Our First Holiday With 5

Last week we had our first holiday as a family of 5.

I have to admit I was nervous about how hubby and I would cope with 3 kids as previously holidays had been a breeze; 1 adult to 1 child - easy . I shouldn't of worried at all, we had an amazing time, the boys were so well behaved.

We went to Center Parcs, Longleat......and to put it simply, it was AMAZING. We have been to Longleat several times before and each time it has been wonderful, we have found something different to do every time.

How gorgeous is this to wake up to each morning??

Our days were spent lazily getting up, enjoying the view of the lake from our patio whilst eating breakfast, taking long and leisurely walks through the woods, playing crazy golf, playing in the adventure parks, swinging on the swings, bowling, mini bowling and of course spending hours each day in the tropical paradise swimming pool!!


We were lucky enough to be able to book this holiday with Alfie`s school before the new school holiday regulations came into effect.

This is unfortunately the Wood`s last visit to Center Parcs as from this September Jacob will be starting reception, so no way of getting them both out of school. Plus am sad to say the prices to stay there during the school holidays are extortionate, I do not mind paying what we did for this holiday but no way am I willing to pay almost 4 times the amount for the same holiday and same accommodation type for nothing extra compared to last week.

Here are a few photos of our break

Haha, Alfie`s ears look like they are glowing!!

Jacob busting some bowling moves!!

Another Milestone...he`s crawling!!!

And he`s off!!!!!

After a hard few weeks of frustrated crying whilst rocking backwards and forwards on his knees Benjamin is crawling.

For weeks we had been trying to coax him into crawling forward with toys, bottles, food etc with no luck..he just wouldn't do it. 

Typically he decided to do it when I wasn't poised ready with the camera. Jacob and I were sat in the lounge on the rug having an indoor picnic lunch when Benjamin just decided to crawl in front of us.

Luckily I had my mobile next to me so just managed to catch  his first few proper crawling movements.

I`m so glad that he has finally mastered crawling but had forgotten the pain of having to have door gates everywhere now. 

Next big milestone....first tooth or walking; the way Ben is moving around the house he will probably be walking before his first tooth cuts!!!!!!

Budget Family Meals???

The Wood household is, as most families at the moment, trying to tighten the purse strings.

My maternity leave is ending at the end of February and the return to work in my previous role is looking a tad doubtful.

If I cant find a job that can fit around the kids then the household budget fund is potentially £550 down a month!!!

So today I have been sat with the bank accounts and a calculator and have finally realised we cant afford our current standard of living.

Cue lots of tears and now I have a thumping headache.

I have to try and feed 2 adults, 2 children, 7mth old, 2 cars and 3 rabbits on £35 a week......is it possible????

Trying not to be undeterred, tonight I decided to try and make a roast dinner for under a fiver.....and I did it!!!!!!!!!

We had roast chicken portions, mashed potatoes, broccoli, carrots and peas and it came in at 93p per head, I was gobsmacked.

Have any of you got any tried and tested budget family meals?? 

Any ideas much appreciated xxx

Playing with my new camera

In yesterdays post I mentioned that one of my resolutions is to try and take better pictures for my blog. I received a new camera for Christmas from my boys and today has been the first decent chance since getting it to get out and play with it as the weather has been so bad.

As soon as we woke this morning we saw beautiful blue sky so decided on taking a trip to the beach.

We are so lucky to live 5 minutes away from the most beautiful blue flag beaches in the country but admittedly don't go there enough.

Here are a few examples of my first outing with the new camera, its a Canon PowerShot SX160 IS....I don't think they are too bad for a first try????

This is my favourite photo of the day

My freakishly long legged shadow!!

Welcome 2014!

Heya everyone and welcome to 2014.

I cannot believe where the last year has gone, it feels like only yesterday we were about to go for my 20 week scan and find out that we were adding another boy to our pack of two rugrats.

Unbelievably Benjamin is already 7 months and on the verge of crawling!!

Have you made any new year resolutions?

I have made 3 this year.

My first is that I have made the age old one of saying that I want to loose weight, but this year I mean it.

I am at my heaviest I have ever been and don't like it, I don`t want to be the chubby mummy who can`t get involved with their kids activities. I have set myself a target to loose at least 3 stone by Christmas with at least 1 1/2 stone by May which is Benjamin`s first birthday.

I plan to track my weight loss on here, I`m hoping it will give me an added incentive to keep up with it if you are all watching...eekk!!

My second resolution sort of hinders my first as there goes the slimming world membership and exercise class money!! The Wood household MUST try and be more frugal this year, hubbys hours at work have been cut down and my career as a Veterinary Nurse is in question so our financial start to 2014 is a bleak one.

To help me to start saving I am going to be joining my friend Natalie Collinson who you may know better as One Busy WAHM, she has started the 52 week challenge where you save an increasing amount of money per week over the course of a year, you could save £1,378 by this time next year!!!

Pop on over to her blog for more details of the challenge and get your free printable spread sheet to keep up with all the money you`ll be saving.

And my 3rd is to really try and increase and improve my blog posts, and hopefully run my first competition.
The boys got me a lovely new camera for Christmas so I would love to learn more about photography which will hopefully show on here!!!!

So here`s to 2014....lets hope we achieve all of our hopes and dreams and that this is the best year yet xxxxx