There’s something magical about a country show. The rides start rolling in a couple of weeks ahead of time, and every day, we check the new arrivals and start mapping out a plan of attack for spending their show-day allowance. A week out, the real flurry of activity begins. Photos printed. Lists checked. Schedules printed. Last minute projects added. The […]
It was a normal kind of January holiday day. We’d gotten up, I’d pottered thought chores while the children contemplated breakfast and rejected the idea of getting out of pyjamas. Cartoons blared from the tv. The dishwasher beeped. The microwave dinged. The kettle bubbled to boiling for the third time in a row as I kept getting distracted before I […]
It was around midday on Tuesday, as we wrapped up at homeschool group, that I realised I’d totally flaked on our traditional Shrove Tuesday pancake breakfast. I had been so looking forward to it – last week was an insane one, and the small joy of a special breakfast with my three kiddos at home (and surprising Bear with some […]
Gingerbread houses have long been a favourite christmas tradition. We’ve done kits, and we’ve baked our own. We’ve made large family houses and a cluster of small houses, one per child. We’ve even outsourced it and sent the kiddos to a workshop to make shortbread-not-gingerbread houses. This year, Miss 15 was the only one super keen, and managed the whole […]
Despite hot cross buns having been on the shelves since Boxing Day, I’m a mean mummy and refuse to allow them in the house before Ash Wednesday (I’m also equally pedantic at Christmas and don’t do carols before Advent Sunday). Easter is fairly late this year (after an early Easter last year!) and it’s felt like a long wait. I […]
You can tell a lot about a person, I’ve decided, by the kind of books they have on their shelves. In the early days of knowing my husband, when we were still getting to know each other as friends, and barely had the slightest idea of what we might become, he invited me over to his place one afternoon after […]
When I first started this blog, way back in June 2008, my tiny boy was my sole companion as I crafted and blogged. My days were a constant roundabout of playgroup and trains and naps and snacks and colouring and stories and “where daddy” and “why”. So many why’s. Older, more experienced mothers would issue the usual platitudes – it […]
I saw a meme, a while back, that being in your forties means the children within your friend group are either teens about to leave home, or babies & toddlers keeping. Either way, none of us are getting any sleep. I laughed, and promptly tagged a friend, whose tiny toddler is the bookend to my almost-grown Bear. Sixteen years, between […]
Butterfly and her bestie are obsessed with a show on Netflix called Nailed It. The premise of the show is three amateurs (who may or may not have baking experience), are given a cake to replicate in a set timeframe. It is the epitome of the Pinterest “nailed it” meme in real time, and never fails to have two tweenagers […]
Once upon a time, I shared a lot of baking on the blog, and on my insta. When the children were tiny, it was an easy way to keep them entertained for a bit, and top up the treats in the pantry. As they got older, baking became part of my Monday morning routine – drop the kids to school, […]
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