Janathon Day 12 – Off and running

Today was the usual type of morning, which is get the small people to school and nursery and then I come home and study. Then it’s back to collect the Blue One from nursery and then home. Today was lovely as my mum and dad visited, so they came with me to get the Blue One with me which he loved.

Later in the afternoon it was another football session with Coach Alex for the Blue One (he’s active for Janathon too), I love the fact my kids are rather active and love all their sports sessions.

On the way home, we picked the Pink One up from my friend who kindly collected her from school for me. My mum and dad were still at mine, so I sorted the kid’s dinners and was then able to get out early for my run. I managed a pretty steady 6km for Janathon day 12!

Check out that neon yellow - making sure I could be seen!
Check out that neon yellow – making sure I could be seen!

I was pretty chuffed though to see that each of my last 3km was a smidge faster each kilometre than the previous, not by much, but quicker nonetheless. Certainly ached and could feel it when I get in, but well worth it.
ActivityWhat to do tomorrow? 🙂 xxx

Janathon Day 11 – Busy Day!

I have two small people – running around after them must be exercise!?!

Today is my busy day with them – I drop them off at school and nursery, then it’s normally home to study – but today I had to include a quick trip to Morrisons to return the RugDoctor, then back home, did a bit of OU maths study. From there I had to go and collect the Blue One from Nursery, get him home, fed and changed (well he can do that bit himself and insists on doing it) and then back out for his football session.
Return home, then not long after we’re back out to get the Pink One from school – give both her and the Blue One a snack, then it’s out for swimming lessons. Once we’re back home – time to make dinner, then relax with the small people, read books and then take them up to bed… whew…

Skills
The Blue One showing his football skills!

Whilst the kids’ pizzas were cooking I did manage to do 2 minutes of skipping, which along with the above, is my contribution for Janathon Day 11!

Excitingly today, I also used my new spiralizer, which I got for Christmas, for the first time today! It was so cool, easy to use (and clean) and I made zucchini (I know, I know, we call them courgettes, but zucchini sounds so much nicer) noodles, and I did them in a passata sauce with ham – it was yummy! I can’t believe I actually ate a whole courgette – I don’t even like courgettes, but like this you couldn’t tell that they were veg! Hopefully this could be the way forward…
Spiralizer

Cheerio until tomorrow! 🙂 xxx

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Janathon Day 9 – Lovely Day

Today was just a really lovely day, despite the rainy weather, for a number of reasons;

It started with taking the Blue One to a taster session of Saturday football that his coach (Coach Alex of AW Football Coaching) invited him to. The Blue One has been doing football sessions since he was about two with Coach Alex, who he adores, starting at a toddlers session at North Cray Children’s Centre – he now attends an improvers session at Falconwood and does another session at Sidcup Youth Centre.

At this session, the Blue One and three or four other ‘little’ boys his age got to see what exciting things they have in store for when they get bigger and they got to play with the ‘big’ boys – who are all of about 4 and 5, but when you’re still only 3 that’s quite a difference!

My Blue One had a fab time and was totally in his element, not nervous or intimidated at all, and he ran around for a full hour! Good going when you’ve only got little legs and it was raining! He chatted to me about it non-stop after he loved it so much, but he now thinks he’s going to be playing football 3 times a week!!! I on the other hand now realise I am a ‘soccer mum’ – oh dear! Must remember not to keep calling out… haha!

What the Blue One loved about football today

The boy and I then popped into the Card Factory after, and if you follow me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram you may already know this, but the nicest thing happened, whilst queuing to pay for our purchases the Blue One was chatting to me about the Spider-Man balloon he liked and maybe he could have it for his birthday, he was then chatting with the lady behind us in the queue. Just as we finished paying the lady asked if we could wait 5 minutes, and then said to the Boy “the lady in the shop has a surprise for you as you’re such a good helper to your mummy, happy new year” and then she was gone and she’d bought him the Spider-Man balloon – I was overwhelmed and speechless! Bought tears to my eyes, such kindness and I don’t even know her name – but Thank You, she made my boys (and my) day! The kindness of a stranger has definitely restored my faith in humanity!!!

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Very pleased with his kind gift!

So on that high we headed home, where the hubby had sorted out the front room as we’ve hired a RugDoctor to clean our carpet, so we did that for the afternoon and then we were all confined to the kitchen and conservatory as the carpet has to dry – which it is doing, slowly!

 

It was at this time I decided to go for my run! So this is my actual Janathon activity for day 9.  I managed a 6km run!
Route and distanceI was pretty chuffed with that, because at the 2km mark I thought I may have to stop and walk home as my ankles were really hurting, but I plodded on and it did ease, it’s annoying as the rest of my legs felt strong and my breathing was good and for once my brain wasn’t telling me I couldn’t do it – so I am proud that I kept going.
TimesMy legs, which were still feeling achy and a bit stiff after my Boxercise class, now actually feel much looser and better after my run which is great – and I made sure I stretched properly after my run, especially my ankles.

Leg Stretch
My Pink One demonstrating perfect leg stretches – how straight is that leg!? She also rather likes mummy’s Buff!
Running
Some sinister after run selfies! 

On a little side note, I also got an email telling me one of my Redbubble images had been sold as a greetings card – I made all of 15p – but someone bought one of my images, it’s so exciting, I am very happy! Here’s a link to the image and a link to my previous post about my Redbubble.

All in all a really lovely day! 🙂 xxx

Janathon Day 8 -Taking it Easy!

After putting a lot of effort into all my activities for Janathon Week 1, I thought it best to have a slight rest day and let my muscles have some respite and after my fab Boxercise class yesterday I was very aware of my muscles, even ones I didn’t know I had!!!

So there was a gentle walk with the hubby to collect the Blue One from nursery, then with the Blue One and hubby we walked to the Oval so I could collect my watches from the repair shop and then a meander back home, all at Blue One pace.
ActivityExcept for the one bit of weight lifting where I had to carry the Blue One – oh how my arm muscles protested!!! haha!!!
WeightliftingBack home I did 5 squats with a Blue One lift and then 5 straight squats.

I also did 10 tricep dips – which we’d covered in the Boxercise class, but I forgot to mention in my post, I really could feel all the muscles I worked yesterday! Ouch! But well worth the pain!

Super cute, my Blue One wanted to try some tricep dips too! Awww!

Finally, there was the Morrisons big shop, which with two kids in tow is definitely a work out in itself! My brain has been worked today too doing some Open University maths work! But I did get to eat some chips – hopefully deserved after the weeks activities!
MorrisonsTired now and could do with a full body massage… 😛 xxx

Janathon Day 3 – In the Buff!!!

Don’t get too excited, more precisely I’m in a Buff, but more on that in a moment!

Ok, not a massive amount of exercise today, felt really iffy with a grumpy tummy, but still managed to get up and out, with the hubby, for a 9am showing of Star Wars: The Force Awakens! It was awesome! Everything I’d hoped for and so much more – highly recommend it – a good few nods to the originals (4, 5 & 6 that is – we’ll just let 1, 2 & 3 slip from our minds…).
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After the film, I noticed that Bluewater now has a Buff shop, oh the excitement, I was like a kid in a sweet shop, so many beautiful ones to choose from, I really like some of the Star Wars ones, but opted for a fuschia one for my first Buff! I’m sure I’ll be buying more!
Buff

In the Buff
I’m in the Buff!!!!

 

Then we went into the Speedo shop and had a look at their swimsuit sale and managed to get new ones for the kids (the Pink Ones was in the sale, the Blue Ones unfortunately wasn’t) but they’re lovely swim suits and they look so cute! 😊

Swimsuits
Ready for their swimming lesson… tomorrow!

Still feeling lacklustre with a grumpy tum, my exercise contribution today was 10 leg lifts with each of my kids (20 in total) – that was enough for me today!

Proof of exercise!!!
Blue One Leg Lifts

Pink One Leg Lifts

Hopefully for Janathon day 4 I’ll be feeling better! 🙂 xxx

 

Make a snake!

So with half term looming I thought I would share one of the crafty activities I did with my kiddies (and hubby) during the summer holidays which may be something you can try with your kids over the week off from school!

I actually really enjoyed doing this with my two and didn’t find it too traumatic!

What you will need
5 loo rolls per snake (I think this is a good minimum – feel free to do more!)
Poster Paint
One pipe cleaner per snake (This is for the tongue, so we used pink, but the choice is completely up to the individual)
4 split pins per snake (more if you have additional loo rolls)
Googly Eyes
Pom Poms
Feathers
Or any other creative knick knacks that’s you may wish to put on your snake for decoration
If you want to add a rattle (which I did) you’ll need one additional loo roll and some rice!

I found loads of wonderful pins on Pinterest for this kind of craft – but didn’t find any others using split pins and I am pleased we did use them as it gives the snake more movement!

So to start with we covered the floor with newspaper and got all our poster paints out!1 Starting outSelected the colours we wanted and got to painting our loo rolls
2 Artists at workI think my Pink One would have happily painted loo rolls all day, my Blue One on the other got a little bored… ssshhh, don’t tell the kids I said that, it’s known as the ‘B’ word in our household! Though we managed to do the last two in a fun way with him, where he’d mixed the colours on his paper plates we were able to roll the loo rolls through the paint which he enjoyed doing, and it was nice and quick!

Top Left - Mine; Top Right - The Hubby's; Bottom Left - The Blue One's; Bottom Right - The Pink One's
Top Left – Mine; Top Right – The Hubby’s; Bottom Left – The Blue One’s; Bottom Right – The Pink One’s

Sharing all our artistic work!

That's a lot of loo rolls
That’s a lot of loo rolls

Whilst the loo rolls were drying I worked on the tongues and rattles…

Hissssss
Hissssss

All I did was cut my pipe cleaner in half (as it was quite long) then folded the pipe cleaner in half, then make an ‘M’ shape which would become the fork of the snake’s tongue, then pinch the whole thing together and twist! Tah-Dah – a snake’s tongue!

Rattle! Rattle!
Rattle! Rattle!

I can’t remember the exact measurements I used for the lengths of the cuts to make the rattle box – but I ‘squared’ the loo roll and made four cuts top and bottom.  I taped one end closed and put the rice in – I learnt for a good rattle less is more with the rice – and then taped it closed, ready to insert into the snakes tail!

Once the loo roles were dry I cut angled sections off each end, put a hole punch in the centre on each side (except the face, you only need a hole at one end) ready to join them together.

Ready to assemble!
Ready to assemble!

With the tails, I did a slit down each side, folded to make a triangle each side and then stuck them together to make a point – once dried I inserted and stuck in the rattles.

Here's one I made earlier, including additional embellishments...
Here’s one I made earlier, including additional embellishments…

Then using the split pins I put the snakes together, getting the kids to select what order they wanted the rolls to go! Then I stuck in the tongue.

The steps to put mine together
The steps to put mine together

The kids then chose what size eyes they wanted and then what additional embellishments they wanted to decorate their snakes with.

All the snakes together - the complete Family!
All the snakes together – the complete Family!

Voila – a family of articulated, embellished and rattling snakes!!!

Let me know if this post helped you make snakes with your kiddies and I’d love to see some photos of your loo roll snakes!

Please, like, share and comment on this post! 🙂 xxx

Short and sweet

Going out to my friend’s house this evening so getting this completed early, and just a short one for Juneathon Day 26.

After yesterday’s grumpy/ranting post (from which I received lots of nice supportive messages and advice – so thank you!) todays post has something happy to share with you – I managed to log back into MapMyRun!!! Yay!!! Woohoo!!!
Didn’t try until this afternoon – so no step count for today, so below I share yesterdays one with you!

Yesterday's Step Count
Yesterday’s Step Count

My exercise today:

  • The Big Shop in Morrisons – with the Blue One in the trolley along with all the shopping (heavy!)
  • 26 toe touches, 26 sit and reaches and 26 sit ups/tummy crunches – can’t believe I forgot to do these yesterday!!! Wallowing in my own world of self pity instead!!! haha!! 😛 My son joined me – which was very sweet, but he kept tooting which was rather whiffy!!! Sorry for TMI!!!
Sit up...Blue One toot...whiffy... :-D
Sit up…Blue One toot…whiffy… 😀

🙂 xxx

Sooooo tired

Specific exercise for Juneathon Day 20 was  20 toe touches, 20 sit and reaches, 20 sit ups/tummy crunches!

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In the role of auntie/mummy I want over to my sister’s for a celebratory mass marking my niece’s first holy communion which started at 10am – so a lovely early start for a Saturday morning.
Then to my niece’s school, where they had a party – I stared longingly at the cupcakes (stupid IBS – with it’s wheat/dairy intolerances).
Then back to my sister’s – where I helped her for a bit, kneaded some modelling chocolate icing.
After which I drove home – ate some lunch – gathered some bits as the Pink One had a party to attend, and they were currently round nanny and granddad D’s with their daddy.  So I headed to nanny and granddad D’s house.
From there, we went to the kid’s auntie’s house, where, with the help of nanny and granddad D, released some fish into the pond.
This point I took the Pink One, and we stopped off on the high street – went to the Card Factory (no prizes for guessing why!) and then a quick visit to the dance shop where I got the Pink One her very first leotard for gymnastics – she was thrilled!
Back into the car and drive to the party the Pink One was attending at a local soft play.  When that finished, I decided to drive over to my mum and dad’s, nanny and granddad P’s so we could drop off his Father’s Day Card.  The Pink One thought this was great, and modelled her new leotards for them.
Then a drive back to nanny and granddad D’s to collect the Hubby and the Blue One, and have some dinner.  Finally home where the Blue One sat in his new big boy car seat for the ride home for the first time!!!

Car seat king!
Car seat king!

I am completely exhausted, so now it’s time to take my tired body to bed!!!

Could just about see straight to write this…
Good night all!!!

🙂 xxx

I’ll keep this brief…

Woohoo!!! Remembered to do my toe touches, sit and reaches, sit ups/tummy crunches, of which there were 19 of each, this morning – as opposed to going ‘Oh pants’ and having to do them in the evening!!!

The Blue One had his jabs this morning, which I hate (the hubby has to come too, I can’t cope with them alone), but the Blue One was very brave, and you cannot underestimate the medicinal qualities of chocolate buttons – they calmed the Blue One down before we left the doctor’s surgery where we then treated him to a trip to the Smyth’s Toy Store to pick a toy for his bravery (which is the same thing we did with the Pink One when she had hers about 2 years ago!) – so there was quite a bit of walking around for that, which shows in todays step count!!!

Step count
Step count

When we got home after all that I felt absolutely exhausted – completely drained, think I’d been so anxious about the whole thing that my system just ground to a halt once they were done, I actually fell asleep on the sofa for about half an hour this afternoon, which is unlike me!

Therefore I didn’t do any major exercise – went for walk round to the Coop and back!

Short walk
Short walk

🙂 xxx

What a difference a day makes

Today I did a lot, so this is great for Juneathon Day 16! Somewhat of an improvement from yesterday!!!

  • Walk to and from school in the morning for the Pink One
  • Two lots of laundry hung out (which did involve climbing up and down stairs!)
  • A walk to the park with the Blue One
  • Played bat and ball with the Blue One
  • Kicked a football with the Blue One
He shoots... He scores...
He shoots… He scores…
  • Stood and walked around the playground as the Blue One played
  • Walked home from the park with the Blue One
  • Walked to collect Pink One from school and home again
  • Played a bit in the garden with the kiddies
  • A short brisk walk with Helen! Then a quick jog home! Thankfully my foot seems a lot better! Yay!
A walk and a jog
A walk and a jog
  • 16 toe touches, 16 sit and reaches, 16 sit ups/tummy tucks! (Why do I always end up doing these in the evening!?!

Check out my step count for the day – and there are times when I didn’t carry my phone on me, so there were more steps!!!

Oooo, lots of steps!!!
Oooo, lots of steps!!!

I’m exhausted, my feet are sore, my legs ache and now I have to study and funnily enough all I really want to do is go to sleep – can’t imagine why!?!

🙂 xxx