. I don't know why that surprises me but he comes across as a little boy who would rather not be near one of them! I love it when they surprise me!

Hubby got this fantastic photo of Midge and Little G holding the snake together:

Finally, here's Little G holding the 'big lizard' to quote Midge. 

They had an excellent time and I think it's brilliant that our local library hosted such a fab event for only £1 a ticket when other places are selling at £4 a ticket. I'd encourage anyone to check out their local library over the summer holidays, just in case there are some boredom busters there! 

CupcakeMumma

Time Out

Myself and Husband have been talking about taking a family break. It doesn't matter where, we just feel that it's time to start considering a nice holiday for this year. Now, if you read my blog you'll know that I'm off pretty soon with some other fabulous bloggers to climb Mount Snowdon. I'm actually going to treat this as my own little break (after all I'll get a full nights sleep which is rare!)

Husband has something planned with his football mates at some point this year too so we both get an individual 'night off.' What we both really want however, is to take one of those good old short break holidays. Oh to pack up those dusty suitcases (it's been 2 years) and head off to a chosen destination leaving work, housework, endless lists of bills and meal plans behind. I spend an awful long time some nights browsing through different holiday sites lusting after holiday homes, cosy cabins and even some pretty nice caravan parks! We've made a bit of a goal for 2013 to have a real family holiday and I hope we can achieve this with some planning, sacrificing of luxuries and topping up that good old 'holiday fund' jar that's stashed (somewhere) in the house!

There are plans though. Exciting plans. Plans that really will make a family holiday become an actual huge family gathering of sorts. In June, my Aunt and Uncle who live in the beautiful countryside of Cambridge, hold a mini music festival. When we last went up (in 2011) Little Man was only a baby and now he's bigger and doesn't require so much 'luggage' I know if we managed to work it out right we could hot foot it up there for one of those much needed midweek breaks I hear people talk about.

 I can just see it now...Little Man and Midge dancing to the drums and guitars in the mud, laughing and running around with all their other cousins. Husband and I could chat and catch up and even though it isn't cabins or holiday parks (although it is caravans and tents!) and it isn't hot, beaming sun or fun, twisting slides, it would still be such an amazing holiday.

Tiny Little Man on his first holiday
June 2011

Midge and Little Man loved their home for the holiday!

A beautiful Cambridge sunset

 Are you planning a family break this year? If so where to? Are you, like us, pinching the pennies wherever possible for that one week of de-stress? I'd love to know!

CupcakeMumma

*Sponsored Post*

It's Not all Baking and Fun...

Nope, sometimes days cannot be filled with ideas to make sure your child's the happiest one on their summer holidays. Sometimes you have to crawl into the corner of your comfy sofa after the children have been breakfasted and just relax.

I have made a 'summer bucket list.' I have been constantly on a go thinking of things to do with Little Miss (and these things usually have to be appropriate for Little Man where possible too!) but today I woke up and realised that I didn't feel like doing anything much. I didn't actually want to be out in the sun after spending days in it, I think we all need a break. Instead I opened all our windows curtains and doors to let the sunshine and fresh air pour in. (I say fresh air but really there is an occasional waft of someones cigarette to ruin the moment!)

I've been feeling a little stressed you see. With 23 days until the wedding everything is going well and I feel organised with a real sense of direction. I'm in control, this is good. What's not so cool is the sudden influx of those nasty brown envelopes and money changing without warning so near one of (or THE most) expensive day of your life. To say today it all got a bit on top of me would be about right therefore I really didn't feel like parading around the park or baking pretty cupcakes.

We did though. I pushed myself to spend time with Little Miss today baking little heart shaped cupcakes with raisins and roasted hazelnuts inside them. They are delicious and I shall be blogging them! However, for the most part of my more lazy, cannot be arsed days I have taken some photos to share with you.

Judge me if you will but I post a lot on here when we 'do' something fun like baking, family outings and crafting, but sometimes it's nice to just show people that I, like pretty much everybody else, can't be bothered everyday of the week either.

Little Man goes for his nap while we all chill to the music channel (which does not impress Little Miss-all she wants on is Max and bloody Ruby) I on the other hand failed to put my iPhone down (again)

Yeah she's snacking on ham. Hey, what Midge wants Midge gets (within reason) And yes, she is still in her PJ's...

My lazy day lunch. Also consumed with a hot chocolate filled with mini marshmallows and banana chips. 

Both babies after the bath just totally chilling out. Little Man on Daddy's iPhone playing with the music settings and Little Miss watching Max and Ruby (whilst picking her nose apparently) After this they escaped into the garden for a bit so I decided to perhaps sort my recycling and actually do something constructive.

I like lazy days and I don't think they're anything to be ashamed of but some of us (myself included)  seem to don our super Mum/Dad hats over the summer holidays and forget to just chill out!

Happy Holidays!

CupcakeMumma