Our Christmas Day 2017

I was so excited about Christmas, as usual, and this year we finally had the Christmas I longed for when we were trying so hard for a family.  The excitement, the traditions, the magic and all the special food ;)

Birthday brunch at The Real Eating Company Lewes - review

On my birthday this year, Nik and the twins took me out for birthday brunch!  I chose the place as I remembered going to The Real Eating Company earlier in the year with Laura and the kids and we loved it plus they do prosecco.  There was plenty of space and the menu was fab with a special breakfast deal on weekdays. You can get a breakfast with a tea or coffee for £7.95 before 12pm.  We actually didn't arrive until 12pm after all the morning birthday fun but it was on Saturday anyway so we missed out on the deal.

The bacon & banana pancakes we had in May which are sadly no longer on the menu.

Woodlands Festival

It's that miserable time of year, Christmas is over, there are no more parties and the weather sucks.  We're all back at work/school and I need things to look forward to!  I'm trying to plan some fun weekends and looking forward to some other exciting adventures we have coming up this year.  After discovering the ultimate fun of a family festival last year, we're booked to attend no less than three this year already!  After our first (and second and third) family festival last year, we're really excited to be discovering more this year.  

A new one for us will be Woodlands Festival which is in June at Elm Wood, near Hawkhurst in Kent.  It's still not too far away so we'll be close enough if we do need to abandon camping with the kids and come home but fingers crossed it all goes as well as the Medieval Festival last year!

This festival looks like another amazing extravaganza of family activities, colourful fun and music.  This video of last year's highlights below looks amazing and I'm in love with that rainbow bunting above!

My 36th birthday

I often get upset that my birthday is in that limbo period between Christmas and New Year, being the day before New Year's Eve people don't tend to want to go out then and/or are skint.  Last year a few friends were going to be coming round for some cocktails but then the twins both got chicken pox and I had to cancel it anyway.  Nik was at work as it was a Friday and I was having a pretty rubbish day caring for two miserable 2-year-olds on my own.  But then some lovely friends each popped around with some treats for me and the kids, hugs and wise words, it ended up being pretty fab, thanks to my awesome friends!

This year was quite different, I decided not to bother with a party (and after a last minute change of heart found everyone was indeed too busy anyway) so on the day, it was just Nik, the kids and I as it was a Saturday and it was perfect!  It started off with a lie-in for me, I hadn't even noticed Nik getting up as I was so tired!  I woke around 9 and could hear them all downstairs but I lay in bed waiting to see if they'd come to find me.  They soon did.

It was lovely being woken by Kalyan all excited telling me it was my birthday tomorrow, lol.  I got kisses and then he climbed into bed with me to hide under the covers from Daddy and Priya who soon turned up with a bag of gifts and cards for me to open :)

Guest room shopping list - home interiors redesign

Probably should have finished and posted this before my other post about the spare room furniture - that's just how busy and disorganised I really am!

We finally have our guest room painted.  In the end we went for Hague Blue by Farrow & Ball and I LOVE it!  Definitely the right choice and I'm so glad I convinced Nik it should cover the whole room, it looks amazing and he has now conceded that it is awesome and wouldn't have looked as good with just one wall.

Now it's time for the other fun stuff, shopping!  I've made a little shopping list of things we'd like to replace/add to the room to complete the redesign.

New Year 2018

We spent New Year's Eve with Gemma and her family having a lovely dinner and chilled out evening at her beautiful new home (which she'll be sharing on the blog this year, yay!) in Plumstead.  On New Year's Day we headed over to the common for some fresh air with the kids.

I'm not really one for big New Year parties, perhaps because it's the day after my birthday, I never quite get into the whole party spirit again even though I rarely party on my actual birthday as everyone is usually busy with their own families in that period between Christmas and New Year.

The big Christmas clearout!

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas!  We've thoroughly enjoyed our quiet Christmas at home, just what was needed after such a busy year and it was so much fun seeing the twins really getting excited this year.  Other than the general excitement, one of my favourite things about Christmas Day and that weird limbo time before New Year, is sorting stuff!  Even as a child, I remember the joy in finding homes for all my new things, sorting out old stuff, having a clear out and tidying everything away.  Yep, always a nerd me.  Lots of that stuff was stationery.  Always loved some good stationery.

I actually started the big clear out before Christmas as we are finally getting some bits of the house sorted after we inherited a little money recently.  I've already managed to get a lot of the spare room sorted and after trying to give stuff away with no success (and FAR too many time wasters stressing me out and making me grumpy), we've organised a furniture collection by a local charity shop.  It's so close to being finished but I need your help on that below, we're stuck on some replacement furniture choices!

Off The Wall Entertainment - Christmas disco review

We were thrilled when Gemma from Off The Wall Entertainment invited the twins to come along to her Christmas disco on Christmas Eve eve!

Support Local pop-up in Tunbridge Wells

On Sunday we went along to our first Support Local pop-up event in Tunbridge Wells.  The pop-up was located in the lovely One Warwick Park hotel near The Pantiles.  There were so many lovely independent businesses selling a really good variation of goods.  It was lots of fun shopping with so many local makers and sellers all in one place, we bought quite a few Christmas presents, including a couple of things for us/the house!  I love discovering new local businesses, we like to shop small and find different things to those you can find on the high street.

My favourite item we bought was a really unusual vase from Five Nordic Swans who sell various Nordic goods.  It's perfect for our newly re-decorated guest room, I can't wait to share photos of the room when it's finished!

Clockwise from top left: Five Nordic Swans,  The English Beagle, Peachy Pottery

Our Christmas Tree & other decorations 2017

Every year I've planned to post about our decorations and I don't think I've managed it once since having the twins!  I struggle to keep up with everything at this time of year and end up thinking I'll take the photos and write it ready for next year!  Happened once in 2015.  So I'm surprised at myself for getting this year's decorations photographed and on the blog before Christmas!