#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (May 2014)

This month has been a little hectic for various reasons but it's been a good one.

I can now share some news!

The month started off with lots of exciting holiday planning. A break away over half term (which ends today) and a third trip to Orlando, Florida! It's not until next year and we aren't going for 3 weeks this time.

No, this time we are going for a whole month!

To say I'm excited is an understatement.

For the first week of our holiday we will be staying on-site at Disney for the first time. Not only that, we will be joined by my parents, Matt's parents and my brother-in-law for that week too. Then we will be retreating to the condo, just the four of us, for the remaining three weeks.

Those of you who know me know just how much Matt and I have fallen in love with Orlando. If it wasn't for my family I'd happily move out there. We both would. We often talk about it.

The last two trips have been booked within 4 months of departure so this is quite a long wait for us but it means we have plenty of time to plan it all properly and I'm already very excited about our plans.

Anyway, back to this years break away! Oops. *shakes off the desire to waffle on about Orlando love*

We have just spent the half term week down in East Sussex. Camber to be exact. We booked a lovely cottage just a 5 minute walk from the beach. We've been really lucky with the weather as it's only rained one afternoon and that didn't spoil our fun.

We've been to the beach a couple of days enjoying some periods of sunshine. We've explored pretty towns and villages. We've been to Drusilla's Park which was great fun. We've also explored some great historic sites. One of my new favourites in fact.

Bodiam Castle.

It's a 14th century moated castle, now owned by The National Trust.

It is, quite simply, stunning.

Just look at these photos of the castle.

If you ever get the chance to visit. Go!

This is where I finally asked someone to take our photo yesterday.

It's not a perfect picture as TC had just fallen over and hurt his knee (at the exact moment I handed the camera to the lovely gentleman who was to take our photo). I then had to pick him up. TC that is, not the gentleman! So I'm very much striking that 'hip stuck out propping a child up' pose. TC had a really bad tummy bug at the start of the holiday which hasn't helped and he's not been himself all week. Plus, I got a touch of it too.

Also, Matt is full of a cold and neither of us had a great nights sleep the night before. Actually, if I'm honest, I'm looking forward to getting home to our lovely super-king bed at our own house. This week we've been in a double so it's been a little snug. We've also been woken by mating marsh frogs in the night and disturbed by noisy sheep at our front door at 6.30am!

Still, it's been a lovely break and despite illness (and wildlife) we've had plenty of fun and special memories.

As you read this we will be packing up to leave our holiday cottage but stopping at the Baby Tilda Barn Dance on the way back home. The perfect way to end a great week away. If you're coming along, we will look forward to seeing you there.

For those of you who remember my Me and Mine post last month. I quote myself…

"My homework for May is to try and get at least three photos" 

Well, before you say anything. I did! I did!

They are iPhone selfies. The first when we just arrived at the cottage after a mammoth 7 hours in the car and the second riding Thomas The Tank Engine at the fabulous Drusilla's Park the other day.

Now head over to Dear Beautiful to check out all the other fabulous family portraits this month.

Christmas Day 2013

In my 3 years of blogging I've not actually written about Christmas.

How bad is that?

To be honest, by time we are through the holidays and we plunge straight into a new year I feel like it's too late to blog about it.

This year though, I'm making an effort, despite us already being halfway through January.

I need to blog about our family life more. I need to spend more time detailing our life and treasuring memories. It's probably not a post that will interest many people but it's one that I can look back on and that's what matters to me most.

For the past 7 years I've cooked Christmas dinner. The least amount was for just Matt and myself (the Christmas before MC was born) and the most was for 10 people.

That was this Christmas. 10 people.

Each year I've stressed about Christmas. I've got worked up about cooking for everyone and making sure the meal is perfect.

It always has been.

I'd spend the few days before working out all my timings of what needed to go in the oven on what setting, at what time and for how long. It would be timed to the minute and written out neatly in order.

This year was different though. I didn't prepare timings in advance and stress about dinner being perfect. Over the last 11 months or so, since Tilda passed away, I've realised more than ever what's important in life. Just being together as a family is what matters. Christmas dinner and everything else are just the extras. I had plenty of stars around the house to remind me of Tilda and what was important - not that I need reminding.

We were looking forward to Christmas as it was the first in our lovely new home. We were to be joined for dinner by my parents, Matt's parents and his brother and fiancée.

Christmas day was lovely.

The kids woke about 8am and that was only because I started making noise as I'd been wide awake from 6.30am excited to see the kids open their presents. Mini Cheddar was so excited when she saw the stocking filled at the end of her bed.

"SANTA'S BEEN" came the cries and running along the landing.

I when to Tiny Ched's room, plucked him from his cot and carried him into our room. MC carried his stocking in and we all sat on our bed to open presents. TC loved every second of it. He opened every present, although it took him a while as when he discovered Percy the engine in there he was beside himself and just wanted to play with that.

We went downstairs to the kitchen for breakfast and then we entered the lounge to discover more presents - the kids had definitely been good this year!

Again, TC opened every single present excitedly and when he discovered Thomas the Tank Engine, that was it! He shrieked.

Last Christmas I would have been champing at the bit to get through the present opening and so I could start dinner. This year though, I soaked it all in. I took lots of photos and watched the kids excitement unfold on their faces. It was lovely and leisurely.

We all got dressed and the kids played happily with their new toys whilst Matt and I started the dinner prep. Matt is the perfect Christmas dinner sous chef! He preps the mountains of vegetables (I hate prepping sprouts) and cleans all the pots up as we go and is just generally my 'kitchen biatch' for the day. It's very rare we both cook together and I love it.

Matt's parents arrived just after 11am, after driving up from Nottingham, and his brother and fiancée arrived shortly after from Oxford. My parents (who only live 10 minutes away) arrived too and we were all set. I'd told everyone that I'd serve dinner at 1pm and, for the first time ever, it was slightly late by about 15 minutes - probably due to my more relaxed attitude!

We sat down (at a table with 3 extra non-matching chairs - isn't that what Christmas is all about?) to eat a feast of roast beef (we aren't huge fans of turkey), a mountain of roast potatoes, stuffing (who says you can't have it with beef?), pigs in blankets, roasted parsnips, sprouts and pancetta, carrots, broccoli and gravy. It was delicious and my stomach is growling just thinking about it.

For dessert I'd made a chocolate hazelnut meringue roulade the day before (thanks Delia!). If you've not tried one, do it - simple to make and it's a bit like eating Fererro Rocher. We had Christmas pudding and homemade mince pies too.

After dinner began the present opening again! The kids were spoilt so much and, despite having a big house now, we were wondering where we were going to put it all.

The only time the TV was on all day was for the Queen's Speech. Usually we will watch a film or something but this year I wanted proper family time with no distractions. We talked, we played games and we were just happy in each others company. There was lots of laughter and just being together as a family.

TC did so well through the day. He had a couple of small naps and went to bed a little later than usual without a peep from him. MC stayed up late and was a little tearful at bedtime due to such a busy and exciting day.

The inlaws all stayed overnight and it was lovely to be able to put everyone up for the night now we have the extra bedrooms.

Everyone went home mid-morning on Boxing Day so we could enjoy the rest of Christmas as a family of four and we did just that.

I have so many lovely memories.

TC opening up his stocking presents on our bed

MC thrilled to have Harry Styles!

This Disney Hedbanz game provided
much entertainment Christmas Day 

Full steam opening presents

"What's that you've got bro?"

The kids playing happily while we cooked dinner

My kitchen biatch hard at work

Note the Matilda Mae star at the end

Enjoying roulade and ice cream

Christmas Dinner face

A helping hand with presents from Grandma and Grandad

So good at opening presents

They played beautifully together with toys

Or just playing horses

Disney Hedbandz is awesome

My favourite photo from Christmas

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait…The Blogiversary Edition (December)

Today marks the day I started blogging.

3 years ago!

Such a lot has happened in those 3 years.

Good and bad.

2013 has been a strange year.

Personally it's been good. Apart from a bad bout of food poisoning which wiped most of September and October out we've had another amazing holiday to Orlando and we also moved to our dream house. We love it here SO much.

I've also struggled though. Struggled to make sense of a cruel world. Struggled to know some of my best friends, close friends and fellow bloggers have been going through such unbearably hard times. 2013 has been such a hard year for so many.

I've tried to stay grounded for the sake of Matt and the kids but it's been hard. 

I've been torn between feeling so low because of all that's happened and trying to make our lives more fun and exciting - creating more memories. I still struggle with this a lot.

The lovely Lucy from Dear Beautiful started Me And Mine at the beginning of the year and I was lucky enough to discover it in April. It's my favourite linky of all time. Such a simple idea but one that makes such you capture complete family moments forever. Memories are what matter and I know that now.

I've thought about quitting on my blog but I just can't. I started this blog as somewhere to document my thoughts, my life, my world. If something was to happen to me I want this little piece of me to live on.

3 years and 420 posts later I'm still here.

I have plans for my blog. Plans to document the life of my kids more. Plans to talk more about our lives, our home, our future. Plans to blog more. Plans to join back in with Silent Sunday. I hope I make those plans a reality.

You know, in 3 years of blogging I've never written about Christmas. Not once.

That makes me feel really sad.

We had a lovely Christmas Day this year. There were 10 of us. Yes, it was hectic. Yes, it was noisy. Yes, it was hard work. But despite this it was lovely. We were two families brought together by Matt and I and the kids. We made some lovely memories that I will treasure.

It was perfect.

I had plans to ask someone to take a family photo of us on Christmas Day but it didn't happen. I forgot in all the busyness of it all. So, these photos were taken yesterday (I know, I know…nothing like leaving it to the last minute!). I've been suffering with a bad cough/cold and MC has had a bad cough too. But we're happy.

They are the last photos of our little family in 2013 so despite them not being perfect to the outside world - they are perfect to me.

Now head over to the lovely Lucy's blog for Me & Mine end of year loveliness 

Family Frolics - Making Memories For Multiple Mummy

My dear blogger friend, Kerry (aka Multiple Mummy), passed away on this day exactly a year ago.

Such a lot of things have happened in that year.

Some happy and some so terribly sad.

One thing remains the same though and sticks with me, always.

Kerry's love for her family and getting out making memories.

It's her legacy. It's her 'Family Frolics'.

Kerry was only 30 years old. A healthy young woman with a husband an 3 small children. Kerry's passing rocked a community. Kerry and I called each other 'blogging sisters' as we started around about the same time. She was one of the friendliest and genuinely lovely bloggers I've ever met. Her passion for her family and her fellow blogging friends was second to none.

It's such a tragedy that her life was cut short so unexpectedly.

I hate to say we don't get a huge amount of time together as a family of four. We see the inlaws pretty much every other weekend and, up until the other month, Matt was playing football every Saturday. It meant we got 2 days a month together where we could spend a day interrupted.

Because Matt works so hard he'd want to spend those 2 days crashing out pretty much. He didn't want to be dashing out all the time and I didn't want to push him too much.

This year has been somewhat different.

Kerry's passing and then the sudden death of Matilda Mae earlier this year have changed me.

It's a change for the better.

Ultimately it was Kerry's comment on my blog that made us book to go back to Orlando this year. It has been Kerry's passing that has pushed me on with my blog. What better way than to leave a diary online for friends, family and, ultimately, your children when they are old enough to read.

Your life, your heart, your memories to be read and remembered for years to come.

I know I don't blog about things as much as I should do right now but we are creating memories and enjoying our time together and that, above all, is what matters.

So this year we've made more time for family frolics. There are too many to mention but…we enjoyed lots of snow, we went away on holiday. We dabbled in some messy play. We moved to a bigger house. We enjoyed the long hot summer. We had picnics out. We went to the cinema. We explored the local area. We went further afield.

But most importantly we made memories.

When we do anything as a family now I cherish the moments so much more. I take more photographs of us a family of 4 than I've ever taken before. I know that making time for family is important.

These are just a small handful for my blogging sister…

In memory of Kerry Farrow (aka Multiple Mummy)

16th April 1982 - 14th December 2012

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (May) The Florida Edition!

This past month we've had more photos taken as a family than we have done ever.

You see, this month we've been on holiday in Orlando, Florida (I'm still here as I write this post!).

I actually almost forgot about this post and whilst looking at photos on my camera yesterday I suddenly realised the date.

Anyone who follows my Instagram feed will know we've been having a totally amazing time!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about such a big holiday with two small children. We holidayed here last January when I was pregnant and so I knew MC loved it but I was unsure how TC would cope with the travelling and the heat being so young.

I needn't have worried a bit.

At just 14 months old (3 days ago) he has loved every single second of it (separate post to follow on our return) even though the weather has been between 30-35c every day. He was a dream on the 9.5 hour flight too and he literally hasn't stopped smiling since.

We've had some pretty awesome magical moments out here. Both kids have loved the character meets. MC runs up to each character and wraps her arms around them like they are long lost family. TC can sometimes be a tiny bit shy with the 'people' characters like the Princesses etc. but with those like Mickey and Minnie he's loved them. He has a particular soft spot for Wreck It Ralph and even enjoyed meeting Darth Vadar!

One of the highlights of the holiday came Wednesday night when, after experiencing the ever amazing fireworks at Epcot, we drove over to The Magic Kingdom for some late night fun. We managed to catch the fireworks there then did some more rides and character meets. We were the last public in the new Fantasyland area of the character meet when Minnie, Daisy, Donald and Goofy were all knocking off for the night. They saw MC and started playing with her. We got a photo of her with all 4 of them. She was beside herself!

During this holiday I've watched the bond between our two children grow even stronger. They've laughed so hard together and TC has developed even more of a cheeky character than he had before. Matt and I have enjoyed spending our 6th Wedding Anniversary out here. We've also enjoyed our time together as a family of 4 so much and I'm going to treasure these memories as I know, when we get back to the UK, we have the house move happening in less than 3 weeks and everything will feel like a blur.

We've been out here 17 nights now and we still have 5 nights left. I know that the kids don't want to go home and neither do Matt and I...even though we have a new house to move into.

I kind of put my tears on the plane home last year down to pregnancy hormones but thinking about leaving here next week I'm welling up already.

We feel so at home out here.

I have so many family photos I want to share but, for the moment, they are in my Disney Photopass account which I won't be sorting until I'm back in the UK. So I can only share a few that have been taken on my camera or my phone by other people (and a couple of others for good measure). I hope they still manage to give you a small idea of just how incredible it's been so far.

Here's to another amazing holiday out here and being ever thankful for just how lucky we are.