It seems a while ago now that I wrote about our first foreign holiday with Little Miss C. We learnt so much in those few days about travelling with a little one and I therefore want to share wih you the three things that we took with us that I would encourage anyone travelling with a toddler to take. 1. Ergo Baby Carrier I'm afraid I don't have a photo of me using our carrier, but that's mainly because of the times it was useful. We flew with Easyjet from Stansted airport and I have to say that they were really good when it came to carrying baby equipment with us. We were ... read more
The Testament – John Grisham
There's been a bit of a book reading frenzy here in recent weeks, but my blogging about what I've read has fallen a bit behind. Apologies in advance therefore for a few back to back book reviews in the next week or so. John Grisham's The Testament was something I quickly picked up in a charity shop as a quick holiday read and that's exactly what it was. There wasn't much time in Madeira for lounging around by the pool, but there was some time to kill on the plane and also time once Little Miss C had gone to bed in the evening. I've always liked John Grisham's books, ... read more
Damson Gin
It's over two years now since we moved to this house, and I'm ashamed to say that for the last two years we've just ignored the potential harvest from the two damson trees in our garden. This year was different though! Firstly I made the effort to go and pick the damsons before they all became mush in the grass, and after washing them I put them in plastic bags in the freezer until I had a bit more time to get organised. We love damson gin, but have been finding it increasingly difficult to buy without going to farmers' markets and shops. A quick request on a few internet ... read more
Fabric numbers
There are so many unfinished sewing, knitting and crochet projects in this house at the moment that it's more than a little ridiculous - even for me! Here's a little sneak preview of one of the sewing projects though - the irresistible numbers from Meg McElwee's latest book Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child. You may already know Meg from her lovely blog, Sew Liberated, and as you would expect this book is crammed full of amazing projects for children of a range of ages. The non-clothes projects are all focussed on ... read more
VTech Toot Toot Drivers Garage
It's as if Christmas has come a bit early for Little Miss C this year. I came home from town the other day with her buggy weighed down with the Toot Toot Drivers Garage to review from our lovely local toy shop, Cuthberts. The Toot Toot Drivers range comes from VTech, and as you would expect from them combines bright colours and noises to attract the children, with interactive elements to help them learn through play. The vehicles are a lovely size to fit into small hands, and also talk and sing in response to pressing a button on them whilst the Garage provides a fantastic centre piece ... read more
Messy painting
Whilst Little Miss C had her lunchtime nap on Monday I decided that we should make the most of the good weather and so I set up for us to do some painting in the sunshine. Whilst she slept it all looked so beautiful. I'd laid out everything carefully, taped the plastic sheet down so that wind didn't blow it away, put paint in four different containers, taped the paper down and I even had a special pot for the water that she couldn't tip over and spill. Then the artist woke up... She was very excited to see what we'd got lined up for the afternoon. She's done some painting ... read more
Knitted Bunting
It's National Knitting Week this week and my needles have been busy today knitting bunting to take with me to my knitting group at StudioDelirium tomorrow. The plan is that we're going to help decorate the cafe where we meet - I just hope I'm not the only one that's done their "homework" as I'm not sure I've done enough alone to provide much decoration! I used this pattern on Ravelry by Karen Wessel and the yarn was left over sock yarn from a pair I made whilst waiting for Little Miss C to arrive. Each triangle took about an hour ... read more
Little Books
When I was sent a couple of sets of Little Books to review by GMC Publications I just knew that they were the perfect thing to save for our holiday. If you've got flights to endure with a little one they these are perfect to take with you. We decided to have one box set for the journey out to Madeira and then to save the second one for the journey back and that worked really well for us. Little Miss C loves books of all sorts and now that she's talking more and more, books where she can point at things and saw what she sees are ideal. We were sent Gyo Fujikawa's ... read more
Is it really October?
I mean really? Is my calendar wrong? Is it not July, or maybe August? Both today and yesterday we've eaten lunch in the garden, worn summer clothes and had to apply sun cream to Little Miss C. But, to top it all, this is what I found when I looked at our strawberry patch yesterday! A red strawberry, nearly ready to pick, in October! Seasonal madness! ... read more
Carla Daly Children’s Wall Art
Decorating a young child's bedroom can be tricky. You want something that's bright and colourful for them to look at, with some educational value, and also doesn't look too, well, childish. I was delighted therefore when I was emailed by Carla Daly and asked to review some of her Children's Wall Art. We were sent a Kid's map of the United Kingdom and I was delighted to unwrap it when we arrived back from holiday. The map is in a simple style and clearly shows the countries that make up the UK, along with some of the major cities. Overlaid are a variety of animals (all ... read more