Walkers Hoops and Crosses: Yum!

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I was told as a child to never play with my food. It's something I have even said to my children in the past but now that Walkers Crisps have brought out their new Hoops and Crosses range, I think I'll probably be eating my words..

A tasty box of golden crisps Mmm

These tasty crisps come in 3 flavours: roast beef, prawn cocktail and salt and vinegar (which are all suitable for vegetarians). Unlike most crisps that are made from potato, Hoops and Crosses are made from corn. This is something I actually really like because it's different, the crisps are lighter and as far as crisps go, they're healthier too. 

Little A loved the roast beef flavour and I thought they smelt delicious! Midge had a try but didn't like the flavour we had. We've since seen some of the other flavours which she can't wait to try!

Little A offering my a 'cross'

Hoops and Crosses contain wholegrain (which 27% of young people do not get!) and are preservative and additive free. I can feel a little better about packing Midge off to school with Walkers' new range of crisps as opposed to our current brand.

A very cheeky monkey!

CupcakeMumma

Time Out

Myself and Husband have been talking about taking a family break. It doesn't matter where, we just feel that it's time to start considering a nice holiday for this year. Now, if you read my blog you'll know that I'm off pretty soon with some other fabulous bloggers to climb Mount Snowdon. I'm actually going to treat this as my own little break (after all I'll get a full nights sleep which is rare!)

Husband has something planned with his football mates at some point this year too so we both get an individual 'night off.' What we both really want however, is to take one of those good old short break holidays. Oh to pack up those dusty suitcases (it's been 2 years) and head off to a chosen destination leaving work, housework, endless lists of bills and meal plans behind. I spend an awful long time some nights browsing through different holiday sites lusting after holiday homes, cosy cabins and even some pretty nice caravan parks! We've made a bit of a goal for 2013 to have a real family holiday and I hope we can achieve this with some planning, sacrificing of luxuries and topping up that good old 'holiday fund' jar that's stashed (somewhere) in the house!

There are plans though. Exciting plans. Plans that really will make a family holiday become an actual huge family gathering of sorts. In June, my Aunt and Uncle who live in the beautiful countryside of Cambridge, hold a mini music festival. When we last went up (in 2011) Little Man was only a baby and now he's bigger and doesn't require so much 'luggage' I know if we managed to work it out right we could hot foot it up there for one of those much needed midweek breaks I hear people talk about.

 I can just see it now...Little Man and Midge dancing to the drums and guitars in the mud, laughing and running around with all their other cousins. Husband and I could chat and catch up and even though it isn't cabins or holiday parks (although it is caravans and tents!) and it isn't hot, beaming sun or fun, twisting slides, it would still be such an amazing holiday.

Tiny Little Man on his first holiday
June 2011

Midge and Little Man loved their home for the holiday!

A beautiful Cambridge sunset

 Are you planning a family break this year? If so where to? Are you, like us, pinching the pennies wherever possible for that one week of de-stress? I'd love to know!

CupcakeMumma

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Little Miss Sunshine..

I was watching this film the other day. I like watching it because the little girl (Olive) reminds me of my sister. My sister has just turned 18 and pretty soon she’ll be going off to university in Staffordshire. Now, there are 4 years between myself and my sister but growing up we were quite close. All 3 of us were to be honest, my little sister, brother and I. We made art attacks in our front room, we played made up games like Lion King and Final Fantasy.

We helped mum cook a lot of cakes and we had a load of ducks we loved to chase back into their hut for bedtime. We’ve always shared a room too. I used to sing her to sleep when she couldn’t drift off herself and we would sometimes stay up and talk for ages. She copied me a lot as I entered my teenage phase of dark eyeliner and black clothes.

Eventually though I met my other half and became pregnant with my daughter. I lived at home for a while and then I moved out with Other Half. Sure we moved back but our relationship was a lot different from then on. At the time, my sister was entering her own teenage phase where she became quiet, started discovering boys and there was a time when she just didn’t seem like the little sister I grew up with.

I remember one night when we had a quiet heart to heart. From that moment on we came a little closer once again. I soon moved out permanently but I enjoyed the fact she stayed over now and again. It’s always nice because she cooks  dinner, I’ll make a dessert like my famous cheesecake and we’ll look at stuff online, pop a movie on or even watch another episode of Friends which we’ve seen a million times!

So yes, my ‘little’ sister turned 18 recently and was on the road to her first gig. I’m not one for gigs so she took a close friend along with her. I heard she had a brilliant time although a few photos emerged of them stranded in Bodmin with nothing but a van selling those hotdogs and drinks. 

Thank goodness for car insurance that’s all I could say after yet more photos popped up of them being towed away back home! I don’t think her 18^th birthday would’ve been quite the same stuck in the middle of no-where freezing cold and drinking not so great tea from those awful polystyrene cups!

She got home though and I eventually got around to seeing her. My aunt’s birthday falls the day before hers so we had a big roast dinner, 2 cakes and some pressies which was a lovely day. Little Miss even treated her to a Peppa Pig balloon!

I’ll miss my sister loads when she goes all 300 miles away from us all. Of course I’m happy for her and wish her all the best but that’ll never stop me missing our film nights, chats and her tasty risotto! On the plus side, we’ll start writing to each other instead and we all know how much better it is to receive a letter from a loved one than a bill in the post!!

Cupcake Mumma