A Disney Brave 4th Birthday Party

Miss Boo turns 4 next week so today we threw her a birthday party. She set me the challenge of a 'Brave' themed party which is a disney film featuring a feisty Scottish Princess called Merida, it's rather good in case you haven't seen it.

I'm a big believer in keeping things simple. So here's how we entertained 30, two, three, four and five year olds for two hours with a bit of imagination:

'Brave Play dough'

We made orange and blue sparkly play dough (to match Merida's hair and dress) and laid it out on a table with some cutters as an invitation to play. This was a big hit with all age groups. I used a 'no cook ' play dough recipe from The Imagination Tree. It's ever so easy and cost effective to make.

Crown making 

Every princess (and prince) needs a crown so we sourced some pre-cut gold and silver crowns and lots of sparkly stickers from good old eBay and laid them out on another table as an invitation to create. 

Brave Colouring

We printed out lots of different Brave colouring sheets from the Disney Princess website. This is such a great resource as it's free! They are available for all the princesses and are good for rainy days, while you're watching the corresponding film or for entertaining large groups of children! The children did something wonderful with their completed pictures when a surprise for miss boo arrived at the party...

A visit from "Merida"

We organised for Princess Merida to attend the party via a specialist company. She was brilliant with the children, read them the story of brave and presented the birthday girl with a special crown and certificate. Miss Boo thought this was amazing and it made her party really magical for her. Some of the children gave Merida their completed colouring sheets as a present when she left completely unprompted, which was just lovely.

A Merida Cake

I'm not the world's best baker but I really love making the girl's birthday cakes. I used a fab recipe for a three tier confetti cake from  The Primrose Bakery which was really easy to follow and very tasty. I just had to pop a Merida figure on top and then we had a Brave birthday cake :)

Fun Party Food

In keeping with the brave theme Miss Boo's daddy lovingly made some shortbread bear biscuits late last night after a long week at work, the children loved them. 

 

We also made watermelon lollies by cutting out melon with a heart cookie cutter and popping it on a wooden lolly stick, very easy and effective.

Pom bears, mini pizzas, sausage rolls, sandwiches and cucumber and pepper sticks completed the buffet which the children sat on picnic blankets to enjoy. 

A little treat 

To thank our guests for joining us and making Miss Boo's day so special we sent them home with a party cone filled with sweets complete with a cute Merida sticker.

I really enjoyed putting all this together and we all had a lovely morning. Thanks again to our guests for coming, a big thank you to all our helpers and happy birthday Miss Boo :) 

Me x

I am so tired...

"I am so tired"... "I have never been this tired..." Things my husband, family and friends hear me say daily at the moment. When someone asks me how I am I default to "tired". I can't even explain how tired I am. 

I survive the day on caffeine and cake and chocolate at the moment. Multiple night wakings from the baby, breastfeeding, a busy toddler and preschooler, trying to be a good wife, friend, sister, daughter and keeping on top of the house and all the daily jobs are exhausting. It's starting to take it's toll, something has to give and right now it's me... I resemble a zombie and that's on a good day :)

I never find the time to put any make up on, paint my toes or even iron my clothes and let's not talk about my eyebrows...The size of the bags under my eyes are the equivalent to the shopping trip of a lifetime and my hair is constantly tossed up in my affectionately named mum bun. My husband tells me I am beautiful daily, I love him for that because I feel far from it right now. I love him even more today because last night he came home with this for me and left it by the kettle to give me a little boost today:

I know it won't last forever and I'm so lucky to be blessed with my three beautiful children and all that comes with it, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard and that I shouldn't say it's hard. The tiredness is all consuming some days, sleep is all I can think about, but then when the opportunity arises to have a nap or a rest I can't sleep, the cogs of my brain are whirring constantly. Sometimes it's easier to keep going, to not stop, when I stop I crash and burn. 

Every parent knows this tired, it is a tired like no other. It's so intense, but it does end and I know this and have survived it twice before. Soon the broken nights will end and I'll probably wish them back as that will mean my babies will have grown. 

The lack of sleep is productive in many ways. While feeding the baby in the night I have switched energy supplier, done several online food shops, replied to emails, written blog posts and have done most of my Christmas shopping, all in the middle if the night, from the comfort of my bed. 

I also like to think that the tiredness is good in someways. It means I've given the girls my all and then some and that's really important to me.

For my birthday next year I asked my husband in jest for a night in a hotel on my own so I can have one, blissful, uninterrupted nights sleep. For now I shall just be tired for a little while longer, make myself a cuppa and cut a large slice of cake while the baby sleeps ;)

Me x

Goodbye autumn

It's got so chilly this week, we have started to hibernate a little bit (without the sleeping!) I feel it's sadly time to say goodbye to Autumn for another year, I've probably clung onto you longer than is accurate. It's our favourite seasons for so many reasons. Here are just a few of them:

10 reasons we love autumn in our household

1. Hot chocolate - wet rainy afternoons, snuggled up with a film, some pop corn and a hot chocolate are a firm favourite

2. The return of Roast dinners after a summer break are tastier than ever

3. Puddle jumping, we pop on our puddle suits and wellies and off we go, so much fun

4. The colourful leaves, so beautiful to look at, play in and great for learning and identifying colours and collecting and making art work with

5. Conkers, so pleasing to find and collect, this year we decorated our haul with glitter glue and sequins

6. Picking Blackberries and the crumbles and custard that follow

7. Woolly jumpers and welly boots, I love the thought of this more than actually getting 3 children dressed for the great outdoors. There's nothing nicer than being all cosy and out in the fresh autumn air.

8. Halloween, the girls love decorating the house, doing Halloween crafts and dressing up to greet the trick or treaters. This year we glittered our pumpkin!

9. Bonfire night, miss Boo loved the fireworks this year. Miss Tibs wasn't so and the baby slept through the lot.

10. Dark, cosy nights, a fire on, pjs and a glass of something tasty, yes please.

We look forward to enjoying you next year autumn, now it's time to enjoy winter and all that it brings with it including two of the little ladies birthdays,  Christmas and maybe even snow! 

Me x

Breaking out the mummy blogger...

So here it is... my first blog post, i'm officially breaking out the mummy blogger in me. After having my first little lady in 2011 I made the decision to be a stay at home mummy. Since then, two more little ladies have arrived and whilst I absolutely adore it and they keep me unbelievably busy in so many ways, my brain feels like it needs a bit of a workout.

Hello!  This is me, I'm Taryn, a thirty something mummy to 3 girls. 

I am an avid reader of many mummy blogs.  They are something I can identify with, they make me laugh, sometimes cry and above all they have kept me sane and awake during night feeds over the last few years.  As I read these blog posts I often have moments of "yes, this is so me, I totally get what you are saying" and "wow, what a great idea", it's so refreshing and often reassuring. I'm not promising any of the above but I do promise to write openly, honestly and postively and share my musings on motherhood and beyond. I have always loved to write so am hoping this will provide an outlet for that as well as an opportunity to share my thoughts and feelings and capture this time which will soon pass me by and be a distant memory.

This blog will be about my adventures with my three little ladies: Miss Boo (nearly 4), Miss Tibs (nearly 2) and Miss Dot (the baby). I'll be using their nicknames rather than their given names to give them a bit of privacy. I hope to write about the things we do and see together and my thoughts and feelings as their mother they experience the world and all that it is.

Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoy the journey with me.

Me x