Week 35 of #Project365. 28th August - 3rd September. A photo every day for a year!

September already, where is this year going? We have had quite a busy week. Ellie's birthday, Becky sorting out her job, brunch out with the kids and lots of adulting has been done by me. I am ready for a relaxed weekend before the kids go back to school and college on Monday. We're ready, all I have to do is iron Ellie's uniform. Now that she's wearing proper shirts it's something I will be doing every week. Ugh.

Now for a photo every day!

233/365 - 28th August

One of Ellie's birthday treats was to go to the local trampoline park. She had a fantastic time and by the time the hour was up her, Becky and Becky's girlfriend were exhausted. It made me quite glad I didn't book for 2 hours.

234/365 - 29th August

Ellie's 14th birthday. She had a wonderful day and got everything she wanted and more. She opened her presents, had a party tea and of course cake with candles! 

235/365 - 30th August

Japanese candy. I got Ellie a hamper of 40 different Japanese snacks and candy treats off amazon. She got similar last year too and loves them. There are some weird flavours but most of them are delicious.

236/365 - 31st August

Becky received her DBS certificate mid week, it is needed for her new job in a care home. It all obviously came back clear with no criminal convictions or concerns, we knew it would. We didn't expect it so soon, it was meant to take weeks so it was a nice surprise. Contracts have been signed and she is now waiting for a start date.

237/365 - 1st September

Ellie wore some of her new clothes to go to school to get her Covid test. I was joking she looked like she should be in the army with her combat style bottoms and boots. hehehe

238/365 - 2nd September

Ellie got some LED lights for her bedroom, she's seen them on TikTok and loved the idea of them. They do look fab and change colour too with a little remote control.

239/365 - 3rd September

It's a while since I ordered any lateral flow tests from the Government website. We had loads from school and college and only ran out this week. They arrived and they've changed. The packaging and now you just have to put them up your nose which I am glad about, I used to gag with the one's in my mouth.

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

This week my Word of the Week is: Over! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

Here we are the last official day of the school holidays. (weekends don't count, hehehe) They holidays have flown over! It feels like we haven't done much but looking over our summer bucket list we didn't actually do too bad. We did about half the things I had planned and plan to tick off a couple of things next week too.

The weather has really let us down. It feels like summer was over a few weeks ago. I have started wearing my winter jumpers again and there is such a chill in the air. I did think about putting the heating on the other night but resisted, it's far too early yet. We were supposed to go to the beach on Wednesday with my dad but the weather wasn't great, it certainly wasn't beach weather so we ended up staying home and just getting fish and chips delivered for tea.

I am ready for Autumn. As much as I like the sunshine I do like September and October when all of the new TV shows due to start. I've already seen Strictly, The Great British Bake Off, Gordon, Gino and Fred advertised as coming soon and surely Doctor Who must be back on TV soon too?

Ellie's birthday is over for another year and she had a great day and weekend. She was spoilt rotten, got everything she wanted and more. We went to the cinema, the trampoline park, had a meal out and a party tea on Sunday. Best birthday ever she says. I aim to please. hehehe

Becky was expecting to wait a few weeks to get her DBS certificate back for the care home job she will be starting soon but it was delivered during the week, she signed the contract and is now waiting for a start date. She rang the manager of the care home and told her the days she will be in college. It's two days a week this year which is pretty exciting for me. I will have 2 whole days without any children and maybe more depending on when Becky is working. What a treat!

I am glad this week is over to be honest, after the excitement of Ellie's birthday it has dragged. I am thinking next week will fly over with it being the first back at school and college and Becky's birthday. She'll be 19 which doesn't seem possible. She has a weekend of fun planned too. I can't wait.

We are all ready for the return to school but as of writing this Becky's bus pass still hasn't arrived. I do hope it arrives tomorrow or else we'll be paying the bus fare until it's sorted. We did get a text earlier in the week to say it's on it's way but the post has seemed really slow here for the last couple of weeks. Someone sent a birthday card for Ellie last week and it only arrived yesterday. Hmmf.

I hope you have all had a good week?

How to smash the school run this September!

 After a much needed summer break we are getting ready for the return to school and college. My girls are going into year 10 and 3rd year at college so my days of having to go on the school run are long gone but we still sometimes have that morning stress. Running around trying to find missing school uniform, making sure nobody leaves without their lunchbox and making sure everyone gets out of the door on time.

We love not having much of a routine during the summer holidays but back to school is fast approaching and now is a good time to start thinking about slowly bringing that routine back.

We all know that the morning school run can be difficult and getting everyone up, fed, dressed and out of the house can sometimes be quite stressful. Here is some advice on how to get the control back, prevent the morning rush and be on time.

Get enough sleep!

Research has proven that having a routine helps us sleep better and there is a strong link between the amount of sleep that children get and their ability to cope with school the next day. So with routine being important when it comes to surviving the new school term ahead it’s a good thing to nudge the little people back to an earlier bedtime and encourage a full rested nights sleep. It’s advised that a solid 12 hours sleep is key up until the age of four, and no less than 8 to 11 hours above that.

Set the alarm!

Organising your time effectively in the morning and ensuring you have enough time to get yourself and the kids ready is essential. With this in mind, investing in a trustworthy bedside alarm is a must. It all all good and well using your phone but I do like a proper alarm clock, especially for the kids. It removes the temptation of them playing on their phones rather than going to sleep.

Organise the uniforms the night before!

There are always ways to save time in the morning and one to add to the top of your list is to get the uniforms and your clothes ready the night before. You don't want to be rummaging through unsorted washing for pairs of hopefully matching socks at 7am. 

Have a family chat!

Who doesn’t love a plan! On a Sunday afternoon get the family together for five minutes and go through commitments for the week ahead especially those homework deadlines. It is a good way for everyone to be in the loop and know what them and everyone else is doing.

Making lunches!

Preparing lunches the night before is another great way to save yourself time in a morning. Most things can be added to packed lunch boxes or put in the fridge to keep cool, even drinks!

Pack the school bags the night before!

Getting the school bags ready the night before is a great thing to do. Make sure you check the bags regularly for letters which might need signing or notes sent home from school.

Make sure you check pencil cases too once in a while to make the kids have everything they need. A clear pencil case is a great way of discretely checking.

Have everything in one place!

Make sure no one forgets anything by keeping everything in one place. Store your school backpacks, gym bags, shoes, jackets and car keys in one safe place. You will save valuable time in the morning and feel organised too.

Always have a backup plan!

Enjoy added peace of mind by having a backup plan and know you’re covered when disaster strikes! Keep a box of spare essential items in the boot of your car. Spare sports kit, coats for a change in weather and welly boots.

Keep calm!

It's much nicer for everyone if you start the day happy, rather than in a foul mood. Factor in a few minutes for the unexpected. If you are late, don't blame the children. Everyone has the occasional bad morning.

What are your tips for a calm school run?

A brilliant birthday weekend for my youngest.

Ellie's birthday this year was on Sunday. I think that is the worst day to have a birthday. It is for our family anyway. We can't really go anywhere as the buses aren't great here on a Sunday and on a Sunday we do like to have a day at home being slightly lazy. We had planned a day out for Saturday and somehow we ended up going out on Friday too.

On Friday we went to the cinema. It seems ages since I have last been. I think the last time was a couple of years ago to see Toy Story 4. The kids wanted to see both Space Jam and Peter Rabbit 2 but I saw that Peter Rabbit was half price so I pushed for that and I am glad I did. It was such a fun film and great for all ages.

We had lunch out, just a burger and then went for a look around the shops. I said I was finished the birthday shopping but did buy a couple of more presents for the girls. To be fair they were bargains. We were in The Works earlier in the week and Ellie had seen something on the 2 for £10 offer but there wasn't 2 things we wanted but there was on Friday so I am quite glad we went in.

Saturday was Ellie's proper birthday day out. She chose to go to a trampoline park. We were going to go to the one in Hull but it seemed expensive at £12.25 each when the one in Scunthorpe was just £5 each. Bargain! Becky's girlfriend came along, I thought the more the merrier.

They all had a fantastic time. When we first arrived there seemed a lot of people but we worked out that was because the 12pm group (us) were there as well as the 11am to midday group. After about 5 minutes it quietened down and there were more than enough trampolines to go round. I am so glad I only booked an hour for them, they were worn out by the time their time was up. lol

After the trampoline park we went to the pub for a meal. I had major regrets ordering scampi, chips and mushy peas when I saw Ellie's pizza. Next time I will be getting that! Stu had an all day brunch and Becky had a big burger, chips and onion rings.

Finally Sunday came around and it was finally Ellie's birthday! She slept in until gone 10am and of course got to opening her presents straight away. Now that she is older I let her choose most of her presents but there was still some surprises in there.

Ellie knew I had bought her some anime books but didn't know which one's and some of the other Japanese related things I may have said weren't getting delivered because of Covid. I also got her a huge Baby Yoda Pop figure which she had no clue about. She was so happy with it and everything else.

Ellie spent her day playing and going through her presents and I spent the afternoon making the party tea. We had all of the usual sausage rolls, onion rings, pizza, crisps, sandwiches, corn dogs, chicken bits and lots of other things. Nothing goes to waste, what wasn't eaten on Sunday we ate on Monday.

Ellie chose her own birthday cakes. We always get two. One chocolate and one plain sponge although this time Ellie went with a cookie and cream one and a Swizzels one. They were both so sweet and not my favourite birthday cakes from over the years but Ellie loved them both.

Ellie had a fab birthday weekend and we were all quite glad that it was a bank holiday weekend because we needed the rest on Monday. I was the first one out of bed on Monday and that was just before 11am. lol

In less than 2 weeks it's Becky's birthday and she's having a full weekend celebration too. I am glad birthday's only come once a year.