Things that I'm looking forward to this summer

When I say summer I'm thinking of the school summer holidays, but honestly it feels as though it has been summer for months. We've been so lucky with the weather, even a few weeks ago we were sitting eating out in the garden, and so I really hope that it continues!

For Harry his summer holiday has already started now that his exams are finished, and Mia has also finished her end of year exams with only few more days at school to go. It will be such a relief to have all the exams out of the way. In the past I have often found the end of the school year quite a stressful time, but as the children have got older there have been fewer end of year events (no more sports day!) and the final term always seems very short. 

It's been a busy few months so I'm looking forward to being able to relax a bit over the summer. I always appreciate not having to do the school run, which has increased recently with extra trips around the exams. It makes my day feel so much longer! We don't have much planned yet - I know that the calendar will fill up, but hopefully there will be lots of time left to chill as well as getting out and about.

Although we still have some decorating to get on with over the summer we have almost reached the end of our big home projects which is a relief. I do need to have a big sort out in Harry's room once his exams are finished, which I'm looking forward to because it's a bit of a post-exams mess at the moment! Then I need to have another sort out of old toys and start listing things on eBay again. It always feels good to have a clear out.

Our garden is mostly planted now so it's just about maintenance, and I'm looking forward to making the most of our new garden furniture. In particular we have bought a fire pit table which we've already used a few times, it's so nice to sit out in the garden in the evening and enjoy the beautiful space. I love pottering around the garden deadheading, picking up weeds, and planning what I want to do with the empty spaces.

Finally we have a big holiday coming up over the summer which is very exciting. Unusually for us we haven't been away yet this year so it feels a long time coming. 

What are you looking forward to this summer?

Things that I'm looking forward to this summer

It wasn't an easy start to the year for me. I have found that I've been struggling to get back into my old routines, especially when it comes to taking care of myself with healthy eating and exercise. But I have plenty to be grateful for, I've been enjoying the sunshine and I'm really looking forward to the coming months. 

We have some exciting things coming up, and these are just some of them.

A beautiful new garden - work is well underway and I can't wait until we are able to use our new outdoor space. Fingers crossed for a lovely warm summer!

Seeing my plants grow - my tomato seeds have become seedlings, I have some new houseplants from my Mum which are flourishing, and our new lemon tree is flowering beautifully.

It's a year of concerts - we've cut down on the holidays this year to save some money, but we have managed to secure tickets for some amazing live music. Having started off the year with the fantastic Jason Donovan, over the next few months we are lucky enough to be seeing Supergrass, Kylie, Pulp, Oasis, Blackpink and Coldplay. Buying the tickets for all of these was pretty stressful at the time, but of course it's forgotten quickly in the excitement!

An exciting holiday - we do have one holiday booked this summer which is mainly funded with Avios points and my husband's hotel reward points. We are spending a few days in both Seoul and Shanghai which are both new and exciting destinations for us. 

The end of the school year - I know that we have a way to go yet, but once the summer term starts it always seems to finish quickly. Even quicker for my son, who only has one week back after Easter before he leaves school to begin his study leave for his GCSEs! It will mean a change in routine for all of us with only one to take over to school and back, and things will change even more when he starts Sixth Form in September and makes his way under his own steam - it will be a really exciting new start for him.

What are you looking forward to in the next few months?

The usual end of term anxiety

It's the last week of term, and I'm really looking forward to the summer holidays. But I always find the countdown stressful, even though now that the children are older there are fewer things to worry about (no more sports day! not quite so much new uniform to buy!) But the children are on edge, with worries about new classes for next year and keeping in touch with friends over the summer, and my husband is away for a little longer than usual this week which sometimes leaves me unsettled. I'm finding myself constantly repeating 'we just need to get these last few days over with'!

I'm clinging on to the last few days of my routine before everything changes for a couple of months. I always find it harder to get out for an early run when I'm not forced out of bed to get everyone ready for school. I know that the housework will fall by the wayside, and it will feel as though I'm spending most of my time preparing food and clearing up afterwards. I'm hoping to sneak out for a couple of hours every week to continue my volunteering work - I'm really enjoying being part of a team of local people that get out and about making the flowerbeds around the village look lovely. I'm learning a lot, and it's given me some confidence to make more of my own garden.

I'm really hoping that the weather improves a little over the holidays. I've been working on making my secluded vegetable patch into a little sanctuary, and yesterday I installed one of our garden chairs so that I can sit and hide around the corner and listen to the bees buzzing. But it just hasn't been warm enough to sit outside!

We don't have very much planned over the summer holidays but we always seem to keep busy. There are people to keep in touch with, and the children enjoy peaceful time at home to work on their own projects without the pressure of homework and early starts. I'm intending to have a clear out in the kids rooms - we have lots of books that have been outgrown and toys that are no longer played with. I love a break from the school run and the packed lunches, and the long evenings are perfect for a walk around the village or sitting out in the garden.

If you have little ones in school I hope that the countdown to the summer holidays goes well!

What I'm looking forward to this summer

I'm so glad that the weather is finally turning warmer! After a wonderful weekend spent outdoors I'm really hoping that there will be many more.

Some of the things that I'm looking forward to this summer:

Being able to go out for a run and not having to wrap up in long leggings and a thick jumper. I do warm up when I'm running, but I hate that first step out of the door into a freezing world. I feel self-conscious wearing my shorts, but I remind myself that people aren't really paying me any attention, and I think I run faster in shorts as my legs can move more easily!

Plenty of outdoor pizza and barbecues. We love our pizza oven, and even though this year we've made a switch to a new indoor Ooni Volt rather than the Ooni Koda that we've been using for years, we've still been making the pizza and bringing it outside to eat. For some reason it's only pizza and barbecue food that we eat outside, I need to make more of an effort to take our usual meals to eat in the garden too!

Enjoying an occasional fire pit. It's so nice to sit by the firepit in the early evening with the family, we usually use a fire log which takes about an hour to burn and it's the perfect amount of time for a drink or a singalong with a child playing the ukulele.

Being able to hang the washing outside. I love our tumble dryer but I much prefer hanging out the washing. I quite enjoy the process of hanging it out and then watching it blow in the breeze. 

Going for long evening walks. On a dry summer evening my husband and I go out for a walk after dinner, sometimes our regular route around the houses, sometimes we drive down to the seafront and walk that way. It's a nice opportunity to catch up rather than just sitting about on phones, and the exercise helps the dinner go down.

Photo credit Lawrence Hookham via Unsplas

The longest day of the year - this year it's the 20th June. It always feels like a magical day to me. Last year my husband was away and I sat out alone in the garden for the evening while it got dark, reading and writing in my journal, it was really peaceful. 

Getting away - in July we have a short break booked to a fantastic Airbnb in Devon that we have stayed in before. Our previous holidays have been in December and February, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it is like in the summer. There is a lovely garden and an area with bifold doors so I'm hoping for good weather so that we can make the most of it!

Glastonbury! I love watching Glastonbury on the television and reminiscing about my festival days. We put a little pop up tent in the living room and I decorate with flower garlands and flags. Then I print out the schedule and highlight the acts that I want to watch. I've not had a proper look at the line up yet but I do know that Coldplay are performing and I can always find something that I want to see.

Enjoying having the children around. Now that they are older they are usually found in their rooms, but they will come down if persuaded. I'm hoping that they will spend some time with me, maybe playing in the garden, going for walks, or just sitting together as we work on our own projects.

What are you looking forward to this summer?

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!

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!

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!

The end of the school year

I can't quite believe that once again I'm counting down the last few days until the end of the school year. The summer term has been so short, and this term has really have flown by. I love looking back at what has changed since the start of the school year last September - they are looking so clean, neat and excited! Now they both wear glasses, and they are both definitely looking taller!

The children keep me very busy every two weeks, helping with the creative homework that they need to produce for school. Among other things we have made two stop animation videos, built a Mayan temple from cardboard boxes, crafted both an Egyptian sarcophagus and interior tomb display from yet more boxes, and baked Indian sweets, Egyptian honey biscuits and Brazilian truffles.

In the Spring, Mia took part in the Worthing Arts Festival, performing both a poem and prose piece, and went on to achieve a Distinction in her Transition Grade Speech and Drama exam. Harry performed beautifully and confidently in his school production of Aladdin, playing a variety of different roles including a salesman and the magic carpet before going on to pass his Grade 3 piano exam with a Merit. They've also entertained us with several themed class assemblies, a carol service, sports day and a swimming gala each.

They've both done really well with swimming after we made the decision to stop the never ending weekly class lessons and instead focus on a (hopefully!) shorter period of joint private lessons. They can both swim really nicely now, and get much more enjoyment out of visiting places with water slides.

We've taken part in lots of school activities. They both sold some of their old bits and pieces at the school summer fair, including lots of Hama bead magnets that were a big hit!

We also helped to plant a flower bed along the seafront as part of a Worthing town centre initiative - our bed is themed to celebrate the anniversary of the moon landings and features a white moon in the middle surrounded by a yellow sun and stars!

We are all really looking forward to the summer holidays, and grateful to have so many fun things to look back on. And I can't believe that when they return to school in September Harry will be in Year 6, among the oldest in the school, and his last year before going up to secondary school!

Our summer holiday task list 2019

Every year as the school summer holidays draw closer I like to come up with a list of things that I want to do with the children. We have eight weeks to fill, and although we will be spending a week in the Isle of Wight at the beginning of the holiday and a week in Lanzarote at the end, there is a lot of holiday in the middle to fill.

I'm not one for organising lots of exciting days out over the holidays. I don't like my husband to miss out, and we tend to save our money to put towards going away so I try not to spend too much on entertainment at other times. We'll do a few outings with friends I'm sure, but we'll also spend lots of time going out locally, to the beach, the playground and the library.

So I try to come up with long term projects that can be completed over time at home. My big task for the summer is a thorough sort out of the children's bedrooms. I want to empty them completely apart from the large pieces of furniture, then give them a good clean and really think about what goes back in. I'm sure there are lots of things lurking at the backs of cupboards that no longer have a place there. Mia is really excited to start, in fact she wants to start straight away, but I know that we need to have a couple of free days to devote to it!

They both receive lots of craft kits for birthdays and Christmas that I've put aside to work on. Mia has a lovely unicorn diamond painting kit that we've been working on together, and we've already bought a frame and chosen a place in her room to hang it. We are over halfway through, and I know that we can easily finish it.

Another project that is currently taking up far too much space on our dining room table is the Lego Taj Mahal. This amazing set was passed on to the children by a friend, and after a massive sort through and ordering of missing pieces they have begun to assemble it. As far as I know it's the second largest Lego set available with nearly 6000 pieces, so it's quite a task. People have been asking me where we will put it when it's finished and my answer is 'back in the box', which receives a wail of protest from the children, but we definitely won't have the space to keep it out on display!

As a part of this job we also need to sort out our Lego. I'm quite good about keeping the individual sets separated and stored neatly in boxes, but we have a massive box of mixed bricks in our living room that looks really untidy. I need to reorganise our storage a little bit so that it's still handy to play with (it's played with every day) but can be put away out of sight when not in use.

I'm going to build the children a proper reading den for the holiday. We have a cheap indoor wendy house that we bought a few years ago, and I'll help them set it up with cushions and what not inside so that it's nice and cosy for them to chill out in.

Harry is working on a large timeline poster and adding in all sorts of historical dates and facts. He's measured out his bedroom wall to work out where it will go, so I want to encourage him to get as much done as he can, then we'll hang it up so he can add to it as he discovers more dates that he wants to add.

Finally, maybe I'll have some time to myself as well while they are busy! I've been working on a Christmas ABC Sampler which I received for Christmas 2017, and am hoping to have framed and ready for display in Christmas 2019. I'm pleased to say that the main cross stitch part is coming along really well, and I'm currently about halfway through the final letter - A for Angel. I need to go back to each letter and add in some metallic thread parts (I was worried that I'd run out so I finished the main areas first) and then there are lots of beads to put in before I ask my Mum to help me frame it. It would be wonderful if I could get it finished and framed before they go back to school in September!

What are your plans for the school summer holidays?

Chilling out at home over the summer holidays

I'm definitely a home bird. I'm always happy when I'm at home, keeping myself busy and pottering about. If it wasn't for my husband, who is always on the go, I'd probably rarely leave the house! But since having children I've found that a day at home can drag, and it's important to try and get out and about somewhere. Even just a quick walk to the playground or a couple of hours spent at a friend's house can break up the day and give the children enough social interaction that they will amuse themselves quietly at home for the rest of it. So I do like to make an effort to get a few things scheduled in the calendar over the summer.

But I'm not one of those people that takes the children out and about all over the place. I think we'd all get exhausted! I also don't want my husband to feel left out, not to mention the fact that we'd have no money left by the end of the summer. We'll probably only do one or two full day trips out over the holidays with friends and then the rest of the time we'll fill our time with some play dates, trips to the swimming pool, and local outings to break up the day.

The children do play nicely together at home (for a short while at least!) and they are happy with crafting, jigsaws, reading, helping me with bits and pieces of housework, baking and so on. They also do have time to spend playing video games and watching their iPads, although I try to limit it as they'd happily do that all day!

Sometimes I do feel a little bit inadequate when I see pictures of people out and about visiting all sorts of exciting places over the summer. But I remind myself that we often go away on holiday during the school holidays and have amazing experiences together - everyone needs some downtime to relax and if the children are content to spend time in the house with me then so am I.

What do your summer holidays look like - are you out and about all the time or are you happy to spend time chilling out at home?

Introducing daily creative time - and the wonderful results

In the run up to the  summer holidays there were lots of posts floating about on social media with suggestions for things that children were required to do before they could have any screen time. As I've shared before, I am quite lax when it comes to screen time, but I also don't want them to spend the holidays glued to the screen. So we sat down together and had a chat. I showed them a version of the list (you can see the one I used here), and asked them how they felt about something similar. We decided to come up with a more flexible approach - we would make a list of things that I'd like to to be completed during the day, and if they did then they would generally be allowed their screens.

We divided our list into two. The first half was non-negotiable tasks - getting dressed, brushing teeth, five minutes tidying their bedrooms, half an hour of reading, piano practice for Harry and some kind of worksheet or activity book for Mia. We then wrote a second list of things which were an alternative to screen time - things like help Mum with a job, do a jigsaw or play a board game. I also added 'do something creative'.

I stressed that the list was always going to be a work in progress, and could be changed and updated as we saw fit. This happened very early on, when I noticed how popular the 'do something creative option' was, and so I moved it to the first column as an alternative to reading (which to be fair they both generally do at some point during the day anyway).

My reason was that I found after just a few days choosing a creative activity, the children really ran with it and they amazed me with what they came up with in just a short space of time. Harry chose to work on writing a Viking themed story, and he eagerly sat down at his desk to write a chapter each day. Here's his prologue, and when it's finished he intends to publish the whole story on his own blog!

Night was falling. A fine mist hung over Humber River. Edward walked up to his Master. "Where is he?" the Master asked? "I...I...I...well, we've been searching, but we've been unable to find h...h...h...ech" he fell dead. The Master lowered his hand.

"Find that boy!" he ordered his army...The Destroyers.

Mia has also been working on a story, but her preferred creative activity is junk modelling - she loves to go through the recycling box and accessorise her creations with stickers, pipe cleaners, feathers and so on from the craft box. She has produced some wonderful pieces of work - I love seeing what she comes up with!

Adding creative time to the day has been a big success, and although it will be harder to fit these things in once they are back at school I'm definitely going to continue - I may make it part of the after dinner routine, and maybe I can fit in a bit of time for crafting for myself too!

Making the most of our garden

We are very lucky to have a nice big garden, and I'm often aware that we don't make as much of it as we should. It's fairly low maintenance, mainly grass with a couple of small patio areas, and we have a lovely vegetable patch with a raised bed. We also have a little summer house which is great for storing toys and easy for the children to access. Being on a new build estate it is a bit overlooked, although not from our immediate neighbours, so that sometimes makes me feel a bit self-conscious when I'm out there.

Now that the children are that bit older and can generally be left to their own devices either inside or outside the house I'm determined to make the most of our outdoor space. I'm not much of a gardener and we don't have huge amounts of money to invest in anything fancy, so it's more about making the most of what we already have.

A couple of years back we bought some outdoor furniture which was a really worthwhile purchase. It wasn't expensive, it's just a small sofa and two seats made of plastic rattan with cushions and a small table for the middle. It's really comfy though and it's so nice to have it out there ready to use. We also bought a couple of sun loungers although I'm not really one for lying about in the sun - the children tend to use them as ramps for their cars and trucks!

I think because the weather this year has been so lovely it's really motivated me to make the effort to spend more time in the garden. I work from home and so I've been trying to make the effort to sit outside for just a little bit every day when it's not raining. Whether that's to enjoy a morning cup of tea or hot chocolate or to catch up with some of my social media channels. Even if I feel that I have to justify to my unseen-yet-potentially-observing neighbours that I am "working" not just faffing about on my phone!

We already enjoy lots of barbecues in the summer. We are vegetarian but we are gradually increasing our repertoire - we still include the veggie burgers and sausages but have upped our intake of halloumi and have been experimenting with different ingredients to fill wraps and pittas. We've also discovered toasted marshmallows served on chocolate digestive biscuits - I think I'm indulging more food-wise than I do over Christmas!

A post shared by jenniferjain (@jenniferjain) on Jun 3, 2018 at 9:43am PDT

The children like eating outside too and when they have finished we let them get down and play. I prefer them to be outside in the early evening when it's not so hot and they can burn off some energy before bed.

I'm really hoping that this lovely weather lasts through the summer, especially into the school holidays as it makes it much easier for me to entertain the children during the day and I don't have to worry so much about bedtime if we want to enjoy some late sunshine!

Things I need to get done before the summer holidays

I can't believe that it's the May half-term already - the last few weeks have gone so quickly! It's been such a sunny few weeks, the children have been down the beach with school and having lessons outside and it really does feel like the last few weeks of the school year are approaching quickly.

I love the summer holidays - no school run, no packed lunches to make, no uniform to wash, and no worrying about getting the children to bed early. The long light evenings are perfect for barbecues, playing in the garden, or heading out to the beach for a Pokemon walk, and I honestly do love having the children around me all day (especially now that they are old enough to be entertained with tablets or computer games for periods at a time so I can get at least a little bit of time to myself!)

But in order to enjoy them properly I have to start my preparation work now and make sure that I've done everything that I need to. For me it falls into several different categories:

School

Last year I got away without buying much school uniform as they still had plenty that fitted. This year Mia moves into Year 3 which means that she needs a skirt instead of a tunic, and they both have many items of uniform that are looking a little short and scruffy. The second hand sale takes place in the last week of term so I'll get what I can there, the easy bits can be bought in the supermarket and the school specific things need to be bought in the uniform shop. I'm determined to get it all done as early on as I can so that everything is still in stock, apart from new shoes which we always leave until the last minute.

I'll also need to see if any other bits and pieces need replacing, like lunch boxes, bags and water bottles, and make sure that it's all packed away neatly ready for September.

House

The house always goes to chaos during the holidays. There are unfinished Lego and craft projects all over the place, along with games in progress that can't possibly be tidied away. Although I do get the children to help me with the cleaning, it always takes longer than just getting on with it by myself. I'll try and start the holidays with at least a tidy toy cupboard and bedrooms, and also take the opportunity at some point to go through each child's bedroom and have a good sort out. We have a garage sale planned for the middle of July so I'm hoping to gather some bits and pieces together that they can sell. Also at some point over the holidays I want to give the garage a proper clean by taking everything out and getting a broom into all the spidery corners.

Blog

Last summer holidays I was completely wrapped up in sorting out all the photographs on my blog after Photobucket ruined it. I spent hours every evening working on it and it really cut into the time I had spare for creating and scheduling new content.

It's difficult to get much done when the children are around, as even when they do leave me alone for a little bit I find it difficult to really focus knowing that I can be interrupted at any point. Also hopefully we'll be out and about and doing things together which I don't want to miss. During the evening though they will often watch a film with Ram so that gives me an hour or two to write a post or catch up with some social media bits.

Even so, before the holidays start I'll be aiming to write enough blog posts in advance that I've got one or more scheduled each week (that means at least 8 - eek!) and sort out scheduling for Twitter and Pinterest at least. Hopefully we'll do lots of fun things together that will give me blogging inspiration as we go along!

Photo credit Estée Janssens via Unsplash

Luckily I like a good to do list and mine is certainly building! Do you have things that you need to get done before your children break up for the summer?

How I prepare for the school summer holiday

At this time of year I always get quite anxious. The last couple of weeks of term seems to be a flurry of different events, and I start to get a bit overwhelmed with making sure that I've done that everything I need to before I find myself at home alone for the summer with two small children. Two months, that's a long time! I'm a definite introvert and I need time to myself. Of course it's a lot easier now that the children are older and they will entertain themselves for short periods (especially if Minecraft is involved), but when I'm used to being by myself for a fair portion of the day it's hard to adjust to losing my peaceful time alone!

To help with my anxiety there are lots of things that I like to get done so that I can feel more in control. Firstly I like to make sure that all the school things are sorted. I get as much of the school uniform ready at the end of term as I can. There's a second hand uniform sale, so I make sure that I've bought as much of the branded school bits as I can, then I can pick up the generic things from the supermarket. Once it's all been washed at the end of term I make sure that it's all labelled and any loose buttons are sewn on, so it's all ready to go in September. Then I pack it all away neatly, with the PE kit in the PE bags, and store it all well out of the way.

I make sure that the pencil cases have everything that they need and it's all labelled, I wash the lunch bags (they say wipe clean only but I can reassure you that they can handle the occasional trip through the washing machine!) and sort through the big pile of schoolwork that has come home (most of it ends up in the recycling bin but don't tell the children!)

I like to have some plans made to keep the children and me entertained. We've already made our Summer Activity List, and I've pencilled some play dates and family visits into the calendar.

I've also been planning my blogging work, trying to get at least a few blog posts written in advance and a collection of ideas for posts for the next few months. I've scheduled my Facebook page and some blog posts are written ready to go. I know from experience that I'll have very little time to myself to work on things, and when I do have time off from childcare I generally just want to sit down and chill out, not be working!

I'm doing my best to get the house tidy. I'm putting away the assembled Lego sets (knowing that they'll all be out again in a few weeks time). I'm trying to get the bedroom floors clear at least, and I'm busy putting away the odd bits and pieces that never seem to find a home.

I'm also gathering together all the craft kits, activity sets, puzzle books and so on that the children collect for Christmas and birthdays, especially those that take a bit of time to do so that we can spread them over several days. I'll also make sure that we've got plenty of food in to avoid unnecessary supermarket trips that usually result in the purchase of an expensive magazine each.

What do you do to prepare for the long summer holiday?

A round up of Hama bead crafts for Summer

If you are looking for some activities to keep children busy over the summer holidays, why not try some Hama beads! We've been crafting with Hama beads for several years now, and if you are a regular reader of my blog you'll have seen the many Hama bead crafts that I've shared. Today I've put together some ideas for fab summer Hama bead crafts, and you can find more on my Hama beads page. 

The flower Hama bead pegboard is available in both a large and a small size. I recently received the smaller Hama bead flower board and we've been using it for lots of crafting lately. My first craft was this Hama bead flower wreath, a really simple yet pretty wreath that looks great as a summer decoration. You can make the flowers in lots of different ways and use a range of bright, cheerful colours. We've also been using the board to make keyrings and magnets.

For some reason I've found that the boxes of mixed beads contain more yellow than any other colour! Perfect for these summery Hama bead covered pen holders which are great for holding pens, knitting needles, paintbrushes and so on, they really brighten up my desk.

If you don't have a mini flower pegboard you can use a hexagon shaped board to make similar looking flowers, like these in this Hama bead flower bouquet craft. The finished bouquets can be used as summer decorations, or perhaps for the front of a greetings card.

I made a smaller version of these flowers using mini Hama beads to make Mini Hama bead decorative plant markers. The plant markers can be used to brighten up pot plants around the house.

Finally I love my Hama bead quilt style picture, a great way to use up beads in odds and ends of colours that you have leftover from previous projects. It sits in my bathroom and cheers me up every time I brush my teeth!

If you liked these Hama bead crafts, you can find more on my Hama beads page!

Blog post ideas for Summer

I always find blogging over the summer difficult - the hot weather makes it difficult to concentrate and when the children are around over the holidays I find it difficult to get anything done. One thing that I try to do is to spend the last couple of weeks of term planning and writing some content so that I have at least one or two posts scheduled every week to take the pressure off a bit.

If you are like me and currently looking for ideas to fill your summer editorial calendar, I hope that you might find my list of Summer blog post ideas helpful!

* Share a seasonal recipe - a barbecue favourite, a refreshing drink or your best summer cocktail. If you have published posts already over the last few years you can create a roundup of themed summer recipes to get some new views to your older content.

* Write a garden update, a balcony update or even a windowsill update with pictures of what you can see from your window. What has changed recently, what is growing, do you have a beautiful tree or flowerbed to share or is the garden full of summer toys.

* Summer home decor picks - a good place to add some affiliate links if you have any, perhaps choosing items along a theme like the beach, nautical, sunflowers and so on. You might have review items to include that would fit well with the theme.

* Write about a summer walk somewhere, and contrast it with a visit at different times of the year. For example a summer walk along the beach, a summer walk through some local public gardens or through the forest. What is special there at this time of year? Take lots of photographs!

* A summer activity list - a list of all the things that you want to achieve this summer. Also a great resource for bored children during the holidays!

* What happens in summer where you live? Are there any special events locally? Write a list of local activities like pick your own or car boot sales, or showcase something bigger like the International Bognor Birdman or the Eastbourne Air Show.

* Write about some of your favourite summer memories from when you were a child. What do you do now to create fun memories with your children? Do you try and replicate the things that you remember enjoying?

* Summer tips - How to keep babies cool, what to pack for a picnic, what you need in your hand luggage on a flight and so on. Everyone has advice to share!

* Free summer holiday fun - How to find out about free local activities and some ideas for things that you can do at home to save money on expensive day trips.

* What has been the summer craze where you live? There always seems to be one or two, whether it's loom bands, fidget spinners, Lego cards or Pokemon Go! Have your children been obsessed by anything recently?

* How has the school year gone for your child? What did they achieve, what milestones did they reach, what fun things did they do? How do they feel about moving on to the next year, especially if they will be starting at a new school or will be having a big change.

* How does your routine change during the summer - do the children stay up later, do you eat dinner outside, does what you eat change? Do you enjoy being more flexible, or do you prefer the routine of the school term?

* Hold an interview with your child at the end of the school year, perhaps comparing a photograph of them on their first day with one taken on the last day. This also makes a good vlog and creates great memories to look back on.

* Are you going away on holiday? Write a preview post about where you are going and what you hope to see and do. You could ask other bloggers for their tips about a particular location to make a helpful crowd sourced post.

* When you get back write a review post, along with a video if you can. Include useful information to help people that might be planning their holidays, and remember to re-share in January when people are booking for next year! I write about pretty much everywhere that we visit, it doesn't need to be a press trip as people will value your honest opinions and photographs. If you managed to save money when booking share your tips, and write a list of packing essentials.

* Blog a summer craft, either for kids or for yourself. If you have blogged about a few you can combine them into a summer craft round up post.

* Make a list! Ten (or more!) things that you love about summer, about the warm weather, the light evenings, about the school summer holidays, favourite summer foods, favourite places to visit locally.

* A review of a local attraction, with plenty of factual information and perhaps a video. Share to their Twitter and Facebook page, and keep an eye out in local Facebook groups if people are looking for advice and recommendations so that you can share your link (just be careful not to be spammy!)

* Summer garden ideas - some things you've done to make your garden pretty, share a Pinterest board if you have one, reviews of garden equipment that you've purchased like play or cooking equipment.

* A summer holiday travel wishlist - where would you like to visit in the summer holidays? For how long? Or do you prefer to travel out of peak season?


If you've enjoyed this post, you may like some of my other lists of blog post ideas:

Blog post ideas for craft bloggers
Blog post ideas for travel bloggers
Blog post ideas for Spring
Blog post ideas for Autumn
Blog post ideas for Winter
Blog post ideas for Christmas

Finally, I've gathered many of these ideas together to form an entire year of blog post inspiration!

Our Summer 2017 To Do List

The calendar is getting full now as we count down to the end of term, with Sports Day, special assemblies, second hand uniform sales and so on, it's very exciting! The children moved schools last September, and this year for the first time our summer holiday will be an impressive eight weeks long. We've booked a mid-week break to Center Parcs for the very first week, leaving me with seven long weeks of child entertainment.

So I'm busy planning, like I always do, and getting the children to help me come up with a list of activities that they want do do during the holidays. Some of them are one off things - like a day trip out - and others are things that we'll hopefully manage to do lots of times - like baking or bike rides. You can see my previous lists here - Summer 2014, Summer 2015 and Summer 2016 - and as in previous years I've made a nice big poster that we can refer to if we encounter a dull moment.

Many of the suggestions are mine but the children have added a few. Harry asked for a themed day or two, so I need to play Minecraft Day (which won't involve playing Minecraft all day!) and an Egyptian Day. Playing Minecraft over the holidays will feature though I'm sure, Mia made sure to add it to the poster. One of my suggestions, that the children should plan and cook a meal for us all, didn't go down too well but I've left it there in hope. We have lots of craft kits to get on with that I save from birthdays and Christmas, and plenty of activity books to do. I'll also be making sure that we all do lots of reading.

I'm also hoping that we'll be able to organise some play dates and days out with friends, so the next step is to get hold of a calendar and start to schedule some things in!

What are you hoping to do this summer?

The garden in June

We've been enjoying some lovely sunny days lately, and I've been trying to make the most of the garden, both by myself during the day and with the children after school. I'm not much of a gardener so we don't really have any flower beds, it's usually as much as we can do to keep the grass cut and stop the weeds from completely taking over!

Last year we bought some new garden furniture which I really like and has had a lot of use. It wasn't too expensive but it's quite sturdy and easy to clean. We do enjoy lots of barbecues and it's nice to have somewhere to sit during the day that is comfortable. It's also very light so it's easy to move around the garden depending on whether you want sun or shade.

Mia brought this plant home from school before half term, having been told it was a sunflower, and was under strict instructions to look after it so they could see whose had grown the tallest. After a couple of days it became apparent that it was in fact a nasturtium, so I've planted it out in a pot for her in the garden which she has decorated with my painted pebbles - she's very proud of it!

This is our vegetable patch which is just off to the side at the bottom of our garden. My parents were visiting last week and I took advantage of my Dad having weeded it to take a photo. I had planted lots of things and was reluctant to weed it in case I pulled something up by mistake (that's my excuse anyway!). Unfortunately many of the things that I had planted didn't actually grow so he's planted me some more, I'm not very green fingered!

Finally, keeping an eye on our garden is Beowulf. I found him in our old house when I was sorting out the garden after we'd been living there a year or so. It had become a bit of a jungle and was quite overgrown, and I found him tucked away among the vegetation. I named him Beowulf, I'm not sure why but I think that we'd just watched the film. I wonder if his previous owners ever wonder where he got to!

The last few weeks of the Summer term

Now that the half term holiday is over, I can't believe that the children only have five weeks until they break up for the summer. These last few weeks have gone so quickly, and the end of term will be here before we know it. They have both had end of term tests, and although Harry still has a piano exam in his final week, things definitely seem to be winding down. Their school shoes are looking scruffy as I'm reluctant to buy them new ones that they will grow out of over the summer, and I'm anxiously watching the hemline on Mia's tunics - she only needs to wear them for one more year and so I'm hoping that I can get away without buying expensive new ones!

I always spend this time of year fretting over school uniform. Admittedly last year was much more stressful, as they both started a new school in September and I had two complete sets to buy as frugally as I could. There will be a second hand sale at some point in the next few weeks so I need to get my list together for the school branded bits, then stock up on the remainder and the generic bits as soon as I can before the shops start to run low. This year I'm determined not to leave it until the last minute like I often do!

In my memory the summer term at school lasted for ages, and was mainly formed of long lunchtimes sitting out on the grass field, making daisy chains which we rushed to put into water as soon as we got home in the hope that they would last. I remember the excitement when it was warm enough to wear the summer dress, and it had to be very hot indeed for us to be allowed to bring a water bottle into school (there were just a couple of water fountains).

I hope that the children are making fun memories of their time at school, although quite different to mine. Some things are the same though - when I was at school one summer craze was a Coca Cola yo yo (I still have mine...), which is not all that different from a fidget spinner!

The children's school is very close to the sea, and Mia's class have been spending alternate weeks having 'beach school' which sounds fantastic. They've been drawing the pier, looking for shells, making art and doing some beach science.

I'm really looking forward to the end of term and having the children at home with me all day. I love the long summer evenings when there is no pressure to get up the next morning (although of course that doesn't stop them rising at the crack of dawn...), no packed lunches to make, no homework, and no school run.

However I'm sure I will have forgotten my enthusiasm a few weeks in, when I realise that I have literally no time to myself and the only way to get a break is to let them play Minecraft for a bit, which ties up my computer so I can't even do any work! I'll be coming up with a list of activities like I usually do, and spending some time browsing Pinterest for inspiration. Hopefully we can organise some play dates and day trips with friends!

What are your memories of the countdown to the summer holidays?