Clothes Haul || Mothercare

Spring is finally here and it's about time the kids clothes reflected that.

My first haul is for Ru. 

He's grown out all off his other clothes and I've been as nifty as I could be to try and make them last the little bit longer.

Kids really shouldn't grow as fast as they do! 

So I decided to go to Mothercare - for one thing only -Little Bird by Jools Oliver.

I love the range, it's so colourful, fun and not badly priced.

Ru likes to hold onto small things, and these HappyLand surprise bags were reduced to £1 each so I couldn't resist. I'll save these for his birthday. 

Dungarees!!!

You really can't beat seeing a little boy in dungarees. These are just from the normal mothercare range. £21 for the outfit, not bad and it will go nicely with his red cons. 

This Gorgeous boat top £7 is from the Little Bird range. Ru liked this top instantly as he signed Mr Tumble and smiled. 

When Ru was a baby he had a pair of Little Bird pjs but he wasn't in them for more than 5 seconds, so now he's not growing as fast hopefully these will last a bit longer! 

These Sea Creature Pjs were only £13 and he has plenty of growing room in there. 

Then lastly this lovely kite raglan sleeved top.

Fun and free, which suits Ru right down to the ground. 

Not bad for £7

#WickedWednesday || Mr Tumbles Spotty Bag

You know that God damn awful feeling when your Spotty bag won't stand up on its own?

No me neither, but apparently this cave baby does - 

Looks bad wouldn't you agree! 

Muddy Puddles

You know those days where you just need to get every one out the house?

Well yesterday was that day. I didn't want to go back to the park because being honest the park bores me slightly.

So everyone popped on their wellie boots, minus Ru as I haven't got him any (God knows why, he's a puddle magnet!)

and we headed off to the meadow.

Oscar kicked up a fuss as that's the kids law?! Right?

At least one has to have a moan and a cry before you head out the door and make you feel awful for trying to get them out in the fresh air.

Of course they all loved it once we were out and they were running around like loonies.

The place was like a swamp. So Ru being Ru hunted out all the best puddles and had a jolly old time splashing around.

Noah tried out his jumping skills, we were secretly hoping he'd fall into the stream, but no such luck he was too good. 

We were lucky and got about an hour of lovely sunshine before the rain came, Oscar started complain his legs were no longer working and Alex had to wee in the bushes but mis-aimed and got wee all over his batman costume!  

Our Easter

Hope you all had a lovely Easter.

We usually go to either of our parents but this year we stayed home and faced the chocolate madness alone.

Well saying that we actually spent most of Good Friday over at our neighbours house and the Saturday they were round at ours having coffee and cake.

On Sunday it was just the 6 of us!

Seeing as the boys all had a ridiculous amount of chocolate to find I made sure they had something healthy for breakfast.

Watermelon is always a hit so I knew I'd have no trouble making them eat it. 

Just before lunch I spent about half an hour setting up the egg hunt, with little cards telling them which way to go and if they were close or not ..... Did they pay attention to them! 

Of course not, there chocolate radar kicked in and they were off! 

The hunt lasted all of 5 seconds!

They now have enough chocolate to last them a month if not longer but I'm sure it will all be gone by tomorrow.

Jon's parents got the boys these awesome Lindt Gold Bunny teddies which had gold chocolate bunnies shoved up its bum.

By 5 o'clock the boys were started to have a sugar crash so I decided the best thing for it was to drag them off to the park.

It was completely empty and the boys ran off all their excess energy. Without a photo or watch and I lost track of time, we got home just after 6, luckily Jon had got some food on the go so there would be no fear of them falling asleep before dinner was ready.

I treated them to a Lush bath and sent them off to bed.

Obviously the joy of getting them to bed in broad daylight wasn't easy but black out blinds do work wonders when faced with this ridiculous task.

Once everyone was asleep me and Jon cracked open our secret eggs that I had hidden away. 

How was your Easter?

#MySundayPhoto || Superheros Assemble!!

We were very kindly invited along to a Superhero training parent & toddler group at the local Trampoline park on Thursday morning.

The boys had an awesome time and we'll definitely be going back.

There will be a blog post all about it during the week.

Easter Crafts To Do With The Kids

When school holidays come around I always head to Pinterest with the hope that it fills me with inspiration!

Of course it always pulls through and gives me more ideas than I actually need.

Last night I was searching for Easter Crafts and decided to share my top 10 finds with you.

So if your stuck for ideas to do with the kids this half term, why not try some of this easy craft ideas out.

1. Bunny hand prints

2. DIY Salt Dough Eggs

3. Easter Egg Potato Stamping

4. Easter Bunny and Chick Fingerprint Craft

5. Easter Stamping

6. Decorative Egg ideas

7. Finger painting

8.Easter Egg Yarn Garland

9. Rice Krispie Easter Eggs

10. Easter Suncatchers

All of these are what I have planned to keep the monsters busy during half term, I've left all the links back to Pinterest so that if you fancy having a go, you can find out how!

I'll share our creations once we have done them and let you know how easy to follow the instructions were.

A Typical Day In The Mini Beast House!

The day always starts of with a big warm hug in the form of ..... Coffee

Before kids I never touched the stuff but 4 boys later it's all I seem to be chucking down my throat.

Once I've woken up a little I'm ready to face the wild ones and let them into the kitchen to feed.

I usually put a bit of effort into breakfast and on the odd day that they've woken up feeling like being angels it will be eaten at once with no mess to be seen. More often or not, they'll fight over the fruit, demand one cereal or another, want nothing at all. In the end it will usually be thrown all over the floor / table!

Once I've dropped the twins at nursery and Noah at school, I spend my day with Ru.

Usually we'll pop into Morrisons on the way home - all depending on him, if he sees the sign he'll point and moan till I pull up.

Will he go in the trolley? 

No

Will he walk nicely?

No

Will he be carried? 

No

The trip will either end with me running up and down the Isles after him, whilst he's laughing like a mad man, him standing in the trolley whilst I zoom around trying to get everything I need before he dives head first out of the trolley to run off again.

Or his favourite screaming his head off

thrashing about like I'm trying to slowly kill him. 

Why I keep indulging in his mind games is beyond me. I should just stay away from the god damn place when he's with me. 

Once home I'll usually treat myself to another cup of the good stuff and crack on with the house work - that's if Ru allows it. If he's happily watching Mr Tumble or playing in his car with my car keys I can get on and have no problems as long as I'm done before Mr Tumble sings his goodbye song, as we have to sign/sing it together. 

If Ru is not playing ball I'll usually try to get him to help and he'll either end up in a box or the washing basket!  

After we've had lunch which usually is just a lick of what ever I've give him, as he'd much rather eat Ray's dog food.

We'll go and collect the twins from nursery. If it's a nice day I'll usually drive down the road to the beach so we can fill our lungs with fresh air.

Usually we last about 5 minutes before everyone starts crying myself included because they'd much rather be having a nap than running around on the beach front.

Before we know it its time to go and fetch Noah, if Jon can have the boys it's much easier but more often than not I'll take them with me just because I like the company even if it does take twice as long. 

Ru also likes to visit his favourite door on either way back to the car.

Most days I'll take a sunset picture, just because I can't help myself. One of the best things about living on an island is the sunsets. 

Once home I'll run around like a headless chicken and try to get dinner done before they all fall asleep and scream at me.

Again just like breakfast most of it will end up thrown over the table or floor. Ru will once again favour the dogs food.

Once the chaos of dinner is over its on to bath and bed! (Usually my favourite part of the day!)

I'll bath Ru, the the twins and then Noah will jump on last. 

I'll read two books to the twins and Ru in the twins room and then take Ru up to his room and read to him, once he's fallen asleep I'll head down to Noah's room listen to him read, we'll practise his spellings and times tables then I'll read to him.

By 8 ish they're all in bed and I can go downstairs and enjoy whatever Jon has cooked for dinner.

Then we bum out till we can't keep our eyes open any longer and we head off upstairs to pass out!

Camp Bestival || ANNOUNCING CAMP BESTIVAL’S COSMIC DJ LINE-UP

REACHING FOR THE STARS!

Team CB are very excited to announce the DJ line-up for this year’s Camp Bestival Outer Space extravaganza. And you can be sure that the moon walk is just one of the signature moves that we’ll be busting out as we reach for the firmament of dancefloor stars who’ll be keeping us space raving family style all weekend long at Lulworth Castle at the end of July.

Astro-mixmaster Rob da Bank says: “We always like to get the whole family dancing at Camp Bestival, so this year I’m really chuffed that we have some proper DJing legends who will be more than familiar to mums and dads but who will definitely get the kids up on their feet and partying. From the legendary Sasha, Hacienda giant Greg Wilson and lifetime Camp Bestival resident David Rodigan to amazing family ravers Big Fish Little Fish and Fun DMC, not forgetting Pan’s People, we’re all going to be spoilt for choice!”

DJs & SOUNDSYSTEMS:

SASHA / GREG WILSON’S SUPER WEIRD SUBSTANCE / 

DAVID RODIGAN MBE PRESENTS RAM JAM: TREVOR NELSON, 

WOOKIE, KIKO BUN (LIVE) & VENUM SOUND / NORMAN JAY MBE / 

ACID HOUSEWIFE (LOTTIE & SMOKIN JO) / ENGLISH DISCO LOVERS / 

BIG FISH LITTLE FISH / FUN DMC / KIDS DISCO WITH PAN’S PEOPLE / 

NUTTY’S DISCO / JUNIOR JUNGLE RAVE

Heading up our cavalcade of cosmic explorers, and providing a golden opportunity for parents to relive their intergalactic youth, we are ecstatic to welcome Sasha back to Space Camp Lulworth. A veritable rave god, Sasha is a man who knows how to take a crowd on a voyage into the unknown and we can’t wait!

The legends don’t stop there as we will also have hacienda stalwart Greg Wilson’s Super Weird Substance, reggae great David Rodigan MBE who will present Ram Jam featuring sets from Trevor Nelson, Wookie, Kiko Bun (live) and Venum Sound and rare groove kingpin Norman Jay MBE will be making good on the ones and twos. Plus, we will have sets from Acid Housewife featuring Lottie & Smokin Jo, and English Disco Lovers.

Pioneers of family clubbing Big Fish Little Fish will be back to rock the tots once again and there will be beats and bass for big and little kids alike with sets from Fun DMC, the Kids Disco with Pan’s People, Nutty’s Disco and Junior Jungle Rave who are guaranteed to make the little’uns jump up.

Tickets are selling really fast for our Outer Space adventures and we’ve still got plenty more space-based goodness to announce so make sure you grab yours while you can and keep on checking our website, Facebook and Twitter for all the latest sub space communications.

Camp Bestival Festival Ticket Info:

Camp Bestival 2016 Weekend Tickets are on sale now via: Ticketline / 0844 888 4410

Camp Bestival 2016 Weekend Ticket Prices:

Adult Weekend Ticket - £197.50*

Student Weekend Ticket - £185*

Age 13 to 17 Weekend Ticket - £118*

Age 10 to 12 Weekend Ticket - £93*

Age 5 to 9 Weekend Ticket - £45*

Age 4 & Under Weekend Ticket - £15*

Babes In Arms (1 & Under) - FREE (but ticket required)*

All tickets include camping from Thursday or Friday. 

*NB: please refer to the Camp Bestival Ticket Terms & Conditions 

Weekly Payment Plan:

Use our 15-week payment plan to purchase your tickets meaning that an adult ticket can now be bought at a payment of around £12 per week over 14 consecutive weekly payments following your initial deposit payment. Book online via Ticketline only: select 'Camp Bestival 2016 - Weekend Payment Plan'. Once you have signed up to the payment plan, which basically means giving your agreement by ticking the bank mandate form on Ticketline’s website, they will automatically debit your card on a weekly basis. NB: Booking fees and a deposit (£27.50 per adult ticket) will be charged with your initial transaction.  More info here.

Car Parking - £20 in advance 

Campervan Ticket - £85 per vehicle - please read Campervan T&Cs before booking 

Caravan / Trailer Tent Ticket - £96 (One car only per caravan/trailer tent – no exceptions). Please read Caravan/Trailer tent T&Cs here.