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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

Easter Bucket List

Today is the first day of the Easter half term for most people.

It is also Good Friday for some reason the holidays have started dead on Easter weekend which means there isn’t much time for easter crafting before Easter Sunday.

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However There are a few Easterish type things I’d like to do with the kiddos over the net week or so.

  • Make Easter costumes.

Melody really wants to dress as the easter bunny and who am I to stop her?

  • Take part in Grandma’s Easter Egg hunt

Each year she invites the whole family around for an egg hunt in her garden and a buffet tea afterwards. Its great building these memories with the kids. Some of the family they wouldn’t really see otherwise.

  • Family Fun day at a local farm shop / cafe

We have only recently discovered this cafe. We went for Chris’s mum & Dads 50th wedding anniversary. Anyway the are holding a family fun day with crafts and food and characters so I thought we would head over and join in.

I thought if the weather is nice we could go along It might be quite nice to take the walk around the lake and feed the ducks on the way.

  • Easter themed worksheets

If the weather is as bad as it has predicted I dont want the kids on the I Pads all week so I’m going to print off some colouring sheets and word searches to keep them busy.

  • Cinema Trip

I want to see Peter Rabbit and I’m sure the kids do too! I have recently found out i can take the babies with me to the cinema too so that means I dont have to get anyone else to baby sit if I want to take the big two.

We have never yet been to Belton House but friends of ours say its amazing I want to make our first visit over the next couple of weeks with our new national trust membership.

  • Garden prep

I have some seeds that I need to start off so we really need to get this done over the next week too.

Thats just some of the activities I’m planning for over easter.

What are you up to?

Have you already broke up for your half term?

 

Nina x

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Adventures

Gap Year Home Education Adventures

A while back I thought about Home Schooling the twins.

It would mean we would be able to go away during term time.

It would mean more one to one time with each child.

It would mean I would be responsible for them 24hrs a day

I researched and researched about how to home educate, The laws involved etc.

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I then told hubby my thoughts to which he replied You want to home school our kids? But during summer holidays all you want to do is send them back to school.

I get his point I really do. And yeh some ok most of the time I get a week into school holidays and I’m ready to send them back.

However When “I nearly died” (This is sort of an over used phrase by me at the min) I reevaluated a-lot in our lives. I thought about the fact I had not spent enough quality time with the big twins.

So it the start of the Easter Holidays for schools across the land yet we are embarking on what I like to call our “Gap Year”

I may still get a week into this new adventure and decide its not for us. I may get bored after some time. The kids may not like me being “teacher” but if I dont try I’ll regret it.

So calling it a gap year at least if we get a few months down the line and find out its not for us we can change our minds and go back to school without regret.

Our plans at the moment include travelling around as much as we can.

Visiting different places in the UK and Europe.

Packing in day trips, long weekends, trips with daddy to places he goes to work.

We’ve all now got our passports, a national trust membership, a family & Friends rail card and lots of work books to keep up with maths and english studies.

We will be learning as we go. creating projects from places we visit.

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I hope this works out for all of us and we become a stronger unit because of it.

Join us on our gap year educational adventures over on instagram and here on the blog.

Are you a home educator?  Can you give us any tips?  Would you be interested in meeting up?

 

Nina x

 

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UK

A Good Old English Seaside Day Out!

Last month during the Half Term we packed the car and headed out to Cleethorpes for the day.

We arrived just before lunch and parked in one of the promenade car parking bays, We unstrapped everyone from the car and headed to the cafe opposite Olivers Eatery  I orderd a cuppa and some pancakes for the kids to eat while I fed the babies.

Then after we had all been to the toilet we headed to the beach.

It was quite a nice day weather wise for February. Miss M spent quite some time searching for shells and pretty rocks. Mr J wanted to make sand angels.

It wasn’t long though before we started to feel a bit cold the drizzle started so we headed to an arcade for a warm and some shelter. Taylor made fun was a great place to spend some pocket money on the 2p machines. I love the 2p slots they really bring back good memories of caravan holidays I had with my auntie.

You cant have a trip to the seaside without 3 things The first two being Ice-cream and donuts

The kids had Ice-cream Me & the Teen had donuts from Browns

The Third thing that you have to have at the seaside is good old fish n chips.

We headed to Papas on the pier. As you approach the entrance is a revolving door and there is an entrance foyer with takeaway chips on one side. Through another door and you feel like you are heading into some posh hotel. Once in you are seated by one of the waiters.

There are chandeliers all around and a huge stage with a piano.

Dont be fooled though the prices are very reasonable and the portions are very generous.

Once we had finished our fish N Chips it was starting to get dark so we headed back to the car where I fed the babies again while looking out to the sea. Before we headed back home. The sea air must have done some good as we had only driven about a mile before everyone was asleep.

The kids said it was a brilliant day.

It was a much needed day out for us.

A sign that things are getting back to normal.

I love the seaside  I cant wait to head back.

Today March 17th See’s the start of English Tourism Week 2018.

The initiative is aimed to raise the profile and promote tourism in England. Giving  attractions,  accommodation  and destinations a way to raise their own profiles.

Head over to the Visit Britain Website for more details

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Adventures

Dear Ant & Dec, I nearly died.

Dear Ant & Dec,

I want to say What a huge fan I am of the Ant & Decs and itv’s Saturday Night Takeaway and how we never miss an episode.

However, we are a busy household with 4.5 kids. So when a rare opportunity arises to go out on a Saturday night. We take it.

That said we are huge fans of the show and try to watch on catch up if we miss an episode even if we only have time to watch who the guest announcer is and what antics you are going to get up to on the end of the show, show.

But we also have to watch the happiest minute of the week. Most of the time this has me in tears due to the reasons why people deserve “a place on the plane”

Any I want to tell you why myself and my family deserve

“a place on the plane”

Last year I was pregnant with our second set of twins which in its self was a huge shock. I suffered throughout the pregnancy with sickness & pain.

The pain being so severe I ended up cancelling a trip to Disneyland Paris for my family.

Then I was told I was a walking time bomb and didn’t even know it.

I was diagnosed with a rare life threatening pregnancy complication.

Thankfully I came through and the 30+ strong team at Jessops Sheffield saved my life. And the life of my new twins.

Not knowing about the complication or the months of recovery from not only this op but 2 more after this I had booked a New Years holiday which we also had to cancel as I just wasn’t well enough.

This I why I deserve “a place on the plane”

My husband who often works away dropped in that he has to fly off to Orlando in June to do some work at Disney.

I would love to take my family to see Disney and to stay in Orlando but at the moment we just can’t afford a trip like that with 2 sets of twins, a stepson and myself & hubby.

So this would be the only way we could go at the moment.

Please let us have “a place on the plane”

Nina. Xx

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Health & Fitness

Jessops Superheros Walk

As you all know back in Aug 2017 my younger twins were born via cesarian hysterectomy. I was diagnosed only two weeks previous to the op with a life threatening pregnancy complication placenta percreta.

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If you are new to the blog and want to know about my traumatic birth story head over to the posts and have a look.

My Pregnancy & Birth Story 

A few days after my diagnosis I  was admitted to The Jessops Wing at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals.

During the time I was there My husband was allowed to stay with me. There was no way I would have stayed sane without him.

The staff were amazing. Not only to me but also my husband and anyone that came to visit me in the month I was there.

The level of care was brilliant.

I have mentioned before how grateful I am to all the staff that cared for me especially  Dr Ruth Newton & Mr Farkas Dr Ruth who was with me from day one and came to see me every day until I was discharged. When I went down for my second op She cancelled her evening plans so that she could take me down to theatre and be there for my op!

I owe my life and my babies lives to the staff at Jessops

Which Is why I have signed up to take part in the Jessops Superheros Walk on Sunday 10th June 2018.

Myself, Hubby, & all the kids including the teen (who was told I didn’t care what film was coming out that day it was more important for him to be at that walk because those heros saved my life.) will be walking with other families around Graves park in Sheffield.

The route is 2.5 KM

I would like to raise £1000 which is nothing compared to the care I received.

Please Please help me to get to my fundraising goal and head over to my Just Giving page to sponsor me & my Family to join this amazing event that supports and shows appreciation  to the staff at Jessops.

You can sponsor us by clicking the button below.

JustGiving - Sponsor me now!

Or you can text ARCS75 and your donation amount to 70070

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