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

This week my Word of the Week is:

We have had quite a good week but this week we have realised that we are missing a lot of things from our life before coronavirus. This isn't a post for you to feel sorry for us, we're happy and we're healthy but we're just frustrated with the situation we're in.

The kids are missing their friends deeply. They had got to the point before coronavirus where they were spending more time with their friends than not. Their friends would come here and they would go to their houses, Becky would go into town with her friends and Ellie would go to the park with her's. Becky has been video chatting with her girlfriend every day and Ellie chats to her friends on Roblox and her best friend rang me the other day just to speak to Ellie. Ellie was struggling to chat to her as she was getting upset about not being able to see her. 

I have really missed my dad and his partner this week. It was Sarah's birthday and we took some presents to her and spent about 15 minutes having a catch up of course keeping our distance and having a chat in my dad's front garden. My dad is missing having his freedom. He couldn't buy Sarah a birthday present as he is classed as being at risk with being over 70 years old. I had to buy some flowers for him to give to Sarah. 

I am missing being able to shop properly. I have a couple of delivery slots booked, one for next week and another for 10 days later but it's frustrating only being able to buy a maximum of 80 things from Tesco. I can't seem to get a delivery slot with anyone else, I have tried. When you add 3 tins of beans, peas, carrots, custard, sweetcorn, beans and sausages, tomatoes that's over 20 things! Yes we can shop at our local Tesco but they only sell top priced things. Ugh! Our weekly shopping bill has gone up from about £80 per week to about £150. Not good at all.

I was missing the soaps being on the TV but it turns out instead of watching the soaps I have been watching films with the kids. We have had some lovely evenings together. I think even when the soaps all come back on I will carry on watching films with the kids.

We spent most of last weekend in the garden digging, painting and planting some flower seeds. I ached for 2 days after but it was worth it. It looks so good out there now. Stu has painted the fence, well most of it. He ran out with a couple of panels to go. It doesn't matter it's a common colour paint so we will get more. 

As I type this I'm sat outside with the parasol above me trying to keep the sun out of my face and off my laptop. The weather has been lovely.

We have started going for daily walks.

We have been following the coronavirus guidance and we had been staying at home. Stu has been the one going out and getting the shopping and the girls and I have been staying at home. The kids were happy just playing and getting their daily exercise in the back garden until it started to effect my youngest, Ellie.

At the beginning of this month my girls had made cards to send to my great Aunt for Easter. She's been home and we thought she could do with a bit of cheering up. They made the cards and there is a postbox about 10 houses down from our house. Ellie went out to post them and I stood at the door and watched her. She was fine walking there but on the way back she ran and came through the front door with a look of fear on her face! I was scared that she was scared of being outside.

We have all heard it on the TV and radio that we should only leave the house for shopping for basic necessities and it must be as infrequent as possible. We can leave for any medical need and travel for work purposes but only when you cannot work from home. I am in no way complaining about this, I am glad that people are mostly being kept at home to stop the spread but it must be confusing for children. All they hear is stay at home, they shouldn't go out or they could catch the virus and pass it on to others. It must be terrifying for little minds.

What Ellie had never heard was about the government’s guidance saying people can leave their homes for exercise once per day. She thought we were staying home to save ourselves from the coronavirus. In her head she thought that if we went out the front door we would catch it. We had a chat and I reassured her that as long as we stayed away from other people we would be OK. I tried to convince myself of this too.

Within an hour of her coming in from the postbox scared we had got our shoes on and went for a walk around our town. We stayed out of the main part of it, where the shops are and just walked. We were all fine and I think it eased Ellie's mind. We have been out for a walk a few times since, exploring parts of our little town we've never been before. I don't want Ellie to be scared of going outside. When we see someone on the same side of the street as us we cross over if they already haven't. 

I read something on Facebook which has stuck in my head:

Everyone is applauding everyone but our kids!! These small heroes have stayed indoors more than they’ve ever known in their lives. Their whole worlds have literally been turned upside down, separated from grandparents, their friends, cousins etc. All these rules they’ve never known. A life they couldn’t have imagined. Adults talking about others becoming unwell, news reporting death after death. Our poor babies minds must be racing. Every day they get up and carry on despite all that’s going on and all they’ve done is paint pictures and put stuff in their windows for the “heroes” out in the world. So here’s to our little heroes, today, tomorrow, forever.

It's true our kids have had their lives been turned upside down. Nine months ago we moved here so my girls could get to know my dad properly, their grandad and they haven't seen him in a month. I've seen him at a distance a few times but the girls are missing him and his partner Sarah. They're missing their friends and Ellie is even missing school.

We are continuing to go for a walk most days, just so the girls don't get scared of being out, out in the big wide world.

How are your kids dealing with the lock down?

(Ad - Gifted) A perfect pick me up from Shaken Udder!

A few weeks a go I received a delivery which came at the perfect time. The kids had just finished school because of the Coronavirus and were in need of a pick me up. They always class milkshakes as a treat and what a treat we got! A selection of Shaken Udder milkshakes!

Shaken Udder milkshakes are gluten-free, suitable for vegetarians and contain no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and come in a range of yummy flavours. 

The flavours we were sent were:

Chocolush - Chocoholics rejoice! Finally there's a rich and  creamy milkshake with lashings of real chocolate to satisfy those cravings at any time of the day!

Vanillalicious - The divinely smooth Vanillalicious milkshake is made with real vanilla beans and is udderly delectable in every way!

Top Banana - Is there a better fruit for mashing, thrashing and bashing? Banana's were born to be blended which is why this beautiful blend of fresh milk and real bananas will please even the most avid banana buff.

Salted Caramel - Discover the deliciously decadent combination of sweet and salty. An irresistible milkshake that blends the smooth and taste of golden caramel and finest sea salt. 

Strawberries and Cream - Britain's best berry earned it's name from the farmers stuffing straw around their plants. The scrumptious strawberries are blended in a bottle with Rodda's divine Cornish clotted cream.

Ooh La Latte - Need a little pick me up? This has glorious latte milkshake has been created, packed with fresh British mile and energy boosting Arabica coffee beans.

I can honestly say these are our favourite type of milkshakes. When I haven't been sent them to review I do still buy them the kids will drink a couple of bottles a week, that is how much we like them most days. 

With the lovely weather we had a few weeks ago the kids were eating lunch outside most days and with it they had a milkshake to drink. They thought they were so lucky as usually they only have one a week.

The Shaken Udder kids milkshakes are made using fresh British milk and real fruit of Belgian chocolate. They are packed with calcium, no artificial nasties and are school approved. 

What I hadn't thought of was using the milkshakes in recipes until I saw that Sticky Mud & Belly Laughs had a fab recipe for a Banana Custard Tart using the Shaken Udder Top Banana Milkshake and Serenity You made pancakes using the Chocolush Shaken Udder milkshake! There is a few recipes over on the Shaken Udder website. I actually wish I had seen them before we drank our samples. I really like the sound of the Salted Caramel Bread

& Butter Pudding!

Shaken Udder milkshakes are available to buy from most supermarkets, WHSmith, Boots, M&S.

Have you tried these milkshakes before? What is your favourite flavour?

We were sent a selection of Shaken Udder milkshakes in exchange for this blog post.

Planting seeds. Sunflowers, strawberries and tomatoes!

When we moved house and got a garden I knew that I wanted to plant and grow things. It has taken a while to get going. When we moved here last summer the time wasn't right. It was too late in the year to plant things and we were busy with getting settled but being stuck in the house and garden because of coronavirus it gave us the perfect chance to have a go at being gardeners. A couple of weeks ago we got busy planting.

I bought some seeds off ebay. I had looked elsewhere but I think everyone had the same idea. They were reasonably priced which surprised me after I read about some sellers increasing their prices.

It is the ideal time to be planting things or so I've read. I thought we'd start easy and I bought sunflower, strawberry and tomato seeds. My dad said he'd drop a few plant pots over and came with a box full. We have more than enough now and he brought a bag of compost too. Without him my plans would have been scuppered.

We had one of those days where the home schooling wasn't going well. Ellie had no motivation and to be honest neither did I. I didn't want her to go back on the computer so gardening it was!

Becky wasn't keen on getting her hands dirty and choose to get on with more of her college coursework so Ellie and I set to work planting. To be honest I didn't get much of a look in once Ellie got started.

She filled the plant pots, added the seeds and put more of the compost in. We used the bigger pots for the sunflowers and the smaller pots for the strawberries and the tomatoes.

When the pots were filled she got on with watering them. She doesn't get that you don't have to actually fill the pot with water despite me telling her numerous times. lol

We have left the pots in the garage in front of the window. It is so warm in there as the sun hits the window for most of the day. Perfect for growing plants!

Now we wait! I really hope they do grow!

Have you planted anything lately?