The Gallery - Friends

This week the prompt for the Gallery is friends, which is a really lovely prompt and I'm looking forward to looking through the entries.

Friendships are so important, the friendships we make through our lives effect us in so many ways, if we have good friends at school we often find the years wonderful, if we struggle to make good friends the likelihood is we will not have such rosy memories of our school years, but its not just through our childhood when friendships are important, we need friends all through our lives, although as we grow our friendships often don't last, for all sorts of reasons we loose touch with the friends of our childhood, new friends may come and go. but often the friendships we will need most as we get older are the ones we have right at the very start - our brothers and sisters.

I am so very lucky to have three children, and I really hope that as they grow their friendships lasts.

 

Be sure to take a look at Taras blog to find all the other entries : Sticky Fingers

Going back to school - with your Children!

We received a letter from my eldest twos school the other day stating an Adult Education Course was to begin this Monday.

The course was a Family Learning Science course, the idea is a simple one, children and a family member, be it mum, dad or grandparent, go along and learn together.

So Yesterday I dutifully attended with my eldest two, crouching down onto a smaller than average chair, and sitting in the classroom instantly brought back memories of my youth, the teacher started talking, I sat their like an attentive student, listening to the instructions whilst glancing back and forth to my two children.

You may remember I said in a recent post, that if I was invisible for a day, I'd love to watch my children at school, see how they interacted with the children and the teachers, well sitting there in this Family Learning course is probably as close as I'll get to doing just that.

Jake, my eldest, sat attentively listening to the teacher, Chloe sat fiddling with her hair starring aimlessly out the window, when I gave her dagger looks she put her arms up and mouthed 'what?' 

The teacher continued to talk, Chloe looked less and less interested as every passing second went by, then after what seemed much longer than it actually was, the teacher was quiet and we were left to get on with a series of experiments set out for us, I had words with Chloe about listening and paying attention, and we set about our business, I did my up most to make it sound fun, and engage the children (Although the course is definitely set out to be teaching us adults as well,). So I start asking them questions about what we were doing, telling them the science behind the experiments and then asking them again what we were doing, being more and more perplexed by Chloes lack of interest and randomness of her answers to my question, with more dagger looks and mumbled words, she eventually decided to give up her 'it's boring' attitude and join in wholeheartedly, which meant the experiments finished with us all enjoying ourselves.

The end of the session we were all sat around and the teacher asked a series of questions,  I was pleasantly surprised when both Chloe and Jake raised their hands and answered correctly.

It was a real eye opener to see their behaviour in a school setting, although what confuses me most is their behaviour was the opposite of what the teacher described to me on the last parents evening where I was told Jake was the day dreamer and Chloe was a very hard worker!! I guess knowing how they truly act without me there will always be one of mystery, but maybe its best being that way?!

Toy Story Jigsaw Puzzle

We were sent the lovely Toy Story Jigsaw puzzle from Your Jigsaw Puzzles.co.uk which is a new website dedicated to jigsaws, they sell a great range of puzzles something for everyone from the youngest members of your family right up to the oldest, they have a lovely range of character puzzles including Shaun the Sheep, Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam.

We love Jigsaw puzzles here, all three of the children love to sit and complete a puzzle and finding a supplier of puzzles for affordable prices is lovely, and with it being a family run business who are all passionate about jigsaws themselves they seek out the best quality puzzles at the best prices.

The Toy Story Jigsaw is a 50 piece puzzle which is aimed at the 4 plus range, Mikey has managed to complete this puzzle himself with a little help here and there, the familiar characters from Toy Story; Woody, Buzz Lightyear and the gang means he can easily recognise the colours on the pieces which help him to complete this set even without looking at the picture on the box.

Another great added extra with this puzzle is that it comes with a sheet of stickers, everyone knows how much children love stickers so thats a really nice little extra.

The Puzzle pieces are really great quality, and have withstood Mikey building this puzzle and then taking it apart again, and none of the connecting nodges have bent.

The completed puzzle is 31cm x 21cm which is exactly the size of the box, so the box can double up as a tray to build the puzzle on which is great if you want to take this puzzle with you on holiday.

Priced at £5.99 this is a lovely puzzle and would make a lovely gift for a school friend and is a great puzzle to add to your collection for those rainy days or quiet afternoons in, and if your little one isn't a Toy Story fan, or your looking for a puzzle for yourself, then be sure to check out yourjigsawpuzzles.co.uk

Silent Sunday

learning to read

I am one of them parents who is abit slack in the whole homework - reading books - spelling test department, most probably branded as a irresponsible parent by the teachers at my childrens schools when their home to school books get left with no comments in from me, and school books left untouched at the bottom of the book bag.

But let me explain why its this way, as it wasn't always like this, when my eldest started school as a eager 4 year old he was happy to pick up books and flick through the pages, he would happily bring me his words to learn, I wrote in the home to school book every night with what words we'd 'learnt' and the next day he would bring home more and more, but as things started to get harder and he started to struggle more I noticed his spark fade, he would turn his nose up at any book, and his interest in reading was fast becoming a hate!

The more I pushed the reading at home the more upset he would become. His confidence was being knocked as he struggled more and more. He went from a little boy who enjoyed me reading him stories to a boy who would do anything to avoid going anywhere near a book!

His struggles with reading and writing started to grow more and more apparent as time passed, and his peers shot ahead of him in that department, he really did try his hardest but things were not easy for him, he constantly mixed up letters reversing them, he could not grasp phonics and reading was a real struggle. Time was passing and it seemed that because he was taking longer to grasp the basics he was getting more and more behind as the rest of his peers marched on.

At the time, he attended the local village school, a tiny school with only a 5 other pupils in his year group, the school helped as much as they could but with the sheer number of peers his difficulties were ever more apparent to him, the teachers constantly told me he worked hard, tried his best and was well behaved much liked member of the class, but to him not being able to just do the things so easily like the others, with no one else in the same position as him, knocked his confidence.

I hated seeing his confidence dropping, I hated the arguments dragging out his school books brought  up, I hated knowing that he had probably spent the past  6 hours feeling inadequate at school and then making it ever more apparent when we pulled out the school books at home, having a sister who is in the year below at school wasn't helping, he is the older brother, but struggled more, it was negative in so many aspects so I stopped. I decided forcing him to read a few lines in a school book, was not going to make him suddenly grasp the concepts he needed, and all it was doing was reinforcing the fact he wasn't very good at it. My frustrations were rising and as ashamed as I am to admit it, I would shout at him for 'not trying hard enough.' I am not a teacher, I did not know how to teach him what he needed.

So that was it, enough was enough, I decided I would no longer put him through the nightly struggle wasting the few hours between coming home and eating tea, bathing and going to bed, with anger and frustration, upset and humiliation. No, enough was enough, I wanted him to have at least some time in the day just being.. playing.. laughing... not worrying about how hard it was, or how he should beable to do it. I wanted to beable to praise him for things and tell him he was doing well. I wanted to go outside and climb trees, ride our bikes and learn about the world instead of being sat inside anguishing over a school book.

So fast forward,  we ignored the home school diary, we left the school books in his bag and spent time having fun. When he was going into year 4 we moved house, and schools, a huge difference in schools, this school has more pupils in each year group than the old school had total children! Jake still struggles, but his confidence is growing, we still don't read the school books, but I love catching him reading for pleasure.

 When Mikey started school last September, I have from the word go been a 'irresponsible' mother. Not commenting much at all in his home to school book.

I don't sit him down and force feed him the words he brings home in his word pocket, I want to do it a different way, with Jake we 'learnt' the words he would bring home in reception, he seemed to be keeping up to begin with, it was later that it was noticeable he hadn't grasped any of the concepts at all, so with Mikey I don't want to rush him, I don't want to write how amazingly well he knows the three words in his bag today so that tomorrow he gets another three, with no real regard to if he actually understands the phonics behind the words we've parrot style learnt that day, to be forgot the next week.

So we play games, we have fun, and we stick his phonics to the bathroom wall whilst in the bath!

Learning in a fun way is definitely the order of the day!

Sweetcorn Bites!

The other day a lovely package of Sweetcorn bites arrived on my doorstep for us to review, perfect because sweetcorn is Chloes all time favourite vegetable, normally I buy sweetcorn frozen and not on a cob, so I was looking forward to giving these a try.

Sweetcorn bites are tasty little bites of fresh sweetcorn on the cob, ideal as a healthy snack or part of a main meal. The handy sized packs contain 8 or 9 little bites of sweetcorn which are perfect child size pieces, but no one no matter what the age will be able to resist them!

These versatile healthy snacks can be cooked in several ways, 4 minutes in a microwave with a dash of water, roast or boil in a pan (which is my method as we must be one of the only families to NOT have a microwave!) they are also great for on a BBQ come the summer months. They are quick and easy to cook so they really are perfect for an afternoon snack.

These super tasty sunshine filled little bites of corn are grown with love on a  British farm, where reducing waste and recycling is high on their priorities they respect the land and produce the freshest juiciest veggies around!

So last night after a bit of a manic day rushing around I cooked sweetcorn bites for a late treat before bed. With some fresh bread and before I could look round they had been gobbled up!

I asked for the children's verdict and it was thumbs up all around, Chloe said they were tastier than ordinary sweetcorn and she has requested that we have them with every meal from now on!

I unfortunately didn't get a look in on the ones last night, so today while they are busy at school I cooked myself some, they really do takes just a few minutes in a pan, and make the tastiest snack. A dab of butter and your in a little bit of sweetcorn sunshiny heaven.

So thank you Barfoot we will definitely be buying sweetcorn bites from now on, you can pick up a pack too from selected Tescos, Co -op and waitrose stores or order them online at Ocado here: Sweetcorn bites

Be sure to take a look at their website which is filled with some great facts and information about sweetcorn and how they are grown with love, you can also connect with them on facebook.

Wet weather - more fun!

The snow cleared as quickly as it arrived, and instead we have been left with abit of rain and plenty of mud!

So on Monday at about 4pm as the sun was dropping slightly, hiding behind the clouds casting a really lovely light through the woods,  we went for our normal walk with Jackson and Chloe even though the weather wasn't great they soon ended up finding plenty of things to keep them happy!

Jumping in muddy puddles is definitely one of Chloe and Jacksons favourite pass times.

Although it doesn't make for much fun when you have to clean the shoes once you get home!

Have you been out and about this week? Link up to Country Kids and share your photos and promote the benefits of being outdoors!

 

I heart faces - hugs and kisses

I am joining in with the I heart faces photo challenge, I often look through the entries, such wonderful phtoographers. This week the challenge theme is Hugs and Kisses so I thought I would join in.

 This photo was taken on the day I came home from hospital with Mikey, I love how Chloe is looking at her big brother.

If you'd like to join in or take a look at the other wonderful entries they can be found here: iheartfaces

Silent Sunday

be careful what you click

I received an email tonight from purebloggers.com stating that I had been invited to join their blogging community.

The email told me my blog, and it stated the correct blog address, had been liked on their site and I should go and take a look to increase my traffic, sell ad space and join other bloggers.

There was however something not quite right about the email, the email address it came from had an extra 's' on the end of bloggers(s) and the text of the email was very plain with out any formatting, so I was alittle dubious of this 'invite'

So what actually is purebloggers.com? I have had a google and a sniff around and it seems to be a bloggers network, a very new network with a similar format to facebook, it seems they are sending this email to everyone and anyone who has a blog...  I don't intend on joining just yet, as I am always dubious of this sort of thing.

Unfortunately where there are lots of good opportunities and groups and companies that may land in your inbox, there are just as many not so good ones. So always be careful what you click on.

11 Questions

I have been tagged by the wonderful Mama Syder with this great 11 Question post.

So seems as I have an afternoon free as my other half has taken the kids to play with their cousins I have actually been able to do this tag post. I'm normally abit useless at completing posts that I get tagged in!

Right so the basic idea is Mama Syder has put together 11 Questions for me to answer, I answer them, then set 11 Questions for some other bloggers to answer, and the cycle continues...

So here goes.

1. Who was your first love or kiss?

  I was a quiet teenager, never really getting into going out with my mates into town or hanging around with boys, so my first love was Darren, who I met when I was 16, and we've been together ever since.
I have just spent the last hour searching for a photo of us together all them years ago, but can't find any from them first years, except this one, which was taken back in 2001 when we set up our Computer shop.

Sorry about the really poor quality! and heres one of us taken 10 years later in 2011

2. What is your favourite book?

I love reading, I will read anything at all, unfortunately I don't put aside enough time these days to read, Something I really should try to do more.

There are literally hundreds of books I have read through the years and such a broad variety, but the books which always stand out when I think of favourite reads, are a series by Virginia Andrews which I first read in my early teens (probably not that suitable reading for young quiet teenagers and had my mum took notice of the story she would of never let me read it)   The first in the particular series was a book called Flowers in the Attic, I read the whole Dollanganger series and remember being completely shocked by it; but compelled to read it and I could not put it down spending hour after hour tucked up under my duvet in the dark with a flash light totally engrossed in the words. Out of all the books I have read it is one that I can always remember. Maybe because it reminds me of my teenage years, the thrill of finding out about the unknown more so than it being amazing literature but whatever the reason Virginia Andrews books are always ones I pick out to have a read if I see one in a book store I've not come across before.

 3. What was your favourite childhood television show?

I remember loving the Animals of farthing wood,

 I also loved Simon and the witch!

4. When was the last time you cried?

I am pretty much an emotional wreck, and I cry easily, I cried watching one born every minute on Wednesday, anything full of emotions especially involving babies and I'll be sobbing!

5. What is a dream you have or something you'd like to accomplish in your life?

I would love to travel more, see the world.

6. What is something you wish you could change?

that's a tough one, I would love for people to be less quick to judge each other, I would love for money not to be so important and for society to be closer together. How I could change that I have no idea...  but maybe thats why I love being a Homestart volunteer.

7. What would you do if you could be invisible for one day?

I would follow my children to school, watch how they interact with their teachers, their friends. I would love to know how they behave without me there, see if they are capable of being sensible without me on their shoulders and if they are liked by their friends or if they sit on the out skirts.  My youngest is a real character full of smiles and is the joker of the family - always the first to make people smile, yet I know he isn't the same at school, on his first parents evening the teacher told me he was very quiet and serious!

8. What’s the funniest movie you’ve ever seen?

 I'm not a great movie fan and when I do watch movies I'm more for the thought provoking serious ones than the funny ones... errmmm oh yes, Theres Something About Mary is pretty funny. and it was the first movie me and Darren went to see at the cinema together!

9. What was your favourite toy as a child?

Thats Easy Sylvanian Families, I was a huge fan of them, and just recently my mum who had kept my entire collection, including posters and club magazines, in her loft for the past 20 years, found them all out and returned them to me, to share with Chloe, So I lovingly set them up in her bedroom and have ever since spent more time than is reasonable re aligning them after she has been playing with them!

10.What did you most get into trouble for when you were younger?

Like I say I was a good girl when I was younger, so there was nothing too major that I can remember that caused me to get into too much trouble, Things changed slightly when I met Darren and so most arguments between me and my parents started then, me honestly believeing I was doing no wrong, my Mum refussing to accept her little girl wanted to be independant.

But besides that, I remember when I was maybe around 9 or 10, me and sister walked home from school on our own and were latch key kids, my mum working in a nearby school returned home maybe half an hour after us. We were given strict rules to return home and stay put till she was back, one day we for some reason decided it would be fun to go play in the fields over the road, there were a few horses in the fields and my sister being totally horse mad, often wanted to go over there, Anyway this one afternoon we returned home then  decided to join a friend from school and venture across the field, we knew we shouldn't but risked it anyway, reasoning we would only be 10 - 15 minutes and could return home before Mum and all would be great. However we accidentally locked ourselves out and had to explain what happened when my mum arrived home!

11. Which movie title would best depict your life story? Why?

Ahh thats another hard one because I am not great with movies... errm is there any movies about a good girl turned runnaway rogue in her late teens who set up home and business before her 18th birthday, went on to make numerous mistakes in life but always tried to look on the positive side and make the most of what she had?... if so then yep that one!

Ok so now here are my 11 questions:

1) What made you start blogging?
2) Thinking of your most popular blog post.. why did you write it?
3) Whats your most annoying habbit?
4) Whats your all time favourite song?
5) Which Season do you like best and why?
6) Do you have any siblings?
7) Whos your oldest friend?
8) Whats your favourite childhood memory?
9) Whats your biggest regret?
10) Whats your favourite achievement?
11) Whats the one main goal you hope to achieve before this year is out?

 Ok and the bloggers I am tagging are~:

Claire from At Least Daddy Can Cook
Susan from Susan K Mann
Jenny from Mummy Mishaps
Emma from Mummy...Mummy...Mum

And anyone else who wants to give it a whirl!

Heres the rules guys if you choose to join in, but please don't feel like you have to if this isn't your sort of thing!

The Rules:

You must post these rules.

Each person must post 11 things about herself on their blog.

Answer the questions the “tagger” listed for you in her post, and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.

Choose 11 people to tag and link to them in the post. 

Let each blogger know that you have tagged them.

How to avoid in-car arguments with your partner

What do you and your partner argue about in the car? Navigation? Driving skills? Who listens to what on the radio?

Humans weren’t designed to be packed into small metal boxes with loved ones, so it’s no wonder we end up fighting like cats and dogs on long car journeys. 

 
Avoid the strain of the dreaded ‘cargument’ and take note of these simple tips:

1) Bite your tongue.  

Tempted to say something that you know will annoy the other person (such as “your driving just gets worse” or “do we have to listen to this horrible music”)? 

Well … don’t. Bite your tongue, count to ten and use that time to decide whether it really needs to be said. Try to thing of something constructive to say instead.

2) Learn the art of compromise.  

Do you hate his heavy rock music, while he hates your favourite radio show? In that case you need to learn to compromise. Either find something mutually enjoyable, or agree to allow equal time for each other’s choices.

3) Reduce other stresses. 

 Sometimes we get stressed with each other because of external factors, so try to be organised and reduce potential flashpoints before jumping in the car. Going on a long journey? Make sure you have effective car insurance in place, the car packed and the oil and water levels checked well in advance, then chill out for ten minutes before jumping in the car. If you can start your journey chilled, you’re more likely to stay that way.

4) Driver is boss. 

 Do as much as possible to help the driver by dealing with the kids, keeping noise levels down and keeping distractions to a minimum. Also, make sure you swap over regularly on long journeys, provided anyone doing the driving is adequately insured to do so.

5) Keep it fun.  

Next time you feel yourself getting wound up in the car, try to think of the best joke you’ve heard recently and tell the other person. Laughing is a great tension breaker, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to relieve stress with some mirth. Laughing then releases lots of lovely endorphins, keeping you both chilled out and happy for the rest of the journey.

This is a Guest Post from Sainsburys Money Matters

Valentines Tarts

I am not a great cook, I stick to what I know and leave everything else to my other half.  Which means when the children want to cook crispy cakes seem to feature heavily!
But as my daughter gets older she has started asking more and more to cook, and she is less and less satisfied with simply pouring chocolate over  a bow of rice crispies so I dusted off an old cookery book which my Mum passed on to me that has been a firm favourite throughout my childhood.

 Although the cookery book is from the early 70's the recipes are so simple to follow.

So yesterday was Valentines day, Chloe decided she was going to make special Jam tarts, seems as jam tarts are one of the only things I can make, I thought this would be a good start, (nothing kills a good idea faster than a disastrous outcome!) So we set about making nice simple pastry.

Chloe measured out the Flour, butter and lard then mixed it together with just a little help from her younger brother.

Then she simply cut thin strips of the pasty and placed them over the jam to make heart shapes.

It worked really well and we had lovely Heart Tarts to eat with our dinner,

Today we've been making current buns... which have also turned out well... maybe Chloe will be a better cook than me!

Great £50 Experience day Give Away!

Did any of you start this year with high hopes that something amazing would happen, that you would try something new, or treat yourself more?

Maybe you have promised to make time for yourself, and would appreciate a wonderful spa day, or a fashion makeover. Or maybe excitement is what you long for, and you'd love to do something amazing like a bungee jump, or take to the skies.

Well I'm giving you a chance to win a £50 voucher from the great people at Expereince days  to help you put your plans into action. 

There are so many experience days to choose from and your sure to find something that takes your fancy, you may be looking for fast paced action in a rally car, or perhaps you've got a longing to record your own song in a professional studio. Whatever it may be all you have to do to be in with a chance is the following:

1) Take a look at ExperienceDays.co.uk and then come back here and let me know in the comments what you would spend the voucher on. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you should you win.

2) follow my blog via email - via the email subscribing box top right of my side bar.

and thats it.

For a bonus entry visit experiencedays facebook page here: Experiencedays on Facebook  and my facebook page here : Thisisme - Sarahmumof3  and share the competition with your facebook friends.

Be sure to add an extra comment here for each bonus entry.

The competition will close on Wednesday the 29th February 2012 at 7pm
Only open to people in the UK I'm afraid.

Winner will be selected at random by me and notified shortly after the end date, address details will be requested and then Experience days will send out the lucky winners voucher directly.

Good Luck

Silent Sunday

Whitney Houston

I woke up this morning to the news that Whitney Houston has sadly passed away. Whilst in Beverley Hills hotel due to attend a party to celebrate the upcoming Grammy awards tonight. Aged just 48.

She was a wonderful singer and actor, she was one of the worlds greatest recording artists and inspired hundreds of singers.

All of my life I have been familiar with her songs, the 80's and 90's she ruled the stage, with wonderful performances we all will instantly associate to her such as 'I will always love you' and her performance in hit film Bodyguard, yet as is so familiar with famous people she struggled with drug and alcohol use after her marriage to Bobby Brown, and her amazing voice was heard less and less in the last years.

Whitney Houston performed on the UK  X factor in 2009

Such a terrible loss to the world of music.

Rest In Peace Whitney.

Loopy Laboratory

As part of the Ravensburger Puzzle Club, we were sent the lovely 200 piece puzzle Loopy Laboratory to review.

This couldn't have arrived at a better time, with the weather as cold as it is, and half term to contend with, I'm always thinking of things we can do to occupy the children, and there is nothing we enjoy more than completing a jigsaw puzzle together.

This Puzzle states it is for ages 8 and above, my 8 year old daughter, and 9 year old son have both managed to complete this alone with very little help, my 4 year old has enjoyed joining in with them and we have completed it together as a family.

The puzzle itself is made up of 200 pieces approximately 2.5cm each, the pieces are all made from strong recycled card, which enables them to fit together really well, and have a fair amount of strength when together. The overall size of the finished jigsaw is 49cm x 36cm

Included in the box is a handy reference sheet, which has some great information about the Artist which is a nice touch, and means that there is another picture to reference as you build this puzzle.

Ravensburger puzzles also come with a guarantee so you will know that the quality will be as good as you expect.  They use a handmade cutting machine to make their pieces which means all pieces are different, so you won't accidentally put the wrong piece in the wrong place. Each piece is printed on a grained paper to ensure a glare free finish really adds to the quality of this puzzle.

The Picture is of a crazy scientist in his library full of little imps and funny looking creatures. The detail is truly wonderful and will keep you looking over and over again, providing a great talking point whilst you are building the puzzle and afterwards as you admire the finished picture.

here is our video review.

do you write lists?

I going to admit something, I am probably one of the most badly organised people there is, I simply coast from day to day managing to find time to fit everything in then wondering exactly how that happened, only to realise I have probably forgot half of the things I needed to get done.

I keep meaning to write a 'to do list' I have read several articles about managing your time and all offer words of wisdom, writing lists being the key to having organisation. Which is obviously where I have always gone wrong, I'm not much of a list writer, I have never wrote shopping lists, or holiday must pack lists, or general to do lists.

I am not sure what my evasion to lists is for, or where it stems from, I guess its because in an already over stretch time hungry day I reason that writing a list simply prevents me getting the things on the list done, or maybe writing down everything I want to get done on paper would just scare me too much and make me more frustrated when I don't get the things done.

I used to be pretty well organised as a school pupil, and I have managed to stumble through the past years of parenthood without messing up on too many occasions. (although my children may never forgive me for turning up to at least 2 friends parties at the wrong time!) I hope that I at least manage to remember the important things, but I am aware that my time management and organisation is lacking somewhat so maybe I will go off and write some lists!

Snowy Sunday!

now if the children would make their mind up if they want to be in or out, I'd be happy... I think I'm going to take the dog alone for a chance to appreciate the beautiful scenes without snowballs being thrown and then 10 minutes later complaints about cold fingers!

I'm adding this to Coombe Mills Amazing Country Kids Linky encouraging everyone to get outside!