Hello from the most magical place in the entire world! I know it’s a cliché and you may think ‘Oh whatever’, but it really is genuinely the most amazing place ever! I don’t want to bore you too much, but this is my life at the moment, and I am making the most life long amazing memories with my beautiful children and mum, and I really want to share some of it, after all, this is why I started up my blog in the first place. 

So travel day was loooong, apart from taking off and landing, the flight was very uneventful, although I am actually extremely grateful for that, I mean, who wants an eventful  flight, especially a nine-hour one! Day one had to be spent in Magic Kingdom, nothing and I mean nothing can prepare you for turning into Main Street and seeing that stunning castle, it is so so beautiful. The whole atmosphere here is unlike anywhere else in the world, and it’s not something that you can pinpoint, it’s just everything! We rode rides that the children wouldn’t even have considered back in the uk, we ate some of the yummiest foods and then was the a moment that will never be topped (well next to the birth of my children), we ate dinner at the Crystal Palace and I got to meet Winnie the Pooh and friends. I cannot tell you how excited I was for this moment, I love Pooh bear as much as I love my children, and I got to meet and have a squidge with him, I was like a kid at christmas! 

Day two was spent at a very very hot universal studios, yet again, it was absolutely amazing, different to the Disney bubble, but I cannot begin to describe how it felt to walk down Diagon Ally and Knockturn Ally, walk into Ollivanders, and the Weasley twins joke shop, we tried butterbeer, i can confirm, we will definitely purchasing more of this! We poured over all of the different wands, we saw the Gringotts dragon breathe fire, and heard Stan Turnpike tell tales next to the night bus. Once we came away from Diagon Ally we went on the Fast and Furious ride, this was something my whole family has been desperate to do, we are huge fans of the films, and it did not disappoint, we loved it!

Yesterday was spent in Walmart, again, another thing we were super excited for, and it didn’t disappoint, i will putting my argument forward to the town council when I get home about bringing Walmart to our hometown! Then we had a down day by the pool, and it was exactly what we all needed. In the evening we went into Old Town and saw some of the most fantastic cars, that ended the evening by parading around the circuit. We browsed some of the most unique little shops and had dinner in a rustic american diner, outside with live music and watched a woman dance with her pet rabbit, much to the amusement of the children!

Today we have been at the exhilarating Animal Kingdom, there is nothing not to like about this park, the theming is just out of this world, and the kids were just as in awe of it as I was. We started out getting soaked on the rapids, then a picture with Goofy before a quick ride on a rollercoaster in dinoland, a mooch around the awesome little shops and stalls, and the different themed areas. We then went into Pandora, nothing I can say will give this area of Disney any justice, we perused the beauty of the area and then went onto The Navi river journey, this was just beautiful and had us just in awe of the animatronics. Then we moved over to the Africa area and did the Kilimanjaro Safari, this was just amazing, we saw so many different animals, and my favourite, the giraffes, they were so graceful and just made the safari extra special for me. And then we saved the best for last, back to Pandora again for Flight of passage, if  you can’t think of any other reason to come to Disney World, this is reason enough, this ride was like nothing in my life I have ever experienced before, the children were literally buzzing when we walked off, they are still talking bout it now, hours later,and I have a feeling will be probably be talking about it for weeks to come. Next up we spent the closing hour at the Disney water park Blizzard Beach, we will definitely be going back as the children were gutted when it closed up.

And that brings you up to speed with our holiday of a lifetime thus far, sorry it’s taken so long to put up this up, but I have been so caught up with the excitement that we are all feeling right now, and well just living in the moment as they say. Please keep watching for the next blog post, hopefully it won’t be as long before I post again. 

Much love. xx

 

 

In the last few months I have watched so many online videos, mostly of Florida vlogs, but I’ve noticed recently that one of the latest updates to its site is showing you ‘recommended’ videos that you may like. now ordinarily I would just skip past them, but one really caught my eye and genuinely made my morning yesterday, this was of two complete strangers who were running a marathon, the video went onto explain that they were fourteen mile in and both on the brink of giving up but they made a vow to keep on going and cross the finish line together. They were the last two people running and by the point of nearing the end, most other people had left for home hours earlier, there were just a few volunteers left. These two ladies phenomenally crossed the finish line holding hands to the applause of the remaining volunteers. In that moment, those two ladies struck up a lasting friendship and will have a memory to cherish forever. This video truly struck something in me, and I found these two women that started the race as strangers and ended as forever friends, truly inspired me. Following this video it got me thinking of inspirational people I am blessed to have in my life. So that is exactly what this blog post is about, the beautiful inspirational in my life.

Now I have quite a few that inspire me but only few that i truly aspire to be as amazing as. My mum is definitely top of my list, apart from loving her as much as I do, my mum has always done everything throughout both mine and my brothers lives with complete dignity and grace. my beautiful mamma has had some trials throughout the years, but she’s always taught us to fight things head on but always with our heads held high and remain dignified throughout. She has raised my brother and I single-handed and brought us up with solid morals and respect for others, and as kids do, we both tested her at times, probably reduced her to tears a few times too, but she showed us nothing but love and kindness. Aside from the trials of raising teenagers she worked full-time, studied at college to be able to build a better future for us, as well as keeping the house impeccably clean and tidy, I genuinely don’t ever remember our house being messy, not even a little bit, and it’s only now that I’m raising my own family, that I can fully appreciate just how tough life had to have been through those years for her. So like I said, my mum will always be the most inspirational people I know. Next up is my absolutely gorgeous children, yep all four of them are truly amazing. I could go on and on and on with a whole host of reasons, and I genuinely would love to, after all, that is why I started blogging in the first place, but I would really bore you all to tears and I don’t want to lose any of my lovely readers. But I will just say that apart from being the reason for my entire existence, they all face challenges every single day for one reason or another, and they do it with such courage and bravery, it makes me realise that I really have nothing to fear, and we all need people like this in our lives!

Anyway like I said there are a whole host of awesome people who are inspirational to me in my life, and they make me strive to want more, be better and live the life i want to live, so thank you to everyone that helps to make me a better person, but mostly to my mum and children, for you make me fight for another day!

Much love xx

 

This post is a bit off the cuff, normally I plan it out carefully and write it out with old-fashioned pen & paper, but this post is just being typed out unplanned. This is for two reasons, 1) It’s already 7:30pm and I’m only just sitting down to do it, and 2) well it’s just not been a fantastic week quite honestly.

I try really hard to maintain a positive attitude as much as I can, I genuinely believe that if you can try to find a positive from every day, that is basis for keeping you positive as a person. That said, sometimes situations can get the better of us, you can sometimes get to the end of the day and if you’re having a bit of a rough time it can just feel like its overwhelming everything in your life. Obviously it isn’t, but it really can take over most of your thought process, and make you feel just very sad. But you know what, it’s ok to feel like this temporarily, we are only human and it’s not healthy to just constantly feel happiness, we need to go through all other feelings to keep our emotional wellbeing healthy. Just as a disclaimer, if you feel like the sadness is progressing to a deeper level or things aren’t getting brighter for you, I urge you to seek some extra help, it is really important to speak to professionals for your own wellbeing.

Now I know that the negatives that I am experiencing at the moment are only temporary, I know what I can do to improve how I am feeling at the moment, and obviously I am extremely fortunate to be going on the most amazing holiday next week. so for now, I will take the steps i need to take, and ride the storm until it passes, and then come out the other side feeling stronger and happier. I guess the point of this somewhat shorter post is that no one person feels happy all of the time, and everyone struggles for so many reasons, you never know what someone is going through behind their smile. So always be kind, smile at that stranger who looks worried, ask your friend or family member if life is treating them ok, show compassion to your work buddy if they’re not their usual self, you never know how far a little gesture will go.

Much love xx

I had every intention of writing this post about my April favourites, however after a somewhat taxing few weeks, I felt that the post I’m writing was super important to & for me to publish. And apologies in advance, it’s a long one.

I have always been a massive advocate of the fact that nobody should make another person feel inferior & like they are less of a person. Let me make this very very clear, No one and I mean no one is a better person than anyone else! And anyone that thinks they are needs a serious reality check!

I made the conscientious decision at the end of my marriage that no one would make me feel under valued again. It is so so important to me that I send the positive message to my children that it is not ok for anyone to make them feel like they are not valued or worthless, and it has been in the past, apparent to me that I have to send this message to them through my own actions, how I am with them, but also how I let people treat me. Now my marriage ended over ten years ago, (I know, it’s a long time single!). In the early days of me doing this parenting stuff on my own, this feeling of teaching my children about belief in themselves & self-worth was so strong, & to this day, it still is. What has faded, & this is something I have noticed only in the last few weeks, is that I am not really teaching them this through my own actions. Obviously this decline in my own self worth has been a gradual process, life, work, relationships, they’ve all chipped away at my belief in myself over time. As a consequence, I have started to notice this is starting to rub off on how my beautiful children are seeing themselves in certain parts of their lives. And this in turn has sent a very powerful message to me. It is time to start believing in myself again, I am worthy of respect, I am allowed to be happy, & it is not ok for anyone to belittle me. So as of this weekend, I am going to be teaching my children about positivity again, that negativity doesn’t have to be a part of our daily lives, & through my own actions, I will show them that everyone is worthy of a happy life. After all, when all said and done, we are all humans, we all feel emotions & we all want to be appreciated.

One of the other things I want to take a bit of a reality check on is how much pressure I put on myself, & look after myself better. In this day in age, we all expect so much of ourselves, again, work, family, home, keeping in shape & we can really let this take its toll on us. For the best part of well, a long time, I’ve put so much pressure on myself, going over and above for people, making sure I don’t eat too badly, making sure I hit exercise goals, getting into my ‘holiday clothes’, this combined with other negative energies is sending an unhealthy message to my sprogs, which is quite honestly so upsetting, as I’ve strived so hard over the past ten years to ensure that they are happy, confident & well-balanced people. Going forward self-care is definitely going to be a priority, because there is no better education for your children than in your own actions. 

So if  you want the cake, have it, if you want a day off of the housework, as my gran told me today, it will still be there tomorrow, but most importantly, NEVER let anyone question your self-worth, you are amazing, love yourself as much as you can.

Much love xx

I  love how films are scored, music absolutely makes a movie, it evokes all emotions, & can make you feel elated and terrified within minutes. The people who score films not only have one of the coolest jobs, but are movie genius’ too. Obviously I know that there is so much more involved in the making of movies, but I truly love what music does for films.

Some of the best music produced has been made for films and their soundtracks, Dirty Dancing, Grease, The Bodyguard (I know there are thousands of other genres, but these are some of my faves). But without a shadow of a doubt, & I hope that most will agree, nobody scores a movie or makes a soundtrack quite like Disney do. Over the years Disney have worked with some of the most amazing artists to help bring extra magic to their film, some of which went onto win Oscars & many other awards.

The children and I have been catching up on new and old Disney movies over the last couple of months in preparation for our holiday (I may have mentioned this just a few thousand times), and my love for Disney music has  been well and truly reignited. So I thought I would share my top ten Disney songs with you, just because, well I can!

In at number 10 You’ve got a friend in me – Toy Story

9  Into the open air – Brave

8  Life is a highway – Cars

7  Part of your world – The little mermaid

6   The circle of life – The lion king

5  Can you feel the love tonight – The lion king

4  You’ll be in my heart – Tarzan

3   How far I’ll go – Moana

2   A whole new world  – Aladdin

And my absolute favourite is Magic from A wrinkle of time, it’s just such a beautiful song and perfect for the film.

Of course there are so many more fantastic Disney songs but I don’t want to bore you all to tears.

So now I’m asking, what are you favourite Disney songs? Any unusual favourites? I can’t wait to hear you faves.

Much love xx

 

One of the things I hear quite frequently is ‘I don’t know how you do it, you’re like supermum’, people tell me, you just seem to have it together. The truth be told, I don’t have it altogether, and I am definitely no supermum, far from it, and I firmly believe there is no such thing. No parent is perfect, in fact no one person (parent or not) is perfect. We can all be capable of passing off the impression that our life is all that we want to be & is going exactly the way we want it to be, but this is just a cover up, after all children, work, home, pets, bills & everything in between is all unpredictable & well just plain old hard at times.

Now don’t get me wrong, in the main I am very content & happy with my life, I am super fortunate for everything I have & the things I have experienced, yes even the tough times, & there really have been some pretty low points, but all that I have & everything my children and I have been through have led us to be the people we are now, and so much stronger for it. But even as happy as I am in my life, I still have rubbish days/weeks, days where I feel I’m failing my children, or not being the best friend/daughter/sister that I can be, times when I wish I wasn’t facing life as a single parent, wish for companionship, and do you know what, it’s ok to have all of these feelings, these are all completely normal feelings and thoughts. It doesn’t matter what your home situation, whether you’re  single/married, parent/carer/grandparent, we are all only human, & it is inbuilt in us to have doubts about ourselves, likewise to feel like we’re winning at life & on top of the world. The most important thing to remember is we are all just winging it in this crazy busy life that we live, no one person is doing any better a job than the next, no matter how much it may look like everything is in place for them. Under the surface they are having the same worries and doubts as you, so people are just better at masking it. We only have one life, be confident, be happy but most importantly, just be yourself!

Much love xx

I couldn’t not dedicate this blog post to our beautiful fluffball, as today is her birthday! Yes today our crazy, bananas, gorgeous fluffy Flossy is 5 years old. 

This pooch brings so much joy to all of our lives, well aside from the barking fits at the wind/birds/cats/leaves, because you know we humans need protecting from those dangerous leaves.

Since we brought Floss home almost five years ago, she has shown us a new level of love, next to parenting. When I originally got Floss she was supposed to be a kind of therapy dog for my autistic son, but as we all are aware, best laid plans and all that, and with that said, that idea was kiboshed! It is safe to say that my eldest son is very much her best friend, and we are all too aware of this when he is anywhere near her, & when she can hear him but not see him, & when he walks through the front door, you get the picture.

   

It’s not all sunshine and rainbows owning any pet, especially a dog, it’s definitely an emotional rollercoaster, but it’s very hard not to look at Flossy & feel you heart melt and overawed with love. She is the funniest muppet most of the time, but also gives the very best hugs when you need it the very most.

Apologies for the photo overload (not really sorry)!

Happy happy 5th birthday to our FlossyBelle xxx

This post has the potential to go so many ways, but rest assured no names will be mentioned, just in the unlikely event that anyone I’ve ever dated should be reading this! I will also keep this as clean-cut as possible as I know my daughter will read this, and as a teenager, it is possibly one of the worst things to think about, your parents dating, so I will save my children from the embarrassment. Also as a disclaimer, I’ve always kept my dating life hidden from my children until I feel that they are of an age where they are able to understand and be happy with it.

The idea that triggered this post originally  was reading an article about a group of men who had been quoted as saying that they would never date a single mother. Now some of their reasoning was hideously appalling, ‘They’ve let themselves go’, ‘They would never put me first’ & ‘They are more expensive as they don’t have much money’, and these were just a few, however as we live in a time where freedom of speech is possible, they are entitled to their opinion, we are all allowed one, it is my opinion that their’s is ridiculous! And I’m sure when these ‘idealistic’ chaps do settle down, then life will be all that they’re hoping for….yeah good luck with that!

But this got me to thinking about my own dating experiences since I have been divorced, & as is one of my family’s motto’s, ‘Always expect the unexpected’, this is so fitting for dating, & that is not always a good thing, that I can assure you of! Don’t get me wrong, I have had some fantastic experiences, one date I laughed and smiled from start to finish, but for one reason or another & after a few more dates, it just didn’t see the distance. The flip side of this is I’ve been on a date where the guy pretty much mapped out my entire future for me within our first date, needless to say there was no second date. I’ve been on first dates where the guy has been way too forward in all aspects, & one guy nearly bored me into a coma.

 

But one thing that has resounded with me through my dating journey and that is, it is very very hard dating as a single mum. There are so many aspects to take into consideration. I know for a fact that I am super fussy, my beautiful friends tell me frequently, and this does make finding love a little bit more challenging, however no matter how single men view single mum’s, I’ll be damned if I and my children (because yes, they are my entire world, SHOCK!) will settle for second best, I’ve settled before and I am happy being single, so although a bit of a cliché, you will have to be pretty damn incredible to be lucky enough to have this single mamma in your life! There is so much more that can be said on this topic, but as previously stated, I won’t add any further embarrassment to my poor children. I will just add this last message, to any single mamma’s or pappa’s that are currently looking for love, don’t settle and don’t force it, love will find you when the time is right.

 

Much love xx

Ordinarily around this point in the school holidays, I start to feel either sadness that it’s nearly all over, or despair as autism has wreaked all it’s glory over our household. Not this holidays though, no this school break, I & each of my sprogs, not so much the fluff ball, but the rest of us are excited, excitement that is building each day. When we return to school, college and work next week, we will only be three weeks from our first family holiday in three years.

That aside, I have to say that very fortunately, we have had a very chilled out holidays, which to be fair, we all needed. It has of course helped, that the noisier two monkeys of the house have been poorly with colds, thus almost losing their voices for two whole days! Don’t get me wrong, this has come at a cost, the mess, oh my days, how it is possible for crumbs/fluff/hair to cover the rug in my living room, when I literally just hoovered up like five minutes ago, but much to the itchiness of my brain, it has happened here! But we have had lye ins, we’ve watched countless movies, the dog has had the longest walks she’s had all year, and well we’ve just enjoyed being together. I may also be guilty of intensifying the children’s excitement for next month, their teachers are going to hate me by the time we leave.

Mind you, over the last two days whilst feeling quite smug about just how awesome our easter break has been & probably tempting fate for the last few days, I have also had much thought and empathy for those who may not have been having such a lovely break. I have been there, not only having four children all cooped up together, one of which is autistic, & on top of that, being a single parent, some school holidays, all of these factors can & have taken their toll on the whole household. So I always remind my children before returning to school, that if  they’ve been fortunate enough to have had a break full of fun, then to remember that their friends/peers may not have, and if we’ve had a bit of a rubbish holidays, then be sympathetic still to those that may have had an even harder time. If I can install humbleness and empathy into a natural trait of my children, which in all fairness to them, they are doing quite well without my intervention, but I know confidently that these traits will make them the best little (well two of them are actually taller than me now) humans that I could have been blessed with. 

So whatever kind of holidays you’ve had, you’ve survived another one and you’re all doing amazing.

Much love xx

Now I don’t know if you’ve missed this, but myself, my mum, and the sprogs are off on the most magical holiday on earth next month. We’re just a little bit excited!

In preparation for this and just to up the ante on the excitement levels (like we need to), we’ve been watching old and new Disney films, & for the children, this has been quite the education. Given that we are all massive movie lovers, it surprised me by not only the films that the children hadn’t seen, but also myself! I have always proclaimed to be a huge Disney fan, however I’ve had to question just how much of a fan I really am when I hadn’t even seen Lilo & Stitch!

But I’m putting these wrongs right, day by day, film by film. For the record Lilo & Stitch is now in my top 5 Disney films. Whilst watching the original Dumbo, one of the children asked me why I love all things Disney so much and what my all time favourite is. And this got me to thinking, why is Disney so well-loved, and I believe it’s all down to the magic of imagination. Disney movies give adults & children alike escapism from what can be a pretty crappy reality sometimes, & we can emerse ourselves in imagination, that’s why Disney never grows old or tired.

As for my favourite, well that’s an easy one to answer. Mine has always been Aladdin. For two reasons, 1) Because one of the main characters is naturally based around me, and yes I mean Princess Jasmine, not the gobby parrot! 2) Because it was released at a very significant time in my life, in a year where I experienced my first love, multiple best friends & becoming a confident, mostly happy teenager. This is another reason I think Disney affects us so much, it impacts on us just like music does, & can draw us back to momentous times in our lives.

So now it’s your turn, and I’m genuinely interested, what is your favourite Disney film and why?

Much love. xx