Making Our Own Christmas Decorations

I love 'trying' to do crafts with Isla. I say trying because after about 15 minutes it does feel that way as more and more mess gets made and we're covered head to toe in glue, glitter and paint! It does feel like a major test of my patience but somehow I manage to pull it off and go with the flow!

A few weeks before I had a little look on eBay for some bits we could use for crafting and I was actually amazed by the stuff you can buy and also how cheap it is. I bought a mixed bag of buttons (£2.95 for approx 200 buttons) and lollisticks (£1.80 for 100 sticks) - we don't eat a lot of ice lollies in our house! I didn't really know what I was going to do with them at that point. Then I bought some silver and gold paint and it came to me to make a few Christmas decorations.

A rainy Sunday presented itself and so we cracked open the glue, paint and glitter. Isla loved the buttons. There were so many different ones and it really appealed to her 'magpie' nature as they were like little treasures - loads of sparkly ones, brightly coloured ones. She kept trying to secrete them in various pockets but I had to ask her to give them back as Noah is still of the age where he'll put stuff in his mouth and choke.

Yes, that is a Wigwam in the background in our living room and
Isla does have 'warpaint' on!

With the lollisticks I got her to paint them silver and then when they'd dried I dabbed glue on and she sprinkled on the glitter. We also added a few buttons and then I stuck them together like a snowflake. I also cut out some cardboard disks and she painted those with silver paint mixed with some glue and stuck the buttons on and sprinkled with glitter. All I need to do now is get some silvery string to attach to the 'snowflakes' and button baubles so that we can hang them on the tree.

I'm pretty pleased with our efforts and I look forward to putting them up. Isla really enjoyed making these and I can't wait to get the buttons out again to make some other cute crafty things!  

Isla and Noah's Party

So after Noah's birthday came Isla's birthday, born 2 years and 4 days apart this now allows for a bit of cunning for a few years at least - JOINT PARTIES! They had their party at a local soft play centre with 16 friends (not including baby siblings) - it was a full house and I think the kids loved it.  Before we even got in the soft play Noah managed to fall over, bang his nose and make it bleed. Grrr. Luckily it stopped pretty quickly and he got stuck into the bouncy castle. They bounced, they ran around, they yelled and cried and did all the things that excitable 3 year olds do really. After an hour of madness we went off to eat - most of them don't touch the 'real' food as they're too hyped by the thought of cake and ice cream.

Isla loved her birthday cake - Peppa Pig - i was given my orders months before, so I bought some edible Peppa Pig characters from a lady on eBay and I fixed them to a pre-made plain white iced cake. And also because it was Noah's party too he got a Thomas the Tank Engine  - he is already obsessed with that train!

I decided not to do the traditional party bag thing and bought all the kids a painting set instead from Tesco - Princesses for girls and Cars for boys. Everyone took cake and a handful of chocolate treats and a balloon home. It felt like it went really well and I definitely know that it lived up to Isla's expectations. My only regret is that I didn't get to spend as much time just watching them having a brilliant time. And something I've realised lately is that I do just love watching them, especially when they don't realise it. The pure joy written all over their faces is just priceless.

Two days after the party it was Isla's birthday and the night before I was busy wrapping and organising her presents and balloons. I was really excited because she was getting her first bike and she'd recently been talking about how much she wanted a princess bike. We'd had a slight hitch with the whole bike surprise thing ealier in the day when she'd walked into our bedroom and come face to face with it. Me and the OH froze and didn't speak and she looked open mouthed at us and whispered 'biiiiiike'. We hurried her out and told her that Daddy was fixing one of her friends bikes! The little white lie we'd told her obviously stuck in her mind the following morning as she had actually thought that it was her friends bike so we then had to convince her it was hers. The hazards of having a small house with nowhere to hide things!

She opened all her presents (there were loads), had a ride on her Princess bike and then we got ready for a trip to the farm with some friends. We had a great time, it was miraculously a dry, partly sunny day in a mostly wet and unseasonally cold week. It was just a lovely family day and looking at my little family I realised that we now have a new toddler in the house and my old toddler is really a bit too grown up to be called that anymore. Happy days.

The Joys and Perils of Buying stuff Second Hand

I've always been a fan of buying second hand and I'm also regularly finding things around our house that we no longer need to sell on eBay. I've bagged many a bargain on eBay but I've also come a cropper a couple of times.

The good:

My best purchase on eBay was this Dutailer nursing chair. It was listed on eBay with a starting price of £80. Now there's something about a listing that starts high to put people off bidding and that's exactly what happened in this case. I was watching its progress and in the morning after the listing finished I saw it was unsold, so I contacted the seller to find out if she would be prepared to sell the chair for a flat £80 and she said yes. As she was local I was able to collect. It's worth saying that this chair was immaculate and it became a godsend. I initially bought it to help me be more comfortable when breast feeding Isla. It was comfortable but it never ceased to be when I changed feeding method. I spent many a bad night sitting in that chair while Isla was teething or feeling poorly. All her bedtime stories were read to her in it and now the same goes for Noah. This chair really was a great find and I now feel quite sentimental about it as it holds lots of memories. This purchase was a WIN!

Another good purchase was an Ikea table and chairs, £16 for all 3 items. WIN!

I purchased two items last year which on getting them home I had to re-contact the seller about my disappointment. They are now good purchases but they wouldn't have been had I not have braved it and told the seller I didn't think their descriptions were fair. The first was a Little Tikes slide, described as in excellent condition and not faded by the weather. I bought it for £80 and new it would have cost £125. My husband collected it and on getting it home I looked at it and was really disappointed. It wasn't excellent condition and it most definitely was faded and weather worn - it would be a bit weird if it wasn't being an outside toy. So I contacted the seller and told her that realistically to me it was not worth any more than £50. She  apologised, agreed and refunded me £30. WIN.

The other item was a Bumbo, again described as in excellent condition but on closer inspection at home, the foam was cracked. Again I recontacted the seller and got half my money back. A WIN of sorts. I say that because I really don't get the fuss about Bumbo seats. We borrowed one first time round and Isla hardly used it - the same happened this time round after we bought this one with Noah. They really have the shortest shelf life of any baby product we've ever bought.

The bad:

The downside of buying second hand is that sometimes the items aren't in good condition but you end up with them anyway. One of my worst purchases was a Chicco Walker I bought from an ad on Gumtree. It was advertised in good condition and was only £5. I thought I couldn't go wrong. I collected it and when I walked out of the flat I knew I shouldn't have handed over the money but I kept walking. I didn't have the guts to say no. The walker was filthy, the material of the seat was disgusting. I put it in the boot of the car and within about 5 minutes the entire car stank. Needless to say on getting it home it went in a bin bag and was taken to the dump, there was no way it could be revived.

My tip is to always check on eBay or the free ads (Gumtree/ Preloved) before buying something brand new for the kids. Most toys and play equipment for the under 1's gets used for about 3 months max. A friend of mine bought an immaculate stand up activity station for £1 on eBay for her twins. £1! It was £80 new. As it was she handed over a fiver as she was too embarrassed to give a quid, you would though wouldn't you!

However one thing beats buying second hand and that is getting a complete freebie! I was looking out for a playhouse for Isla last summer and my sister told me a friend of hers wanted rid of a Little Tikes one that was in his garden as he was moving house. It was a bit weather worn but it scrubbed up well and Isla has had the best time playing in it and I'm sure she will again this summer. It always pays to mention to people if you're on the look out for something as someone may just point you in the right direction!

Farewell to My iCandy and Advice on Tandems please!

This is ridiculous I know but I'm sad about saying good bye to one of my trusty servants - my iCandy Cherry! It was my favourite purchase when Isla was on the way and I've loved using it and really do believe in it as a brilliant travel system. Sadly, it has to go to fund the new tandem buggy we intend to buy and tonight it was bought on Ebay by it's new owner, who hopefully will love it as much as I have................

And, so now I have to put my mind to the decision of what tandem buggy to buy! Advice and experience wanted, so please leave your comments below.....I swear by word of mouth recommendations!