Showing all posts tagged kieran

In Family Time, General

This term is nearly finished, and we are jiggered!

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 14 Comments
End of term and time for uncomplicated fun and relaxation

Just a couple more days and we can hang up the gym kits, put away the uniform and lose the book bag for two weeks. The Easter school holidays are nearly here and thank goodness!

We are jiggered.

This month alone, not to mention everything else that we have had since the February half term, has been busy to say the least and has included…

  • World book day dressing up and associated school fun
  • Dress as a knight day
  • Dress as a wizard day (today)
  • Dress in sports gear (Sports relief) and Skip-a-thon
  • Two school plays to attend after school
  • Phonics afternoon (for us parents – we get jiggered too)
  • A bake sale (to contribute to and to attend after school)
  • An Easter Egg tombola (to contribute and attend)
  • Easter lunch, in school to have with the kids if we can.
  • Parents evening (I get this but it’s another one on the list!)
  • Make an Easter bonnet to bring to school for a competition
  • Make an animal board game to bring to school
  • Design and make a book cover and bring to school for a competition
  • Church visit for the Easter service
And these are on top of the usual reading, miscellaneous homework and swimming lessons .

These and many  other similar extras have kept the kids very busy and had us running around like headless chooks. Fortunately I work from home so have some flexibility when it comes to running around organising things and making important calls like ringing your little sister and begging her to makes some nice (not squished and crap looking) cakes for the bake sale.

A busy half term to say the least!
This holiday we have things planned but in a leisurely way. The first day off includes a birthday party but other than that, and a few days where Kieran is at a play scheme we will be kicking our shoes off and enjoying some R&R!

One day is earmarked for a train ride to York for just Kieran and I, to watch the boats, walk around the park and enjoy a museum or two and some chilled out garden time is also on the cards.

Yes, I think we can all say “THANK GOODNESS” now the holidays have arrived because as much as it means having a juggle work-wise, we all need a break from school, kids and parents alike!

Is anyone else counting the days until they break up? Are your kids shattered and ready for the time off?
What have you got planned? (I may steal ideas from this one if anyone answers!).

Whatever you do, have a great break everyone!

In Family Time, Food, General

A blogging challenge gone wrong, but it’s alright

Author Nicki CawoodPosted on 2 Comments

When Innocent asked if we’d like to take part in their latest campaign we said YES! Kieran especially is a huge fan of the Innocent products and thoroughly enjoyed making a spooky veg fiend in the Halloween campaign.

True to the time of year, this time around Kieran has received a fab gardening set with mini rake, fork and watering can and a selction of fab seeds which can be found in the multipacks.
The challenge was to drink the drinks, fill the empty cartons with soil, plant a seed in each and watch them grow.
Simple enough one would think, but not in our house.
Our plan was to collect up all the cartons then plant everything all at once. We wanted to have a seed race and see what came up first and which grew the fastest. We were going to keep a chart.

Then disaster struck! Daddy, forget that we had an important challenge to run recycled all the cartons.
Nooooo!
This set us back a bit but it was ok! We bought some small pots, filled them with soil, planted and popped them outside.

And then, after the mild weather we’ve had….. the frost came. I can’t blame Daddy for this one because I should have known better but am a terrible gardener. It’s been some time now and it appears that the growing race is a non-starter. Ooops!

Not to be beaten we have used some more of the vouchers we received with the gardening kit and have been supping our way through more delicious smoothies, collecting more seeds and will soon be read to replant again, indoors, away from recycling-mad Daddy’s and seed killing frost.

This might sound like  bit of a disaster but it has actually been fantastic fun! We’ve looked up the seeds online so that Kieran could see what we should be able to see when shoots start to appear and we’ve had great fun on the Innocent Kids website with all the fantastic games and features (I have developed something of an obsession with the Whack a Fruit game).

For us, so far, this challenge has been about spending time together learning about growing things, health and drinking gorgeous smoothies. Has it all gone to plan? No! However Innocent are a pretty savvy lot and they know that as long as the kids are having fun it’s all good – and we’ve been having a blast!

If you are on twitter make sure you follow the #innocentseeds hashtag to read about those with better organised greed fingers and also to find some fantastic competitions. You can collect your own seeds in every pack too so happy growing! Find out more and say hi to the garden gang on the Innocent kids website.

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