When LBG was born, I organised a First Aid Course through an awesome company that sent a nurse to our house. It was a little like a Tupperware Party: everyone came to us and we supplied drinks and nibbles. The babies slept in a collection of travel cots dotted around the house whilst we practised resuscitation downstairs on a doll version of the real-life babies we now possessed. It was simultaneously reassuring and terrifying, but we were all … [Read more...]
Blossom Magazine launches World Book Day Writing Competition
With Half Term on the doorstep it's great news that there is a new girls' magazine on the market called Blossom- for girls who love to learn. Magazines are perfect for taking on long journeys, to restaurants, or to keep my girls occupied for a couple of hours whilst I try to get things done. I always stock up on magazines before we go on holiday as they are light, easy to pack and offer hours of entertainment. Though the Girls, when given free … [Read more...]
Potato Spinach and Dolcelatte Pizza
A lifetime ago I spent summers in France, working. every week a van would rock up to the outskirts of the Burgundy Village that I called home, producing the most amazing pizzas from a tiny interior. They are commonplace now- I pass one every Friday as I collect my children from school- but twenty years ago they were extraordinary. As were the pizzas- light and crisp and filled with flavour. One in particular stayed with me: the memory of … [Read more...]
Rapunzel in the tower Bookmarks and a dozen other great Fairytale Crafts
LBG is on her way with reading: she came home screaming with joy last week because she has moved up a reading stage and is utterly delighted with herself. DH and I are so happy to see her love of reading grow by the day. Now that she has moved on to larger longer books, she often needs to leave some pages for the following day, so we have been plunged into the world of the bookmark. With the awful weather beating down all around, The Girls and … [Read more...]
My Honkopoly Day
It's always frustrating when you put so long into the planning of a fundraising event, promoting, recruiting and raising money for a cause, and then as the date approaches you find that you have unpredicted hurdles to jump. Like a Tube Strike. Vanessa, Sarah and Sophie spend hundreds of woman-hours planning the Honkopoly route, Vanessa's Husband produced staggering graphics work- flyers, the graphics we all used, and the most amazing … [Read more...]
Secret Centre Love Cupcakes
Valentine's Day doesn't mean spending lots of money on showy gifts. It means taking the time to think about your loved one and do something special for them. In our case, DH and The Girls donned their aprons to demonstrate their love by baking Secret Centre Love Cupcakes, a phrase coined by my gorgeous girls because "they look like love- pink and sprinkly and so delicious and they have a secret surprisey middle bit". I don't know where they get … [Read more...]
Five things I didn’t think about when I named my daughter
I'll tell you now that LBG was named long before she was born. Before she was conceived. We were really pleased with the result, bashed out how it would be spelled, carried it around with us for two whole years. Until the night before I was due to go into hospital to be induced and DH changed his mind. Which was a little stressful for me who had- since we found out we were having a girl- started thinking of her by her name. The challenge we … [Read more...]
