Hen Weekend!

Well hello there strangers! Before I begin to tell you about my AMAZING hen do, I just wanted to address my absence... I have taken a little time to take stock and really think about my (well our little families) future and what might lay ahead. Its been a little stressful at times but I'm now back feeling refreshed and full of lots of ideas! Sometimes you just need a little time to un-muddle all those thoughts whirling around your head!

Anyway back to the hen do! I know your supposed to be like "what happens on the hen do, stays on the hen do" but with as with all our little events in life we have decided to share them with you. Now my hen was a very tame affair, nice and relaxed, spending the day with my favourite girls - exactly how I wanted it to be!

In the morning, 8:20 to be exact, friends started to arrive at mine. I hadn't been told a single thing about the day, just certain things I would need to bring with me (some of these things gave me a little hint of the potential days events). We were then collected by a bus(!) and whisked off to the mystery location. Only it wasn't a mystery,  just as we were leaving my dog, lady tried to follow us and my mum pipes up "Oh look, Lady wants to come for a spa day" - typical mother!!!

We soon arrived to a beautiful location, Clarice House in Bury St Edmunds. It was a gorgeous building in a setting surrounded by trees, it felt all so calming already!  We settled down in the lounge area, for tea, toast and scones before we set off to be pampered.

We then meandered down to the pool area, to chill out before the treatments started! I was thoroughly spoilt by my hens, they set me up with their top package and I well and truly enjoyed every moment of the day. I started my treatments with a full body aromatherapy massage. It was blissful. I was a little nervous as I have never had a "full body" massage, so was a little anxious as to what it would entail. But it was perfect, completely chilled me out and the therapist made me feel completely at ease. 

(Fresh faced girls!!!)

Then it was time for lunch!!! I have to say it was delicious, I couldn't complain about a single thing, plus the Prosecco went down a treat! Then it was time for some more treatments, next, for me, I had a full facial. 55 heavenly minutes! I have to say this was my favourite treatment, it completely relaxed me and made my skin feel amazing. I would love to have these more regularly! Then to round up I had a Gelish manicure and a pedi too! So I really was pampered from head to toe! I hope the rest of the girls enjoy their treatments, I know I would love to go again!!

We then got ready for the evening part of the hen do, again I was completely in the dark! Whilst we were waiting for what I thought was the bus, was in actual fact a limo!! I felt 16 again ready for school prom!! 

After a little boogie in the limo we headed to Cafe Rouge, for dinner and giggles! The girls had even gone to the extent of decorating our space, so sweet! As the evening went on, I had some more guest's arrive, that made my day.

Then of course, we had a little dance and some silly games... I will leave those to your imagination! I want to thank all my beautiful friends and family that attended and made the day so very special, it was exactly what I wanted! And a very big thank you to one of my bridesmaids Lou who organised everything so brilliantly putting the perfect touches to every part of the day!

I feel like a very lucky lady!

Mummy B xoxox

#DolceGustoBlogger

Evening guys, happy hump day all... its down hill to the weekend! Wahoo!

 I have some exciting news for you all, I'm now an official Nescafè Dolce Gusto Blogger! This is something that I'm really excited about! I love to go out for coffee and have a good old natter with my friends and now I get to enjoy this little luxury in our home! Thank you Nescafè and the lovely Gemma!

I am looking forward to sharing our thoughts with you but in the mean time head over to Nescafè Dolce Gusto's UK Facebook page for more info.

Mummy B xoxox

Sizzle Texture Boutique Beginners - Review

I was recently given the opportunity to review a piece of crafting kit from Hobby Craft. Since I have started doing bits and pieces for my wedding, I have loved getting a little bit crafty and making our own things for the day. I think it gives it that extra special touch, so I was delighted to have this opportunity. 

I was kindly sent the Sizzle Texture Boutique Beginners Kit (£30), which is essentially is a piece of kit that you can use to emboss paper or card for anything you fancy (or die cutting machine if you want the technical term!)! Having a little play around I decided to have a go at making some name tags for our wedding favour boxes.

Using the equipment provided I found the whole processes really easy  and stress free, perfect for a bride to be who is conscious of saving time.

Once I had picked out my card and the emboss design, it was really straight forward from there. The instructions are very clear and so makes the whole process fool proof!

Within seconds (it literally is that quick) I had beautiful embossed paper ready to use. In the kit there are a number of different designs to choose from but Hobby Craft stock hundreds of other designs to fit an array of occasions or design ideas. I particularly love the lace designs they have to offer and think they would be perfect for a wedding.

Would I recommend this die cutting machine? YES! Its perfect for creating your own greeting cards and like I have done for my wedding. Very easy to use and I love that this kit comes with so many materials for you to experiment with. Perfect for a beginner, just like me! Make sure you check out the rest of the die cutting machine range  at Hobby Craft.

Mummy B xoxox

Toddler Play Space UPDATE

As I have mentioned in recent previous posts, for Darcie's birthday we decided to improve her play space and make it a really functional and neutral space. You can see what it was originally like HERE. 

We wanted to have some clear organisation to make sure she starts to learn to put her toys back properly, taking real ownership of her space. As you can see all the furniture is plain and neutral, which was a conscious decision and inspired by (very very loosely) on a Montessori play area. I like the idea of Darcie having different areas to play and learn. 

For example, I got an Ikea Expedit unit, they are super cheap (£20) to store her boxes. I was getting fed up of them just getting random toys dumped in there with no real organisation. I used to find Darcie would become disinterested if her play area and toys if it was disorganised, so I decided to use this to make it easier to organise and less tempted to just shove "stuff" in boxes. So in the top left we have her cuddly toys, top right is her music box, bottom left is her role play box and bottom right is a mixture items. On the top of the unit I have some wooden toys (and my old play house... who else used to have one of these?!) that she loves, she quite likes to sit on the wooden box next to the unit and play with these! 

Keeping with the theme of being organised, I got Darcie these neutral tubs for books, plastic toys and her very precious Toy Story characters! Rather than have them on a shelf up high, I have kept them on the floor so she can get to them easily and she can the decide what she wants to do, I believe this particular idea is key to a Montessori play area.

Next is Darcie's desk, again from Ikea, offers her a place to read, draw, colour and play. The table is the same colour as the rest of our living room furniture! Perfect.

This Ikea box (only £16!) is perfect for storing her bigger toys, she also likes to sit and ponder here. On the top I just put a few of her birthday presents out for her to enjoy.

So the main item we got for Darcie for her birthday is the Ikea Kitchen, I just got the bottom set (you can get a top piece that attaches to this) because it hides nicely behind our sofa! She is in love with this, she is always asking me and Jamie if we want a drink and then fetches us tea or juice! Its a lovely basic kitchen that offers children some imaginative role play. 

Im really pleased with this small area of our living room, my only regret is not doing this earlier! I would of been great to create some "busy boards" for when she was younger!

I hope I have given you some ideas if you're looking to create a play space. My house is very small but we're starting to learn to make some really functional spaces making the best of what we have.

Mummy B xoxox

Chicken Pox Has Hit!

So my little munchkin has caught chicken pox! It's inevitable with children, especially if they interact regularly with other children. When I picked up Darcie from Nursery yesterday her key worker told me how the girl who she had spent most of the week playing with had caught chicken pox and to be aware. Well this morning she had a nice little collection of suspicious spots! 

At the moment she hasn't had much of an outbreak, they are mainly on her legs, belly and a couple around her neck, so fingers crossed she doesn't re-act too badly!

She has spent the day playing and resting with her Daddy, when I got home I was greeted to a water fight...

"A great way to keep her nice and cool" said Jamie. What actually happened was I was attacked by Darcie and I was the one who ended up getting "nice and cool".

Hope everyone else has had a great start to the weekend!

Mummy B xoxox

Bewilderwood Fun Perfect For A Two Year Old

On Sunday we celebrated Darcie's second birthday with a trip to Bewilderwood. We had the entire side of my immediately family (Darcie spent yesterday with Jamie's side) and it was lovely to spend the day together. 

Bewilderwood is a magical adventure park set in a beautiful wood in Norfolk. It is the setting for the children's book 'Boggle at BeWILDerwood' by a local author Tom Blofeld. I had been so excited to visit this place, I had herd so many wonderful things that I knew it was a must visit for Darcie. 

It was a glorious day, sun was shining, lovely and warm and, bizarrely, it was fairly quiet making it the perfect condition for exploring!

I loved how the park was set out,  making it easy to navigate round the and for perfect for children to get completely absorbed into the world of Twiggles and Boggles! 

The play parks were a mixture of climbing frames, obstacle courses through the tree's and lots of amazing slides! Even my brother enjoyed this part!

I thought Darcie may get a little scared going through the tree tops but she was the least bit worried! I had to put my brave face on for sure!

There really was so much to see and do, plenty to keep children of all ages entertained.  Another lovely element to the day was how the staff interacted with the children, telling the stories and keeping them engaged with all the different activities. Darcie loved the stories, such a pleasure to see!

After our adventures we stopped by Wroxham Barns, for ice cream and to feed the lambs...

And if that wasn't enough we then stopped off for dinner in Norwich at La Tasca! The perfect end to the perfect day!

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.

Mummy B xoxox 

Darcie's 2 Years Old Today!

My baby is two years old today! I say it all the time, but having children really does make time fly!!

Darcie has made me feel incredibly lucky these past two years, I'm so proud of how she has become a confident, caring and a so very loving little girl. She teaches me and Jamie to be a little more patient and shows us the world from such a magical point of view. Everyday I'm so very grateful for all that we have and all the happiness she give us. 

Happy 2nd Birthday my wonderful bubba, we love you lots and lots and loads and loads.

Mummy & Daddy xoxox

P.S More of Darcie's birthday will be posted tomorrow, along with  some more very exciting posts! Life has been 100 mph at the moment!!! x