Days 1 – 4 of Project 365

by 69 Comments

1-3 of 365

1. And sleep… (I'd hoped for a more exciting photo for the first day of the 2014 project but the day was busy and tiring and it was bedtime before I had a chance to take a photo, let alone the inclination. The Boy is on his second ear infection within six weeks and I spent a lot of the night nursing him as he screamed in pain. That saw us rush out to the Out of Hours doctor's surgery to get antibiotics, for which I was late as I had a horrendous headache and was finding it difficult to get going. Because I was late I drove too fast and set off a speed camera. I came home reticent but overjoyed to spend the afternoon with my brother and his family. Then I took mum for her Christmas present, to see Singin' In The Rain and have a meal after. I came home to discover a sweaty and sobbing little boy in pain. I hate Winter because of what it does to him.)

2. Reflecting (As we took down the Christmas tree and examined all the wonderful shininess of the baubles, we have a good old chat about our Christmas and all our favourite parts. The Boy loved seeing Edward the Elf, having new toys and spending time with people who came over to see us.)

3. Teamwork (We met up with some friends in Techniquest for the afternoon and The Boy and his friend had a great time exploring science displays and a 'Don't Do This At Home' science show.)

4. Aaaarrrr! (A friend gave us an unwanted pirate set which she'd bought from the damaged stock directly from Playmobil, randomly there was a vet in there! )

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Days 356 – 365 of Project 365

by 22 Comments

Days 356-365 of Project 365

356. Twist and… SNAP! (I enlisted his help to prepare the Brussel sprouts ready for Christmas Day. Buying them on the stalk was a complete indulgence, but it was good for him to see how they actually grow.)

357. Wrapping (The Boy had some help from me to wrap Daddy's present, and then wrote who it was for and from on it. I love seeing him writing independently.)

358. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care… (Our traditional Christmas Eve was great fun this year: making and decorating the gingerbread house, watching Polar Express in the pyjamas that Edward the Elf left as a present when he returned to the North Pole, making reindeer food and sprinkling it, hanging up our stockings from the mantelpiece. We always finish with 'The Night Before Christmas' as a bedtime story.)

359. I Got It Right (Showing a photo of The Boy opening a present with a gleeful face would have been too obvious. This is Mr. TBaM opening up his present; a scooter which he has wanted for 18 months.)

360. Cheese (Mum took us out to a beachside Italian restaurant for lunch on Boxing Day rather than her standing in the kitchen cooking for two hours! It was great to have something different and to sit as a family, thoroughly enjoying each other's company.)

361. Builder (The Boy and I have very excitedly been constructing a castle from the Teifoc brick set that we gave him for Christmas. We've made a few errors – like forgetting to put the doorframe in – but have really had good fun doing it together.)

362. Crashed Out (My final week wouldn't be complete without a sleeping Boy photo!)

363. Tiger, Tiger (Father Christmas brought The Boy face paints and he asked me if I'd paint his face. He's never had it done before and I was amazed at how well he sat while I did it, then he spent ten minutes roaring at himself in the mirror. However, I've just discovered how hard it is to get off; he still has yellow in his eyebrows two days later!)

364. Little Chef (We've been having major issues with The Boy's eating ever since he was sick at his aunt's wedding seven weeks ago. It's almost psychosomatic in a way. On Sunday he'd refused to eat his scrambled eggs because of the colour – it's one of his favourite meals – and had made himself vomit as a result. On Monday we went shopping for his choice of tea and he helped me prepare it; result as he ate it all!)

365. Splat! (The day started in the same way that everyday has for the past week; torrential rain and drab, grey skies. I felt a bit down in the dumps but resolved to don our waterproofs and go to the beach. However by the time we got there, the sun was shining, the sky was azure, and it was actually quite warm. As the tide was far out beyond the end of the pier, we ventured down onto the beach and trotted down to the water's edge; over pebbled, fine golden sand, rockpools and squelchy mud. This is where we had a great time making huge footprints and gloopy noises. I turned around to take a picture of the pier, heard an "uh-oh" and whipped back around to see this. Thank God I'd put his waterproof trousers on him!)

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

The Gift Of Christmas: Food Banks

by 1 Comment

As the first day of the school holidays, today is a special day. It's a day of the promise of two weeks together, making and playing, visiting all our old haunts together and enjoying each other's company. Today started early with a visit to the doctor (an appointment I've been waiting for for over a month, and still I got the time wrong!), followed by a breakfast pastry and then a trip to Aldi. Just like every other person in Cardiff.

However, unlike the rest of the shoppers there we weren't stocking up on last minute cheese purchases or yet another bag of crisps, we were buying food for our town's food bank.

Donating was something that I've been intending to do for some time, however news that one of my school's families had been made homeless on Friday made me even more determined. The thought of children I've taught and a family I've known for eight years not having food on Christmas Day breaks my heart. I decided to talk about it with The Boy in the car before we went in and gently explained why we were shopping for other people. He was most aggrieved that a bank could take away someone's house from them and thought it wasn't kind; he completely has a point and maybe those in charge should discuss their practices with children before coldly making decisions based on money.

As soon as we got into the store, he reached for the cereal, then turned to the coffee and tea. We'd talked about how the food needed to be in tins or packets, and actually it's very difficult to shop keeping only that in mind. However £35.oo buys an awful lot of tins and packets of pasta and we had three large reusable shopping bags crammed full.

We've just come home from taking it to the church, and The Boy was fascinated with the process. The warden was keen to explain how the food was stored, and distributed in pre-sorted shopping bags dependent upon if they were single, couples or families. It is humbling to see the mostly empty shelves and the bags already made up for families, shocking to think of the amount of people that will be going without a basic diet this Christmas while we are enjoying the excesses of the season.

We spent £35.00 which is more than I intended to but to be honest it's not that big a dent in the budget at this time of year; one less unnecessary present, no Starbucks this week, and a few chunks of cheese less to end up going off because no-one really likes Wensleydale.

If you're thinking of donating to a food bank, these items are a good starting point:

  • Rice and dried pasta
  • Pasta sauces
  • Baked beans
  • Tinned spaghetti
  • Tinned vegetables (including potatoes)
  • Tinned fruit
  • Coffee and tea bags
  • Sugar
  • Dried milk
  • Gravy or stock cubes
  • Cereal
  • Jam or marmalade
  • Biscuits
  • Apple/orange juice
  • Squash
  • Toilet roll, nappies and sanitary towels.

Most of us in this country are only one step away from the breadline, it only takes a lost job to destroy lives. When you're buying last minute treats this week, can you spare a few tins to donate to your local food bank this Christmas?

The Trussell Trust are a nationwide network of food banks, however there are also many independent food banks running in churches and community centres. Our local one is an independent and I find it comforting to know that our donation is going to people I may know in the community.

Days 349 – 355 of Project 365

by 24 Comments

Days 349-355 of Project 365

349. MONSTER BINGO (… is the phrase that needs to be shouted out by the winner of the latest Orchard Toys game we're reviewing. I love the exuberance on his face here.)

350. Daddy Does Craft (This is not something which happens often in our house, in fact he groaned when I asked him to do this activity, "Homework; yes. Reading; yes. Craft; NO!" However, it was a super easy activity from Toucan Box with idiotproof, foolproof, comprehensive instructions.)

351. Intent (Watching his video message from Father Christmas via the Portable North Pole app, he was enchanted with the whole thing. Every time Father Christmas said his name, he nodded eagerly and smiled.)

352.  Dear Miss… (Making his Christmas cards for his teachers, the effort was immense but he made a super job of it.)

353. Bedtime Reading (New pyjamas and books sent from Marks and Spencer for a bedtime reading project. I love seeing him in old-fashioned pyjamas, he looks so cute!)

354. Hungry (For a few months now we've visited our local nature reserve once a week to feed the swans, our confidence has grown as has their hunger. Yesterday they were starving, and with it a little bit nasty. For the first time, I felt nervous feeding them in the slipway area; one of them hissed at The Boy and flapped his wings, another pecked my hand. We walked up to the boardwalk as they can't manage it and it forces them into the water to have the bread; more controlled you see! Within thirty seconds of us being at the board walk, the 40+ swans had worked out what was going on and swum around to feed on our stale offerings.)

355.  Best Buddies (We ventured to Tredegar House near Newport today to see Father Christmas in his grotto. Normally we go to Cardiff Castle but it was completely sold out weeks in advance, so we decided to try here in their first year as a National Trust property. The Boy was over the moon to see the Big Man himself, and the room was dressed so beautifully! He walked in cautiously, took one look at him and ran at him to give him the biggest, most heartfelt cuddle I've ever seen which was received warmly. Unfortunately the photo is too blurred to share as a 365, but it was a wonderful sight to see. And all for only £2.50.)

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

10 Top Tips For Beautiful Photographs This Christmas (Infographic)

by 10 Comments

Last week we were initiated into a rite of passage for every parent of school-age children; it was The Boy's first Christmas concert.

I honestly didn't hold up much hope for him participating with any part as he had completely frozen during the Harvest festival, able only to stand on stage and try very hard not to cry. It broke my heart watching him trying to be brave, and so I was very nervous for him performing as one of thirty seven stars in the infant school's nativity last week. It transpires that I was far more nervous than him as he took every song and action in his stride. Nothing phased him!

As is usual with these types of performances, there were two showings during the week; we went to the first one and my mum was due to go to the second one two days later. Unfortunately, The Boy was struck with a horrendous cough which made him sound like a seal barking and he couldn't manage the second stint. My poor mum missed her beloved, youngest grandchild performing in his first concert!

Luckily though, help was on hand in the form of the video recording we'd made on our trusty Sony video camera during the first performance. Despite the unintentional enthusiastic efforts of the tallest child in the entire world at preventing us from seeing The Boy singing, we managed to get quite a few shots of him singing his little heart out, performing all the actions and pulling his star headband down over his eyes pretending someone had turned the lights out. That's normal, isn't it?

Nonetheless, my mum didn't miss his performance, she just has to see it virtually. Thank goodness for modern technology capturing the important moments in life. My 365 photo project is all about ensuring that those magic, everyday moments are remembered, and a good camera is the essential tool for snapping that moment.

Just in case anyone wasn't sure, it's Christmas time; possibly the biggest, single event of the entire year for saving those magic moments. It's a time to both freeze a laugh or a precious cuddle in a single photograph, and also to record the hustle and bustle, the squeals of the ridiculous present, the joy of perfectly cooked food being placed on the table. A precious cuddle, a stolen kiss under the mistletoe, a day of happiness.

Cameras are so intuitive that they can be used in a non-intrusive manner to complement our busy lives. Below are some amazing tips for capturing Christmas, quite a few of them I'm going to ensure we use: setting up a tripod with a video camera for the present opening, using the continuous capture setting, photographing food and the table setting. All of these things make a Christmas special and build happy memories.

Top 10 tips to take beautiful Christmas photographs - Infographic
Courtesy of Sony

Sponsored Post

A Message From Santa: Portable North Pole (Review)

by 20 Comments

Last Christmas I logged onto Portable North Pole, a video message service enabling Father Christmas to send personalised videos to children. The process was simple and I was able to input a few photographs with details about the event, and these were incorporated into the video to make it truly personal.

This year I was offered a review code for the video and I eagerly accepted as I knew how much he would like it. I sat down to start inputting the information and was met with a few hurdles along the way. First of all (despite being told the contrary) the code I was given was for the basic video, and I paid for the upgrade to the full version as I knew it would make the experience more exciting for him.

The process should be relatively simple; select 'nice' or 'naughty', boy or girl, input name (and check the pronounciation), date of birth, country of residence, etc. So far so good. There then follows a series of options about a target the child may have been asked to meet that year, and there were quite a good range. The next step is to choose what toy the child would like and this is the first problem, under the broad category of 'toys and games' there is the choice of: a certain toy (not customisable), Barbie doll, board game, construction game, doll, figurine, Lego, plush toy, or puzzle.

No car. The Boy wants a car.

It's a fairly innocuous choice of present, but it's not on the list. Therefore his video has the words, 'Wish list: a toy' on it, which I think it fairly poor to be perfectly honest. He's old enough to read those words now and he'll see that Father Christmas has no idea what his present request is, which is odd because one of the photographs I submitted was of him writing a letter to the big man asking for a car…

The next step is the first stage of spending additional money. An extra £2.49 will unlock the 'all the premium options' (additional scene selection, 3 additional pictures, twice as much video (almost 6 minutes), unlimited online views during the Christmas holidays, plus a bonus video from Santa for Christmas Eve). I paid it because I wanted to make his video even more special, but it's the first step of many of being confronted with the option to spend more money.

On the next screen is where the child's photo and one other is entered (if the premium package has been paid for then up to five can be entered). However once you enter the initial two photographs, then the options for what the photos can depict is significantly reduced to only five or so. If I'd known that I'd be having to choose a photo of a pet (we don't have one) or an object (really?) then I wouldn't have paid the £2.49 upgrade.

If you haven't upgraded, then you're prompted again before the confirmation screen with additional parental information. The video is then ready to play, again a range of additional costs appear; for example you can download the video for £4.49 because the website version is only available during the Christmas period (don't forget!).

£4.49.

On top of the £2.49 already paid.

Don't get me wrong, I think the video is a wonderful thing and Father Christmas is so genuine and warm in it that I know The Boy is going to find it magical.

pnp

However, if I purchase the downloadable version on top of the premium cost then I will have spent £6.98 on a six minute video for him. And I've got one child. If I had more than one, it's going to start getting costly pretty quickly. Added to this, the iPad app with a range of games and access to the video is £2.49. There is also an iPhone app, which is the one that I accidentally downloaded onto the iPad.

So far we're looking at:

  • £2.49 for the premium video (a more customisable video)
  • £4.49 for the downloadable version
  • £2.49 for the iPad or iPhone app.

Is it just me that thinks this is wrong? There is something so intrinsically wrong about charging so very much for a simple message from Father Christmas for your child.

But of course parents do it because they feel they have to in order to feed the magic of the season.

I chose to pay for this product, however I wanted to write an honest review to show parents what to expect when visiting the site.

—

Addendum:

I didn't need to download the iPad version of the app as the iPhone app worked perfectly well on the iPad. And downloading that has made paying for the upgrade worthwhile. When I installed the app I was given 5 credits which could be used in various ways. One of these ways was to download the video onto the iPad, downloading it via the laptop would have cost £4.49 however it was easily done onto the £2.49 iPad app. Bizarrely, when I started the download onto the iPad, it enabled it on the laptop without needing to pay the additional £4.49!  In addition to this, there are a few other videos (birthday and Christmas Eve messages) which can be downloaded onto the iPad app, and there are games and an advent calendar. It's also possible to spend the credits on a 'telephone call' from Santa!

The Boy has watched the video several times a day, every day since I did the message for him. In the future I will happily pay for the premium upgrade (£2.99) and the iPad app (£2.49) but forgo downloading the HD version on the laptop because I don't think it's needed when you have the others.

Days 342 – 348 of Project 365

by 18 Comments

Days 342-348 of Project 365

342. Reach For The Stars (We ventured over to Cardiff Bay to the Christmas Food Market set out in the old dock basin. There were a few small, fairground rides there and The Boy relished the opportunity to try out this jumping trampoline ride thingy. I love the silhouette against the stormy sky.)

343. Burp (Reviewing a game sent to us from Orchard Toys, The Boy found it very amusing that the gorilla burps after feeding it junk food!)

344. My Little Star (This is The Boy performing in his first Christmas concert. I took photographs of him walking up and down onto the stage that showed off his costume better, but this is the picture that I love because of the sincerity on his face, filled with the effort of getting it right. I'm so proud of him for fully taking part as he was so petrified during the Harvest service he could only cope with standing on the stage.)

345. Homemade Gifts (I've written in the past about the significance of giving teachers presents to acknowledge their hard work, I decided that we'd make some lovely ornaments for The Boy's teachers and LSAs. With four teachers to buy for, and additional Reception staff, it would never have been cheap and I don't know enough about them to buy a worthwhile present. I thought Christmas tree decorations would be a good idea as they're resuable and show care and attention on his part.)

346. RUDE! (Our weekly trip to feed the swans saw an extremely cheeky seagull swoop in to grab a stray piece of bread lying on the boardwalk. The Boy was incensed!)

347. Wriggler (A busy day Christmas shopping with my mum in Cardiff, taking The Boy to a classmate's house for tea and then me swanning off to Cardiff Bay saw me sneaking a last minute photograph of a wriggling Boy in his sleep.)

348. Family Days Out (On a day when the blogging world is remembering a special blogger and her legacy of Family Frolics, it seemed very fitting to me that we spent the day with extended family; my brother and his family. I'd bought Mr. TBaM a segway driving experience for his birthday and we finally redeemed it with my sister-in-law joining him on a device which I would be useless on. My brother, niece, The Boy and I explored the other adventure activities possible in the centre and made a vow to come back and try the zip wire out when the children are a little bit older. We finished off the day with a lovely meal in a newly-opened restaurant nearby. A wonderful family day out.)

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Days 335 – 341 of Project 365

by 24 Comments

Days 335-341 of Project 365

335. Poser (Today saw our local pier pavilion re-open after extensive building work to renovate it, mostly funded by local people and organisations, along with a National Lottery grant. We went down for the opening and also a charge around in the brisk, Winter air before heading off to a classmate's party.)

336. Poet Laureate (After school The Boy picked up the notebook that he'd had in the party bag the previous day and started writing in it. I love that he loves to write, and that he's started making little notes. I look forward to the day when I find a book full of made up stories.)

337. Big Moment (The Boy always puts the star on top of the tree, and I always have to correct it afterwards; it's a heavy star that goes on a spindly 'twig'. I love the look of anxiety on his face!)

338. Bed Fellows ('Puntsey' has been a regular bed companion since Children In Need, Oliver Monkey doesn't mind as it means they can share watch duties alongside having plenty of cuddles from The Boy.)

339. Bird Man (We went to feed the swans after school; it was just as well we did because they were starving! The minute we slammed the door shut in the car park, they were clambering up the ramp. We got to the entry gate and they were standing there waiting for us! I deposited The Boy on the boardwalk as it forced the swans back into the water to be fed.)

340. Double (I set up a free craft table after school for The Boy and let him create freely. I adore his double chin in this photograph!)

341. Plees (We went to Dyffryn Gardens today to enjoy the Christmas craft fair; the first to be held there in over two decades. I used to go regularly as a child and it's a special venue to hold one. There was a table set up to write letters to Father Christmas, so The Boy sat down and wrote one all by himself.)

—

TheBoyandMe's 365 Linky

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...