"Sit on the toilet, here he comes Squeeze and tween your festive buns!"

We hadn't even reached December when Opeie decided that he knew exactly what he wanted to get Mrs M for Christmas. I love it when the boys are really passionate about something and for Opeie, Knowing how frequently Mrs M uses emoji's (especially this one), this gift was going to show his beautiful doting mom exactly how he feels about her....

I think it complimented the reindeer shaped washing up brush he also chose nicely.

I hope you all had an amazing day.

"The colors live a remarkable life of their own after they have been applied to the canvas."

Last Christmas I wrote a post about a present I had received that really touched me. I met my friend Steve last year in Smyths while toy shopping and we got talking, LEGO of course. It turned out we were both huge LEGO enthusiasts and our friendship blossomed from there. I love that the boys are in to LEGO as much as i am but every now and again its great to talk shop with other nerds and Steve has been a fountain of brick information for me.

When I opened his Christmas gift to us, much to his disappointment (Steve's a mans man), it bought a tear to my eye as I'd never had anyone make a gift quite like it, it was one of a kind.

I loved the personal custom LEGO kit and it meant so much to me that when were contacted by wallcreate.com And asked to review one of their canvas' I knew straight away that it had to be a LEGO print for the house and what better than a LEGO image of my beautiful family, created by a great friend. 

Moving into a brand new house in December left us with literally a blank canvas. Getting prints up and personalising the space where you spend most of your time is very exciting. I had never had a canvas printed before so I was blown away by the quality of the print that Wallcreate Sent back, especially as the original photo was taken from my phone. 

I was desperate to get the print up on the wall but I am yet to put it up still as I know exactly where it's going to go but I am awaiting the arrival of something else (none canvas related) to compliment it, so stay tuned for a future LEGO related post and you'll be sure to see this lovely print hanging proudly next to it.

Wallcreate have kindly included a 15% discount also (Code - giftsfromthepirates). So go and fill that empty space on your wall with something beautiful, we've all got one. This great canvas has got me looking at all the other spaces that need a little customising too and has given me lots of inspiration.

“When you're in a Slump, you're not in for much fun. Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.”

Sometimes in life and I'm sure it happens to pretty much everyone, you go through a rough patch. Maybe everything is getting on top of you, you've had to make a life changing decision, Lost a close family member or friend. Whatever it is that's going on its nice to know that you have people out there looking out for you. Its lovely to know that Mrs M, the boys and M's family are there for me and i will never take that for granted. Sometimes though people you have only known for a short time do the most amazing kind things.

We had had a really awful few weeks,  it was just one bad thing after another being thrown at us and it had got to the point where we were wondering 'whats next?' 'How could things get any worse?'. We're really positive people and i like to think we work hard at making our own good fortune but sometimes things are out of your control and things can very quickly get on top of you.

Last Sunday, early morning there was a knock at the door and i thought 'great whats this now?' as i said loads has been going on and it was causing me to be a little pessimistic in regards to daily situations, no body knocks our door on a Sunday morning unexpectedly. I opened the door and there stood a courier holding a package. Couriers don't generally come on Sundays so that was a surprise in itself, i signed for the package and said goodbye. As i turned to close the door i opened the package and stood silent for a minute before saying 'what?' in a loudish voice. Mrs M, Clearly feeling as pessimistic as i, called through the house 'Oh no, what is it?' I walked into the room smiling from ear to ear. Mrs M repeated 'what is it?' in a slightly more abrupt voice so i handed her the package.

Now I'm not going to tell you what was in that package (sorry), I'm not even going to mention who it was from (but i know you will read this so again thank you.), the important part of the story is the sentiment. The package was from another blogging family. A kind and caring group of people that we already felt lucky to call friends before this event. It seems that they had been thinking about us and the unfortunate list of things that had happened to us over the previous weeks and wanted to let us know this in a very thoughtful way. When speaking to them to say thank you they explained that they too had been in a similar situation once and someone had done something similar for them and they felt they wanted to share it with us.

I would usually be quite clear about the fact i have lost my faith in humanity, let down by my extended family and friends i thought were close. But recently we have been lucky enough to meet a few people who have quickly become our close friends, people we can trust and people we have a lot of time for. This gesture of kindness has had a huge impact on us because it has made us realise even more so that our friends are watching out for us.

Sundays surprise package set something in to motion and since then we've had one piece of good news after another. It seems our life now has a new path, There are big things later in the year to look forward to, and a new company to work with on the blog (which i am really excited about). Its great to know that despite recent events we can start moving forward again with smiles on our faces. I feel so lucky at the moment to have the friends and family that we do and i hope (although i know!) we can be there for them as much as they have been there for us!

"Tea, though ridiculed by those who are naturally coarse in their nervous sensibilities will always be the favorite beverage of the intellectual."

One of the last things i thought i would hear when picking Mrs M up from work is ' One of the girls has bought you a present', exciting! It seems that our friend Kelsie has been brushing up on her Gifts from the Pirates adventures and has been reading all about our Fox hunt. I was so chuffed when i opened the bag to find a dapper looking fox staring back at me, monocle and all. This is the first fox item bought for us and it is much appreciated.

Within 10 minutes of walking through the door the gentleman fox had been washed out and was full of tea. A good old cup of tea just cant be beaten and drinking from my new mug made it all that more enjoyable. Thanks Kelsie that was really kind of you and a lovely surprise.

The Gifts from the pirates fox hunt returns very soon for part 4!

“If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands.”

Seth hasn't been with us for the last week, he's been away. Obviously we really missed him so today knowing that he was coming home we were all really excited, Opeie especially (he's been asking for his big brother every day). After all the big hugs and kisses Seth was desperate to give Opeie something he had got him while away, a selection of super hero ducks. It was so sweet how excited he was to give his little brother his gift and Opeie was really happy when he saw them. I love that they are so close it's so important and knowing that Seth was thinking about him while away makes me so happy. They've been joined at the hip this morning, Opeie's going to be even more excited when he realises that Seth doesn't have to be in school for a while.

Roll on the summer holiday and some amazing adventures with my favourite people.