A Matter of Choice

Happy Birthday Louka mou, Today you are two years old!  I'm not sure if you really understand what your birthday means but I know every time it's been mentioned you say 'party?'  which is closely followed by 'cake?'so  I can assure you we will indeed be having a party today and there will definitely be cake. You are a real little character now, with an ever increasing vocabulary. We can understand lots of what you say now, and Leo is even better at working out what you'd like than we are. Speaking of 'your Leo' we are all pleased you have finally started calling him by the right name.  It's been a mystery to us all why you've insisted on calling him 'Mordy' for so long. As entertaining as it was it drove Leo crazy and left us all wondering why you refused to even try and say 'Leo' when you attempt to say pretty much anything else! You are just on the verge of putting all your words together to make sentences now and...

We don't usually 'do' cards in this house, so this morning I posted this to Aaron's facebook page.  I was however surprised (and  hugely outdone!)  by his lovely offering...... not just a photo but he'd gone much further than 'googling' a quote, he's written his own poem to mirror his wedding speech from 10 years ago.... It’s been 10 years now that you have been my wife and that is about a quarter of my life that we have spent together in wedded bliss even if at times it’s been hit and miss So 10 years ago I did my speech in rhyme and it seemed appropriate at this time that I should do another to honour an era in which some of our dreams have got nearer and nearer We've had 2 great kids and moved far away although we have done these things in our own special way  are we as happy today as the day we were wed the answer is yes if the truth be said So even after 10 long years  of sharing all our hopes and fears...

As we are already 6 weeks into the summer holidays this post is a little late but we've been busy with an unexpected visitor, birthdays and plently of swimming! The schools in Cyprus break up mid June and the long holiday runs until the second week of September.   This September Leo will start his compulsory year of Prodimodiki (pre-primary school), he will be in the same school as the last two years although possibly in a different class as he completed one year of kindergarten there and an optional year of Prodimodiki already. Leo has done well at school this year, improving on his Greek and coping with the change of class and teacher with no problems. As the only child with two English parents (and therefore having no real exposure to the Greek language out of school) I think he's done pretty well mixing with the rest of the class, there are just a couple of other children who speak English as well as Greek in his class but he plays with most of the other switching betw...

Yes, you did read that right it's a 'half a syn' cake, and not only that, its really nice! Over the years of Slimming World I've tried many different dessert recipies and I've always been hard pushed to find a good one.   I find they are either not that nice, or not worth the effort or the syns but since trying this at a taster session in the group I attend I've finally found the answer! I'd put off making it for years, thinking it would be difficult but I've made it several times now and it's always turned out fine! Ingredients 4 medium eggs, seperated 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla essence Fat free Greek yoghurt 3 tbsp of sweetener (level not heaped) Raspberries (or any other Syn free fruit) Instructions Add yoghurt, sweetener, vanilla essence & baking powder to the egg yolks Whisk until creamy and put to one side Take the egg whites and whisk until stiff Add half of the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture and s...

It appears I've accidentally scared my children and given them a dislike of being messy, although you'd never believe it if you saw the state of my floor most days! Although it was never my intention, messy play has never been something that I consider fun and as I realized the boys may be starting to agree with me I decided to get over myself and re-do an activity (one that was messy, but also fairly easy to clean up!)  that I first did with Leo almost three years ago .  It didn't go brilliantly all those years ago but I thought it would be different this time, and it was just not at first! Cornflour and water mixed together becomes a non-newtonian liquid - in other words a liquid which acts like a solid when you hit it.  Cornflour gloop (a much better name for it when you are one or five!)  is so easy to make, in fact I didn't even make it. I measured the flour into two tubs and added a little colouring to the water and handed over to the boys....

Leo's party theme this year was the subject of much debate between him and I, originally going to be 'Superheroes' and then eventually (after a quick peek on pinterest!) became Lego.  With a bit of teamwork going on, Aaron and I came up with a brilliant Lego Party for him and he enjoyed every second of it, playing with his friends and receiving some lovely presents.  One of his favourties was his very own 'Leo / Lego' superhero t-shirt from Personalised in Cyprus  Like on the invitations Aaron made using the Lego font for his name and featuring one of his favourite superheroes, it was always going to be a winner with him.  Leo is most impressed that Leo is Lego without the G! We were already fans of Personalised in Cyprus since receiving two of their products for review by the Famagusta Parents Network and it was the first place I thought of for presents from the boys and I for my Dad when Father's Day and his birthday approached. A metal...

I've been a little behind on keeping this little blog of mine updated and my little man has been 5 for several weeks now without me posting his yearly interview! Its a couple of weeks old now so knowing him the answers would be different even now, in fact I did video him twice as the first one was a bit of a disaster with him not really paying attention and Louka causing even more chaos than usual.  After watching the lovely calm videos from my fellow bloggers The Boy and Me , Lauren and Jenny , I did think about retrying it without Louka in the background, but then I realised it was quite a good representation of this point in time and decided to go with it! I realise I sound distracted, which is due to trying to work out how to keep Louka quiet - I must point out he wasn't crying because he was hurt, he was just being stroppy and he was trying to give Leo a kiss, he just tends to over react!  I also have no idea what Leo was singing in Greek, so if you speak G...

After promising to get back to blogging basics what better timing to join in with the Gallery for the first time in goodness knows how long, with the perfect prompt for the moment 'A younger me' Last week I had the surprise of my life when Aaron came home late Sunday night with my friend of 33 years!  I last saw her on my very short trip to England in February 2013 and the other time I went to the UK in August 2010. I constantly badger her to stay in contact via skype but hadn't thought for a second she would be able to actually come and visit, with family, work and voluntary commitments, plus the cost of flights, and the fact that she'd never traveled before, I always thought it was a far off possibility. Let me share with you, the younger 'us' From pre-school, to primary, secondary and then (briefly) college we did it all together. Five children between us, with her eldest and my youngest having almost a 17 year old age gap, makes no difference, a ...

There's no passports or plane tickets involved, I'm not going back to those roots but I am planning to get back to where I started back in the blog world and revitalize this poor neglected blog of mine! Back in September 2009 I started my blog on a whim with my first post ' Do you want to move to Cyprus?'   and a few more surprisingly short posts following it up, Our first trip to Cyprus  ' What if?,  and 'Not long to go'   I think they were probably so short as I didn't really expect anyone to read them!   Another thing then on my ever increasing 'to do' list, I'd love to have a more detailed account of the biggest thing I've ever done, especially why it's still recent (ish) enough to remember it! There was a big break from November until January when I announced we were ' All settled (pretty much)'   and it wasn't until the May of that year that I managed more than 2 posts in one month.  At that point I was yet ...

Being an avid fan of pinterest and a lover of organising parties I was in my element when Leo decided he'd like to have a Lego themed birthday party!  Plans were put into action months ago and I'd spent the last few weeks in preparation for the big day. In previous years we've had Mickey Mouse , Thomas the Tank Engine ,   Spiderman and The Very Hungry Caterpillar but Lego was the most fun to date! We started with some brilliant invites made by Aaron using the Lego font on the invites to say 'Leo' -something he was really impressed with when he realised that Lego was almost the same as his name.  It was such a simple but effective theme to work with, no need to buy branded tableware and party bags, and so easy to make decorations and themed food. I used the colours red, green, blue and yellow for balloons and decorations and Aaron drew Lego faces onto yellow cups and plates. I used Lego bricks and duplo to make centrepieces and rectangles of ...

We've moved on from Thomas the Tank Engine, the obsession I thought would never end, and that has been replaced by superheroes and lego games,  some things never change though he still loves his 'little orange Raff' and we still have to search the house if he's missing at bedtime!

Happy Birthday Leonida'mou Today you are five years old!!! Every year on your birthday I marvel at how the years have passed so quickly and how my little baby became the gorgeous boy you are today. You are a lovely boy, kind and caring and a great big brother to Louka, even though he drives you crazy at times.  I love to see you playing together and he adores you, copying everything you do!  I'm so pleased that you love to teach him new things and it makes me happy to see how proud you are of him when he says a new word. You are doing very well at school, learning a language which is not your native tongue and doing it much better than I am! Your teacher Kiryia Ioanna is pleased with you and on the whole you are a very good boy at school - as long as you remember not to play superheros in the classroom and 'spiderman roll across the headteachers office. You enjoy school even though you think your Greek is not very good - compared to mine it is amazing and  I thi...

I always said I'd get there eventually and last week I finally got to my Slimming World target, and also got my 2 stone award. Regular readers will know it's not the first time I've reached target - the first being in 2007 with a total loss of 4 stone.   I reached target again (although one 1/2 stone heavier than my pre-pregnancy one) as Leo reached his second birthday.  Now with Louka at 21 months old I'm finally back there once more. I love Slimming World, and while the plan is easy to follow, it's not always easy to keep your head in gear which is why it's taken me almost 2 years each time to lose a couple of stone.   I'm not sure what the secret was the first time as losing the initial 4 stone seemed easier and certainly took less time! But that's it now, I'm done with having babies, and while I don't imagine for one second that I won't stray out of target range I'll still be going to my weekly group and trying to keep it in...

It seems that for the longest time someone in our family has been ill lately, my plans for the Easter holidays pretty much went out the window when I was ill for a couple of days at the beginning which was immediately followed by almost everybody else coming down with a nasty stomach bug. We had a couple of days in the middle of different people suffering where we got out, once just for a couple of hours leaving a poorly Louka with my Mum, and then last weekend we all got out together before the bug got Aaron and laid him up for days and Leo developed an ear infection. Since moving to Cyprus, and especially since starting the Famagusta Parents Network website I've been itching to get out and explore new places, we're a bit rubbish at getting out and about with a list of varying reasons as long as your arm but am I'm loving the fact I 'have' to now its my new 'job'! One of these places was the Agia Napa aqueduct, something that I thought would be inte...

The last couple of years haven't always been the easiest of times, especially when it can be hard to shake the idea that 'we are living the dream' Aaron, the eternal optimist powers through convincing me it will all be fine, and eventually a whole lot more than just fine while I can find it hard to focus on the end of the week let alone any further than that! Don't get me wrong, I have (usually) tried to look on the bright side but often have failed to find one despite the blue skies and sandy beaches (I hate sand anyway!) so being consistently happy is something I have to actively work at. There has been a change this year, despite many of the existing problems still ongoing but it's still worth while realising there is always something, no matter how small to be happy about. A fellow blogger, Karin ( Cafe Bebe) is trying to help us all remember this, and is doing a very good job! After joining in with #3goodthings for a while on Instagram and facebook...

I've been to many events here in Cyprus, some good, many bad but usually leave muttering how easy it would be to improve them in some way. So when I was was offered a venue to hold my own just after I had set up the Famagusta Parents Network I jumped at the chance to do just that! As a child I loved the school fetes, Brownie fairs and enjoyed getting involved in them. (I helped at Brownies for many years after I actually left!) and my ideas for the event I guess were based on those. I knew I wanted to have things for the children to do, and that if they were happy, the parents would be happy.  I knew I wanted to promote and support local businesses and I wanted to raise money in the process for a local charity. From the idea it might happen to the day itself was just 6 weeks, some people mentioned this wasn't very long - I shrugged and said it would be fine! And it was! The support I had from the community was quite amazing both in the run up to the day, with busi...

For the first time in forever, I am more than 'just a Mum'  For the first time in forever, I am busy, having fun! and I know it's totally crazy to think I wasn't 'me'  but for the first time in forever it seems I've found the key! Looking back, I can't really think of a time when I was 'busy', before Leo was born I worked but I finished at 5pm on the dot, never took work home with me or gave it a moments thought once leaving the office and did as I pleased in the evenings and weekends. Never chock a block with social arrangements or struggling to fit things in, always free for any meet ups or last minute plans. For the last five years I've been lucky to be a stay at home Mum, and I've spent a lot of time being busy doing nothing,   'nothing' being washing, cooking, cleaning and general housewifey stuff and looking after one, then two children, which of course isn't nothing at all but often feels like it! I'd arra...

Have I ever mentioned how much I love cake? Admittedly the best bit is eating the cakes but over the last few years I've been slowly improving on my cake creating skills, usually with the help of my more creative and patient husband but we are getting there.  I am always so in awe of professional cake makers who these days seem to create such amazing masterpieces and until now wouldn't have thought of even attempting to emulate them.   Last year, 'Ladies That Cake' created a masterpiece - a Creme Egg Cake.  This year they are sharing the secret! For £10 (about €12)  you can now purchase the 'Creme Egg Cake' tutorial, and make your own in time for Easter.  Due to a major lack of time setting up and promoting my new website and being so close to my Slimming World target, unfortunately I've yet to try to make my own Creme Egg cake but it's on my wish list!  I just thought it was so cool that I had to share it with you! You can...

March 25th is Greek Independence day - and is celebrated in Cyprus as well as Greece. It is a bank holiday, shops and schools are closed and parades are held all over the country.  Leo and his classmates took part in a school play to commemorate the event and came home proudly waving their Greek flags. As usual on these national holidays we were 'treated' to the sound of one of the parades which sets off from outside our apartments, we were lucky to have to unusually late start of 7.45am though this time!  Leo and Louka enjoyed it though, watching over the balcony and then marching round themselves! It was a lovely day and summer must be on its way as the flip flops and 3/4 length trousers made their first appearance this year when we all headed down to the beach path for a walk later in the morning.  It's quite rare that we venture onto the beach while we walk along which is daft but the sand drives me crazy, especially when I'm not prepared for i...