#SilentSunday

Crafting Fun with Felltarn Friends

Today we kicked off our Easter break with a free crafting session with Felltarn Friends at the Westmorland Shopping Centre. They are there every Wednesday and Saturday this Easter holidays. We first came across the Friends at the Food Festival last year and since then I have got to know the lovely mums that are behind the company. 

Once the children had signed in they headed straight for the colouring wall:

My son told me I had to do some too - especially the high up parts! He is normally very reluctant to colour in anything so this sight brought me great pleasure:

Reasons to be Cheerful: Work in progress.. #R2BC

Thanks everyone who joined in last week sorry if I haven't read and commented on everyone's post yet... I look forward to reading and sharing more of your happy posts this week. Jo will be hosting next month and has come to my rescue starting the linky for me this week! Updated post now I have caught up with my lesson planning

1) Spring!

As shown in my Country Kids post Spring is well and truly under way in the Lake District:

Though we woke up this morning to snow:

2) Getting Slimmer & Fitter

No photos this week but yay to a 1 pound weight loss and running leggings that are too loose around the tummy! After nearly a week of not running I managed to combine delivering my son's fell shoes with not one but two 4 km runs. Both of which broke some course or segment records:

3) Proud Mummy

My daughter had volunteered for her school's swimming squadron in the local gala last weekend. She doesn't swim a lot these days and wasn't too confident on the night. Her face when her swim team made it into the final out of 17 teams was priceless! They finished 5th overall which was very good when they hadn't had much practice.

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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#CountryKids A Spring Walk in Crook

A lovely day on Sunday up here in Cumbria. It was perfect for a three generation walk around Crook checking out the signs of Spring:

We were lucky enough to spot a buzzard:

It's lovely being able to walk along the country lanes taking in the scenery:

#SilentSunday

Reasons to be Cheerful: Marching onwards #R2BC

Thanks everyone who joined in last week sorry if I haven't read and commented on everyone's post yet... I look forward to reading and sharing more of your happy posts this week.

1) Mother's Day treats

My children started Mother's Day well with breakfast in bed and lots of goodies:

2) Proud Mummy

My daughter and I were interviewed by BBC Radio Cumbria about the dangers of dog fouling due to her eye being damaged from it:

Post by BBC Radio Cumbria.

3) Community Spirit

My online photo community of Blipfoto has been feeling threatened this week after the company went into liquidation. All of us took part in a #BlipfotoForever meme to try and share a hug with our fellow blippers:

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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Muffin Top Magic Week 7

Just as well Kate changed the name of this linky as I am posting on a Tuesday not a Monday! Its been one of those weeks that if I had been on a traditional diet I might have had a hissy fit as the scales once again weren't showing the results I want. So back to the trusty photos:

Great to see that since last week's photo (on right) things have once again tightened up. My top is reaching lower down my body. It's even more obvious on comparing the side view from 2 weeks ago:

The running is really paying off on sorting out my core! I just need to keep it up and keep listening to the Slimpod, Chillpod and Fitpod..

#SilentSunday

1. 

Reasons to be Cheerful: Spring is in the air R2BC

Thanks everyone who joined in last week. I look forward to reading and sharing more of your happy posts this week.

1) In the spotlight

A photo I took several weeks ago was re-shared on Instagram by igerscumbria and received over 80 likes! A lovely feeling:

2) Teaching

I am enjoying creative week on my course. Lots of fun doing things like building their own Egyptian reed boats:

3) Spring

There maybe a nip in the air but the spring flowers are bursting out all over:

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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Muffin Top Monday: Week 6

Sponsored Post

It's hard to believe that I restarted the Thinking Slimmer programme 6 weeks ago! Since then I have been able to access their Slimpod, Chillpod and as of last week Fitpod. The first is helping me make healthier food choices, the second helping me relax sleep better, whilst the last is encouraging me to be more active. Ironically the last week I have my exercise curtailed due to parenting commitments. I missed virtually all my Fitbug targets:

That probably explains why my weight didn't go down this week. I am feeling slimmer and more toned but the scales aren't budging:

So today I got out the measuring tape to see how the 6 weeks has impacted on me:

Inches lost: neck -1, bust -1, waist -4, hips -1, thighs -0.5, right bicep -0.5.

It's the waist one that is making the biggest difference to making me look and feel slimmer. I noticed my running bra is looking loose so I need to go and buy a new one.. 

My fitness is certainly better when time permits and the weather isn't against me. I seem to be plagued by strong winds at the moment! As well as Parkrun on Saturday I went out on Sunday for a longer run. I managed a few trophies on Strava for that one:

Let's hope it all carries on going in the right direction. I went out for another 5km run tonight even though I didn't want to!

#SilentSunday

World Book Day 2015 #WBD2015

We actually got organised for World Book Day costumes this year with more than a day to go. This meant everyone had something half decent for a change. My daughter decided to go as Katniss from Hunger Games which meant simply buying suitable normal clothing and just adding a Mockingjay pin. She also had a black backpack and made a fake knife:

My son dressed as his favourite demi-god Percy Jackson. I made a shield out of cardboard. There was a picture of Medusa's head on it. We bought an orange t-shirt and I ironed a Camp Half Blood motif on to it. He just had to dig out a sword to finish off the outfit:

Neither won the prize at the disco but they were the best outfits we have had so far!

Reasons to be Cheerful: March already! #R2BC

Thanks to Ojo's World for hosting for February it is now back to me for March. I look forward to reading and sharing your happy posts.

1) Simple family fun

Its great when I can combine family fun with my teaching practice. This weekend my son helped me test out the construction of pyramids:

His sister built me a model of the Sphinx for lesson inspiration:

2) World Book Day

For once we actually started putting costumes together well in advance. Here are the trail versions of their outfits, can you name the characters?:

I will get proper photos of them in the final complete costumes before their school disco!

3) Just Cumbria

I will be spending the whole of next week in a school with this view:

We had a visit up there this week and it is just beautiful.

Please join us and share your happiness and grab the badge if you would like it:

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#CountryKids A walk in the snow

We had walked into town today despite the rain as I wanted to buy some books and sneak in an early Mother's Day lunch. It was a pretty horrid day but once we were safely tucked up in Pizza Express tucking into a late lunch it seemed fine:

As we ate we noticed the rain was getting wintry and then it turned to snow! 

Now we haven't had much snow this winter in Kendal so it made for a much more fun walk home. It was proper big fluffy snowflakes the kind that you just have to try and catch on your tongue:

It took a long time to get home when we were walking along with our tongues out staring at the sky... One of life's simple pleasures: