April 2019 monthly family roundup and photos
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You wouldn’t think it, but we are now in May. Whilst we have had odd spells of hot summer-like weather, it is then followed by rain and the coldest temperatures. Our heating is still coming on every day at the moment and we’re wearing our thick coats! Let’s hope May is a game changer and summer starts for good.
In this blog post I’m going to take a look at what we got up to as a family in April 2019.
Welcome to my UK family lifestyle roundup. It's a monthly roundup where you get an insight into the person behind this blog and what my little family and I have been up to for a whole month. It's also a place for me to document our lives each month and save them in this category so we can look back through them and remember what we've done!
If you follow me on Instagram then you’re probably up to date! But here is a more in-depth blog post of things we’ve been up to, some more photos and family happenings.
We're a family of four - Victoria 33, Ben 35, Bella 6 and Reuben 4 in Gloucestershire, south west England, UK.
Catch up on some of my previous family roundups here:
September 2018
October 2018
November 2018
December 2018
January 2019
February 2019
March 2019
April 2019 monthly family roundup
Easter holidays
For the first week of the Easter holidays things were really normal. The kids went to holiday club for four days as Ben and I were working. They had the Wednesday off and I took them to the soft play so they were entertained and I could use the WiFi to work. My friend visited with one of her kids in the afternoon so the kids got to run around in the garden with a friend.
3 night stay in Snowdonia, Wales
In the second week of the Easter holidays Ben had booked annual leave so we went to Snowdonia for three nights which ticked something off my bucket list for 2019! I really wanted to visit after seeing some photos on Instagram and having no idea these amazing mountains existed in Wales. We didn’t get to see Snowdon the biggest mountain as it was a short break and we were too far away, but I share what we did on my Travel Vixta blog.
Find lots of photos and read all about our visits to Cadair Idris, Harlech Castle and Aberdovey beach here: Snowdonia National Park 3 day travel diary & photos
Boiling hot Easter weekend - lots going on in the garden
The Easter weekend was amazingly warm, as in sunbathing and BBQ weather. We did have two BBQ dinners in a row in the garden!
We took advantage of the hot weather and got stuck into digging a hole for an in-ground trampoline for the children. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a couple of years and once we’d sold the chicken coop last month we were then able to fund the trampoline and had the space to install it.
It took me and Ben three whole days to dig the hole which had to be one metre deep in the middle, graduating in from the sides. We hit around 30cm deep of stones and then clay! It was tough digging and I broke two spades - they just snapped on me! It was exhausting and I reckon I spent 10 hours in the hole digging and removing stones in total and Ben spent even more than me!
We finally got the trampoline in and the kids love it!
We didn’t think about the huge mountain of soil we’d have left from the digging though… doh!
Rather than pay for a skip to get rid of it, we needed to do something with an overgrown border next to our horrible patio, so I asked Ben to build me a planter! He did an amazing job and built a huge planter with a bench in the middle, so now we have an extra seat too. I planted flowers, but mostly strawberries so we have a huge strawberry patch which is exciting!
This used up most of the soil and Ben used the rest to level out some of our garden as it’s on a slope. Now it looks like we have huge mud patches everywhere so hopefully the grass seed will grow quickly and we’ll begin to have a beautiful garden! It’s already looking so much better just with a lovely big new planter to distract the eye from our horrid patio slabs which we need to replace at some point. There are 200 of them, so it’s going to be a while before we do it as it will cost a fortune.
Handyman Ben
Ben has handed his notice in at work - yikes! We are both going to be self-employed which is exciting but also terrifying. I’d rather he had been able to build up a customer base first and a bunch of stock for his Wood Create furniture business, but it’s proving impossible as he works full-time and then after house chores and the kids, he has very little time left over. He needs day times in the week to crack on with his furniture business.
He realises he needs to diversify his income so has decided to be a handyman too! He loves home and property maintenance, DIY tasks and building custom items so it’s the perfect business idea to complement his furniture making.
He said he’d take a few weeks to build a website and I said ‘no you won’t, let’s do this’ and so I took over a bit and spent half a day creating his website which I don’t think looks too shoddy!
Click the link to find out more about the handyman services in Gloucestershire that he is offering. He’s already started getting some enquiries which is great news. We’re spending a lot of time at the moment setting up his marketing materials and getting his website out there on directories and Google. It’s great that after only a couple of weeks he is already getting found and customers are enquiring about his services.
As he’s high up at his current employed job he’s had to give three months’ notice! That takes us up to the end of July and then we’ll both be self-employed. Wish us luck!
That’s the highlights of the month really. Half the month was taken up with the Easter holidays and the rest of the time we have been busy planning Ben’s new business venture around work and usual family commitments. Exciting times ahead!
Pop back to my Monthly Family Roundups next month to see what we get up to in May!
