45/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

44/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...



As Esme settled into a collage, her sister happened upon a garden snail. She eventually put it back again - complete with sticker.

FRAMED Autumn colour

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Whether you’re planning a party or heading over to someone else’s, these ideas are bound to inspire terrific tricks and treats for all the family to enjoy.

43/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...



Who lives in a house like this Fia?

42/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

41/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

40/52 The GraceFaith year long art project...

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year



And so the owl went camping on his third birthday!

Is it morning yet?

Even on those mornings when they could potentially lay in, there's often a mishap. Take this morning - "Mum, it's 7.10 and the clock's up."

It's 6.10 and frankly the clock needs throwing out. Fat lot of good it's ever done. The idea behind it is that when the sun comes up (i.e the smiley face turns from blue to yellow) the children are able to see it's time to wake too. Unfortunately, even on the days the clock hasn't been tampered with, they've always been wide-eyed way before the sunshine ever put in its appearance.

Such a shame I'm not.

AUTUMN PASTIMES

As the evenings draw in and the half term draws closer, LIFE AS IT IS gets inspired. Here are ten great things to do with the children throughout Autumn...

1) Totally Thames, London

The river comes to life with a month of free events, including open days, art, family fun, talks, walks and plenty of boats. 1-30 Sept

thamesfestival.org

39/52 The GraceFaith year long art project...

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

Inspiring, allowing, providing our children the joy of reading

Educating our primary school children cannot be done by talking alone. It cannot be done by reading and writing alone. Teaching our children to be the best they can possibly be, is ultimately done by inspiring, allowing, providing. 

Schools testing kills joy of reading says War Horse author

War Horse author and former Children’s Laureate calls for schools to make time for stories by reinstating Storytime in primary schools

WarHorse author and former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo will today criticisetesting in schools for killing the joy of reading, creating fear and anxiety,and bringing about a sense of worthlessness in children.

The former Children’s Laureate and President of BookTrust, speaking at the inaugural BookTrust Lecture this evening, will state that we are all as a society responsible “both for the successes and failures of our literacy and our society.” Morpurgo says that it is not just the fault of successive governments, “who corral schools and pressure teachers into teaching literacy fearfully, who insist that measurable outcomes and results are the be all and end all of the education process.”

38/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...



Fia sketches the telly

REST EASY - guide to a good night’s sleep

REST EASY - guide to a good night’s sleep

As September heralds in the autumn, in a sense the changing season brings forth a fresh start – a new year if you like. It’s the beginning of the academic calendar, and as such a return to routine. So how as a family can you help yourself with that routine? A good night’s sleep for all is essential. But often, that is easier said than done.

Feeling wistful - the end of an era (off to school)

So the summer holidays came and went, six weeks off school to relax and enjoy. Weeks that were so good this year. The weather saw to that. And the girls. They've grown up so much. This motherhood malarkey that I once thought sucked, has slowly morphed into pretty wonderful. I always used to dream about them reaching 7&4. Now they've arrived at 8&5, I actually want to press pause. Imagine that.

37/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

KEEPING YOUR FAMILY SAFE ON THE ROAD

Recent surveys reveal that over 71% of parents in the UK are not aware that legally a child needs to be in a car seat/booster until they are 12 years old, and that SUVs are the choice of car for modern mums looking to keep their family safe…

36/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

35/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...


Esme was born on her great grandmother's 90th birthday, and this year they turned 8 and 98. The cake was decorated by the GraceFaith girls, and is the art project that we have most enjoyed this week in August 2016.

34/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Princess Peppa's Carriage - A toy review

We stop to watch her if we catch her on TV. We've seen her on stage (cue the Bong Bing Boo song), and we would give anything to head back to her theme park once again... so just what is it about the pink phenomenon that is Peppa Pig? 

33/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

BONDING WITH YOUR BABY

BONDING WITH YOUR BABY

Sometimes in life, things just don’t go as planned. But when your firstborn suddenly ends up in special care… well no one plans for that. Here, writer Emma Oliver remembers bonding with her baby and speaks to a baby wellness and childcare expert...

32/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Fia designs (has designs) on a mobile



Esme designs (has designs) on a pair of shoes

The Olympics (then and now)

On the day that Rio held its 2016 opening ceremony, we are excited. In our house we love the Olympics. We love the chance to enjoy the world's greatest sporting extravaganza, and to settle back together in awe of the 10,500 athletes from 206 teams competing in sixteen days of world class sport.

FRAMED - This time four years ago

SISTERS

Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories - A book review

With featured artists including European greats like Michelangelo and Rembrandt, as well as global art visionaries such as Katsushika Hokusai and Frida Kahlo...

DETAILS:

Vincent’s Starry Night and Other Stories

Author: Michael Bird

Illustrated by: Kate Evans

For: children aged 9+

Published: August 2016 by Laurence King

Available from: All good bookshops 

Priced: £19.95

ISBN: 978-1-78067-614-2

31/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

SCHOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER…

…and the holidays are happening. Here’s how to keep the children engaged on your trip away (and consequently, how to keep the whole family happy).

Want to make the most of your family holiday and enjoy the chance of all being together? Planning not pressure is key. From travelling with tots to finding a break that will suit all the family, the holidays ought to be fun for everyone. Follow this helpful guide to make your break away, the best it can be…

30/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Fia's first and last day at pre-school

From this...

To this...

i-spy ON A CAR JOURNEY - Book review

Wanting something to keep the children occupied that doesn't involve a screen? These timeless classics have been around for sixty years and two weeks ago were newly released by Collins.

29/52 The GraceFaith year long project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Toilet musings of a 4YO (Warning, not for the faint hearted)

S: Mummy, my poo looks like a giraffe.
E: (Rushes to see) Oh my gosh, it really does.
S: Esme, take a photo.
E: (Uses my phone) Look Mummy...

My guilty pleasure

E: Mummy, we haven't had music for ages.
M: I know, but as Daddy got the stereo down from the loft yesterday, tonight after school we can dance to S CLUB 7!
E: Okay. I meant music at school.

28/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Intrinsic Toffel Sandal by ECCO - a review

DETAILS

Available online: ECCO website

Price: £45

Colours: Black, White, Coral Blush, Fuchsia, Fanfare and Cobalt.

Material: Nubuck leather with salt water resistant properties.

It's always a bit of a gamble when you set off to work wearing a brand new pair of shoes isn't it? But that's what I did. Because you see that morning, I woke to blue skies and sunshine and a pair of newly delivered Ecco sandals sat winking at me. And as the colour complimented my top perfectly, what else was I supposed to do? Wearing them up to the big smoke and back for review purposes, seemed a logical move. Even if it was a four-hour door to door round trip.

Induction day at infant school

It's an odd thing. But today our little ones began an adventure that will take them all the way to adulthood. I've been wondering how it would go for a while now, imagining Fia would take it in her stride, stepping up through the doorway into school; the year 'R' entrance where they are so carefully welcomed in.

Accompanying her into the room that will be her home each and every week day come September, I watch as she looks about her class, settling down on the floor amid the bricks. Here she will be nurtured and taught all the exciting stuff that lay ahead. You know, life. This is where it all begins.

A quick kiss and a promise to return soon and I wipe back the tear that has caught me off guard. But you know, it seems only yesterday that I was doing this with Esme.

Parents are gathering and many as excited and eager as the children they've moments before walked away from. Not many anxious faces, lots of familiar ones. A tea or coffee sipping group stood snatching glimpses of those they recognise but don't yet know. It's so much easier for our children isn't it? Just down from where we are in the hall, they're getting on with it. Thrown together to learn, to play, to begin anew. School life.

27/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...
(I love that the house is packed to the rooftop with love)!

Simple musings of a 4YO

Dada did u know I like Mummy the best? But Daddy, you are my favourite... 

Look back in wonder

Okay so here's the deal. I travelled a lot when I was younger. I use the word 'travelled' loosely, as it was more like bumming around at the time. The more I saw and experienced, the more my senses were alerted to new cultures and countries, and the more I fell in love with writing about my time away from home detailing the where, what, why, when, who?! I wrote journals and letters mainly, but also sent emails when I could find the Internet. Ha! Seems nuts now, but back in the 90's, the net had not quite reached all four corners of the globe - and trotting around it meant you arrived in cities excited for the consequent Post Restante, where you'd pick up and pour over yearned for news. Five years later, I was back in the UK, working as the professional nanny I had trained to be. It was hard to settle though and I ended up doing a degree instead. Media Writing at Southampton. My thesis was based on a travel writer; Lindsay Hawdon and her hugely successful weekly column in the Telegraph, entitled 'An Englishwoman Abroad'. Her use of the first person narrative was fresh and exciting, but also successful because it meant everyone could travel with her, transported to each new destination, and from their armchairs. I liked her style and using the journals I kept and the letters I sent, I found my own descriptive narrative - and the inspiration for my dissertation. I put this particular piece into a travel writing comp which closes at 11pm tonight if you're interested in that sort of thing - a comp allowing travel writers the freedom to write as they please, rather than have to conform to the often oppressive structure of a magazine. (Really I'll use any excuse to get back to Oz). Anyway, please share if you like what you read... Thank you.

http://scholarships.travel/writing16/tanami-desert-western-australia-june-1999

26/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

Fish Pond by Fia

HYSTERECTOMY - 10 Reasons for and 10 reasons against

10 NOT SO GREAT reasons to have a Total Abdominal Hysterectomy

1) Major operation comes with all sorts of risks.
2) Meds to help can equal nasty side effects.
3) One being you can't shit for days - bring forth laxatives, stool softeners and suppositories and hope...
4) Trapped wind brought on by laxatives, stool softeners and suppositories can end up causing more grief on its mission to break free than the actual surgery - have you ever felt wind in your shoulder of all places?
5) Having to eat all manner of food stuffs to get the digestive system working again such as prunes and papaya causing yet more wind in a freakishly continually evolving catch 22 scenario.
6) Being observed for blood pressure, temperature and oxygen levels around the clock, which although a necessity is of course a tad annoying on the sleep front.
7) A bloody great scar.
8) Post operative blurred vision (this might have been down to the epidural rather than the anaesthetic, either way, it's getting better a bit too slowly for my liking).
9) Bed rest boredom. Although to be honest, I am toying with the idea that this is actually not a valid NOT SO GREAT reason at all, for I'm enjoying the rest immensely and am yet to be bored. (I know you're hearing me mothers of small children).
10) Watching the dust gather due to being unable to vacuum for weeks on end (actually, what am I thinking, this surely needs to go on the list of GREAT REASONS)?

10 GREAT reasons to have a Total Abdominal Hysterectomy

25/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

Okay, so this week I came out of hospital and Esme Grace (my brave 7YO) presented me with a card. It now sits with a whole host of unexpected wonderful well wishes, except this one, instead of saying Get Well Soon, speaks the mind of a 7yo daughter who has lost her Mummy to bed rest...

24/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...



Underneath this beautiful flower, the nursery teacher wrote down Fia's thoughts:
"I hope you are better.
Soon we will come and collect you.
We miss you so much.
We love you so much.
Love Fia. xxxx"

23/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

22/52 The GraceFaith year long art project...

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year...

CRAZY SPECTACULAR Bank Holiday cheese roll?

Want something to do (in Gloucestershire) this May Bank holiday Monday?

Why not take part in the very bonkers annual cheese roll in the village of Brockworth, near Gloucester. People have been doing so (officially and now un-officially) since at least the 1800s, choosing to throw themselves with gusto after a rolling wheel of cheese.

How very British... no not the fact that people run fall down the ridiculously steep Cooper's hill chasing after an 8lb Double Gloucester, but the fact that they still do so after the event was shut due to health and safety concerns six years ago. Hey, what's a broken bone here and there?

Now a very much spontaneous event that takes place with no management whatsoever, if you fancy a bloody big cheese, and you are somewhere near Gloucester, this could prove to be a winning weekend for you. And if you don't fancy winning a cheese, you might just enjoy observing this crazy spectacular instead!

The Happy Nappy Wetsuit - A review

DETAILS

SPLASH ABOUT HAPPY NAPPY WETSUIT

Available: from birth to 24months+

Suitable for: Newborn and sensitive skins - including eczema

Price: £22.99 - £24.99

splashabout.com

Innovative and unique, the Happy Nappy Wetsuit is worth making a splash about!