my first ever christmas cake

I am now starting to feel VERY festive. Halloween has been and gone and now the next big thing is christmas:)  It will be a special one this year as we will all be together and for a change we are going to have it at home. So for that reason I have gone baking mad, and I am loving it.
The first think I want to do is make a Christmas cake, something I have never done before.  I have really got into baking this year, so I thought yes, maybe I could make a Christmas cake.
So I opened my nigella christmas book and that was that, I had to do it, I love her no fuss recipes, I found it quite easy to make, the hardest part is baking the cake, ensuring not to burn it. The smell was incredible, I was so excited to have the smell of christmas in my house, I couldn't wait for my husband to come home, when he finally did, I was so dissapointed.... he had the cold and couldn't smell a thing, quite funny really.
So now it is all wrapped up in grease proof paper and tin foil, ready for the eventual icing of the cake, can't believe how excited I feel over baking a cake, sorry there are no pictures, but as soon as I can I will up load some :)

lovely day @ lego land

After a busy week, finally its the weekend,  we have had such a lovely day, I am loving the hot weather. With being so busy this week I thought, ok, lets have fun...:))  So we decided to go to Lego land, we all had such a lovely day, it was very busy... however, we enjoyed all the ride the girls wanted to go on, ie, fairytale brook, atlantis, the dragon roller coaster and my youngest got her driving licence.

We had a picnic between rides to regain our energy, the heat was unbelievable, but very lovely.  Then after a very lovely day, we were all ready to go home.

toilet training

We started toilet training just under 2 weeks ago and I am so pleased to say it is going really well, I did try Jessica a few months ago but she just wasn't getting it, but day one, on this occasion was succesful and it has continued to be. I was really nervous about toilet training as you can never second guess how it will go, I built up fears in my mind, 'what if it doesn't go well, what if she continually wets everywehere, what if she is scared, will I be able to reassure her'. But I realised I had to just go for it.
I put Jessica into pull ups, we also used the bumbo toilet seat as I thought it would support her and be comfy, however she struggles to get on it and now it has split, very dissapointed considering we have only used it  for a couple of weeks, so I am now going to look for something else. I really want to encourage Jessica to be independant with this new stage, so allowing her to get onto the toilet by herself is important.
It has all been  really positive, Jessica is loving all the praise she is getting for being a clever girl. I have never used a potty and for my girls it has worked well, I felt the potty just added another step into toilet training so I decided to try and go straight for the toilet, they feel so grown up too.
I am glad that I tried when I felt she was ready, they do give you the signs when they are ready, but I think its important that its the right time for both of you, I wanted to make sure that I had plenty of time to dedicate to her, I also made sure I had nothing on for the week so I could stay at home with her, I was also very grateful as her nursery encouraged me to bring her in and now Jessica asks with confidence to go to the toilet.

Fiona x

back to school....2 weeks on

I can't believe how quickly the school holidays went, we all had a great time visiting friends and family, then all of a sudden 2 weeks have gone by since they have started school and I hadn't finished my post, but any way I am so pleased Hannah and Jessica have settled happily back into school life.  We are full back into ballet, swimming and home work, time is flying.

I have now taken up swimming, which I am loving, I am going to be attending 2 courses, one is to learn finally how to use my sewing machine and hopefully I will learn to make curtains and cushions, the other is face painting, just for fun for those rainy days. I am really excited to have me time, woo hoo, very exciting hee hee, just hope I can keep up:))

our day at disney headquarters, courtesy of Huggies and Karen

I was having a rare evening out with my husband when I recieved THE text from my lovely friend Karen @wouldliketobeayummymummy . Karen won tickets to disney headquarters, Hammersmith, London for lunch and also to view the latest Winnie the Pooh film by entering a competition with huggies. Unfortunatly Karen couldn't make it, but she kindly donated her tickets to me and my girls, we were so excited:))
The day started early, me, my mum and my two girls Hannah and Jessica, we made our first ever trip into London by oursleves (i e without my husband, lol), so we were all very proud of oursleves and also impressed at how easy it was.
Anyway, we arrived at disney to the impressive reception, then we were greeted by the huggies crew, who were so lovely and certainly made the day fun and perfect. We then went upstairs where we were greeted byWinnie, Piglet and Tigger, all very exciting. We had the most delicious lunch, then afterwards we went into the cinema and watched the Winnie the Pooh, the film was excellent, it wasn't too long and I would highly recommend it to everyone, we will be purchasing a dvd for sure, my girls didn't take their eyes of the screen.

After the film ended we were all given a goody bag which ended the day perfectly, we all had a perfect day, and we want to say, thank you huggies and thank you Karen @wouldliketobeayummymummy

all about me

My name is Fiona, I am a mum to two girls, I have never blogged before, however a friend of mine does and she inspired me to try too. I feel us mums are a world of knowledge and through the internet we can help each other with lots of ideas.
My husband is in the army, when I first moved my eldest daughter was only 6 weeeks old, I had never left home before, I was 30 years old and I thought WOW, here we go, I had no idea what to expect, but thankfully, all has been good. Of course there has been ups and downs on the way, but more ups than downs.
For my blog, eventually I would like to get round to writing about bringing up my girls, follwing my husband around the world and being an army wife. I hope that if there are other army wives out there reading my blog that it will help with new postings, perhaps even let you know of a future posting you are going to that I have been too.
Being a mum is the most amazing thing in the world, sometimes you are tested to your limits, but the rewards of their love far out weighs anything,