An Afternoon at Big Fish Little Fish Family Rave

We’ve been meaning to go along to Big Fish Little Fish for a while and finally this weekend we went! We’d had a little taste of how fabulous it was going to be when we went along to the free Big Fish Little Fish event they held at The Southbank Centre as part of the Imagine Festival. We loved it and I knew that I wanted to go to one of the monthly events at The Bedford in Balham and I did a little dance around the room when Natasha invited us to come along as a family and see what it’s all about!

The event runs from 2 – 4.30pm on a Sunday afternoon and is only a 5 minute walk from the train station, and the journey from our house is half an hour – perfect – no driving required. We went along with our best friends and their kids, who had also come to the Southbank before and loved it. We already knew that the event was a sell out but rather wonderfully that didn’t mean that it was filled up to capacity – there was still plenty of space to move around, on the dance floor and in the upstairs craft room and chill out rooms.

On arrival the kids were given a glow stick each and then they hit the craft room, the theme was Mad Hatter's Party and Captain Cookie, the resident craft person had all the materials a kid would need to make a Mad hatter hat. It was genius! And it was all laid out so that the kids could adorn their hats with any extras, like playing cards and streamers. Isla got stuck in and I couldn’t resist being involved too.  There was also a fabulous Alice in Wonderland mural for the kids to all colour in and add to, you could even buy a copy of it to take away to use at a party of your own – such a great idea! Also in the room was face painting and temporary tattoos, all included in the ticket price, which is something I really appreciate as so many places you go, you have to pay for a ticket then everything else is extra. There were some great little biscuits and cake you could buy that were in keeping with the Alice theme.

Once the kids had finished getting their craft on, we went downstairs for a dance and it was so nice hearing music that I used to love and dance to when I was clubbing in the 90’s! I love new music as well but there is nothing like a trip down memory lane and a bit of nostalgia. It’s a nice reminder that there was life before kids and gave me the feeling that it’s possible to go and dance with your kids. Hearing Raze - 'Break for Love' and Groove Armada brought me so much happiness. The venue felt really safe for the kids, although I'm  not yet comfortable with the older ones (aged 6) going off on their own quite yet, even though it was a small enough place. Every now and then there would be bubbles and confetti bombs going off and towards the end of the event the parachute came out and everyone piled underneath it.

My favourite memories of Sunday afternoon were dancing with Isla to Neneh Cherry's Buffalo Stance. Such a classic song and a reminder that before kids I LOVED music and I need to start sharing the music I love with them more. And also lifting Noah up to pop the bubbles as they came down from above. 

At the end the kids were given a box of Bear Nibbles and a Happy Monkey Smoothie which was such a lovely touch and we went on our way, slightly sweaty and after being in a dimly lit pub for the past two hours, marvelling that it was daylight outside (something that if you went clubbing back in the day you would also marvel about at 6am outside Leisure Lounge or Ministry of Sound!).

Details of the next Big Fish Little Fish's event can be found here http://www.bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk/events/

I'm personally getting very excited about getting my Big Fish Little Fish fix at Camp Bestival in the summer and I'm considering a CB warm up at one of the three events BFLF are holding in the run up to the festival.

We were given free family entry to Big Fish Little Fish. 

We ♥ H+M

I buy a lot of the kids clothes from H&M. I usually go in and do a big splurge getting all their essentials in one go, and most recently I've done a few shops online and I've found it an easy process. I find that their clothes are inexpensive, durable and also on trend. Noah lives in jogging bottoms in the winter/ spring months and they do such great joggers, in a range of colours and they are such good value. I love these bright orange ones. They also do brilliant logo and slogan T-shirts and when I saw this one I had to get it for him - he's a big Batman fan and it's raised a smile on most people's face when they've read it. 

T-shirt: £5.99
Joggers: £5.99 (these were on a 3 for 2 deal)

I got Isla a couple of really sweet bird print summer dresses at the same time, which fit in with her new found love of birds. I'll post those another time. 

Photography for Parents Online Photography Course Review

I've always loved photos and keeping a record of the things I do. Not only since having children, I have stacks of photos from my teens and twenties when big nights out were captured from beginning to messy end and holidays and festivals were recorded in technicolour. I always had a camera, or for times when I didn't I'd rely on disposables. I remember loving the anticipation of going to collect my prints from Boots and thinking of the moments I'd captured and hoping they looked as good as I remembered them to be. And then there were always the photos that I couldn't remember taking and being surprised by them as I leafed through the prints.

In recent times I've used my iPhone as my camera, which in the most part is fine because they give ok results and if the phot isn't as good as I'd hoped there's always a photography app like A Beautiful Mess and Instagram where I can fade out imperfections with filters and other gizmos. There is absolutely nothing wrong with photos taken in this way as it's so convenient given that I always have a phone in my pocket, but I decided to delve into the world of DSLR and bought a Nikon d3200. I soon realised that if I was going to have a clue what I was doing with this wonderful technology I'd need to go on a little photography course.

Photography for Parents online photography course is perfect for people who can't make it to face to face lessons and given that the subject of my photos these days is mostly kids it seemed the course was perfectly titled for me. The course comes in 6 modules of learning, running weekly and alongside it there is a forum where you can ask questions and gain support. For every module there is also a homework element and you submit your homework to the forum for the moderator to appraise and give pointers of how you could do things differently and also say "Yes! You really captured that!". Because the course has live support it also means that you get feedback really quickly and in the case of this of this course we were asked if we would like a week midway through to help us process some of the technical information about aperture and depth of field etc.

The idea of the course is to get people off the 'Auto' setting and to get some really great photos of your little ones. It gets you thinking about light, composition, aperture, shutter speeds amongst other things. I have to admit that if I hadn't started this course I think I would have definitely left the camera on Auto and not braved it. There is a lot to take in when you are getting to grips with a DSLR and I won't deny that it didn't frighten me slightly in the same way that my weekly physics lessons in senior school used to terrify me, but the course is so clear and the moderators online really make you feel at ease. There is nothing intimidating about it. I feel that I have a better understanding of the settings on my camera now and like I can navigate my way round without fear. My only wish is that my brain would work quicker and I'd be able to think through best settings for different situations faster. In the time it takes me to remember what ISO I need or whether spot metering would be best I potentially lose the moment. However this is really just me getting to grips with a fairly new camera and with more practice it will come.

During each module there are practical exercises to complete. I liked doing these particularly shooting at different focal lengths and also the exercise on focus and achieving blur in the background of my photos. At the end of each module there are homework tasks for you to complete in your own time and submit to the forum. I have to admit that I haven't been great at that bit and I attribute that to a few reasons. Firstly as it's winter, good enough light to take great photos is limited, and with me working full time these days I can't round up my trusty subjects when I get home and herd them outside like I could in the summer months. And our house is too dingy to get photos I feel happy with. I am also not so good at hooking up my camera to my Macbook and uploading my photos and resizing them so I can upload them to the forum. I am one of those people with a camera full of photos (just like my phone) and they're trapped in there. This is something I need to be better at.
I was given the chance to join the Level 1 online Photography for Parents course for free in exchange for this review. All opinions are my own.




At the end of every module you are able to download that weeks course content in pdf form and print it out which I have found to be invaluable for when I'm commuting to work and I want to re-read some of the stuff I've read online. I also highlight some of the things I want to stick out for me. Once you come to the end of the course it doesn't end there, the forums stay moderated for another few weeks to allow for stragglers to post their homework (umm yes that's me!) and you can join a Facebook group to continue sharing your photography practice.

I'm personally really happy that I was given the opportunity ti try this course and I would recommend it. The course is full of information but it's delivered in such a way that makes it easy to understand. It's broken down into easily digestible chunks that allows you to not feel under pressure and for me that is key when I'm learning something new. If there was any pressure then it wouldn't work for me what with all the other stresses I have as a working parent. My aim from taking this course was to understand my camera better and to start getting some great photos of my family and that's already underway.

The Level 1 course costs £65 if you get an earlybird rate and the standard cost is £87. It runs for 6 weeks. The next course starts on Monday 2nd March so..... GET BOOKING!

If you're not quite sure you want to commit to the whole course fee, then Photography for Parents are currently offering a module 1 trial offer for 37 which seems like a bargain to me! It will allow you to get a flavour and see if you think the course is for you. If you like what you see then you can pay the remainder of the course fee and carry on. If you decide it's not for you then you can leave it at that and walk away, you're not obliged to carry on. Go to: Photography Course for your trial offer.


For more details and to sign up to the website go to: Photography for Parents

They can also be found on Facebook: Photography for Parents

Moving Up to a Big Boy Bed

Lots of people ask the question "When does a baby move from a cot to a bed?" and I think the answer is really very dependent on the individual child. I remember when Isla moved from her cot to a toddler bed and it definitely signalled the end of babyhood, she was just past 2 years old. Seeing her in her new bed, she looked so small, yet so grown up at the same time. So the time came recently for Noah to leave his cot and make the leap to a toddler bed and it was again the end of his babyhood, also at 2 years old. But to me it was more than that as he is definitely my last baby and therefore the cot was packed up and given to a friend and I felt a lump in my throat. And so started a new chapter, of training him to not keep getting in and out of bed at bedtime. To be fair to him, he's not been too much a of terror for that, like his sister was. He knows he can get out whenever he wants but in the morning he prefers to sit up in bed and just yell "MUUUUMMMY" until I come running.

He was very pleased with his new bed and it seems like since he's been sleeping in it he's grown even more. He loves the little shelf on the side, for his water beaker and to put his trains that he insists on going up to bed with! The head end of the bed has side panels to help stop him from falling out, which is great while he gets used to sleeping in a bed with no bars. I love the storage boxes that slide under the bed - very useful for a room where the children share. The fact that it's Spiderman also makes it 100% big boy material, but that doesn't stop him from saying he's a baby every time I try to get him to start potty training......


We were sent the Spiderman Toddler Bed free of charge from http://www.bambinodirect.co.uk in exchange for this post. All words are my own.

Starting School. It's Emotional.

How did we get to this point so quickly? One minute she was like this:

The next like this:

I'm going to admit to not being a big fan of the baby stage but 12 months onwards is the best in my view! Isla didn't suffer too much from the terrible two's. We had a peak in bad behaviour about 2 months after Noah was born and after that there were some random outbursts but nothing regular. She's always been talkative and happy and social and I hope that these qualities will stand her in good stead for starting school tomorrow. Aargh school!! We've got the uniform, we've bought the shoes, she's been in to school for 1 hour with me by her side and now tomorrow she goes it alone. I feel scared and excited.

I'm excited about this new chapter but I also feel sad about my little girl getting bigger. Sometimes I say to her "I want you to stay little" and very adamantly she says "NO! I WANT TO BE BIGGER!". How ironic that lately I've been thinking myself how I'd love to turn back the hands of time. It's human nature to always want to be one step ahead, always wanting to be older, so you can be tall enough for rides at theme parks, old enough to see a 15 film, drive and drink. It's a shame as younger people we can't know that we should enjoy what's happening at the time.

I'm scared about the outside world having more influence on my baby. She has been at nursery since she was 9 months old for 2 days a week so she hasn't exactly been sheltered but we have been the ones predominantly responsible for her well being and education up till this point. I worry about whether she's emotionally mature enough for school. She'll be one of the younger ones in the year and that makes me want to protect her. 

I remember my school days at infant school to be very happy and carefree and I hope that Isla experiences the same as I did. Learning will be a new journey and one that I hope she enjoys and excels at in her own way. My heart kind of aches and tears well up when I think about it all too much and I know that tomorrow I won't be able to think straight. But I hope she comes home having enjoyed it and wanting to go back. 

Good luck my gorgeous girl. We love you so much!

How to Make a Quick Model Rocket for Children

One recent Saturday morning we were a bit stumped for things to do as it was peeing down with rain outside, so I noticed we had two juice bottles in our recycling and I thought surely we could make something out of these? We’d been watching an episode of Ben and Holly when they go into space so I thought why not make model rockets from them? It seemed like a fairly easy idea in my head and actually in practice it was too. The kids had a lot of fun helping with this as it really is very simple. So here’s our crafty instructions on how to make a rocket…..


Materials:

1 Bottle – we made a small rocket from a small lunchbox drink bottle Silver Foil 
1 toilet roll 
Black card squares 
Stickers to decorate your rocket 
Bright orange/ yellow/ red tissue paper to make the flames 
Sticky tape 


1 – Take your bottle and cover the entire thing in silver foil – ensure you make a point at the top for a real aerodynamic look

2 – Take your toilet roll and cut in to 3 pieces and also cover them in tin foil

3 – Stick the 3 covered toilet roll pieces to the bottom of your covered bottle using sticky tape– these are your rocket exhausts! 

With the obligatory tongue out....

4 – Stick some black squares on the side of your rocket for windows and then stick lots of shiny stickers all over your rocket to make it look really state of the art

5 – Finally tear some strips of bright orange/ yellow/ red tissue paper and stick to the rocket exhausts for flames - there you have a a really speedy to make rocket!


Making the rockets was a lot of fun and then playing with the rockets after was also a big hit!

Proud Mummy Moments - Isla

In the last couple of months Isla has taken a lot of interest in letters of the alphabet and in particular spelling her name. She has known that 'I' is for Isla for quite a while but she also knows lots of other letters that she can associate with things, like 'D' for Daddy, 'M' for Mummy etc. And in the last couple of weeks I've become really impressed that she is making great strides with writing her name and although not completely right I feel it's a moment worth commemorating for my 3 and a half year old. It's recognisable as Isla! The nursery are doing so well at encouraging her with this and in a very covert way as well that isn't pressurising at all, just telling her to put her name on her artwork and other things she does.
I love seeing her blossom and accomplish new things. It makes me full of pride.

The Endless Round of School Visits

I'm nearly at the end of the seemingly endless round of school visits to potential primary schools for Isla for next year. In our borough we have to put down 6 school choices and so over the past few weeks I've been visiting the 6 nearest schools to us to get some sort of sense of order I might put them down on the form. The visits have  all been very different. Each Headteacher seems to take a different stance on how best to show parents their school. Some have favoured the method of getting the kids to show us round, which I quite liked, others the Head or Deputy Head took us round personally. Some have done a formal presentation to parents and others have been more informal and chatted to parents on their way out (I liked the formal presentation personally). 

This whole process gives the illusion that you somehow have a real choice in where your child will go to school. The likelihood of getting your first choice though when you live in a borough where the schools are heavily oversubscribed is low. I have liked aspects of all the schools I have seen over the past few weeks but there is one school that in my eyes really shone out for me and I would love for Isla to go there. The facilities were amazing, I had a good opinion of the headteacher and the children seemed happy. However it's third nearest to our house (as the crow flies), so locality is against us - which seems ridiculous as we're only 0.74 miles away from it but looking at last year the furthest they took children was 0.6 miles. Before distance is even considered priority is given to looked after children and children with medical conditions. Then you also have to factor in siblings - last year this school had 31 out of 60 places taken by little brothers and sisters. 

One thing I noticed about all the schools that I have seen is that the children are mostly very proud of their school and they are amazingly confident and articulate. I loved it when a school let the children show us around - after all they know the school best don't they and will be more candid? It really helped me to imagine Isla in a years time in her school uniform and to visualise her in the future being part of a class.

I will put my preferred school as first choice but I feel sure that we will get the one which is 2 minutes walk from our house and it's not a major problem as I did like it too. It's just that when you find somewhere that you totally fall in love with and you start to imagine your little one going there, it's hard to convince yourself that other places will be just as good. Anyway, one more school to visit and then time for the form filling and the dreadful wait until April!

The Land of Sometimes - Review

Before we got the chance to review The Land of Sometimes I'd seen a lot of bloggers on twitter extolling it's virtues and I was totally intrigued! As soon as we got it I was a bit worried that we'd not be able to get Justin Fletcher out of the disk drive in the car but as soon as I put this CD on the kids seemed to go into a trance in the back seats and they fell off to sleep! Obviously this is beneficial to me but it's not really them listening to it. So I kept putting it on and I found that although it still kept sending Noah to sleep (it's so hypnotic and calming!), it didn't always do the same for Isla, she started to REALLY listen to the story and understand some of the magical nature of it.

The album is a musical on a CD, it has a wonderful story running through it and a brilliant narrator telling the story interspersed with songs. So what's it about?
The Land of Sometimes is about a magical journey that twins Elize & Alfie take together. Four seasons pass in one day and as they pass through Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter they encounter many characters along the way who all have fantastic songs. Isla's favourites are the second song, 'Dare Make A Wish' - she calls this Alfie's Song and actually we have to listen to this one about 3 times before I have to butt in and say we're listening to the rest of the CD! After this she likes 'The Ditty of Little Twink' - a song about a naughty fairy who comes to your room and messes it up when you're asleep. My personal favourite is 'The Ballad of the River Slouch Sling' - when I listen to it I seem to have a picture of Keith Allen playing the part of this character - listen up all theatre directors if you make 'The Land of Sometimes' on the stage! The music is so diverse, some of it has a dreamy quality, other bits are disco and some bits are a bit spooky.
I love the fact that Isla is made to use her imagination with this CD, it's an audio book, something we hadn't tried with her before and it really works. She is gradually picking up the words to the songs as I hear her in the back singing along (so sweet!). I'm trying to get us through the whole CD in play list order but she does have a habit of requesting her favourites, so I try and persuade her that we should follow Alfie and Elize through the magical journey.

I love the CD sleeve, it's a book with gorgeous illustrations. I haven't actually let Isla loose with it yet though for a couple of reasons - I don't want it to get naffed up (!) and also I want her to make up her own pictures in her head of what the characters look like.

As a final positive, this CD does still send Noah into a deep sleep when we're in the car, so if you have a particularly niggly 8 month old baby who refuses a lunch time nap - get this beautiful CD, bung baby in the car and drive somewhere till baby sleeps, don't forget to take your flask of coffee and a magazine - actually scrap the last bit, just sit and listen to the story, it really is entertaining!

Go to www.thelandofsometimes.com for further information, bits and pieces for the kids and to purchase.

We were sent a copy of The Land of Sometimes free of charge in order to write this review. All opinions expressed are my own.

The Gallery - Children

When I saw that the topic this week for The Gallery was 'Children', the obvious choice was to pick a photo of my gorgeous daughter, but then I thought no, how's about a pic of me, in my favourite Chelsea shirt. I love this photo - the poor colour quality, the groovy 1970's decor and how lovely my nan looks! I also know that my mum would have cut that fringe and later on that day we'd probably have watched 'Metal Mickey' or 'Doctor Who' on the black and white TV.

My sister and I used to spend many a Saturday afternoon at our grandparents house while my mum worked and my Dad was in The Shed end at Stamford Bridge cheering on the blues. I loved wearing this shirt and if I could still have one item of my childhood clothing it would be this.

In the winter we'd spend hours playing board games or cards with my nan and in the summer we'd be having adventures amongst the beanstalks at the end of the garden, more often than not tottering around in my nan's high heeled shoes - we've got the Cine film somewhere of this, must get it out one day!

If you want to check out Tara's blog and all the other Gallery entries go to: Sticky Fingers - there are some brilliant pictures!

Pee on a Stick

You are now looking at a picture of a stick that I pee-ed on - yuk...but obviously its more than that, it's proof of another baby on the way!
It was planned (but to hit the bulls eye on the first go wasn't exactly expected.. Bully's special prize...) and we're excited but it has thrown up all sorts of questions and feelings, some of which I experienced last time but others that are new. Here they all are:

- Should we find out the sex? We did the first time round - this was because I'm no good at waiting to find things out - I hate surprises - and I really liked being able to think of names for one gender. This time around I'm not so sure. I had a terribly long latent phase of labour and then when finally in the hospital I had a dreadful time so I'm wondering if not knowing the sex might help to spur me on - or is this just poppycock?

- If it's a boy will I know what to do with it? This one is ridiculous I know, but I'm obviously female, I'm one of two sisters and I have a little girl. Will I enjoy watching Thomas the Tank Engine and doing rough tough boy stuff? And boys names, they're just not as easy to decide on than girls!

- Is the age gap going to be a nightmare between new baby and big baby - 2 years = terrible two's doesn't it? 

- How will we afford 2 children? This question came up the first time around and I keep telling myself that it worked then so it will work again - somehow!

- Will me and hubbie survive the sleepless nights again and more importantly weather the teething storm with another baby - praying that big baby has all her teeth by then or we'll have double trouble!

- How will our number 1 girl feel about being a big sister?

- Will Bobcat finally leave home as he realises that his home has been invaded by not just one but two marauding monsters!

- Most important wilI I ever find the time to get my hair cut again? Not had a cut since February (!), and while I'm on the subject I could do with a full mummy makeover, so any TV execs out there - I'm your haggard example of a 35 year old who once liked to look nice, who now is lucky to have time to drag a brush through my hair.

There are plenty more questions and thoughts where they came from but I'd be all night, these are top of mind right now. Typically they all enter my head as I'm about to crash out for a nights sleep. All I know is that we're entering the next stage of the adventure of life and who knows what it will bring?