Internet shopping without spending money, my baby is nearing 1 year old already, summer holidays are in sight and endless clothes washing!

I have decided that going from a utility room where the roof was falling down, the floor was horrible, it was cold, there were cobwebs and it was generally an unpleasant place to be and moving into a lovely spacious water tight, double glazed one isn't the idea of 'fun' I had in mind. In fact, I didn't think it was going to be fun in the first place. Yes I was sadly excited at the prospect of not having to run out there, chuck the washing in the machine and running out again and then doing the same when it needed to be transferred into the tumble dryer. Then once it was done I brought it into the living room to be folded and sorted and the whole place ended up looking like a Chinese laundry. However, I now feel like I spend my life in the utility room. It's all done in one place. I wash, tumble, fold and sort in one space which is fab for keeping it out of view and organized, but I now feel like I run my own launderette. Apart from the lack of curlers, tabard and fag hanging out of my mouth I resemble Dot Cotton, and half hope that Jack Branning might walk in and hand me his 'smalls' to wash!

No plug sockets, no paint on the walls, no worktops and no flooring but the washing still has to be done! (I must sort the washing out and put it away!)

This also means that the building work is done and the house has been plastered too. The builder has left, tea bag consumption has lowered considerably since the workmen departed and we have been left to paint, lay floors, install bathrooms and decorate the rest of the house. It still looks like a bomb has hit and there is still so much to do, yet we have come a long way too and very pleased with the build and also glad it is over and we can go at our own pace with everything else.

Our daughters room, almost complete!

The teenagers room is getting there too. 

With the summer holidays looming I might get the kids to join in with the washing but there is more chance of my teenager keeping his room tidy! Occupying kiddies in the summer holidays, I did think of summer school!  I have now decided that each child can choose a day out and we will do that once a week for 4 weeks, I am sure the 1 yr old doesn't have a preference to anywhere just yet so he will just have to tag along! Our 3 year old has already said he wants to go to Peppa Pig World and to see Thomas on the Watercress Line. I did say one day out each so it will be a tough choice for him, or we see how funds go. Days out are so expensive these days. I saved loads of 'pay for a child and get an adult in free' from Kelloggs recently only to find that kids prices for theme parks are almost as much as adults and tickets alone would still cost £100. The perils of not being able to buy a 'family ticket' even though we are a family but family to most places is still 2 adults and 2 children like it was way back when I was on outings with my parents! I am wondering if we could get a new family ticket created. The XL family ticket, for families who like to live larger!!

This time last year I was busy pestering all of my Facebook friends for votes in a photo competition. It had to be a picture of our baby bump and of course I took baby 'bump' literally! Our picture was one of the winners and we won a fab Mountain Buggy Duet courtesy of the lovely people at Mountain Buggy and of course everyone who voted for me. Everyone was very glad when it was over though so I stopped hassling them! How time flies though, yes I sound old! This year has flown by though and I can't believe that our youngest will be turning 1 year old next month. He is still my baby but at the same time he is at the stage where he has been crawling for months, he has sprouted teeth, he is eating well and now he needs to go out and find a job. Wait, wrong child, I mean he needs to learn to walk that's the next challenge. He has been standing up and walking around the furniture for ages so only time will tell as to when he turns into my 'toddler' and no longer my baby. Sad times.

               Before 'bump'!                                                             After bump. :-)

So that's us for today. Impending doom of the summer holidays where the kiddies spend all day moaning that they have nothing to do, wind each other up, stress Mum out and a day out costs a small fortune whatever you decide to do. I am off to carry on my internet 'window' shopping, if OH asks I am shopping for a bathroom, however those shoes and that handbag would compliment the new bathroom colour scheme very well.