Life Lately

2017 hasn't been the best year so far for us, I'm hoping that it will redeem itself because we all know that 2016 didn't start that well either, and overall that was a great year for my little family. Over the past month or so we have been struck with lergy after lergy and in turn that has left us pretty housebound. We haven't had that many adventures lately, but thankfully we have our annual passes so sometimes we've managed to 'pop' out at least.


I'm hoping for nice enough weather to get a walk in this weekend but in the meantime, here's a little of what we have been up to in photos.

My new year resolutions

Last year my new years resolution was to learn to bake.  In my head I saw myself being one of those mums that fetched out  warm freshly made cookies whenever kids came over to play. In reality, I burnt the just add water type, and my toddlers were better bakers than me. 


A year on I am marginally better.  My forte is predominately brownies but ..I am no longer scared to whip up a batch of buns. This year, my new years resolutions are to embrace family time, every second of it, and to be more organised.

So far these resolutions have encouraged me to clear out every cupboard in our house..tidy house, tidy mind, and brave the cold a whole lot more than I would of liked.

2017, lets do this.

The perfect gift

Despite working in retail, I've managed to have a great Christmas. We all received some lovely gifts and created even lovelier memories. But beneath all that was the fact that it was the first without my Dad. As much as I reflected on that very fact, I tried not to dwell on it... he wouldn't want me to!


One of the gifts we jointly received as a family was an annual pass to the Yorkshire wildlife park. We are blessed to have something like this on the doorstep but I wont lie, costs have stopped us visiting as frequent as we would like. In winter we don't venture to the peak district on weekends as much so this really was the perfect present for our outdoor family..i mean, yesterday we watched lions at sunset!

I didn't really photograph the animals as such, I usually take hundreds and never use them so I spent that extra time mainly just feeling content. I cant wait to go back and create endless memories again there already! Family time really is everything.

Pumpkin carving

Like most family households, pumpkin carving is beginning to become a bit of a tradition for us. Combined with bonfire night, id go as far as saying it is preferable for me than Christmas, the boys may disagree!


This year is our first Halloween in the new house. So we invited my sister and her children over to join in the festivities.

Everyone had fun getting stuck in. And although id been at work for the majority of the day, me & Craig went to bed feeling like we'd had some quality family time. What more could you ask for?

Mam Tor

The peak district is one of our favourite places to explore as a family. Me & Craig had the pleasure of returning to the spot in these photos the day after, for our first day out alone in over four years..it was very serene, although eerily quiet without the boys at times.

We've always preferred this type of day out but now that we are saving for the wedding I have a feeling this is what our weekends are going to mainly look like. And I for one aren't complaining!

Rio has started full time at a new school. I booked two weeks off work 'just incase', but turns out I was more worried than him

Pushchair friendly for a change!

Yesterday was my first fathers day without my Dad. There is no consolation for this, I stood at his graveside heartbroken, but if there was.. it would be Craig! Not only is Craig my best friend, he is also the best Father than I could of ever wished for for my boys. So we headed to the peak district to spend the day as a family, in the calm away from it all, it really is my happy place!

Walks are harder now that Niall doesn't like the carrier so we opted for a pushchair friendly route. Of course as sods law goes, he walked liked a trooper, but it was a pleasant route non the less so we didn't miss out too much. We called at Craig's favourite place for tea on the way home and I think Nialls face on the last picture sums up how content we all felt by the end of the day.