One of my favourite books as a child was The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Did you know it was so popular that he went on to write 13 more Oz books? This was one story I couldn’t wait to share with the children and I have been able to thanks to a new, beautiful pop-up version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It has had a makeover at the hands of Stella Gurney, with illustrations by Lorna Freytag, and ties in with a new version by Disney. 2013 is the year of Oz with live action…
-
-
No not us, but Little Sis. For the last 15 months she has quite happily shared a room with us, but it’s time for her to go. Not that I don’t love having her with us but I want her to go straight into her own room when we move. Last year we had our spare room subdivided so she does have her own room. We just need to remove our guest bed and move her cot in. It’s been freshly decorated so it’s all ready for her. We moved her brother into his own room when he was 6…
-
My toddler will be 3 next month, I’m not quite sure where the time has gone but I have one amazing little boy. We’ve been talking about potty training for a while now. We have a potty, we have training pants, we read books about going to the toilet and we have a reward chart. Nothing seems to be happening. I’m not in any rush to get him potty trained as I know that wouldn’t be beneficial to anyone, he just doesn’t seem that interested -still. We always encourage him to tell us when he needs a nappy change and…
-
Do you remember a couple of months ago we went to visit a new Banksy which had sprung up on our local high street? I was shocked to read about it on the BBC website as it’s currently for sale in America with a huge price tag. The Banksy, known as Slave Labour, appeared just before the Diamond Jubilee last year. Everybody was talking about it and it was quickly covered with a sheet of perspex to preserve it. I always looked out for it when we went past and was proud of the fact there was something so exciting…
-
Half term is a bit of a mixed blessing really. I love spending time with the toddler but it makes me realise how much I love those couple of hours he’s at his Montessori nursery! I’m trying to keep us busy so no-one gets bored and today we headed off to St Pancras to look at the trains. That might sound a little dull but for a train-mad toddler it’s heaven on earth. We bundled up in our warmest clothes and took the tube to Kings Cross/St Pancras. The toddler helped by running around and chasing pigeons, Little Sis just…
-
I’ve been working on a couple of patchwork projects lately. As well as a Union Jack cot quilt, I’m also making some patchwork doll quilts for my daughter. I was really keen to get my hands on hand quilted with love by Sarah Fielke. The book is subtitled patchwork projects inspired by a passion for quilting and it’s a beautiful book. I think of myself as a pretty competent maker of patchwork, I’m not so confident at quilting. In Hand Quilted with Love Sarah Fielke encourages and inspires you to step outside of your comfort zone! The book includes 16…
-
It’s been sunny and my thoughts are firmly on Spring. Our house has a beautiful bay window in the lounge which is absolutely perfect for our home-made sun catchers and bunting. We thought it would be fun to make paper daffodils and some extras to hang in the window. The toddler enjoyed this as it involved his favourite items from the craft box – scissors and glue! You will need: Selection of yellow and orange papers Craft sticks Glue Scissors Green marker pen Star cookie cutter We traced round the star cookie cutter on sheets of yellow and orange paper…
-
It doesn’t seem very long ago that I was thinking about clothes for Autumn and Winter but the weekend sunshine has got me hopeful about Spring! It’s so lovely to wake up to sunshine and we’ve seen plenty of snowdrops and daffodils on our weekend away. The sunshine has been deceiving as it’s still really cold but I’ve been busy planning. I’m currently on a mission to make me look a little less mum-sy with a new wardrobe and hair cut. I seem to have settled into wearing a very boring mum-sy uniform of jeans and tops and totally lost…
-
My little 14 month old is a messy eater. She has the appetite of a sparrow and what she doesn’t eat, she gets everywhere. This morning it was porridge rubbed in her hair and I can’t even write about the things that fall out of her nappy everytime I change her. She was sent some OXO tot products from their feeding range, and whilst they didn’t stop the mess, they did make mealtimes more fun for her. We tried the OXO tot divided plate, feeding spoon and sippy cut with handles. She took to all the items straight away! The…