Halloween 2015

I really can't believe I've bought into this whole Americanised version of Halloween, but it's so much fun once you have children and actually, being a total misery and refusing to get into the spirit of things gets you nowhere. We've had so much fun this week, our estate looked amazing tonight, so many houses all decorated for Halloween and everyone chatting to one another in the street. Here a few photos of our first real Halloween at home with Henry (he slept through his first, dressed as a pumpkin of course, and then last year we were in Disneyland Paris).

Half Term Day 9 - 31/10/15

We were up bright and early for Weight Watchers this morning, I lost another 2 pounds taking me up to 11 in total which I'm really happy with. We then went to the cafe in the leisure centre and had smoothies and cake...as you do when you leave Weight Watchers! After we'd finished we came home for a lazy few hours watching Saturday morning TV and  snuggling. 

For lunch we picked up my father in law and went to Wheelbirks for a Halloween lunch. Henry had eyeball pasta followed by a spooky looking blackberry sorbet. I really do love it there, they make so much effort for big events and the food is such good quality. We both loved the blackberry sorbet too, we've never had that flavour before so that's always a treat. Daddy went for cookies and 'scream' which was really good too. 

We were all so full after lunch that we came home for mammoth naps in bed. There's nothing nicer than spending a Saturday afternoon cuddled up in bed. 

As soon as it got dark we lit our pumpkins, decorated outside and headed out for Henry's first ever trick or treating session. I was a bit worried that he'd be really shy but he loved every second. He loved knocking on the doors and we'd say 'trick or....' and he'd finish the sentence off by shouting 'treat!'. So cute. He remembered to say 'ta' to everyone and loved seeing all the other children dressed up. When we came home he loved answering the door to other children and giving them sweets and would get so excited when he heard a knock. We'd bought 3 big bags of sweets for the children but we ran out about 7pm so luckily Henry isn't old enough to realise that we've also given away most of his sweets too!! Some people made so much effort, he got a full party bag from once house, a homemade toffee apple in another and so many of the houses were decorated so well. 

We came home for a lovely 'picky bits' tea of olives, jamon Serrano, bread, crisps and houmous and a bottle of prosecco for us too. I love family days with my little family so much. 

Half Term Day 8 - 30/10/15

We were up bright and early for Henry's regular Friday music class, Jittabugs. He absolutely loves it and it was so lovely watching him doing all his dance moves and shouting 'shake' and 'roll' along with the other children. My eyes filled up several times just watching him; he's growing up so quickly and I'm so so proud of him.

Afterwards we were planning a walk but it was absolutely throwing it down so we just went to Tesco for juice and snack time and to do a bit of shopping too. Henry then had his sleep and I sorted some housework and had an hour watching trashy TV on my own which pretty much never happens.

When Henry woke up we met his godmother and my mum at the farm shop for lunch, it was so good and we ate loads, just what I fancied on a cold and rainy Friday.

Afterwards we want for a lovely long walk to Hardwick Park. There are so many ducks, geese and swans there that Henry loves it, it's never really busy either which is a bonus. Of course we did lots of jumping in muddy puddles too, the rain does have its bonuses.

We had a fun evening at home with daddy and an early night in bed, and the biggest bonus of the lot was that Henry slept for 11 whole hours in his cot which is a very rare event in our house! 

Half Term Day 7 - 29/10/15

I've been loving the lazy mornings we've had this half term and today was no different. After a few hours we met Henry's Marmar and Parpar up at the garden centre to try out the new tropical world that's just opened. Henry absolutely loved it, he's been to a lot of amazing places but I'd say he was the most animated and excited about tropical world! He just spent an hour running around shouting 'wow!' at the top of his voice. There were fish, birds of prey, owls, a tortoise, terrapins, snakes, lizards, little canaries flying all over the place, parrots and beautiful plants and wooden furniture and 'treasures' everywhere too. It was really great.

We then went up the road to The Punch Bowl pub in Satley and had a lovely lunch, as we usually do on Thursdays. Henry ate loads, as per usual and we sat by the open fire which was just lush. 

Henry and I then came home for a long nap together and then we went for a walk in the park which turned into a total disaster. Henry threw an almighty tantrum about having to walk so just sat on the floor screaming while I refused to pick him up. We walked about 10 metres before I gave up and brought him home for 2 minutes on the naughty step!!

Because he's had such a long and late nap and because he'd reused to walk, I was worried that he'd had no exercise all afternoon so we went swimming after dinner which was lovely. The pool was really empty and Henry enjoyed playing in the pool before bedtime. It's not something we'd ever do usually so it was a bit of a treat with it being the holidays. 

Half Term Day 6 - 28/10/15

We woke up to totally hideous weather today: thick fog, heavy rain and a cold wind. Great. We had a lazy few hours at home before driving to the farm shop to place our Christmas meat order, so exciting! 

We then went on to Hall Hill Farm just up the road and had a lovely, if a little chilly, morning carving pumpkins, feeding the animals and riding on the tractor. Henry absolutely loves it there and our annual pass has been worth every penny this year.

We then came home and Henry had a nap while I did some housework and we then had some nice hot soup and bread to warm us through after such a cold and damp morning. 

Our friends then came round for the afternoon with their 4 month old puppy who Henry absolutely adores. It was lovely to catch up them all and Henry had a whale of a time with his doggy friend Ted, I'm not sure George was as keen on his new puppy friend who chased him round all afternoon, nipping at his face to get him to play! 

Half Term Day 5 - 27/10/15

After an amazing night's sleep I went to pick Henry up from my mum's and took him to a Halloween story party run by 7 Stories. He looked cute in his skeleton outfit but the party was a total disaster, I could go on and on but basically they let far too many people in and there were some fine examples of how not to bring up a child in there! Henry enjoyed it despite the hundreds of other kids but I found he whole thing massively stressful! 

He had a nice sleep afterwards and then later in the afternoon we met my mum at the garden centre for a coffee and a wander. Later on my mum and I went swimming before I came home for bathtime and bedtime with Henry and an early night for me and Mr B.

Half Term Day 4 - 26/10/15

Today we got up bright and early to go and pick a pumpkin at the Magical Pumpkin Patch at Brocksbushes Farm. We got to ride in the tractor up to a field where there was a little show with a witch which went way over Henry's head. In fact, he seemed pretty terrified of the witch and just wanted to get on with finding a pumpkin! He found his pumpkin buried in the straw and wanted to carry it the whole way home. We're looking forward to carving it later in the week.

We then drove back to Consett and had a quick lunch in Maddison's, which is a little restaurant on the front street. Marmar and I both had a flatbread and they were SO good, mine was goats' cheese, rocket, honey, figs and walnuts. Yummy.

Henry and I then popped into the sling library session at Tesco to pick up a Toddler Connecta sling that we can use for the next few months. They're so handy for fireworks displays and all of the Christmas events that we're going to, as well as being priceless when we visit London in December. Henry fell asleep in it before we'd even left the building so it's a definite winner!!

This meant that I got a Starbucks in total peace with my friend that we'd met up with. She had her 3 week old with her and he slept too meaning that we had well over an hour of chat and hot coffee, a serious treat for any mummy. 

On the evening we dropped Henry off at Marmar's for his second ever sleepover and Mr B and I headed out to see the new James Bond film at the cinema. We arrived early so went to the champagne bar for a few drinks, I had 2 vodka and tonics which felt like such a treat because I haven't been drinking any alcohol on my diet! We had nachos in the cinema too, I'm hoping they don't affect my weigh in too much this week!! 

We then went home and I slept all night long, which pretty much never happens anymore so that was a serious treat too! A very lovely Monday altogether.

Half Term Day 3 - 25/10/15

Today we had another lazy morning before watching the Sunderland Newcastle derby game on TV (3-0 whoop whoop). We then met Mr B's dad at the farm shop for Sunday lunch. Their roast dinner is the best ever and today was SO good, Henry ate tons as usual, we picked up our order form for our Christmas meat and saw all the animals too, a really lovely afternoon out.

We then came home to pick up George and headed to the woods for a long walk to walk off some of the rice pudding we devoured for dessert!! We had a lovely long walk, broken up only by Henry stopping every couple of minutes to collect various forest treasures: conkers, acorns, leaves, twigs, pine cones. 

We then came home and watched Toy Story before Marmar dropped in for a coffee and some Henry time.

He was absolutely shattered so he had an early bath and straight to bed and while Mr B popped out to work for an hour, I did some ironing - very rock n roll. Sunday nights are so much nicer when there's no work on Monday morning! 

Half Term Day 2 - 24/10/15

We had such a quiet morning after we'd been to Weight Watchers. I lost another 3.5 pounds, taking my total down to 9lb lost in 2 weeks, whoop! We were planning on going for a long walk with the dog afterwards but it started to pour so we decided to hibernate instead.

Henry and I had a nap and then once we were up we got ready for a party that he was invited to. It was fancy dress so he went as spider man, as did most of the other little boys there!! He was most annoyed that he wasn't allowed any of the party food until right at the end but other than that, had a lovely time!!

I quickly dropped him off with Daddy and then went out with my mum and 2 of our lovely friends for the evening, to Nando's for dinner and then to see Suffragette at the cinema. The film was amazing and so so powerful, I really recommend it.

Half Term Day 1 - 23/10/15

I was at work today so it's not technically  the holidays yet, but I literally skipped out of school because I was so excited about the prospect of 7 days off with my favourite human being.

We had a gorgeous nap together and then Daddy came home early so we could all go for a late afternoon trip to Wheelbirks for Halloween ice creams and a run around. Henry really loves it there and so do we, it's middle-class family heaven and their sorbet is to die for which is great for my diet and also the little dairy-free toddler. We saw the cows, had a play outside and had our Halloween ice creams in pumpkin cups, complete with gummy spiders and 'blood' (strawberry sauce). A really gorgeous start to the holidays.

We came home for dinner and then decorated our lounge for Halloween. We have lots of fun Halloween activities planned this week so I thought we may as well make the most of our Halloween decorations (all total bargains from Poundland) and have them up for a full week. 

Life lately

My blog has been well and truly neglected recently, I will definitely try and do daily half term updates this week because we have so many lovely things planned and they're always lovely to look back on. 

Life has been totally normal, totally settled, even 'boring' if you like, but it's so so perfect. We are happy and settled, life is so so easy with Henry now. He's such a good boy, we love our afternoons together and our weekends with daddy. 

He's chatting non-stop now. He can say most things we ask him to and he's constantly finishing our sentences. He's totally Toy-Story obsessed and loves nothing more than being outdoors; at a farm preferably. He's just so gorgeous, I know he's mine and I'm biased but he's such a pleasure to be around and I just love being his mummy so much.

So that's it, a short update to say we're still here and all is good, and I promise to be a better blogger in the next few weeks...