We have had a week of just plodding along with life. #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Nothing exciting or out of the ordinary has happened this week. We have had a week of just plodding along with life....I like weeks like this. These are the things I want to remember in years to come. The normal everyday things.

I think the highlight of my week has been Stu bringing home 9 boxes of Corn Flakes from work. Their sell by date was up so they were going to be just thrown away. The staff get to claim them so he did. We are not keen on Corn Flakes for breakfast so I did a bit of baking with them. Of course I made chocolate Corn Flake cakes and I then had the great idea of making Corn Flake tart. I used to have it at school and haven't had it since.

I made the pastry from scratch, baked that and covered it in strawberry jam. I melted the butter, syrup and sugar in a pan and then covered the cornflakes in the mixture and added it to the base and put it all back in the oven for 10 minutes.....We had it with custard after tea and it was amazing. The kids loved it and it tasted as good as I remembered.

On Sunday when Ellie was in the shower she decided she wanted curly hair. She wanted her hair plaiting and left over night. Of course it was down to me to do it. It didn't actually take that long and she loved the little plaits. She actually wanted to go to school like that. lol

The next morning she was over the moon with the results....On the way to school we saw one of her teachers who said "Ohh, your hair looks beautiful". She was so made up with their compliment. Even yesterday it still had waves in it and I think this might be a weekly thing, she loved it that much.

On Saturday we saw that The Greatest Showman was available for early release to watch on Sky!....We watched it and we loved it. I have since watched it 4 more times and I am nowhere near bored of it yet....hehehe Becky was off school on Wednesday. She woke up feeling shivery, achy and she was sick. She spent the day on the sofa under a duvet and we finally got around to watching Wonder. Oh my goodness. I cried. It is so sad but so happy at the same time....

When I started writing this blog post I thought I had nothing to write about but it turns out I did.....hehehe 

My firsts. A sort of tag.

I found a tag all about "Firsts" and it has been sat in my drafts for ages, probably years. My teen reminded me of it when she was asking what my first Instagram photo was....I have decided to answer some of the questions and add some of my own just so I can share some old photos.

First friend?

Was Angelina was Primary school. I am still friends with her on Facebook. I have a cracking school photo but don't want to put it on here in case others in don't want it sharing. It really made me think what were our parents thinking. 80's fashion was bad!

First boyfriend?

Was called Andy. He worked on a nearby farm (I used to live on a farm too) and was a little older than me....He was cool. He had a leather jacket, drove a tractor and 

First Pet?

Was Anchor. He was a huge German Shepherd dog but was so soft and put up so well with my brother and I. That is my brother in the photo I think....I am not sure if it was actually me or not. lol That is me on the horse with my uncle Walter. Scampi was my first pony.....He was a little devil. See the row of trees in the background he knew he could fit under the branches and knock me off and did this often....

First celebrity crush?

Jason Donovan. I watched Neighbours and was obsessed with him. I bought all his music on proper cassette tapes and knew all the words....I still have a soft spot for him now.

First job?

Was at some riding stables....I lived on a farm, had my own horses but still wanted to shovel other peoples horses poop in exchange for riding the owners horses. He had loads and my favourites were Hannah & Cleo. Cleo was lovely but Hannah the brown horse was evil. She was a biter and known for just galloping off when you were sat on her back. It was fun riding her though. You never knew where you were going to end up.

First teacher?

I can actually remember my nursery teachers. Mrs Price and her assistant Joanne. I think it was because on the way to my Aunty Jeans house we would pass Mrs Price's house and we would always say "that's her house"....

Some other firsts....The first time I walked & the first photo with my brother?

I have been told about the day I first walked. My Aunty Jean was there and I was so close to walking but I waited until she had left to take my first steps alone....hehehe

I can actually remember the first photo of my brother and I been taken. It was one of my dad's cousins who took it and sent us it when she got it developed. I only remember the day because she is a relative we don't see very often because she lives in Birmingham. 

First Instagram photo?

Was this of my Samsung S5 phone....For such a long time I only had a basic phone after loosing one and I was so lucky to win a S5 a couple of days after it was released in a Twitter retweet competition. I still use the same phone now....

First Facebook picture?
Was this one....Ellie was only a couple of weeks old at the most and Becky would have been about 5 years old. It's only just over 10 years ago but I feel that I look so young. I have so many more wrinkles and grey hairs now. hehehe

When I started writing this blog post at the weekend it got us looking though old photos for this blog post in proper photo albums which caused much hilarity when the kids saw me when I was a teenager.....They have seen the photos before but they were younger and were nice. Now they are mean girls. lol I did have bad hair and the clothes were so bad. lol

What I loved in April....

This past month has flown over....It really has. I have found it hard to remember what we have been up to. The kids were off for their Easter holidays which seemed to last forever and we've had hearing tests, eye tests and more meetings about Autism. 

The Breville Blender.

I bought the Breville Blend-Active Blender Family Pack from John Lewis and it's the best money I have spent in a long time....I paid £25 but it as gone up by a few pounds since. As well as the blender you get two 600ml adult-sized bottles and two smaller 300ml bottles for the kids. This is a really fantastic blender. It has blended everything we put into it. Frozen fruit, nuts and seeds and chocolate.

One of us in the house has used it every day. Stu loves smoothies for breakfast with blended fruit, Belvita biscuits and milk in. I like fruity one's with juice in and the kids love ice cream and milk blended with things like Reeses peanut butter cups, Skittles and Mint Aero's.....

Entering competitions....

I used to be an avid comper but over the years I lost interest...I still used to enter blog one's but that's about it. Over the last month or so I have had a a few wins and it has got me back in the mood. I have been entering plenty of competitions. Fingers crossed I get some wins!

Revision....

The kids have had extra revision classes after school. Becky for her GCSE English Literature and Ellie for her SATs. Ellie even spent time at school during the Easter holidays and she loved every second. I am so glad that my girls are willing to learn and all of the revision is paying off. We got a school report for Becky and she is doing really well and we spoke to Ellie's teacher and she is doing great too. She is trying hard and that's all I can ask for.

Reviewing some fab things....

This month has introduced me to plenty of things which I probably wouldn't have bought if I hadn't first been sent them to review! The Dorco EVE 6 razor is the best razor I have ever used and I probably will subscribe when I have used the blades I have. The ACE - Household and laundry cleaning products really are ace! They are my go to stain removal product now and the Glam Goo Ellie was sent to review was a huge hit. More of the packs have already been added to her birthday list.

Sunshine...

We have had a taste of the warmer weather and I want more. The kids played outside, we ate salads and ice cream and we were so close to having a BBQ but someone couldn't be bothered to find it in the shed! 

What have you loved in April?

Shaken Udder milkshakes - Review!

Ellie rarely drinks plain milk...She just doesn't like it. The only way to get her to drink milk is through milkshakes and smoothies....I would much rather give her healthier milkshakes than ones filled with sugar so when I was offered the chance to try some Shaken Udder milkshakes we were keen to give them a try.....

Shaken Udder is a range of school-approved milkshakes with less than 5% sugar, packed with natural real ingredients and no added nasties. They are made from British milk and are packed with calcium and vitamin B12 and perfect for lunch boxes, snacks, a quick breakfast or even a post workout drink.

The kids of course went straight for the cartons....They are aimed at kids so it's only natural....Over a couple of days they tried one of the strawberry and chocolate each and loved them. Ellie even said they should make bigger cartons. lol Her exact words when I asked her if she liked them was "yes, yes get more. This is all I want to drink!"....She rarely gets enthusiastic about milkshake so I know she loves them.....

My fella and I claimed the bottles for ourselves....I had drunk the Chocolush (Chocolate) one before anyone else knew they had arrived and claimed the Strawberries and Clotted cream. hehehe.

They were so good. The flavours were strong and they were easy to drink....When I usually drink milkshakes they seem to leave a hard to describe yucky feeling in the back of my throat but these didn't.....

Stu was more imaginative with how he used his....He put the Top Banana one into a smoothie and the Vanillalicious one over his cereal which seemed a bit of a waste but it said it tasted good....

The only one none of us were keen on was the Salted Caramel one....It was just too sweet tasting for my liking. Even Becky who is a lover of sweet things couldn't finish it. I imagine they would be good in recipes though. The salted caramel hot cross buns (I know it's a bit late for Easter things but I would eat them all year round or Salted Caramel Bread & Butter Pudding....

We do LOVE the rest of the flavours....I am not just saying this because we were sent them to try we really do....I can show you my Tesco bill because I ordered more to be delivered on Friday with our grocery shop and they are all gone already! Next time I must remember to order more.....

These are available from Ocado, Waitrose, Sainsburys, WHSmith, Boots, Booths and Tesco where I got them. They cost me £1.00 for the 330ml bottles....

We were sent these milkshakes free of charge in exchange for this blog post.