A pocket of my life

 Are you a summer person - No way! I am more of an Autumn lover, I find heat really hard to deal with and much prefer the weather in the 'ber' months. What is your favorite thing about the summer? - The time with the children, I know some parents don't enjoy but I really try to take the time to be with the children and make memories with them. Do you stay indoors or outdoors more in the summer? I am more of an indoor/home girly, just because I don't so heat. We love the garden in the shade and taking trips to the park/beach in the evenings. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? I love a mint choc chip with a flake in the top. What is your favorite summer clothing? a nice flowy dress, normally below the knees or my short pjs for home.  What do you like most about the beach? We love to go rockpooling and paddling in the sea too. Favorite summer time movie? Mama Mia is perfect for a summers evening or maybe Grease along with High school musical 2. What is you...

With Halloween being just days away I wanted to share a few of our favourite seasonal books with you. In the new house with have this beautiful sheflf built into the wall and the moment I saw it I new I had to use it to display these books and future seasonal books too. Room on the broom  - An absoloutle classic in my eyes and one that we do read throughout the year as we all love it so much. The dinosaur that pooped Halloween  - This is another story that is always in our book baskets that we have as Olivia loves the dinosaur that pooped series. Where's Mrs Witch  - This one one that may be retiring this year as Olivia is slowly avoiding this more and more but I no and certain someone who will benefit from it.  Were going on a pumpkin hunt  - A story that has been adapted from a well known story meaning that we both love this, we both make the noises whilst reading it.  Little Miss Sunshine and the wicked witch  - We have had this story for a while an...

We are half way through the summer holidays and we have been adventuring out the house into nature, during a camp at the beginning of the holidays Lils learnt about natural tie dye and has been teaching us all about it. We recently went on a walk together to find some blackberries for our choice of colour. When we got home we washed the blackberries, then boiled them in some water with salt, this helps the colour seep into the fabic better.  To prepare your fabric, you must dampen and wring out before tieing it. to create the patterns you can twist, twirl or fold in different ways before tiring in places to hold it together, we used pipe cleaners ourselves to keep it together. Once done, you put your pieces into the dye and soak for around 20-30 mins. We then left overnight in a plastic bag to help the fabric hold the dye in.  The next day is time to see how it worked, we started by taking off the ties and rinsing in cold water before putting the item on a quick wa...

  Half way through half term already and we have been on some adventures, our latest was a trip to Sissinghurst castle in Cranbrook, Kent. This is a property owned and looked after by the National trust and is one a highly recommend visiting. This location is a little smaller than some but has some beautiful gardens to expolore, even during spring when they are only just waking, and some beautiful buildings to explore too. The gardens, though quiet this time of year showed some signs of waking up with snow drops and crocuses carpeting some of the flower beds. Some of the trees have been trained to link which I can imagine looks beauiful in full bloom. The orchard was closed at the moment as it looked like they have been tendning to it for the months ahead. One of my favourite parts was this sofa bench close to the houses, it made me smile and reminded me of a big family sofa.  There are many buildings to explore, including the tower, the Priest's house, the south cottage and t...

With half-term term officially starting next week I wanted to share a few ideas that don't break the bank. Trying to keep the kids occupied for a week can be tricky when they are out of routine but I am one of those Mums who loves these weeks, the time to have a slower week and make memories if possible.  1. Cinema: This may sound crazy but I have just got 3 tickets, 1 adult and 2 children for under £10 with ODEON Kids. Throw in a shop bag of popcorn or some of their favourite sweets then we have a morning planned.  2. Make a den: We love making dens in our house with mattresses on the floor with blanket and sheets for a roof. I try to make these as cosy as possible as sometimes they like to sleep in them too.  3. Baking: This is great in many ways, it's good bonding time, they are learning maths if you help them with weighing and you get a yummy treat at the end. We love baking from scratch with many  recipes  on my blog, but we also lov...

With half-term around the corner I wanted to share this simple recipe that is perfect to do with children and are only 4 ingredients too.  Ingredient's 3 Medium eggs Weight of eggs - Self raising Flour Weight of eggs - Marge Weight of eggs - Sugar Method 1. Preheat oven to 180/gas mark 5 2. Mix marge and sugar together until creamy 3. Add eggs 1 at a time, add a small amount of flour if mixture starts to curdle 4. Sieve flour and add to mixture 5. Place mixture into cupcake cases 6. Cook for 15-20 minutes until spongy to the touch It's honestly such a fall proof recipe and method that we can pretty much make these with our eyes shut. We like to decorate them after with some icing and sprinkles. Hope you enjoy this recipe. Victoria x

It's never too late to create a boo basket and they really don't have to break the bank, I have created this basket for under ten pounds and both my toddler and preteen have enjoyed it. I normally create something like this with things that can keep busy over the Halloween half term normally with a little sweet treat too. This year I have included a Halloween activity pack which I believe was from poundland, the scratch mask craft was from Coop who have some great things for Halloween and the last craft was glow in the dark sun catchers from the works. I have 2 glow in the dark pumpkin necklaces for when the girls fo trick or treating, and lastly we're some ghost lollies from Morrisons which have been devourered already.  I really enjoy making these for the girls and have done for many years but please don't ever feel like you have to create things like this, it's just something that makes me and the girls happy. Victoria 

Today I have a simple and fun Halloween sensory play for you little ones to enjoy, it involves rice, paint and some seasonal items. To start off you need some uncooked rice and paint in the colours of your choice, we went for orange and black. Mix the rice with a bit of your paint until covered, then smooth out and let it dry on some foil, it only takes around 30 minutes for this to happen.  I have mixed my colours together once dry and poured into a tray then added some mini Halloween decorations, a spoon and a small pot for her to interact with. It is so simple to set up and tidy up to and Olivia loved playing with it. This kind of play promotes colours, texture, hand eye co-ordination and fine motor skills and can be adapted to different seasons or celebrations for some extra fun.  I would highly recommend trying this out with your little ones, its kept Olivia amused for a good half an hour and was a great way to what her interact in different ways. ...

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Sharnfold farm for some Halloween fun and it did not dissapoint. This year we took part in the Halloween trail which gets better with every visit with more to see and more effort put in every year, the only downside this year was the PYO field was closed due to the weather. We arrived the the farm about 11.45 and went into collect our wrist bands, we had prebooked but the tickets cost £5.95 for children over 4 and £4.95 for adults. There is a prize at the end of the trail to collect from the main office.  On arrival we could see some Halloween decorations already which certainly gets the kids excited, you firstly enter a play park which seems to grow every years, there is a tractor for the children to climb over, a sandpit, some ride on toys, a traditional slide and swing and there is also a wild part with bits to learn about wild life and more.  Once you enter the main part you are greeted by your first animals, this year it was some adora...