• homestyle - Monday Happy List

    Monday happy things {Week 157}

    October 2, 2017 - By 

    Where did the weekend go? It’s seems I write my favourite things post a lot, or perhaps it’s just the only chance I get to sit down and reflect on the previous 7 days. Now we’re officially in October I feel like we can start celebrating Halloween. My kids are really excited to start crafting and decorating. Monday happy things {Week 157} It’s been a busy week for me and a lot of it has revolved around eating. So much so that I’ve fallen off the Slimming World wagon completely! There have been delicious lunches out to celebrate our ninth…

  • reading the Christmas catalogue
    Christmas - parenting

    He’s making a list and checking it twice

    October 1, 2017 - By 

    In this digital age I’m glad that paper catalogues still exist. Catalogues were a huge part of my childhood. There was always a pile of them at home and there seemed to be one for everything, from the Avon lady to the Clean-eze man, to clothes company’s and toy shops. Thankfully toy catalogues are still around because they give my children hours of enjoyment! Now I don’t think you can say that a toy catalogue is particularly educational but when I asked my children for the top 5 things they love from the new Smyths Toys catalogue, they sat down…

  • ScentCo Scented Stationery review
    parenting

    ScentCo Scented Stationery review

    October 1, 2017 - By 

    It’s not four weeks since the children went back to school and those weeks have flown by. They have embraced their new schools and routines, although I have to say they are very tired come the end of the week! This weekend we had to go out and buy new school shoes for my daughter as she just wasn’t managing the fake laces on her school shoes. The teacher basically told me she had to have shoes she could manage as they couldn’t spend all their time doing her shoe laces up. This year my son is responsible for his…

  • Johanna Basford's 'Ivy and the Inky Butterfly'
    homestyle

    Johanna Basford’s ‘Ivy and the Inky Butterfly’

    September 30, 2017 - By 

    You all know that I can’t resist an adult colouring book. I’ve featured quite a few here on my blog and although I’ve had to cull a few due to running out of space, I’ve kept quite a few of my favourites. With two small kids we are never short of colouring books, pens and pencils. We often share our colouring books as 3 people working on a page is a lot quicker than one. I recently received a copy of Johanna Basford‘s ‘Ivy and the Inky Butterfly’. This is one book I don’t think I’ll be sharing. Johanna Basford is an ink…

  • Making and hiding painted rocks
    crafts - Painted rocks

    Making and hiding painted rocks

    September 30, 2017 - By 

    I’ve mentioned a few times now that my kids have totally embraced the painted rocks phenomenon. They absolutely love decorating rocks and hiding them. It’s a fun hobby, a bit like geocaching but without the grid references. My children have been painting rocks at home. I bought a huge bag from the local garden centre and gave them a quick wash. My children love being creative so have been happily decorating rocks – first drawing their designs with pencil, then colouring them in with Posca pens. When they’ve finished I varnish them to make sure the designs don’t come off…

  • Ai Weiwei Surveillance Camera and Plinth at the RA
    homestyle

    Day and Night All-in-One IP Camera

    September 29, 2017 - By 

    My husband is a big fan of the Internet of Things and it’s safe to say we have a connected home. My friends laugh at me as my Apple Watch and iPhone are constantly buzzing and beeping when I leave home but my husband lovesto try the latest gadgets and make our home ‘smart’. I think there’s a lot to be said for having everything connected and I like the fact we have a smart thermostat, smart lights, smart sockets, internet doorbell, internet connected weather station, smart tv, internet connected SONOS, temperature, humidity sensors in every room and smart smoke…

  • Halloween roasted vegetables
    crafts - Halloween crafts

    Halloween roasted vegetables {A-Z Play at Home}

    September 29, 2017 - By 

    I love Fridays. We have a fun weekend planned with the kids. Can you believe we’ve already reached letter V in our weekly A-Z Play at Home blog hop? The letter V made me think of vegetables, something we always have plenty of at home. We’ve used vegetables in our crafting before and today we wanted to try something a bit different. With Halloween coming up soon we made our own Halloween roasted vegetables! Halloween roasted vegetables I don’t usually have a problem getting my kids to eat their veggies. Thankfully they eat well, but it can never hurt to make…

  • STACCUPS game review
    parenting - toy review

    Staccups game review

    September 28, 2017 - By 

    Did you know my 7 year old was cup stacking champion three years running at school? He has a really knack for it, and even did it at Sports Day last year! So when I heard about a new game called Staccups, I knew he would love it. Prepare to take competitiveness up a level with the ultimate fast action party game, Staccups! Challenge your hand-eye coordination in a frantic race against your opponent to stack all of your cups as quickly as you possibly can. One moments’ hesitation and it could be all over! Each of the brightly coloured…

  • A trip to the Sylvanian Families shop London
    days out - Friends of Sylvanian Families - Local Review - London - parenting

    A trip to the Sylvanian Families shop London

    September 28, 2017 - By 

    I’ve been promising the children a trip to the Sylvanian Families shop in London for quite a long time. They both love Sylvanian Families and had been saving up their pocket money in preparation for our visit. The Sylvanian Families shop is on Mountgrove Road in London. This is within easy walking distance from Arsenal Underground Station or Finsbury Park Station. We drove and were able to park opposite the shop. The Sylvanian Families shop opened in 1993. The Sylvanian Families shop offers the widest range of Sylvanian Families in Europe with over 400 items in stock. They have over 50 different families, including the…