Caravaning

This weekend we picked up our new moving house :) and we were so excited.

We dropped off the children at Grandma and Grandads and headed down to Flintshire to pick it up for 1030. The drive down was silent, hubby was nervous about driving with the caravan as he hadnt done it before and I was nervous about the prospect of actually owning a caravan (and nervous about him driving with a caravan for the first time)

When we got there we were showed around the caravan, how to do all the bits, showing us little tricks and giving us some helpful tips. The guy was really good, Clive, he spent 3 hours with us, answering all our questions and getting us hooked up to the car. Then we went inside and sorted out the last of the paper work and got it all transferred over to me. We had a wander around the shop, picked up little bits that we needed, we were able to swap alot of things that was originally in our contract because we had bought them already second hand which saved alot of money thankfully. And I was able to pick up a few decor bits and pieces to make it look a bit more homely.

Then we set off home.. it was a little daunting on the narrower roads, but I just closed my eyes to not react how I would normally and make a big deal over things that he had covered. It took us just over an hour to get home which was a good time and then we set about getting the caravan put away.

I wont go into detail with it, but the moving the van actually only took about 10 minutes, then we put all the locks on with a little struggle. Total time to get everything away and ready to leave was probably about 1.5hours.

Then we went to my dads for tea before bringing the children home. They saw the caravan out of their bedroom window and were so excited for the next day when they could have a play :)


And so our caravan adventure begins, insha'Allah it will bring us many memories in the future

Decorating

We've been in this house since August 2015 and at the end of last year we decided we would finally paint the house. We never bothered in our old place but a mixture of reasons so it felt strange but nice to be feeling a little more like a home. Because I need more than just birthing my 3rd and final child in the living room lol :)

So 2 weeks ago we, although I say we I do mostly mean my husband bless him. My job was looking after the children and trying to not let them get in the way. It took us 6 days and that's 7 rooms and a up/downstairs hall :) I'm very impressed with what we achieved, it's not brilliant (gloss wasn't good) and we still haven't done the doors as we need to work on our glossing.

After the paint was dry hubby went back on his 'bare is better's theory and asked where I wanted all our bits to go :) bare walls are just wrong! Especially when you have a love for colour and 3 children. So we put some bits up courtesy of poppetry shop (wooden cutouts and burnt items) and aoife_and_me (felt garlands) both of which have amazing customer service, those girls are always willing to go above and beyond!! I'm currently working with one for a little custom piece which I can't wait to show you guys

What we did this weekend

So after over a year of trying to find the perfect one, we have... And then we let a great deal slip through our fingers, oh well that wasn't supposed to be for us. So we decided to bite the bullet and buy from a dealer rather than waiting for someone to be selling their fairly recent 2018..... Caravan!!!

Yes we are joining thousands of people who do it already and we can't wait!! We have no money now, which scares me a little but it's going to be so worth it. It also doesn't stop me looking at cute little caravan bits and picturing said things in the caravan. Pictures, pillows, key holder, caravan family mugs... you know, the normal stuff. I'm really trying to keep a zero waste head on about it though.. we are looking at lots of 2nd hand stuff which is good but we also know we need to buy new for bits too.

I can see us starting a YouTube channel about it all.. caravanning from an Islamic perspective.

Eid surprise

So I recently got posted these amazing things from KDevision , this girl is amazing... her website deals with laser cut pieces and her customer service is phenomenal. I messaged her way back in November and asked her if she was able to do me a stencil for the boys to use to make Eid cards for next year. We have a few chats back and forth then she went off for umrah masha’Allah and kept me informed of where she was with my request which I hadn’t expected at all. Then a few weeks ago she messaged me asking for a few more details and then came back with a template, this week I had it in my hand with some bookmarks that I bought too. I’m so impressed with her stuff and I can’t wait to use them. 

It’s the little touches! All packaging recyclable 

The bookmarks

The stencil

Treats for the family

Recently bought these off a lady on Facebook who was painting up dolls from my scandi group with some amazing detail so asked if she could do me a family set... thought they would go nice on the window sill during the year. Hubby and boys in white jubbas with blue trousers, me and the baby in skirts and tunics :) and of course my silicon/wood nursing necklace. Unfortunately she doesn’t have a page, although I totally think she should do but I’ll find her details if anyone is interested

Zero waste purchases

This was my most recent purchase from the lovely Rachael at Nurtured.me I think I realised through a Facebook group that we were fairly close geographically so we tried to meet... eventually it happened and she passed on these lovely bits so I didn’t have to pay for shipping. She’s amazing!! Always there to answer my questions, can’t wait to see when she gets a shop set up :) in case you’re wondering I got these....

Animal foot stilts these will make up his eid bag as a way to get some useful physiotherapy into his play
3 pack reusable produce bags I’m yet to use these as hubby is currently doing most of the shopping but they are a great quality
Georganics charcoal dental floss we are just finishing up the last of our plastic stock before moving onto the 3 rolls of this I have in our bathroom
Eco coco nut dish brush yet to use this as I don’t want to use all my new things all at once so they run out all at once
Eco coco nut twin scourer pack I’ve just recently started using this and I love it, it’s so much easier and gentler to use. There is less scrubbing than with one of those yellow/green sponge scourer things so it’s easier on your pans and easier on you. My only thing is that it doesn’t keep the lather long but that could be the swap in dish washing liquid we’ve just made too. Would highly recommend these
Bambu pot scraper I just used this for the first time last night, it did make things slightly easier but I wouldn’t say it’s a game changer... I think using this with the scourer is good as it would stop you getting all big bits of food stuck in the scourer.

Let’s try this again.... Ramadhan

So let’s try this again.

I sit on boy2s bed ‘getting him to sleep’ while I listen to the snores above (boy1) and pray the baby doesn’t wake up. I’m just to google sleep patterns for a 15month old as I always forget until I remember and then forget again but I don’t know whether it’s teeth (she’s just cut number 6) or just getting down to her own pattern. Unfortunately I’ve been off for 2 weeks following a car accident and I’m still waiting for my own car back so patterns have gone all out the window. 

It seemed we had finally made a break through with boy2 nursery and he had a great week.... then bam... literally! Straight in the back when on the way to pick up boy1... boy2 complained of a sore neck the next day and my shoulder and neck were starting to ache a little so we went to a&e and I’ve been off work since. 

Let me know your plans for ramadhan... since having children I’ve tried to make the time around the 2 eids exciting for them. Like Christmas yet not if that makes sense. We don’t have family to visit (abroad or don’t celebrate) but I make an effort to include my non muslim family in our celebrations. Last year we bought gifts for my dad and stepmum who came over for food, the boys made a card for them too... and of course as is currently tradition thanks to a local friend we took chocolate cake and if you haven’t tasted this cake before try it!! It’s amazing!! All money to a great cause but only available for 1 month a year. I keep an eye out throughout the year for decorations, presents and ideas... trying to do things that will still be doable in years to come with 3 children with our age gaps (19months then 3 years) Last year I went a bit overboard with treat bags as I was off and had the time... don’t know how I will do it this year but thankfully 2 will still be in nursery so I won’t have 2 full school classes until next year lol. Then I do wonder what I will do when Eid al-aha is during school time, currently it’s during the summer holidays and I think I’m going to try make that a party thing for the children... just got to figure out specifics. Our current traditions are chocolate cake, pre eid pjs, changing certain decorations for last 10 days and then for eid obviously  and eid prayers big breakfast, presents, family time... we both take a few days off and enjoy ourselves.

Anyways.. I feel like I’ve kinda waffled on here but just wanted to start getting some things down. Not too sure yet where I’m going to go with this blog, I want to show you guys the things that I test me and the things I  buy for our home and family, the choices we make and the things that affect us in general. Hope I don’t bore you all with it, but will see :)