Things you find on your iPad when you have kids

I have an iPad, which the children often snaffle and use when they are allowed and they have been behaving. Over Christmas, when they were busy playing with their new toys, I was clearing out the photos when I found a set of photographs that made me smile. I've put them into a slideshow for you so that you can see them in the way I first did. I just love watching Missy Woo as she realises what is going on and that it's taking photos of her. In reality, this is over a few seconds but I've slowed it down so that you can enjoy all the expressions on her face.

Enjoy.

     

Is this the quiet period of childhood?

Butter wouldn't melt, eh?

Not *actually* quiet, you know. My children are still as noisy as anything given the chance.

It just feels that there is not a massive amount happening. The children are growing. They have done the learning to walk, talk, read and count. I'm not bragging when I say they are doing well at school; it's simple fact as they are both ahead of where is expected of them where they are in school. I am lucky in that they don't seem to have any major issues at school.

Behaviourwise, we don't have major issues. We still struggle with them to understand that in the morning they have certain jobs that must be done because although they do them most days, some days they do not seem to realise they are meant to get dressed. I don't think they are that different to other children their own age. Monkey is still prone to the odd meltdown which mostly seems associated with tiredness. If he would only sleep in later, especially at weekends!

When he was first in school, Monkey was much much worse than this. He's definitely calmed down in recent months. No, he is not perfect, but on the whole, he's very good and loving towards us - well, at least, at home. In public, he doesn't want to be seen hugging me in the way that boys of his age only can but almost the first thing he does when he comes home from school is come and give me a hug. If they are looked after by anyone else, I always get good reports back.

All this, however, makes me feel like I'm being lulled into a false sense of security. Looking ahead, I fear the teens and what it will do to them, especially Missy Woo who is the sweetest thing ever. I know that things will change, I just wonder how far away that might be.

This feels like the quiet period of childhood - am I right? Is that how it is for this age group? When might things change?

Or am I just lucky and should just count my blessings more?

What say you?

Meal Planning Monday - the moving into February away from snow edition!

So, as we established, blogging to say we had no snow backfired on me in a big way, with two lots of snowfall, the second a significant amount that arrived in the space of a few hours and took everyone by surprise (hence the M6 being closed nearby and several people got stuck there overnight).

The snow's gone in a flash though and we're now looking forward to some warmer, but wetter, weather. And it's February - hoorah. It may be my birthday, but January is not my favourite month so I'm always glad to see the back of it. I can feel the days getting longer and the warmer temperatures will help me feel that little bit closer to spring.

What's going on this week? Well, husband is off work for two days as I have got some governor training on Tuesday night so he needed to take the evening off and decided to add Monday to that too. He will however be working the weekend so it's swings and roundabouts.

The recipes are a mix. Monkey chose two dishes from his recentish favourites, I've had some things on my list that I wanted to try making, and there's one carried over from last week because I couldn't be bothered going out to the garage to the freezer. And to complete the week, I fancied a lamb recipe cooked in the slow cooker so a search threw up a nice curry.

Here is the coming week told in our meals.

Monday - Cheesy chicken pot pie
Tuesday -  Slow cooker lamb and sweet potato curry
Wednesday  - Mini meatloaves and jackets with broccoli
Thursday  - Fish chowder
Friday -  Slow cooker veg tamale pie with cornmeal crust
Saturday-  Boerenkool Stamppot (Kale Hash)
Sunday - Cheese and ham toasties (just because my kids ask for them for tea, heathens!)

So that's us. What's on your menu? When you've finished here, mosey on over to Mrs M's for more lovely entries in this week's linky.

Remember I said we had no snow?

Well, today, we got this.

All in about 6 hours. Most of the snow from earlier in the week had all but melted on the front of the house and it only started sticking around 4pm.

Not sure we're going anywhere on Saturday, although rain is forecast.

Have I mentioned I hate winter?

Meal Planning Monday - the no snow edition!

(OK, so the weather forecast decided to make a fool of me. I wrote this late last night and overnight, we unexpectedly got 2-3 ins of snow and it's kept snowing today. Still, school is open so it is not a snow day officially here, just snow-y. )

Yes, what seems like everyone is going on about snow. We, on the other hand, have very little. It snowed on Friday, true, but not a massive amount. Where we live, we seemed to have more than the rest of the local area because we are that bit higher up and exposed but down at school there was much less so that remained open, and as you head to Preston, the snow all but dies out. I really don't mind - the children had enough snow to play in for a while, but everything continued to function. And it's been cold but not too bad - really, Friday was the worst day and on Saturday, I didn't even have to turn the heating up or back on.

It's a bit odd, really. I know it's going to continue to be cold this week so I have tried to keep warming stuff on the menu. I've just realised that I'm meant to be going out for lunch on Thursday so have done a quick last minute reshuffle so I'm not cooking lots in the afternoon and this now means a full week of meals. We have nothing special this week - no parties, events or anything. Sounds boring but it's nice to have a quietish week from time to time. A couple of these recipes, I have snaffled from reading other people's meal plans last week. If that's you, then thanks for the idea. I have a few more lined up for future weeks as I couldn't fit it all in.

Our week looks very much like this.

Monday -  Carrot sesame and chickpea burgers
Tuesday - Lamb meatball and pea pilaf
Wednesday -  One pot prawn pilau
Thursday - Potato and parmesan soup
Friday - Root veg and pancetta toad in the hole with gravy
Saturday - Cheesy chicken pot pie
Sunday - Sausage cassoulet

What about yours? Mrs M is the place to go if you want more Meal Planning Monday magic. 

Blocked.

I just tried writing a post to explain whilst I'm not blogging much.

It turned into a rant, a passive aggressive one at people who would probably never read this post, and to publish it would probably not  be all that helpful. So I hit delete and started again. 

This is it. Things aren't really going to plan at the moment and things I've been hoping to happen have been put off. And in the meantime, I'm in limbo. Blocked, if you like. 

It's very very frustrating. I want to write about good things, nice things, a flying start to the year. And I can't. I'm waiting, waiting, waiting. Hopes held, hopes dashed. Frustration, anger, sadness. More waiting. 

Blocked. 

Bear with me. My blogging mojo has taken a huge hit because of it. I like to blog about positive, nice things. I don't avoid less happy posts but I can't blog about this stuff at the moment. 

All I have to do for now is grit my teeth, carry on and maybe fight my corner. 

And maybe soon, I'll be unblocked. 

Then normal service can resume. 

Catch you soon. 

Meal Planning Monday - the keeping warm January edition!

Gosh, tomorrow is pretty much the middle of January but I'm feeling the chill. This is partly a good thing, because it's been so warm recently, I've been boiling in bed at night, but I dislike the cold, I'm not great with ice or snow. We're still trying to eat as healthily as possible and the dishes I've chosen reflect that. I've left one day free, because husband's niece is 21 on Sunday and has invited all of us to her party on Sunday but as she lives in Cumbria, down a twisting, hilly road from the M6, we might be taking a rain check on that one if the weather gets really grotty. Other than that, it's stuff that warms - pilaf, bakes, soup and two stews. Oh, and burgers.

The good thing about it being the middle of January is I'm feeling the days lengthen already - we got back from school later than normal on Friday and it was really noticeable that we didn't have to have the lights on straight away. Soon be summer, won't it? (Please?!)

Our week in meals looks like this.


Monday - Spiced vegetable pilaf
Tuesday - Lemon and thyme turkey burgers with vegetable chips
Wednesday - Gnocchi and tomato bake
Thursday - Fresh and light chowder with crusty bread
Friday - Chicken and veg stew with couscous
Saturday - Keeping free
Sunday - Hearty lamb and barley stew

How does your week look foodwise? And have you been to see what other people are doing over at Mrs M's?

See you next week!