Octonauts Training Academy and Canal Clean Up

Can you guess where we are?

Today we were invited to Sea Life Manchester's Octonauts Training Academy and Canal Clean Up Party. 

The children were all given a Captain Barnacles hat and an Octonauts activity book, we then headed into the centre where we learnt about Sea Life Manchester's fantastic 'Breed, Rescue and Protect' programme and about the amount of litter that was being left on the waterways, so far this year 641kg of rubbish had been collected.  You can find out more here.

S and his activity book

We then made our way around the centre at our own leisure, looking at all the amazing sea creatures.  This included lots of fish, sharks, crabs, sea horses, and not forgetting Ernie the sea turtle.  There were lots of different species for the boys to see, they even got to stroke a crab and star fish.  

Once we had seen everything, we headed back to the meeting point where the children were given juice and cookies, I think J must have eaten about 7 or 8 (whoops), they were then given high vis vests and gloves ready to head out down to the canal for the cleanup process, 'Peso' also came to join us, we were given black bin bags and grabbers and off we went in search of litter, a couple of canal boats passed us, the boys waved and the they waved back, it was lovely being outside as the sun had decided to shine at this point.  

J&O were asked to take part in photos

Soon it was time to head back with all the litter we had collected, in total 82.3kg was collected, wow!!  

All the crew and the rubbish collected

Once back into the centre we headed back round for once last look at all the sea creatures, just incase we missed anything the first time.

Another enjoyable day this half term, thanks Sea Life Manchester.

Even though this was a special organised event, the Captain Barnacles and Peso are at Sea Life Manchester till the 31st May, so head down and meet them.  You can book your tickets online here.

Thank you for reading. x



*We received complimentary entry in return for an honest review.  All words, photos and opinions are my own.

Climbing the cloud

On Tuesday (the first official day of the school holidays) we headed over to MummyM'sMemories, as the boys wanted to see Dave the dragon, (a former pet that belonged to there Uncle) I didn't hesitate in making the plans when the boys suggested it as it's always great to catch up with a good friend and the boys always get along well with the girls. It was great timing aswell, due to the building work going on in our house it meant the boys and I were out of the chaos and mess.  

We headed over a bit later than planned due to the boys being sleepy heads with a picnic, ready for what the day may bring.  We had pre-arranged to either visit Biddulph Gardens or to climb the cloud.  While deciding over a coffee the children were hungry so tucked into the picnic before going, it did save us carrying it.  

Once everyone was fed and watered we headed out to climb the cloud, the boys were quite puzzled at first but then got stuck in after realising it was the name of a big hill or to them a mountain. O loves to climb trees so any opportunity he was up a tree, I'm sure he should be a monkey.  

J kept ahead exploring while waiting for the others, but he was kept company by JM (MummyM's eldest), I think they have a soft spot for each other, young love ❤️, lol. 

It wasn't long till we were at the top, the children all had a drink and a biscuit before we started our decent down. 

The boys had a great day, as they love being out in the fresh air and being able to run free.  Here are some other pics from our day.

Me, O, S & J at the Trig Point

The View from the top

Seeing what was on the other side

 More things for O to climb!

Two of them even fell asleep on the way home, which I think is always a good sign of a good day!

Thanks for reading. ❤️

Family Time - Our Sunday

On Sunday we invited nana (hubbys mum) over for tea as we wanted to devour the leg of the lamb thats been in the freezer for a couple of months and it was too much for the hubby and me and J (O & S wont eat lamb yet).

Even though cooking a roast takes forever..... we all really enjoy it and the boys really love it when nana comes round.

Nana and S Playing before lunch

Our Sunday Roast

As you can see, with most meals, O has to have ketchup but if it means he eats a dinner i don't mind, S has cranberry sauce and J loves lots of gravy.

After dinner i was so full i wanted to go for a walk and thought about Lymm Dam, J was adamant he didn't want to come so he went back to nanas, we  headed down to Lymm and had lots of fun as we walked around the Dam.

The hubby and me 

After walking round the Dam, we headed back to the car, we stopped to see the Swan and the Ducks on the canal, and a nice lady from the Butty & Sweet Cafe' Boat gave the boys some bread to throw.

Another great afternoon. 

Thanks for reading. x

Why does everything happen?

This year so far has turned into a hectic year, we finally started working on our extension at the beginning of May which has been in the planning since the end of last year when we purchased the house, there are new decisions to be made everyday, a new kitchen to plan, and bedrooms to re-arranged.

My operation date came through for the end of June, which was meant to be the time when my hubby goes away with the lads for a weekend away.  This has been in the planning since Christmas. 

I have finally found focus and realised what I would like to do as a career, and starting to get my life on track now that the boys are all in school, I am finally finding me again.

Why does everything happen at once?

This is the question I seem to always ask myself as this always seems to happen to me, I am at the moment considering postponing my operation, would this be better to alleviate the amount of stress I am under or should I leave it and get it over and done with.  Is there a good time or will there always be something that comes else??  

A lot of my friends know me as a bit of a control freak with ocd tendencies (only because I like things just so), would being laid up in recovery be good for me   knowing I can't do anything whilst living in a building site, I'm thinking not at the moment.  How do you know what to do for the best, or do you just see how everything turns out??

I hate making big decisions, but looks like I have to.

That's for reading 😀. x

Making our house a home - The Start

We sold our old home in December 2013, (in the hope of emigrating to New Zealand) and moved into a rented house. Location was key when we were looking due to the boys being in school, we didn't mind about look, that it wasn't detached or even having only 3 bedrooms, the location was the most important.  Over a short period of time we grew to love this house and plans for New Zealand were going slow and kept hitting hurdles, the living life in limbo soon got to us and we decided to see if we could buy our rented house and stay, the boys were happy and so were we.  We approached our landlord and they agreed and the decision was made, we were staying.......

We purchased our rented house in November 2014, a year after renting it, it was great we already knew all the little quirks of the house and that it fitted us, just..  We bought the house knowing we were going to extend it, it currently has 3 bedrooms so two of the boys share, they really needed their own rooms so started working out how we could add a bedroom.. easier said than done in a 3 storey town house.  And so various builders were rang, show houses and google were visited for inspiration and the plans to extend the house were growing every way we could.  It was only when we had an estimation of all the ideas we wanted we had a huge reality check and things were scaled back, due to the money tree at the bottom of the garden being not so fruitful, lol. 

And so we found a builder David Backhouse, we explained what we wanted and worked with him to get things within our budget.  What was great was we didn't need plans drawing or planning permission, which saved us money to use towards the build.

The plan is:

Ground floor - to remove the conservatory and extend the rear of the property by 3m, and to merge this with the utilty and playroom to create a big family kitchen, breakfast day area.  The utility room would then move into the back of our internal garage.  I have now also added a new door from the hallway into the garage as can see the garage being converted in the near future.

First Floor - This currently has our kitchen, dining and living room which will get converted into the master bedroom and en-suite with a slightly smaller living room.

Second Floor - This will eventually end up being 3 double bedrooms a family bathroom and a small spare room, hopefully.

The build started Saturday 2nd May.

Thanks for reading :-)

IBD - An invisble illness

My Story

I was first diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (Inflammatory Bowel Diease) in March 2004, 2 months before my wedding.  My GP's kept saying that I had a virus but after 10 months of the same symptom's i asked for a 2nd opinion. Within 1 month of seeing the consultant i was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. The news came as no surprise as a good friend of mine had the disease so i already knew a lot about it, but it was still hard to hear and was in disbelief that this was happening to me.

I didn't really have time to think about it though as i was busy finalising all the last minute details for my wedding, so did as i was told by the Doctor.  I took the medication and everything calmed down, this was great, and after 18 months, I even stopped taking the medication and was symptom free, maybe i didn't have it and it was just a virus???

I then fell pregnant and was still symptom free, even after I had given birth, I still carried on medication free, this went on all through my next two pregnancies and life was great and i didn't think about it at all.....

That was until 2012, I picked up a sickness bug and my health deteriorated so much in the September when my middle son O had just started reception i ended up in hospital for 5 days due to being severely dehydrated and and a really bad infection. i was then put back on the medication, just when i thought the illness had gone...  

Since then the flare ups have been more frequently, the fatigue sets in and the trips to the toilet become more frequent and the pain becomes unbearable, all with knowing that you need to get through the day for the boys and my hubby.

As the disease become uncontrollable, I felt terrible and was on high doses of medication, with regular blood tests.  The blood tests showed that the medication was now affecting my kidneys and the consultant took me off all medication, I was now only on steroids.  i wanted to take the control back, I wanted my life back so asked my consultant about elective surgery, I wanted my choice to have this and not be the result of an emergency situation  This was going to be my choice and my choice was surgery, to have my colon removed and have an ileostomy bag fitted and to be cured of this horrible disease.  I was referred to a surgeon to fight my case.

My appointment came through to meet the surgeon, i went, he wasn't there but a colleague of his was, we discussed things and was nearly sent away no further on and a complete waste of the hubby's time and mine, so complained a little and was soon put on the list for surgery.

Yes, it is a big decision, and yes, it is what i want. After 10yrs of this disease, every year you have an increased risk of bowel cancer.... The big 'C' word that everyone dreads.

The Date has now come through.... eeeekkk 

We are now on operation countdown. 7 weeks and 3 days........

If you would like any further information on Ulcerative Colitis, please visit the Crohns and Colitis website, here.

Thank you for reading.

Hello - My reasons

Hello, My name is Anne and I am the writer of 3boyshubbyandme.

My blog is to capture my building project on my house as we live in it, (which has started today).












My blog is to capture my progress through a life changing operation with my Ulcerative colitis.







My blog is to capture all the goings on, that i don't want to forget.

My blog is to capture the antics and adventures we embark on.

My blog is to remember all the memories my "why's" create.

My blog is to capture my life as i embark on new ventures in business.






I'm new to blogging, and still finding my feet, so please be gentle with me. 

Thanks for reading.