Top 6 Gifts For A 5 Year Old Girl

Why does it always seem to be someone's birthday?

My children have been invited to so many birthday parties recently and because I like to go shopping with them for interesting gifts to give to their friends, it gave me the idea of putting together a little gift guide for when you find yourself without a gift and need some ideas.

Pick Your Own Fruit, Yes Please!

On a beautiful sunny day I can think of nothing better to do than spend an hour or so in fresh air picking fruit from trees and bushes, and that's exactly what was next on our list for things to do with the family this summer.
We hadn't had very good weather for a few days so when we saw the forecast for some truly summery weather coming our way, we jumped at the chance to plan a day out in the sunshine. If you read my blog regularly you will know that we live in the countryside which makes activities like this slightly easier and we found a place not too far away where we could go and pick fruit ourselves.

Time For A Nature Hunt

Summer is a great time to be out and about, especially with the little ones. When it's nice weather you don't want to be cooped up inside, you want to be outside enjoying the sunshine but what can you do so the kids don't get bored? Well here's a seriously easy and low-cost idea...

Healthy Chicken Wraps // Family Meals

I am on a constant search for meals for my family that are healthy, fulfilling and affordable. I want to make sure that we get the right nutrients that contribute to a balanced diet so I'm really happy when I can pull together a relatively simple meal like this that the whole family (including picky eaters) will enjoy.

An Afternoon At The Beach

Summer is finally here and the school holidays are fast approaching. If you are like me then you're probably putting your thinking cap firmly on and trying to come up with ideas of what to do with the little ones that won't cost an arm and a leg. It's no secret that money is tighter nowadays than ever and most 'family days out' just aren't very affordable so I thought I'd start a new theme of posts about finding things to do with the kids that cost as little as possible but will still be lots of fun.

5 Tips To Help Your Child To Brush Their Teeth Better

Teaching your children how to brush their teeth properly can be a bit tedious at times, especially when they're really small and don't completely understand why you want to stick a brush with slimy toothpaste on it into their mouths.

Packing Guide For A Sleepover

 

As any parent will undoubtedly encounter, there comes a time when your child will have their first sleepover. This is a time filled with mixed feelings of worry that they'll be away from home for the first time and also of elation that you will finally have the evening all to yourselves without having to be concerned whether the TV is too loud.

Party weekend

At the weekend, we celebrated 3 birthdays in total. Both of my daughters' had their birthdays and parties, and my sister-in-law also. I have never eaten so much cake in the space of a few days in my life!

Pretty Party Lights DIY

This is a very busy week for me as both of my daughters' birthdays are this week... I know, great planning! This is also the first year that they are having separate parties as they are now both at school and have their own friends so instead of trying to cater for kids with a 4 year age gap, I decided to take the plunge and plan two parties.

Let's talk about kids!

As more people around me have become new parents, then I thought I'd share my views and experiences on the subject. I am the proud mother to two beautiful daughters who I totally love to bits. I can honestly say that becoming a mum has changed my life so much and I am thankful for every moment that I spend with my children. I'm not saying that it's easy though, in fact; it's bloody hard work being a mum!

Pimp your plimsolls

Recently my daughters gym plimsolls have gone missing at school. They have eventually shown up but it has meant that for many gym lessons she has had to do without them. So my husband and I decided to pimp her new plimsolls so that they could not easily be placed in someone else's bag by mistake. We're so happy with how they turned out that I just had to share.

Things to do with the kids... Handy Art!

One of the great things about my kids is that they love to be creative and rather than letting them loose with the art supplies (paint on the walls & furniture isn't the look I want to go for), I prefer to channel they're creativity. I got the idea for this art piece when my eldest daughter and I were thinking of how we could brighten up the bathroom.

Things to do with the kids... go to the beach

Constantly finding fun things to do with your kids is quite a feat. Especially when you have been busy working all week and then when it comes to the weekend (and all you want to do is sleep), you are met with these little people who seem to have endless amounts of energy. 

Working with a family... making it work

There is no doubt about it... trying to juggle a full time job and a young family is difficult!! I have heard many different ways that parents of young children deal with this and find it very insightful to hear each individual story. Some work part time to reduce the whopping costs of childcare (can be over 1000 eur/gbp a month for 1 child/full time), others rope in the grandparents to help as much as possible. Either way, we've got to work or return to work at some point so you have to find the best situation for you and your family.

Encouraging the kids

Like every parent, I want my children to grow up to be happy and successful individuals. Of course there is no manual on how to encourage them in the right direction. If only there were such a book!
So we all have to figure it out the best we can.

We try to encourage our children to be active and do things that they enjoy, like playing a musical instrument or dancing. I've found that you can't force something on them because if they don't enjoy it, then they won't continue to do it. Luckily my girls enjoy doing a lot of different things, so only require a little bit of a push to get them going.

I recently began running with my oldest daughter on Sundays. She was a bit reluctant at first as she found it difficult to keep going, but she has warmed up to it now that she's getting used to it. She

Married life

Not many of my friends are married or have any intention of doing so either. This is fine of course. Each to their own! But it does make talking about married life a bit difficult with others who have perhaps not been with their partners for very long.
Last week we celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary. We have been together for almost ten years, a decade... wow.