"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful."

As we took down the trees and the decorations last week we all felt a little gloomy as the house looks so bare once all the colour and glitter has gone. As we carefully packed away all the tree decorations we have collected over the years it made me realise that we needed the next installment of our Gifts from the Pirates fox hunt. Whenever we've been out shopping on the build up to Christmas and spotted a festive fox we've snapped them up straight away. So here are the sly ornaments that were making our trees look pretty this year...

Nanny and Grandad added an extra fox themed book to Opeie's ever expanding collection which was lovely. I love how family and friends pick up on the little quirks that make our family what it is.

Each year we pick a toy to sit on top of the tree (angels are so last season). We've had Holly from Ben and Holly, Cat in the hat and Miffy and this year foxes made their way to the top of two of our trees.

Nanny and Grandad again turned up a few weeks before Christmas and gave the boys a very cute Fox each that spent the build up to Christmas keeping each other warm on our stairs. It was a lovely little touch to our festive looking home, thank you Nanny Roo.

I'm already looking forward to what foxey treats next year has to offer. 

Unexpected kindness is the most powerful least costly and mostunderrated agent of human change.”

It is so nice to see daily how much Opeie loves his family. When he's playing / role playing all our family and friends are included even if they are not there at the time. Last week while shopping for Mrs M's Mother's Day gift Opeie started to get really excited and couldn't catch his breath. When he finally got his words out it seemed that he had spotted an enormous Lindt bunny and knowing how much Nanny loves Lindt chocolate he was desperate to have a picture taken to send her way...

Opeie is such a thoughtful little boy. I think, like me, he really appreciates the family he has and he wants to make everyone happy with these thoughtful little acts of kindness.

"The most important thing in the world is family and love."

Saturday felt like a little bit of a wasted day. Mrs M was working for a few hours and the weather was awful so me and the little super hero spent the day in apart from a trip to the game shop to trade in some unwanted games for newbies. Yesterday really made up for it though, the sun was out and everywhere looked cheerful again. We didn't have any plans so we spent the first couple of hours of the morning trying to decide what to do. eventually we decided and packed a picnic and headed to Attingham park. We took a stroll towards the house on the grounds and it was really peaceful, I love walking around holding Mrs M's hand, we don't seem to get to do it very often and it always feels quite romantic.

 Our game of hide and seek in the garden was made a little easier by the big red super Mario hat that Opeie was insisting on wearing all morning. He was looking rather cute though.

After eating our grub and spending some time in the walled garden we jumped back in the car and took a slow drive towards Mrs M's parents house. Opeie was feeling exhausted so it was a great opportunity to get him down for a nap so that he was full of energy for all of those kisses he was going to get off nanny.

After a cup if tea, racing some toy cars and a game of Bigjigs skittles with Nanny and Grandad we all jumped in the car and drove to Auntie Lottie's house...

Opeie was so excited that he got to have a ride around on one of uncle Aaron's vintage tractors and i even got to drive it around the garden too which was lots of fun. The weather was so lovely all afternoon and being around the people we love the most made for a pretty perfect Sunday afternoon.

"Silver white winters that melt into springs, these are a few of my favorite things"

We had had a couple of weeks of excellent behavior from Seth after the incident three weekends back so we decided to give Seth the thing he had missed out on due to his out of character lack or appreciation, obviously we hadn't sent it back but it was important to teach Seth that he needs to be aware of the effort we put in as parents and to make him realise how loved he actually is.

Since getting the Micro Scooters a couple of months ago Seth has become an addict and had been working on his behaviour so that he might get a scooter of his own. Seth had his eye on the pink Sprite Which I thought was great as there is no gender colours issue with the boys. Even though Seth had received some grief off his friends at school when he told them he wanted a pink scooter he informed me that he simply retaliated with "my step dad is big and has a massive beard and his favourite colour is pink!" Yeah... Go Seth!!

Well the day had come to give Seth his scooter and this time round we received the very appreciative response we should have got a few weeks back. Unfortunately the weather decided to throw a spanner in the works for a couple of days but as soon as it had cleared (despite the floor still being wet) we took our wheels over to Nanny and Grandads with the promise of some long smooth walkways that run for miles.

 There's something about Micro scooters that turns any new rider into a hogger and there was no exception with Nanny and Grandad. As soon as they had felt the wind at their ankles there was no stopping them. It was great to see them getting involved with the boys new hobby but it was everything I would expect from Mrs M's fun loving rents. Here you can see Grandad who is very skillfully balancing using only his tongue (The mans a genius!!).

The walkways were pretty quiet so we got to race up and down almost Undisturbed. Seth had a couple of small tumbles but it's all part of the learning curve, it was good to see him brush himself off and get back on, he was so excited about his new scooter and said 'I feel really cool'. Seth has been learning to skateboard which understandably has been slow going, with restricted mobility and less sense of balance it has been difficult for him to stay on the board but the great thing about Micro Scooters is having those bars in front to steady himself mid transit. The scooter has given Seth so much confidence and it's lovely to see him fly by with a smile on his face. 

While we were scooting i was thinking how awesome it would be to get a scooter with chunky wheels so when we got home i had another look on the site and spotted the Monster Kickboard Scooter. This scooter looks great and id love to have a try of the steering on this model as it is a lot like Opeie's scooter. Our scooting adventures definitely need a personal blog related touch so stay tuned and watch this spot.

After seeing Nanny and Grandad whizzing around on the scooters and getting into it I think Mrs M is feeling a little left out and wants to join the team. She's got her eye on the little flowery number. Who knows you may see that famous scene from the sound of music with the Von Trapp's on bicycles, recreated on scooters, a modern day take on family foot powered travelling.

"The family you come from isn't as important as the family you're going to have."

Since our day out to the beach last weekend I had been counting down the days until yesterday. We had made arrangements with Mrs M's parents last week to go to the seaside again (weather permitting). Although we get to see them a fair bit it's always round at either of our houses so going out and spending the day together was a really nice change. We woke up early to prepare a picnic and sort out what we needed, things are so different when you don't have children you can pack a small bag and your sorted, we ended up with four bags heaving with 'stuff', Opeie woke up soon after, sat up, rubbed his eyes and said "see nanny and grandad" which i thought was lovely, nanny and grandad came around 7:30ish and we all piled in the car and headed off on our journey to Llandudno. I'd never been before so didn't know what to expect but I was excited about going out for the day.

The weather was glorious as we'd come to expect from the last few days, I was so greatful for the air con in the car the five of us would have been baking without it. We arrived at Llandudno around 10 and after driving around looking for somewhere to park for a bit we parked up and headed down to the main strip. I was having a great time being out and walking about (a bit like a dog), but Mrs M and her folks seemed a little disappointed, it was quite run down and very tacky but the sun was out and it was much better than another day lounging in the back garden. Opeie managed to spot the hello kitty ride as soon as we got to the pier and Nanny Roo couldn't help but get in on the action too.

 After a brief walk along the pier we headed over to the beach, but it was a little dirty and covered in hundreds of dead jelly fish (gross), Mrs M didn't look amused so we left the beach for a walk along the sea front and then found a bench so that Opeie could have some strawberries and cuddle and kiss his new inflatable spider-man that nanny and grandad brought him.

We had a potter around the shops but it was really hot and Opeie was getting quite sleepy up on my shoulders so we headed back to the car for a spot of lunch. It was obvious we had all had enough of Llandudno but none of us were ready to go home as it was still mid afternoon so Grandad mentioned a place we could go that was kind of on the way home called Betws y coed so we all piled in again and went about our adventure, Mrs M dropped off not long after setting off closely followed by grandad so me and Nanny had a nice chat on the way down with Opeie joining in where he could.

Betws y Coed was beautiful, clean and quite picturesque with a few shops, ice cream parlour and surprisingly a vegan / gluten free restaurant (Mrs M's eyes lit up). There was greenery everywhere and everyone seemed happy to be there. Mrs M got to feel 5 years old again when a worried Nanny and Grandad started to apply suncream to her (this parenting job clearly never ends). I think having nanny and grandad in the car had got Opeie quite excited so he missed his afternoon nap, but as soon as we sat down in the park and he had a feed he was out like a light so we sat in the shade under a tree while he slept chatting and watching the world go by.

 It was only a short nap, after about half and hour he woke up and was concerned that Nanny and Grandad were not with us so straight back on my shoulders he got and off we went to track down those elusive grandparents. We soon spotted Nanny Roo so Opeie was happy, Mrs M was desperate to have a look in the Vegan restaurant and Opeie was pulling me through the restaurant and out the back door because he could see trains. My cute talking satnav guided me over the railway bridge and to the gift shop where we brought tickets to go on the miniature steam train. Opeie wasn't sure about it at first but once we got going he had a great time chugging along and waving at Mrs M, Nanny and Grandad every time we went past. Opeie got just as much excitement from the train tickets we were given and was talking about them all the way back to the restaurant.

Time for a much needed sit down and drink, the weather seemed to be getting hotter and hotter (not that I'm complaining) so we sat and had a drink and some snacks. Opeie kept saying 'Bottomly Potts covered in spots', being a little hot and bothered it took me a minute to realise that our very excited boy had spotted a dalmatian sitting by us and it had triggered off Opeie's love for Hairy Maclary and his spotty friend (such a clever boy).

The drive home was relaxing and Opeie's contagious laugh kept us entertained on the journey back as he waved his feet around and we took it in turns to say 'ewwww stinky'. We had managed to go the day without an awkward toilet break being needed by Opeie while travelling, well that was until half the way home when Opeie announced 'Chocolate Pooh' and i had to sit on the side of a lay by with him on his potty (I'm so proud of Opeie's potty training he's been amazing).

We had such an amazing day and it made me realise even more how lucky we are to have Gary and Ruth in our lives. I really don't know why we don't have days out together more often but i guess its so easy to get wrapped up with all the other things that are going on. With the weather the way it is though hopefully there will be chance for us to have another fun day out very soon.

Thanks Nanny and grandad we love you very much xxx