Branson.

A couple of weekend's ago we took Calleigh and my mother on a short trip to Branson, Missouri. It's just under a 4 hour drive away from where we live and we had heard lots of good things about it! 

We left nice and early on Saturday morning and set out on our four hour journey. We planned a stop in Springfield so that Paul could go and see the Bass Pro Shop Headquarters. We did well for time and arrived at our hotel a bit earlier than planned. Calleigh had a good nap and was overall really good in the car. I think it helped that she had Mee Mee back there to play with her!

We stayed in a place called Grand Country Inn which is on the main strip in Branson and it had everything pretty much on our doorstep!

The first thing we did at the hotel, after dropping off our bags and freshening up, was to book our seats in the Amazing Pet Show for Sunday morning. After that we went to grab some lunch before heading out in the car to check out the main strip. 

We had a great time taking Calleigh around the Hollywood Wax Museum! She loved it at first and was always running up next to the wax models and posing for photos. It was only when we reached the Horror room that Calleigh didn't like it anymore. Mee Mee took her down the elevator to avoid the room but the damage was kind of already done as she had heard the spooky music and it just scared her. After that my Mum and I went on a 5D ride called the Castle of Chaos. It was okay, I suppose you could say it scared me a little, especially when the air shot into the back of my neck, (I hate that!) but I wouldn't pay for it again. It was very short and I didn't really get what was going on, it just span us around and blew air on us! 

After that we took a drive down and parked up near Branson Landing and had a walk around. It was a lot quieter and very pretty. Calleigh loved the water and had fun running around! She also had a blast on the horse ride outside one of the shops!

The rest of the night we spent around the hotel. We ate pizza, played in the games room and then went back to the hotel room for an early night. The next morning we took Calleigh to see the "Amazing Pets" show. I really enjoyed it and Calleigh loved watching the cats walking on tight ropes. She wasn't too bothered about the dogs but she did love it when one of them dressed up as Batdog! She still runs around shouting duh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh nuh batdooooog haha it's so funny.
Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures of the pet show as it wasn't allowed :-(

We had such a great time all together, even though we only had one night there. As soon as we got back we booked a trip to the Lake of the Ozarks the very next weekend as it was Memorial Day weekend! Look out for that coming soon! 

Outfit of the Month: May

Skirt- Next 

T Shirt- Next

Shoes- Tesco

Cardigan- Next

An Explanation and a Giveaway!

I haven't posted anything on here for a while. The main reason for this being that my mum is here visiting again so we are spending some quality time with her and making sure she has a good visit! 

The second reason being that we have just started potty training and it is going rather well. It took us a while to get Calleigh to  be okay around the  potty, for some reason she developed a little fear of it and would scream and cry at the very mention of the word. In just a few short days she has gone from that to actually sitting and staying on the potty until she ha done her business. She now tells me when she needs to go and we have had some really great progress! Of course it hasn't been without it's accidents, which is why I have been concentrating my attention on her and her new mission, if you will. I find that if we are not giving her attention she doesn't think to tell us before she needs to go but rather afterwards.

I will post more on our potty training progress at later time but for now would just like to say how much we are enjoying having my mum here with us again!
I really love having her here and Calleigh is loving it too!

We have also been away this weekend to Branson and had a great time and have also planned another weekend trip to go to the Lake of the Ozarks so I will be sure to post about them very soon! I have a lot of catching up to do!

Until then I have put together a little giveaway to keep you going until I can get more posts up. I thought it would be a nice way to make up for the lack of posts and give you the chance to win some goodies!

The winner will receive:

• 1 Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Limited Edition "Our Little Prince" Gift Set which includes 2 x 90floz/260ml Bottles and 2 x Pacifiers 0-3 months.
• 1 Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature Limited Edition "Our Little Prince" Feeding Bottle (90floz/260ml)
• 1 Huggies Clutch and Clean Refillable Wipes Holder (32 wipes included)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Open to US Residents only. Giveaway will run for 1 week from 05/20-05/27. All Entries are optional, the more you do the more chance you have of winning. All entries will be verified! Upon successful verification the winner will be emailed and they will have 48 hours to claim or a new winner will be chosen. The email will come from r.eaton1989@gmail.com. This giveaway is from me to my readers and is not sponsored  by any of the brands. 

First Taste of Summer

Firstly I just want to say how incredibly happy and blessed I feel to have this gorgeous little lady as my daughter! Just look how happy she is and it is such a pleasure to watch her growing up!

This weekend the weather has been amazing, a serious taste of summer and we have been making the most of it. Hopefully it's going to stick around for a while as I'm not ready for all this fun to end! Plus my mum is coming out for her visit on Tuesday and it will be awesome if the weather stayed like this for her!

On Saturday we decided to put up the pool we brought last year and finally get some use out of it. Calleigh was having a nap at the time which was good as it took absolutely ages to fill (and we only filed it halfway!). When she got up she was so surprised to see the pool there and couldn't wait to get in. She ran upstairs to go and get her swimming costume on. Unfortunately, it was last years and she had outgrown it a little. I also didn't have any swim diapers but figured it would be okay with a normal one. 

I was very wrong about the diaper, it exploded and all the filling came out everywhere. Don't really know why I thought it would be okay but we did have a little laugh at the fact she looked a bit like Kim Kardashian. After I got her out and changed we sat down for some dinner from the BBQ for the first time since last year. It was amazing! 

Best part- When Calleigh ran outside and saw her exploded diaper on the floor and scream "Oh No! My Panties have broken!"

  

We had another great day on Sunday and spent more time in the pool, after we had been out and brought her some swimming diapers and a new Dora costume.

Keeping Entertained During a Storm

One of the things we have to deal with over here is some pretty severe storms, some of which that can produce tornadoes or at least a threat of them. When this happens a (very loud) storm warning echos through the area which warns us to seek shelter in the basement. The first time we heard it we were a bit unprepared having never dealt with anything like this before and we ended up just standing around in the basement a bit bored. 

Unlike a lot of the houses over here our basement is not fully finished so it's not a very nice place to be, especially for long periods of time. The worst thing for me down there is the thought of how many (possibly deadly) spiders are lurking in dark corners and untouched boxes that have sat for god knows how long. This fear gets especially bad when I see Calleigh rummaging through them unaware of any danger! 

Unfortunately, as Calleigh doesn't really spend much time down there when we do have to go it is all new and exciting for her and she wants to explore everything! 

Last time the warning went off we made sure we were a little more prepared. We prepared a little bag with things like water, a flashlight, a blanket and something for Calleigh to do. 

Obviously though as soon as we got down there Calleigh was not interested in playing with anything but the boxes and dead spiders! 

So we had to improvise and find some fun for her to do that also kept her safe. 

As we have been using the basement as a sort of graveyard for all her old toys and furniture it was pretty easy to put something together, plus she is pretty easily entertained. 

I got an old box and all of the balls from her ball pit and we played a game of trying to throw the balls into the box. It worked for a little while and then we ended up puling Calleigh around in the box instead! It went a lot better than the first time but there is still work to be done and as we are still in the middle of tornado season I think I will be putting a little something together for any future trips into the basement. I will also be making sure that when it comes to buying our own house, a finished basement will be something we are looking for!