This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

A groggy but hungry boy tucking into pizza after his operation; Casper brought in his ‘bravery certificate’ from the hospital to show his classmates; Cameron was proud to win the trophy for good behaviour at Cub Scouts this week; Breakfast x 2 – yummy apple & cinnamon yoghurt and an omelette made in a ramekin dish; This week’s favourite outfit – I love my H&M snakeskin ballerinas; On the train back from London; A tired girl fell asleep in the carseat yesterday afternoon after a late night on Friday; After the train ride earlier this week Clemmie was delighted that the boys’ Scout group had organised a day out at a model railway today.

Bizarrely, I seem to have even less time to get things done since Clemmie started preschool. I think my expectations of how much I could achieve in 12 hours a week were perhaps a tad overambitious. Anyway, once you factor in the time it takes to drop off and collect her at preschool the time easily drops to 10 1/2 hours a week (and that’s assuming I go straight home without chatting to any of the other mums…). I suppose this week has not been typical as I had to collect Casper from school early on Monday before he had his operation. It all went fine – he was such a brave boy and didn’t complain once but that hour waiting for the nurse to come and tell us that he had woken up felt VERY long. Then on Thursday my other son had a (routine) hospital appointment up in town. My husband took him to the appointment but had to go on to a business meeting so I picked up Clemmie early to catch the train into London and meet them for lunch before taking the kids home. As we usually drive into town, it was Clemmie’s first time on the train and she loved it so much she cried when we had to get off. Now I know that if she’s having a bad day I can just buy a Travel Card and go up and down the train track to keep her happy!

So yes, to cut a long story short, I have not really accomplished much this week. I had visions of myself embarking on an exercise regime, doing a massive clear out of all the kids’ toys and clothes as well as catching up with the paperwork and answering all those emails which fill me with guilt every time I open my inbox. But tomorrow is a new start, with seven unwritten days stretching out in front of me, and as I’m booked into a gym class at 9.30am I hope that will set me off in the right direction. If not, there’s always next Monday…

22Sep2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Clemmie started preschool this week. I stayed with her for an hour on the first day and, yes, there were tears when I left but she also had lots of fun; We got creative with stickers and crayons on a rainy morning; Breakfast at my desk while flicking through the latest issue of Grazia; I made a really yummy (if I say so myself!) apple cake. Recipe to follow; Casper has kept the tooth fairy busy by losing three teeth already this month; We went to a traditional crayfish party at my parents’ house, complete with schnapps and lots of singing.

I know Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest but we had such a busy Saturday (football practice, swimming and golf lessons, tutoring session, a birthday party and dinner at my parents – I’m exhausted just thinking about it!) that today was spent catching up on all the jobs we needed to get done before the start of the new week. My husband cooked a yummy roast dinner before heading off to the golf course leaving me and the kids to curl up on the sofa under our duvets and watch Alice in Wonderland.

Now they’re all in bed and, as has become our Sunday tradition, we’re about to watch yet another movie. We haven’t decided which one yet but I’m hoping for something lighthearted to take my mind off tomorrow. My youngest son is having an operation so I’ve organised for my parents to look after the other two as my husband and I both want to go to the hospital. Although it’s a minor procedure he is having a general anaesthetic so we’ve been told they may want to keep him in overnight. He is quite excited and not worried at all which is great. I know he’ll be in good hands but to be honest I just want to fast forward to tomorrow evening and have it over and done with. I’ve always been a bit of a worrier but since having children it has got 10,000 times worse. I really have to remind myself to think positively and not always picture the worst case scenario. Sometimes easier said than done!

15Sep2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life, Fashion by A Spoonful of Style

This week has whizzed by as I knew it would. It’s funny how in the summer holidays time seems to slow down but as soon as school starts – and with it the relentless routine of school run, homework, after school clubs and weekend activities – I hardly have time to blink and it’s Sunday night yet again. Despite the rain (yes I know, I will stop going on about the weather soon!) it has been a good week, catching up with friends I haven’t seen for six weeks and watching the boys settle happily into their new classes.

Now all the kids are in bed and we’re just about to watch a movie – probably The Oranges with Leighton Meester who played Blair in one of my favourite TV series, Gossip Girl. But first, here is a quick round-up of the last few days: Clemmie started ballet class this week and amazingly didn’t cry when I left her there (it probably helped that she was with her best friend); The Chanel nail polish in Particuliere is one of my favourite autumn hues; I finally got to wear some of my Fall purchases such as this knitted jacket from River Island and tiered sweater from Anthropologie; My bargain of the week was this floral tube scarf from H&M for £6.99; I’ve also been digging deep into my wardrobe and uncovered some old favourites like these Miu Miu heels that I bought for my hen night 12 years ago. I wore them with the Anthropologie sweater and skinny jeans for a night out with friends; A morning latte to brighten up a drizzly morning; In our house weekends mean pancakes for breakfast; One of the best things about Autumn is snuggling up on the sofa to watch a film with candles lit on the mantlepiece.

And that my friends is exactly what I’m going to do now. Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend. X

13Sep2013

Happy Friday!

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

We’re only a week into the new school term and already our summer holiday seems but a distant memory…

I downloaded our holiday photos from the big camera today and it was fun to look through them and remember all the good times we had. This picture of Cameron jumping is definitely on my list of photos to print out for my planned photo walk (more on that project next week).
The first full week back at school has sped by and I can’t believe it’s Friday already. I only realised it was the 13th when I had to write a cheque for my daughter’s gym class earlier today. The date used to spook me a bit but ever since I met my husband, who was born on Friday 13th, I don’t think of it as unlucky anymore. Are you superstitious or do you treat it as any other day?

Whatever the date, I wish you all a happy Friday! XO

9Sep2013

Autumn Resolutions

Posted in Family Life, Fashion by A Spoonful of Style

Forget New Year, for me autumn is all about new beginnings. It must be a hangover from my schooldays when September signified the start of a new school year – new teacher, shiny new shoes and a sparkling pencil case bursting with freshly sharpened pencils and smelly erasers (remember those?). As I got older these new purchases would accompanied by a resolve to be more organised and punctual – sometimes with varying results.

Even though it is now my children (well two out of three of them) rather than me who go off to school at the end of the summer, I have made a list of resolutions for this autumn:

1. Be more adventurous in the way I dress. By this I don’t mean that I’ll slavishly follow trends that don’t suit me but just put a bit more thought into what I wear on a day-to-day basis. As a stay at home mum and occasional freelancer it is so easy to fall into the habit of just throwing on the school run uniform of jeans/T-shirt/flat shoes every morning. So it is time to delve a bit deeper into the wardrobe.

2. Accessorise more. Adding a few bangles or a scarf is such an effective way to update an outfit but often I wear no jewellery other than my engagement and wedding rings. Doing a few more OOTD posts should hopefully help keep both number 1 and 2 on track.

3. Exercise regularly. I am a stop-start exerciser and I’ll be really good for a few months and then I’ll do nothing for for another few months. Over the summer I haven’t done anything at apart from a couple of yoga classes so it’s time to start again and, this time, keep it up. I am a fully paid up member of my local gym so, come rain or shine, there can be no more excuses.

4. Be more organsied. I usually start off the new term pretty well with a weekly menu plan and the kids’ uniforms, PE bags etc laid out the night before. By mid October however they are scrambling around for clean shirts at 8.15am and, come tea time, I am improvising meals (fish fingers again?). This time I am determined to turn my good intentions into lasting habits.

5. Live in the moment. Multi-tasking can be a great thing, allowing you watch your favourite TV show while completing mundane jobs like ironing or folding the washing. But sometimes I find myself checking emails (or writing blog posts!) while helping my son with his homework or playing tea party with my daughter. I am acutely aware that since having children time seems to have sped up and before I know it they will all be teenagers so I am going to try harder to be fully present when I’m with them.

So there you have it, my five point plan to kick start the autumn. And the good thing about making resolutions in the autumn is that new year is less than four months away so if you fail to keep them you can always start afresh on New Years Day!

8Sep2013

Twelve ♥

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Ready to go out in H&M dress, Zara leather jacket and Miu Miu shoes.

Weather-wise it has been a week of contrasts here in England. At the start of the week we were basking in glorious sunshine and temperatures of 28 degrees. By Friday, however, the rain had arrived and there was a definite autumn chill in the air. Not only has the temperature dropped by ten degrees, the evenings are also getting darker as I realised last night when I asked my husband to take a picture of my outfit. (Apologies for the picture quality – at the moment I’m only using my phone as I’ve been putting off the mammoth task of downloading over 500 holiday photos from my camera)

We were on our way out for dinner at a local Italian restaurant to celebrate twelve years of (mostly at least!) wedded bliss. We didn’t bother with gifts this year, although I’ve now looked it up online and apparently gifts of silk and/or linen are traditional for a 12th wedding anniversary, which does sound rather good (!’m thinking silk scarf or draped linen top..) so I might have to give hubs a nudge in the right direction. The food was lovely and, as you can see in the picture above, they had made a real effort with the table decorations (scattered rose buds and an anniversary card set the scene nicely) and gave us a free champagne cocktail. Unfortunately the service was very slow – our table was booked for 9pm and we ordered the food shortly after, but the starter was not served until after 10pm by which time I had already devoured half the bread basket. The restaurant is a relatively new addition to our little urban village and while I always like to support local businesses, I’m not sure there will be a return visit for us.

There might have been no presents from my other half but I got a gorgeous bunch of flowers from my lovely mother-in-law.

Today we drove up to London to attend the morning service at the Swedish Church, where we got married on September 8, 2001. No trip to Marylebone is complete without a visit to the Swedish shop to stock up on chocolate and magazines. That’s my Sunday evening sorted!

31Aug2013

Making Strawberry Jam

Posted in Family Life, Food & Recipes by A Spoonful of Style

The lesson I’ve learned today is that sometimes the experience is more important and enjoyable than the end result. My youngest son and I had been planning to make strawberry jam all summer but for one reason or another we didn’t get around to it before we went on holiday. So yesterday we finally went to the pick-your-own farm near to where we live only to discover that the strawberry picking season was over! Not ones to be deterred by such a small obstacle we decided to pick apples and blackberries for crumble instead and buy the strawberries from the greengrocers.

Being a complete jam-making novice, I found a recipe for strawberry jam on the BBC Food website which looked easy enough. So, having prepared the fruit the night before, we got to work today when daddy and big brother were at a football match and little sister was playing happily with Lego. It was great fun but, unfortunately, we (read I) ended up over-boiling the mixture so in the end the jam had a rather toffee-like consistency. And although we halved the recipe, I still think we should have got 2-3 jars out of it rather than one! But the taste is great and if you spread it on hot toast it loses some of its chewiness. Casper happily wolfed down two slices so I think we did well for a first effort! Now all that remains is cleaning the red glue (sorry jam!) off the kitchen surfaces…

Strawberries mixed with sugar and ready to go in the fridge overnight. We used 500g of fruit rather than the 1kg given in the recipe.

The jam boiling away on the stove.

Our one and only jar of strawberry jam.

Casper enjoyed his jam on toast despite the toffee-like texture.

26Aug2013

The Weekend in Pictures

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

On Saturday night we booked a babysitter and went out to the cinema to see the new Steve Coogan film, Alan Partridge – Alpha Papa. My husband chose the film and while it was quite entertaining, it wasn’t really my cup of tea. But the cinema itself more than made up for it. Just 15 minutes down the road from us, it is part of a small independent chain and is a far cry from the massive Odeon theatres with their overpriced pick and mix and jumbo tubs of popcorn. The theatre itself is quite small with two or three seat sofas and tables to put your drinks and munchies on, and attached to it is a cosy bar where you can buy wine, beer, soft drinks and a large selection of snacks from pizzas and olives to chocolate buttons and retro sweets.

I love England in late August/early September. It is usually sunny, although the evenings are getting darker and nature’s palette is slowly transforming into beautiful red, deep orange and bright yellow. Today we decided to make the most of the long Bank Holiday weekend by heading to Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property and parkland, near Guildford in Surrey where we went for a walk across cows meadows and the children played in the woods.

All that fresh air and exercise left us all feeling famished but luckily we were going to the in-laws for lunch. My mother-in-law is a fantastic cook and had made a lovely roast chicken followed by the most gorgeous (gluten free) apple and blackberry crumble.

A game of croquet in the garden (complete with the requisite squabbles over who was winning and who was cheating).

And finally, today’s all black outfit was one of the £7 H&M dresses I bought at the start of the summer teamed with leggings and patent wedges from Topshop. Hope you all had a great weekend. X

22Aug2013

Home Sweet Home ♥ (So why do I still feel homesick?)

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

After all the yummy but not necessarily healthy food I've been indulging in over the last two weeks it was nice to start the day with a healthy breakfast of low carb muesli (recipe here), yoghurt and fresh strawberries

After all the yummy but not necessarily healthy food I’ve been indulging in over the last two weeks it was nice to start the day with a breakfast of low carb muesli (recipe here), yoghurt and fresh strawberries

We’re back from our holiday and while it’s nice to be home (despite the mountain of washing and sorry state of our cloakroom – see here), as always I feel like I’ve left a part of me behind. There is a saying in Sweden which roughly translates to ‘Away is good but home is best’, meaning that it’s good to go on holiday but the nicest part is often returning to your home and familiar routine. But what if the place you go away to is also your home or at least used to be?

I was ten years old when my dad was transferred from Stockholm to London and apart from a couple of years in the US and Ireland I have lived in the UK ever since. We were only meant to stay here for 2-3 years but once they were settled my parents didn’t want to leave and despite my father now being retired they still have no plans to move back.

When I was a teenager I had no desire whatsoever to return to Sweden as I thought (rightly or wrongly) that London’s fashion and music scenes where infinitely cooler than anything my home country had to offer. Now that I am older and have children of my own I find myself appreciating my childhood more and more – the fresh air and open spaces, being able to go ice skating and cross country skiing in the winter and swimming in the lakes in the summer.

In an ideal world I would like us to live in Sweden for a year or two so that the children learn to read and write in Swedish and, perhaps most importantly, really embrace the country and culture as part of their own identity. At the moment they definitely think of themselves as more English than Swedish which is hardly surprising as they were born here and have never lived anywhere else. And while they all understand Swedish it is a struggle to get the boys to speak it unless they’re with their cousins who haven’t learned English yet. One of the hardest things is that my sister and I have lived in different countries for the past 18 years as she moved back to attend university and ended up staying. We keep in touch via Skype and email but often talk about how nice it would be if we lived closer, especially now that we both have children.

For now, however, such a big move is not possible as my husband’s work necessitates him being near London. While that may change at some point in the future, I imagine that as the kids get older it will be more difficult to uproot them from their friends, not to mention disrupting their schooling at a crucial stage. I don’t want to relocate permanently though as I love our life here – our friends, our house and our lovely village with its great sense of community.

And it’s not that I want to impose my own nationality on my children but I would like them to feel that they could choose to study or work in Sweden when they get older (there are some benefits over the UK: further education is free and property prices are generally lower). At the same time I like the idea of putting down roots and creating a family home to encompass all their childhood memories from toddlers to teenagers. We have been in our current house for just over six years now and it’s the longest time I’ve lived in one property since I left Sweden.

There are no easy answers but for now I’ve resolved to carry on speaking Swedish to the children, even if they insist on answering back in English, and upholding traditions such as St Lucia and Midsummer. It would be great to visit more often but for a family of five plane tickets are not exactly cheap so at the moment two or three trips a year is probably all we can manage.

Maybe one day we can get our own holiday home somewhere on the coast of Sweden. Something like this would be amazing (a girl can dream can’t she?):

21Aug2013

Fun at Legoland

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

We rounded off our holiday with a trip to the original Legoland theme park in Billund, Denmark. We had booked a two-night package staying at the Legoland Hotel, which I was slightly nervous about, having read mixed reviews about it. But I needn’t have worried – the hotel was great, with big spacious rooms, friendly service, decent food and of course Lego everywhere, including Lego gifts for the children and two big tubs of bricks in our room.

All three children in one picture, looking at the camera and smiling. Hardly EVER happens!

Because the ferry back to England doesn’t leave until 7 in the evening, we had two full days at the park meaning that, between us, we went on every single ride. The boys and their dad were keen to go on the bigger roller coasters while Clemmie and I stuck to the trains, boats and gentle carousels although we did meet up at regular intervals so we could all do some activities together. My parents were also with us and the kids even managed to convince them to come on some of the rides, including the pirate ship one where the objective was to shoot everyone with water canons. Needless to say, we all got soaked but luckily it was a sunny day so we dried off pretty quickly.

A great end to a great holiday!