- Portugal -

Back in August, the younger three minibeasts all had their very first trip abroad.

We flew off to Portugal, for a massive family holiday. 

We went with my parents, my brother and his family and my cousin.

We re-booked a villa that we had hired 10 years ago and surprisingly nothing much had changed, apart from we took up more space this time thanks to the additions of all the new children.

The villa was in Moledo,  which is in the North of Portugal.

Filled with beautiful beaches and friendly people

Having our own villa meant we could do what we liked and when we liked. 

The boys all need feeding pretty much non stop or they get hangry, so not having to wait for set meal times worked for us.

As I'm talking about Villas, did you know that Clickstay has 75,000 Villas worldwide to choose from!

Amongst those 75,000 there are some amazing villas in Portugal, which could help you plan your very own Portugues villa holiday.

There was a local supermarket that we all enjoyed visiting, especially the boys as they loved looking at all the fresh fish on offer and all the different sort of sweets and snacks Portugal had compared to back home.

Moledo had lots of different bars and restaurants which we could walk to from our villa, a couple of mornings as we were up before everyone else the boys and I would walk down to one of the favourite bars and they'd all have pancakes for breakfast whilst I enjoyed a nice strong Portuguese coffee.

The bar also had a very long Gin list that Kelly, my mum and I tried to work our way through.

Pretty sure we nearly succeeded too. 

Being within walking distance of two different beaches we thought we'd probably spend most of our time down on one of them, but the kids loved being by the pool and playing hide and seek in the garden.

The kids pretty much took the lead on how the day would fold out and we were all pretty happy with that, if the kids wanted to stay by the pool there were enough adults to keep an eye out if some others wanted to go into town and do a little bit of exploring.

One of the best things about the villa was that the wifi wasn't on and the TV didn't have any signal which meant the kids couldn't get sucked into screen time and they actually spent most of their downtime colouring in or making up games to play together.

It was great to see them all having fun together without the aid of a console or iPad in their hands.

Towards the end of the holiday, we heard about a festival going on in a nearby town, so we packed up the van and headed over to Viana Do Castelo and witness their amazing Feasts of Nossa Senhora da Agonia.

The Feast of Senhora da Agonia is probably the most famous pilgrimage in the region.

 It is celebrated over the weekend after 15 August (day of the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin), and usually includes ethnographic parades, processions on land and processions on the River Lima with decorated boats. The streets along which the religious procession passes carrying the image of the Virgin are decorated with carpets of flowers.

The cult devoted to Senhora da Agonia dates back to the 18th century. It is associated with the devotion of the people engaged in fishing, who gave thanks or celebrated the graces received in times of trouble during storms and shipwrecks.

We all loved the drumming and the boys loved watching the groups dance around the square.

The drumming was so loud we could hear it even when we were down by the river.

It was an amazing day out and one I'm sure the boys won't forget any time soon.

The boys spent two weeks perfecting their dive bombs and learning to swim in the sea, eating fancy fish meals that my brother who is a trained chef lovingly cooked up for them.

They learned little snippets of Portuguese which Rupert loved showing off to the locals.

They spent two weeks with their cousins who they hardly see since we moved away from London.

We had midnight parties where they all showed off their very amusing dance skills.

We left our normal day to day routine back at home and the boys took a while to adjust but it was lovely to be stress-free and soaking up the sun rays whilst the boys all had a blast just being kids!

I definitely feel villa holidays are for us, as we just wouldn't even fit into one hotel room.
I feel there's more freedom with a villa holiday.


Do you prefer a Villa holiday or are you an all-inclusive holidayer?

- Christmas Wreath -

Last weekend I went to a Christmas Wreath workshop over in Swaffham

It cost £40.

The workshop was completely full, some people had never made a wreath before and some were returning crafters.

We were shown step by step how to make our own wreaths and the instructions were really easy to follow.

We started off running the wire around our copper wreath and then covering it completely in moss before we started on any of the greenery.

We had a big selection of foliage to choose from, we could use as much or as little as we wanted.

If at any point you got stuck the florists would come over and lend a hand or talk you through how to correct it, or where to add some more foliage.

Once we had all finished with the greenery we were then walked through the next step...Decorating our wreaths.

We could each pick 12 decorations and a ribbon.

Then it was up to us what we picked and where we placed them.

Checking from a distance to see how it looked.

Placing the decorations in amongst the foliage.

I was really happy with my final piece, once all my decorations were in place I then went a bit glitter happy with the spray.

The finished wreath up on my door!

I was worried my hook wouldn't hold the weight of it, but so far so good. Even these ridiculously strong winds haven't blown it away yet.

 Having the amazon delivery man ask where I bought it from has been one of my Christmas highlights so far, as I got to smugly reply that I hand made it myself, I even have the ivy spikes in my fingers to prove it!

Making a wreath myself has defiently given me an insight at why handmade ones are so expensive to buy!

A lot of hard work and effort goes into them. My hands were completely black once I'd finished crafting mine and they hurt for days after.

Have you made a wreath this year? 

...Count Down To Christmas with the Sockvent Calendar...

Over the years I  have seen the choice in different Advent Calendars explode, you can now get your hands on all sort of toy Advent Calendars for your little ones to cheese Advent Calendars for those cheese addicted family members.

Until the other day, I was unaware you could even get your hands on a sock Advent Calendar!

Sock Shop UK contacted me and asked if they could send me one of their Wild Feet Advent calendars.

I haven't had an Advent Calendar for years so I was more than eager to accept their offer.

25 days of brand new socks! 

Hard to say no really.  

This huge 43cm x 31cm advent-style gift box is chock-full of ladies socks in seasonal and year-round designs, ranging from Kawaii-style Christmas trees to the angelic pugs shown on the lid of this set. 

25 totally different designs to be discovered, one per day, all December through to Christmas Day.

Wild Feet socks are made using a cotton-rich blend of fibres and in a soft, smooth weave for all-seasons comfort. 

It’s a sock enthusiast’s dream present. 

They have both men’s and ladies’ versions, and in slightly smaller 12-pair choices too.

I love the idea of getting a brand new pair of socks on the run up to Christmas, I'm constantly in need of socks and often end up pinching Noah's so this will finally give me no need to go rummaging through his drawers when we're in a rush to run out the door.

I know all the boys are going to want to have a go at opening a door on this calendar that I'm not sure ill even get a go, they were pretty impressed when the postman delivered it.

 SOCKSHOP have some amazing Black Friday deals which last all weekend, where you can buy this and their 12 days of Christmas Advent Calendars for half price, so why not go and bag a bargain before Christmas!

If you arent too interesting in trying to grab a bargain in the sale why not check out their awesome Christmas shop, where you could find some lovely stocking fillers!

Over on my insta stories in the run-up to Christmas, I will be sharing a new pair of socks daily!

...Would you buy yourself or someone you know a sock advent calendar?...

-- Happy Halloween --

Happy Halloween!!!

The boys went off to a four hour Halloween party at martial arts last weekend, they all love dressing up and I secretly love getting arty with the face paints.

Sunday we got stuck into carving the pumpkins that we picked up from the pumpkin patch.

Jon and Ru attacked the massive white one and the boys all did their own, we're going to have to buy Alex a new pumpkin today as his had gone a little mouldy.

I turned mine into a vase and bought some autumnal flowers from Tesco's.

I also bought some bunting which I've been able to cut up into three different banners as it was so long and I've popped it up over the fireplace, in the hallway and in the kitchen.

I also found a recipe for Pumpkin spice latte cupcakes.

I wasn't too keen on them to start with, but the taste grew on me and I rather enjoyed them.

Even the boys loved them!

It's not really Halloween without some Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

I'm not sure if we are going trick or treating this year as Noah has parents evening on Thursday and we're away on Friday so probably we'll just get some Halloween themed snacks in and watch some family-friendly Halloween films after school.

Halloween is not complete without the yearly Halloween snap chat filter fun!

Hope you all have a fun Halloween.

Day Out // ... Mountfitchet Castle ...

During our half term, Noah went off on holiday with his cousin Sam glamping in Lincoln so we were down one kid.

I was pretty much working every day but on the two days off I had we decided we do something a little bit different and go a tad further afield. 

So on Tuesday my first day off, we jumped in the car and headed to Essex.

Two hours later we were at Mountfitchet Castle.

Mountfitchet Castle is a unique time capsule.

With its commanding position overlooking the Stort Valley, the Castle is situated on its original site which is steeped in history.

Formerly an Iron Age hill fort, this historic site was also a Roman signals fort and later a Saxon and Viking settlement before being attacked in 1066 by William the Conqueror who built a wooden Motte and Bailey castle here.

Mountfitchet Castle was also briefly used by the Royalist Army to King Charles in the English Civil War (17th C). 

The Royalist forces held out at the castle when they were laid Siege to by Cromwell.

The grounds were cleared to reveal the original earthworks and mounds and after years of battling with planners, in 1980 the work began to reconstruct Mountfitchet Castle. After many years of work, the restoration of Mountfitchet Castle was completed and was opened to the public in 1985 and is unique as being the only wooden Motte and Bailey reconstruction on its original site anywhere in the world.

This historic castle enables the visitor to travel back in time to 1066 Norman England. Explore the Castle and roam through the Norman Village hidden behind the castle walls, wander in and out of the many houses and view the scenes, smell the log fires burning and experience the ambience of an ancient bygone lifestyle. A living history, hands-on and interactive experience.

We started off in the Toy Museum and Haunted house, we all really loved seeing all the toys, the boys all loved the Star Wars and Doctor Who collections.

The boys, however, weren't so keen on the Haunted House, Alex even cried halfway through! 

So we quickly turned on our phone lights and zoomed them through to the otherside.

Once through they all cheered up.

*

When we arrived there was a school trip going on, so the grounds were full of children, but it didn't phase the boys and they got on with what they wanted to do.

The school kids were all very polite.

After lunch, the school kids all went back to school and the grounds became very empty, the boys pretty much had free range.

We went back around so the boys could do some bits that they had missed, like go inside the jail and play with the mills.

Also, once the school kids had gone the Deer came out to play!

They were super friendly and even fed straight from our hands.

That was probably my favourite part of the day.

Mountfitchet Castle is definitely worth a visit with the kids.

The staff were all really helpful and friendly.

We had a fab time and will probably go back again with Noah.