“Sometimes, reaching out and taking someone's hand is the beginning of a journey."

Today has been day two of our long weekend of walking, we had such a great time at Carding Mill valley yesterday that we decided to go valley walking again today. The sun was glorious and it was a lot warmer than yesterday, we still needed to wrap up though. Opeie was loving being out in the sunshine and it was a really nice relaxing afternoon. 

It probably sounds daft to most people but one of the things that i love most about having a good old wander about it getting to hold Mrs M's hand, we don't seem to get a chance to do it much as we've always got our hands full with the boys, but having Opeie up on my shoulders gave me the perfect excuse for a bit of cuteness.

We got to climb up the hills and walk through streams and everything was beautiful, peaceful and very relaxing. I love being able to spend quality time with my favourite people but we were all missing Seth, it's rubbish that he doesn't get to be with us all the time.

I could have walked about for hours and i know Mrs M felt the same but Opeie hadn't had a nap and all the walking was clearly tiring him out so we headed back to the car. The walk back down was a lot easier although there was still a fair bit of snow and Mrs M was slipping all over the place, So while I'm looking for wellies for myself i think I'll also be looking for sensible walking boots for Mrs M.

I wonder where we'll be going out walking tomorrow??

NaturePaint the Eco friendly way to home decoration.

If you have clicked on any of the 'Mrs M' links on my posts then you will know from her blog that as a family we try to be as eco friendly as we can. We're picky when it comes to the food we buy and we use products that have as little unnatural ingredients as we can find. We think its really important to limit the amount of chemicals that we come into contact with especially when it comes to the food we consume.

We're always looking for new products that fit in with our ethos, so when we stumbled upon 'NaturePaint' we were really interested in the product and the background of the company. Seth's bedroom needed refreshing so we decided to use Nature paint to paint one of his walls. After receiving a colour chart through the post we decided on 'Butcher's broom' and we were really excited about receiving it. We received it a few weeks back but decided to wait to paint his wall in the Easter holiday as the paint is non toxic and perfectly safe for both boys to use and we wanted them to get involved.

Seth was desperate to get painting the first day of the Easter holiday but we held off until a few days back. The paint comes in powder form which you have to mix with water which is great because it means it can be sent through the post. So while Mrs M was mixing the paint me and the boys taped off the walls and put sheets down. Seth then put on one of my old shirts and rolled up the sleeves ready for action. (reminded me of when i was in junior school and i used to wear one of my grandads old shirts for my art activities).

 I botched a DIY paint mixer to help Mrs M with the mixing.

 Seth had asked if he could paint some pictures on the wall before covering it so as it was safe for them to mess about with we gave them free reign...

We explained to Seth about the paint being non toxic and the first thing he said was "does that mean i can put my hands in it". Well who are we to stop a child's experiments...(plus we knew it was safe).

Seth's next question... i bet you can guess?? "can you eat it?" As i said before "Well who are we to stop a child's experiments...".

Obviously i didn't eat it and i wouldn't advise anyone to try it but when speaking to a representative of NaturePaint we were told that they also wouldn't advise it but if it was to be accidently consumed it would in fact be harmless. That's the thing that sold it for me.

Anyway back to the job in hand, Now I'm going to be honest, I'm not usually the pessimist but when i saw how much paint was in the bucket i was concerned that there wasn't going to be enough there to paint the entire wall. with paints we have had before we have needed to slap loads up for the coverage that we want but with NaturePaint the pigment is so strong that all we needed was a single thin layer of paint and then we went along and filled in any bits of white that were showing though. These i think were only showing through because of the quality of the rollers we were using.

I really don't say this very often but i have been genuinely impressed by this product, Its safe, the colours are amazing quality, you need a lot less of it compared to other brands and there was no lingering after smell meaning we were comfortable with Seth sleeping in his room that night. It only seems like something silly but at the end of our painting session the thing that impressed me were the tray and bucket we used, I love painting but hate cleaning these things when all the painting is done but when left, the paint drys and can be peeled off like paper leaving your trays and buckets clean and the waste is fully biodegradable, also the packaging is 100% recyclable. Absolutely AMAZING!!!

The end result looked amazing and really made the room, the colour is so vibrant and as i said before i was genuinely impressed and Seth couldn't wait to play in his new room. Its really got us thinking about adding a bit of colour to other rooms in the house. Our bedroom definitely needs a bit of a makeover, we're thinking maybe Damselfly it looked like a great colour on the colour chart.

If your also worried about toxic chemicals or just want to make a safe environment for your children then i would definitely recommend this product its opened our eyes to worry free decorating.

To view more of their great products visit their website http://www.naturepaint.com/

A chilly walk through the hills at Carding Mill Valley

It's Mrs M's last few days of freedom as she told us this morning, She goes back to work Monday to Friday next week so she wanted to get out and do something. Seth on the other hand just wanted to stay in and wait for the postman as he is expecting some packages. But as Mrs M is the boss in our house we got ready for a day out. Seth decided that he wanted to go to Carding Mill Valley so we made a packed lunch for the car, wellies and everything we needed for wrapping up warm. The sun was bright and shiny and the sky was blue but it was rather nippy.

It was a nice drive down there and it didn't take too long, just long enough for Opeie to have a quick nap before the brisk walking commenced. Opeie was adamant that he was going to be wearing my hat and seth's gloves (quite the fashion statement). As we got closer to our destination we started to notice the snow and knew we were going to be in for a chilly mini hike.

We had a spot of lunch in the car when we arrived and then wrapped up warm for our rambling adventure. Seth finds it difficult to walk to far because of his muscles so the 10 minute walk from the car park to the reservoir took more like 40 minutes with the stopping for rests. It was lovely to be out and about walking though and the boys we're really enjoying themselves. Seth was desperate to get his wellies on so he could go splashing in the little stream and Opeie was just mesmerized by the sheep casually walking around.

We reached the Reservoir and Seth was looking a little tired so we all sat down. It was such a beautiful view...

After a 15 minute rest we headed back towards the car, the litre of water i had drank on the journey there was telling me that i needed to find somewhere before i burst, so we headed down to the coffee shop for a nice hot drink and a slice of cake, Seth for some crazy reason opted for an ice lolly?? Strange boy.

Seth by this point was itching to get back to the car so he could put his wellies on and go splashing but before leaving the coffee shop we popped into the gift shop next door and brought the boys a net each so that they could go hunting for little animals. Mrs M and the boys changed their footwear at the car and we headed to the stream which luckily was on a few meters away. Sadly i don't own a pair of wellies so i sat on the grass and took some snaps. Opeie slipped over while in there but luckily Mrs M managed to hold him up before getting a wet bum.

After the splashing in the stream the troops changed their footwear back and we headed home. Seth looked exhausted bless him. We were back home in no time and in the warm so we all went and had a cuddle on our bed. It was so nice to be out and about even with the chilly air. Seth's not with us tomorrow but we're planning on heading out somewhere nice for a walk again.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

To embrace Opeie's new love of Dr Seuss i thought i would splash out on a collection of books that i spotted on eBay to add to the books we already own. Ive always been a huge fan myself so Opeie's big day seemed like the perfect excuse to treat us both to something we love. It's so nice as a parent to have a special something that you do together and sitting together reading Dr Seuss seems to be our thing. Opeie holds my little finger and we say "Best friends" to each other, it's very cute.

Sadly the books didn't turn up in time for his birthday, they arrived the following day so as Opeie can't have chocolate due to allergies the lateness served as a great Easter present for him. He went straight to bed when we got home from out trip to Chris' on Friday so he didn't get to read them when i opened them but i managed to read a few of them relaxing in the bath.

Opeie's favourite so far has been 'wet pet, dry pet, your pet, my pet", but after not reading it before i have fallen in love with 'Thidwick the big-hearted Moose' what a cute story. Ive been so good since Christmas completely reigning in my toy collections but after buying these i can feel a book collection brewing. I think it's really important to have plenty of books at home for your children's development and Opeie is turning in to a real bookworm.

I'm quite sure Opeie's new books will keep us occupied for sometime especially because he loves hearing the same stories over and over. We've read the Lorax seven times in the last few days, i don't mind though as they are great stories and are fun to read. Plus i love seeing the big smile on his little face every time i turn a new page.

There's something really magical about these crazy books with their pages of insanity, it's probably the same way Mrs M feels about Dick Bruna. It'll be nice to have a collection to give Opeie when he's older. Next on my list to buy is 'Dr. Seuss & Mr Geisel and 'The Lorax' pop up book because Opeie is loving the new pop up books we brought Mrs M for mothers day which i will write about very soon.

"A hair in the head is worth two in the brush"

July 12th 2010 and Mrs M is waving a first response test about with a big smile on her face. We had only been trying for a baby for a month but thanks to my strong swimmers and a Mrs M's super eggs we were already on our way to having a baby. All sorts of things go through your head, there's so many decisions that you need to make and in many cases there is the disagreeing of the name. We were really lucky as that wasn't an issue with us. Once I had made it clear that his name wasn't going to be 'Gus' or 'Heath' (come on Mrs M!!!) then there was only one clear winner (my Opie), but Mrs M being Mrs M had to have the last word and decided to change the spelling of it, making it her choice I guess (waves fists in the air... although i am glad). There was something a little more pressing though for us to disagree on...

When I first met Mrs M and she introduced me to Seth i fell in love with him straight away, what an amazing little fella, but I couldn't understand why she hadn't seemed to have done anything with his hair? He was 3 years old and looked like he had never even had that mop trimmed. Mrs M was under the impression that he had 'cool surfer hair' but everyone when out and about assumed HE was actually a SHE. Not that that's an issue it was more the fact that it was all over the shop and he looked like he had Worzel Gummidge hair. So with this in mind you may have figured out that our more pressing disagreement was Opeie's hair (crazy really as he had only been growing inside the hobo hair loving lady of mine for about 4 weeks).

After much deliberation and some pretty stern words from Mrs M we decided that we wouldn't even consider cutting his hair for 18months and although that thought clearly made Mrs M uncomfortable (mainly because she likes to have full control of a situation) she went a long with it. It's not that I wanted him to have a really short hair cut, far from it but I wanted my boy to not look like a vagabond.

Well 18months as you can imagine went by like the blink of an eye and the hair issue was never brought up. I have grown quite accustomed to Opeie's ringlets at the back of his head and ill be honest the thought of cutting his hair made me a little upset. His luscious locks were part of him and I didn't want my little boy to change. It did help though that I think Opeie has quite a boyish face, plus with all the super hero attire it is clear which chromosome is featured in his biological make up.

Today Seth was getting his haircut as he really needed a tidy up, It's usually just the two of us when he goes but Mrs M thought it would be a good idea to take Opeie to get him used to the place and maybe have a trim himself as his fringe was in his eyes. We were both reluctant to get his hair cut but after Seth had stepped down from the barbers chair we ask Opeie if he wanted his cut to which he replied yes (this may have been mainly down to the Mickey Mouse cover that Seth had been wearing to keep the falling hair off). As both me and Mrs M frantically tried to explain that 'we didn't want much off' repeating ourselves as if we were worried she was going to give him a buzz cut I sat watching and if I'm honest felt a little bit nauseous. My little boy was growing up and now I could understand why Seth at 3 looked like a scruff bag.

Surprisingly the haircut went very well and apart from a brief moment when the hairdresser went for his fringe and Opeie had a mini freak out, Opeie really kept his cool. He probably only had a centimetre off at the back and an inch off the fringe, most people wouldn't notice but we know its gone. It's the start of our little boy becoming a bigger boy and its something clearly I'm just going to have to start getting used to.

"If life gives you lemons, make some kind of fruity juice."

My diet has changed so much over the last 6 months, the main reason is to help with weight loss, i want to feel healthier and have more energy but also because on a daily basis we as a family are becoming more aware of the things that we are eating and the rubbish that is in a lot of food. We don't eat take away or excessive amounts of rubbish but I do have a sweet tooth and found it really difficult at first, but now that I have cut cows milk, bread and refined sugars (apart from Opeie's birthday cake of course) out of my diet I feel a lot healthier. The boys have a great diet which is so important and they get their 5 a day every day. Our fridge is always packed solid with greens.

 It's a random way to be starting one of our posts but I'm writing this post because last week we brought a new juicer and juicing has been taking up lots of our time spent in the house and the boys are loving it too. It's been a great way of getting the boys to have even more of the good stuff and they have both been getting involved and making their own. I though that it would be all fruit juices with them but Seth has been having broccoli, aubergine, kale, spinach and even red cabbage, he's been quite adventurous.

It's been amazing how nice it all tastes juiced and juicing is now a permanent part of our daily routine.

"Pictures came and broke your heart, put all the blame on VCR"

Opeie has now started singing a long to songs which is so adorable when I'm driving and can hear him in the back. As the blog is for the boys to look back on i try and keep up to date with the music he is loving at the moment recently his favourite song to sing a long to is...

Perhaps he's going to be a rock star???