Tuesday 20 December 2016

Festive fun.


We popped into town this morning to pick up a few things. It seemed as though half the population was there today. The shops are beginning to look pretty bare.
In the middle of the shopping centre was a stall raising money for a MS charity. I didn't catch which one it was unfortunately. They were doing a roaring trade in gift wrapping people's presents for a small donation. While you waited for your gift to finish being wrapped you there was a tombola to play.
 I as always picked the most ridulous numbers but clever Hubby won a beautiful Christmas book. We started reading it at bedtime and it's already a new favourite!


We have also been doing plenty of Christmas themed crafts. After all Christmas just isn't Christmas without cotton wool ball snowmen! 

X X X

Saturday 10 December 2016

Busy, busy.


The last 2 weeks of school term are full of participation! I feel like I should be wearing a uniform as I'm attending so much.
Last week there was a parent teacher meeting for DD2,  a ukulele recital for DD1, and I also attend a course at the school on Friday afternoons. 
This week I have a PTA meeting, DD2 speech therapist visit, DD2 nativity, DD1 carol concert,
I also have to remember which day each of the girls have their class parties (meaning non uniform days) and finally Friday is Xmas jumper day. They also finish at 1pm.
 Ill be needing a large sherry after juggling all of that lot!

X X X 

Sunday 4 December 2016

Frugal decoration's and Elf high jinx.



The Elves have decided to decorate the tree again! This time it was covered in tasty iced biscuits. Usually I make biscuits for the tree but I spotted these in the poundshop with very convenient holes in the centre.
By bedtime there were only a few left at the very top of the tree. I'm sure Hubby will enjoy polishing them off shortly.


We spend a happy afternoon decorating one of the lounge windows. 
 We made a star from string and rolled newspaper, a garland from fragrant orange peel, and lametta tinsel from empty (and cleaned!) Crisp wrappers.
I finished it off with a Christmas village drawn in chalkboard pen. 

It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

X X X


Saturday 3 December 2016

BBQ Pyramids recipe


BBQ Pyramids by Mrs E.P.Ducks on

1 slice of bread per person.
Cover each slice with cheese  (sliced), on which place a ring of pineapple, 1/2 tomato and a small rasher of bacon rolled up on a stock. 

Bake in moderate oven for 25-30 minutes.

(To make more of this dish, mushrooms can be fried and added around the bread.)


The Random Household version;

We toasted our bread first to speed up the process. And omitted the bacon as we'd run out.
It made a lovely warm lunch though with little prep.
I'll definitely be keeping a tin of pineapple rings in the cupboard from now on so I can whip this up occasionally.

X X X

The naughty elves of advent


Well! The Elves have very kindly brought our Christmas tree down from the attic.  
Not to sure about the underpants for decoration!
Naturally the children think it's hilarious, not to mention Hubby as well.

X X X 

Friday 2 December 2016

Look who's back


The Elves arrived back from the North Pole yesterday. The children are of course thrilled to see them again. 
They arrived with advent calenders and countdown activity book's. 


I set the table up while the two eldest were at school.  They came home to find the first acidity sheet ready to do, and some Christmas themed colourin pages.


It all went down very well.


This morning the Elves were playing with the Duplo bricks. They are brought the girls a craft gift to make after school.
 Wonder what they'll be doing tomorrow morning?

X X X



Thursday 1 December 2016

Charity knitting.


I've had a few request for information  on the blanket squares.

They need to be 6 or 8 inches square. 
All colours,yarns and stitches accepted.

The lady making the blankets has a Facebook group called;
Blankets for homeless IOW/Hampshire.




If you are on Facebook you can also join the group;
Knitting and crochet charity corner 

Each week or fortnight a new group challenge starts and we all make items for that charity. Each time the charity and items needed change. Currently it's blanket squares, next we're making hearts and stars for a baby charity, after Christmas we're making lots of tiny purple flowers for an Alzheimers group.
It's a great way to support lots of different charity groups and not be stuck knitting the same items over and over.

X X x


Wednesday 30 November 2016

Clocks and Charity


I've spent the past few evenings knitting squares. They are being sent to a lady on the Isle of Wight to be sewn into blankets for the homeless.  She is hoping to make and hand out 365  blankets next year. 


Last night we started to teach DD1 how to read the time. Using a cheap wall clock and some dry erase pens she practiced drawing various o'clock and half past times. 
Tonight we will add in quarter past and quarter to. Hopefully in a few days DD1 will be able to read the time on her watch with confidence.

X X X 

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Thrifty Tuesday



I've managed a lovely pile of bargains this morning.
First I checked my O2 priority app, WHSMITH were offering a free packet of Christmas cards. I snapped up a pack of 30 cards, DD1 and DD2 both are in classes of 30. Hopefully hubby can grab a second pack with his app.
 We will attach a mini candy cane to each of the cards as a gift. The candy canes were in the poundland (1x 34 mini canes -£1)


Next I went into Wilko. They had lots of beautiful stationary reduced. Usually I buy a pack of 3 plain exercise books for £1. The girls use them for home learning, diaries, spellings etc. 
The pretty notebooks above were reduced to 25p each! So I stocked up on 4.


And finally I looked in Pound world to find pom poms! DD1 was making a pretend pom pom this morning before school with some carrier bags. Hopefully these will be a safer option with Baby G around. Babies and plastic bags aren't a great mix. 
They aren't quite as fancy as the ones at training but they look pretty and should be fine for home practise.

I'm really pleased with my bargains this morning.
what great things have you bought lately?

X x X

Monday 28 November 2016

Majorette Mondays


I saw an advert on Facebook last week saying there was a new Baton twirling group starting up nearby. 
It seemed to be a great opportunity for the girls to do something outside of school. Not to mention the exercise, discipline and self confidence it should bring. 

Today we went to our first session. Though initially they were both a little nervous, both of them soon joined in with gusto. 
DD2 is in the younger group, they mostly use pom poms and only train for an hour. DD1 is in the older group doing both pom poms and baton, they train for 2 hours.

It's really hard to get photo''s as there's a lot of children there etc but hopefully I can show you all the girls in action eventually. 

I'm pretty sure Baby G was eyeing up those pom poms. There are a few boys on the team, I'm sure once he's old enough to join in we will enrole him too.

X X X


Sunday 27 November 2016

Family Day


It's been a day for family bonding. First we went to a local park to burn off of lots of build up energy.
We spent a lot of time enjoying the various swings, slides, climbing frames and see-saws.
It was slightly nippy but otherwise a lovely day to get outside and play.


As we'd all built up an appetite we chose to visit a local pub on the way home. Hubby treated us all to dinner and desert. 
By the time we got home everyone was very tired and very full. I think I was the only one who didn't enjoy a little nap during the afternoon.

X X X

Saturday 26 November 2016

Finders Keepers


I was lucky enough to find some free art yesterday. It was taped to a local newspaper collection point. I wanted to get a copy of the free local paper as a friend had submitted a recipe and had it printed in the current issue. 
I think the idea of leaving free art around the town centre is a great way to promote your talents. 
Please check out Suzanna's page to see more of her gorgous pet portraits.

X X X

Friday 25 November 2016

Friday treats


It's Friday! The children have been so good for me this week, I wanted to reward them. So after the school run and before hopping on the bus home we visited my spiritual home. The pound shop!
Everyone had £1 to spend on almost anything they wanted (just in case they choose a bottle of bleach or something ridiculous).
DD1 choose a Colour your own Christmas card set. She's happily sat most of the evening colouring them in for different family members.


DD2 spotted a MYO mask set with some paints. Once home she decided on felt tip pens rather than paint so we stashed the paints for another day. 
DD2 has spent most of the evening jumping out on me while growling. I think she might be a tiger. Which would explain the orange nose and whiskers she drew.


Baby G was coaxed into choosing some new bath toys. I recently had to bin a few that had past their sell by date. 
He has spent the evening ignoring them mostly and stealing his sisters tiger mask whenever she puts it down somewhere. He keeps holding it up to his little face and growling just like DD2 does.
 I think the neighbours must think I'm running a zoo, it's been quite a loud evening. 

X X X

Wednesday 23 November 2016

I've been thinking...


Life is pretty overwhelming lately. There are things going on that have been taking a lot of time and energy away from both me and my family. I find I'm at home less and less, and with less time to do all the things I enjoy.


Today I've made a list of all the things that are important to me.  Things I enjoy, things that give me something positive back.
Family time, craft, charity work, blogging, reading, gardening...
 I want to achieve more things each day from this list and life a calmer simpler life again.


It's time to end some toxic friendships, opt out of pointless time wasters and walk away from anything unsatisfying.
 I'm hoping my the time new year hits I will be living a far more simple and fulfilling life.

X X X

Sunday 23 October 2016

Monster day - Halloween Half Term.


Monster day was a great success.
We had an extra guest for most of the day which added to our fun.
We made play dough monsters using straws, beads and googly eyes etc.


We decorated a box to look like a monster and then fed him tennis balls for dinner.
The sensory box had plastic bats added to play with.


We also watched Monsters Inc, made some monster flags for our display and tried walking on monster feet.
Such great fun.

X X X

Friday 21 October 2016

Bat Day - Halloween Half Term


Today was a lot of fun! We've made several bat decorations and more importantly plenty of memories.
The girls loved the bat biscuit making, G enjoyed the ingredients lol.


Our dinner of Bat pasta went down really well.


I'm hoping Monster Day goes just as well. I'm just off to set it up before I go to bed.

X X X

Thursday 20 October 2016

Celebrating Half Term.


Hurrah! It's finally here!
We celebrated the final day of school by visiting McDonalds. We even brought a friend along to celebrate with us. 


It certainly raised some happy smiles.

X X X


Tuesday 18 October 2016

Freegle Jigsaws


I spotted a post on my local Freegle group yesterday that looked interesting. It was a chap offering jigsaws/games suitable for children aged 2+.
I popped him an email saying I'd be interested in rehoming them. Hubby kindly picked them up this morning after the school run.


I was expecting a pile of 3-4, perhaps half a dozen in a carrier bag if I was very lucky.
What hubby actually returned home with was 2 huge 
cardboard boxes stuffed with puzzles and card games. There's about 15 all together!


It took a while to check them all but every single puzzle and game is complete. 
DD2 who is off school with a tummy bug today, really enjoyed the magnet board and shapes.


She also loved all the chunky floor puzzles that had arrived.  Several of them have been pulled out and made over the course of the afternoon.

I'm really blown away by the genorosity of my fellow Freeglers. It's inspired me to pay it forward by offering several things myself.
Hurrah for kindness!

X X X

Monday 17 October 2016

Prepping for Half Term


I've spent a happy evening pouring over my collection of ideas for Halloween and planning the half term.
Each day has a different theme and is packed with tons of crafty, fun and frugal things to do. We even have some day trips and special visits planned.
I really can't wait!


Day 1 is Bat day.  
I have a healthy looking pile of dark coloured papers and card, lots of ideas for papercrafts, a super cute idea for biscuits, egg box painting and a plan for a sensory bin.
I've whipped up three mini bat pinata from bits and pieces in my craft stash. The idea being you burst through the tissue paper base to reveal the sweeties inside. They will make a lovely afternoon treat once we've worked through our list of things to create.

X X X 



Thursday 13 October 2016

More Narnia fun.


Apologies for a lack of posts. We have all been hit with coughs and colds. Things have moved at a snails pace for a whole. 
Our reading hasn't stopped though. We are about to discover the wood between world's. Which means we have discovered the magic rings (wool wrapped split rings).
The girls enjoyed "vanishing" when they touched the yellow ring and reappearing when they touched the green.


We also discovered the story of Mrs Lefay's special box of magical dust. 
When I spotted a little mirrored pill box in a charity shop I knew it would be the perfect prop! I filled it with a pinch of sequins so it made a nice sound when shaken. It should also look impressive if little eyes peek inside at the magical dust. 
Well worth the 20p price tag. 

You will be pleased to know I have also found an Aslan,  a bell and some English toffee for later chapters. 
Bringing books to life is just so much fun.

X X X


Thursday 6 October 2016

The Magician's Nephew - Polly's secret space


"...Here she (Polly) kept a cash-box containing various treasures, and a story she was writing and usually a few apples. She had often drunk a quiet bottle of ginger-beer in there: the old bottles made it look more like a smugglers' cave."

The Magician's Nephew - C.S.Lewis



Wednesday 5 October 2016

Learning times tables


DD1 needs to learn her 2,5 and 10x tables this year.
Maths is a bit of a struggle for me to be honest but I'm determined to help all the Random children learn it well.
I saw the idea of stair handprints on Pinterest and just had to use it.
Every time someone walks up the stairs, they high five each handprint and say the number. (Currently 2,4,6...20)
Everytime someone walks down the stairs we do the same thing. So not only does DD1 learn it forwards but also backwards!
Tonight I even heard Hubby saying it as he popped upstairs to get fetch something! 


I'm very pleased with clever hubby today already.  He arrived home from work with this lovely set of books tucked under his arm. Just £2.50 in the local charity shop and not one spine has been cracked!
Each book looks immaculate! DD1 couldn't wait and we dived straight in after dinner.
Already I'm getting requests to go into the attic and search for a tunnel. DD1 is also requesting we try ginger beer after Polly mentions it.
These books are going to be so much fun to share with her.

X X X

Wednesday 28 September 2016

Celebrating 5 years together


My lovely hubby and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary last week. We both agreed it felt particularly special.
Due to work commitments and availibility of babysitters we had to wait until yesterday to celebrate proprely. 
The date started with Hubby announcing he'd planned the whole evening.
  First up was a delicious meal at a local Frankie and Bennys.


Before I was whisked off to the theatre to see Mamma Mia! 
It's a wonderful show to watch. Very upbeat and ridiculously cheesy, in the best way.
It was a wonderful surprise and a great way to celebrate 5 happy years of marriage.

X X X 

Sunday 25 September 2016

Craft Party Fun.




I've been having a whale of a time this weekend. A friend of mine won craft session tickets at a silent auction recently. 
It was a crafting session of her choice for 4 people and included tea and cake. I was delighted to be asked to join her.


Mrs B, chose the pimp my jam jar session which included decorating flower pots. 
It was a wonderful afternoon, sat sipping tea, nibbling cake and being crafty. Sharon has the most wonderful crafting shed. It's like an entry for shed of the year! Every inch is stuffed with fabric, papers, sparkly things and who knows what. It was like a fantasy land! 
 

I came home with 2 herb pots and a fairy catching jar. The pots are already filled and planted on my windowsill. I am so proud of them.

If you would like to find out more about Sharon's wonderful crafting session please visit her website HERE

X X X