Sports Day 2016

It's nearly the end of the school year before we pack up for 6 weeks then run around like crazy buying new uniform and getting all emotional at our 'babies' going up yet another year and naturally it's time schools like to pack in as much as possible into the final 2 or 3 weeks! We've just had our sports days, one going ahead as planned and one pushed back due to the rather unpredictable July weather! 

Midges sports day was first up. The field was all set up for the whole of the upper school (year 3 upwards) with loads of different activities some being traditional (track, sprint, long jump) and a rather odd slow bike race (yeah I'm hoping they ditch that next year!) The school tried a new thing this year in keeping with the Olympics, all children would have a great time and take part then from every year group the top 3 from each race would be invited back to a finals later in the day. This was quite nice actually because Midge tried her best but knowing she isn't very sporty she didn't expect to win anything. She did get a 4th in the sprint and did well in the sack race and would've done better if she didn't keep losing her shoes on the track event bless her! She didn't go through to the finals but she was happy with that and enjoyed cheering all her peers on in the afternoon with her fellow class mates. 

Roo's sports day was the following week on what started out a rather wet day. Come 12.30pm though the sun shone (rather cruelly it didn't seem all that hot so I carried on the day with no sun cream, low and behold I was feeling quite unwell and resembled a tomato come 5pm!) Roo enjoyed his day, he didn't fully understand all the races so took the lead from his friends leaving him behind so half way round I got to sit with him and explain to him one to one what he was supposed to do which helped a lot! He had fun throwing bean bags into hoops, was deeply embarrassed by falling over in the sack race, had evidently inherited my fab egg and spoon race skills and came 3rd in the obstacle race so he got his sticker, yey!

All the children got a medal at the end of their sports day which I thought was a lovely touch.

I loved the difference in the sports days but did remember wishing that the school put more effort into younger children's day as they did the older childrens'. The teachers were all wonderful though and it was nice to be close to our children as they went around and did the events like my parents could when I was younger. 

Have you had sports day yet? Do you have competitive children? Roo is definitely going to get more competitive but I think Midge will be pretty laid back about future sports days too!

Fancy Dress Fun!

A couple of weeks ago parents up and down the country were having World Book Day panic. What can I dress my little ones up in? Do we go homemade? Can I really be arsed? I always ask myself the same questions to be honest whether it's fancy dress for their friends party, some non uniform (but of course not free) day at school and of course these national events which schools like to go all out for. Roo never used to want to dress up, so this year he surprised me by asking if he could. I knew I wasn't getting him into anything other than a superhero costume but I figured that was okay since he had been reading plenty of Captain America and Iron Man books (which, by the way, are really good. Especially the Origins ones because I'm new to all this and I never knew how all these people became superheros) 

Midge the poor girl has always had minimal effort applied to these school events. I'm sure she would prefer to go as something really cool but all we ever managed was sodding Matilda from....well, Matilda. I don't feel bad because most of the girls at school for several years running were also Matilda so I felt some what united with the rest of the Mums at school who also couldn't be arsed.

This year however I was approached by Tickled Pink Fancy Dress, who I believe I have purchased from before, a little while ago though I am sure. They asked if I fancied choosing something for one or both of my little Cupcakes and I thought, here's my chance to earn some real Mum Points from Midge. Roo was already catered for, his Iron Man costume was ready to go. Midge however was still unsure (and probably just waiting for me to put pigtails in her hair and pack her off with a pile of books..)

Oh but she wasn't expecting the costume that turned up for her just in time for World Book Day. Mummy had only gone and managed to get one her favourite film costumes:

Yes! With her new Gryffindor cape and her long tie (I wish it was elasticated, it's rather embarrassing that she walked in to school and her teacher immediately did her tie because neither Mummy nor Daddy knew how to do one ha ha!) but she loved the whole outfit, and to be honest, so do I because it pretty much fits me too! I wish I remembered my scarf though! She was so happy to be Hermione and for the first time ever was really excited to go in and show off her dressing up outfit.

I was really pleased with my experience shopping at Tickled Pink Fancy Dress. I received some great customer service, my parcel arrived just in time as promised and I can't really fault the costume either. As I mentioned above, elasticated ties would be better as these are very long (I suspect there's probably health and safety issues with elasticated ties though!)  There is a separate clasp which connects the cape together (took me ages to find it!) at the front which is much safer than having a tie around your child's neck and it was still on at the end of the school day which I wasn't expecting. So it's a big thumbs up from both me and Midge! Thanks TP Fancy dress! 

Cupcake Mumma