Hi everyone

My blog has moved to http://www.dreamingofwdw.com

I would love it if you could join me over there.

See ya real soon!

Sam xx

Disney Wordless Wednesday – Disney Dad’s

Magic Moments 10.06.13

My Magic Moment for this week happened last Tuesday.  It was sports day at the children’s school and the sun was out making it a glorious day.

During the morning the children took part in various team activities, such as getting as many basketballs through the hoop as possible.  I love these activities as it gives every child a chance to have a go and be a part of the team.

After a picnic lunch it was time for the running races.  I was a little nervous for Harry as he is not as sporty as some of his friends, but I needn’t have worried – he won his race!  The look of delight on his face was brilliant, to see him achieve something that he had thought was out of his grasp was lovely and he was so proud of himself bless him.

A few races later it was Abby’s turn.  Abby is very sporty (like her dad) and was really looking forward to her race but I was now feeling nervous that she wouldn’t do as well as she hoped and would be disappointed.  Again, I needn’t have worried, she won her race too!

I felt so proud of them for taking part and trying their best and for both of them to win was the icing on the cake.

What’s been your Magic Moment this week?

This week’s Magic Moment Linky is being hosted by the lovely Victoria over at www.vevivos.com please pop over and have a look at her lovely blog.

See ya real soon!

 

Magic Moment 03.06.13

My Magic Moment this week is actually a whole week of ‘moments’ rolled into one.

Last week was half term and for the first time in almost 3 years I only had my children at home – hooray!  A few months ago I made a big decision to change my career, so I stopped childminding and got a job working in a high school and right now I can honestly say it’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

Anyway, back to last week, now I’m not one to ensure that my children have activities planned for every day of the school holidays because a) I don’t want them turning into spoilt brats who expect to be constantly entertained with expensive activities and b) my bank account simply doesn’t have the funds for that sort of lifestyle, but I did have a couple of things planned.

We started off the bank holiday weekend with a visit to Suffolk with my brother and his girlfriend to do some crabbing (we caught 45 before releasing them all), followed by some fish and chips on the beach and a walk along the coast. Sunday was a lazy day, we did a bit of gardening but not a lot else.  Monday was the bank holiday and we were all at home so we did what every family does on a bank holiday – D.I.Y (only a little bit, it didn’t take all day thankfully) and then we just had some family time.

Tuesday was fairly uneventful for me but the children had a great time playing out on their bikes with their friends – I love that they are old enough now to have a little bit of freedom to go out and play (although I’m totally neurotic so they have to stay together and reply to my frequent text messages!)

Wednesday was rubbish weather wise so we decided to pay a visit to the cinema.  I used some of my Tesco Clubcard vouchers so it felt like a free trip (as opposed to the £26 it would have cost for the three of us to go – I’m sure it was only £3.50 when I was a kid??) We saw Epic and I have to say that we were completely underwhelmed by this movie, I know we are in a minority here as most people have said they loved it but it really was lacking something for us (really glad I didn’t pay £26 to watch it!)

Thursday we decided to have a day out in London and we chose the Victoria and Albert Museum as our destination.  I was quite pleased about this as we have done the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum to death, but I was worried that the children would be bored within minutes.  I couldn’t have been more wrong!  This museum was amazing, there was so much to see and on several occasions the children said ‘wow’ as they saw paintings or frescoes (the room full of sculptures did bring out the ridiculous in them and they were giggling like crazy at the ‘rude parts’ – their words not mine, so we left that area rather quickly!)  There were so many hands on activities for them to take part in too, they tried on costumes, built a miniature Crystal Palace and did brass rubbings just to name a few.

After we had seen everything we wanted to see in the V & A we opted to pop next door to the Natural History Museum for the last couple of hours before closing.  I decided to treat the children to a visit to the butterfly garden which was lovely but I’m not sure it warranted the £13.50 entry fee.  Next up we went for the obligatory viewing of the dinosaurs – there was a huge queue for this and it took quite some convincing but eventually I agreed to join it.  Thankfully it moved quite quickly and we were soon in with the dinos, but it was so hot and slow-moving I thought I was going to pass out!  Eventually we made our way  past the T-Rex and quickly went through the rest of the exhibit and made our way to ‘Cocoon.’

This was lovely as there was hardly anyone in there.  We took our time and learned lots about nature and what we can do to help it.  There were lots of areas in here for the children to do things and they had a great time.

All too soon the museum was closing, so we headed out and made our way to meet up with Mark who was driving back from Wiltshire where he had been with work.  We had a bite to eat together and then drove home via central London to look at some of the sights.  It was a lovely end to a lovely day.

The rest of the week was a mix of the children playing with their friends, gardening, more D.I.Y and lots of family time – watching movies and playing board games.  It was the most relaxing but fun school holiday that I have had in ages and I can’t wait for the next one!

As always my thanks goes to Jaime over at www.theoliversmadhouse.co.uk for organising this linky.

What’s been your Magic Moment this week?

See ya real soon!

Magic Moments 20.05.2013

Life has been pretty busy for the last few weeks and I haven’t been able to join in with most of my regular linkys, so I’m hoping you won’t mind indulging me for a few minutes while I tell you about three Magic Moments.

The first one happened a few weeks ago when we celebrated our ‘Double Digit Dance’ – our countdown to our Disney trip is finally under 100 days! 

My second Magic Moment happened on May 10th when my darling boy turned 8 years old.  I can’t believe he’s already 8, where on earth does the time go?  To celebrate his birthday he chose to have a sleepover and we spent the Friday night stuck in the kitchen while 9 children took over our lounge! 

Pressie opening before school!

My last Magic Moment happened yesterday when Harry made his First Holy Communion.  It was a lovely service and Harry made us so proud of how well-behaved he was throughout the day.

So that’s my Magic Moments for this week, a huge thank you must go to the lovely Jaime over at www.theoliversmadhouse.co.uk for organising the linky – please pop over to her blog and say hi.

What’s your Magic Moment from the past week?

See ya real soon!

A Letter To My Daughter

I don’t normally post stuff like this as my blog is a happy place, but this has been playing on my mind all morning and I feel I need to write it down somewhere.

To My Darling Girl

I’m sorry that yet again you haven’t been invited to the latest party that is being hosted by one of your school ‘friends,’ I know that you are sad and hurt and I desperately want you to feel better.

These girls aren’t true friends my love.  I know that you think they are when they want to share whatever treat you have in your lunchbox, when they want you to stick up for them in something, when they want to come on a family day out with us because we are going somewhere they would love to go and when they want your help, but they’re not.  They act like your friends so that they can get something from you.

I want you to understand that it is not your fault that these girls are not true friends to you, it is my fault.  You see I did something that one of the girls’ mothers didn’t like and so she has worked hard to ensure that I have been cut out of our circle of friends and in doing this it has meant that you have been cut out too.

Did I do something bad? No.  Two of my friends had a falling out and one of them thought that I would automatically take sides and stop talking to the other person.  I did the opposite, I didn’t take sides and I continued talking to both friends, so the first friend decided to stop talking to me. Once she stopped talking to me she went out of her way to invite the other friends in our group out for various social activities such as going for a coffee, but she made sure that I was not invited.  (She even went so far one day as to invite someone else out while I was talking to them – I wonder if she realises how much of a bully she looked that day?) So they all went out together and pushed me out of the group and because of this it has meant that you have been pushed out of your group of friends.

I am so sorry that this has happened to you, I would never want to see you sad. 

I haven’t told you about all of this because I know that you would worry.  You would get upset at the thought that I may be stood at the school gates on my own with nobody to talk to.  I want to reassure you about something.  These people were obviously not the friends I thought they were and I am not sad that the friendships have become nothing more than a polite ‘hello’ when we see each other.  I have plenty of other friends to talk to while I am waiting for you and your brother to come out of school.

I wish I could make everything better but I can’t.  All I can do is hold you while you cry and make you laugh so that you forget about it.

Focus on those people who are true friends my darling – the ones who come and knock for you to play out with them, the ones who face time you from their holiday because they miss you and want you to share in their holiday fun, the ones who make you pretty bracelets just because they know they are going to see you that evening and the ones who invite you to do something.  Write to the favourite bands of these friends to see if they will sign birthday cards for them, make them little pictures out of photos of the two of you, help them when they need it and cherish your time with them. These are the friends you want in your life, they will be there for years to come and will be the ones who you will make so many happy memories with.

As for the girls who only act like your friends, don’t treat them any differently.  Be polite and kind to them, play with them and enjoy your school days but don’t let them hurt you any more.

So dry your eyes my darling girl, I know it hurts now but it won’t feel like that by Monday I promise.

Lots of Love

Mummy

xxxx

Magic Moment 30.4.2013

For this week’s Magic Moment I am celebrating a milestone as today is my blog’s 1st birthday!

I started it as a place to let out all of my excitement about our forthcoming trip to Walt Disney World as the children didn’t know about our surprise, but it has become so much more than just an outlet for my enthusiasm.

It has become a way of connecting with people all over the world – many share my love of Disney, others are new bloggers who like me are finding their feet in the blogging world and there are some who are pros and have been blogging for ages.

I know my blog isn’t the biggest or the best, I don’t have thousands of followers and it’s not as polished as I would like it to be but I love it.  I’m a busy working mum and I don’t have a huge amount of spare time so this is my hobby, there are many weeks that I don’t get time to write more than one post and there are often weeks where I don’t get time to post anything!

So my Magic Moment for this week is saying “Happy 1st Birthday Dreaming Of WDW!”

Thank you so much to Jaime over at wwww.theoliversmadhouse.co.uk for hosting this linky xx

See ya real soon!

Wordless Wednesday – Disney Parks on The Wild Side

As this is my first Wordless Wednesday I’m going to be naughty and add some words!

I’m linking up with www.focusedonthemagic.com for Disney Wordless Wednesday.  I chose this picture for the theme of Disney Parks on The Wild Side because the waves at Typhoon Lagoon are huge and wild!

See ya real soon!

A Super Sweet Award

I’ve been nominated for a Super Sweet Blogging Award by the wonderful Jaime over at www.theoliversmadhouse.co.uk  I love Jaime’s blog, it’s an honest account of the highs and lows of parenting but it’s more than that, Jaime open’s her heart to everyone and is so welcoming and that shines through in her writing.  I thoroughly recommend popping over to her blog and saying hi.

So here are the official rules:

1  Visit and thank the blogger who nominated you.

2  Acknowledge that blogger on your blog and link back.

3 Answer the “Super Sweet” questions.

4  Nominate a “Baker’s Dozen” (award 13 blogs), link to their blogs in your post, and notify them on their blogs. It’s ok if you don’t have 13 blogs to nominate, just share the love!

5  Copy and paste the award on your blog somewhere.

 

The Super Sweet Questions

Cookies or Cake?

I like both!  I never had a sweet tooth until Harry was born but now I love something sweet every now and again.  9 times out of 10 I would probably choose a cookie first but you can’t beat a slice of my Mum’s lemon drizzle cake – yum!

 

Chocolate or Vanilla?

Chocolate – the smell of vanilla gives me a headache (unless it’s in a cake, in which case I’m more than happy to eat it ha ha)

 

What is your favourite sweet treat?

An ice cream from the ice cream parlour on Main St USA in the Magic Kingdom (well I had to get some Disney in there somewhere didn’t I!)

 

When do you crave sweet things the most?

Just after I have picked the children up from school and I’m hungry but it’s too early for dinner, so I tend to go for something sweet and a cup of tea instead.

 

If you had a sweet nickname what would it be?

Probably “Drifter” as these are my favourite chocolate bar and I could eat my own weight in them!

 

These are the nominees for my Baker’s Dozen;

http://www.dontdropthecamera.blogspot.co.uk/

http://dawnsdorkydiary.wordpress.com/

http://coloradomountainmom.com/

http://capturebylucy.com/

http://disneyballerina.wordpress.com/

http://maplemousemama.com/

http://magicaldaddy.com/

http://www.ginandcornflakes.com/

http://40yearolddomesticgoddess.blogspot.co.uk/

http://devon-mummy.blogspot.co.uk/

http://multilayermummy.blogspot.co.uk/

http://gammonandchips.com/

http://ourprincessandds.wordpress.com/

See ya real soon!

 

 

 

 

Magic Moments 17/4/13

I thought long and hard before posting this week’s Magic Moment as it feels so wrong to be talking about something happy after the tragic events in Boston, but if we don’t show what a happy place the world is then the heartless people who commit these crimes win.

My thoughts and prayers are with all those who were affected by Monday’s bombing x.

My Magic Moment for this week is Disney related and it happened last Saturday.  We decided it was finally time to tell the children about our secret.  We devised a treasure hunt that involved them solving clues that took us all over the local area.  Clue number 3 took us to Frankie and Bennie’s for some lunch and the waitress brought over clue number 4 with our drinks (the look on the children’s faces was priceless!)  Eventually the clues led us home again, where the kids thought that the hunt had finished.  They put all of their clues and treasure on the table to look at and while they weren’t looking we quickly added a final surprise clue.  The last clue told them to go upstairs and press play on the iPad.

We had asked some very good friends of ours if they could make a short video while they were in Florida, telling the kids that we were going back.  We were worried that the video wouldn’t have the desired impact, but we couldn’t have been more wrong if we tried!  I’ve added a link to the video below if you would like to see their reaction.

The clues and goodies from the treasure hunt

 

Here is a link to the video http://flic.kr/ps/2rXQYA

As always, a big thank you to Jaime at www.theoliversmadhouse.co.uk for organising this linky.

What has been your Magic Moment this week?  I’d love to hear all about it.

See ya real soon!