I Love Autumn & Halloween… here’s what we got up to !
Spooky fun at the farm.
We went out for the day, to a nearby farm!
It was brilliant.
There was SO much to do.. we made wands, got sorted into our Hogwarts house, had a spooky trailer ride, explored the spooky maze, picked and decorated pumpkins, pettee guinea pigs & rabbits, looked at loads of other animals and had a bug trailer ride.
With our Nephews ๐
A great family day out, themed really well and with lots of fun to be had.
A fanily Halloween party for the kiddies.
We had a fun little family Halloween party at my sisters house.s
She set up some fun activities for them, we also had a buffet of party food, spooky tunes and Halloween pass the parcel.
Halloween at ours
Me & Tim always do a few Halloween traditions at home – these include carving a pumpkin (we’ve done one every year that we’ve been together) and I make us ‘Spooky Sausages’ which are meant to look like mummies.
I also like to watch horror films but Tim isn’t too keen on those so thats usually just me haha
Some of my favourites are Scream, Halloween, Hocus Pocus, Nightmare before Christmas and Nightmare on Elm St.
Our local cinema was showing some Halloween classics on Halloween.
Me and my Twin sister Sarah always watch horror films together so we went along and watched the original Scream! I can’t believe its the 25th Anniversay ๐ฑ
Scream is my favourite ‘Scary Movie’ and it was cool to watch it on the big screen.
For the final day of Blogmas I thought I would share some of the Christmas fun we’ve been up to on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!
Christmas Eve
Me and my sister continued our tradition of meeting up for a burger with our friend.
Obviously being 2020 we had to get it takeaway and outside ๐ท
So we incorporated a walk around the park and it was really nice (except the rain shower!!)
I had the Caffe Nero Mint Hot Choc finally, and it was so delicious and festive too
We also have a tradition of going around our local town to look at the christmad lights.
We keep an eye out in the weeks leading up to Christmas eve and there are a few that are always good too.
There were some brilliant lights on display this year.
Keepin’ it COVID secure by going in our separate cars and we just chatted over a voice call, worked pretty well ๐คฃ
Left my Stocking out for Santa, obv!
Christmas Day
Me and Tim started the day with a delicious and festive nutella pastry Christmas tree & a cuppa!
Followed by present opening ๐
My father in law provided a lovely Christmas lunch for us, we had my brother in law on Zoom, at the dinner table with us… very 2020!
We enjoyed a bit of a relax and a TV break before another family Zoom with a game of birds names.
We had the standard Christmas day buffet in the eve with the other half of our bubble, my twin sister, brother in law and nephews.
We had fun opening presents, had a bit of a dance and enjoyed some yummy food.
It’s been a strange one in the sense that we are all (hopefully) being more cautious than usual this year, but it has been fun to be able to keep some traditions alive and to get together, where possible, to celebrate
I really hope that you’ve all enjoyed your day ๐ ๐ป
Tier Four tomorrow! But we still have Boxing day Skype fun planned with a Christmas themed family quiz.
Stay safe and thankyou so much for joining me again for another fun, festive and unforgettable Blogmas.
As I have said many times, Autumn/Winter are my favourite seasons!
I know its chilly but hey, its England, we were made for this weather.
Plus, it’s so pretty ๐
Theres nothing like a crisp autumn walk, frosty, leaves crunching under foot, trees fire bright against a pale sky, wrapped up in cosy jumpers, a hot beverage in hand.
Now tell me that isn’t a delight!?!
Here are some of the ways I’ve been enjoying the Autumn so far!
โข P U M P K I N โข P I C K I N G โข
Me, my sister and my nephews had a great time pumpkin picking, at a local patch ๐
We went early Oct to get the most out of our Pumpkins.
I’ve used them to dot around the lounge to create a cosy, autumn vibe. Some will of course be carved on Halloween.
โข A U T U M N โข W A L K S โข
I definitely have a new appreciation for walks since the lockdowns and the pandemic in general.
Theres alot of enjoyment to be had in the fresh air, amongst the trees and pretty plants. I loved our sunny summer walks but in Autumn it’s an even more beautiful experience.
โข C O S Y โข R E A D S โข
…because I could read anywhere… but, theres nothing better than in my little reading corner, in autumn and winter, because it just feels even more cosy.
โข H A L L O W E E N โข F U N โข
I am a big horror film fan so I enjoy the spookiness of Halloween.
Lockdown no 2 was announced this Halloween (Horror!) So I wanted to make it even more fun, because if you can’t enjoy the little things, (even when stuck at home) during a global pandemic, when can you!?
Over the weekend I ended up watching eight different horror films!
โขNightmare on Elm St (New) โขFriday the 13th โข Psycho (New) โขAnabelle โข Freddy Vs Jason โขNightmare Before Christmas โขIT (The Original) โขHocus Pocus
We like to carve a pumpkin each year, because its just some harmless seasonal fun, and since I had a few from our picking spree, I carved a few.
As well as the films and pumpkin carving, we also listened to some Halloween tuness (until the X-Files theme freaked me out ๐คฃ๐ฑ) we had Spooky, mummy sausages and jacket potatoes for dinner (because why should kids have all the fun) and Halloween Hot chocolates to round off the evening.
And a spot of Halloween Animal Crossing!
It was really good fun and it made us forget about the pandemic a bit, a fun weekend/evening spent together.
โข P U M P K I N โข C A R V I N G โข
Because you have to do one of these every year! Come on now.
‘Parry’ By me & Tim My slight fail, HP lightening scar and glasses attemptThis was really flippin’ hard ๐คฃ Yes, I’m that cool.
… and yes I am indeed wearing a Bat onesie in this picture, my traditional Halloween costume/pumpkin carving outfit! ๐ฆ
Don’t hate me cause you ain’t me!
โข A U T U M N โข N A T U R E โข
โข H U N T โข
As a fun little pre lockdown 2.0 activity with my nephews, we went on a Nature Hunt.
They love running about in the park and exploring and they enjoyed it even more than I thought they would (so did I!!)
โข B A K I N G โข
I spent another lovely pre lockdown day with my niece ๐
What’s more cosy (and delicious) than baking!?!
We had a lovely time together โก
Gotta love a Unicorn Cupcake ๐ฆ๐ง
& finally…
โข B O N F I R E โข N I G H T โข
Again, due to Lockdown (thanks Rona!) we won’t be seeing people for a bit, but its timing did coincide with Bonfire Night and so we resurrected a Byford tradition, and got together to celebrate.
Outside, wrapped up, enjoying other peoples fireworks, sparklers, s’mores, soup, jackets, bangers, log burners and catching up!
A great evening! We missed this tradition last year as there was alot going on, so it was great to do it again.
It’s been a little while (probably the Summer hols) since I’ve done a little ‘life’ update and I love capturing memories on here. I think I forget to use my blog this way sometimes when I get carried away sharing about my hobbies.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this post as much as I enjoyed writing it!
I did a spot of baking this weekend after a busy week at work. I find it quite relaxing (as long as the recipe is simple!)
I made a Banoffee pie for a family BBQ (Link to my blog post recipe here ) & a banana bread cake. This one is for my mum. I had plenty of left over, very ripe bananas!
I love documenting what we get up to in the Summer holidays.
Though thanks to Covid we didnt actually have a Summer ‘holiday’, I also didn’t have to work this Summer, so I had all six weeks to enjoy, have fun and relax ready for Sept!
So, without further ado, let’s have a look at what we got up to…
Me & my mum went out for afternoon tea to start off the half term! We both work in schools so we thought it would be a nice treat at the beginning of the holidays.
We went to a little cafe along the waterfront, in our hometown and it was lovely.
The interior of the cafe was really cool and quirky and the view (with sunshine!!) was amazing.
There were three tiers to the afternoon tea. On the bottom tier were finger sandwiches: Smoked salmon & cream cheese, Ham & mustard, Cheese & red onion chutney and cucumber.
The second tier was cakes, we had a piece of Victoria sponge to share, a piece of coffe cake to share syns a lemon curd that each.
The final, top tier was the fruit scones with clotted cream and jam.
You also got a pot of tea or coffee to accompany your food.
Sunday
I spent Sunday relaxing at a local day spa with my friend.
It was a great way to wind down after a busy first half term.
Relaxing in the jacuzzi, sizzling in the sauna & having a spot of lunch too.
We both decided to treat ourselves to a treatment on this occasion. I went for a back, neck and shoulder massage (Which was amazing) & my friend went for a facial.
A perfect Sunday ๐ง๐ผโโ๏ธ๐ง
Monday
Before heading to work in the afternoon I caught up with my friend Livy and her little bundle of joy (SO CUTE!!) Finley.
We met at a local cafe, that I love! & is just around the corner, for what is possibly one of my favourite meals, Brunch!
So good!
But not as good as the catch up and Finley cuddles/giggles โค
Wednesday
Another day, another brunch!
& this time with my lovely work friends from school.
It can be really tricky organising getting us altogether so it was lovely to be able to finally coordinate our calendars during a school holiday! We see each other every day but it’s good to just be able to chat properly.
Brunch is one of my favourite meals! Breakfast food is the best food for sure.
Thursday
On thursday evening I had both of my nephews and my niece over for a sleepover! (Call me crazy, but it was really fun)
I’ve never had them all at once seeing as they are 5, 3 & 2 but it was triple the fun.
We did lots of fun colouring together as I bought them a little colouring pad and pencil set each for the occasion.
We had tomato and cheesey pasta followed by a bit of Peppa Pig and a story.
And to make things even better they all went straight off to sleep ๐ด
Friday
On Friday morning I took the boys to the cinema before they headed home.
It was Casey’s pick this time and we watched Shaun the Sheep Farmaggedon.
With lots of snacks of course!
In the afternoon I headed to the station as me and my Auntie had a weekend in London planned together and I was meeting her on the train.
Once we had got to the hotel we headed out for a spot of dinner at a local Bella Italia. It was delicious!
We both had Calamari to start followed by a ‘Create your own’ pizza for me and creamy pasta for my Auntie.
I’ve never known a chain Italian restaurant to have a create your own option so this was great. I went for mozzerella, garlic mushrooms & salami.
Once we had eaten we headed back to the hotel to change then made our way to the theatre.
The show was amazing and such a cool and modern way to tell history.
If you dont know, Six is a musical concert telling the story of Henty the 8ths Six wives. They perform songs as if they are in a girl band and each take it in turns to tell their story.
The songs were really good and the singing was incredible.
Saturday
We started off the day as any day that proceeds a night stay away should… with an unlimited breakfast buffet, YES.
After that we packed up our things and headed to our first stop of the day, our London Bus tour.
I know that its so touristy but I’ve always wanted to do one so that’s something to tick off the bucket list.
We really enjoyed seeing all the different London sights.
We were definatly ready for some lunch, after our two hour trip, so we headed to a nearby restaurant/bakery for what turned out to be an incredibly delicious meal.
This avocado on toast was to die for and the chocolate bomb cake that I had afterwards was pure indulgence!
All that was left to do after this was make our way back to Covent Garden and grab our bags.
We stopped off for a cheeky soft drink at the hotel before making our way to London Liverpool street, homeward bound.
It was such a fun weekend ๐
I had a great time xx
Sunday
Today was the last day of half term ๐ญ
But, it still counts so we made the most of it by spending the day together, having fun!
We started off by gaming, ‘caus we’re cool ๐
& we took sed gaming to that lovely local cafe I mentioned in Mondays entry, (because as I said, its awesome)
So we spent the late morning/early afternoon playing in there and having some yummy lunch together.
The perfect end to half term with my favourite ๐
I love doing a diary for each school holiday, it’s a great way of remembering what Ive got up to, a 21st century diary ๐๐ป
Friday 24th May 2019
Me & Tim got some good use out of our Unlimited Cinema cards tonight by watching two films!
We watched ‘Detective Pikachu’ followed by ‘Rocketman’.
Both were really good. We had already seen Detective Pikachu and we just wanted to see it again, great for any Pokemon fans โ๐ป
Rocketman was also really good but not my fave of the recent biopic films.
Saturday 25th May 2019
Today I met up with my friend and her boys at the park. I took Noah & Casey with my to play with her boys.
They loved the bus ride.
We had a great time at the park, enjoying the sunshine and playing with all of the boys ๐
Me & Tim took the boys to see ‘Secret Life of Pets 2’. This was Casey’s pick as he loves cats ๐ & he really enjoyed himself.
In the eve, once I’d dropped the boys off, me and my friends met up again and had a Chinese together at a local buffet restaurant. So good.
& a great opportunity for a catch up!
Sunday 26th May 2019
A busy weekend rounded off with a family day trip to Cambridge for some retail therapy.
Me & Tim drove down with my twin sister Sarah, Noah & Casey, whilst my older sister Charlotte drive down with her husband & Evie.
It was a lovely day and we enjoyed shopping (First stop, Primark of course!) Followed by some yummy lunch from our favourite Italian which we introduced to everyone, Aromi ๐๐ป Their veggie pesto lasagne is the one.
The kids loved the play area too.
Monday 27th May 2019
Cult Cafe for Tea, Cake & Games.
This has become our bank holiday Monday tradition and it’s great.
We usually chill on the bank holiday ans as the weekend was busy this is what we did. In the afternoon we decided to get out for a bit, Cabin fever was setting in!
This was really lovely โก
Wednesday 29th May 2019
Today, with work, we visited a local farm.
It was a lovely day, really chilled It was fun being outside and visiting a farm I hadn’t been to before either.
Friday 31st May 2019
Today we met my friends little boy, Finley โก
We hadn’t met him before and it was lovely to have cuddles he is adorable.
& it was a great excuse to get the girls together and have a bit of tea & cake.
Our friend was home for the weekend too which was great timing.
We went to my other friends in the evening for dinner which was great too.
Sunday 2nd June 2019
To round off the half term we decided to again take advantage of the lovely warm weather by taking a trip to Felixstowe.
‘Oh, I do like to he beside the seaside… ๐’
We enjoyed a lovely meal of fish & chips, Mr Whippy & doughnuts on the beach. We had a lovely stroll along the prom before heading into the pier for some amusements. The perfect afternoon.
I even had a little paddle ๐โ๏ธ The weather was great.
I hope you enjoyed or are enjoying your half term!
Roseanne Byford 