A great start to the Easter break . . .

I must admit when I found out the Easter school holidays would be nearly three weeks, I was dreading it. I’m still trying to get used to life as a stay-at-home Mummy to three under five. It is getting easier but I do still have the days when I feel like I’m am drowning in a sea of screaming children. It’s all a learning curve I guess. The way that I decided to tackle this holiday was to plan ahead and make sure that we all had fun things to look forward to (that, as well as asking Hubby and my Mum to arrange time off work to give me some much-needed help).

On Little Bean’s last afternoon at school, the children took part in a fundraising Easter Egg Hunt on the school field and so I took Beanie Boy along to join his big sister and see what fun could be had. Well, IT WAS FREEZING!!! At the end of school we were sent out onto the school field to search for two chicks and three plastic eggs each, the trouble was, the school didn’t have enough plastic eggs for all the children so as soon as some of the eggs had been collected a member of staff had to go out onto the field to drop more eggs for the children to find.

The school ensured that all the kids were given matching easter shirts that heightened the cute factor of the entire event. With so many children wearing matching easter shirts, the entire ground looked to be covered with the cutest jellybeans. I think it was a pleasant surprise that made both the kids as well as their parents very happy. While it was a small gesture, it was able to convert the entire mood into a truly ‘Eastery’ one. Everyone had a laugh and a pleasantly good time during the event. 

Little Bean and Beanie Boy were cold and tired so when they couldn’t find their plastic eggs the tears began and they rolled and rolled down their cheeks! Thankfully clever Mummy spotted one of the teachers heading back out onto the field with their pockets full of eggs so I sent the tiddlers off in her direction to grab them before anyone else. Once they had collected their eggs (Little Bean ignored two yellow eggs and a green one because she was insistent she wanted a purple one!!!) we made our way back into the school hall where the tiddlers were able to exchange their bag of Easter findings over to the Easter Bunny who presented them with a much bigger chocolate Easter Egg and all the cold and fear of finding eggs was forgotten.

The following day we jumped into the family wagon (our VW Transporter) and toddled off in the direction of Milton Keynes to meet up with my sister and her family so they could finally get to meet Jelly Bean. We met up for a lovely meal before heading to The Centre MK for a spot of retail therapy.

The children were so excited to see each other it was hilarious and they all sat really nicely together to eat their meals. Then once in the shopping centre, we managed to find various ways of keeping them entertained and yes, perhaps a little bit of ice cream for the adults too!! Well, my excuse is that I need the calories for breastfeeding Jelly Bean.

One point worth mentioning if you ever visit Milton Keynes with small children, their changing/feeding facilities are brilliant. The baby changing/feeding room has four large changing stations, each with its own sink as well as a toddler toilet, a microwave for heating food. Playstations to keep older siblings entertained and a curtained off area with comfortable sofas for private feeding and a TV showing CBeebies to keep the little ones happy whilst you see to your baby.

This has to be one of the best facilities I have come across in my nearly 5 years of parenting.