16 September 2016 7:51 PM
15 September 2016 5:04 PM
Raves for kids... and their parents!
I met the founder of a fab new app called Hoop yesterday (it's free and it'll tell you all the things going on in your area for families and you can filter results by the age of your children, it's big in London but about to go national) and he was telling me about the trend for ridiculously cool events for kids. Honestly, you can forget about village fetes and a trip to the park - these days hipsters are growing up and having children, and setting up wildly hip events like museum sleepovers, comedy classes and gigs (Baby Broadway, for example, offers family-friendly concerts of show tunes featuring West End performers) for little ones. But the genre that tickled me the most was raves for children, largely because the names are just genius. I bring you Diddy Rascals, Rave-A-Roo and Fun DMC.
14 September 2016 6:07 PM
My good intentions are slipping...
I started off pretty well this term, but yesterday after I dropped the children off at my mum's she had to run after me down the road a she only had one school bag (Minnie hadn't taken hers out of the car); there was the sticky-backed plastic book covering debacle; despite my hopes that school would wear Monty out so much that he'd finally sleep through the night he has been up the past two nights with bad dreams; this morning they cleaned their teeth in the car and I didn't have time to re-plait Minnie's pig tails so I just clipped back the flyaway hair at the top to neaten it up.
On a more jolly/less stressed note, here's a flashback photo I just rediscovered of Minnie on her first day of school - and me in matching gingham!
13 September 2016 8:41 PM
When book covering goes bad...
It's not advisable to try and cover your children's new homework books (decorated by the kids to show their teachers what they love) with sticky-back plastic on a school morning. In hindsight, this is obvious, but it didn't stop me from attempting it this morning. I have to admit, I thought it'd be easy, a bit like wrapping a present. I wasn't banking on blunt scissors (I tried three different pairs and it still looked like I'd cut the plastic with a butter knife), wrestling with what is essentially a giant piece of sticky tape (so it kept sticking together where I didn't want it to) and waging war against some very persistent air bubbles.
Halfway through I very nearly stopped to find a YouTube video - this is what I should have watched, this young Aussie girl has it sorted!
12 September 2016 8:05 PM
11 September 2016 10:11 PM
We survived Week one at school - well done people!
James and I actually ended up having quite the celebration. We went to see the Bare Naked Ladies at the Roundhouse on Friday night, stayed over in London at a hotel (the fire alarm went off at 3am - seems I am destined not to be allowed to sleep through the night where ever I am, but at the lie-in til 10.15am made up for it!); we then met Christine for brunch at Oblix in The Shard on Saturday. What a treat!
As a result of being out of the house most of yesterday, today has been a blur of laundry, tidying and panicking that I didn't buy sticky-backed plastic so we can't finish decorating the children's new homework books. I will be scouring High Street Kensington for it tomorrow!
07 September 2016 8:39 PM
A must-watch - Motherland on BBC2
I should declare that I totally love everything that Sharon Horgan writes (Catastrophe - hello!!) but her latest project Motherland, written with Graham Linehan, is totally hilarious. I watched it on iPlayer on the train home from work and identified with nearly every scene. There's the cliquey mum set and the desperate stressed working mum speeding in the car to get her kids to school only to find it's half term - literally me! Essential viewing for mums everywhere - watch on iPlayer as soon as you can!
06 September 2016 10:25 PM
Day two of the school run...
...and organisation is already slipping. This morning I struggled to find any clean socks for Minnie and she couldn't decide whether to wear a grey winter dress or her gingham Summer one, which caused delays. She was also indecisive about breakfast and spent a good ten minutes catching, studying and releasing a large spider (described by Monty as a tarantula) in the bathroom. Tomorrow we face the dreaded cleaning fairy day (on which I attempt to tidy up so the house can be cleaned rather than tidied), plus school run, plus 8.51am train to catch. It's going to be a challenge!
05 September 2016 5:52 PM
A big day for our little boy...
But he did us proud. When I dropped him off there was another boy crying hysterically and his younger brother was also upset and trying to get back in to the classroom to comfort him. His poor parents were putting a brave face on but it must have been awful. The teacher asked me to say goodbye quickly so she could shut the door and this was probably the best way to do it - no fuss or drama. I gave Monty a kiss and he seemed fine, and he came out smiling at 11.45am! Here are the obligatory first day at school pics... no idea what the small wooden mallet was for!
04 September 2016 8:19 PM
One more sleep til school!
As a final Summer holiday treat we've been to see Finding Dory today, which was great (and Monty has had lots of fun with the popcorn bucket). And I took them on a long walk blackberrying and conkering this morning (idyllic, til they both stepped in dog poo and I slipped on some mud, fell flat on my bum and threw all the blackberries up in the air and on to the floor).
I had them both in bed by 7.30pm but Monty is still up and calling out despite the fact that I brought out the big sleep guns with a few drops of lavender in the bath and used a lavender pillow spray in their room! Yes, I am desperate for them to go to bed at a reasonable hour so they are ready for their first day at school.
It's honestly hard to imagine that my little Monty is starting in reception. He's very excited about it. their uniforms are hanging up in the wardrobe, their sports bags are packed and I bought new water bottles as ours keep getting lost. So while I haven't packed the school bags there isn't much to pack - just a drink. they'll get new homework books tomorrow. I did laugh at my friend Jill's Facebook post, asking if her 4-yro twins needed pencil cases and notebooks - it does feel strange sending them with an empty bag. But it will be filled with homework and reading books soon enough!
Good luck with the school-run mayhem tomorrow and to all of those with children starting in reception - reckon you'll cry? I think I will be ok but we'll see!
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- Quite a day at school then....
- Raves for kids... and their parents!
- My good intentions are slipping...
- When book covering goes bad...
- The quest to draw the perfect Batman for Monty continues...
- We survived Week one at school - well done people!
- A must-watch - Motherland on BBC2
- Day two of the school run...
- A big day for our little boy...
- One more sleep til school!
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