• days out - holidays - Wiltshire

    Family fun at Lacock Abbey

    July 28, 2013 - By 

    I’m very proud to say that today is Day 2 of our holiday and we’ve used our National Trust membership on two consecutive days! We’ve been members for years but have found the children never really enjoyed our trips – until now! Yesterday we had a lovely walk around Avebury stone circle and today we were at Lacock Abbey. Family fun at Lacock Abbey It’s been a while since I last visited and is now laid out through the memories of the last resident, Matilda Talbot. The children enjoyed following the children’s trail, watching the Zoetrope go round and spotting…

  • book review

    {Review} This Royal Baby

    July 27, 2013 - By 

    We’ve all been a little excited by the arrival of Prince George this week. I thought the rolling 24 hours news coverage was a little over the top and I hope the new family will now be left alone to enjoy those lovely first days together. I doubt we’ll buy any souvenirs to commemorate the Royal baby but we were very happy to receive a copy of This Royal Baby, by Zita Newcome, to review. Perfect for your little prince or princess! This royal baby wears a crown — but it giggles, cries and plays just like every other baby…

  • easy hand print cars
    crafts - handmade

    Hand print cars

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    My toddler loves anything that moves. Yesterday we found an old Tonka Super Crane Truck to add to his collection so you can imagine the fun he’s been having driving it around the floor! Hand print cars We also like to make our own cars, mainly with Lego as the toddler can add petrol stations and garages too. We have quite a collection of car crafts to try from the toddlers Pinterest board so today we tried hand print cars. We made a couple of hand prints in different colours of paint and left them to dry. Later we added…

  • competition - days out - Local Review - London

    Win Live by the Lake tickets

    July 26, 2013 - By 

    Living in London we’re spoilt for choice over things to do. I love summer in the city as places really come alive. Today I have a fabulous competition for you which unites world-class music with a breathtaking backdrop to create the most spectacular musical experience of the summer calendar. Live By The Lake has an outstanding line up of world class music, scheduled over six days – August 23rd-25th and August 30th-September 1st; you can enjoy performances from Suede, Keane (and guest Laura Mvula), Michael Ball with friends singing Gershwin; the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra; the English National Opera and…

  • handmade

    Make a little birdhouse in your soul

    July 24, 2013 - By 

    We’ve been struggling a little with the weather lately. We go out early in the day and then come home and play in the shade. Our craft box has received a beating as we’ve been working our way through it to keep as busy as we can. Fortunately the toddler was sent a brilliant kit from Cre8ive Kidz to make and decorate a birdhouse. He loves the garden so this was a great craft activity for him. The kit contained everything we needed, a seven piece birdhouse, 2 comics, plastic sheet, 2 paint brushes, glue, varnish and instructions, so we got to…

  • competition - crafts - handmade - sewing

    Win a £50 Amazon voucher

    July 23, 2013 - By 

    In the UK we’ve just seen the longest prolonged heatwave in seven years. In fact yesterday was the hottest day since July 2006. It’s been pretty tough keeping the children happy and out of the sun but we’ve kept busy with lots of crafts. I even managed to sew these fun felt ice lollies, slightly less calories than the ones we have been indulging in! To celebrate Summer I have a fantastic giveaway for all my lovely readers. Today you have the chance to win an amazing £50 Amazon voucher. You can spend it on whatever you wish. You all…

  • Lego - nursery

    2013 Summer Bucket List

    July 23, 2013 - By 

    I love writing lists and ticking things off so this year we’ve made a Summer Bucket List. In an ideal world I’d have a grown up bucket list (which picked up where my Day Zero list finished off) which would be full of craft and sewing projects. However, I have two pre-schoolers so let’s be realistic… Before the toddler starts Nursery we want to do the following: Visit The Shard Ride the bus to Eastcote House Gardens Go plane spotting at Heathrow Use our Peppa Pig World tickets Visit the end of the line stations – Amersham, West Ruislip and…

  • vintage

    New to me treasures

    July 22, 2013 - By 

    I’ve been having a great clear out over the weekend. We have a friend coming to stay which means we needed to clear out the spare room. It’s become a bit of a dumping ground so we spent a couple of hours sorting stuff out to sell or take to our local charity shop. I haven’t written here about our charity shopping exploits for a while. Since we’ve moved I have to admit to visiting our local charity shops more often as our local high street has lots of them, and there are not a lot of other shops to…

  • clothing - Orla Kiely

    Handbags and Gladrags

    July 21, 2013 - By 

    Today my thoughts have turned firmly towards the school run. Since I’ve never done the school run before I’m not really sure what to expect but on the couple of occasions I’ve visited the school the fashions have been quite wide-ranging. There are the women who are so immaculate you wonder if they actually care for their children; the slummy mummies who look like they’ve just rolled out of bed; the sporty mums who look like they’re going straight on a run after they’ve dropped their children off and then there are the mum’s who look like me, pretty nondescript.…