My word for the year for 2026 is "Peace". I found it was a word that was going over and over in my head from around October/November 2025 and realised it was there for a reason.
My monthly roundups are now going to consist of things I've done that month to bring me peace
A day in Norwich!I had to drop my mum off at the bus station in Norwich and with it being half term I booked the day off work and spent the day in Norwich with Harry. We got ourselves a bubble tea and headed to the cinema to watch the latest Mario film and then had an unplanned trip to Primark which, although was a hit to my bank account, was really lovely as at almost 15 Harry is really trying to find his "style" at the moment and I absolutely love it.
We then grabbed some lunch and ate it outside to enjoy the sunshine. As we drove home I didn't feel ready to walk through the door to the distractions of normal life so we went to a pub by the beach and enjoyed an orange juice and lemonade.
The quality time was so lovely and something we both really treasure.
Competition winner
When we got back home after our orange juice and lemonade we sat in the garden and I got a notification on my phone. I won 4 tickets to Thorpe Park! I always enter the competitions and giveaways through Sky VIP and finally I won one! With 3 days already booked off at the end of August I got straight onto booking the tickets.
CAR!
At just 16 years old Charles bought himself his first car. Not only is it his first car it's his DREAM first car (let's not talk about how much he will eventually have to pay on insurance!!). My dad came to see us one Saturday so we took him over to where the car is. The look of pride on my dads face was amazing. But it was also so lovely seeing my two boys sitting in it together. Instead of it being a jokey play around of them sitting in their parents car pretending to drive it was their future I was seeing and it was adorable.
Weekend away booked
I had some money saved up and with my boys birthdays being so close together I wanted to do something special to celebrate them this year. We always do a day out for each of their birthdays but I wanted to up that this year and do a weekend away. A few years ago I took them to Woburn Safari Park and they loved it so we're going to do that again, plus the next day go to Whipsnade Zoo. We've got 2 nights in a hotel booked and I cannot wait!!
London
For years my mum has told me about her memories of visiting the V&A museum when she was a schoolgirl. I've never been and we had a conversation earlier this year where I said "We should go!". Immediately she picked a date, we booked the train tickets and I booked the day off work.
Due to life commitments we don't get to spend quality time together so I was really looking forward to this. It was such a lovely day. We were really lucky with the weather, not so lucky with tube strikes but we managed it. The V&A was incredible, at times I felt really emotional and overwhelmed with what I saw (in a good way, and not at all related to the photo below).
We also popped to Spitalfields Market and then she had her first experience at Pizza Pilgrims (my favourite pizza place!).
It was a really long day but so so lovely.
