My top 9 Christmas movies

My fav xmas films!

One of my favourite things about Christmas is the festive movies. I love snuggling down under a warm blanket, on our sofa, in my Christmas pjs, with a snack and hot chocolate cuddling my babies watching Christmas movies. I have to admit I found this post pretty tricky as I love practically any Christmas film; so trying to whittle it down to 9 was actually pretty challenging; but nevertheless I finally managed! So heres a list of my top 9 favourite Christmas movies - and a little insight as to why, I haven't gone into to much detail as I didn't want this post to be written like a novel haha! 

1. Elf 

Much like every person I've ever come across Elf is by far my fav Christmas film, I love this film - its an all round family film. A comedy with some hilarious scences and a great story of a family coming together at Christmas time. 

2. Polar Express 

I love this film, I remember watching this in the cinema when I was a little girl. As a child I loved the magic of the Santa, hes elves and of course the North Pole. As I've grown up I've realised theres a little message behind the movie - and that is that I don't have to grow out of the Christmas spirt, no matter how old I get Christmas can still be magical... My fav part is the hot chocolate scene haha! 

3. Dr Seusss - How the Grinch stole Christmas 

This film is such a classic, I watch this film daily during the Christmas months. Much like all Christmas films there are hidden meanings in this film to, which is another reason I love it. It's a funny, thoughtful, family film and will always sit in my top 10.

4. The Santa Clause 

A good old classic and one I've always watched at Christmas. I remember sitting in the front room at around 5 years old (I could've even been younger) watching this film with my family on Christmas Eve, since then its always been something we've done. Sat around with snack, in our PJs watching this good old family classic. I'm excited to be able to continue the tradition with my daughters.

5. The littlest light on the Christmas tree 

This film is the. cutest. film. I. have. ever. seen. I don't think this film is particularly popular? But as I've said in almost every paragraph this again is a film I've watched since I can remember. It's a lovely film about a little boy, he's mum & sister and a little light on a Christmas tree. It would take me ages to explain the whole movie - but long story short, the little boy finds the little light outside of a toy shop, its broken but he puts it on he's tree eveb though its broken, theres a massive storm and the little light shines as bright as ever and saves the toy shop owner who was trapped outside. There's a lot more to it, but I don't want to destroy it! Anyway, its one of my fav Christmas films and I can't wait to watch it with my girlies & family.

6. Disney's A Christmas carol

Again, a good old family classic. I'm a huge fan of this film, I don't really have a massive explanation as to why - but I just really enjoy watching this film and it always makes me veyond excited for Christmas haha! 

7. The Santa Claus & The Snowman 

I've watched these films every year since I was a baby, Christmas wouldn't be the same without watching them. There family classics in my opinion, such lovely films to watch - filed with humour, love and brilliant story lines & perfect for the whole family. I love the vintage feel of these films. 
Unfortunately I can't find a picture of the Santa Claus movies :( :( :( 

8. Home alone

Much like Elf, Grinch & The Polar Express this film is a good old classic that I watch, of course there are others that are classic that haven't made it into my top 9 but, this to me is another classic that I just have to watch yearly. I love the humour and the story line of this film. It never fails to put me in the Christmas spirt. 

9. Miracle on 34th street

Finally, Miracle on 34th Street. This film just screams Christmas to me, I love everything about it. The fact they bring Reindeers into a court to prove Santa is real always makes me giggle haha, ah and the scene when Santa signs with a little deaf girl who comes to see him in the shopping mall - puts me in tears every time..its just an all round great Christmas/family film. 

All about my girls

A teeny-tiny update 

It's been a little while since I've spoken soley about the girlies or done an update on them, so I thought it would be nice to have a chat about what their doing, how they are and everything surrounding my babies. 

Starting of with Evangeline; she's very almost 17 months old, she turns 17 months on the 7th December- its insane to think she's almost 1 1/2 when it feels like we were only celebrating her 1st birthday a few weeks ago! She officially cut her first 4 teeth 3 weeks ago, I know thats pretty late, well very late to start cutting your first teeth but better late than never!? I was convinced I'd have to buy her dentures and in fact she had been referred to an orthodontic surgeon in regards to her gums being to thick to allow her teeth threw - but fortunately the day we got the appointment she'd just cut 2 teeth! She'll soon have 3 at the top and 1 on the bottom as there almost completely grown through, its so bizarre seeing her with teeth when she hasn't had any for so long!? 

Nursery, ah nursery...I've spoken briefly about Evangeline having some settle sessions at nursery a few posts back. Just to touch on the subject if you haven't taken a peak at that post - (Ill link it here - Shall we have a natter?) I took Evie to a nursery, the staff were lovely but it wasn't the best if I'm honest; whilst we were there, there were tiny, tiny blocks that Evangeline kept putting in her mouth and heaving on - I had to remove the blocks from her mouth several times before the staff had even noticed.. and for me that makes alarm bells ring as I don't want to put Evie in a situation where she could choke. But on a more positive note the nursery I have been wanting her to go to since we started looking back in June finally has a space!!! So we have a viewing there on Friday!

She now weighs 23lbs 8oz - so edging onto 2 stone, shes growing up so quickly! I don't think I've spoken about it on here but we are still having problems with her feeding/eating and digestion, so more medication and appointments with her paedatritian- I might do a seperate post going more indepth about those particular subjects, but as for now I find them much easier to not talk about... hopefully you all understand. But she's happy, smart, healthy and absolutely gorgeous - shes beautiful in everyway so everything will be perfect in time. 

She was talking non-stop but would rather not really say anything other than gibberish now, regardless we still have a good old chat haha  She's wearing 12-18 month clothing, some 18-24 months - although a majority are still much to big and swamp her. 
Her favourite toys are dollies or teddy bears, her microphone and clock. But of course that'll all change after Christmas haha! I'll leave it here for my biggest princess, or I'll end up writing 1 million paragraphs. 

Moving onto Florance. She's 8 weeks old now, 2 months on Monday, I swear I was just leaving the hospital with her yesterday!? She's growing so quickly, just like her big sister. She's still teeny-tiny (although in pictures she looks quite big haha!) and weighs 9lbs 4oz, she's got around 2lbs to gain then she's doubled her birth weight. She's finally grown out of her new born and shes able to wear 0-1 month clothing now & and the odd 0-3 month item. Speaking of out growing  we'll be changing to size 2 nappies shortly too! She's moved onto hungry baby food/milk now to, as she just loveeeesssss her milk and eats practically every hour; I have a feeling she's going to be a proper little chunk! 

She's started to develop cradle cap now  just like Evie did, so we've bought the same shampoo and creams to use, I'm hoping it clears up quickly; fingers crossed! She's has quite dry skin to bless her, so has to be smoothered in E45; but its looking sooooooo much better so its not to bad. 

Florance is much more active now to and loves to lay underneath her activity gym watching everything moving around above her, she loves watching baby stimulation videos and Evangeline running around! She's not to keen on bath time, although shes starting to warm to it - the complete polar opposite to Evie who is a right little fishy. 

She has her jabs the second week of December; I'm dreading it - I cry everytime Evangeline has her jabs and I know I'm going to cry this time too. Being completely honest I think the whole thing upsets me more than it does the girls, its just horrible - I swear the needle is almost big enough to come right through and out the other side, there done for a positive reason so a few minutes of upset is bearable as they serve a good purpose.

I think I'll end this post here, its not very indepth but a little update; I may do 2 individual posts doing an more indepth update on both girls? But who knows, I hope you've enjoyed reading this and having a little update on my princesses and I'll speak to you all in my next post. 

What I love about Christmas

40 Things I love about X-mas

Picture from Pinterest.

As some of you know I'm a very festive person, Christmas is by far my favvvv time of the year (excluding a few other days that are special to me) for many reasons.. So I thought why not make a list of all of the things I love best during December & the Christmas season. 

1. Spending time with my family 
2. The Christmas tree 
3. Twinkly/fairy lights
4. Visiting Christmas markets & craft fairs
5. Chocolate & junk food!! 
6. Wearing Christmas jumpers
7. Watching Christmas movies with loved ones - I have done a post talking about my top 10!
8. Sending & receiving Christmas cards
9. Tinsel
10. Listening to carol singers
11. Pigs in blankets & stuffing balls
12. Cringy jokes from the Christmas crackers
13. Lush Christmas shop window displays
14. All the different Baul-bauls
15. Wrapping presents - I'm not the best!
16. Blasting out my fav Christmas songs
17. The possibility of a white Christmas - or snow in general & the chance to build a snowman
18. Christmas Ornaments 
19. Hot chocolate with all the trimmings & seasonal spices
20. Christmas parties
21. Boxing Day sales haha! 
22. Baking and eating Gingerbread men & houses
23. Pulling Christmas crackers
24. Santa & he's reindeers 
25. Giving presents
26. Christmas shopping
27. Mince pies
28. Eating Christmas treats or everything in general
29. Christmas scents
30. The little paper hats in Christmas crackers, that tear when you put them on...
31. Holiday Cheer 
32. Planning your New year celebrations
33. Last minute Christmas food & Christmas present shopping
34. Leaving mince pies, carrots & milk for Santa with my children & nephew
35. Driving around the neighbourhood to look at Christmas decorations 
36. Having Christmas dinner
37. The smell of Christmas oranges
38. Reaching into your stocking, finding little goodies.
39. Writing personal messages on gift tags
40. Having a great time & creating memories

The Christmas Tag

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

Picture from Pinterest.

So we're going to be kicking of our 'Blogmas' series with a good old Christmas tag, of some questions I've stumbled across on good old Google! Feel free to answer them yourself! 

 Do you open any presents on Christmas Eve?

Nope, it isn't something I have ever done, ever since I was little Christmas Day has been the time when I've opened any presents I've received. I know a great deal of people do, but its something my family and I have never done.

 What holiday traditions are you looking forward to most this year?

We only really have one particular tradition and thats to sit down as a family have lots of nibbles - mainly homemade sausage rolls and tins of chocolate; and watch the Snowman movie and the Santa Claus movie. It's something we've done at Christmas since I can remember and its something I hope to continue with Evangeline and Florance.

 Is your Christmas tree real or fake?

Fake. My family have always had fake Christmas trees, I love the idea of fake trees as you don't really have to care for them or have to tidy up around them. With a fake Christmas tree you take it out of the box, assemble it and bobs your uncle - you have a tree. And of course the same applies when you take the tree down, you put it back into the box, pop it in the loft and its ready for next Christmas. I love that fake Christmas trees come in soooo many designs with built in lights, snow and all of that jazz too!

 What is your favorite Christmas film?

I love a majority of Christmas films being honest, I'll watch pretty much all of them - The Grinch, Elf, Polar Express, Scrooged and so on... I'm doing a little post talking about my fav top 10 Christmas movies soon, so keep an eye out!

 Where do you usually spend your holiday?

At my parents house... I will most likely do that for ever as I think Christmas is all about spending time with family.

 What made you realize the truth about Santa?

I'm not to sure, I think it just came to light. Although I think I may have found out in my last year in primary school when me and my friends would talk about it with one another. You start to question lots of things about Santa, how he gets around the world in 1 night, how he gets down a chimney, etc. 

 What is your favorite Christmas song?

Again much like Christmas movies I love pretty much all of them, new and old. As long as there cheery, up beat and have that Christmassy feel I'll quite happily listen and bop along.

 Have you ever had a White Christmas?

I'm not entirely sure, as far as I can remember we haven't. But I think we may have once or twice when I was a baby or toddler? Britain isn't really known for its white Christmases, or at least I don't think it is.

 Can you name all of Santa’s reindeer?

Rudolph, Dancer, Dasher - is that one?, Comet, Donner, Cupid.... there all I can remember without Googling haha! and even then I'm not entirely sure I got those ones right haha!

 Are you a pro-present wrapper, or do you fail miserably?

I'm a fab wrapper if it comes in a square box... if not I'm hopeless and usually end up recruiting my sister as I'd say she's a pro-present wrapper! 

 What is your all-time favorite holiday food/sweet treat?

Twigglets, Celebrations, sausage rolls, any chocolate really and of course a Christmas dinner. But I pretty much eat my body weight in everything haha! I must say I regret it come January haha!

 When do you start getting excited for Christmas?

Around October, as soon as Halloween passes; thats when the Christmas movies and songs come out although being completely honest I have watched Christmas movies in July this year!.. I've usually finished my Christmas shopping by mid October - which is nice because I can relax and just pick up random presents knowing I've got all the main ones sorted.

 What would be your dream place to visit for the holiday season?

Lapland or New York. I just LOOOVVEEE how Christmassy those places are and hope to visit them with my daughters and family one day! 

 What’s the best part about Christmas for you?

Spending time with my daughters, boyf, family and anyone special in my life.




Thats all the tag questions finished, I hope that you found them some what interesting haha! and I'll speak to you all tomorrow!! <3

A little Christmas series

Blogmas

This is going to be a small, snappy post about some exciting plans for here on my blog during December.

I've decided that I'm going to take the plunge and do a small series on my blog throughout the month of December, a little series called 'Blogmas' - similar to 'Vlogmas' which is relatively popular on other social media but I'm doing it here on my blog (obvs).. I'm going to try my very best to post daily during December - 25 days to be precise, Blogmas will consist of lots of different things to suit everyone.... recepies, gift guides, makeup looks, daily activities, Christmas tags and all of that jazz. I've really slacked on my blog this year, and wanted to make it up to everyone that reads my posts, soooooo as I LOVE Christmas I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try to upload more!  

I have a little stock pile, if you will, of posts in my drafts waiting to be uploaded (super organised, so excited for xmas!).... My first one which will be made live on December 1st is going to be a Christmas tag - so keep an eye out! 

I hope your all well and enjoying your day. I'll speak to you all in my next post. 

Shall we have a natter?

Little chats

Good morning, how are you all!? well I hope! I'm sitting here feeling sorry for myself, sore throat, headache and full of cold, I'm always ill recently it sucks... but I'm sat here sipping on hot chocolate with all of the extras imaginable and having cuddles with the girlies, I guess there are some perks to being a bit poorly.. haha! Although; I'm really hoping and keeping my fingers crossed that neither of them catch it! 

Regardless to how cosy & awful I feel, I felt like doing a chatty kinda post - just because these ones are by far my favvvvs! As silly as it sounds it really does feel like I'm sat having a good old natter with you all. Cute, right? I don't really have much to talk about today which is ironic considering I chose to do a post that involves me waffling on for paragraph after paragraph! 

Can you believe we're approaching the end of November!? the end of the 11th month!? How on earth has it shot by so fast...I still feel like we should be getting ready to celebrate Halloween, but nope we're almost in December! I must admit Christmas celebrations started a few weeks back, Christmas food, music and festivities - oh and I've been working on a Christmas series which I'll be starting December 1st (self promo ). Speaking of Christmas, hows your Christmas shopping going? I've almost completed mine - thank the lord! I've got so many people to buy for and so little time, but I've nearly finished... I'll probably celebrate with some sort of unhealthy food filled to the brim with fat.... goodbye curves and hello more rolls - of course I have rolls already. But usually by January theres quite a few more haha! 

I believe we're putting up our decorations up today; nothing to hectic but magical for the kiddies. I always say this, but I really do love Christmas, everything about it... the festivities, little market's, food - especially pigs in blankets, everyone is full of joy, everywhere has pretty lights and decorations - I just love everything. I must admit its definitely my favourite time of the year, excluding the girls birthday - their my favourite days too! 

We're off to Winter Wonderland this year to, this is our 2nd time going. And the first ever time I've left both girls over night, and the 2nd time I've left Evangeline - the 1st was when I had Florance I always feel like my legs have been chopped of when I'm away from them, like a part of me is missing... hopefully you other mummy's understand? But other than the guilt and worry I have when I leave them - I know their have a field day with their grandparents, aunt and cousin. And I'm sure I'll have a whale of a time to; a little mummy time. I intend to win the girls a present each too. 

A complete change of topic, and bumping back up a few paragraphs... I've decided to do a Christmas series on here this year; it's going to be tricky but I'm trying to stick to it - its something I've wanted to do since starting my blog... but better late than never? I'll be popping a snappy little post up talking all about it on the 30th November; if you follow me on instagram you'll be sure to see when its live? I'll pop my insta here - dons_steph feel free to have a gander and click that follow button if your feeling funky? 

Can you believe Florance is 7 weeks tomorrow - 22nd November.... how is she growing up so quickly. Speaking of which Evangeline is swiftly approaching 17 months!! We had a settle session with her at a nursery last Friday. And I have to be honest, they've really made me nervous... the staff are lovely as are the other little ones; the location is great, the facilities are okay a little dated, but nothing terrible - but they had soooo many little bricks and bits & bobs on the floor that Evageline and the other babies were putting in their mouth, I'm talking a WHOLE block... In fact I had to run over 3 or 4 times to get them out of Evie's mouth.... after talking to the nursery manager she said they don't usually have small toys... so call me crazy we're back there Friday, although I think we're going to pick a new nursery, we're looking around it next week - so fingers crossed its better, then little lady will be off to nursery for a few days a week - how is she growing up so quickly!? 

I'll leave it here, before I end up writing a novel. I hope your all well, and I'll speak to you all in my next post. 

Mama routine with 2 under 2

A day in our life

I've been meaning to upload this post for a few weeks now, but wasn't particularly happy with how it sounded; it's different to my usual post as I haven't uploaded a 'routine' before; which is why I think it's taken me soooo long to write. I asked on my Instagram story whether you'd be interested on a day in the life or mama routine with 2 under 2 post, and I was surprised on how many of you were actually interested in what we do on a day to day basis. So I thought I'd give you all a little insight into my life with 2 under 2. I haven't personally come across many of these posts, well being honest I've never really researched for any....so definitely let me know if you've seen any! 

I must add that I haven't gone to in depth as I didn't want to bore you all, either way I hope that you find this post some what interesting. :) 

- 06.00am 
Around this time I'm woken from my slumber by little Flo Belle. She'll usually wakes at this time for a cuddle, bum change and some milk. Whilst little lady feeds I tend to have a nose on Instagram, Pinterest or play a game on my phone - my favourite is 'Shoot bubble extreme'. Or if I'm feeling brave I'll have a mooch at some online shops adding practically everything to the basket before making the decision  £1657 + P&P is a bit pricey haha. 

- 06:30 - 06:45 
I'll pop Florance down for her nap in her moses basket, before heading to the bathroom where I'll go for a wee wee (TMI soz) and brush my teeth. 

- 06:50 
Heading back into the bedroom I'm usually greeted by a rosey cheeked, smiley little princess standing at the end of her cot. Evangeline and I both get back into bed for a cuddle and snuggle under the duvet, Evie will have a bottle of milk and she'll watch some CBeebies. 

- 07:00 
This is when I get up and start to organise nappies, outfits and tidy the bedroom. Evie is quite often playing with her toys at this point and Florance is catching ZZZ. Once I've picked an outfit for both girls I'll lay them out onto the bed and I'll pick mine out, a majority of the time I just grab whatever I can find - a top/jumper and jeans is my go to outfit. 

- 07:10 
I'll pop Evangeline onto the bed to get her changed into  her outfit of the day, I'll brush her hair, pop it into bunches with a clip to hold back her fringe. Evangeline will go back to playing whilst I practically sprint into the bathroom to have a wash and get dressed. A 'mum' bun is my signature look as its simple, quick and keeps my hair out of my face. 

- 07:20 
Around this time I'll make a start on tidying the room, I place all of the used baby bottles into a bag, theres roughly 9.. I take 11 upstairs into the bedroom at night - 3 are Evangeline's and 8 are Florance's. After placing them into the bag I also pop all of the dirty nappies in their nappy sacks into the bag, along with our washing - it's sooooo much easier to take it all down stairs to the kitchen in a bag than individually.

- 07:45
Florance will start to stir from her nap for another feed, once she's eaten I will change her nappy and her outfit.  At this point I will pop her into her moses basket for a few minutes whilst I quickly take Evangeline and the bag down stairs, I return upstairs to collect Florance. 

- 08:00
I'll take everything out of the bag, put nappies and rubbish into the bin, washing into the washing machine and bottles into the sink. Evangeline is placed into her high chair where she'll have her breakfast, I'll sit at the table whilst Evie eats and Florance will have another feed. (She's tiny, but she's hungry). 

- 08:15
Florance will have fallen asleep feeding so I pop her into her moses basket and make her all cosy with her blanket. I will then have my breakfast, a Muller rice yogurt and an apple. 

- 08:30
Evie will have eaten her yogurts and toast. After cleaning her face she will head into the front room to play with her toys. At this point its time to tackle to bottles, I wash them all up and place them into the steriliser. 

- 09:00 
Around this time we're all in the lounge, Evangeline is usually creating quite the mess with her toys and Florance is still napping. I take this opportunity to reply to emails and browse all of my fav social media. At this point I'd fill Florance's & Evangeline's clean bottles with cooled boiled water.

- 10:00 
Florance will wake from her nap ready for a feed, both her and Evie will have their nappies changed before drinking their milk. (Evie has some bottles formula & some cows milk) Evangeline also loves to tuck into some crisps - usually pom bears, skips, wotsits or quavers. 

 - 11:30

I'll head into the kitchen to prepair Evangeline's lunch, at this point Florance would be sleeping from her last feed (she sleeps, eats, poops, eats, sleeps and so on haha!) Evangeline will be sitting patiently in her high chair whilst I sort her lunch, depending on the day depends on what she has, some of her lunches are cottage pie, spaghetti, lasagne, roasts and so on. So we pick on the day. She will also have a sippy cup filled with water to help wash lunch down and a little snack. 

-12:00 
We will usually pop out around this time to run errands, pop to the park or do some shopping, depending on what we're doing, where we're going and how long we're going for depends on what happens. (Hopefully that makes sense) For example if we're not back for nap time Evie will usually nap in the car. 

- 14:00 
Evangeline will go down for her only nap of the day, which a majority of the time she will sleep for 1-2 hours. During this time Florance will have a feed and cuddles. But with the rest of the spare time I will wash up used bottles, put washing away and catch up on some good old telly, write the odd blog post - and if I'm feeling risky I'll paint my nails... What usually happens is I'll start painting my nails and one of the little ladies will wake meaning it'll smudge - so its a good job we have gel haha!

- 15:00 - 16:00 
During this time I'll usually have a shower, feed Evangeline her dinner, and then bath both girls, we'll play with Evies toys for a little while and of course theres lots of bum changes, cuddles and bottles in between. 

- 17:00
This is when I sit down with my family and eat my dinner, Florance tends to be in my arms or moses basket behind me whilst I eat and Evie will be having a snack in her high chair - she will have some bits from my dinner too!

- 18:00 - 21:00 
We take full advantage of cosy evenings and cuddle up watching lots of different movies, mainly Evie's favourite ones - Sing, Moana, Frozen and Boss Baby. Evangeline will have another dinner before playing with her toys a little more. 

- 21:00 
At this time I will take both girls up to bed, I'm not going to go any more indepth as I'm going to be doing a night time routine.  

Congrats if you made it to the end haha! I hope you enjoyed looking into a day in our life! 
Thank you for reading and I'll speak to you in my next post.