May at the Cupcakes

May has left us and we are now in beautiful June! Here's what we got up to in May:

May wasn't an overall busy month, which was nice, A's appointments have gone down considerably and there hasn't been too much on at school. I've been eating healthier foods and we've made good use of the few nice days we got in May, it was a bit of a washout wasn't it? One walk took us 2 1/2 hours and was just beautiful. I was transported back to living in the countryside again. We saw a stream which the dog enjoyed a paddle in, horses which I practically jumped in with (they were so friendly and cuddly!) we fed them some grass and took it in turns to stand on the wall to stroke them properly. We walked on winding country roads and through fields, such a wonderful way to spend the day. Poor A was shattered but his moaning didn't spoil things either, we just took it in turns to piggy back!

Working out// Breakfast with my boy// Cuddly dog// Horses// A with the horses// Peppa having a splash

The second week of May saw us getting outside and doing our garden. The grass needs cutting again already but for a week or so it looked lovely! We have some plans for the garden now it's just getting hold of things we see that will make good planters and having the pennies to complete other projects. Everyone helped in the garden, the dog had fun running about and A and I had a good time hunting bugs. My baking bug returned too over May baking cakes, cupcakes and some gluten free bread rolls which weren't bad.

A's drawing for his teacher// Bug hunting// Gardening progress// Dog playing// Smoothie// Bread rolls// Happy mail outgoing// Tiny snail on a wet flower// Happy Roo

The last half term before the summer holidays made its way around pretty quick but luckily I had some plans up my sleeve. We had a lovely bike ride thanks to Mr B buying me a lovely pre-loved bike. We went to a local pub to collect his football trophies and have some refreshments which was very nice. I baked some jam tarts and some cupcakes with the children, we ate outdoors and went to spend some time with Grandma and Pops.

We visited The Seal Life Sanctuary in Gweek which I will write a proper blog post about because I haven't been there for years and we all had a great day out there. There were sea lions and seal pups as well some some farm animals, a mini park, rock pool, penguins and a crafting area. 

Mr B with his trophies// Homemade jam tarts// Mum and Dad// Seal pups// Little A enjoying the seals// Penguin// A getting fish close ups

Cute Otters// Crafting together// Finished jelly fish artwork// Watching the Otters// Some happy mail for me!

What About Me?

I have been trying very hard over May to up my exercise and eat a bit more sensibly. It's come to my attention that my recent gain has been most likely due to eating meat again and quite a bit of it so when doing my meal plans I make sure I'm having less meat and that there's more variety. So far any pounds I've lost I've put back on again so I need to try harder. I've been quiet on the blogging front whilst writing letters, reading and helping Mr B with his final days of his old job and supporting him with his first few days at his new job (which is going well). I've rediscovered milkshakes and can't get enough of adding strawberry milkshake to my soya milk at least once a day now it's a bit warm for my usual hot chocolate! 

On the Blog

Although a quiet month, here are my posts from May:

* Reasons to be Cheerful 6th May

* Reasons to Smile March and April

* What we got up to in April

* Freebies and Prizes February and March

* Reasons to be Cheerful- New Jobs and Family Time

* I Need to be Kinder to Myself

* The Simple Things

* Couponing and My 8 Tips for Writing to Companies

Cupcake Mumma

Freebies and Wins ~ April & May

It's time to look back on April and May's prizes and freebies! I love collecting my freebies and I enjoy entering competitions like a lot of people. I didn't do much comping in April so I only have 1 prize to write about but May has picked up a little.

Freebies in April

I printed off a coupon to get some free Arla Lactofree milk which the children really liked. I couldn't try it as I can't have any dairy at all but I was told by the rest of the family it's a very nice brand of milk. I had a collagen food supplement sample which tasted so, so disgusting I can't even talk about it but I really liked the bottle with the nice branding!

Coffee scrub anyone? I'm not a fan of coffee but I think this is really nice, it has lots of good reviews too. I got a cream sample for massaging into joints so I thought I'd pass it on to Mum who has bad knees. I got a freebie from Nescafe and like a lot of people I was hoping for a mug but was sent a set of sticky notes instead. They're pretty cool, I'll probably split them with my Dad as he appreciates a good sticky note as well as my pen pals.

There's this lovely woman who knocks every week for me, she's a Johovas witness and I enjoy talking to her, she knows my faith and I respect hers so we just sort of chat about random things, then the leaflets which I find interesting anyway and then off she goes. She brought round this lovely plant in April, she kept it especially for me when she saw me tidying my garden recently.

April's Prizes

Only one prize to shout about from April but I thought it was a great one. I entered a Twitter photo comp over 5 days and won one of the days with a funky welly photo which scored me a £50 online spend at LoveTheSales.com. I chose a cute onesie, a new sports bra and a new Weird Fish hoody which is pretty big for me but I've made it my 'super comfy' hoody for when I feel really cold, really tired or just a bit 'meh.' 

May's Freebies

Using Buzz Feed has been a slow start for me but I had the chance to review this pot noodle. Mr B said it was very tasty and I thought it smelled pretty good so I guess that's a winner. We don't by Pot Noodles because I don't think they're good for you and are too pricey but Mr B has been known to buy the cheaper brands of similar products. We got our Family and Friends railcard through from a newspaper. Luckily it was all online so I didn't have to buy the awful paper! Lastly, some seeds to attract bees to my garden.

I received a make your own jewellery set and this is to make a bracelet. I used to make earrings so luckily have all the jewellery making tools although if you don't, it doesn't appear to matter with this easy to make piece. 

I got some sparkly earrings too in May. I haven't had earrings in a long, long time so fancied paying the post and packaging without paying for the earrings. Not a straight forward freebie, and it could have been cheaper too but I'm happy.

I also got a really nice Lancome moisturiser, It's completely different from other moisturisers, for a start it's not a cream and it's so fresh, love it. 

May's Prizes

May has been good for comping, I've just been a bit more on the ball. I am waiting on 2 items to arrive. I got an instant BBQ through Twitter which was great (SO funny. I thought I'd won an actual BBQ, or at least a resuable one but the postman brought me the little box and I saw 'instant BBQ' written on it; I had such a giggle. All those people thinking they've won a BBQ every week and they have, but it won't be what they're expecting!) We had a lovely afternoon together on that instant BBQ so I am really not disappointed!

I've won a big bouncy ball (like an exercise ball but not an exercise ball) which we'll have some fun with, a LaLaLoopsy toy, not sure which one it is, one of their new toys I suspect but I haven't heard much as of yet. I also won a lovely cushion cover which I'm told should arrive soon. I chose an elephant cover so I can wrap it up as a birthday gift for someone special. 

What freebies and wins have you got to show off this month? 

Cupcake Mumma