Merry Christmas & Happy 2014!

Merry (belated) Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hope everyone reading this had a fabulous time? We certainly did 🙂 it really was magical this year as this was the first Christmas that Freddie really ‘got it’. We hosted for my family, but managed to squeeze in seeing other family and friends, plus trips to see Christmas lights, a church service and (crucially!) a Christmas Eve trip to the pub.

In true Christmas style, we have all eaten and drunk far too much, and I’m actually looking forward to a chocolate and booze-free January! Next year I think we will tone it down a little, as we certainly over-bought on the food side of things, but luckily we went away for New Year so brought loads of leftovers with us. Two of our great friends got married in Shropshire, so we packed up the car, and drove off to a beautiful holiday home in the shape of an Atrium for several days. The wedding was amazing, as was the place we stayed in, but poor Sasha developed a chest infection the day after we arrived, so we ended up spending the morning before the wedding in a walk-in clinic in Telford so she could be prescribed some rest and antibiotics. Luckily she was on the mend within 24 hours, and all of us made the big day, which we weren’t expecting, so for that we were very grateful.

Freddie and Sasha were beautifully behaved for the majority of Christmas, the odd WILD moment excused! Although I can’t really blame them for this as they have been deluged with presents, chocolate, and lots of people giving them attention whenever they’ve asked for it. Freddie, at 2.10, has been so sweet, stating over and over again how happy he’s been with his new toys and gifts, un-prompted, which makes all the time and effort we spent choosing things for, Er, Santa, worthwhile. I was quite worried we’d got them too much, but his reaction has calmed my fears, and lots of things can be put away to bring out throughout the year.

On the subject of presents, many were crafty bits and bobs, games and jigsaws, which I’m looking forward to writing mini reviews on for the blog, plus some Montessori-inspired stocking fillers that have been surprising hits, including a wooden Cheese and Mouse Threading Toy, and some Giant Tweezers.

So here we are in 2014… it would be wrong not to include a few New Year’s Resolutions, both on a personal level and for the blog!

Blog:

• Organise my time better so I am able to keep up with 3-4 well written posts a week. I always like to think of myself as an organised person on a day-to-day basis, but I truly have no idea right now how people maintain families, jobs, social lives, day-to-day mundane chores etc AND keep on top of their blog! Hopefully this will be the year when I discover the secret and do just that.
• Really (and I mean REALLY) get to grips with my camera, and take some great shots for my posts. I have a brilliant Nikon DSLR that I bought just before Freddie was born 3 years ago, and haven’t found the time to read up on how to make the best of it. One thing that brings me back to favourite blogs is great photography, so I would really like to improve my photography skills.
• Produce some more in-depth posts on Montessori for pre-schoolers.
• I have a real interest in home-schooling. Although this is something we’d probably never consider for a few personal reasons, I would love to interview some parents who home educate primary school aged children, and write up these interviews for the blog.

Personally:

• Eat better, drink less wine, look after self more. Always a fairly standard resolution come New Year, but it must happen! Whilst my diet in general is fairly healthy (lots of fruit, veg, good carbs, low carb etc), I have a become a MASSIVE sugar addict (blaming my partner-in-crime OH for this!), which in turn makes me feel tired, bloated and lethargic. Get more sleep, since we are currently often up at 5am with at least one of the children (aaargh). Drink less booze- dry Jan will hopefully put me on the right path to that one!
• Be more patient with the children. People may think that because I have a blog like this, that i’m all ‘Mary Poppins’ but the truth is I get ratty like anyone else. I need to stop getting stressy and rushing them to do things, and try and go at their pace, and remember that they are still only 1 and 2 years old. As much as we like our evenings, it would be nice to not be counting down the seconds until bedtime most days, and really try and enjoy the world from their point of view. After all, that was sort of the aim of starting this blog in the first place!
• Spend more time actually TALKING to friends and family. Am definitely guilty of texting/tweeting/FBing without actually really having proper contact with people.
• Print out all of our photos and put in albums this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That will do for now, let’s not try and get ahead of ourselves too much! 😉

Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New Year, would love to hear any of your plans for the forthcoming year!

Becky x

PS Above are some pictures of our festive season:

1. Adam’s famous, annual leftovers specialty, turkey, ham and leek pie, featuring my brand new ‘pie bird’ a great stocking filler!

2. The Christmas cake I made, featuring my late Nan’s old decorations.

3. Little F, running across Ironbridge, Shropshire.

4. Say cheese!

5. Me and subdued Sasha, Ironbridge.

6. Our beautiful holiday home.

7. A festive front door.

8. More jumping for joy on Ironbridge!

9. A gorgeous antiques shop in Ironbridge.

10. Ironbridge itself.

11. Me and Adam, with Sasha and our friends’ baby girl, Lotta.

12. Sasha enjoying one of her presents on Christmas morning.

13. My brother, Simon, looking confused whilst attempting a puzzle aimed at 3 year olds!

Becky

Meet the award-nominated UK lifestyle blogger behind Spirited Puddle Jumper – a mum of three living in South East London! Becky shares the real ups and downs of family life, parenting tips, and lifestyle inspiration, proving that being a mum doesn’t mean you stop being fun or having other interests! Follow along for honest insights into UK family life and opinions on a whole range of topics, from travel and food, to beauty reviews, home and DIY, business and health and wellness.