There's nothing like a Ladybird book for making you realise just how little you know! That's certainly the case with the second of my finds from our Cornwall holiday - The story of Saint Paul. I was rather pleased with this find as it's my first book from their Religious series (series 522), but when I came to read it I soon discovered how much of my Religious Education from school I've either forgotten, or was never taught in the first place. Now St Paul was actually born around the same time as Jesus and as a child was called Saul. He was the son of two prominent Jews in the Mediterranean ... read more
Ten things to take on a self-catering holiday
Self-catering holidays always seem to involve a lot of planning - especially with regards to what to take. Having just returned from our self-catering family trip to Coombe Mill in Cornwall here are my top ten things to remember when you're going self-catering. 1. Towels Even if all the bedding is included where you're staying it doesn't necessarily mean that towels will be. It's certainly worth checking - for both bathroom towels and a tea towel. Don't forget that you may also want to take a bath mat too. 2. Tea bags If you're a complete tea addict like me then you'll definitely ... read more
Featured Post: How motherhood has changed over the years
One of my strongest memories from being pregnant with Little Miss C is actually the first time that my mum and I went shopping for "baby things". I'd met up with her and my Dad in central London for the day and after a cuppa and a cake we headed off to a certain well know Oxford Street department store's nursery department. At the time I had friends who had recently had kids and despite only being a mum to be I had a bit of an idea as to what was available these days that came under the "baby paraphernalia" category, however I think my mum's jaw hit the floor as we came up the escalator and ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 10 – Travelling to Cornwall
Finally the day was here - holiday time! Now, this year was our first real holiday with both children and the first proper holiday we've been away for in years, so we were pretty determined to make it memorable. Not feeling brave enough to fly with the kids again yet we instead went for a UK holiday and after seeing so many rave reviews online we opted to stay at Coombe Mill in Cornwall. If you've not heard of Coombe Mill, let me set the scene. Imagine a small farm, run by a family, where children are at the centre of the holiday. The whole site is set up so that they have an absolute ball, ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 9 – Getting ready
It's a bit strange writing all this in the past, but I'm determined to record all this summer properly, but I was also determined to enjoy our holiday without spending all my time tied to a laptop. Day nine of our summer was one of those days which in a way seems like there's no real point in recording it. It was the day before we set off on holiday so most of it involved trying to look after over excited children whilst also trying to remember everything that we needed to take away with us, buy a few last minute bits, and trying not to let the kids unpack as fast as I could ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Story of Houses and Homes
So, away I came on holiday totally forgetting to schedule a Ladybird Tuesday post before I left, and also without a single Ladybird book to be able to blog whilst away. Luckily the Ladybird gods were looking after me though and thanks to the wonderful secondhand books shops that so so many National Trust properties have these days I'm now sat here with a selection of six new titles (none costing more than 60p and one from a series that I didn't previously have any books from!) to choose from. Seeing as I'm away from my home right now I'd decided to go with The Story of Houses and Homes from ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 8 – Mummy daughter day
I find it difficult sometimes ensuring that I still get one on one time with Little Miss C now that her brother's here, and especially since he naps less. I know that she misses that attention, and I've realised that some of her bad behaviour can stem from not having that time with me. During the school holidays I'm making a real point of making sure that we do something special together on the days when Master C is in nursery. This week we were busy getting ready for our holiday and trying to sort out laundry and packing, so I asked LMC what she would like to do for lunch. Her choice was to ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 7 – Shopping and Classics on the Common
I'm still playing catch up somewhat with our holiday diary, but at the same time I'm determined to make sure I don't miss a day. Day 7, Wednesday, was one of those days where we didn't do a huge amount, but when we did do things we seemed to be so involved in it that there weren't many photos. Most of the day was spent at home with the kids, save for a precious couple of hours in the afternoon when my MIL came round to look after the children for a couple of hours whilst I went to Welwyn and spent a John Lewis gift voucher that she'd bought me for my birthday. It was very strange being out ... read more
Help LMC start to fulfil her travel dreams
http://instagram.com/p/dq7bB5xIyM/?modal=true Little Miss C has a bit of an obsession with travel right now. Mr C and I went to Paris recently and she also had a rather dragged out trip to Gatwick airport to pick her daddy up after he went to The Netherlands for a wedding recently. Add to that the fact that DorkySon (who she still talks about regularly) moved to Tasmania and one of her school friends is about to emigrate to Sydney you can possibly see where her wanderlust is coming from. At Easter one of her other school friends went on a long trip to South Africa, where he has family, and ... read more
Summer 2014: Day 6 – Birthday party, upcycling and vintage sewing patterns
As I feared, time is starting to run away from me somewhat and I'm already starting to wonder what it was we did a couple of days ago. After the excitement on Luton on Monday, Tuesday was intended as a bit of a quieter day at home, punctuated by a lunchtime birthday party for both children at the kind invitation of one of Little Miss C's school friends. The party was held in a Scout hut in a part of St Albans that I'm not at all familiar with (and hence I discovered a fantastic new playground next door too), and as we were still blessed with gorgeous hot weather here it was particularly ... read more