Broom broom!

Mr B has been working weekends of late so it was nice when some good friends of ours invited Joel and I along for a trip out to the Lakeland Motor Museum The place is rammed with cars from the beginning of motoring right through to present day. I didn't know much about cars before we went there, and still don't now, so I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

Alongside the main attractions of classic cars and bikes, the design big hits (and the non starters) there were cabinets full of models/toys dating way back.

An unbelievably pristine collection of children's sit in cars, which of course Joel was desperate to try out

A room was full of attractive lovely old wooden arcade games, they were very addictive to play at just 10p or 20p a go. Some tested your 'driving' skills others were races based on turning wheels round fast

 Sometimes I forget to visit local museums/attractions, thinking they are touristy, but there are some real gems in these places.

Oh we do like to be blown along the seaside!

Belated Happy New Year to all HTB followers, I just don't know where the time has gone since I last wrote on here! Anyway lots to catch up on so I'll start.
One day before Christmas KEB booked a day off (to coincide with one of my Joel free days) and we headed down to Morcambe for a very cold and windy day at the seaside.
We stopped off at the West End charity shops first, bagging some great loot at crazy prices. I paid just £1 for this lovely embroidered picture and had been after one for ages.

I also got Joel a few blasts from the past in the way of toys for his Christmas stocking. This one in particular went down well (sneak peek at Christmas too)

We walked past this lovely stained glass window, imagine if all the businesses now had fancy windows like this. Wouldn't that be nice?

In one shop window there was an old Wurlitzer Organ in need of renovation. The colours of the keys and use of language on it were lovely. 'Symphonic Presence Ensemble' was luring my finger in through the glass!

We lunched at the rather marvellous Midland Hotel. It's somewhere we'd both been itching to go to since it reopened in 2008, left derelict for many years this landmark piece of Art Deco architecture is now restored to its full glory, and oh what a glory it is!

We ate in their bar which had incredible decor and views sweeping the full length of Morcambe bay over to Grange and beyond.

"Come and play with us Billy"

After our swanky pit stop we found a real treasure of a haberdashers/art/craft/gift shop set over several floors (up some rainbow stairs) tucked down an alley. Don't you just love it when exploring a windswept coastal town pays off.

Here's KEB with Father Christmas, we looked under his robe to see what he was wearing only to discover he was a butcher! Fancy that.

We had a great time. I love being a mum but its so nice to spend time with friends without Joel too.

October in a nutshell

The clocks have just changed for winter time, for people who don't have children that means an extra hour in bed. For those that do it means yours is the light that's on at 5.30am. This month there has been a lot of of lighting of fires, being thrifty with out food shopping, watching some good films and TV, had friends round for dinner and a daytime date with my husband (lunch out and the new 007 film) Here is some of the month of October in pictures for you.

Joel and his good pal visited some bunnies

An actual Velveteen Rabbit

New socks for me! No longer am I the holey sock Mummy at the soft play.

A trip out to a private landing strip with my Dad

It was really cold but Joel just loved watching the planes land and take off.

Leaves fell in all sorts of colours

Blackpool Illuminations turned 100 this year

KEB brought some heart illusion specs along for a heightened experience!

A puddling session without 'the gear'

Fearless on the playground.

The summer of two and beyond

We haven't had much of  a summer this year, with the wettest August on record, so what sunny days we did have we made the most of them! Joel turned two on the 27th July, a sunny but windy day, we spent the day at the big park in Morecambe with his Gaga (my mum) and then the following day with my dad (who he reminds me of, a lot, both in looks and in his sense of adventure)

Pretty much round about that time he has (almost) dropped his afternoon nap (hence the silence for the last few weeks) and started going to nursery two mornings a week. Both of these developments have led to a very trying couple of months. The first making for impossible times with an over tired toddler (between 3pm and 6pm is now known as Beelzebub time) and the second pushing my patience and then anxiety levels to the max. When you say your child has started nursery people always go "oh that must be nice for you" well in a word No it wasn't!

Watching the farmer take away this years bales

The first six weeks of nursery I spent most of my time at the nursery sat on a tiny plastic chair, amongst the children all making car and choo choo noises. Some of the kids even new my name, anyone would have thought I was a new member of staff, I had to stay so long into the sessions before Joel would let me go (though truth is I resorted to sneaking off as the 'Goodbyes' caused too much anguish) and what I thought would get easier got worse, because he then learnt that I was going! There came a point after a few weeks where I thought, it's too soon for him, I'm going to wait until he's older and re-start him.

Wheel spinning

But that was for me not him, our days had gotten repetitive and dull and he was spending more and more time doing naughty things out of frustration (trashing stuff and having tantrums) plus I've never dealt with conflict or anxiety very well and this had been heightened since having Joel. So we persevered and now he has whole sessions without me.

Re-arranging labels on a display of Succulents at the local Horticultural Society gardens

There have been many tears (both of us) but having observed him through the nursery window (as I'm sure so many 'new to nursery' mums do) he has an amazing time and is enjoying all the learning and interaction with the staff and the other children. The best thing of all is we have fab time together on his non nursery days, it had become over facing having so many full days on my own with such a physically active and knowledge thirsty little man.

Echoes into an abandoned boat house

So now I am starting to thing 'Yes, it is nice that he's at nursery' Joel gets to play without his my watchful eye and I can hopefully start to get 'Me' back, at the very least twice a week!

His first ice cream

Craft from the past

Cereal boxes were always a source of creativity in my childhood years, my grandparents used to save all their empty boxes (along with the pieces of card from packets of my Granny's tights - rectangular with rounded corners. These were saved for very special projects though as they were blank on both sides) The cereal boxes were made into dolls with paperclip jointed limbs, Kellogg's theatres came to life when cardboard characters taped on pencils entered stage left, the nativity scene (when viewed from behind) was made up of Tony the Tiger and the Weetabix characters. So when it was my turn to provide a craft activity for the local toddler group we go to I knew exactly where to look for inspiration. It was the week the football season opened so as a blast from the past we made these little fellas.

All the children loved making them, though I'd underestimated the width of their fingers so one mum was dedicated to altering leg holes with my sharp thread scissors. Joel and I created a Burnley player (not sure which one) especially for Mr B, it takes pride of place on Joels art wall in the kitchen (sorry couldn't rotate the image)