CharlieBeth's "My Life As Mumma Walker"

Pinterest is my friend!!!! I have found so many lovely juice and smoothie recipes over the weeks that I want to share some of my faves with you. Please feel free to pin these to your own boards, the original pinners will love you for it! And don't forget you can follow me too: CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker Facebook has changed it’s policy for posts to Facebook pages like mine. They are only showing posts to a few likers unless I pay to boost the views. Since I don't earn money from my blog (or at least not much, not even enough to buy one posh a coffee a week) I wont be doing that. The best way to make sure you will see my blog posts is to subscribe by email up there on the right. I usually only email once a week and include an invitation to my blog hop so you can share your posts too.   You can also go to my page, hover over the “liked” button and select get notifications. Then you will see my posts and status updates in your notifications. Mumma Walker on Facebook

All my boys together at Giggles I honestly don't know where the time goes! This time next month Jack will be 7 years old! How has that happened already? I know I shouldn't be shocked that he is almost 7, he does have 3 younger brothers after all.... but 7!? My first baby is almost SEVEN! He's doing well though. What ever that blip was at school before Christmas it seems to be over. I think that the school jumping on it straight away and getting our full backing helped. He seems to be back on track now, and he is still really enjoying his jujitsu, swimming, and beaver scouts. There will be a jujitsu grading next month (the day after his birthday in fact) but he wont be going this time. He is already a high enough belt to only need to grade once or twice a year instead of 3-4 times. Tom is grading next month. He's doing well too in both his jujitsu and his swimming. We seems to be slowly coming out of the fussy food stage at last. He is eating loads more vegetable

So after a couple of slack weeks, and allowing myself to be led by my Hubby (who appears to have given up on watching what he eats right now), I am trying to get back on track. I have gained 2lb in the last 2 weeks. I had hoped  to have lost 4lb in that time. Yesterday I managed to get out and walk just over 6 miles by walking the long long way round to town and back, and then walking our eldest boy to and from Beaver Scouts. Today I have walked over 5.6 miles. Tomorrow I wont be able to get as much in because we have a DIY disaster to sort out - car trip to the local DIY store for wood etc. Can't do that on foot. But I'll do the best I can to get some steps in. Then - weather permitting - I'll be out and about on Thu & Fri as well. I'm taking a closer look at my "5 a day" because I haven't been getting all my " colours " often enough. Loads of red, yellow and orange, some green, but virtually no purple. Hubby can't eat aubergines because

Well.... we were all ill for a while. Then it was half term and I was full of ideas of things that we could do - including some more fund raising for Barnardo's. But first the car needed it's MOT & Service. I took it in on Mon 16th... didn't get it back for three days and it cost well over £500! On top of that the Tax Credits people still don't think Freddie isn't real and have cut my payment by £300+ for the second month running. SO... we have been flat broke the whole time too. Half term. We're recovering from nasty colds, the weather is grotty, we have no car and no money. So what did we do? We stayed in! ALL WEEK! Oh, apart from one day when my Mum came to visit and took us to Giggles to stop the kids from going stir crazy. Mostly we played Skylanders. A while back I picked up the Light and Dark expansion packs and stashed them for school holidays. We got the Light pack out (saving Dark for Easter) and worked our way through it. Me and Jack yomped thro

I am rubbish at school holidays, I really am. This week has been another rough week with a 1lb gain. I've had no car this week (MOT & Service resulted in an expensive part needing to be shipped in) so taking the kids any great distance has been a no-no, and the weather has been awful too so there was little chance of trying to drag them out walking (esp the 2yo & 4yo). In fact we wound up staying in pretty much all week with one trip to a local park (on a freeeeeezing cold day) and one trip to an indoor play area. We have also enjoyed Pancake Day... with masses of pancakes; some with cheese and ham, some with chocolate and fruit. Not ideal for slimming. I knew in advance that this would be a hard week though so I have been working on damage limitation. The juicer has been put through it's paces. Even the kids are enjoying the results of my juicing and pinterest addiction (I'll be buying a smoothie maker next). All in all I think a 1lb gain isn't too bad. I was e

Pinterest is my friend!!!! I have found so many lovely juice and smoothie recipes over the weeks that I want to share some of my faves with you. Please feel free to pin these to your own boards, the original pinners will love you for it! And don't forget you can follow me too: CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker Facebook has changed it’s policy for posts to Facebook pages like mine. They are only showing posts to a few likers unless I pay to boost the views. Since I don't earn money from my blog (or at least not much, not even enough to buy one posh a coffee a week) I wont be doing that. The best way to make sure you will see my blog posts is to subscribe by email up there on the right. I usually only email once a week and include an invitation to my blog hop so you can share your posts too.   You can also go to my page, hover over the “liked” button and select get notifications. Then you will see my posts and status updates in your notifications. Mumma Walker on Facebook

I said  I didn't want a juicer. I was adamant about it. It would be more clutter in my kitchen, an expense I could do without, a gadget I was lose interest in, and all I could think about was the (nasty, gritty, gungy) juice my dad used to make with the juicer he bought in the early 80's. It was really grim! But I have been LOVING the juice I have been buying from Juicafe! I am spending £10-15 a week in there though and that's not great for my bank balance. I really need to cap myself at ONE cafe trip a week - be it coffee bar or juice bar. I have been browsing Pinterest for juice recipes and tasty fruit combinations, and I have been getting quite excited about it all. I'm not up for "Juice Fasting" or "Detox Diets" because I don't think they are any good for long term weight loss. I am not thinking about replacing my Weight Watchers with juice... I want to add to it. Most of the juices I have looked at are Zero Points so I can have them any time

So I gained 1lb this week. It's not unexpected. The kids have been sick and off school which has meant no walking out - apart from one short walk at the beginning of the week. And we had a cock up with the grocery order too so I had very little fresh fruit & veg, and no means of getting out to buy more. And I was flooded with sweet treats from Hubby and my sons yesterday for Valentines - and I pigged out a bit yesterday. I even had a glass of wine, something I haven't done in YEARS with the whole trying to get pregnant, being pregnant, and breastfeeding thing I've been doing for around 7-8 years.  In truth I am glad it's not MORE than 1lb because I fully expected a 2lb gain, although I am sad not to have lost.  Hubby has lost 2lb though which is brilliant. He didn't expect to have lost at all, but he's been out walking at work in the cold and it does have an impact. I'm a little worried about how I am going to get my Fitbit steps in next week. The kids a

Is he poorly, or just not wanting to be seen out with his "Daddy Did It" hair cut....? Gah...! Another reason to dislike winter...! The kids have another "bug". I think Georgie brought it into the house this time. He was sick on Friday night last week. Twice. And too poorly to go out anywhere when Nana came to visit on Saturday. Freddie was out of sorts too although it's hard to tell if he's poorly or just teething. Then on Monday Jack was sent home from school before lunch time and was also sick twice. It meant that he missed going to Beavers (and getting the badges he's been working for - he'll have to wait until after half term to get them now) and going to the Valentines Disco at school. He was gutted! Me and Mark have had queasy bellies, I was sick on Thursday night. And Tom was feeling ill last night. He was supposed to be having his Treat Night with Daddy. They were going to go to Pizza Hut, then switched to going for Fish & Chips

I'm a little bit poor at the moment... A combination of unexpected vets bills (the cat's skin condition has flared up) and the Tax Credits people suddenly deciding that Freddie is a figment of my imagination and cutting more than a third of my payment without warning, and the drop in my maternity pay, plus the impending MOT bill (next week - yay!) has left me with a serious dent in my bank account. Right in time for Valentine's Day. Oh, and foolishly we have always had the tradition of my getting stuff for the kids, and them for me. So this is what I have done this year: As well as buying a couple of (very inexpensive) DVDs Hubby has been wanting, I have made another pan of that Peanut Butter Fudge from the other week. He loved it and wanted more. This time I have topped it with a layer of chocolate and decorated it with "pink chocolate" hearts. Chocolate topped peanut butter fudge - for the Hubby <3 A photo posted by Charlie Walker (@mummawalk

Pinterest is my friend!!!! I have found so many lovely juice and smoothie recipes over the weeks that I want to share some of my faves with you. Please feel free to pin these to your own boards, the original pinners will love you for it! And don't forget you can follow me too: CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker Facebook has changed it’s policy for posts to Facebook pages like mine. They are only showing posts to a few likers unless I pay to boost the views. Since I don't earn money from my blog (or at least not much, not even enough to buy one posh a coffee a week) I wont be doing that. The best way to make sure you will see my blog posts is to subscribe by email up there on the right. I usually only email once a week and include an invitation to my blog hop so you can share your posts too.   You can also go to my page, hover over the “liked” button and select get notifications. Then you will see my posts and status updates in your notifications. Mumma Walker on Facebook

There is a problem.... The Hubby seems to have lost motivation for the weight loss. He is still losing weight - as you can see from my weekly weigh in posts - but he seems to be losing interest in the whole thing. And he is craving the fattening foods which got us obese in the first place. Take last week for example. We were discussing what to buy in for our Dinners for the week. And he wanted pies. And pork chops. I then went ahead and bought them, and joined him in eating them. Because I'm a muppet like that. So long as we're both on the same page I am strong and can carry on going. But the moment I can find an "excuse" to slip I'm in there pigging out. Admittedly, I over estimated how much pie the kids would eat. I bought 4 when two would have done. Then me and the Hubs ate pie for lunch for the next two days. 3 days of pie. Each day was (as I weighed them and found out) a DOUBLE HELPING of pie EACH. So.... in 3 days I had eaten 6 helpings of pork pie. Over 60

Eeeek! Look what I did! I lost that 1lb and got my 7lb Valentines Challenge beat a whole week early! I am thrilled! I really really didn't think I was going to get there this week. There have been some bad food choices made this week (like the amazing pork pies from our local butchers - nom nom nom! And junk at the cinema too...) but I have put some miles walking in - 24.88 according to my FitBit - and it has paid off! I have been over my Weight Watchers Pro Points this week. I used all my Weeklies and even though I earned 36 Active Points I only had 5 left over by last night. But I guess that just shows that the Weight Watchers points system does work. I am SO far over my allotted points but still lost weight because I exercised enough to counteract the extra food! Unexpected losses delight me... And I get an extra hit of motivation too. I can't help thinking over and over this morning "how much would I have lost if I had NOT eaten so much pie?" I did enjoy the pie t

So we're trying this thing where each of our boys gets a Friday Treat-Night out with either Mum or Dad each month. The idea is to create some proper one-on-one quality time for our kids coz, you know, it's not easy being part of a family of 6 and getting real quality time with someone else in that family... I've tied myself if knots and felt like the worst mum in the world trying (and failing) to give them all an hour specifically to each child every day - all but impossible on a school day and worse if I'm working too. It was clearly the wrong approach! Image shamelessly stolen from  insidethemagic.net Now we do this: Jack get's the 1st Friday of the month, Tom has the 2nd, George the 3rd, and when he's old enough Freddie will get the 4th. Occasionally there is a 5th Friday - but unless someone is willing to baby sit the four of them so me and the Hubs can have a night out (unlikely!!!) that will be a week off! If the Friday clashes with something else -

Pinterest is my friend!!!! I have found so many lovely juice and smoothie recipes over the weeks that I want to share some of my faves with you. Please feel free to pin these to your own boards, the original pinners will love you for it! And don't forget you can follow me too: CharlieBeth (Mumma) Walker Facebook has changed it’s policy for posts to Facebook pages like mine. They are only showing posts to a few likers unless I pay to boost the views. Since I don't earn money from my blog (or at least not much, not even enough to buy one posh a coffee a week) I wont be doing that. The best way to make sure you will see my blog posts is to subscribe by email up there on the right. I usually only email once a week and include an invitation to my blog hop so you can share your posts too.   You can also go to my page, hover over the “liked” button and select get notifications. Then you will see my posts and status updates in your notifications. Mumma Walker on Facebook

Jack & Tom are loving Book Week at school - as well as fleecing me for £17 worth of books (the school gets a free book for every one we buy - guilt buy guilt buy guilt buy) and a trip out to the town library, they get to dress up for a day as a "traditional fairy tale character". Although I saw plenty of super heroes on the school run this morning, and I'm not really sure that Tom's choice of " Funny Bones " really counts as a traditional fairy tale (I loved this book as a kid too though).  Jack wanted to be Puss In Boots, and I failed somewhat in the "boots" department. He is Puss In Welly Boots! And his face is pained with my liquid eye liner! Tom wore an old Halloween costume - we have loads. Georgie doesn't officially have book week but didn't want to be left out so he is wearing his old Halloween costume too and is Incy Wincy Spider. He loves that rhyme! They love these dress up days though. And just this once we haven

My aim was to lose a nice round number: 75lb. That puts me at just over 10 stone, remember my starting weight before I fell pregnant was 15 stone 8lb. Since I have been doing well most of the time - and know exactly why I haven't done so well on the bad weeks - I thought "why not aim for a nice round number to finish on?" After all 10 stone 2 or 3 lb seems like an odd target, yes? 10 stone has a good feel to it. It will be a loss of 78lb in total and give me a BMI of 24, which is still the top end of "healthy" so I know I'm not over doing my weight loss - it also means I have the option to carry on going if I want to (9 st puts me in the middle of my healthy BMI range, but I'll cross that bridge when I get to it). I'm back on a positive after a rubbish January - mood wise, not diet wise, I think I did OK all things considered, I have just 1lb to lose to reach my Valentines Challenge and unless things go horribly horribly wrong over the next few days

I have been really up against it this week... I've been baking for my eldest son. He needed treats for a party with his Beaver Scouts, and then for his schools cake sale. I took the opportunity to experiment with making some fudge... and with experimenting comes testing! It was very nice! I ate way too much, and wasn't 100% on my Pro Points - I think because I was too scared to work it out! So to combat the enormous intake of calories and fat I have been walking walking walking - and wearing Freddie while I do! Not only did I hit my FitBit steps target this week, I actually passed it by 5%! Probably helped by a long (and very very cold) trip out with the Beavers yesterday. And I have been rewarded with a 1lb loss! I was expecting a gain or stay the same, so I'm really glad I didn't just give in and that I kept on walking! I'm not planning on doing any more baking or sweetie making for a while so that temptation is over for now. Hoping for a nice easy time for the ne