Things I Have Liked And Loved In May 2017

Where the hell did May go? This year seems to be flying by and I can barely keep track of the weeks never mind the days!

Summer has finally arrived and we seem to be getting far more done during the day thanks to the slightly improved weather and of course the extended hours of light. Although saying that we often find that the kids are heading towards Bedfordshire far later than usual as we barely notice it getting late until it’s a little too late…

Anyhow here’s a few things of the many things that I have Liked and Loved during the month of May.

Pirate Lego

Whilst we have always been great lovers of Lego it wasn’t until recently that our we really began building our collection as such. Since J has become potty about Pirates (especially those from the Caribbean of course) we have found ourselves extending our Lego collection somewhat along with our storage and shelving units which are now filled with copious amounts of plastic arranged in some form or other.

Having finally found the Black Pearl (the famous Pirates of the Caribbean ship) for sale online I found that it was no longer in stock as it had been discontinued thus sellers were after at least a monkey which is far more than I’d ever pay for any toy never mind whether it’s a collector’s item or the crown blinking jewels for that matter.

Knowing full well that J had his heart set on the Black Pearl as a birthday gift, I wasn’t for giving in easily and  decided to give Lepin (the Lego pirate counterpart) a run for its money. Sure enough the set arrived within a week and having put it together J is over the moon with his ship whether it be official or even better ‘a pirate copy’.

J Turned Eight Years Old

J officially turned eight years old last week, he was spoilt with numerous gifts and cards all of which he opened with excitement and loves dearly.

Paul had spent time the night before decorating the living room with banners, balloons and bunting all of which looked fabulous and certainly added some sparkle to the day.

Zero Gravity

To celebrate J’s eighth birthday we took him and four of his friends to the local Zero Gravity trampoline park where they had uggins of fun bouncing around and crawling through foam pits.

After almost an hour of complete chaos the children were sweaty, hot and shattered but ready for a fast food feast and party bags to complete the day.

Kicking Back With Friends

Paul and I are extremely lucky to have built such good friendships over the past decade or so. We were lucky enough to spend some time with close friends for a few drinks, some snacks, a catch up and a  good giggle which we hope to repeat in the near future.

Not only have Paul and I had the chance to kick back and relax with friends but J and E have also had the pleasure of meeting some wonderful new friends whom they seem to play with perfectly. Whats more J seems to have found friendship without any effort and as a result his confidence seems to have soared.

The LightHouse Award

Not only did J celebrate his birthday but he also celebrated becoming a ‘Light House Award Winner’ on the very same day.

The Light House Award is a class award designed to celebrate the success of a particular student each week, J has now won this award twice so far this academic year and I for one couldn’t be prouder.

J’s First Residential

Despite having my reservations I hesitantly packed J’s bags and waved him goodbye as he headed off for his first residential trip with his class. It was the first time that J had spent the night away from home anywhere other than with family or friends and I was slightly apprehensive to say the least.

Twenty-four hours later J arrived home absolutely buzzing, he had the time of his life and seemed to be brimming with confidence. I later received numerous snaps taken by school staff demonstrating just how well he got on and having wiped a tear of pride away from my eyes I very quickly realised that our little boy is growing up fast.

Blog On

As you may have already read in previous posts I recently attended Blog On (a blogging conference held in Manchester twice annually) which I am yet to discuss and writeup.

However, to cut a long story short it was a fantastic day which I learnt a great deal from and best of all I had the chance to catch up with my bloggy besties which almost made the speeding ticket that I somehow managed to acquire on my journey there worthwhile.

Garden Progress

The garden is coming along great guns, as they say ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’ and neither was a garden for that matter. Paul has managed to create a new base and move the green house and shed, take down the rotten old trampoline and get rid of a garden full of crap, he’s levelled the garden, laid and glued the fake grass, created borders around said grass and repainted E’s playhouse.

We are yet to put down the decking and add a few decorations along with a new trampoline and the job should be a good one.

J Became An Orange Belt

Following the tragic loss of Stuart, J’s karate teacher Paul and I were unsure as to whether karate would continue. However, the club has got together and certain individuals have worked their butts off to be sure that the dojo remains open. Having received his yellow belt last July J has been working towards his orange belt for almost twelve months. However due to the passing of his teacher and many other organisational issues grading was understandably delayed for some time.

Almost a fortnight ago J completed his karate grading and very proudly brought home his orange belt which I believe he worked incredibly hard towards. Both myself, Paul and his Teacher are all incredibly proud and look forward to watching him continue collecting future belts.

Starting School

Following receiving news upon E’s school place for September we have since learnt that she will be attending a couple of ‘taster days’ before hand to get settled into school life ready for the autumn.

As of next week E will be donning the school uniform and heading into the reception class to give school a whirl for the day. Here’s hoping all goes well, I cannot believe that come September our little lady will be at school!

Thanks again for reading my blog and I hope that you enjoyed reading what I #LikedAndLoved in May.

If you fancy sharing some of your own #LikedAndLoved points from the month then why not join in either through your own blog post or by leaving a comment below, I would love to hear what you #LikedAndLoved this month!