Reflections on the start of a new school term

September is well underway and there are some big changes for our family as the children start this new school year. The routine that we've been following for a good few years has been completely shaken up, mainly because Harry has started at a new sixth form which is a fair distance from our home. He's having to deal with a long commute by train, and I need to add regular trips to the station in addition to the school run that I'm already doing. 

He's already been given plenty of work to do, and Mia starts her GCSE options this year, so she's also feeling the pressure. They have both been exhausted at the end of the day. It's going to take us all a couple of weeks to get used to the new timings and to get settled!

It's difficult having to take a step back from them as they become more independent, even though I am also glad that I don't need to be so involved with their day to day anymore. One thing that I'm really grateful for is being able to drop them off and pick them up without needing to leave the car - especially on a rainy day like today. We can just keep in touch by phone and they can come and find me where I'm parked!

I'm trying to get the balance right between them knowing that I'm there for them to try and sort out any issues, but also giving them the opportunity to work out problems by themselves. They relish their independence, but I am also very much needed!

Photo credit Deleece Cook via Unsplash

Halloween activities for older children and teenagers

This is a collaborative post

I've always enjoyed having fun at Halloween with my children, but now that they are older we've sadly moved beyond Halloween toilet roll tube crafts and dressing up in sweet costumes for trick or treating. It doesn't mean that they are too old for the fun though, there are still plenty of crafts and activities that are more suited to older children. Here are some of my favourites!

Carving pumpkins

This is the classic Halloween activity, and is definitely one of our favourite Halloween traditions. I'm not the best at carving pumpkins myself, and I tend to stick with a simple grinning face. But there are loads of pumpkin carving templates available, and if you can trust your teenager with a sharp knife then they may enjoy attempting something a bit more complicated.

Photo credit Andy Holmes via Unsplash

Doing some Halloween themed baking 

My favourite Halloween bake was these Halloween iced gingerbread biscuits. They are so simple to make, and with some clever icing you can make all sorts of different designs. Even if you don't have any specific Halloween cookie cutters you can still improvise with what you have - I used gingerbread men cutters for mummies and Easter egg cutters for skulls! You can also make really simple Halloween cupcakes with some edible eye decorations and a selection of icing in vibrant colours. 

Making Halloween decorations

The children might have grown out of toddler Halloween crafts, but you can still get them involved in decorating the house for Halloween. Just bear in mind that as they get older their imagination might turn towards more realistic and gruesome ideas! You could think about a theme for the whole house, including window displays, lighting and garden decorations. I also love the idea of repurposing some of their toys into Halloween decorations, like old dolls and stuffed animals. Then on the night itself they can dress up to help hand out sweets to the younger visitors.

Photo credit Jen Theodore via Unsplash

Painting ceramic decorations

My children have always enjoyed pottery painting, and there are some lovely kits available, either classic Halloween designs or maybe something a bit more grown up like a decorative pumpkin or sugar skull. I find that the kits don't always contain the best paints, so we usually use our own acrylic paints and take the time to mix the correct colours and let the layers dry in between coats for a nicer finish. 

Taking photos at a pumpkin patch

They might be a bit old now to pose prettily next to an aesthetic pumpkin display, but if your teenager enjoys taking photographs then they might still enjoy a visit to the local pumpkin patch. It's a fun family day out and they can take some photos to share with friends on social media.

Photo credit Marius Ciocirlan via Unsplash

Having a scary Halloween adventure

If your teenager doesn't scare too easily then they might enjoy something a bit more adventurous like a Halloween themed escape room or horror maze. In the UK these are becoming much more common, and although they are a little too terrifying for me I can imagine that plenty of teens would love them, especially if they can visit with their friends rather than their boring parents!

Have fun celebrating Halloween with your older children!

Hama bead Christmas crafts and projects

I love crafting for Christmas, and over the years I've shared many Christmas craft ideas on my blog. Today I thought I'd share some of my favourite Christmas crafts and projects using one of my most used craft materials - Hama beads. All of these craft ideas are perfect for keeping children busy in the run up to Christmas, can be used to create some individual and unique Christmas décor, and are perfect crafts for both children and adults.

Make sure to click the links for each project to find a more detailed tutorial and patterns.

I love Scandi red and white theming and so I used just these colours to make some simple Scandi inspired Hama bead baubles, finished off with a narrow loop of red ribbon.

These Hama bead Christmas wreath ornaments are so easy to make, and perfect for using up any odds and ends of green beads that you might have leftover from previous projects or kits.

These wreath designs can also be used to make some Hama bead wreath magnets, perfect as a small gift for relatives, as place names for the Christmas table or as gift tags.

My Hama bead Christmas fairy light bunting uses transparent beads, although they could easily be made using solid colours for some cheerful, bright Christmas bunting.

These Hama bead and ribbon bauble ornaments use festive Christmas ribbon for some extra embellishment.

Some more Scandi inspired design with this Scandi style Hama bead Christmas mat which is a great place to put your Christmas cuppa.

This Hama bead snowflake bunting was one of my very first Hama bead craft posts! I used the hexagonal and circular pegboards to make six different Hama bead snowflake designs which I strung up as bunting but which could also be used as festive coasters.

More recently I designed some more Hama bead snowflakes patterns which I used with mini Hama beads to make tiny Mini Hama bead snowflakes.

I used these tiny snowflake embellishments to decorate a winter snowflake lantern. 

I recently designed these free mini Christmas cross stitch designs which can be used for all sorts of pixel crafts, including of course Hama beads. I used them to make some Mini Hama bead Christmas embellishments which are perfect to decorate Christmas cards, to add extra interest to your Christmas decorations, to decorate place cards or gift cards...the possibilities are endless!

I used some to make mini Hama bead pin badges for some sweet little Christmas accessories!

Another red and white craft, these Scandi inspired Christmas battery tea light holders are perfect for some festive decoration when they are filled with a battery tea light.

Finally if you have a Minecraft fan in the house why not keep them busy making some Minecraft Hama bead Christmas baubles.

I hope that you enjoyed this roundup of some of my favourite Hama bead Christmas themed crafts! I've published many different Hama bead crafts over the years, and you can find them all here - Hama bead crafts and projects.

Hama bead crafts for Diwali

This post contains Amazon affiliate links

I love using my Hama beads to craft for seasonal occasions, and with Diwali approaching I thought I'd share a few Diwali crafts that I've shared on the blog using one of my favourite craft materials - Hama beads!

Hama bead rangoli

Rangoli are decorative floor patterns which are created during Hindu festivals such as Diwali. The designs can be shaped as flowers or petals, or geometric designs can also be used. Rangoli are traditionally created using sand, petals or coloured rice, and welcome the goddess Lakshmi into the home. I used Hama beads to create some geometric rangoli designs using both the smaller and the larger circular Hama bead pegboards. You can find the patterns for these designs by following the links to the original blog post.

The Large Hama bead rangoli designs are very detailed, and use lots of beads. As well as making pretty Diwali decorations they could also be used as coasters for small bowls or plates.

The Small Hama bead rangoli designs use the smallest circular Hama bead pegboard and are the perfect size to use as coasters for small glasses. They would also make great bunting, or could be stuck to walls or windows as Diwali decor.

Hama bead diwa lamps

During Diwali, small lamps called diwa lamps are lit to symbolise the triumph of light over dark or good over evil. My Hama bead diwa lamps use a very simple pattern on the basic square Hama bead pegboard, and can be customised in all sorts of different colours and patterns depending on which beads you have available in your stash. You can find the pattern by following the link to the original blog post above.

I made some simple stands for my lamps so that they can be stood upright. 

If you are looking for more Diwali crafts then you might like this post - Simple Diwali crafts for children.

If you are teaching your young children about Diwali, here are some books that they might enjoy:

The Best Diwali Ever (affiliate link) - A heart warming picture book about Diwali, siblings and how very special this celebration can be.

Diwali colouring book for kids (affiliate link) - A simple coloring book for young children, suitable for ages 2-5. Contains all sorts of things to colour including lamps, fireworks, candles, lanterns, food & rangoli patterns.

First Festivals: Diwali (affiliate link) - Featuring simple text, gorgeous illustrations and satisfying lift-the-flaps, this book explores common Diwali traditions and helps young children understand the importance of this special holiday.

Mr Men and Little Miss Happy Diwali (affiliate link) - The five-day festival of lights is celebrated by millions of people across the world and the Mr Men and Little Miss can't wait to join in. They're busy cleaning their homes, creating Rangolis, lighting lamps and enjoying all the festivities, including large feasts that Mr Greedy is particularly looking forward to. It’s going to be a busy five days of light and laughter!

Hama bead diwas for Diwali, with stands

Today I'm sharing a simple Diwali craft using one of my craft materials - Hama beads! Diwa are small oil lamps which are traditionally lit during the festival of Diwali. They symbolise the triumph of light over dark and good over evil. My Hama bead lamps are all made using the same simple template but can be customised using different colours and patterns.

Here is the pattern that I used for my lamps:

And here are the finished Hama bead pieces. They are made on the square Hama bead pegboard, and can be displayed facing in either direction. If you are new to crafting with Hama beads then you might find this post helpful - Ironing tips for Hama beads. 

I decided that my Hama bead diwas would look best if they were standing up for display. You can buy simple Hama bead stands, and I've put a link to some at the bottom of the post. I have a few around that I've collected as part of various sets, but they are quite expensive, and it's very easy to make your own simple stands using Hama beads. 

The pattern for a Hama bead stand is below. You can use beads in colours which co-ordinate with your projects. Smaller designs may stand up with just the one stand if you are careful, but generally you'll want two stands per item.

This photograph shows my two homemade stands at the top, compared with one of the Hama branded stands underneath. My stands work just as well as the official ones, but the items will stand slightly higher off the ground. I don't think it's noticeable though, and the homemade stands are also easier to use when it comes to sliding in the beaded projects.

Here are my finished Hama bead diwa lamps! They will look lovely on the mantelpiece this Diwali alongside our simple salt dough diwa lamps.

If you are looking for more Diwali craft ideas then you might enjoy this post - Simple Diwali crafts for young children.

How I entice my teenagers down from their bedrooms

When my children were little they always wanted to be close to me. They only went to their rooms for sleeping, and they never got up to any mischief because they were always in the same room as I was! Now they are older they prefer their own space a lot more, and spend most of their time when at home in their bedrooms. This started during the pandemic, when they did their home schooling video calls in their rooms, but of course it's a natural part of growing up too. 

Sometimes it's nice for me to have a bit more peace and quiet to work on my own projects! But I do also miss them, especially at the weekends when sometimes it feels as though the entire day has gone and I've hardly seen them. So I've been trying to find ways to entice them out of their rooms and into spending some time with me.

Anything food related is a good one for Mia. A few times I've taken her out to the café at the garden centre around the corner and treated her to a fancy hot chocolate and a cake. As a bonus there is a Hobbycraft in the same retail park and so we often make a stop there too. We always seem to have a voucher to spend, or else there is something on special offer!

I can also entice them downstairs to watch something together if I provide a favourite snack like popcorn or chocolate fingers. And Mia loves baking, especially if licking a spoon is involved!

Sometimes I'm able to drag one child at a time out for a walk. We have a little loop that runs down through our estate and back through a foresty footpath. I entice them with the promise of some private talking time with just me which they like, it's a good way to both get some exercise and also chat through anything that's bothering them.

Recently I've got back into doing jigsaws again and I've discovered that they both like helping out from time to time. Mia spotted this Squishmallow jigsaw while I was browsing on Amazon the other day, and I had a voucher so I bought it for us to do together. It's a very challenging one! I'm trying to keep away from it during the day so that we can do it together!

I also like to find a television show or film that we'll all enjoy watching together. At the moment I'm sitting down with Harry and we are working our way through Red Dwarf, which has recently been put up onto iPlayer. I was a massive fan as a teenager and watched it over and over, I always have a Red Dwarf quote in my head! But I discovered that there have been three more seasons that I've never even watched because they were on Dave and I didn't know how to watch them! So we are just about to get to the new episodes which is quite exciting. Harry has also been loving Look Around You which is also on iPlayer, it's a sort of spoof science television show series which was on a few years ago. It's very surreal and very funny. 

Sometimes I can persuade the children to come downstairs and sit at the kitchen table with me while we all work on our own projects, especially if there's a pack of biscuits involved. They often do some homework, and I like seeing what they are up to at school. They also do things without screens, like reading or drawing. It's nice to all be in the same space but still doing our own thing!

I much prefer this stage of parenthood to the early baby and toddler days!

Settling back to the school routine

A week into the school term, and despite the summer weather it feels as though the holidays never happened! The first week back is always a little unsettled - early starts and the school run along with new timetables, subjects and seating plans, there's always a bit of anxiety all round.

Then I find that I don't know what to do with myself when the children are out of the house! I don't see as much of them at home as I used to, but they are always there somewhere needing snacks and attention. When they first go back to school after a long break at home I find myself wandering aimlessly around the house until I remember all the things that I need to get on with now that they are out of the house!

Mia has started in Year 8, which comes with more homework and higher expectations. Harry is in Year 10 and so is making a start on his GCSE subjects. He's chosen a maths and science route, and I look at his timetable filled with double physics and double further maths and it fills me with horror! But he loves those subjects, and he's really looking forward to delving deeper into some of the more complicated aspects. 

Mia is taking part in the school musical production of Bugsy Malone this term. She doesn't have a major part but children keep dropping out so she has been gradually building up a number of smaller roles! There's a demanding after school rehearsal schedule so Harry works in the library and I can do the school pick up a little later - it makes my day seem so much longer! 

September always feels like a good time for a fresh start, and I have a few projects to work on this month. Getting back on track with the housework, sorting out the garden ready for winter, organising our holiday photos, going through my travel journals, sorting my craft supplies and having a bit of a declutter. All things which came to mind over the summer, and I now have the chance to get round to!

Photo credit Deleece Cook via Unsplash

Our summer holiday 2023

This is a collaborative post

And just like that, September has come around again and the children are back at school!

Weather wise it doesn't feel like September at all, in fact it feels more like the end of the summer term!  The weather this summer was a little disappointing wasn't it, just last week I was out in Brighton wearing a cardigan underneath my thick winter coat. I'm really glad that we are currently enjoying a few warmer days before winter kicks in!

We were lucky enough to get away this summer and enjoyed a fantastic Northern Europe cruise aboard the Disney Dream. The cruise started in Copenhagen and we spent a few days there before sailing back to Southampton via stops in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, The Netherlands and Belgium. We visited Copenhagen for the day on a cruise a few years ago and loved it, so we decided to spend a few (unfortunately rather wet!) days there before the cruise began. 

It was a great itinerary with a really good mixture of smaller towns and larger cities, and we really enjoyed exploring places which were new to us and re-visiting places that we've not been to for years. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam was a highlight, as was the evening spent sailing back through the North Sea Canal and waving at all the people who had come out to watch us go past. In Fredericia in Denmark we were greeted by the townspeople firing cannons, and several places put on a marching band as we departed. Stockholm in particular was a lovely city and definitely somewhere that I'd like to return for a little longer. And of course a Disney cruise was as magical as always!

At the beginning of the holidays I went to see Blur at Wembley and Pulp in Sheffield on two consecutive weekends which was amazing. They were my two favourite bands as a teenager and I never thought I'd see either one live again. Blur at Wembley was a huge concert, such a brilliant atmosphere. The Pulp venue was much smaller meaning that we had an excellent view of the stage which was great because the staging of the show was perfect, each song had different lighting and projections. I even rocked the vintage Blur and Pulp t-shirts that I still own!

Apart from that the rest of the holidays were fairly quiet. I took Mia out shopping to Hobbycraft a few times, combined with a trip to the café next door for hot chocolate and cake. We had a trip to Monkey World to visit our adopted Kim, and a few playdates. Harry spent a lot of time playing a new computer game that he is obsessed with, it's called Kerbal Space Progam and is the perfect fit for his maths/physics/rockets interests!

A summer highlight was Harry receiving his GCSE result - he achieved a fantastic grade 9 in Computer Science which he took two years early as he has a natural aptitude for and interest in programming. He was mainly self-taught, although he did have some extra help from his computing tutor. We are so proud, I can't believe he's already got a top grade GCSE under his belt at age 14!

Now we are slowly getting back into the school routine. At the time the holiday seemed long but looking back it flew by. It seems like a long slog ahead now until the Christmas break!

Is learning a language still important?

When my son was choosing his GCSE options at the beginning of the year I was really surprised to find out that studying a language wasn't mandatory. He has chosen to study Spanish, which as a language graduate I'm pleased about, but it did make me think about the future importance of language learning.

I studied German at university and I've also learned some French and Dutch. I enjoyed learning about how languages have evolved over time, and although my almost fluent German is rusty I can still read it well. But although my languages have sometimes come in useful while travelling, I've never ended up needing them for a job. 

At one time I thought I might go into translation, but you need post-graduate qualifications and in the end my degree was enough to get me a decent job. However I'm quite glad that I didn't opt for a translation career path, because I think that these jobs will be swiftly taken over by technology, if they haven't already.

Last year we went to Athens and I was a little daunted because not only do I have no experience of Greek as a language it is uses a different alphabet. However this was not a problem in the slightest because we all downloaded Google Lens. All you need to do is point your phone camera at the text and it will translate it there for you, on your screen and in real time! It felt like witchcraft to me, although my son pointed out that it's quite simple technology really, just text recognition and Google translate which has been around for a long time. 

Photo credit Waldemar via Unsplash

I've noticed that the children use Google translate to help with their homework and it seems to work really well, it seems to be accurate and reasonably natural speech. It will read out the text, useful if you are talking with someone and you don't need to worry about pronunciation. I think that it definitely works well enough to do most types of translation, perhaps with a small amount of proof reading required from someone who doesn't even need to know the original language. Of course literary translation is a slightly different matter, and languages which use symbols can be more tricky when it comes to different meanings according to the context, but it seems as though the AI can handle it and if it can't yet it will soon.

I never would have thought I'd feel this way, but it does seem to me that as time goes on it makes more sense to teach children in schools how to use AI tools effectively rather than teaching them a language from scratch. Some people can pick up languages easily and enjoy the challenge of learning them, a bit like fitting together a puzzle. But many people just want to translate signs that they see in a different country or communicate the basics in a different language, and the technology can easily deal with that. 

I'd love to know what others think, should we encourage children to study a language even if they have no interest?

Counting down until the end of term

I write this post every year, but I can't believe that it's only a few short days until the summer holiday! We are lucky because we break up a couple of weeks earlier than many schools, and usually we plan a holiday for this time. However this year I'm very excited to be seeing Pulp and Blur in early July on consecutive weekends - two of my very favourite bands - so we will have a couple of quiet weeks at home in between instead. 

The first term goes so slowly and it's a real slog until Christmas, then when they go back in January it's dark and cold and seems to go on forever. But the summer term always seems so short, flying past in the blink of an eye, and although they've been having assessments over the last few weeks they are definitely winding down now.

I love the summer holidays because we are at home a lot of the time, the weather is generally pleasant, and it's so much more relaxing. I love that feeling at the start when they seem to stretch on forever, and I really appreciate being free from the school run, making packed lunches and sorting out uniform.

Later in the summer we have a Disney cruise booked which we are very much looking forward to. It's a city cruise and we will be exploring some new places, re-visiting some old favourites, and enjoying all the Disney magic on board. Apart from that we don't have many plans, as I'm always reluctant to spend too much money on going out and about when we've spent towards the holiday. But we have exchanged some Tesco vouchers for trips to Chessington and Thorpe Park and we'll probably get to the cinema as well as meeting up with friends and family.

Photo credit Phil Mono via Unsplash

Harry will enter Year 10 in September and make a proper start on his GCSEs (he took his Computer Science GCSE a couple of years early this summer so it doesn't feel such a shock for him to be starting the GCSE process as for us it has already begun!) Mia will be into Year 8 and no longer one of the tiny ones, things will be getting serious as they will be set academically in more subjects. She's involved with the school production of Bugsy Malone which will be performed at the beginning of December, so she's going to be busy with that for a few months.

But I'm not thinking about all that now!

Tips for taking a long haul flight with older children

A few years ago I wrote this post - Flying long haul with two small children. We were lucky enough to fly long haul several times with young children - it was worth it for the experiences we enjoyed but it was hard work! After appreciating how much easier our more recent flights have been now that the children are older (14 and 12) I thought I'd write an update with tips for flying with younger teenagers!

I always make plans in advance around flight times. For example if we have booked a night flight I know that the food may not be served until a couple of hours in. If we eat a good meal at the airport then we can settle down to sleep straightaway. For a daytime flight, if we've had an early start I try to encourage a nap at some point so that we can keep going when we arrive. I always set my watch for the new time zone before we get on the plane and then try and work to that as soon as possible.

We make sure to choose our seats as soon as we can so that we can sit together, and I like to be near a toilet. We try to book a row of seats including an aisle so we can get in and out without disturbing others, and because we book special meals like child or vegetarian we are served first, which means we can nip to the toilet while it's empty because others are still eating!

Photo credit Alexander Schimmeck via Unsplash

Everyone in our family is responsible for their own bag which contains their devices, plenty of snacks, teddies and so on. It's packed in a bag which will fit under the seat in front so that they don't need to disturb me to retrieve things.

For a night flight we pack lots of things to help us be comfortable - a travel pillow, sleep mask, ear plugs and teddies for example. We wear comfy clothes and layers, and when settling down to sleep with a blanket make sure to put the seat belt on over the top so that it can be seen in case of turbulence. When the children are asleep I usually rearrange them carefully and make sure that any loose items like headphones or teddies are well secured!

On that note, as the children get bigger their headphones get smaller, so from experience you need to be extra careful with them as they can easily get lost in the seat! 

I've always found the seat back entertainment on long haul flights very good, with recently released films, television box sets and games as well as the map showing where you are. You can usually check in advance to see what will be showing on your flight which is a good idea as sometimes there is so much to choose from that it can be overwhelming when you are actually sat there.

Finally I now set the expectation that the children are in general responsible for entertaining themselves. They can go to the toilet on their own (although I often end up going too!), they can choose what they would like to drink, they can plan their entertainment and bring along things they might want or need. And if it looks like I'm sleeping then they will have a much happier Mum at the destination if they leave me to it unless there's an emergency!

I'm glad I didn't have a smartphone as a teenager

As my children get older and become more and more attached to their phones it makes me so glad that I didn't have one when I was a teenager! I do talk to the children (a lot!) about sensible smartphone use, switching it off to concentrate on a longer task, no phones before bed and so on, and to be fair they are both very good about it. But it feels as though so much of their life is spent online these days, from homework to socialising to entertainment.

If I had owned a smartphone back then I would never have been able to sit down to my homework with a phone pinging away. Even if it was on silent or in the other room I would be thinking about it and worrying that I was missing out.

While constant access to a search engine with all the answers is brilliant, it makes the children more lazy. I was helping Mia with some science homework, which was questions based on a chapter in the text book. She was doing the homework by googling rather than reading back through the pages, and although she always found the correct answer I can't help but feel that the information isn't retained in the same way.  

The phone makes it so easy to procrastinate because a quick scroll is much easier on the brain than really thinking about something. I would have found it so easy to just grab my phone if something in my homework wasn't making sense, rather than working through it. I definitely would have found it difficult to get to things like music practice when I had easier entertainment on offer.

There's also the social aspect of the phone, and seeing what everyone else is up to at every moment. It must be so easy to feel left out if you are seeing pictures of your friends all out together and you've not been invited. Fortunately my children don't use social media yet, but they do use WhatsApp which has status updates similar to Instagram, and it has caused us issues with "games" like tagging your favourite friends.

Photo credit Bruce Mars via Unsplash

Out and about, I'm always dodging teenagers that are walking along with a phone in front of their face. The other morning I nearly hit a boy in the car, he walked right out in front of me while looking at his phone. Luckily I was driving slowly and was easily able to stop. What will they be like when they start driving if they can't put their phones down for any length of time?

I know that I'm sounding like a judgy old lady, but I actually find it really scary to think about what addictive apps like TikTok are doing to children's brains and attention spans (and of course my own too, I struggle with my own scrolling issues!) Maybe I need to lighten up a bit and just accept that this is how the world is now!

Things that are easier now the children are older

I am really appreciating this time of life with my older children as I struggled a lot with the baby and toddler years. I didn't like the unpredictability and the hassle that came with even the simplest tasks. I found it difficult coping with the way that my life changed overnight, and although I was happy with my new role as primary caregiver it took me a while to adapt to it. 

The children still rely on me a lot of course - I wrote recently about the things that my older children still need me for - but generally what I'm needed for these days are things that I find easier and that I can have more control over. 

I've always found the school run quite stressful, but it's much easier now that they are both at senior school. At drop off I pull up outside the school and they jump out. For pick up my main worry has always been that I'll be late or can't find a parking space, but now they come out by themselves and have their phones I know that I can just give them a quick ring and they can either wait for me at school or walk to wherever I am.

It's really nice to be able to leave them at home for periods of time. When my husband is away I can go out for a run or pop to the shops by myself. My husband and I often go out for walks together, and we have even been out for an early dinner just the two of us!

When it comes to food I'm much less stressed now about what they eat, in particular my son who has always been a fussy eater. I cook him what he likes and he can cope by himself if he's in a situation like a school trip where he has to eat what he's given. He makes his own lunch and breakfast now and my daughter is perfectly capable too, although she's a bit more reluctant. I do still make their packed lunches though, it's just so much easier for me to just get on with it, production line style!

I really appreciate the fact that our house is no longer filled with a mess of colourful plastic. We recently had a big sort out of the Lego and Playmobil and although we have more toys than we need for their age at least it is all confined to their rooms now. At one point we had toys all over the place!

We recently organised opening bank accounts for them so they now have a proper debit card and regular pocket money. They have both been really pleased with this and it has given them more independence - on Mother's Day they took themselves down to the local shop to buy my boxes of Maltesers and they can buy themselves chips at lunch.

I enjoy having proper conversations with them. We talk in the car and over dinner about things that are in the news or what is going on with their lives. I spend quite a bit of time with them both at bedtime which is their opportunity to discuss things privately with me.

Photo credit Gilles Seguin via Unsplash

It's not always easy of course and they both need a lot of emotional support which I do find draining at times. But I am definitely preferring this stage of life!

Things that my older children still need me for

I am very much enjoying the fact that now my children are older they are less dependent on me. I love being able to pop out for a run or to the shops without dragging them along with me, and I'm very glad that those nightly reading records are now a distant memory.

But even though they are slowly becoming more independent, there are lots of things that they still need me for!

Taking to school - this is the big one. We made the decision to send our children to school in the nearest town and we are very happy with our choice as it's a great school. But the public transport options are limited, and so for the moment they need to be driven there and back. Luckily our family setup means that we can do it.

Plaiting hair - this was proven when I went away for a few days at the beginning of the year. Mia likes to wear her hair in two plaits, and it's not something that she can do herself. I'm pretty good at plaiting -  she has such unruly hair that I've been plaiting it at least once a day for about ten years now. But my husband lacks the skill so they had to come up with a ponytail hairstyle for her while I was away!

Putting to bed - they both still like to have an individual chat with me before bed.

Printing things - Harry has got this sorted but Mia's laptop doesn't seem to want to do it, so I'm often being called upon to print an urgent piece of homework.

Washing and sorting clothes - I spend a lot of time doing the washing and getting it ready. I do have a new rule - clothes that are put in the washing pile inside out are returned washed and folded but still inside out!

Making food - Harry can make his own breakfast and lunch now which is brilliant! But Mia still needs a bit of help, she claims to be scared of the toaster. I make the packed lunches but to be honest it's easier for me to just get on and do it than have everyone faffing around making their own!

Removing spiders from bedrooms and bathrooms - I'm not very good at this myself but I will grit my teeth and get to it with a glass and piece of cardboard.

Emotional support - they often have things going on that need to be talked about. It can be hard work but I don't mind being there to talk to, it's an important part of my job!

But even though some of these things might be a bit of a pain, I do know that I'll definitely miss them when I'm not needed any more!

Simple Hama bead heart coaster

The children might be growing up, but I still have plenty of Hama beads in the house! I was looking through the stash the other day and noticed that I had an abundance of red, white and pink beads and so I decided to make a simple Valentine's Day craft. 

The design for this Valentine's Day Hama bead coaster is based on my colourful mini Hama bead heart picture which lives above my desk. I used four of the heart squares to make the coaster, along with a single line of beads for the border.

The coaster is just the right size to sit under a mug for my morning cup of tea. It also makes a nice Valentine's Day decoration by itself, I think this heart design is simple but really effective.

I have plenty of Hama bead project ideas on my blog. If you are looking for more Valentine's Day Hama bead crafts then you might like this post:

Hama bead crafts for Valentine's Day

Back to school after the long summer holidays

September is here, and the beginning of the summer seems like an awfully long time ago. We were lucky enough to enjoy two amazing holidays this summer - a last-minute cruise at the beginning of July and then a long delayed trip to Florida and Disney World in late August. In the middle unfortunately I was mostly recovering from Covid so we didn't get up to much!

Because we have such intensive (and of course expensive) holidays away, when we are at home I don't feel the need to take the children out and about too much, or to fill their time with pricey days out and activities. Luckily like me they are quite content to stay at home. Harry has been spending lots of time on Minecraft building all sorts of complicated projects and Mia can occupy herself for hours with her coloured pens and stationery collection. We had a major sort out in Harry's room which took almost a week here and there, and I've also had time to get on with my work when it was available.

But now it's time for us all to get back into a proper routine, in particular with reasonable bedtimes and a reduction in screen time. Mia will be starting at the senior school this year which is quite a change for her. Luckily it's a small school, Harry is already there, and many of the children in her classes will be the ones that she has come up from junior school with. Harry is going into Year 9 and I'm assuming that at some point soon he'll have to make some decisions about which GSCE subjects he wants to take, although he already has a pretty clear idea.

Photo credit Elena Mozhvilo via Unsplash

I'm not looking forward to the return of the school run, which I find quite stressful as it involves driving through the traffic and then finding somewhere to park. I'm also not very fond of making packed lunches. And I miss the children when they are at school, I like having them around to chat to and see what projects they are working on.

Over the weekend I shared some of my September goals, and I enjoy having a few goals to work towards. I've set up a habit tracker with three new daily habits - declutter ten items, do a short tummy exercise routine and write a blog post. So far so good! Although I'm already struggling with the decluttering, I'm not sure how I'm going to be able to keep it up!

Fingers crossed it will be a smooth back to school for us all.

Plans for the summer holidays

Term finished yesterday and the summer holidays are here! I used to sit down with the children and come up with a list of things that they wanted to do, but nowadays they are a lot easier to keep entertained and we are also lucky enough to have a couple of holidays booked so we will be busy. But there are a few things that I want to get done over the next few weeks:

My big job is sorting out Harry's room. It's a mess, it needs a good clean, and it is packed with old toys and things that he has outgrown. I'm tackling his room using the Marie Kondo method where you sort by category and it's working really well. So far we've done clothes, books and paperwork. The next categories to work on are stationery, stuffed toys, Lego, and then we will move on all the other toys. Toys will be sub-divided into small toys (little plastic figurines etc.), boxed toys (like jigsaws, activity sets, construction sets), games, decorative things and so on to make it all a bit easier to tackle.

As we work we are having a good clean, and also coming up with better ways to organise what he has left. His room could also do with re-painting, but I'm not sure I've got the energy for that!

I'm also going to be spending time with Mia. I've been helping out with my four year old niece recently and have been criticised by Mia for not doing the same activities with her. So we are going to be making rice crispy cakes and doing crafts and drawing together.

I'm hoping to get a bit more blogging done. Our holidays should provide me with plenty of blogging inspiration and I'm also planning to work on my seasonal crafts and related blog posts. I have quite a lot scheduled in for Christmas already, but I could do with some more Autumn and Halloween content.

There are a few craft projects that I want to get on with. I was really pleased with the fabric laundry bags that I made recently and so I want to make a couple more before our travels. I have some Christmas cross stitch pieces that I want to finish and frame, and I have some Autumn felt crafts planned.

I want to make the most of any nice weather and get down to the beach more. We like to go in the evening when it's quieter and not too hot. Hopefully we can also make lots of use of the barbeque and pizza oven.

It would be good for all of us to have some screen free time. I've always been quite relaxed about screen time as long as it's easy to get the children away from it when they need to be. But we've agreed that we could have a go at a few screen free days (as long as Mia can get her Roblox log in rewards!) 

Here's to a fun summer!

Travelling with older children

I've always loved to travel, and the children have been joining us on our travels around the world since they were very small. Obviously our travel abroad has been somewhat curtailed over the last couple of years, and we've just returned from our first long haul holiday in a long time - a wonderful week in Mauritius.

Something that I really noticed on this holiday was how much easier things have become now that the children are older.

When it comes to packing I just give them a list of clothes and they gather the items together for me. They pack their own toiletries (with a few reminders!) along with all the other things that need to join us - books, pencil cases, fidget toys and so on. This time I even got them to organise their own hand luggage and snacks - it's a long time since I had to prepare busy bags and little tubs filled with raisins!

We had good flight times for this holiday - two long night flights. Both children took themselves off to sleep when they were tired and slept almost the whole way, meaning that us adults could sleep too. I didn't even mind the babies that cried the whole way there and back as I was so grateful that they weren't mine to worry about!

I found that I could relax much more without having to constantly entertain the children. We sat by the pool or on the beach, and I could read my book while the children read or played on their tablets. They took themselves to the toilet if they needed it, and rinsed the sand off their own feet. They applied their own sun cream in the morning and washed their own hair in the evening.

We did a couple of sightseeing trips by taxi, and it was so nice not to have to worry about car seats. We also spent time snorkelling in the sea, and it was much more enjoyable now that the children can swim as well as I can. I was able to appreciate the fish myself instead of being constantly on alert!

We usually choose holiday destinations with a buffet meal setup as it works best for us. This was the first time that the children were confident enough to go up and help themselves to food, meaning that we could sit and enjoy our own dinner without having to constantly jump up and down to get them things. Then after dinner we were able to enjoy a drink in one of the bars, and we had some great family time chatting together. When they got restless we sent them off with a phone, and they amused themselves by taking videos of each other while still within our sight. 

These are all changes that have happened gradually, but it hasn't been until now that I've really noticed how all these things added up and what a positive difference it made to our holiday. I did love travelling with the children when they were smaller but it does make holidays much less stressful now that they are a bit older!

Making frames for pictures using Hama beads

 

Over the years on my blog I've shared many Hama bead crafts and projects, and some of my favourites are the Hama bead frames. I really like Hama bead projects with a practical purpose and I have lots of frames on display with my favourite photographs and postcards. Here are some of my favourites, click on the link for a full tutorial:

Hama bead heart frames

These heart frames are made using the large Hama bead heart pegboard which is a really versatile pegboard.

Hama bead photo frames

These simple frames are made using a square pegboard. For a larger frame can link official Hama bead pegboards together using slots at sides so you can make them as large as you like, or until your bead stash runs out! My favourite is the car themed frame with tiny cars which stick to the front of the frame.

Hama bead summer themed frame designs

These frames have a summer theme, with bright colours and one with an extra flower embellishment.

Hama bead Roman mosaic border ideas

We made these Roman frames when we were having a Roman themed day. This one uses the large circular pegboard and you can also see some designs using the square pegboard.

Hama bead Easter egg frames

Finally I used the large Easter egg pegboard to make these Easter themed frames. We stuck coloured tissue paper to the back to use them as seasonal suncatchers in the window.

Happy Hama bead crafting!