Goodbye March, Hello April - Monthly Highlight and Review

Crickey thats another month down…1/4 of the way through the year already, how is that possible! On the plus side we are well and truly into spring now, the warmer weather is here and we are having lots more dry sunny days…which means lots more time to spend outside

Even though it’s still been a busy month on the work front we have managed to have a really lovely month, lots of fun outings with the kids and time spent playing with friends. We haven’t taken a huge amount of photos though so this isn’t an image heavy post.

I think I’m happy with the current layout of this post and what I am putting in my highlights so I am sticking with it for the next few months still

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WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO

Honestly Ive spend a good majority of my month behind the camera photographing lots of tiny little newborns (and 2 weddings). I don’t often share photos of our work on here but I thought maybe you would like a peek at our work, so here are just a few cute lil ones for you to see.

We took advantage of a rare weekend off for Jon and I and took a spontaneous trip to Folly Farm. We have season passes as it is one of our favourite places to visit with the kids, and they both love it there. It is just over an hour away so it is easy for us to take a quick trip there whenever we like, and we will now doubt be taking lots of trips there again this year.

We’ve also taken lots of park and beach trips since the warmer weather has come in.
Effie and I have been to lots of Moo Music Classes and Playgroups. Plus spent time swimming and at Limitless with our besties

WHAT WE’VE BEEN LOVING

Effie is very much still in love with sensory tray set ups, and this month she has been enjoying the St Patricks Day one I have put together, and the ‘Plant a Garden’ one I have put together, which I will be sharing soon. She loves scooping and pouring rice, and learning to use the little tweezers to pick up the little trinkets I add to the trays.

As we have been getting out and about a fair bit thanks to the lovely sunny weather, Elian has been enjoying his Wiggle Scooter a lot. He showed zero interest in his bike for the 2 years we had it, but he has taken to the wiggle scooter so well. So we take every opportunity to take it out with us to the park or the beach front, anywhere there are good long stretches of fairly flat ground.

WHAT I’VE BEEN READING AND WATCHING

Reading – I’ve been really on the ball with my reading this month, even though I still only managed to do most of it whilst I am nursing Effie for her nap and to get her down in the evening. Ive managed to get through 4 books, which Im very pleased about. And I have a new one started already. These again are all kindle books (most are on prime reading also) as I tend to mostly read on my phone.

The Girl I Used to Know by Faith Hogan – Having read another Faith Hogan book at the start of the year, and thoroughly enjoying it, I thought I would try this one of hers and again I wasn’t disappointed. It took emergency a little while to get into it, but I ended up loving both the lead female characters and was utterly gutted to finish it. I honestly would love to read a follow up to see where the characters lives take them further down the line.

Storm by Nina Levine – I was suggested this by one of my brides last month, so thought I would give it a go. Its a raunchy story about 2 lovers in a motorcycle club and the dangerous lives they face…its pretty stereotypical of female erotica tbh, and all quite predictable storyline wise. But I still enjoyed it, and it was a very easy read

Fierce by Nina Levine – Enjoyed Storm enough to read number 2 in the series, which follows another member of the motorcycle crew and his love interest. More dangerous situations, violence and dodgy dealings interspersed with sexual tension and erotica

The Vine Witch by Luanne G Smith – I used to read a lot of fantasy novels but havent read one in a little while, so when I spotted this pop up as a recommendation on my Goodreads I added it to my list. Then it came up on the Amazon Prime Kindle books so thought it was time to check it out. I found it a little slow to build, but once it got going I really enjoyed it. Based around magical powers, witches, spells, wine making and evil demands it really is an enjoyable read. This is the first in a trilogy and I will be reading the others at some point.

Watching

Married at First Sight Australia
Snowpiercer
Bridgerton
Hotel Transylvania (1,2,3 and 4!! Multiple Times! My kids area obsessed!)
Tiny House Nation
Love is Blind
Inventing Anna
Kobra Kai
The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girls in the Window
The Adam Project
Fantasy Island
Pieces of Her
The Responder
Trigger Point
Single Parents (Disney+ Series)

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED IN March

With March being so busy I didn’t get a huge amount of new content up on the blog, but I managed a few new Toy Reviews and a few sponsored posts, so here is what you might have missed!

MARCH GOALS REVIEW

As I knew March was going to be crazy hectic I decided to keep it quite easy on the goals front so as not to add too much pressure to myself. It really has been so busy that I honestly don’t even mind that I haven’t been able to focus on my goals a lot…instead I have photographed a tonne of Newborns and some lush weddings…and had lots of fun with the kids!

Here are my monthly goals that I was hoping to work on:

Meal plan and stick to budget – I managed to meal plan and stick to it for the majority of the month, but the budget just went out the window as I forgot to keep track of it…but I did stock up my freezer with meat mid month which should help stretch next months budget a little more
List at least 10 new items on Vinted – This hasn’t happened…I got 3 items listed, and managed to sell 1 of them so far, so that is good at least.
Keep reading everyday – Ive kept this up, as you can see by the fact I finished 4 books this month! I have been making sure I read every day when I am getting Effie down for her nap and to bed in the evenings. I am loving just taking that time for me every evening, even if I am with Effie its still a quite peaceful time.
Try to refocus on Slimming World and lose a few more lbs – Im 50% there! I have been making sure our evening meals are mostly SW friendly (Ive blogged a few new recipes too!) but I need to curb my snacking as some days it is quite bad, especially if I am very busy and just grabbing stuff on the go. But I have managed to shift a few ore lbs so I am happy with that
Do more sensory play set ups with Effie – Nailed this! I have done 3 different set ups for her this month and she has loved them all…im constantly cleaning up stray rice in my living room though, lol!
Get outside more!! – Well we well and truly managed this! I have taken every opportunity to take the kids out to the park, the beach, for a walk or down our garden to play on their swing and slide set.
Earn £200 from side hustles to go towards debt – As I expected side hustle earnings on the blogging front were a little tight this month so I only paid a small amount towards the debts rather than the full £200 I would have liked. But with the end of the tax year now here a lot of PR’s get their new budgets in April, so fingers crossed for a better month coming

MONTHLY GOALS AND AIMS FOR APRIL

April isn’t looking too hectic on the work front thankfully, but there is the Easter half term and me and the kids will be going away for a few days to Scotland to visit family, which I cant wait for. So I am sticking with some nice easy goals as I will simply be enjoying spending most of the month having fun with the kids!

Meal plan every week and try to stick to our food budget
List at least 10 items on Vinted
Keep reading everyday
Get outdoors
Sort my accounts spread sheet for this last tax year
Sort and Organise my wardrobe – I want to get rid of a few bits and pack away some of my thicker winter bits as they shouldn’t be needed for a few month

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