It's been a bit of a funny old weekend in that most of it didn't feel like a weekend at all. Mr C's been away in the Netherlands at a wedding, and without him about it's kind of made the days merge into last week a bit, and it certainly hasn't given me the break that I so need by the end of a busy week, especially when we're in the school holidays. The first alarm went off at 2.50am on Saturday morning for Mr C to get up for a 6am flight to Amsterdam and combining that with a couple of wake-ups from Master C - who was struggling with the heat - it meant that Saturday started feeling ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 1 – Crafts and contradictions
It's funny how just yesterday morning we were getting up to do yet another school run, yet this morning school runs almost felt like they were in another lifetime. Little Miss C has fully embraced the idea of getting up and not having to put her school uniform on and in that sod's law kind of way she bounced out of bed without any encouragement at 7.15am and by 7.30 was dressed and raring to go. School morning's normally take lots of me hurrying her along and yet the morning I don't need her to get up on time she does! Thursday is the girls day here as Master C goes off to nursery for ... read more
When things aren’t as you imagined
I tend to keep this blog a happy place. To write about the nicer things in life rather than the mundane day to day. At the moment though the day to day is taking over somewhat and to be honest we're struggling with it. The thing is about 10 months ago Master C became difficult. I never expected life with two small children to be a walk in the park, and at first just put all our problems down to "a phase" but nearly a year later I'm definitely thinking that this is no phase. It's not just a few things either. By now his behaviour is completely ruling our life and making things pretty ... read more
And that was that!
The house is quiet. Little Miss C is finally back at school and her brother is upstairs napping. At my side is a cup of some special tea that the bloke in the local health food shop convinced me to buy this morning. For the first time in about three weeks I'm as close to feeling calm as I have ever done since having children. The Easter holidays are over and despite there being some highs I have to say that boy was that tough! And now I've managed to speak too soon. Master C has magically woken from his nap a whole hour earlier than usual and despite not going to sleep until gone 10 ... read more
Little Miss C’s interpretation of the Kid’s Capture the Colour Competition
Little Miss C has always enjoyed having a go at taking photographs with our camera or phone. Nearly a year ago I even published on here some of the photos she took whilst in the doctor's waiting room. Letting a three year old have free run with a camera is still something slightly scary though, especially when she's insisting on taking hold of your phone to take a photo of the ducks at the park - especially as she seems to insist on holding the phone out over the water to get a better picture. I was therefore delighted when I heard about the TravelSupermarket.com Kid's Capture the ... read more
What did you really see today?
Did you know that this week (16th - 22 September 2013) is National Eye Health Week? There seem to be so many weeks like this these days where we're celebrating something or raising significance of something else and it's very easy for them to pass you by un-noticed, but this is one that I actually heard being talked about first thing Monday morning whilst getting breakfast for the kids and it is one that does affect all of us, no matter how old or young. So, back to Monday morning. As usual I had Radio 2 on and Chris Evans was doing his amazing job of trying to get the whole country ... read more
Egg Carton Hair Clip and Bobble Storage
When it comes to children's craft activities it's easy to get stuck in a bit of a rut and find yourself really lacking inspiration. When that happens I have to admit that my favourite place to go and rejuvinate my crafting mojo has to be Red Ted Art as the site is just packed with wonderful things to try at home. When I came across their AMAZING Egg Carton Crafts a few weeks ago I just knew that we'd be trying similar soon. Please do go and have a look at the fantastic treasure chests that they've created from egg boxes as they are brilliant. Little ... read more
Challenging…
I think that's the most politically correct word to use for today, especially when today followed the weekend we've just had. This last weekend has been a particularly emotional and tiring one. We picked LMC up from nursery early on Friday and drove north to my Mum's house, before heading further north on Saturday to scatter my Dad's ashes on the North Yorkshire Moors. After weeks of cold windy weather we were lucky to see the Moors in their full sunlit glory and it really did feel like a very fitting final resting place for my Dad. He loved the Moors and many family memories ... read more
Science Filled Sunday
Little Miss C is still very much in love with her science kit and we get regular requests to do "speriments" with her, or she'll look through the experiment cards and decide which one she wants to do next. Easter Sunday was very much the same and she pulled on one particular card where the experiment was to look at the fact that oil and water do not mix and that water is also more dense than oil, meaning that the oil will float on the surface of the water. A bit of blue food colouring in the water made the difference between the two liquids a bit more obvious and she ... read more
I love my Mummy so much because…
This was the line that the children at Little Miss C's nursery had been asked to complete so that it could be attached to the pipe-cleaner flowers that they had made, as a personal message from them to their mums. I'm sure the staff (and some hopeful parents) had visions of things like "... because she gives me lots of cuddles" or "... because she always plays with me" or even "... because she looks after me", but you need to remember that it's pre-schoolers that they're asking to do this and as all parents know children can say and do the ... read more