I've missed a couple of weeks of this link up! But I remembered about it this morning so I thought i'd write a post up whilst the girls are quiet watching a DVD (for how long that will last, I don't know!)

I think I've been much more busier this summer than I was last Summer! I think the main reason behind this is because I know Mia is starting full time school in September so I want to spend more time and do more things with her, but also i'm starting my new job in September too. It's not a lot of hours but it will be a change of routine for 2-3 days of the week.

Goal 1: Get more organised.
I have got much more organised than I ever was before, but I still need to be more organised I think! I am much more organised with my blog, but I think I need to try and be how I was before, such as sorting all the bill papers out together! If I go on days out then plan ahead and pack stuff the night before instead of getting stressed in the morning!

Goal 2: Reach my 3.5 stone.
I'm not sure I will do this. I've struggled in Slimming World recently. But only because I haven't put my head and my heart into it. I've got two week weigh-in's now where I haven't planned no nights out so I am making sure I loose weight these 2 weeks, as the next two weeks I have a friends birthday and my birthday and we are going out drinking! So I am not sure how those two weeks are going to plan out!

Goal 3: Less takeaways.
Even though we only usually have one takeaway a week, we had 2 last week! Which is a big no-no! I want to cut down to having them once a month! At the end of the day the main reason we have a takeaway is because I'm too lazy too cook that day!

Goal 4: More family days out.
There is a bank holiday soon and Mia is with us that bank holiday and Iwan will be having a day off work! So we are going to plan a family day out. As Mia is always in her Dad's on the weekends we try our best to make the most of it when she is with us on the weekends. Even though she is with us in the week, Iwan is working so we can't go many places.

Goal 5: Sort things out!
I really need to sort my bill payments out, my money and everything in the house! We are doing a carboot sale this sunday coming so I am hoping we will get rid of a lot of things as we're going to put the money in the Christmas tub! We go Christmas shopping in October so I am hoping we will have had quite a fair bit by then! But we will see!

Me and Catriona (lovedbymummy) decided to plan a day out last week for this week. We could not think where to go, but we decided on Beddgelert. We were really unlucky because it actually started to rain the day we went out! But luckily the rain wasn't bad at all in Beddgelert. Beddgelert is one place I absoloutley love going to with the kids or even if it is just me and my partner. It's so nice and so many people go there with their children. Fantastic place to go when the sun is out.

Elliw loves picking up flowers! This flower she gave to Catriona. Was so cute!

 We tried so many times to try and get a good photo of Elliw and Osian but it didn't work at all. This was the best one we got ha ha.

We were only out for about 2 hours so we decided to come back to my house and Osian was everywhere! He has just started crawling so he was very busy being nosey! So cute. He loved playing peek-a-boo as you can see in the photo! Even though he only did it once or twice! He loved playing Elliw and Elliw loved having him there!

Was a really good day. We took a picnic out with us and we sat out in Beddgelert and ate it. We were really lucky that it wasn't pouring down with rain!

Before the Summer holidays started I started to plan on how I could keep the girls busy! I went for our usual food shop and I saw paint bottles 3 for 2 and they were £1 each so I decided to buy 3 bottles! The girls love painting and I knew it will keep them busy for most of the summer!

The girls were so excited when they saw me bring the paint out! At first the painted some canvases (which you can see in the photo!). Then I got some Peppa Pig photos out for them to paint, but for some reason Mia loves painting the WHOLE page in one bold colour. No idea why!

I love the concentration look Mia and Elliw are doing. Elliw was trying her very best to paint good and with in the lines. Even though she has got quite a lot of paint on herself she didn't do as big of a mess as I thought!

They both love painting, drawing, colouring and writing! I can see them being little artists when they're older! :-) They have painted loads of times since Summer Holidays started and it's only been a week and a half!!!!!

What activities have you got planned for the holidays?

Not a lot of people linked up last week but I had more linked up than I thought so im really pleased! I loved reading all of your posts. They're all fantastic posts however the post that really stood out was thedadventurer's All Star Mr & Mrs Pregnancy Q&A! I thought it was a very interesting post to read to see how a dad-to-be and a mum-to-be feelings are whilst expecting!

Now let's start Proud Little Moments Week 2!

What is Proud Little Moments about?
Basically it is a simple linky where you write a post about a very proud moment. It can be old or new. You can be proud about anything. For example; New recipe, Baby;s first steps/words, First Day at school, Birth story, etc!

Please read this before you link up.

- For this linky to be fair, please comment about 1,2 or more blog posts.
- If you do link up then please make sure you link up my blog OR the badge below.
- You must not link up your blog link, it must be a blog post related to the linky.

If you send a tweet or a facebook status about you linking up then I will be more than happy to retweet/share in return.

Looking forward to reading all your posts!!

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Mia usually goes to her Dad's every Saturday morning until Sunday evening, which is a nice little break for me but I miss her like mad and can't wait to get a massive cuddle off and a long conversation off her when she comes back Sunday evening! A few months before the summer holidays I decided that it was only fair if her Dad has her for more than one night in the holidays. At the end of the day he is her father so he should take her for more days if he can yes? Am I wrong?

Well he told me had 2 days off 28th & 29th July so we decided for him to have her from Saturday until Tuesday evening. It is so weird without Mia coming into my bed 6-7am waking me up. I actually thought I would of had a lie in from Elliw because when Mia is here Elliw usually sleeps in until atleast 8am most mornings but NO! Since Mia's been in her Dad's Elliw has been waking up between 6-7am!! Oh well. I really can't wait for a big cuddle from Mia tomorrow evening! It's so odd without her, couldn't do with more days without her. Missing her like mad.

I fell pregnant at 16 years old with Mia. It was a really scary time. The only person that helped me through the pregnancy, helped me buy things and came to the hospital appointments etc was my Dad. I can't thank him enough on how much he had helped. I did start work but I fainted on the first day and didn't go back, well they didn't ask me either! Was probably best that I didn't because I had fainted a couple of weeks after that too! and was pretty much light headed all the way through my pregnancy and didn't get no iron tablets until near the end because the midwives had 'forgotten'. However, I did get a job when Mia was 5 months old.



 Mia was always a bright little girl from the day she was born. Beautiful big blue eyes that everybody commented on. Light blonde hair that has grown very slowly! This photo on the side was taken on her First Birthday. I did her a little house party - but thinking back now I think I should have just taken her out somewhere for the day as I think she would have enjoyed that much more. But it's done and it did turn out to be a good day. She had taken a first steps without support 1-2 weeks after her First Birthday.

When Mia was about 18 months old I had met my partner, we had all moved in together when Mia was nearly 2 years old. Might of been a quick move but we're still happy together and that all that counts doesn't it? Since then we have moved three times but our third house (current home) is bought.

 

It was a big change when Elliw came along. Mia was a big sister! But also she had another little sister on the way too. (Her dad's partner at the time was pregnant). When I was pregnant with Elliw I couldn't understand how I could share my love between them both. But when Elliw was born, the love was shared from the minute I saw her little face. Mia was and still is a fantastic caring big sister to both her little sisters. She started going to part-time little school at the age of 2 and a half. She absoloutley loved it there. I knew she would be fine because she was in a nursery with me (where I used to work) for nearly 2 years so I knew she would be fine mixing with other children but it was scary for me leaving her behind. We both got used to it in the end. Now it's scary to think she will be full time school in September! I just can't get my head around it. She is growing up way too fast.

 

From the day I found I was pregnant I knew I wanted to learn Mia welsh and English. She speaks welsh much more than English which I am really proud of. Im really pleased that she can talk and understand both languages. We live in a welsh village where most of the people speak welsh so it's great that Mia speaks it. The funny thing is when she speaks English you can tell she is a welshy because of her accent! It's so cute!

I'm just so proud on how well Mia has grown up. She really has grown up from a little baby girl to my little lady! Maybe not so little though! Even though she can really stress me out at times, I wouldn't change her for the world. She is a beautiful and bright little girl who's also very caring!

Love Mam xxx

Elliw was sitting next to me and her dad (my partner) was in the water waving so I showed Elliw where he was and I told her to run up to him, which she actually did! Shocked me a bit because she didn't like walking on the sand but she was more than happy to run quite a bit and wait for him to come out of the water to have a massive cuddle off him! This is a zoomed in photo and she was waving her arms about shouting 'dad' and 'daddy' and really smiling being happy that he was walking from the water to her! I love this photo!

We live in North Wales and we're used to the rain and cold wind, well our summers have been getting hotter and hotter every year and it is boiling this year! It has even gone into the 30's (degrees). It's way too hot for me so god knows how my little girls feel! Bless them. It is very important to make sure children don't burn in this heat and many children will feel very uncomfortable. Here are 5 tips to keep them happy and cool this summer!

1. Keep them hydrated.
The last thing you want is your child to get dehydrated in this hot weather! We all need a drink but we need double the amount (or more) when the weather is really hot! So make sure you keep the hydrated. Maybe keeping some juice or water in the fridge too so its nice a cool for them to drink.

2. Stock up on cool snacks.
Many children will go off foods so maybe they will still have small snacks through the day to keep them going. For example, ice pops, ice lollies, grapes and any other fridge/freezer food snacks.

3. Don't stay out too long.
Yes it is nice to stay out in the sun as much as you can but when you have little ones they can get very uncomfortable if they are in the sun for too long so I would advise being indoors is best for the little ones and not to stay out too long.

4. Cover in suncream.
Cover your child in sun cream (50+ factor)! Last thing you want is for your child to burn! To find the best sun cream lotion you could look on Google and type in for reviews.

5. Less clothing.
If you plaster your child in sun cream lotion you could put your child in sleevless tops and shorts or even dresses! The less clothing the cooler they are! Bedtimes I put my children in just a nappy (Elliw) and shorts & t-shirt (Mia).

I've always loved Jessie J's music. Most of her songs are so inspirational. There are two songs of hers that I really do love the lyrics of. The start of 'Who's Laughing Now' really makes me look back at school time which I hated. If read the lyrics at the start then you can probably guess what I was going through. Something no child should go through, especially through school time when you're trying to find what kind of person you are. The other song I absoloutley love is 'Nobody's Perfect'. The name of the song says it all. Jessie J did a speech about this song last night before she sang it. It was an amazing inspirational speech. Many people even cried through this song!
So seeing her live last night was absolutely amazing!

Anyway, i'll stop talking now and let you look at the photos! Neon Jungle, Hollywood Ending & Lawson were also there! They were all amazing and we have a fantastic time! Even when we were drenched when Jessie J came on!

Amazing time!! :)