By visiting our site, you agree to our privacy policy regarding cookies, tracking statistics, etc.

Simplified Mum Life

Nina A Spencer – Motherhood Mentor – Simplifying the every day for busy overwhelmed mums -Mum Of Twins Twice! Placenta Accreta Survivor, Mental Health Champion, On my own simple living Journey filled with adventure and travel . Embracing The Imperfectly, Chaotic moments of motherhood.
Celebrations

Fathers Day but Daddy is Away!

This morning we should be making you breakfast in bed ok well at least a cup of coffee.

But instead you are on day 7 of working away!

I know I moan and am not the best house wife in the world!

Truth is when we first met and I became aware of you, I was a child. I crushed on you so much. Cried over the fact you didn’t even know I was alive!

Years later when you sent the letter to my childhood home I was sure you had sent it to the wrong person!

Then we got together and soon became a family you me and your son (his mum, her other  son and all the rest of the blended family)

I was always adamant as a teen that I didn’t want children!

Then I became a step-mum! I gave up who I was and had to think about another human being and he wasn’t even mine!

Then my cousin had her son – I was there outside the delivery room and one of the first people to see him! I couldn’t believe how amazing this little human was! Then when you came later in the year and met him I saw you holding him and knew I wanted to become a proper family!

I wanted a tiny human!

Fast forward 13 years and what a family we have! 4 children together (two at a time) and one teen who is now as much mine as he is yours and his mums!

I have watched you with our children! Watched you feed, change, snuggle with, play with, talk to and cuddle our children!

Now I know that the children need to work on some things like picking up their toys and stopping screaming at each other and I know that these things can stress you out.

I know that you have struggled over the past year as have I with everything that has happened but I also know how much you love our children. our family, our adventures.

We are so proud of you and how much you have achieved we just all wish you didn’t have to be away as much especially on fathers day!

I think what I’m trying to say in this rambling post is We love you, and miss you and think you are the best daddy in the world!

Thank you! xx

Nina & The Kids x

Follow:
Celebrations

Summer is here!

Sat inside with the rain pouring it doesn’t feel much like summer.

However during May we have been so lucky with the weather.

May 2018 was the hottest for decades

Inspired by the good weather and the Little Tikes recent findings that Brits have named the first week in June * as the start of summer I thought I would write about what summer means to our family.

*despite the summer solstice being June 21st

63% of Brits state that Summer is their Favorite Season!

Summer for us means

Late nights with friends

Alfresco dinning

Beer Gardens

Mini Adventures to new places

Garden Days

 

 

One in ten Brits think that for them summer starts at the first smell of cut grass.

Every Year for at least the last 8 years we have thrown a BBQ party at the start of the kids 6 week summer holiday.

Its my birthday but we call it our summer BBQ party. we invite our friends and family, we chat, play music, dance, some have even to be known to do the conga around the garden out the gate and around the Coop shop next door!  (You know who you are.)

The Majority of the UK class the first week in June as the start of summer

This BBQ party is one of the big highlights of our year. Its where our little group of friends really first started to form a bond!

So although Summer for us starts at the first cut of the grass or our first BBQ. Our Summer Party is the day we look forward to the most.

Summer coming also means I get to spend 3 days in a field (which can play havoc with my hay-fever) with 500 other women from Women’s Institutes all around the country.

3% of brits know summer has arrived when hayfever symptoms kicks in!

This 3 day break with 3 of my friends from our WI is our time no kids no husbands just us girls and a bottle of wine or two. (or 3)

 

What signals the start of summer for you?

Let me know any traditions you have over the summer period and how you know its summer!

Nina x

 

Statistics are from the Little Tikes survey of over 2000 people.

Little Tikes has an amazing range of toys for a range of ages from the simple things to do over summer like sand boxes and water tables, Swings and slides and dont forget the iconic cozy coupe .

You can shop the full Little Tikes range at https://www.littletikes.co.uk

Also check out the new Fun Zone for more outdoor fun this summer!

 

*This post was written in conjunction with Little Tikes In exchange for a gifted Item!

 

 

 

 

Follow:
Word Of The Month

June -Word Of The Month

Good Morning welcome to June EveryOne.

Half way through the year!

May Update.

Last month was a busy one

We had an adventure in Norfolk, where myself and hubby had a date on the water, some family fun in Bewilderwood, a family boat trip and more.

I had a day trip to This Morning Live with the little twins.

There was a Royal wedding,

There was lots of learning, tantrums, smiles & laughs from both sets of twins and me!

And loads more besides.

June

This month is looking to be a packed one too.

June will see us raising money for the superhero’s at Jessops Sheffield,

I will be having just over a week of solo parenting as Chris travel to the US for work!

It’s Nanny Sue’s birthday and also Chris dads birthday.

It’s Father’s Day,

Myself & Chris are having a date night at Sheffield arena to see Micheal McIntyre.

Then we will have to pack for our Lanzarote trip next month.

Word Of the Month

So with all that in mind what is my word of the month for June?

Last Month I said my word was going to be self care. However due to the sheer busyness of life this hasn’t really happened!

So I’m keeping the word of the month as Self Care and over on instagram I will be using #spencersarcselfcare

Self Care will mean that I do things to improve my health and mood.

So that means doing little things throughout the month. Making sure I schedule in Me time.

They could be swimming, exercise, hair appointment. painting my nails, journaling etc.

What do you do for self care?

What does it mean to you?

Are you guilty of putting self care last on your todo list?

Dont forget to follow me on instagram to see what me and the family get up to daily!

Nina x

Follow:
Adventures

Mill Farm Eco Barn Norfolk Adventure – Spencer’s ARC Travels

Our travels last week took us to the Norfolk Broads countryside. A little Village on the coast called Winterton-On-Sea.

Our home for the week was a beautiful barn conversion called Mill Farm Eco Barn.

The barn does what it says, its very eco friendly, with rainwater running the washing machine, a biomass under floor heating system, its very own allotment that unfortunately due to the time of year didn’t have anything ready for us to use.

The barn inside is large yet cosy, with a log burner Not that we needed it (It was the hottest bank holiday on record I believe.) As you walk into the main living area you are greeted by a wooden staircase that winds up to the gantry style landing.

The landing looks over the living area and leads to the master bedroom with balcony, twin room with ensuite and the main family bathroom with huge bath and shower.

Downstairs is another 2 bedrooms and one with ensuite and another shower room.

The open plan living area hosts the kitchen area with range cooker, built in fridge and dishwasher. with a breakfast bar separating it from the dinning area that seats 8.

We were so lucky with the weather that during our stay we took the opportunity to have a couple of BBQ’s in the courtyard garden.

We laid the table inside with salad and bread and condiments and opened the trifold doors bringing the outside in!

The area around the barn felt safe enough to let the kids go and explore more or less on their own!

There is a paddock that used to be home to two ponies but unfortunately they had become poorly just before our stay so are no longer there.

Now the paddock is empty the kids could happily run around and burn off any energy  they had left after exploring the nearby attractions.

As we needed a cot for the babies we chose the main bedroom with balcony each morning I would open the curtains and the door that overlook the fields around letting in the fresh morning air.

The host are lovely people and always leave a welcome basket with home made bread and cake as well as local eggs and jam.

The Eco Barn is such a lovely space for an extended family break. There are high chairs, cots, bikes toys and more.

We were talking over breakfast one morning about home nice it would be to rent out all three properties over the Christmas period for our family and celebrate all together in the eco barn!

Having looked up availability its actually already been booked so someone else must have seen its Festive potential too!

We explored loads during our stay however there is so much we haven’t yet seen so are planning our next trip to the Eco Barn.

Nina xx

Follow:
Collaborations

Pointless Travel Edition – A Review

Last week we went away to the Norfolk countryside for a family holiday on the Saturday evening we had an impromptu BBQ. While we were eating we had a game of Pointless the travel edition that I took with us.

Since the new set of twins have been born I love sitting down before dinner in the week with a cuppa and feeding the babies with my mum and joining in with the pointless game on tv.

SAMSUNG CSC

The game is simple really you have to guess from a multiple choice the answer with the least amount of points.

This travel game is great for holidays like ours as it can just be chucked into your handbag.

So often now people are on their phone even at meal times.

This game made us actually talk to one another, laughing and joking about how little we all knew.

Grandad even said this was a great game for great family fun even though he had never heard of the game before and we ha to explain a couple of times before he got the gist of it (the questions are not really suitable for young children but older ones with a good general knowledge would be ok.)

This game has loads of questions contained in it so I think will last us a good amount of family dinners.

The game also comes in a full sized board game edition that has a free to download app that you can instal on your phone to give you the electronic score board just like the one on the tv program.

300x0w(2)

I think this is a great game for evening entertainment.

If you love a quiz then this is for you!

Nina xx

*I was gifted this product however all my views are my own

Follow:

Where to next?