Half-term Horrors!

It has dawned on me that half-term is rapidly approaching. As a mum whose children have just started in reception and nursery this September this hasn't really been a concern for me before now but I've settled into the routine of school and I have ways of coping with the little terrors that I just don't think are going to cut it now. For the main part, my two spend a good part of the day away from each other now which means less fighting and generally less shouting from me, a whole week in each other's company 24/7 can only mean one thing - complete and utter carnage!

Out of all the holidays the children have over the year, the October half-term is probably the one that I am most comfortable about. Why is this? The greatest event in the whole year (according to the little fella) occurs at the end of this half-term. Halloween. Yes, my 3 year old has a slight fondness, verging on obsession, of anything remotely related to Halloween, as I previously mentioned. We've been watching "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween" since August... This fascination means there are endless possibilities for crafty activities including glitter, glue and papier mache but here's the thing; whilst I think I'm quite a good mum in other ways I'm not so good with the messy play. Is that a terrible admission? I surely can't be the only one!

When I needed to evacuate the house over the summer holidays in the hope of preserving a little of my sanity I headed to the local library. This was by the far best value activity I did all summer because it was FREE! The children loved the library and I'm hoping to instill a love of books in them; even if I am dwindling in my own reading quest. (Yes, I've still not read three quarters of the books I planned to). The library was running the Space Hop reading challenge and the Bookstart Book Crawl as well as running children's storytime. It has a great space for the children - a separate room with bean bags and a few toys around which means the noisy kids aren't disrupting anyone else and little miss and the boy just loved picking their own books, so much it was extremely hard to limit them to just a few each.

Our library is right next to the shopping centre so a trip into the toy shops usually kills another hour and remarkably I normally get them out there without buying anything before heading somewhere for lunch. Pizza Hut is normally our first port of call because a) I am pizza fiend and b) it's pretty good value. I could eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and tea and then some. The children also love pizza - at home. For some unknown reason every time we go to Pizza Hut they raid the salad bar and girly opts for chicken and the boy chooses fish. I honestly cannot get my head round it but hey, as long as they are happy... Pizza Hut did a great deal over the summer where Kids Eat Free and they've extended it until January 9th 2011. You know what that means don't you? Yes, more money for dessert! For every adult main course or adult lunchtime buffet purchased, an accompanying child can choose from either a free two course kids meal plus drink or a free kids lunchtime buffet which includes pizza, pasta and salad. You can find out more details about this great offer here.

So this half-term we will be frequenting the local library again and I would definitely recommend you take a closer look at yours if you haven't already in case there are any special events coming up. (I'm still kicking myself over missing The Gruffalo coming to the library a few months ago). We'll also be doing some serious pumpkin carving as regular readers of my blog will know that I've been growing my own this year, quite successfully I might add!

What do you have planned for half-term?

love & kisses
Mrs M x

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