As much as I love the convenience of a supermarket and having everything together in one shop I really love supporting local businesses. Unfortunately now the boys go to school in the opposite direction to the milk shed we don’t go as often as we used to when they were at nursery which was only a five minute drive away.
Oh September, where have you gone? Summer is officially over and Autumn is here. Our school, after school activity and work routine has got back to normal now and we made it through some very busy weeks and weekends. Our first week of September was spent in Italy on holiday. We had a lovely time, […]
This recipe serves two adults and two children as an accompaniment to pasta for one meal with at least three portions left over for other meals. I served this with brown rice spaghetti to make it a gluten-free vegan meal but you can use normal wheat pasta.
I used nutritional yeast to give the sauce more flavour, if you don’t have this and are not avoiding dairy or dairy intolerant you can stir in some parmesan cheese before serving.
I suggested we go to a local garden centre that we had never been to before but I had seen others mention on Facebook in the past. I checked the website and saw that the cafe – Belle & Joe’s – had been voted the best garden centre cafe in 2013 by the Nottingham Post.
The month started with the boys at YMCA camp. They had a fun packed week going back and forward on the bus to camp and making some new friends. The second week they had a few more days with Nana and Grandad and we managed to fit in a haircut, buying new school shoes and a play date with a friend from school.
What with all the change of routine and craziness during the week, this month has been full of quiet weekends, catching up on cleaning and washing. The first weekend we went to a house party, the second Saturday the boys went to their last football practice until September and last Saturday we went into town quickly for a pizza at Suede bar to celebrate to start of the summer holidays but apart from that we’ve been having lazy mornings and time at the park.
We started the month off with a trip to Legoland. It was the last few days of half term and our first visit to Legoland. The weather was perfect and the boys were super excited. We had a wonderful time. Our main photo this month is from our second day going into the park and as you can see the weather was amazing. It was great to spend some time away just the four of us and we had some brilliant quality family time. The photo below is from the first day when we first went on the new Ninjago ride. We bought this as a moment but I wish we’d waited until the second day as we went on again and I won and now have no evidence of that fact!! Anyway it was great fun and the boys are already planning our next trip!
Our boys turned 5 today. The fast passage of time is surreal sometimes. How years seem to pass in the blink of an eye. I’m not sure if this feeling is stronger now I’m a parent or just as Im getting older. Whenever it gets close to the boy’s birthday I get that little bit more emotional thinking back to when they were born six weeks early and how small and vulnerable they were. So yesterday I started been thinking about the main things that I’ve learnt as a parent and in keeping with the 5 theme, here they are:
May has been busy and we’ve had some lovely weather the last two weeks or so (apart from Bank Holiday Monday of course!). I’ve taught an antenatal course plus a breastfeeding session, Matteo’s started a football coaching course and we’ve had another hospital appointment for Ethan. This time to see a plastic surgeon about removing the raised mole on his cheek. We now have a date booked in for a quick day surgery.
Matteo’s parents also came over and stayed with us for twelve days. They helped us a bit round the house and in the garden and looked after the boys when we were at work. His Mum also cleared my ironing pile which I am so grateful for!!
One day we picked Matteo up from work and went for a drink and a cake at a local garden centre all together. You can see my Instagram photo of the men of the family here.