What's the Story? Archives - Mummy Endeavours

Double Twins!

March 2, 2015 By Mummy Endeavours 36 Comments

Time for 'What's The Story?' again, where I share a photo and tell the story behind it. I like doing this with old photo's, giving me the opportunity to look back and reminisce, something I love doing, especially as the kids are growing up so fast! I like nothing more sometimes, than to sit at my computer and look through photo's.... does everyone do this?!

twins in pram

Anyway, this photo is from 2010, on a glorious Summer's day when we'd taken a walk to our local little park, not far from our house.

I had my gorgeous twin boys in their pram, and my little girl brought her twins too! Ha!

She just wanted to be like her Mummy.

I used to love taking my boys out in their pram, they always looked super cute sitting together... and here on this warm day, their gorgeous little chubby arms and legs were on display! They ALWAYS caused a stir, being identical... nearly everyone we walked past would want to have a 'look' and a 'coo' over them - it was very sweet and of course I was very proud 🙂

I remember this day so well, it feels so recent, yet it was over 4 years ago and my babies, all three of them in this photo, have changed beyond all recognition. My boys are at school now and my daughter is in year 5! I think she was only in reception here!

Crazy!

Aww my little girl.... My Mini Me.

She doesn't really play with dolls much these days. She might have the odd fleeting faze but it's getting few and far between now that she's 9! And she definitely wouldn't be taking them out in a pram! Bless her, if she ever spoke about babies, it was always 'they' or 'these', she spoke in the plural because that's what I had... two babies at once!

This photo makes me smile, we often used to walk round to the park.... it was late in the afternoon on this day and it had been so hot. It was cooling off by this point though... much more comfortable to be out, and we made the most of the sun before it went down.

I can't wait for the summer this year!

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Filed Under: Kids, Twins, What's the Story?

Twin Tummy

January 12, 2015 By Mummy Endeavours 42 Comments

pregnant twin tummy

This is me.

A very pregnant me with my twins, six years ago now. Actually it was around this time of year in 2009 that I found out I was pregnant, although I didn't know I was expecting twins until quite a few weeks later!

How big is that tummy?

This was taken a couple of days before I went in to have my C-section in August, and by this point (35 weeks) I'd had enough. My tummy was incredibly heavy, as you can imagine it would be with two good sized babies inside, I was uncomfortable and everything was a struggle, but on the flip side of that I was also very attached to my bump and I didn't want it to go.

I loved being pregnant with all of my children. Four children but three pregnancies! It's such a beautiful, special time that I found indescribably magical. I know not everyone feels this way but apart from the early weeks with this one when I didn't feel well, I loved every minute.

My twin pregnancy was obviously double that feeling. I felt brilliantly smug and clever at times that I had conceived twins, as though it pushed my Mummy status up a notch! I was just so proud.

However, my pregnancy was fraught with complications from the start and was very stressful. I needed to do all I could to ensure the wellbeing of my tiny sons and by this time in my pregnancy, after weekly specialist scans, I knew I was almost there. My boys had got to a good weight and this was the point my doctors had all hoped for so it was really the happiest time of my pregnancy.

After months of worrying, my identical twin boys were born healthy 🙂

I did love my tummy though, I look at this now and want to go back in time to experience it all over again, just for a little while!

photo 4d06e438-4e6a-4f3b-88b2-0c1093350397_zps361ad0e9.jpg

Filed Under: Magic Moments, Twins, What's the Story?

Holidays Blues

June 9, 2014 By Mummy Endeavours 10 Comments

We haven't got a summer holiday booked this year... well OK we've just been to Butlins which was fabulous, but I mean an aeroplane type holiday abroad somewhere HOT! We didn't go last year either due to heavy building work starting on our house (which is still going on I might add!) but we did go the year before to Gran Canaria and it was amazing. I desperately want to go back to the very same place because I loved it so much!

My favourite part was this infinity pool which has stunning views across the beautiful bay. It was simply heavenly and my children spent most of the holiday in it!!

infinity pool gran canaria

Gran Canaria

DSCF1565

infinity pools

infinity pool

I could overload with photo's but I won't. I was just reminiscing and feeling depressed that I haven't got a holiday to look forward to so thought I'd share some of these with you!

Filed Under: Holidays, Magic Moments, What's the Story?

A Butlins Family Selfie :)

June 2, 2014 By Mummy Endeavours 23 Comments

family selfie

I absolutely love this photo! It was taken last week at Butlins by Teen (here on the left) for a group selfie!!

The reason I love it is obviously because I have all my children together. I never, ever get a photo of my kids all together because, well, Teen doesn't want to pose of course! Not that I blame him, it IS slightly awkward when someone wants to take your picture, how to stand, how to smile etc! Younger kids don't care, they're usually happy to oblige, and Teen is happy doing his own selfies to post on his countless social media channels but to pose for me? No way, absolutely not!!

We were sitting having some refreshments in the little coffee shop within the Wave Hotel where we were staying at Butlins. I'd had a coffee and we were all chilling out on the large comfy seats! The twins were cuddling up to me so I grabbed my phone hoping to get a snap of me with them. Teen was in happy spirits and jumped in, took the phone to take the shot and my daughter jumped in too!!

Very spontaneous but then the best things usually are aren't they?

I love all my children so so much and even though it's not the most flattering photo of me.... I could just look at this photo all day long, staring at my beautiful babies! We had such a lovely time at Butlins and this photo for me sums it up. Happy faces, happy times 🙂

Filed Under: Butlins, Magic Moments, What's the Story?

What’s the Story?/Magic Moments – Butlins

April 28, 2014 By Mummy Endeavours 7 Comments

This photo is of my gorgeous twin boys and was taken yesterday on Skegness beach at Butlins Resort.

At the end of the summer last year I was chosen (still can't believe it) to be Butlins Ambassador for the year 2013/14.

This weekend was our first official 'Ambassador' meeting. It was rather delayed to be honest because the poor organiser, James, from the social media team at Butlins, couldn't organise a date that all the Ambassadors could make, he tried quite a few! But I think in the end he was never going to please everyone so he just decided to pluck out a date and hope for the best!

I was able to make all the previous dates but this one clashed with the Tots100 blog summit (typical) which I'd been lucky enough to bag a ticket for! Aargh!!!! I now had a dilemma. I so wanted to go to blog summit, I went to Britmums last year and loved it and wanted to experience the Tots one as I know they're lots of fun too. But I didn't want to miss our Ambassador meeting!

In the end it all came down to a personal choice of what I felt was more important to me.

I was thrilled to be chosen as a Butlins Ambassador and I knew that I would make every effort to be at our first meeting. It was being held at one of their resorts, not the one we have chosen to review which was a real bonus as I would get to sample not one, but two resorts over my Ambassador year.

Skegness is a fair distance from us though, up on the East Coast of Lincolnshire, a three hour drive but being able to take my family for the weekend meant we could make the most of it and we did!

We had a great time. The resort was fab (I will be writing a separate post about our weekend later this week), the meeting was interesting, and I got to spend some quality time with my family at the seaside, which we was brilliant!

The kids loved it and I cannot wait to take our 5 day break at the end of next month down in Bognor Regis. 🙂

Filed Under: Butlins, Magic Moments, What's the Story?

Our crazy #teamhonkrelay day for Sport Relief 2014

February 17, 2014 By Mummy Endeavours 13 Comments

Bit late writing this post up! Wanted to get it up last Monday but didn't get round to it as I was ill and wanted to link it up with my favourite Monday linky's so here it is today instead 🙂

My initial post can be found here where I have written more specifically about how the relay worked and the idea behind it

The Hemal Hempstead / St.Albans lot (us) had our day to shine as part of the amazing, fabulous, super duper Team Honk Relay team on Tuesday 4th February (almost two weeks ago).

And what a fun filled morning it turned out to be, but not without it's hiccups!

Myself and three other ladies, Afra from Mad Mum of 7, Mary from My Model Mummy and Claire from Laid Back Mum of 4 decided we were going to cycle from Hemel Hempstead to St. Albans. When I say cycle, I mean cycle, drive and trolley dash! Cycling alone would've covered about 6 miles.... a fair stretch for an unfit bunch! We would've done it but another blogger had to pull out due to work commitments on the day so our connection from bikes to car was lost and due to a few ailments the decision was taken out of our hands! We decided to get there any which way we could!!!!

We arranged to meet at Radio Dacorum's offices where Mary and Afra are presenters so we could go live on air to shout about what we would be getting up to that day, and to drum up some support and donations!

We dressed up in pyjamas for the relay! From left to right: Afra, Claire, Me and Mary!! Don't we look gorg!

We dressed up in pyjamas for the relay, just to make it funny! From left to right: Afra, Claire, Me and Mary!! Don't we look gorg!

My lovely Sport Relief T-Shirt... so members of the public didn't think we were random nutters - we were dressed like this for a reason!

Another member of our little team was Paul from I'm Well Confused who was brilliant at organising us and our route, he was also going to be amazing and cycle the WHOLE way... over 10 miles.

The amazing Paul who cycled over 10 miles

Paul at Dacorums office, just about to set off dressed as Charlie Brown!!

We cycled, drove and trolley dashed what seemed like forever to hand the baton over to the Mayor of St.Albans at a local school, where some of the children had waited patiently to make a baton swapping train down to the rest of the St.Albans bloggers!

Us four climbing the last slope to get to the school.... worn out but check out that big grin on Mary's face!

It's Me!! Handing the baton over the St.Albans Mayor! I was knackered and so glad to see her 🙂

Here she is with the Baton heading off to meet the other St.Albans bloggers who scooted, ran and caught the train to hand the baton over to the London leg! The Mayor was pretty amazing I have to say

We had the best laugh, honestly, on our journey....

Afra in a trolley lol

Pulling another trolley with some of our supplies...

I can't tell you how much we enjoyed ourselves, we giggled non stop... it was a great experience, a chance to get together and really make a difference by raising lots of money for Comic Relief.

On the day, we raised over £800. The team target for the whole of the UK relay was £20000 and so far, collectively, we are at £18750, with a fair few teams to go so hopefully we will not only meet but smash that target.

You can still donate....

http://my.sportrelief.com/sponsor/stalbansteamhonk

You can also donate via your mobile phone, simply text: Text HONK to 70005 and donate £5 to Sport Relief .

We thank you in advance.

Some of the other St.Albans gang, including Actually Mummy in a Buzz Lightyear outfit!

When it was all over we treated ourselves to this slap up meal...

This went down well I can tell you!

Why not check out this cool video made by the lovely people at Radio Dacorum 🙂

Filed Under: Magic Moments, TeamHonk Sport Relief 2014, What's the Story?

Gymnastics Champion

December 16, 2013 By Mummy Endeavours 11 Comments

Yesterday my Girl competed in her very first gymnastics competition.

She's only been doing gymnastics two terms and only one as part of the squad. I was a little reluctant to let her start in the squad as it meant jumping from the one hour a week recreational gymnastics, to three times a week, two hours per session full on training!

I was worried that it might be too much. That it would spoil her enthusiasm for it by becoming too pressured! I'd also heard a few minor horror stories about this particular gym school - that they were a bit too strict and upset some of the girls.

But I was wrong. She loves it. She loves all of her coaches. Yes they do a lot of strengthening at this stage, preparing them for the more difficult movements and to compete within the squad but my Girl is absolutely loving it.

She had been training for yesterdays competition for a number of weeks, learning small routines for the four apparatus - Beam, Vault, Bars and Floor.

We all went along to watch and support her as a family. I felt extremely nervous but she didn't bat an eyelid. She was too cool for school - Breezed through all four routines and won!

She was the overall Champion of her group!!!

She was amazing. And what was even more lovely to see was all the girls supporting each other. They were all brilliant and it was a close call but my Girl won bars and floor and just pipped the others to the overall winner's spot which was fantastic for her! She's not at all competitive really and would've been happy for any of the others to win which makes it even more special to me that it was her and that all her hard work paid off!!

Proud Mummy doesn't even cover it! x