Category Archives: Little Lady
I survived the summer holidays!
This is definitely not a phrase I would ever have uttered as a child but it’s amazing how much your perspective of this time changes when you become a parent or more to the point a stay-at-home Mum. The angst that I would have felt as a child starting a new term of school, has been replaced by the delight of the thought of having a little routine back in my life. Don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed spending more time with both children, honest! We have had a very full and active six weeks, venturing between play dates, planned activities and two weeks of holiday time with ‘Daddy’ but I am more than ready for tomorrow – Ava is back at pre-school and I for one can’t wait! Ava for her part has a new pair of red shoes (one more year until she’ll be forced to have a pair of regulation black shoes), some new Princess Peppa wellie boots and some lovely memories of the summer to take back with her. By midday, I will no doubt miss the constant narrative that only a preschooler can provide.
At the beginning of the summer holidays I set myself a challenge to take at least one photograph of the children a day to capture the essence of what we were doing so I have put together a little montage of our summer holidays which includes a few firsts from the children. Ava has been to cookery class and gymnastics for the first time and has finally learnt how to ride her scooter. She has also gone down a fireman pole on her own and an enclosed slide (she’s always been afraid of the ‘dark’ slides). The achievement she is probably most proud of and is keen to show off at any opportunity, even if it’s in the middle of a supermarket, is being able to hop on one foot. Benjamin has dipped his feet in the sea for the first time, attended his first music and dance class and has acquired a few more teeth (and don’t we know it!). He can also now shake his head to indicate his displeasure at being served the wrong food or being given the wrong toy to play with. I’m sure saying the actual word ‘no’ will not be far behind.
On reflection I don’t remember my summer holidays being this fun. If only I were still the child rather than the one with the responsibility!
Summer Holidays Montage
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
A mountaineer in the making?
I was going to entitle this post ‘Scaling new heights’ but then realised that I had already used this title for my last blog post – doh as one Homer Simpson might say. Anyway we are currently staycationing at Andy’s parents in Stockton and are using the opportunity to explore the local area. In all of the nearly 13 years Andy and I have been driving up the A19 past Roseberry Topping, on the way to his parents, we have always without exception said ‘we must walk up there one day’. Our excuses to date for not doing this have been along the lines of ‘it’s too cold’ (to be fair to us we usually travel up this way around Christmas time) and ‘we haven’t got enough time’. We could hardly use the temperature as an excuse, with the car thermometer soaring above 20 degrees and the time factor certainly didn’t apply, as we are here for a week. Now you could hardly blame us if we used the children as a reason not to scale Roseberry Topping this time. I mean what person in their right mind takes a 3 year old who is liable to whinge at the distance and difficulty and a 1 year old who must be close to 25lbs (this is only significant as he was going to make the ascent in the Daddy taxi), up a mountain (ok hill, but it is as good as a mountain to a 3 year old who is only 97cm tall!)? Anyway Andy had made the decision, which is a fairly rare occurrence in this household, and we were going despite my protestations of ‘it looks like rain’ and ‘what if Ava falls off the side?’.
So armed with one 3 year old and a hefty one year old snuggled in his rucksack (highly recommend Little Life), we made our ascent and rather surprisingly there were no groans from Ava about how long it was taking or that she wished to be carried. Only 50 minutes after arriving in the car park we were sitting on top of Roseberry Topping admiring the views of the Tees Valley and high fiving our achievement. Definitely an ‘I did it Mummy’ moment for one very pleased 3 year old. Does Mont Blanc, Everest or K2 beckon for her, we’ll see.
-
- Start of the climb
-
- At the top
-
- High five
-
- Roseberry Topping
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
PINK is the new GOLD
Great Britain may be hunting down the GOLD medals at London 2012 (22 gold medals as I write this…way to go Team GB!), but for one little lady it’s all about pink.
Ava’s pink medal
This medal has been produced thanks to a gravy lid, pink foil left over from an Easter egg, a lollipop stick, some gold ribbon from one of Benjamin’s birthday presents and one white address label that Ava wrote her name on. (Unlike her Uncle, who first wrote his name on the bedroom window sill, this parent has taught her child that pen is only allowed on paper!).
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
Pimp my cupcake
It seems to be an unwritten rule that every mother should be able to make a decent cupcake. I guess some have a natural flair for this activity whilst others need a little helping hand. I certainly fall into the latter category so when the opportunity to attend a cupcake making class came up, I jumped at it faster than Usain Bolt can run 100 metres.
Technically this was a cupcake making class with an ulterior motive as the host was a Pampered Chef consultant so as expected there were more than a fair sprinkle of product plugs and I was left wondering whether it was possible to make the perfect cupcake without spending £17.50 on the muffin pan with the extra deep holes and £13.95 on the cake scoop which promises that each cupcake will be exactly the same size. It turns out that Pampered Chef aren’t responsible for Stork, the magic ingredient that makes cupcakes taste extra nice. The decorating equipment was surprising easy to use and I had oodles of fun trying out various different nozzles with some great results:
Cupcake decorations
Inspired by my cupcake class I offered to make cupcakes for a couple of joint birthday teas. The first set I made in my down time when the children were safely tucked in bed and the second set had the finesse that only a certain 3 year old can achieve. Having seen the difference in my cakes compared to the ones we made at the class, I think Pampered Chef may have made one sale out of me. The muffin pan with the extra deep holes probably would have prevented the volcano peaks in the middle of my cupcakes, although it turns out that like a well fitted wedding dress, buttercream icing really can hide a multitude of sins.
Ava’s cupcakes
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
Crafty ambitions
About a month ago I decided that it would be nice if Ava made a present in honour of her brother’s 1st birthday. Ava is never one for passing up the opportunity to get crafty or should that be messy. Anyway, she chose to make a car. Materials for such projects are no longer in short supply in this household. I’d like to say that recycling has moved up my priority list and I chose to be greener off my own back but my honest streak won’t let me take credit for this. New restrictions on waste collection from the council have fed my hoarding tendencies (it’s a family trait) and much to my husband’s chagrin, I now have quite a collection of cardboard boxes from cereal packets, paper towel rolls, lids etc so no project is too big or too small for this family.
Materials required for this little project included; Easter egg box (car body), soap box (car bonnet), chocolate box plastic insert and paper towel rolls (wheels), plastic sleeves (windows), straws (chassis) and blue and orange paint, newspaper, glue, stickers, and address labels (purely cosmetic!).
From the picture below, you can see that the project morphed into a monster truck, more by accident than by design.
-
- Crafty Little Lady
-
- Crafty Car
Now that it is Day 2 of the Summer holidays the little lady & I will be on the look out for new ways to get crafty. Any suggestions?
‘I Did It Mummy’ fundraising for BIBS – https://www.justgiving.com/IDidItMummy
I Did It Mummy 