The minimads

So why all the traditions? 9

 in The minimads  tagged advent / christmas / traditions by

I guess people may wonder why I am such a big fan of traditions and why we have so many as a family? This is hard to write, but I think putting in down in writing may lay aside some old worries and ghosts of times past. I worry that this time next year or the year after that I may not be here with my wonderful family.  I know that may sound trite, but it isn’t.  Yes I don’t have any cancer now, but even after all the precautions I have taken, I am still at more of a risk than most people of dying of a cancer related to more »

The Gallary – My Current Favorite Photo

 in family / photographs / The Gallery / The minimads by

I love lots of photo’s and favorite choice changes with my mood, the time of day and well the month, year and all that jazz too. At the moment my favorite photo is not one I took, but one that Mrs W from Clinically fed Up took when we were at The Mad Awards.  I love it because it captures the whirlwinds that are my boys. Then I have my second favorite one, why well this is because it captures all of us Mads, happy laughing and generally having fun. And you see that is the beauty of an image, it is a snap shot, a trigger of a memory, a more »

My Priorities – Should our children fit in?

 in learning / school / The minimads by

Way back when I had pink hair and lived my life in the minute I never thought I would be conventional.  I left home at 16 due to me and mum clashing and not agreeing on my “lifestyle” choices!  Back then I wanted to be different, I didn’t want to fit it, I didn’t want to become another ant on a large planet of ants, I wanted to be someone and I was happy to stand out for all the wrong reasons. I was never the easiest child or teenager, I would rebel against convention, against expectations and would be difficult for difficult’s sake, I was the black sheep of the more »

Cooking with Children – Lamb Stir-Fry

 in children / cooking / cooking with children / cool2cook2 / kitchen / The minimads by

 We were given a some welsh lamb and the ingredients to make a welsh lamb stir fry from the Cool2Cook2 book which has been produced by Meat Promotion Wales (Hybu Cig Cymru) to help get kids cooking. I love getting the boys in the kitchen, so we set about following the recipe on Saturday evening.  The boys chopped all the vegetables, whilst I did the ginger and MadDad prepared the lamb, which was welsh and organic. I have to say that the recipe was really easy to follow and the boys did the majority of the work, with me and MadDad supervising. We really enjoyed it and there was 4 empty more »

The Gallery – A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you’re at home

 in smile / The Gallery / The minimads by

I have said before that my main motivation for my boys is happiness, I think that if you are happy you can do anything, take on any challenge and be what ever you want to be.   Also I find happiness infectious, a smile can light up a room, so for me picking out images that reflect this weeks Gallery was hard, not because I didn’t have many to chose from, rather I have lots of images with smiles on. So enter our world for a moment, Mini is using my hoodie to be Obi-Wan_Kenobi, who is is here (well after MadDad) and the other photo is one of a series of more »

Electronics – where do you draw the line or how much is too much? 1

 in electronics / limiting / rewards / screen time / The minimads by

We have a lot of technology in TheMadHouse, lots of electronic gadgets, gizmo’s and games, but for my sanity I we are introducing technology free time. It has never been an issue for us in the past, but both the boys are getting to an age where they would gladly play on the Wii, their leapsters, Daddy’s ipod touch or the PS2 for all their waking hours.  We are getting tantrums when they are told “no more electronic time”.  We have never had to ration it in the past but that is where we are headed. So we are going to be changing the rules on our reward system and the more »

The odd one out

 in lonely / mini mads / school / The minimads by

I have that follow feeling in my tummy, the one I describe to the boys as butterflies, but truth be told it isn’t.  It is a physical pain caused by dropping them off at the school door each morning.  At least today Mini went in without the tears and upset of last week, at least Maxi always runs to be in, but I walk away with a heavy heart and a hollow emptiness that nothing can fill. I used to have a career when we lived down South, I was a successful Facilities Manager and my colleagues were shocked by the fact that I was pregnant.  I was the most un-maternal more »

The Winds of Change

 in change / first day of school / save the children / school / The minimads / Wednesday writing workshop by

Change, that words sweeps a world of emotion over me at this time. It makes me feel a little scared, a little worried, a little apprehensive for what will be, for you see my world is turning and changing.  My whole family is experiencing the winds of change. I have lost my youngest companion, my wonderful Mini to school this week and it is a huge change in my life. My balance is off, my sense of direction skewed and I am not sure which way I should be facing. For you see, my child, my wonderful confident, happy child has embraced this change in his life with open arms and more »

I survived their first day at school

 in first day of school / maximad / minimad / school / school uniform / The minimads by

We were all prepared the clothes were names, ironed and set out last night. Mini was beyond excited this morning, he has wanted to go to school since Maxi started last year.  I took these images this morning and have kept myself busy today, MadDad and I are painting the kitchen (he didnt like the colour I chose and I took my upset out on him and then we went and exchanged the paint) and I have taken mum to her COPD appointment at the hospital too. I really missed having Mini around this morning, most acutely around I0.30am at cup of tea and chat time.  But I also missed our more »

School Shoes from Clarks

 in clarks / mini mads / school / shoes / The minimads by

A while ago I was asked if I would post a video from Clarks about the six steps to shoe fitting, to which I responded honestly that we hadn’t actually been to a Clarks shop  in more than two years due to a very bad experience with Mini and that we used the local independent shoe shop. I was really surprised when the PR responded with the fact the Clarks would like the boys to go for a fitting and would sent a voucher towards the cost of the boys shoes. So on Saturday we set off to have the boys feet measured and get some shoes from our local Clarks more »

The Gallery – A photo I am Proud Off

 in photographs / proud / The Gallery / The minimads by

Oh my I can not get that “What have you done today to make you feel proud” out of my head.  This week I am supposed to show you an image I have taken that makes me feel proud.  I am not a professional photographer or even an amateur really.  I am a snapper.  I capture moments of our everyday lives to trigger wonderful memories. This image was snapped with my now defunct original Olympus digital camera, the first digital I owned, which was the size of a house brick and I love it. It captures a wonderful day, the first time we went out of the house as a family more »

The Gallery – Nature or Nuture

 in beach / nature / The Gallery / The minimads by

What can I say, well today I took the boys to the local woodland centre, where the plan was to collect shells and small stones on the beach to make jam jar lanterns. We actually spent far to long on the beech to get them made so will have to do them tomorrow at home, but boys being boys they didn’t want shells on their jam jars, oh no they wanted dead crabs…. So as much as I nurture their artistic and creative sides, sometimes the force of nature is just to great!

The Boys are away and I don’t want to play ……

 in motherhood / The minimads by

My Mum has the MiniMads for only the second time in their life.  Yes this is the second evening me and MadDad have had to ourselves and we have no intentions of going out (not that we could afford to anyway). Before we had children we swore we wouldn’t become parent bores, you know the ones……  the people who have no other topic of conversation apart from their children and guess what we are turning into them. We decide not to bother with the grand dinner I had planned to cook, instead we settled for some cheese on toast with a cup of tea, none of the sparking wine either, as more »

Stepping away from this Blog with the Bad Stuff

 in The minimads by

Over the last month or do, my mood and therefore, by blog has become darker and darker and that really isn’t what this blog was and should be all about.  The boys asleep holding hands in our hotel in London (3rd July 2010) So I have made a decision that I am going to go back to basics and use this blog to record what I do with the MiniMads over the summer, a journal if you like of our days and time together.  I may still do The Gallery and writing workshop (if appropriate). Also summer holidays will be starting with a vengeance next week and I will have less more »

The Gallery – Portraits

 in blamance / boys / receipe / The Gallery / The minimads by

This weeks prompt over at Sticky Fingers for The Gallery was Portraits, how apt seen as I received these from school this week. They don’t get much more adorable than this, do they? I am so lucky to have two such wonderful children, so some special things about my boys. I love nothing more than my morning snuggles with Mini, he often comes and joins us at some point during the night and we love it, we are cherishing the fact that he wants to be close to both me and MadDad.;;;;;I I love the fact that tucking Maxi in to bed is always such a treat, he is usually asleep before more »