- Lockdown Diaries -

Thought I'd share another lockdown catch up.

The boys have been enjoying their time at home to the fullest, screen time is pretty high, but they get all their work done in the morning and the rest of the day is up to them.

I do try to take them for a walk around the village a couple of times a week and I also get them out in the garden helping out with the veg we're growing.

During clap for our key workers, we decided to take out the pots and pans and make some extra noise and to Alex's delight he broke a spoon he was banging so loudly, now it has become a weekly tradition to see who can break the next spoon! I'll be out of wooden spoons come the end of the lockdown.

We got crafty making posters for a surprise video that my sister in law and I decided we'd plan for my dads 60th. We got other family members involved and we all made a letter poster to spell out Happy 60th Birthday.

He was very impressed with our efforts.

Lockdown birthday's are so much more thoughtful than normal birthdays, which makes me think we need to ramp up our efforts and keep doing these random acts of kindness even when we are allowed to be with other members of our family.

I've been missing the gym recently so I decided I would try online yoga sessions.

I've always wanted to do yoga, so now is the perfect time to start.

I'm really enjoying it and it isn't as tricky as I thought it would be.

It definitely picks my mood up.

One evening as I was finishing, a sleepy Ru decided the floor by my feet would be a better place for him to sleep rather than his bed.

The cats are enjoying the sunny afternoons and are even enjoying napping close to each other, which is a first especially for link and indie, who are usually sworn enemies.

I finally was able to sit and relax and finish a book that I bought a few months back, I tried on and off to read this and even during lockdown I just couldn't focus, but with a routine in place with the boys I found time to read and I really enjoyed this book.

I had a big sort out in the twins room, as it was just full of rubbish and stuff, Oscar is a bit of a hoarder and likes to collect shoe boxes, stones, bits of rubbish and anything shiny.

Every time I went into their room it made me unhappy. 

So 5 bin bags later and a massive dust up, it's finally a nice relaxing room and I keep finding myself just standing in their admiring my hard work.

Whilst decluttering their room we found the Treasure Island playmobil set that Jon's mum had bought Noah many moons ago, so I set it back up and Ru is loving it.

I can never resist taking a photo of a rainbow!

I have also got into wax melts!!

My house has never smelt so amazing.

I get mine from flaminglewaxco.

Beautifully packaged and at great priced!

I'm loving my little collection and the boys love picking out a new scent every day.

We had a little VE Day tea party in the garden to celebrate the 75 years.

I made a Victoria sponge and managed to get some little cupcakes from our local Tescos.

The boys all coloured in some Union Jack bunting that we put up in our front windows and we also did a little home learning on WW2 to get them to understand what we were celebrating. 

Noah has already learned all about the war so was more than happy to help tell the boys all about it.

Twinkl had some great resources for us.

I really can't be trusted with money as I've bought even more plants for the house.

These were from canopy plans £35 for a box of beginner plants, so I had no idea what they'd be until the arrived.

Im very pleased with my selection and already my pothos has nearly doubled in size since arriving.

I also made three ingredient sugar biscuits.

100g salted butter,

70g sugar,

120g plain flour.

- Pre heat the oven to 170,

- Mix all the ingredients together,

- Form the dough into balls and press down with a fork,

- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes.

These tasted amazing right out of the oven! 

Even with the relax on the lockdown soon to commence me and the boys will be sticking to what we are already doing, I have a feeling people will decided its ok to go back to normal and we'll have a spike on our hands.

Ru is year 1 and would be expected to return to school on the first of June, even if we hadn't made the decision to home school from now he wouldn't be going back.

YR and Y1 abiding to social distancing regulations seems like a joke!

Noah will not be going back to school until everything is under control and there is a vaccine available, schooling with social distancing seems ridiculous to me. They are all much safer at home.

I understand this isn't an option for everyone and my heart does go out to everyone who isn't able to have the option.

I hope everyone stays safe and sticks to the rules and that this virus is soon under control!

xxx Stay Safe xxx

Sleep Well Milk // Review

The twins religiously have a cup of milk before bed, but Ru has always been a bit hit and miss with it, Noah avoids it like the plague unless he's trying to please me to get something out of me.

Bed time usually goes pretty smoothly, we still stick to the bath and bed routine, my aim is usually to have them in bed by 7 ish. The twins settle down after a few giggles, Noah goes to bed by 8.30 / 9 ish. Ru on the other hand will go to his bed at the same time as the twins and I'll have to sit at the end of his bed for normally around an hour waiting for him to drop off to only have him wake up at 2 am to get into my bed and be fully awake by 4.30.

This has become pretty normal and we've kinda got used to it, but when I heard about Sleep Well Milk I was very up for giving it a go.

The Sleep Well difference ......

JERSEY MILK

Enriching and delicious, Jersey Milk enjoys 20% more protein and calcium than milk from other breeds. It not only tastes great but, being more nutritious, it does you good too.

VALERIAN

Valerian root has been relaxing people and helping them get to sleep for nearly 2000 years. Our valerian herb is grown and harvested in the UK and is of the highest quality.

HONEY

Honey contains simple sugars that are better for you than white sugar or artificial sweeteners. The perfect blend of fructose and glucose that can help you sleep, it’s also full of antioxidants.

....

The milk comes in two flavours - Chocolate and Vanilla.

We were sent the vanilla flavour, as soon as Ru saw the little cartons he asked if they were his but to his disappointment I told him he had to share with his brothers.

Come bedtime they were all rather eager to try out the new milk.

They all said it tasted a bit like chocolate, which I think that was their way of describing its sweetness. 

Alex and Oscar were undecided if they liked it or not but Ru was very impressed with his brand new bedtime milk.

The twins went to bed with out any noise and fell to sleep quicker than usual, but I put that down to them being tired from getting up early.

I had wishful thinking when it came to Ru, but even he fell asleep quickly, I think I was only in his room for about half an hour.

The boys all woke up about 5 the following morning, so a slightly longer lay in to normal.

Definitely a win!

To make sure it wasn't just a fluke we tried some more Sleep Well Milk the following evening, the twins didn't want any, which pleased Ru as now it truly was just his milk.

I gave him slightly more as now I knew he liked it and within 15 minutes of him getting into bed he was asleep!!!

That wasn't all, he didn't wake up till 6.30 the following morning!

We have now finished up the three bottles we were sent and each night has been a success.

Sleep Well Milk will be added permanently to our shopping list.

I can't say that it will work every time but I'm more than happy to keep trying my luck with it.

You can buy Sleep Well Milk online here and in selected Sainsbury's stores.

Not suitable for children under 12 months old.

xxx Stay Safe xxx