2020 has been the roughest ride of my life so far, it has been an endless waterfall of problems, upset and tragedy, which has taken some serious soul-searching and strength to get through. I’ve still got plenty of races left to run and I’m still far from the finish line but I’m staying strong and sticking with it. It is true that one must find strength during stormy weather, this may be physical strength, mental strength, or spiritual strength in my case. As you may have read (in my past posts) earlier this year my husband gifted me a brand new tarot deck, which in turn rekindled my love for reading the tarot.…
Half term came to a rather abrupt end as poor E has struggled and suffered from a bad bout of nosebleeds which led to us having to make a mad dash to the local (I say local – it’s actually a fifty-minute drive away) A&E department. Having being given the all-clear, E and I came home late last night and after a snack, a shower, and a story half-term was officially over. Telling The Time We’ve been keeping things as cool and as calm as possible today to prevent any further bleeds (she has had one but we soon stopped it!).…
We’ve had a week of the most wonderful weather which was well-timed for the half-term holiday. The kids have spent the past three of four days basking in the glorious sunshine whilst splashing and screaming in the paddling pool. Dozing on the decking whilst laid on the sun-lounger under the shade of a parasol, if I close my eyes and listen to the splish-splash of the water I could well be abroad. Though J & E both love water play, our little lady is particularly taken with her beloved paddling pool and has spent almost every hour of every day splish-splashing in the sunshine – she truly is my little mermaid!…
I don’t always find it easy writing lists of the things that I have ‘liked and loved’ throughout the month, especially so during 2020. This year has brought so much sorrow and upset, it’s often difficult to dredge through the despair to find the light within the dark. However, this month I have made a concerted effort (not only for the kids but also for myself) to smile and to celebrate the magic moments where and when possible – Here are a few of the moments which I have ‘liked and loved’ throughout the month of May. Js 11th Birthday Despite being stuck living in ‘lockdown limbo’ J had one of the best birthdays yet.…
Welcome to this week’s #MySundaySnapshot post, which is part of a snap-sharing-blog-linky series that you are very welcome to join. Click here for further information and guidelines upon this linky should you wish to take part. How are you all doing? Are you managing to get by living in lockdown or has the isolation driven you insane already? I’ve spent this past week with my head buried in various books and must say that I have rather enjoyed getting back into reading – I was once a keen book worm but somewhere along the way I must have misplaced my mojo and I’ve really missed the floating away into the freedom of fiction.…
And here we are at the end of May already, which seems to have come by quite quickly considering that we have spent the past ten weeks or more living in ‘lockdown limbo’. Despite every aspect of my life seemingly falling apart over the past few months, I’m choosing to stay smiling, even though that requires a forced grimace for the most part. Here, therefore are a few of my #LittleLoves from the month of May. Read It’s astonishing just how much comes to light during the darkest of times, tough times call for your true self – when things get rough you’ve got to ‘get real’ as there is simply no room for ‘fake amidst fear’.…
To celebrate J’s eleventh birthday, the sunshine very kindly offered to make a guest appearance. We made the most of the good weather by blowing and filling up the paddling pool, slinging on the kids’ swimming gear, and turning up the tunes. Despite being in lockdown, J had a brilliant birthday and it was mostly due to the good weather as we were able to get out into the garden and to have fun in the sun. The kids enjoyed shooting hoops in J’s brand new basketball net and splashing about in the paddling pool, whilst shooting each other with water guns and doing what kids do best – causing chaos.…
Having worked his stripy socks off for the past however many weeks of home-schooling, J was electronically awarded the lighthouse award late last week. To celebrate his achievement he decided to create a virtual lighthouse using his beloved Minecraft game. J is mad about Minecraft, he’s got the game on almost every platform imaginable and despite my suggestions to combine his games so that whichever platform he chooses to login upon comes up with the same game, he is quite happy to have a range of Minecraft games to be getting on with. Whilst I’m not entirely keen on the kids having too much ‘tech time’, I’ve had to let the reigns go a little during the lockdown.…
Welcome to this week’s #MySundaySnapshot post, which is part of a snap-sharing-blog-linky series that you are very welcome to join. Click here for further information and guidelines upon this linky should you wish to take part. Earlier this week we celebrated a very special young man’s eleventh birthday and despite being in lockdown, J had a truly wonderful day. J began the day by being spoilt rotten with gifts galore, following which he spent time chatting to family. As we were blessed with beautiful weather, we were able to enjoy time paddling in the pool, bouncing on the trampoline, and shooting some hoops in the garden.…
When we think of university, we tend to think of students who have just left school, moving out of home for the first time and taking their first big steps into the world of independent living. We don’t often consider it an option for ourselves. But the truth is, the majority of universities do accept mature students (that’s any student commencing studies over the age of 21) and many older students do thrive in their studies. When it comes down to it, there’s no age that’s deemed “too old” to get started with studies and there are all sorts of perks that can come hand in hand with a university education.…
When it comes to our homeschool routine, my husband I and I tend to split the days in terms of leadership. Paul (and the kids of course) usually start the day by having a workout with Joe Wicks from which they then cool down with drinks, snacks, and the latest episode of Newsround. I then step in by leading the literacy, spelling, handwriting, reading, and numeracy whilst Paul’s locked in the office busy working from home. Smiles for Spelling Once work is out of the way, we then have some lunch followed by a break during which the children usually play outside in the garden unless it’s pouring down like today for example, in which case they’ll go on their ‘tech’ or watch some television.…
After a busy day, what better than to sit and read a book? One thing is for sure, my kids sure love reading and I love listening to and watching them enjoy literature. Both J & E have a couch in their bedrooms, which is most often where they choose to sit and read. Given that we’ve been in lockdown for the past however many weeks, we’ve passed a fair amount of time with reading in this house. Reading provides the perfect mental escape from ‘four-wall syndrome’ not only for the children but also for us adults. There’s nothing quite like picking up a good book to dig out some facts or even better, snuggle with a story and sail away into the land of fiction. …
Welcome to this week’s #MySundaySnapshot post, which is part of a snap-sharing-blog-linky series that you are very welcome to join. Click here for further information and guidelines upon this linky should you wish to take part. I’ve lost count of which week nevermind which day we are at in terms of the lockdown – all I can say is that it’s been a LONG TIME since things were ‘normal’. Although I’m not sure that anything will ever be ‘normal’ again – 2020 truly has thrown us a curveball, it’s smashed straight through our windows and left a right old mess too… As for returning to ‘normal’ – I sure as heck ain’t rushing to get back to ‘business as usual’.…
I’m so glad that my children actually get along, I couldn’t for one minute imagine having had to spend the past eight or nine weeks locked in a house with endless sibling squabbles… cough It’s been far from easy but let me assure you, the kids have been the least of my worries! J & E have both been as good as gold these past few months, which is admirable considering the stress that they must be under from the endless covid 19 news coverage (even though we shield them as much as possible from this) and the fact they are missing their family, friends and daily routine.…
With E learning all about the lifecycle of plants, we decided to set up some outdoor shelving for pot plants. It’s been two years since we dismantled and removed our rickety, old greenhouse and though I certainly do not miss the eyesore that it was – the kids have really missed planting and growing seeds. Since Paul put together and painted these shelves, we’ve since added a range of outdoor pot plants and both E & J have really enjoyed planting seeds, watering the pots each day, and watching the plants as they grow. Our kids have a real appreciation and love for nature – it’s so lovely to see!…
To mark seventy-five years since VE Day, we celebrated by creating our very own bunting (which we coloured, cut and hung from the front window) and putting together our own picnic with fresh sandwiches, cakes, biscuits, and savoury snacks to enjoy as a family. Having spent the week researching VE day, the children both understood and respected the significance and importance of this event. Thanks to the wonderful weather, we were able to enjoy our splendid spread sat outside in the sunshine. Thanks for reading. I look forward to catching up with your #TheOrdinaryMoments posts either through your own posts or comments upon this post.…
Welcome to this week’s #MySundaySnapshot post, which is part of a snap-sharing-blog-linky series that you are very welcome to join. Click here for further information and guidelines upon this linky should you wish to take part. Whilst #MySundaySnapshot pictures are usually of a scenic nature, I decided to throw caution to the wind this week and to swap bland for bold and countryside for collage by featuring a beautiful button-tree that my daughter carefully crafted during one of her many homeschool sessions over this past week. My camera reel is filled with photos that I’ve taken of the children working upon their various homeschool projects.…
Here in the UK, it’s not too long until Fathers Day and with us currently being in lockdown, I have been wondering what I might buy for my own Father, my Father-in-law and of course, my husband (whom the kids should really buy for themselves though they are only young and I am their Mother and therefore the gift-getter in this household). My husband isn’t the easiest man to buy for, he’s really into his gadgets but then he has everything so what do you buy for the man who has it all? Well – this year I opted for a wallet.…
Having very much enjoyed using and reviewing the EasiYo Yogurt Maker late last year, we’ve since continued to create our own yogurt, though we have stuck to strawberry flavours simply to keep the kids happy. EasiYo EasiYo first came about in New Zealand’s South Island almost one hundred and fifty years ago. EasiYo’s parent company ‘Westland Milk Products’ has since created a wide range of high-quality, dairy-based products that are now sold worldwide. The EasiYo Yogurt Maker EasiYo recently contacted us asking whether we’d be interested in trying some of their new yogurt mixes and flavours, which of course we were.…
For most children, a pet is their first true taste of responsibility. They are in charge of another living thing and they have to be vigilant and consistent in their care. It’s a great life lesson for children and it’s best to have them learn it, very early on. When they are 5 or 6, ask them what kind of pet they would like? When they sound as if they are really enthusiastic about the idea, explain what kind of responsibilities it will entail. The feeding patterns must be consistently done. They’ll need to clean their pet and spend time with them.…
