365 | TheBoyandMe

Days 97-103 of Project 365

April 13, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 77 Comments

97-103 of 365

97. Through the Semi-Circle Window! (The sun valiantly tried to shine for most of the afternoon and so we headed out to St. Fagan's Museum in north-west Cardiff. Back in November I bought an annual pass for the car park (museums in Wales are free) but we haven't been there since to get our money's worth. Now the weather is brightening up, we'll be there a lot more often. This time we explored the castle, but it's fair to say that once we've done that it will be a long time before we need to go back. Bit bland!)

98. By Torch-Light (We made a spectacular den in the living room (actually I did, Mr. TBaM is rubbish at them) and The Boy spent quite some time underneath reading his books by torchlight.)

99. Adoring Listener (We visited his cousins who we'd missed for several weeks due to us both being on holiday. He adores his cousins, and they are so good with him. Here he's watching and listening to his nine year old female cousin.)

100. Bath-time (Apologies for the bland photograph but today was back to work after three weeks off and I was shattered! A bathtime snap is all I could manage!)

101. Stretchy Squares (I bought The Boy a pegboard and eleastic bands and he's had great fun making shapes.)

102. Before The Big Day (Today we nipped into town to retrieve my much-missed Samsung Galaxy S3 which took a month to repair, as a result he missed his nap and was shattered at bedtime. Busy day tomorrow!)

103. Justin's House (We've just come in from an amazing day with Jenny from Mummy Mishaps and her lovely family. It was a great surprise for The Boy as I didn't tell him any of the plans until he saw Jenny pull onto the drive in her car. They came up for lunch, the three boys had a great play together and then we headed into Cardiff to see Justin's House. He's been to a few shows before, mainly CBeebies, but this was his first larger production and he loved every second (apart from when Robert sucked up all the lights into his hoover). Afterwards we all went for a yummy dinner in Pizza Express!)

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365 #14

April 6, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

Having spent the day basking in the sunshine (albeit in a thick fleece which worked really well with my sunglasses), I am determine that we will show the seasons that it is time for Spring. My 365 collection this week features a decent amount of outdoor play, I hope that everyone else has been able to get outside and enjoy nature. That is if the snow has finally cleared off!

I'll show you my week if you'll show me yours!

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts via comments. I can't emphasise this enough, it's the whole point of the linky!

Join in by entering the URL of your favourite photograph of the week (either a 52 or a 365 photo) and show some comment love to everyone else in the community. We've got a Facebook group, and now I've created a collaborative Pinterest board (if you'd like to collaborate, let me know and I'll add you).

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

The doodah thingy bit will be up after my husband's finished putting The Boy to bed!

Days 90-96 of Project 365

April 6, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 44 Comments

90-96 of 365

90. Rolling, rolling, rolling! (We went to Dyffryn Gardens for the National Trust Easter Egg Trail and had an absolutely marvellous time exploring the recently reopened Dyffryn House. However, the best bit of the day is that The Boy got to cross off #2 of the 50 Things: Roll down a really big hill – really big is subjective when you're only three!)

91. A-maze-ing! (Despite yesterday's beautiful weather and the hint that Spring was on its way, today was blindingly cold and dreary! We spent much of it inside chilling out after our hectic previous week and weekend, with Nanny and Grandad coming to dinner. I'd bought The Boy some new wipe-clean books from Usborne; this is a maze book and he is completely devoted to it.)

92. Spiderman (Having popped up to the local butcher we went for a walk in the main park in our town, a park which has many different 'zones' to it which provide ample play opportunities. We discovered yet another tree that needed to be climbed, although he decided to jump out of this one, rather than climb down. As it was only a foot drop, I let him off.)

93. Hello down there! (Another day, another park! Swing time took on a different angle today.)

94. Nearly there (The Boy is obsessed lately with trying to make different colours and I decided to let him loose with a colour mixing experiment. My sister would be pleased to know he just wanted to make brown – her favourite (boring!) colour – and he very almost managed it.)

95. Cookie dough (Today was dominated by The Boy having his preschool MMR booster in the afternoon, and it appears I may have been quite anxious about it as I was a grumpy mummy most of the day. I managed to summon up the inclination to make cookies with The Boy, but even that was staight from a packet and add two tablespoons of water; how lazy! Turns out that The Boy was fine with his booster, didn't even notice the injection.)

96. Where's the hole? (We returned to Dyffryn Gardens today, as I hadn't had long enough to explore the inside of the house, and get the photos I was after – I still didn't manage it today as The Boy wanted to explore the gardens. The garden rooms are plenty and full of little holes and pathways leading through into a different 'room'. Only thing was, there wasn't a hole in the hedge here, despite The Boy trying his hardest to push through. Look closely and his head had half disappeared inside. It reminded me of Tom in Tom's Midnight Garden.)

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365 #13

March 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

I know it's been unseasonably cold, and quite frankly the snow that some parts of the country have had in the past ten days has been ridiculous, but I really do feel Spring might be coming.

Don't laugh.

We've had a fabulous week in Bognor Regis on our Butlins Ambassadors; it's been bloody cold with the temperature never getting above 5°C, and the sun has only shone intermittently, but I think that the smell of Spring is approaching. Maybe it was walking back to the hotel in the dusk at half past six in the evening, maybe it was the new buds on the trees, but it's in the air.

Anyway, I've taken 753 photographs this week, whittled down to a still ridiculously large collection of 376.

So I'll show you my week if you'll show me yours!

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts.

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

Days 83-89 of Project 365

March 30, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 38 Comments

83-89 of 365

30th march 2013

83. Look Mummy! (We left for our Butlin's Ambassadors' holidays a day early to break up the journey, and called into Westonbirt Arboretum on the way – more on that in another post. It's an amazing Forestry Commission site, but dear God it was cold. We braved -3°C to explore the play area and some of the old arboretum, and The Boy really showed his growing ability and confidence at tree climbing!)

84. View (Checking into our hotel room in The Ocean Hotel, we discovered that we had a gorgeous view from the fourth floor over the resort. The Boy has been out on the balcony at any and every opportunity this week to catch a glimpse of his beloved helter-skelter.)

85. Plopping (A day trip to Brighton, which was an opportunity that I couldn't let pass when down this way. I've wanted to visit the West Pier for a long time and I find the condition of it so very sad. How it's been allowed to lapse into such a terrible state of disrepair over the past thirty years, is beyond me. Our seaside heritage is one of the things that makes Britain special, to see such a beautiful example of Victorian architecture destroyed is shocking. The remaining pier was a let-down, and so we spent a good amount of time 'plopping' on the beach, having already enjoyed the wonders of the Royal Pavilion.)

86. Round and round (We had passed a walled park several times this week, peeking over the top was a zip-wire and wooden climbing frame. A quick Google showed it to be Hotham Park, which we visited on Wednesday afternoon. The park was amazing, and for most of the hour or so we were there, we had it to ourselves. I even had a go on the zip-wire myself; a first! The Boy found a very different swing to those we are used to, and really enjoyed spinning around watching the sky swirling.)

87. I Can Cook! (This is one of the shows that we've been looking forward to all week. The Boy is completely captivated by Katy's antics on CBeebies and, even though this show wasn't presented by her, he couldn't wait to see today's show. I had to sit him at the front with all the other children, and then join the adults at the back. That was until I heard a frantic 'mummy!' being screamed from the front when the character 'Naughty Salt' was being chased by 'Lucy' around the audience. The Boy hates naughtiness of any description, and it really upset him. Another frantic 'MUMMY!!!' and I'd managed to scoop up his little sobbing body. Apologies to the three parents whose fingers I stood on en route.)

88. By the seaside (Today's photo had to be one that summed up our Butlins Ambassadors break in Bognor Regis; sunshine, deckchairs, cheerful smiles but biting winds. Hats and gloves, long johns and rosy cheeks were the order of the week, but dear God we had fun!)

89. Which ride first? (I won a competition for us to visit Legoland for the launch of the Lego Hero Factory, Build and Test Area. We've never been there with The Boy before, the only other time was actually ten years ago, well before children were thought of, and we commented on the time that it was a pointless place without them. Today we got to try many of the rides that we'd seen then, and how they had expanded the park. Freezing conditions meant that we lasted from 9.30-4.00 but gave up early to head home after a tiring week. The Boy adored the park and the rides were a good length for him to enjoy them, he loved looking over the park map to see where he'd been or which he was going on.)

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365 #12

March 23, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

Splutter.

Cough.

You get the picture right? That's been my week, alongside three boxes of tissue, five packets of Beechams and twenty seven litres of Calpol. And some coffee thrown in for good measure. Some of it was mine, some of it I shared with The Boy.

Not the coffee though. Never the coffee.

So tell me what you lot have been up to while I've been knee-deep in snotty tissues and Buttercup syrup? And make it good.

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts.

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

Days 76-82 of Project 365

March 23, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 33 Comments

76-82 of project 365

76. Sensory (Having spent the day in bed, completely drained and aching from a flu bug, I managed to drag myself downstairs and set up a light play box for The Boy. I used waterbeads and small submersible lights in plastic Easter eggs and The Boy had great fun playing with them.)

77. Eggy Sticks (We started decorating the polystyrene eggs I'd bought him for Easter. I put them onto kebab skewers as it makes them easier to paint without getting paint everywhere! It's taken all week to finish them off as we both fell ill with the flu bug and recovery has been very slow.)

78. Decay (I couldn't quite bring myself to throw out my dying tulips as the colours and shapes were gorgeous!)

79. Daddy Robot (Today was Mr. TBaM's birthday and The Boy was desperate to get him a robot costume, no easy task for an adult!)

80. Tired Eyes (We had to fly solo today as nanny, who had been looking after us all week, came down with the dreaded flu bug. I'm ashamed to say The Boy spent the day being entertained with the television, iPad or laptop. Dreadful parenting!)

81. 'Ear, 'ear (We set to making our Easter Bunny mask yesterday, as we'll be away in the week leading up to Easter.)

82. Speckled Egg (We finished off our Easter decoration eggs today, far from eggs-citing but I'm panicking about packing before our holiday tomorrow!)

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365 #11

March 16, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 7 Comments

This linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts.

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!

I am a finalist in the MAD Blog Awards 2013, in both the Photography and Family Fun category. If you'd like to vote for either me or another blogger, please click the badge below to take you to the voting page.

Days 69-75 of Project 365

March 16, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 40 Comments

69-75 of 365

69: Which will win? (We went to Techniquest in Cardiff Bay for Mother's Day and had great fun exploring scientific concepts. Here The Boy is racing the bubbles through the thick gloop)

70: Going up! (When we were at Techniquestwe discovered a lovely little park in Cardiff Bay which seemed to be hardly used. We popped back on Monday to explore all the equipment and I was really impressed to see The Boy climb across a cargo net from one eight foot high tower to the other with minimal interaction. No photos of that because I was too busy watching him!)

71: Bump! (After a foul morning we went down to the local country parks for some outdoor play and to tick a few more things of our 50 Things list. We discovered that The Boy's outdoor play suit makes him zoom down the slide really fast!)

72: Special Delivery Service! (The Jenny Craig boxes are excellent for making cars!)

73: Mountaineer (Another day, another park, what can I say? Last Summer he wouldn't try this climbing wall at all)

74: Doing something funny (All dressed up in odd clothes for nursery, not too odd though or mummy's OCD can't handle it!)

75: What's your name? (We had to go into Cardiff to take my dead Samsung Galaxy S3 into the T-Mobile shop to be sent away for repair. While we were in there we wandered over to the Museum and looked at the sculptures in the nearby gardens.)

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365 #10

March 9, 2013 by TheBoyAndMe 21 Comments

Wow! And thank you!

Thank you so much to whichever kind souls nominated me for the Best Photography and Family Fun cateogies in the MAD Blog Awards, I am overwhelmed! Last year it was a real joy to have been a finalist in the awards, and even though I didn't win it was so humbling to have been nominated by fellow bloggers. I honestly did not expect to be in the finals this year as photography in blogging has really taken off in the past year with many linkies emerging every month. The fact that you guys still considered me worthy enough to be up there with the others, makes me very proud and possibly a little bit teary too. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

As ever, this linky only works because of people linking to it and then contributing their thoughts to others' posts.

Choose your favourite photo from the past week and link it up below.
Please add the badge to your linked-up post so that other people know how to find all the other fabulous entries.
If you can spare five minutes to comment on a few other entries I know they'd appreciate it!