On holiday at Croft Farm and Celtic Cottages, Pembrokeshire

We are spending a week on a late summer holiday at Croft Farm and Celtic Cottages in Pembrokeshire, Wales. We drove over yesterday, a journey which went surprisingly well despite misgivings. Both little ones were impeccably behaved in the car.

We are staying in the Talar Aur cottage which is lovely, beautifully decorated and fully equipped. First thing this morning we were out to feed the animals:

Harry was a bit nervous of the goats to start with, but once he realised he could just shove the bucket in their faces he was fine.

The pigs are a bit more intimidating, best to throw the food over the fence.

The donkeys were also very keen to get to the food.

In the chicken house we collected the fresh eggs.

In the afternoon we drove down to one of the nearest beaches, Poppit Sands. It was a lovely big beach, free parking and very few people there. We busied ourselves making sandcastles, then headed over to look for crabs in the rockpools (we didn't find any!). After a slight detour due to a should-have-trusted-the-sat-nav navigational error we returned to the farm and tried out the swimming pool. Unfortunately Harry wasn't really up for it, but Mia seemed to like her first swim so hopefully we will be giving it another go later in the week!

We've been so lucky with the weather, it is gloriously hot and sunny, long may it last!

Dealing with clutter in the home

This post was inspired by the Friday Club Home Carnival hosted by Notes from Home, and the topic this week is dealing with clutter in the home. It's a subject which appeals to me, because I do find that my mood is negatively affected by clutter and mess in my environment. The trouble is that when you have small children there is so much stuff around, and none of it is particularly visually appealing.

If you can keep your home free of clutter it instantly creates a more relaxed environment, and also a healthier one, because it becomes easier to clean. Here are a few tips which I try to follow to keep my home as clutter free as possible:

• When a child outgrows a piece of equipment, especially a large item like a bouncy chair or playmat, either pass it on or store it somewhere out of sight. If you are storing it, make sure that it is neatly packed and properly protected. And be honest with yourself as to whether you are really going to use it again, or whether it could benefit someone else!

• Always keep a carrier bag or box somewhere out of sight to keep things in for the charity shop or to pass on to friends. When it is full, make sure to drop it off immediately.

• Store like toys with like. If you find that you've got too many of the same thing then it's easier to see it, and then make the decision which ones to part with.

• Try and request non-clutter gifts for the children - passes to local attractions or soft play centres, a day trip out with the grandparents, clothes if they need them. My only exception is books, they don't count!

• Keep a nice basket in all the rooms where toys are played with that you can throw loose toys into at the end of the day, preferably one that can be stowed out of sight, e.g. under the bed. Go through the boxes though and rehome things regularly.

• Identify the "hot spots" in your home. These are places where clutter builds up easily. Mine are - the shelf by the front door, the stairs, the counter in the kitchen and the coffee table. Make a daily effort to keep these areas clean and put away items that are out of place.

• The most obvious tip - a place for everything and everything in its place! Find a home for everything and get in the habit of putting it away. Make decluttering part of your cleaning and tidying routine.

Recently I've taken a lot of inspiration from the Marie Kondo method of tidying and decluttering. You can read a little bit about my experiences here - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying by Marie Kondo - and here - My Marie Kondo Approach and Sparking Joy - as well as Working out my own interpretation of the Marie Kondo method.

Simultaneously entertaining a baby and toddler

Before getting pregnant with Mia, I was chatting to another mum at baby group who had just had her second child. She told me that the worst thing about managing with two was the feelings of guilt. Having spent all her time looking after her toddler, she now had to divide her attention between her two daughters.

This is something that I've been struggling with lately. Harry can entertain himself for a little while with his toys. But it's more fun for both him and me if I can join in with him. Mia is often quite content to sit in her swinging chair and listen to the music, but she is much happier when I get down on her level and interact with her. The trouble is that it's very difficult to entertain them both at the same time.

Mia does still sleep a lot during the day, and Harry can play by himself while she is feeding, which takes less and less time these days. But there are many times when they are both desperate for attention, and I end up either ignoring one or trying to divide my time and giving neither my full attention.

I know that it will be easier when Mia is sitting and interacting more with her surroundings, and I'm really looking forward to it. But in the meantime I find it a struggle to come up with activities that will engage them both. What do other people do?

Notice Mia looking on from the background, desperate to join in!

Return to running

I've never been a big runner, but I've always found that for me it's the best form of exercise to really get my heart pumping. My aim is to run 5k in 30 minutes a couple of times a week, teamed with some swimming if I get the chance.

I haven't been running since I found out I was pregnant over a year ago. I also need to be a bit careful, having suffered from separated stomach muscles in pregnancy. But I saw my physiotherapist last week and she gave me the go ahead to start running again, so this morning I gave it a go.

I'm taking it very slowly, so I began by alternating two minutes of running and walking for half an hour. It felt really good to be getting back into it.

I did discover something though. After many years without needing to worry, it appears that after two pregnancies along with associated breastfeeding I now need to add a sports bra to the shopping list!

10 car journey activities to do with your toddler

We have a long car journey coming up, and so I'm putting together a bag of activities to keep Harry busy. There isn't a lot of space between the car seats in the back, but most of these activities will require a certain level of intervention, either to keep him interested or to keep frustration to a minimum. I'm also trying to come up with activities to keep him amused by himself.

I'll be taking a small tray for some of the activities. And I'll be sure to report back on how well they worked! Here's what I've come up with! Most of these activities need a tray to keep everything together.

Laminated pictures - themed collections of images to look at together. I found these on various websites and have printed them out in colour so that we can go through and name the different objects.

Aquadoodle Mini Mats - we have a couple of sets of these. They are little blank mats that you scribble on with the special wet pen and the picture appears. When the water is dry you can reuse them. They are brilliant for keeping little ones busy and don't make any mess, you just need to make sure that you have water to refill the pens if they get really keen.

Playdoh -  I bought this little Play-Doh Mini Fun Factory which contains two small pots and a mini extruder, then added a couple of cutters and a lollipop stick. 

Small jigsaws - we had a few that were given out in restaurants etc., you need little jigsaws that have small pieces but not too many - something like these mini jungle jigsaws  

Collage bag - glue stick, collage materials, background papers. Can be supplemented on the journey with free catalogues or leaflets if required, maybe leaflets with pictures of the places that you have been visiting. 

Colouring - a small colouring book, pack of crayons and stickers. Crayons are best as they don't make much mess and don't need sharpening like pencils.

Matching activities - I print a grid of pictures or shapes and then cut out the corresponding shapes to be glued in place over the top. I also scanned in some foam stickers and am providing the matching stickers to be stuck over the top of the scanned images for some shape matching fun.

Magnet books - try to find one with magnets that are quite large so that they don't get lost. We had this Peppa Pig: Marvellous Magnet Book which was brilliant.

Car layout and car stickers - I drew this out myself, I hope he likes it! Just draw out a simple road way picture with a few shops and houses etc. and provide car stickers to decorate it with.

Small books - there are all sorts of little mini library book sets that you can buy - we had this lovely Axel Scheffler Pocket Library. Also children's magazines, especially those with games and stickers and a toy on the front.

I hope that these ideas were helpful!

Ginny at Small Things also has some brilliant suggestions in her blog post about travelling with young children.

Amazon links are affiliate.

Sunflower Mosaic Stepping Stone

I'm really proud of this garden mosaic stepping stone which is made from a kit by Tracey Cartledge.

This kit includes everything that you need to make the mosaic stepping stone. I must admit that when I opened the kit I was a little bit daunted, as the pieces of tile were much larger than I expected and in irregular shapes that didn't match the pattern. I borrowed a pair of tile nippers, but I didn't find them very easy to use.

In the end though I discovered that by putting the pieces into a plastic bag and breaking them up with a hammer I could make them small enough to fill the design nicely and it was quite easy to arrange the tiled pieces to fit the pattern. The finished piece is more fragmented than the original design on the website and I'm not sure that I could ever have made the tile pieces into the correct shapes for the petals, but I'm very pleased with how it looks.

The kit was really easy to follow, and a link is provided in the kit to a YouTube video to show you how to complete it which was really helpful. I have another kit to complete now, a poppy this time, and I think that they will both look lovely out in the garden!

Make a Monster Kit - Toddler Busy Bag Activity

This Make-a-Monster kit is really easy to put together and would be perfect for a long car or plane journey, or a quick activity to pull out when you need to amuse your toddler for a few minutes. You can make it using bits and pieces from around the house or craft cupboard, and it all fits neatly into a sandwich bag to take out and about with you. It's a great Halloween craft for little ones that can't handle anything too spooky.

The basic monster's head is made from a large brown piece of felt. If you have several children then it's a good idea to make at least one for each child, perhaps in different shapes and colours. Then I used different colours of felt to cut out some suitable monster shapes - for example sharp teeth, tongues, eyebrows and different shapes which can be used for spots or other markings. They eyes are made from some black buttons sewn onto a white felt background.

I also gathered together some coloured shredded paper which can be used for hair, beards or anything else that the child can imagine, as well as short pieces of pipe cleaners and pieces of coloured craft foam. You could also add shapes made from coloured paper and card, scraps of material for clothing, coloured tissue paper or even little objects like paper clips and dried pasta shapes - the possibilities are endless!

I love these re-sealable bags from Ikea to use for my toddler busy bag activities. They come in a range of different sizes so I can always find one that suits what I'm looking for! Here is the Make a Monster kit all packed away:

It takes up hardly any space to store, when you've finished playing, just scoop it all back into the bag ready for another day.

I've written about a few Halloween crafts for young children which you might also enjoy, like these super simple Halloween window decorations. My children also really enjoyed their Halloween sensory tub and Halloween ice block excavation activity. Finally if you are planning a Halloween party for young children you might enjoy my post with some Halloween party ideas for little ones.

You might also like my other busy bags for toddlers:

Pasta and pots busy bag
Threading busy bag
Christmas busy bag