Ten years ago I became a mother. ten days after Mother’s Day that year. I remember getting a card from the bump (thanks to MadDad). Ten year’s ago my life changed in ways I could never imagine and each year I love Mother’s Day. This year I have teamed up with Paperchase to bring you some ideas to share with your husband and the kids. I am delighted to be working with them as most people know I am fueled by pretty stationery and tea!
Like most Mums I would love nothing more than a homemade card for Mother’s Day this year and with this in mind, I am delighted to have these fab free mothers day colouring cards designed by the delightful Tasha Goddard Illustration.
My boys go back to school this week and will be going into year six and year five. I know that waving them off at the door (they no longer want me to walk to school with them) will be a bittersweet moment for me and also for lots of other parents.
We were challenged by Stork to bake a simple kids birthday cake devised by Ruth from The Pink Whisk. Well, it was perfect timing as my best friends youngest was about to turn four. .
There is only a week until Mother’s Day in the UK and there really isn’t the need to spend a lot. In fact most mothers would just be delighted with a handmade card and a lie in, trust me on that one! However, if you do want to spoil your mum on a budget then you have come to the right place.
If you’re expecting a baby during the first few months of the New Year, you’ll need to negotiate all the excitement and temptation of the New Year celebrations. But rather than look upon this as a challenge, you could view it as an opportunity to make some lifestyle choices for a healthier pregnancy. These New Year’s resolutions should leave you feeling healthier and more optimistic about the year ahead – and about the arrival of your baby.
This parenting lark is hard work. Just when I think I am doing well, something comes along that gets me questioning what we are doing or how we are doing it. As a woman I find the fact that I am the mother to two boys something of a challenge and a huge responsibility. Now before I continue I just want to say this is not about whether or not it is harder to parent boys or girls.
Before I was a mother I never understood the meaning of mother’s day, well that isnt quite true it was before my boys started making me things. Yes Mothers Day and Fathers Day might be cheesy, but it is wonderful too. The joy of getting something homemade from your children is irreplaceable oh and the lie in is brilliant too.
This year is the first year that I feel comfortable celebrating Mothers Day without a mother. It is over three years since Mum died and yes I still miss her, but I no longer pine for her company like I used to. My new normal is actually becoming normal. Now that is a sentence I never thought I would write!
We are a family that loves making and receiving homemade cards and I adore crafting. However, I am aware the boys are getting older and I want to keep their enthusiasm for the homemade and very amateur cards. So I thought I would share with you the cards I made for Maxi this year and also some of the DIY birthday cards we have made for family members over the years. I love how they can be personalised with a birthday message and doesn’t everyone want a handmade birthday card?. Birthday candle birthday card.
As a mum of two boys, I feel very strongly that they have respect, understanding and think of girls as their equals. Does this make me a feminist?
I feel that it is my job as a woman, mother and feminist to instill in them that women and girls are their equals. All children, boys and girls, have a better chance in life when their mothers have benefitted from gender equality. Educated mothers are more able to support their families both economically and emotionally. Men and boys are part of the solution.
Today is the first ever International Day of the girl. As a woman this is not something that I can ignore. Worldwide, girls carry the burden of poverty more than anyone and 75 million girls are currently denied an education. What is one of these girls is the woman who was destined to discover the cure for cancer? 75 Million girls are NOT in school, which is about one in three girls worldwide. This is a HUGE waste of potential. They do not have a choice in this, but you have a choice in standing against this discrimination.
What can you do to make a difference?
Sign Plan International’s petition to ask that education be made a priority for girls
“speak out against gender bias and advocate for girls’ rights everywhere” as International Day of the Girl asks you too.
I am Flexible and Flowing I am open to the new and changing. Every moment presents a wonderful new opportunity to become more of who I am. I flow with life easily and effortlessly. This is true for me and many other mothers of children this week, as it will have been the first week of school for many and the return to school for others. it is also particularly applicable as MiniMad has his home visit from the head of Preschool amd one of the other teachers tomorrow afternoon. I had been looking to keep him with me for as long as I could, what with him being my last baby and […]
Today I am I supporting the fab and inspirational Emma from Crazy with Twins who is beating thyroid cancer. I am proud to say that I have met Emma and she is a wonderful person, who is dealing with the challenges this battle brings her in as much of a positive way she can.
I took a look at Emmas Blog yesterday and it had the BEST news ever, her body has shed the radiation so fast she can now cuddle her children again and they can continue being a regular family (well as regular as you can be with twins and an illness).
However, I am aware that the results of the treatment will not be know for the next six months, but I also know that going through something like this can change your outlook on life and give things much more clarity.
My experience has taught me to find joy in the everyday. To make the most of the small things that help me get through each day and then to find three things at the end of each day that I am grateful for.
Spring The Small Stuff
The smell of freshly cut grass. The sound of all the local lawn mowers on a Sunday afternoon. Listening to the shouts and giggles of children playing outside. W watching the seeds we planted start to sprout. Earthing up the potatoes. Using up the last of the kale by making homemade kale chips. Lighter evenings. Waking to the sound of the birds singing. The boys running in after school and then running straight out again to play with their friends.
Wild Garlic and Bluebells. The leaves on the trees all being green. Blossom on the trees. Cherry blossom on the floor like confetti. The whole family washing the cars together. Theme parks in the sun. Sand in my toes and sun on my back. Spring tides and large waves. The promise of more to come.
Washing blowing on the line. less ironing. lighter weight coats. Putting away all the winter hats, scarfs and gloves and getting out the sun hats. Rubbing sun cream on to the soft, soft skin on my children. Sewing later and longer thanks to natural light! Watching Dr Who together as a family. The anticipation of camping trips. Day trips to the seaside. Icecreams. The sound of the ice cream van. The smell of BBQ’s. Spring Birthdays. MOthers Day. Fathers Day.
Finally learning how to crochet (fourth time’s a charm). Buying fabric for new quilts. Finishing existing quilts. Plotting, planning and designing new quilts. Going to my sewing lessons. Plucking up the courage to go to the WI! Watching my children take turns at cooking. Eating child baked cakes.
Waking up next to the ones I love. Hands to hold. Comfortable silences. Laughing at bad films and enjoying good films. Family movie nights. Board Games. Bruised little legs in short trousers, especially school shorts! Early nights in fresh bedding. Good books. Washi tape. White Walls. Yellow. Daffodils. Tulips. Good tea from china cups. Good friends. Great family.
Reading books out loud to my children. learning something new. Challenges. Even more yellow. Craft swaps. Writing letters. Receiving letters. The sun. Scented candles. Pims in the garden with my family. Instagram. Pinterest. Blog comments. Being able to wear standard sunglasses. The fact that I impress my children that I am not scared on roller coasters. My boys telling jokes that are funny and make sence (it has been a long time coming).
My boys are growing up and are now eight and nearly seven and what we need in a family car has changed dramatically since they were newborns. However, it is not always financially possibly to buy a new car at every stage of childhood, so I thought I would put together a guide to what to look for in a family car detailing what we needed and why at what age. At the moment I am lusting after a new Honda CRV, especially after being in a friends on Mothers day at Maxi’s football match!
There is nothing better than collecting the boys from school and them being really excited. “I have something in my bag for you Mum”, “So do I”. As we get near home the boys get even more excited about it “I can not show you, it has to be a surprise” and the two of them whisper conspiratorially to themselves.
I am smiling big beaming smiles, as I know that Mothers Day is nearly upon us and this means they have both been busy creating their own special card for me.
Queue Sunday morning and the boys excitedly come running in to the bedroom with a cup of tea for me and their cards and jump on the bed and tell me all about their cards. Maxi explains he drew round his left hand, but turned it over once he cut it out, so it looks like his left hand and how I have beautiful brown eyes and love heart lips for kissing. Mini excitedly tells me he did all the cutting out himself and used a punch to make the tree. He used zigzag scissors to cut out his label.
What more could a mother ask for on Mothers Day?
We have a fantastic art gallery near us called Arts Bank (yep it used to be a bank and now it is a gallery). It is somewhere both me and the boys love to go. They have five floors of artwork and also a fab cafe on the ground floor. We visited again recently and I was inspired by some patchwork that we saw to make Fabric Patchwork pots (we gave them to my MIL for Mothers Day, so I didn’t want to spoil the surprise as she reads my blog)!. I am also on the lookout in the charit
With mothers day coming, I thought I will do a very quick post with a few of my favorite things.
he shops are filling up with card for Mothers Day and each time I see or hear it mentioned it brings a lump to my throat. For the first time in my entire life, I do not have a mother to celebrate on Mothers Day and that makes me unbelievably sad. I want the world to stop and take notice of me. I didn’t want to my my mother in law a card, although today I did and to give MadDad his due, he said thank you and then made me cry by saying he understood just how hard that was for me to do.
These Cake Case Flowers sit on a shelf above my desk and bring me so much joy. I love real flowers, I really do, but there is nothing that makes me smile more than the handmade ones that grace my desk which have over time been made by my boys. They are often so simple to make, but they last forever and these cake case daffodils are so simple to make, but look amazing. Even better this is a mess-free craft.
How to Make DIY Heart Notebooks is a paid collaboration with Bostik. I am a massive stationery and notebook lover and any opportunity to get more is good in my opinion, so I was delighted at just how simple and beautiful these DIY heart notebooks were to make.
