Get moving!

I am trying to ensure that the children and myself are getting more exercise. I took up running before I completed my race for life last month which I really enjoy. I was getting up at 5.30 and running before work. I must admit to being a wuss though I stopped when it started raining the other week. I am aiming to get back to it though.

I have noticed that when we are home we, as a family, have got very lethargic.I have been trying to encourage the children into moving more. It is easier to get Stephanie going than Dylan, yet she often needs coaxing out the house initially.

I filled out a quiz a few weeks ago for the change 4 life yesterday we received our personalised plans. Stephanie has a game board which she places stickers on each day that she is active for over 60 minutes. Dylan and I have a table where we record our activity each day. Stephanie has seen her plan and is very excited to get it started next week. Dylan is at his Dad's so has not seen them yet. I suspect it will take more than a table to encourage him. I am hoping that a little competitiveness with me will help. I am going to give it a good try to get them moving more this summer.

I also have intentions of not buying crisps/chocolate for us in a bid for us to improve our eating habits which have slipped recently. This may be somewhat scuppered- I have received 2 boxes of chocolates from the children in my class today, maybe if I eat them this weekend it'll be OK......

Stephanie has a swimming lesson on Saturday so she'll get some exercise before going to her Dad's. I'll be going to the allotment lots this weekend. There is lots of work to do there this weekend as I never got there last weekend. We will also be going several times during the week.

So from Monday we are going to get fit- Monday because the children are at their Dad's this weekend and they eat worse there than they do here.

Our planned activities so far for next week are;

Monday- possibly go to the beach
Tuesday- Stephanie has friends round, lots of garden play planned
Wednesday- Swimming
Thursday- Nothing definite yet, Dylan has a baby tooth extraction for his brace in the afternoon, perhaps go out on bikes in the morning.
Friday- Medway mile
Saturday- up for negotition
Sunday-up for negotition

Feeding Herman

Today was feeding day for Herman our German friendship cake. On day 4 he likes to eat;

225g granulated sugar

115g plain flour

wash that down with 235ml milk

Good stir!

Then he looks quite full like this, so we stir him only for next 4 days until he is fed again on day 9!

If only I could feed the children once every 4 days- would save me so much food/time/money................

Kent county show

Today we went to the Kent county show, it is something of a tradition which we have built up over the last few years. We love to go and watch the different displays with the animals, as well as have a chat with the many exhibitors who attend and learn more about their jobs and hobbies. Today we watched a little of a horse competition, we watched the farriers making horseshoes, a man using a lath to make something with wood, another man hand making a wooden spoon, chatted to a couple of people who explained to us how they use dogs to find missing people. I was absolutely fascinated by the statistics which show certain ages/ genders of people are likely to go a set way when they go missing for example one group will always go left when they come to an obstacle an other age group will go to somewhere where there is water. Facts like this fascinate me.

There is plenty there to occupy the children, as well as joining in with my discussions with various people the children also learnt how to make candles from beeswax sheets, they learnt about railway safety, about brownies/scouts and Dylan even had a virtual driving lesson.

We took food with us to eat to keep the costs down. We did sample various foods and drinks as we walked. I bought some cheeses which we particularly like. We had these when we got home for an alfresco tea.

Here are some of our pictures from the day, we all took a turn on the camera so they reflect the different things we all found interesting.

farriers busy at work

Dylan get me I like this car

A biology lesson occurred here

Can we have some for pets?

One of my fave pics- they were playing together, they seem to be bickering lots at the moment so was nice to see them happy together.

The finished candles.

Cheese!

Not from the show- but our Herman cake.

Something I learnt today, very serious and we all immediately agreed is wrong is that supermarkets are expecting dairy farmers to receive less money for their milk than the cost of production. On the list of supermarkets involved in this was asda, Morrison's and I was very shocked to see the coop! I always think of the coop as being ethical. I am now going to find somewhere else to purchase my milk. You can read more about this on the NFU website. The information I collected on this today urges us as consumers to write to the customer service department of your local supermarket voicing your concerns and ask how they are ensuring that producers are receiving a fair price for their products. I will be doing this- will you?

Happy list

I promised I would find a happy place again after my self indulgent post the other day. Today I am feeling much happier. 10 things I am happy for this month are;

1. My children, they make me happy everyday.
2. Dylan is doing well at secondary school- he received a school award for his ICT work, he got up to 10 pound to spend on a book he chose an autobiographical book (I forget whose, I will borrow once he has read it). We got to go to an award ceremony at the school where he was presented with his prize.
3. My family, today I have had a phone call from my niece who will be 4 on Thursday to tell me about her school trip to the safari park and my 9 yr old nephew asking my advice on his veg patch.
4. My upcoming holiday- my sisters and I are going to the lake district camping with our children for a week in August.
5. friends- I have been to my friends daughters birthday party, I helped her out at it and had a such a good time playing with the children. Another friend popped around this evening to give us a Herman the German friendship cake. I'm looking forward to growing Herman with my children.
6. My ability to read- I am loving the book of the moment (Shades of Grey) I have been told about these books by so many friends and colleagues and decided I needed to see what the fuss is about- I am hooked and I only started last night.
7. My garden- while I was home with a poorly Stephanie I spent some time sorting out my garden having lived in a flat for 3 years I really do appreciate the ability to just step outside.
8. I am no longer an NQT- I had my final report signed off yesterday :-)
9. I am heading to the Kent Show tomorrow, this has become something of a tradition for my little family we go every year the children love to go and look at the animals and find out more as well as seeing all the other attractions. We love the Eco village bit and usually come home with more ideas of ways we can improve.
10. baking- I love that I can open the fridge/ cupboard and no matter how little I think I have in there I can always cook something.

There we have it my list for this month. Once again thanks to Astra for hosting. Post a link to your list in the comments, or if you do not have a blog feel free to post your list in a comment.

be careful what you wish for!

I have been longing for the past couple of weeks for sometime off, it's getting to the end of term my house was a mess, I had tonnes of end of term paperwork to do, and I'm just well, tired. I got the couple of days off of work. Unfortunately it was because Stephanie was poorly.

My poor baby- she had a temperature of 40 and was vomiting :-(

Here she is asleep after I manage to cool her down in a bath.and some calpol. She slept for hours and I got the housework done.

Then I spent sometime knitting her new school cardigan and reading my library book. I haven't had much time for reading the past couple of weeks and so I hadn't read this book it's due back tomorrow but I can't renew it as somebody else has reserved it. I spent a lot of today reading too I think I may just finish it in time. It is a good story and I am having trouble putting it down.

Stephanie had stopped being ill by yesterday teatime but still had a temperature when she went to bed. Thankfully she woke up absolutely fine today so we had a chilled day at home together where we played barbies and hang man and did some gardening;

we harvested this little lot from the grow bags in the garden. There were some strawberries and raspberries too but Stephanie snaffled those.

Playing barbies in the sunshine.

So today was lovely to relax and be home with Stephanie, but I wish I could have done it without her having to be poorly yesterday.

Back to the book now- night all.

not today!

 (picture from here)

Today I feel like hiding, I don't want to do anything. I think It is because I know I have a stressful week at work coming up and I don't want to do it. I want to stay right here curled up on my sofa just as I have spent the past 2 hours. I know I can not but that knowledge is not making it an easier for me to find the motivation to move.

I do however need to get up and do some stuff. I need to pop to the shop for potatoes etc. The children will be home shortly I know I'll have more energy then.

Normal service will resume shortly....

How rich are you?

I have had a beautiful day out with Stephanie today. As I watched her running along trying to race steam trains I had a realisation I guess you could call it.

If someone was to ask me how rich I am I would say not I'm not I'm skint! But watching Stephanie playing today I realised I am rich; I have 2 beautiful and healthy children, I have my health, I have my family and friends, a roof over my head and a job. I have so much compared to many. I don't need much money to have all of this.

I had a lovely day out all it cost was £2.50. We went to a park, took a picnic- leftover pizza from last nights dinner, fruit and salad from the fridge and a pack of crisps each already in the cupboard. There was no parking charge at the park. It was a 20 min drive so not too much fuel used getting there. The money spent was only because there was a special event happening so there was a bouncy castle and stalls there. Stephanie had a go on the bouncy castle- £2 for 5 minutes and a go on the lucky duck stall 50p.

Dylan didn't want to come; he slept at his Dad's last night I phoned this morning to tell him what we were doing but he didn't want ot join us, only to ask when I collected him if we could go to a park!! (Children!)

Here are some of our pictures from today;

Sharing her dough balls with the ducks

hanging around

Can I go in the water mum?

I'm gonna win!

On the train

Oh I am sorry, I told a fib! I spent £3.10- they train was the princely sum of 30p each to ride.

So just how rich are you??