Embrace the Chaos

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

{My Crazy Gang: They don’t half drive me mad sometimes but I love them to the moon and back}

This has been one of those weeks when we’ve been rushing around, late for everything, with tempers fraying left, right and centre. I love my three children more than anything in the world but sometimes the mixture of toddler tantrums, pre-teen hormones, sibling fighting and refusal to listen can drive me up the wall (especially when they’re all going on at the same time!) Both boys left their scooters behind at school on the same day this week (I don’t know how they managed that – obviously forgetfulness runs in the family!) which meant that trying to get out of the house on Wednesday morning was even more fraught than usual. I had to take deep breaths and count to ten many a time this week, but I’m sure that one day when they’re all grown up I will look back and miss all the noise and mess!

But for now I’m just enjoying the peace and quiet that has descended over the house this evening as we all relax after our busy week. My father-in-law and his wife are visiting us from France this weekend so I’m going to dim the lights to hide all the dust, light some candles and put a bottle of bubbly in the fridge.

Happy Friday to you all! X

8Nov2013

Listen up People – It’s Friday!!

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

{I love being a mum but sometimes we all deserve a bit of time off}

We have had a lovely afternoon with my sister and her kids who are visiting from Sweden. When the boys came home from school it turned into a bit of a mad house with five children aged from 2 to 10 running around, but it was great for all the cousins to get together as they hadn’t seen each other since August.

Now it’s winding down time, the children have just got out of the bath and are deciding which movie to watch for their Friday night treat. The rain is pouring down outside but it’s lovely and cosy inside. I’m going to light some candles, have a glass of wine and enjoy the peace and quiet before I cook dinner.

A great weekend (I hope!) lies ahead: tomorrow night I am going out for dinner with my sister – a rare occurrence as we live in different countries. Then on Sunday I am going an even rarer trip to a spa with a friend. We are only going for one night but we have lots of nice treatments booked and I hope it will be a chance to recharge the batteries before the run-up to Christmas.

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend! X

3Nov2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Hello again! Just a quick one tonight as I’m totally exhausted after Cameron’s 10th birthday party this afternoon for 17 of his friends at a mini golf course near our house. His actual birthday is tomorrow and I’ve just finished making a cake and wrapping the presents (his main present is a bicycle but he’ll get to choose it himself so we’ve just printed out a picture of a cool bike and stuck it in a birthday card).

As I’m typing this with only one eye open, here is a quick round-up of our week:

1. Apart from today’s party, Halloween was without a doubt the highlight of our week. When we went to our local farm shop we ran into this Pumpkin Princess who kindly agreed to have her picture taken with the kids.

2. The Halloween decorations were brought down from the loft and the children immediately tried on the bat hairbands. Clemmie kept hers on for two days and even took it into bed at night.

3. On Wednesday the sun graced us with its presence and we took advantage of the crisp autumn weather with a trip to a nearby adventure park and farm.

4. It has been lovely spending every day with my boys this half term. They have tomorrow off as well but on Tuesday it’s back to school.

5. The pumpkins took pride of place on our doorstep on Thursday as we hosted a small tea party for friends before trick or treating around the neighbourhood.

6. The kids all dressed up in their scary finery.

7. Cameron’s golf themed birthday cake (no I didn’t make it, cake decorating is not a strength of mine..) went down a treat at the party today.

8. My football crazy son holding one of his favourite birthday presents.

9. It’s bonfire weekend so after the party we went to see an amazing fireworks display.

It’s now almost 11pm and high time I went to bed, I suspect the birthday boy will not let us have a lie-in tomorrow morning. Good night to you all. X

1Nov2013

Happy Weekend!

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Friday again! What are your plans this weekend? Do you see the weekend as a chance to get out and experience new things or do you prefer to stay at home, flop on the sofa and relax? Go out for dinner, entertain at home, catch up on chores or go to the gym (maybe even all of them and more)? Or are weekends just another working day(s) for you?

I can hardly remember weekends pre-children but they definitely used to involve going out on both Friday and Saturday night. These days I probably need a week to recover if I go out two nights in a row! If I cast my mind back ten years ago, my hazy memory also seems to recall long brunches with a cheeky Bloody Mary or two (where we actually got to read the papers instead of just snatching a quick glance at the headlines while trying to stop the kids from wrecking the place), perhaps a spot of shopping on the King’s Road or a matinee showing of a film that didn’t carry a U rating.

As it’s half term, this weekend is gloriously free of kids’ activities which means no hunting around for football boots and swimming goggles (how come they’re never in the same place from one weekend to the next?) first thing tomorrow morning. Our autumn birthday marathon is nearing the finish line, culminating in my eldest son’s tenth birthday on Monday (double figures! Or as he keeps saying to me ‘mum I’m almost a teenager now!’ 😱) so on Sunday it’s time for his party which seems to have escalated to include 19 kids…Luckily we have roped in some friends to help but I’m thinking of bringing my ear plugs…

As Cameron’s party is so close to bonfire night it is customary for us to go to a fireworks display in the evening after his party, complete with fairground rides and toffee apples for the kids and mulled wine for the adults.

Anyway, enough about me. Please share your plans or your ideal weekend – I’d love to know 🙂 And whatever you’re doing, have a good one! X

27Oct2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Wow, two parties in one day! First the Maison Bentley Style Blog Party hosted by the fabulous Kate – such a great idea and I met some lovely bloggers. Thank you so much to everyone who stopped by A Spoonful of Style – I really enjoyed spending time with you all and look forward to following your blogs.

Then, it was time for Casper’s seventh birthday bash, a swimming party for 12 of his friends at our local gym. All the kids were exhausted and high on sugar (should be an impossible combination but believe me it is not!) by the end of it so I think we can safely say it was a huge success.

I’m pretty tired now myself but feeling cosy wrapped up in a blanket on the sofa with candles lit on the mantlepiece as a big storm brews outside. So here’s just a quick recap of the week that once again went by in a flash:

1. On Tuesdays and Fridays when Clemmie doesn’t go to preschool my husband takes the boys to school so we can just chill out at home.

2. I am quickly becoming addicted to the Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks and looking forward to the Gingerbread Lattes appearing on the menu in the run-up to Christmas.

3. We went shopping for Halloween costumes and Clemmie decided she would rather be a princess than a witch. Fine by me, the only problem is that the costume sheds glitter EVERYWHERE – the floor, the sofa and my clothes are covered in it.

4. This scary zombie (also known as Cameron) had a great time at his school Halloween disco.

5. A birthday party means lots more presents and an insane amount of Lego sets to build. It will keep Casper busy over half term!

6. Halloween is fast approaching and this morning we went to a nearby farm shop to get our pumpkins. We will be hosting a Halloween party for a few friends on Thursday before we go trick or treating around the neighbourhood.

Next week is half term so all the children will be at home but hopefully I should be able to find some time for blogging as well.

Have a great Sunday night. X

20Oct2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

{The walk to school takes twice as long when it’s been raining and there are puddles to jump in}

‘Swoosh’ it said and yet another week went by! Seriously, I’m beginning to think that time really does speed up when your kids start school. The seven weeks between the start of this school year and half term (which is this Friday) have gone by so much quicker than the summer holidays did. It has been a quiet week, mainly spent catching up on things that were were put on hold while preparing for last weekend’s party, like completing my tax return and buying the last of the boys’ birthday presents.

{Clemmie chose her winter hat when we went into Gap during a shopping trip earlier this week. Leopard print is a firm fave of mine as well – like mother like daughter!}

{I am one step closer to creating my dream home office after buying this print}

The highlight of the week was undoubtely Casper’s seventh birthday today. My youngest son is very much an old soul – wise, thoughtful and kind but, boy, can he throw a tantrum when that way inclined. Today, however, he was all smiles when we woke him up at 7.30 with presents and cake. As both he and his sister had birthday parties to go to today we’ve delayed his party until next weekend. Then the following weekend is my eldest son’s birthday – a busy month but that’s the way I like it!

{Big brother helps out with the present opening.}

{A very happy boy. Judging by the smile, I think we got the present right!}

{It was a bit of a squeeze to fit seven candles onto a very small cake. There will be a bigger one at the party next weekend.}

{Someone is enjoying having cake for breakfast}

18Oct2013

T.G.I.F

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Friday again – my favourite day of the week and the start of the weekend. If I’m completely honest, with three children of varying ages I sometimes find weekends exhausting as we’re constantly ferrying them around to various activities and parties. This weekend there are no less than three parties plus Casper’s birthday on Sunday – his party is not until next weekend, thankfully.

By contrast, Friday afternoons are normally a quiet affair. There’s no homework or after school activities, I usually make something nice for dinner and we all just potter around doing our own thing. Sometimes the boys have play dates but today the whole gang is home – the boys are upstairs listening to music and building Lego, Clemmie is playing with the train set and I’m catching up on emails and writing my blog. I have so many blog posts in my head and written out in the note section of my phone, but I just haven’t had the time this week to actually put them together, find pictures and edit them etc. Oh well, there’s always next week…

Friday night is movie night in our house so after dinner there will be popcorn and sweets in front of a film. The boys have a strict system (that they’ve come up with themselves) in place for choosing the film – one of them will pick their top five movies and then the other one will choose which one to watch that night. Then, once they’re in bed, unless we’re going out my husband and I will also watch a movie although tonight I think we will probably plough through another two or three episodes of House of Cards which we’ve just discovered.

Which is your favourite day of the week?

XXX

6Oct2013

This Week’s Favourites

Posted in Family Life by A Spoonful of Style

Where has the time gone? It seems like it was only yesterday that I wrote my last ‘Favourites’ post and now it’s Sunday again. Looking back at the photos I can see that even though the week flew by, as usual we managed to squeeze quite a lot in.

1. Because of the building work going on at home, the house was covered in dust at the start of the week so Clemmie and I escaped to a nearby village for brunch. I had Eggs Benedict, one of my all-time favourites.

2. We have finally chosen the tiles to go around the sink in the new downstairs cloakroom. Fingers crossed, it should all be finished by the end of this week in time for my husband’s birthday party on Saturday. I will of course share pictures when it’s all done.

3. I also managed to plant some herbs in two of the pots I bought in Sweden this summer. They were a bargain at less than £10 for three and I love the chalkboard labels on them.

4. I went to two exercise classes this week and decided to reward myself (and my aching muscles) with some new workout clothes from Sweaty Betty.

5. I also bought an early birthday present for myself from Space NK – I just can’t go into that store without buying something!

6. The highlight of the week was without a doubt my birthday on Wednesday and a meal out at Jamie’s Italian to celebrate with my husband and kids.

7. Like mother like daughter. Clemmie seems to have inherited my love of magazines and pesters me to buy one every time we go shopping. This one certainly lives up to is name: I think it has got every shade of pink imaginable on the cover.

8. I made a very exciting discovery this week: they sell Pumpkin Spice Lattes at Starbucks in the UK! I don’t know how I could have missed it although in my defence the barista did say they’re new for this autumn. So yummy, especially with whipped cream on top!

9. My husband went away for a golf weekend on Friday so I’ve been on my own with the kids all weekend. I really take my hat off to all the single mums out there, it is bloody hard work! Saturday was spent ferrying them around to various activities (football, swimming, tutor) and then a friend whose husband was also away came over with her kids in the evening. The children had pizza and shared some of my birthday chocolates while watching a movie (although I think Clemmie managed to get more chocolate on her than in her!) and we had Thai takeaway and a glass of wine or two.

Now I’m just waiting for my other half to walk through the front door so I can take a hot bath and then curl up in front of the TV to watch the third series of Homeland. Unfortunately the week has not ended on a good note as someone close to me was admitted to hospital today. Hopefully, it won’t be for long and we’re all doing our best to stay positive.

Hope you’ve all had a great weekend. X

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!

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…