One of my New Year's Resolutions is to maintain my weight. Some people comment on my recent weight loss as being a result of running around after my three boys. I would absolutely love it, if having three little ones around made me thin, but infact it has the opposite effect. Extreme tiredness from looking after them makes me head to the biscuit barrel for a short term fix of sugar. 

There is no magic formula to losing weight. No quick fix. If you eat more calories than you burn, you will put on weight. The way to stay fit and healthy is to eat a balanced diet full of fruit and vegetables and to exercise.

Again, having three little men and a husband that works long hours, often away from home, makes exercising hard. At the end of last year I made the decision to change my monthly gym subscription to a pay as you go one, rather than get frustrated that I was just throwing my money away by not going. I try to go to a gym class once a week. My current favourite class is Bokwa - a cross between a dancing and bodycombat class. I like exercising in a group as I find it more motivating and I feel I cant just walk out half way through! 

In addition to this I am trying to have a more active lifestyle. I try to walk big man to school and back at least once a day. It is nearly an hours trip there and back so it is weather dependent and also affected by activities we do in the day, but I have found that since big man started school in September, the walk has really helped with my fitness levels.

I am trying to do more outside activities too - igloo building must have burnt a few calories!

Sundays we take the boys for swimming lessons and that means getting in the pool with the younger two. This is still exercise and still helps, as well as promoting a healthy lifestyle for my boys.

How do you keep fit? Do you struggle to fit in exercise around looking after your little ones? 


This is my entry to the Get Fit Feel Epic competition from Moneysupermarket.com as seen on the lovely Mum Reinvented's blog

Our lounge diner is covered in pictures of big man. The only problem with this is that they were taken when he was 18 months old and he is now 5! When HelloCanvas offered me a 20 x 28 inch canvas to review, I started looking through our photos to see what would look good. I have not used a company that puts your own photo onto a canvas before, but as we recently bought a new camera it seemed like a great idea. I sent off my photo and was really impressed with the delivery service. I received an email giving me an hours time slot for delivery. There was an option to leave with a neighbour or re-schedule if necessary. When it arrived I was eager to take off the packaging. When I opened it, it wasn't what I had expected. This was no fault of HelloCanvas. It turns out that I had attached the wrong photo! Sometimes things work out for the best, and I think that this photo as opposed to the other one (which is pretty similar) looks better blown up! Big man was definitely pleased with his new picture!

I have three gorgeous boys. I love them very much but I don't really understand them that well. I was a girl who liked drawing, colouring inbetween the lines and who would make sure that the front page of any school exercise book was neat and tidy.

My boys are nothing like this! They are happier running around outside roaring. When big man started school this year, I spoke to his teacher. She advised the best thing to do was to get him learning without realizing he is doing it. She suggested lots of things that he would see as fun and not boring schoolwork. His recent homework was a scissor skills booklet from Twinkl. He loves it and it is improving his fine motor skills.

Having looked into the site further I am really impressed. It is aimed at teachers, home educators and parents. There are many free resources on offer, but for a small cost the premium membership gives you access to some amazing activities.

As big man's current school topic is weather, we checked out the winter resources on the site.  We started by going on a winter treasure hunt, spotting berries, trees and leaves. The boys had lots of fun. Big man claimed he could hear a robin, as he couldn't see one. The 10 minute walk to the shop took half an hour!

I had a dream. When I was a little girl, I watched Blue Peter. They were in a country filled with snow and a team of probably 20 people built an igloo. One day I thought, I will build one of those.

Fast forward about 30 years and I sat looking outside after lunch last Saturday, turned to my husband and shared my dream. "Do you think I could do it?" I asked. "No there's not enough snow" was his reply. It had snowed a lot. I saw his reply as a challenge. I decided to go and make my dream come true.

Armed with an ikea step stool and a carving knife I went out into the garden to start my igloo building adventure.

I went back to my igloo. I was out there so long big man came to help. I had made the igloo slightly bigger than I had intended, Big man was now keen and eager to help me finish it. Middle man came out. "What is it Mummy?" I explained it was a snow house. "Where's the door?" "It doesn't have one." "You must make a door!" he replied.


Daylight was against us, so we went inside, keen to prove Daddy wrong the next day.

Sunday morning, I got distracted again


Then after lunch big man and I got to finishing our snow den.



I decided that it wasn't worth making a small hole. Mainly, because I am a bit claustrophobic and didn't want to freak out inside my creation.



Secondly, I have a middle man!



So here is our finished igloo (or ice cave might be a better description)



So I had a dream. After the best part of 6 hours I realised that dream. Was it worth it? Probably not. Was big man happy with it - yes - so maybe it was worth it.

So what have I learnt from this adventure? 1. Blue Peter, glamorised the act of igloo making. 2. Igloo making isn't as easy as you would think 3.If for some reason our family gets stranded in a snowy area - I can make a shelter for us in a day (providing I carry an ikea step stool and carving knife with me at all times.) Would I recommend you to have a go? No. Will I do it again? "We can make one every year!" said big man - I guess that means yes.

  

For those people that know me, and those that have read any of my diet posts, you will know that I am not the kind of girl that will turn down a cake. So when Baker Days offered to send me a Valentines Day cake to review I jumped at the chance.

Middle man is smooth. Very smooth. He can turn the house upside down, and just when I am at the end of my tether, he will walk up and say "Happy Valentines Day Mummy!" I am not sure where he has got this concept from, but I imagine Disney Junior are to blame.

I therefore decided that I would order a cake for my boys. I always tell them I love them, and at the age they are at the moment they are fine with this rather than being embarrassed. They love cake and I  wanted to test out the photo icing of Baker Days.

I was really impressed with the speed in which I received the cake. The packaging was amazing. I had wondered how a cake would be delivered by Royal Mail in one piece but it is possible! The cake came packaged in a lovely "just for you" tin.


The cake is called a letterbox cake as it is small enough to fit through your door and is about 4-5 portions. The cake is secured onto the cake board with butter cream and covered in icing.


Although it had a best before date of 29th January, we weren't going to wait that long, so we quickly got it out of it's tin to have a look and a taste.


The boys loved it - big man's first reaction was "can I eat my face?" The cake was sponge and tasted nice. Other choices such as chocolate or gluten free are available at a slightly higher price. They do cakes for every occasion and their website is well worth a look. If you are looking for something other than flowers, for someone you love this Valentines Day, have a look at the Baker Days site as I can tell you their cake is yummy.






We were given the cake for the purpose of this review, but the opinions here are all my own.

Zulily are a daily deals website - I have just signed up, and from what I can see there are some good deals to be had. They have great brands such as Melissa and Doug and Galt toys and some fantastic clothing companies. They order in bulk to get you a great deal and send the goods to you themselves. If you aren't already signed up for their emails click here and have a look for yourself.

They have a couple of competitions running at the moment, for bloggers - to post their top photo taking tips and if you don't blog there is a competition on Instagram too.

I am by no means an expert on taking photos. I am at home with the kids and do take a lot though. So here are my top three tips:


1. You don't need a fancy camera - just make sure you have one with you all the time.

Yes you can get some great photos on an SLR if you know how to use it, and even if you don't. However, these are big, bulky and expensive, so you can't easily take them everywhere. A small digital camera, or even the one on your phone can capture great moments at a moments notice. I love this photo of baby man taken on the swings at our local playground on my phone.


2. Take loads of photos

This is the best thing about digital photography. Take lots of photos and you should get at least one nice one. Just remember to delete the ones you don't want off the computer - or like us you will far too many on there.




3. Don't ask them to smile!

I am not a fan of posed photos (except for a family Christmas shot.) You ask people to smile and they automatically produce a fixed grin that you don't see at any other times. Natural photos are the most beautiful to me. Just because you may not be smiling or looking at the camera, doesn't mean that it isn't a good photo. Here is a perfect example. Two brothers on an afternoon walk - holding hands.




This is my entry to the Zulily cutities blogger photo competition.

I love waking up to snow - mainly in the hope that there may be a snow day, and we can go outside have some fun and then spend the rest of the day in the warm, drinking hot chocolate. Yesterday, although I had been mentioning snow to the boys as big man got ready for school, they weren't listening to me. Hence when the door opened for us to leave we were greeted by delight and amazement.

I would describe myself as a crafty person. I like to have a go at scrapbooking, cardmaking and sewing. I also like doing arts and crafts with my boys. What I don't like is the mess it involves. I did loads of crafty things with big man when he was little. I have done less with middle and baby man. Trying to co-ordinate three children under 6 to make something with glitter and glue, could leave me with a sparkling house, but not the type of sparkling I would want. When I saw that creation station were setting up a new class where I live, I thought it would be an ideal way to do some messy craft activities with my 1 and nearly 3 year old.

Up a pound this week - not a surprise. A friend did talk some sense into me though. She has been losing weight over a few years and has done a fantastic job. She only has a few more pounds to go, but is finding those last ones the hardest. She is maintaining her weight really well, and said that when she gets those last few off she should be fine. I had never thought of it like this before. Over the Christmas period I have watched what I have eaten, but have still eaten nice things. I have pretty much maintained my weight - swaying up and down a pound. So, I don't have to cut back forever - which I was starting to feel. I would be quite happy eating as I have been eating, so just need to shed those last few pounds first.

This week my husband is working away. This is a perfect time for me to slip up. In an effort not to, there is a freezer full of weight watchers meals for one! As I can't make the gym, I will aim to do the school run once a day.

Don't forget to check out my weight loss pals and help motivate them too.

For my 30th Birthday I did a tandem skydive. It was a scary but amazing experience. I love my photo and get the DVD out at any opportunity. And here is an opportunity to show you my photo!


After having had children, I am not sure I could take the risk of jumping out of a plane. We had been thinking about taking big man indoor skydiving, but wondered if he might be a little to young for this. This weekend we took him, and he proved that he wasn't too young, and that he was a lot braver than his mummy.

The trip was arranged through Red Letter Days, and took place at Milton Keynes Airkix. We started by filling out a disclaimer and then had a briefing which went though hand signals, as you can't hear due to the noise of the wind. The instructor advised that the best thing to do was relax. (Easier said than done.) We got kitted out in jumpsuits, ear plugs, goggles and helmets, then went up to the vertical wind tunnel. We needed to hire special "flying shoes" for big man. To you and me that is some lace up trainers, but big man thought they had some special properties!



I decided that it was probabley best if big man went in first incase me or my husband freaked out and put him off! He was amazing as was our instructor. They lowered the wind slightly (or he would have blown off!) and he held him in the tunnel. Big man had a massive smile from ear to ear. He flipped over a couple of times, but it all went well. He came out beaming and ready to go in again.


As soon as I lent in, memories of my own skydive came back to me. Being in a 110 mph wind tunnel really does feel like free-falling.  Last time I did it, I had a professional strapped onto my back. This time I was trying to fly on my own! Adrenalin ran through my body, and breathing isn't easy. Nothing about it is easy! The instructor kept telling me to straighten my legs - I honestly thought they were straight, but looking at the DVD, they were nowhere near! The instructor generally had to hold some part of me, to stop me flying off into the side/performing some unplanned stunts!




On the second time into the tunnel the instructor asks if you want them to take you flying. You pay extra for this (which goes to the instructor) but it is worth every penny. For a start, the instructor is holding onto you, so you are much more relaxed. Secondly, it is fun! You go flying in circles up and down the tunnel, and how I didn't hit the sides I am not sure.

We had an absolutely fabulous afternoon and big man can't wait to take his flying certificate into school. You can take children from the age of 5, and as they don't seem to have any fear, the children we watched doing it were really good. It is not a cheap day out - but it is one you and your little one will remember. So if you are stuck with ideas of birthday presents for your children, and don't want any more plastic in the house then why not consider having a go yourself. I can't wait to take middle man in a few years time.

We were given a family ticket by Red Letter Days through their family and friends employee draw. They have not asked me to blog about the event, but it was such good fun, I wanted to!

Well I am not sure how I did it, but I managed to get through the Christmas period with no weight gain. I see this as an achievement. I would love to tell you that I ate well, but I didn't. I replaced fruit with chocolate oranges. When there are sweets in the house, I eat them. I am really pleased to have lost 21 lbs in the latter part of last year, but I would also like to go for 7 more. I know this won't be easy and will take longer. I doubt I will see any weight loss in next weeks weigh in as I know how I have been eating this week. I am hoping that when big man gets back to school, I can get back into more of a routine and back on track with some healthy eating.