I know...

two posts in one day... big shocker!!

I am now determined to keep on the blogging wagon so will try and update as often as I can (read- as often as children allow)

Thank you so much for the handy thrift/fitness tips from my last post, really appreciate all advice as I can literally feel the squeeze on our finances now the summer is approaching. Even trying to keep costs down and buy the bare minimum my shopping bill this month is still about £30 more than it was this time last year (and buying similar stuff) and diesel is costing us an extra £20 per tank, these little additions all add up, and yet Hubby hasn't had a pay rise in 3 years and I now take home a lot less, so where is it supposed to come from? I had a financial advisor call me last week to review our life insurance that came with the mortgage and I actually laughed aloud when she asked me how much savings we had and whether we had seperate life insurance for illness/loss of earnings etc, how are average people with families supposed to afford all these insurances/savings. Yes we could probably save loads by not having a car, but we live in a rural village with one bus service that runs hourly to 2 towns, it would be impossible for hubby to get to work on time without a 3 bus/2 hour trip each way, and as far as bus/train fares go probably as expensive by the time we are all travelling to appointments/work/visits. There are however areas I know I can save us money on, clothes, toys, food (kind of), holidays/days out etc can all be done cheaply it's just getting in to the habit of thinking that way and finding the best offers at the best places.

The school half term looms ahead next week (didn't they literally just have Easter?!!) and I am dreading it. I love GS to bits, but he is at that stage where it's almost impossible to capture his attention for more than 10 minutes with any one activity, and as much as I try, Mary Poppins I am not, so that moves me to the question many parents ask... How do you keep a 3 year old entertained (possibly by themselves) for an hour? I have already purchased a few cheap colouring packs, activity books, new felt-tips (the old ones are worn out and don't work), I am armed with a few ideas (teddy bears picnic, board games, treasure hunt etc) but I am worried he'll exhaust all these before noon next Tuesday! It's pretty tough when he won't entertain himself for very long, if at all, without needing one of us there to supervise and play with, which we try too but sometimes stuff needs doing (like going to the lavatory!) and any time he is left alone he seems to start this bored/hyper/play up creation of whirling up in to a tantrum or path of destruction that inevtiably ends up with him sat on the naughty step screaming whilst I nurse a headache. I am hoping full time school might tame the beast within here and provide him with that much needed full-time attention, structure and a little self-discipline, but thats 4 months away, I may go completely bald before then tying myself up in knots of ways to entertain a pre-schooler... Are there any good blogs/links/lists of (cheap!) crafts/activites/games for this untameable age group you may have?

Having moaned about him, he did get a lovely report from school last week totally singing his praises, so I am one proud Mummy I'd like to add.