This month, we went from Autumn to Christmas feeling, both in our house and outside! We didn’t travel anywhere, but did get a lot of use out of being home. Dann and I had a lot of events this month, and we all did so many fun activities as a family. It’s been fun documenting each day, and I cannot believe the year is almost over. This blog post is a part of Project 365 which is where people take a picture and document each day of their lives for a year. Some post monthly like me, others post daily or weekly! You can check out some other bloggers and see what they were up to at the end of this piece.
November 1st – Halloween Party
Every year we have a massive Halloween party with all of our kid’s friends. This year was no different! We’ve got a post on tips for planning a Halloween party, as we have been doing it for so long. I got up early and started putting out the final decorations, arranging tables, and getting some baked goods made. Robin was up shortly after, excited as ever, and started helping out. Amelia followed suit! Everyone came over at lunchtime and stayed until dinner, and it was so much fun. Kai had some friends up in his room, which we turn into a gaming space for them, and everyone else played all throughout the house. Towards the later end of the party, I went up town to run a Gigantamax Day in Pokemon Go, while Dann held down the house, before returning. It was a long day, but a fun one!
November 2nd – Very Busy
Last month, Robin was selected for a national campaign around being active and moving! We went to the social media launch of this event, so that Robin could be recorded being active with Love Island TV stars and with Olympic winners! It was a very fun and active Sunday morning of games, running about, and posing for pictures. Once that was done, around lunchtime, we went home and I made everyone lunch. We had some quick afternoon plans, as Amelia, Robin and I were headed to the local theatre for a ballet performance, that their friend was in. We had absolutely the perfect seats and very much enjoyed supporting their friend. Our day WASN’T OVER YET. It was bonfire night, so we then went, after dinner, to our local town park to see a giant fire and some fireworks before heading home, getting ready for bed, and going to get some well-needed rest. What a busy weekend.
November 3rd – Back to School
Today felt like the Monday of all Monday’s, as everyone was back to school. I woke up early, packed lunches and did breakfasts, before seeing everyone off to school and starting work. Robin’s school started their Christmas appeal, so I went early to pick her up and grab some of the gift tags, with the aim of shopping after school as Robin and Amelia did want to do some clothing shopping that evening anyway. We went right to Geek Retreat to play Keys to the Castle, which was very fun, before going shopping. We then headed home to drop everything off before going up town for Max Monday in Pokemon Go. After Max Monday, we headed back home, this time with two of Robin and Amelia’s friends. They both stayed over for Girls Night, with Robin having her friend watch a movie in her room and Amelia having her friend watch a movie on the projector. Dann also had DnD, so I served up dinner for everyone (including the 9 people in our house for DnD) before getting settled into the movie for the evening. Once DnD ended, everyone headed home, and I went right to sleep.
November 4th – Doom Arena Launch Party
Today is another day where I woke up early, got packed lunches together and saw everyone off to school before heading to work. It was a very meeting heavy work day, which I did not mind, but one of my managers is off this week so there were some extra tasks for me to take on in her place. In the afternoon, Dann made a really delicious soup for me (I really love soups!) and then we worked until the evening. Instead of doing Pokemon Spotlight Hour, we went out to a board game launch event in London. Dann and I met up with another owner of the site we both run (BigBossBattle) named Matt. Dann actually hadn’t seen him in years as he lives up the country and I had not met him ever! It was a very fun evening, featuring one of The Traitors stars, and lots of playing fun board games.
November 5th – Raid Hour
I must say, after a night of drinking, I was actually pretty fine the next morning! I woke up early, packed up Kai’s lunch and delivered it to his school before walking home and starting my work day. Today was a work-heavy work day, as I would not be around much tomorrow. This means I did a lot of prep for tomorrow’s meetings. One of my work is launching a new Roblox game soon, so we are in prep for that. I did go out for Raid Hour in the evening, which I got four shinies! Dann and I skipped the cinema as there just wasn’t much on that we were interested in seeing this week.
November 6th – Thanksgiving
Today I started bright and early, packing Kai’s lunch to drop off to him then going right into prep. I had not a lot on, but scheduled my entire day around making a Thanksgiving dinner. This was actually the first Thanksgiving that my in-laws were able to come too, which was fantastic. I know it is not the actual date of Thanksgiving, but it is the best date for our family this month, and as I am an American living in England, I can do it whenever I want. I made all of the different fixings and everything that makes up a Thanksgiving. Everyone arrived on-time, I was brought flowers, and we all ate and ate. We did go around and say our Thanksfulness, which is always a big part of Thanksgiving for me. I then did some clean-up after everyone left, but Dann did the lion’s share of the work, and we headed off to bed.
November 7th – Relaxing Friday
Today, we primarily decided not to do a whole lot. Robin had her drama club after school, Kai went to the gym, and Amelia was working on a local art contest entry – so we wanted to just focus on being at home. Dann has started this board game shop thing and had some orders arrive, so I spent the majority of my day doing some work until everyone came home from school. I did do a big litter pick at Robin’s school again, as the sports court outside her school was looking a bit rough, but primarily relaxed and reset today, which was needed. Robin got her artwork back from the school in it’s Christmas Decoration form, which was very fun. I also had a long, three hour call with my dad in the evening, which was fantastic, before heading to bed.
November 8th – Cooking and Catch-up
Today was more of a lazy and catch-up Saturday. I made Amelia fried zucchini for breakfast, which is her absolute favorite, and Dann requested some soft pretzels so I made those from scratch too. Feeling so good about my day, I started writing and ended up writing 10 entire articles for various websites just on the day! I also had lots of little tasks to do, like running some items to a charity shop, getting 15 signed copies of my book mailed out, and generally cleaning. It was good to have a more relaxing day and I really appreciated the time in my own home, getting things done.
November 9th – Ice Skating
Today I slept in, and then started really getting back to things. I wrote another 5 articles and spent some time just doing lots of tasks that had piled up. There was a lot to get done over the weekend! After I had felt like I did tons of work, Dann suggested we go out ice skating, so we did. I absolutely love ice skating and it was nice to have a little date just the two of us. The ice rink near us wasn’t too busy either, and the session was two hours long. Afterwards, we came home for a bit, before going out to dinner at Belash, which is an Indian restaurant that our local councillor had suggested to us when we last saw him, dropping off food bank donations, as he has been reading our blog and series on eating in various places! It was fantastic, really and we had such a lovely evening before heading home and going to bed.
November 10th – Refreshed Monday
Today was the last day my manager was off for one of my jobs, so I did spend a little bit of time making sure everything was ticked off for her. I had a few extra meetings, and went to drop off Kai’s lunch for the day. Lately, I have gone off eating chicken and have been toying around with being more plant based, so decided to make up some bean-related meals. We went to the shops and got things for lunch. Dann made Marry Me Chicken but with white beans, which was SO VERY GOOD. We have raid hour every day this week, as it’s a run-up to a weekend event, so I spent the day working until then. I went out and had fun with everyone else, it was a big group due to the Pokemon, then came home and served up some mac n cheese I made before I left to all of the DnD folks. Kai let us know that at his other house he doesn’t have school shoes or a school blazer, but he ended up just grabbing the ones from ours and then the stuff he wanted to wear otherwise as on the exchange day this week he has a non-uniform day. After DnD Dann and I hung out a bit and then I went to bed.
November 11th – Board Game Night
Today started the same as yesterday – I woke up, packed up Kai’s lunch, and walked it over to him taking photos along the way. I do pick up his lunch in the afternoon, but it’s often just a quick walk over where I mainly finish up work for the day and am often on calls. We then started on Robin’s room, which we are doing a make-over of, changing the theme. After getting started on that, I spent the day working and cleaning. In the evening, I prepped a giant chili and went out for day two of raids in Pokemon Go. It is so cool to have a weeks worth of raids! We then came back home and friends arrived for tabletop night. We played a very cute game called Catstronauts, which was about space cats. Matt brought some delicious brownies, we all had a good evening, and then when everyone left at midnight I went right to bed.
November 12th – Movie Night
Today was a day of work! I spent a lot of the day working and getting random things done around the house. I did my morning walk to Kai, which was pretty normal. Then started a normal day at work. We are transforming Robin’s room, which took up a lot of our time today. There just was a lot of things to sort of prep – and I grouted a lot of the walls today wherever they had holes or marks. I will sand and pant them tomorrow too. We ended up doing work for most of the day, and then in the evening we went to Raid Hour. There were so many people out! We made a large hot chocolate for everyone, so that we would all be warm. It was also a food bank donation night, so Dann and I collected them. Then, we went to the movies. We saw Running Man, which was a predictable action film, with a few friends. All in all, it was a good day.
November 13th – SpongeBob SquarePants Launch Party
I started off today by packing Kai’s lunch, heading to his school, and then Dann picked me up to take me home as he didn’t have a meeting. This was a welcome change to routine, as it is getting colder out! I then did some of the sanding and panting. I also had some boring work to do, before taking off in the early afternoon to go to the SpongeBob SquarePants: Tides of Titan’s launch party with a colleague. This was in London, so it was a bit of an adventure, but we had such a fun time there. Before, we stopped for some food at dumpling place nearby. Playing the game was super fun, there were free drinks and pizza, and we even did some karaoke. Dann ran raids tonight for me, but I met up with him for the Potter Street Fete meeting, which went over our roles, before we headed home for the night and went right to bed.
November 14th – A long day!
Today I woke up, packed Kai’s lunch, and Dann went to deliver it while I headed to our local Smyths to stand in line at 6 am. I was 5th in line, for some Pokemon Cards for Amelia. It did pay off though, as I got to buy everything that they had, so I call that a win. I then headed home and got to work, trying to make some headway before the weekend. We picked up the kids from school, Robin headed to preform with Kai going to the gym, and Amelia and I went to Raid Hour – the last one of the week – in the town. We had a lot of fun playing with our friends, with Dann and Robin joining towards the end, before heading home for a later dinner. I was honestly pretty exhausted and went to bed shortly after dinner, after talking to my dad on the phone!
November 15th – Pokemon Go Wild Arena and Light Trails
Today started off sort of early, with Pokemon happening at 10 am, so I got everything packed up and breakfasts made. Amelia, Robin, Dann and I headed into town to play Pokemon. On long days like this, we play until around 12:30, then a bunch of Amelia and Robin’s friends follow us home for lunch – this time we had Katsu Chicken Curry, a request by Robin. Then, we all headed back out to continue Pokemon until dinnertime. I then went home, prepared some burgers, and wrapped them up for a light trail! We had a fun time playing Pokemon with friends and caught so many rare Pokemon. Kai, Amelia, Robin, Dann and I all headed to Sandringham Estate Luminate – which was a fantastic light trail! They had so many interactive elements and so many impressive lights – it’s really great.
November 16th – Déjà vu
Today was a lot like yesterday. An early morning of making breakfast, then we went out for Day Two of Pokemon! It was a colder day, but less rainy, so we headed back early for lunch with a bunch of friends tagging along. We had fish finger tacos, then Amelia, Robin and their friends decided they were done with Pokemon for a bit and wanted to stay home. Dann stayed with them, where they played a bunch of games, but I headed right back out! I continued playing until around 5pm, with everyone joining for the last hour or so, before heading home to make dinner. After dinner, we headed to a light trail; this time Kew Gardens, which is always so impressive. We really do enjoy seeing all of the different installations, which are by various artists! We headed home afterwards and went right to bed.
November 17th – Monday Fun
Mondays are always really intense at our house, as there is so much to do! Today started by getting up early, getting lunches packed and bags packed, and getting everyone off to school. I then went to work, Dann went to work, and we had leftovers for lunch. We went out to the shops and grabbed some stuff to make dinner. I had a lot of meetings for the day, to be honest, which was exhausting. I went to pick up Robin and stopped to litter pick her school grounds, which I am trying to do every few weeks as it gets so full of trash. Then, we headed to Geek Retreat to play Brick Like This and have milkshakes. We then headed back home. Every single day in the last seven days have been Pokemon Go, so we decided to take a break this evening, as everyone else was exhausted and the Pokemon had it’s own special date so we all had shinies anyway. I cooked grilled cheese and soup for the DnD crew that came over, watched two movies with Amelia and Robin, did face masks, and had some lovely desserts. Then, when the DnD group headed out, I reset the kitchen and went to bed. A long day, but a lovely one.
November 18th – Exhausting work day
It is officially cold! Last night was the first frost of the season. I am now cranking the heating! We woke up, got lunches together and kids to school, then went straight into work. My entire day was actually just work today. I did watch the whole of The Monster In Me, which was very good – so on edge the whole time – and attended far too many meetings for my liking. We are launching a game tomorrow at one of my jobs, which has been a whole thing, as everything is a little delayed. I am excited but also exhausted. In the evening we went out for Pokemon Go, as it was Spotlight Hour, and it was COLD. We then headed home, Dann made me curry, and I spent some time watching a movie with him on the couch before going to bed.
November 19th – Raids and Game Launches
Today my walk to Kai’s school was COLD, but I am glad I went on it. I then spent the day working quite a bit, especially as the Roblox company that I work for was launching a game! The game launch did go smoothly, but there was a lot of follow up that needed to be done and a lot of general work. It was fantastic to see something like this go live though. Dann and I did head out for a bit to shop and get errands done – they really seem to be piling up lately – we had a bunch of stuff to donate to the charity shop, needed to do some shopping, we should go to Costco, but will next week. We then worked some more until Raid Hour. It was a cold one, but I had brought a bunch of hand warmers, which was so needed. Afterwards we went to see the Now You See Me film with two of our friends, which was good! Dann doesn’t like magicians, but knows some magic, which is very silly. We then headed home and went to bed.
November 20th – Busy Day
I am getting use to the cold, as Kai’s walk wasn’t too bad at all. I actually went early so that I could do a litter pick outside his school. I then spent a lot of today in meetings and working, until it was time to get everyone from school. Robin had an afterschool club, but Amelia and I hung out until it was time to go. Then we all went to get Robin as we had booked dentist appointments for all the kids! Their appointments went smoothly, it’s so important to take children to the dentist regularly, as dental health is a big one! We headed home, hade dinner, and went right to bed.
November 21st – Pokemon Go and Wicked
We woke up this morning, and got everyone ready for school. It was a smooth morning, with everything packed up and everyone ready to go. I then spent the day working – Dann brought me some surprise snacks after lunch which was so lovely. We then picked up all the kids, Kai went to the gym, Robin went to her drama club, and Amelia and I went out to play Pokemon Go. She got a shiny Dynamax Eevee, which was lovely, and got to hang out with her friends. We then all met back up at home, had dinner, and headed to the cinema to see Wicked for Good! This was such a fantastic film, though Ariana is really, really shocking to look at, especially with the over the head shots. We then headed home and all went to bed.
November 22nd – Christmas Tress and Pantos
Today we all had a lazy morning before heading to Christmas All Wrapped Up to pick out our Christmas tree. We always love going here as it has such a local feel. We got a tree and some ornaments, before heading to their little tree field, which we have never been into before. It was so cute! In the afternoon, Dann and I went out to Pokemon Go, to do more Eevee Dynamax, which was fun. No shinies to be found though! We then went home to warm up, before heading to our town’s light ceremony, where they switched on the Christmas lights in our town. Then, we headed to the Queen’s Theatre Hornchurch for a panto; Jack and the Beakstalk. It was pretty good! We headed home and went right to bed.
November 23rd – AdventureX
We did sleep in a little bit before heading to AdventureX in London – a gaming event! We went as press and wanted to check out as many games as possible. All of the games at this event are narrative driven, which is fun. We played quite a few, hung out with friends, and went out for the best hot pot I have had in a long time midday. We then went to the after party at the end of the event, where Dann and I ate free pizza and I drank cocktails until the evening. We then headed home, tired, and ready for bed.
November 24th – Average Monday
This morning started normal! I packed everything up for Kai’s lunch and walked to his school, taking some fun snaps on the way. I followed a route in Pokemon Go, which was my final route, and I leveled up. Excited, I then headed home and got stuck into work. My manager at one of my jobs is off again, so I spent a lot of time doing small, random tasks that would normally be her tasks, which is always interesting. Midday, Dann tried to re-create the hot pot we had at the weekend, which was very good, before I headed out for Pokemon Go in the evening. This was for Max Monday, where I did not get any shiny, but I did come back home, make Orange Chicken for DnD, and got a slice of cake as it was someone’s birthday. I did a bit more work until people went home and then hung out with Dann until bed.
November 25th – Tabletop Tuesday
Today I woke up and drove to Kai’s school to drop off his lunch, as I had a dentist appointment early in the morning. It was a routine cleaning, so wasn’t very long, and then I headed home to work. Dann made an even better version of yesterday’s hot pot for lunch, we ran some errands, and in the evening I went out for Pokemon Go, Spotlight Hour. Spotlight hour was a lot of fun, despite the cold, and then we ended up heading home for tabletop. I got to make dessert this time, so I made a no-bake cheesecake around lunch. Matt brought curry, and we played Castronauts expansion until midnight, then I took a shower as I have a long day tomorrow, and went right to bed.
November 26th – On the BBC Morning Live show
Today I woke up at 6 am!! And headed to Kent to be on the BBC Morning Live show, where I got to talk about being scammed as a part of BBC Safe Scam Week. There was a lot of waiting around and rehearsing, before I got to go live. I was there for the segment I was in and their get stretching exercise session. Then, I got to go on Kent BBC Radio to talk in more detail, which was fantastic. It was a really neat thing to do! After that, we headed to Costco, grabbed a bunch of essentials, and then headed home where I got some work done before heading out to Raid Hour in Pokemon Go. It was an extremely fun raid hour, with three Pokemon out. We then went out to the movies before heading home and going to bed.
November 27th – A Day In
Today, we had nothing on, so it was a day of getting stuff done! We brought our car in for it’s service, as it was that time of year again, and left it in all day. This meant that we stayed home!! Sometimes, it’s good to have a day to stay home. Dann and I got a lot of work done and got the house ready for Christmas, getting out all the outdoor decorations and re-organising the shed. We spent a lot of time just generally working, and then in the evening when we got the car back, Dann got McDonalds because of the new Grinch menu. We almost never eat McDonalds, so it was a neat time trying the new things!
November 28th – No School Friday
Kai and Amelia both didn’t have school today, while Robin did, so we got them early! We headed home for a bit where Amelia and I worked on a giant paint by number set we have been getting through. It was a lot of fun! In the afternoon, I was on the radio for the BBC again, this time in Essex, then we all went to Nandos for lunch. After Nandos, we dropped off our donations from Raid Hour to the food bank and did a bit of shopping before getting Robin from school. Robin went to her drama club, Kai went to the gym, and Amelia and I made dinner. After dinner, Amelia and I went to our cupcake class, which was so much fun, and then came home. I had a long call with my dad in the evening before bed.
November 29th – We Met Santa
Today was an extremely long day! We went out to Pokemon, for Lugia Dynamax battles early in the morning. Robin, in a funny turn of events, ended up with a shiny! Then, we all had a quick lunch at home before heading into London. Firstly, we went to Woolwich Works Santa Candy Grotto, where Robin got to meet Santa. We all met Santa, but it was more of a Robin thing. Once we had finished meeting Santa, we all headed over to Good Game Dev Fest, which is a gaming event Dann and I helped put on. We arrived early, helped with some setup, and then enjoyed the event while it was going on. Amelia, Robin and Kai played a bunch of video games, including ones on a large screen cinema! It was a lot of fun. Dann took our kids home early and I stayed to help with pack down at the end, getting home close to midnight.
November 30th – Two Santa Trails
Today was another busy day, we try to get the most out of our weekends! In the morning, we decorated the Christmas tree and hung out a bunch together. Then, Amelia, Robin, Dann and I headed to Pokemon Go Community day! About two hours in, we headed off to ChristmHavering Christmas Land, which is a smaller light trail and Santa meet, all for charity! We had fun meeting Santa again, this time getting a gift, and exploring the lights. From there, we went to Enlightened Hylands Park, which is one of our favorite light trails, where we explored around the massive park looking at all the lights! We then got home with enough time to shower everyone and get to bed, though I feel asleep on the couch a bit before bedtime!