#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (March 2015)

Phew! March has been a hectic month.

It always is.

I have both children's birthdays falling within 17 days of each other in March. It means planning birthday days and planning parties that just takes up a lot of my time.

We've also been stepping up the Orlando holiday planning and have, today, told the kids the secret that we've been keeping for a year - we are taking them back to our 'second home'. The excitement in our house is building to fever point...and that's just Matt and I!

In amongst the excitement Matt and I have been consuming Breaking Bad episodes like they are, literally, drugs. It was something we never even looked at when it originally aired and so it's been great to just watch them all. One night we watched 3 back to back! As of today we are 4 episodes away from the very end of the last season - tense and exciting is an understatement. Part of me is wanting it to be over though so I get my evenings back. I don't think I've been so into a television series since Game Of Thrones...and that starts again soon. Argh!

Sorry, I'm digressing. My photo...

Back on March 11th it was MC's 6th birthday and she chose Pizza Express as her birthday restaurant. We had a lovely meal and, as always, the children were impeccably behaved. I guess it comes from eating out a lot but they are always great in restaurants. So, I asked the Manager to take a family photo of us. It turned out quite nice.

Here's to another month passing and getting closer to our amazing holiday!

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (February 2015)

I find myself saying the same thing at the end of each month over the last 6 months or so.

"Where has the month gone?"

This month is no exception.

I wish I had a pause button sometimes as there just aren't enough hours in the day.

Now we are coming into March which is the month of both MC and TC's birthdays (6 and 3 respectively) so that will be busy. It's my Mum's 70 in April and then May we are off to Orlando again! I have so much to organise it's untrue.

February has seen us on short breaks away twice. The first, just Matt and I to York to celebrate 11 years of love and happiness together and we've also went away with Matt's parents for 3 nights to Center Parcs at the beginning of the half-term school holidays.

We'd never been away with them before and we'd also never been to Center Parcs. If I am totally honest, neither Matt nor I were really looking forward to the weekend. We were worried for various reasons and one being we didn't think we would like Center Parcs. We didn't think it was 'our thing'.

I'm pleased to report that we were both pleasantly surprised by Center Parcs. We went to Whinfell Forest in Cumbria and it was lovely. Our lodge was immaculate and had it's own private jetty onto the lake and everyday we had an abundance of wildlife on our patio - it was like being in a Disney movie! The children had a lovely time with their Grandparents who they don't see as often as my parents who live a few miles away and Matt and I got lots of time to ourselves again. Would I go back? The jury is still out on that one. If we did I think it would definitely have to be in term-time because the price Center Parcs charge in the school holidays is outrageous!

My mother-in-law took our Me And Mine photographs this weekend and her photographs are usually terrible she isn't known for her photography skills but she did me proud.

Oh and yes, I've gone back blonde again...

#MeAndMine - A Family Portrait (March 2014)

March is probably the busiest month of the year for our family.

Both children were born in the month.

MC on the 11th (she was 5) and TC on the 28th (he was 2).

Throw in Mother's Day, a themed Minnie Mouse party and a few other prior engagements and I'm ending the month feeling pretty exhausted... but full of love and happiness.

I have been taking a lot more photographs of the children with the 'big camera' this year but it's very rare that I'm in the photos. Setting up the timer can be a bit hit and miss and the kids get easily distracted but asking other people to take photographs is probably worse - especially when it's my mother-in-law. She's good at a lot of things but sadly she's no photographer (not that I am but you know what I mean).

The day before Mother's Day we met up with my in-laws at Trentham Gardens. It was a lovely warm but slightly breezy day. Lots of scooting, fun, laughter, bickering (Matt and his mum - not the kids!) and ending with drinks and ice cream. I only have one half decent photo of the 4 of us that my MIL took that I'm including this month but I have lots of quite nice photos that I took of the kids enjoying themselves.

This month has been all about them so I wanted to share them with you (even if MC had fallen over 2 days earlier and is sporting a huge graze/bruise on her forehead!).

*Sports the voice of a newscaster about to mention that funny bit at the end of a broadcast*

And finally…

After MC's Minnie Mouse theme party earlier in the month we did have this photo taken - I wanted to share it because even though I'm exhausted on it, I couldn't stop laughing at Matt and TC sporting exactly the same expression. Priceless!