A New Bathroom...

Goodbye ugly bathroom

Today work begins on a new bathroom in our home. Something we have wanted to do for a very long time. I'm hoping things will go smoothly and there will be no glitches with all the work that needs to be done!

When we moved in we had the flooring pulled up and had new tiles put down, I actually don't really like them now but seeing as they're still pretty new there's no point in forking out even more money for new flooring. So apart from the floor everything is coming out, the old being replaced with the new.

The new bathroom was delivered almost two weeks ago so has been waiting rather patiently to be installed. We bought everything apart from the tiles from Victorian Plumbing.

We are having the ever so popular 'brick' tiles to replace the current ones and actually tiling out all areas apart from one wall.

I am most looking forward to the new bath with modern taps and a shower screen rather than a curtain. I have not had a bath in this house (not because I'm dirty, I've been having showers!) since moving in so I am REALLY looking forward to a bath and have bought some goodies from Lush to enjoy once the bathroom is complete. I hate the colour of the current panel on the bath, it's just...nasty! I had been meaning to paint it white ever since we moved in but just never got round to it.

We are having a toilet and sink unit fitted as I think they look stylish and tidy and we are replacing the radiator with a more modern heated towel rail. That bathroom cabinet has already gone and I think it will just be replaced by a mirror as we will have the cupboard under the sink.

On Friday we had a new light fitted which looks much more modern than the previous one.

 I have bought new towels and accessories for the bathroom and I'm super excited to start using them once the work is complete. Keep an eye out for a reveal post!



Breakfast With The Easter Bunny

On Good Friday I took Eliot and my niece for Breakfast with the Easter Bunny at the Podington Wyevale Garden Centre. I was really looking forward to the experience and thought it would be a great start to the Easter weekend!

When we arrived we were greeted by a member of staff who showed us to our table which was all laid out ready for us. At this point the member of staff double checked our order which had been placed at the time of booking. There were a few different options. Adults could select a full English, vegetarian breakfast (£7.99) or a hot drink & pastry (£3.99). The children's breakfast was £9.99 which included unlimited squash.

 The children received a kids activity sheet with some crayons and a little bag of mini eggs which Mr Eliot was dying to get into and managed to get one out before breakfast!

 

Unfortunately we had quite a long wait from sitting down to actually getting our breakfast. It took around 10-15 minutes for our drinks to be served and around half an hour for the food to arrive. As well as part of the restaurant being used for Breakfast with the Easter bunny, the rest of it was also open as normal. I think this is what had such an impact on the wait for the breakfast, the staff in the kitchen struggled to cope with the demands of different customers.

Kids breakfast

When breakfast did arrive it looked nice and both Eliot and my niece tucked in without any complaints!

Vegetarian breakfast

I opted for the vegetarian breakfast but wasn't sure exactly what would be on the plate until it arrived, I presumed some veggie sausages would be on there but was pleasantly surprised by the sight of bubble and squeak. However, I did find my breakfast a bit of a let down. The egg was very crispy on the bottom, as you can see in the photo and the bubble and squeak seemed a bit undercooked in places. Nothing major but a let down all the same.

 

Once all the tables had finished breakfast we were grouped together for an Easter egg hunt. The children were told they had to look for eggs on posters which were 'hidden' in different locations around the shop. My niece really got into it but Eliot was probably a little too young so didn't have a full understanding. Still this didn't stop him getting excited each time they found an egg as each child was given a mini bag of Haribo when one was found.

There were three eggs to find in total. Once the last egg had been found the Easter Bunny arrived bearing gifts of cuddly rabbits for all the children!

We then returned to our tables in the restaurant which had been cleared and where a biscuit and goodies to decorate it had been left for the children.

There was a bag of icing all ready to pipe, chocolate, marshmallows and sprinkles in a pot to decorate the biscuits. Both Eliot and his older cousin really enjoyed this and took time making their masterpiece!

A member of staff then came round and asked if the adults would like to make one too which of course I said 'yes' to! It was a good job too as after Eliot had squeezed out as much icing as he could and decorated his biscuit, he decided he wanted a plain one so I ended up giving him mine.

 

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and most importantly Eliot and his niece did too. Even though the long wait for food and my breakfast were a disappointment I would still do the experience again and definitely recommend it to others.

 I would choose having 'tea' over breakfast which I had intended to do but unfortunately there was no availability for tea.

 

 

*We received complimentary breakfast with the Easter Bunny for review purposes. All opinions are my own.

 

 

My Sunday Photo 21/2/16

I can't believe half term week is over! As a teacher I always find it goes way too quick. It's been great having time off with my boy. We had a day at home Thursday, one of the things we did was painting, it didn't last very long but it was lovely watching Mr Eliot enjoying a bit of art!

                                                 

My Sunday Photo 3/1/16 Wooden Toys

I captured this photo on my iphone (as I'm still without a camera) of Mr Eliot playing with some of his Christmas gifts after a post Christmas decoration removal session. He'd been riding around on his bus before getting off to play with his garage which I only got round to putting together yesterday as we had to return the first one because it was missing parts. At the moment I really have a love for wooden toys, I just think they look 'nicer' as they have that traditional feel!

 



 



Eliot's First Theatre Trip-The Gruffalo Live

As both a teacher and parent I am a HUGE fan of books by Julia Donaldson/Axel Scheffler, so when we were invited to watch The Gruffalo Live the weekend before Christmas I of course said yes!

The Gruffalo is undoubtedly one of my favourite  children's stories, I love reading it to a whole class of children or at home to Mr Eliot, in both cases it is always a hit.

This was actually the third time I've seen the live performance (teacher perks :P), the first time I watched it was in 2010 with two classes of year 1 children, the second in 2014 with two classes of year 2 children and the most recent with the OH and Mr Eliot.

The production is by the Tall Stories theatre company, in theatres since 2001 it has has evolved over the years and was back at the Vaudville theatre with a new set and new costumes.

I was so excited to be watching it with my own son but also a little apprehensive about Eliot being able to watch the whole show. The show is recommended for  3+ on the website but I definitely think it depends on what type of toddler you have and whether or not they can cope with sitting through the show. Eliot is a two and half year old who likes to be on the go pretty much all of the time (you can see why I was apprehensive) but I thought he did really well on his first trip to the theatre. The show is 55 minutes long, just about right for those with younger children, it didn't have an interval which was perfect. When I watched it in 2014 there was an interval, perhaps because it was a showing for school children but I personally preferred it without the interval.

 

 If you know the story, you may be thinking 'how can The Gruffalo last for 55 minutes?' but the magic of theatre adds in lots of extra bits including songs, some which get the audience joining in and singing along. I still have one of the songs in my head which I belt out even though I only remember the first line, continuing by humming/whistling!

The characters were brought to life on stage by three amazing actors, one taking on the role of fox, owl and snake. All performed outstandingly and portrayed the characters from the story accurately.

 I love how you get to know a bit more about each character through how they are adapted for the stage. My personal favourite is the owl, I can just imagine an actual owl being like the stage character.

This is a perfect family show, whether or not you are Julia Donaldson fan the live production of The Gruffalo is highly entertaining and I recommend putting it on your 'to do list'. Tall Stories also have productions of The Gruffalos Child and Room On The Broom which are definitely on my to do list, I'm itching to see the live performances!

The Gruffalo is at the Vaudville theatre until tomorrow but do check Tall Stories for future perfomances!

 

*We were invited to watch the show as part of this review, all opinions are my own