Oh dear, once again I have gone months and months without writing anything again. Having just checked it’s been seven whole months and quite a lot has happened here since then. So much so that I’m going to split it down into several posts rather than one long one and then I’ll have something to post over several days in the hopes that I’ll get into the habit of writing more regularly.

So, where to start?? Well, the Easter holidays have just finished. They went really fast as I had the children for the first week and then they went to stay with their dad for a week. We didn’t do a huge amount although one day I took the children (apart from the eldest two) to Cadbury’s World. Jack’s first reaction when we got there was “why have you brought us here??? I hate chocolate!!” and Alfie just informed me that “chocolate isn’t healthy”. Hmmmmm. Funnily enough though, both were quite happy to tuck into the “free” chocolate we were given although they weren’t quite so keen on the little pots of warm melted chocolate. Unfortunately this meant I had to finish them off for them…. Oh, it’s a tough life being a mum isn’t it???? LOL

They really enjoyed the day out there but it was a shame the weather was so appalling as it meant they couldn’t go on the outdoor playground which looked fantastic. I have to admit though, I’m glad it only cost me £6.80 to get in (thanks to Tesco!!) as I don’t think it was worth the full price for the tickets. I’m sure that when I went about 15 years ago they gave us about 5 bars of chocolate as we went round, this time we got 3.

The older two have a trip promised for later on in the year which I’m really looking forward to taking them on.

On Monday we went to Belton House as there is a large adventure playground there and my friend has told me how good it is. I found a special offer to join the National Trust and better still went through a cash back website so I’ve “saved” a bit more money. The children loved it and we spent a couple of hours there while they went off and had fun and a couple of rides on the little train. Definitely somewhere we will be returning to several more times over the year, and there are quite a few NT properties I’d like to go and visit by myself as well that I know the children wouldn’t really enjoy.

All of the children are doing really well. Jack and Sophie have both been moved up to the next classes at school because they’re so far ahead of where they should be. The old A-word (autism) has reared its head with Millie again so that might all start up again.

Little Amos is just a little darling. He was 3 in February and has recently amazed me by learning to spell his name and “mum” on my laptop. I thought it was just a case of him knowing where the letters are on the keyboard but then I bought him a tub of letters for the bath and he loves sorting through them and finding the correct letters for both words. He’s also got a set of alphablocks letters (a Cbeebies series) and he loves those too, and knows all the sounds. He makes me laugh with the things he says as well, he’s such a funny little fellow and a really cheeky little character.

The cash back website I mentioned earlier is below. It’s brilliant and I really do highly recommend it. They don’t charge any fees so you get all the cash back and if you take it as Amazon vouchers you get an extra 10%!! What’s not to love??