Pencil poster

I made a poster for my other job, to fill in and update as and when needed. I did it really quickly, staying up later than I should but I really really enjoyed it :)

The Mighty Cucumber Suit

The Cucumber Suit - the littlest's invention for a certain computer game. "It rolls down to squish people and bomp them out of the way" apparently :)

(You can see a little GIF I made over on my Facebook or Instagram page.)

Look Mummy Look!

Our boys like to show me what they've drawn or made throughout the day, no matter what I may be doing at the time. 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all you super mums!

Happy International Women's Day!

animal mix ups

Our 6 year old recently came up with some funny animal combos when we had a couple of days off school due to snow. I don't remember how it all started but for a few days it became an obsession - finding animals whose names merged into each other, which he then drew. It was a lot of fun and it reminded me of the Japanese word game "Shiritori" (literal translation = taking the bottom) where you say a word beginning with the last letter of the previous word.

I have reworked some of my favourites.

You can see the original creations below. They really make me smile!

Anything else?

Just a small selection of the things he has asked to be moved at bedtime. 

Have I ever mentioned that we have sleep issues in our house?

SNAPPY CHRISTMAS!

It's been another busy year, mostly looking after the little ones and squeezing what creativity I can into into the little gaps of time I can find. The loss of nap time with our littlest meant that gap of time got even tinier but there is big change ahead, for the little one starts preschool next year!!!

As much as I will miss our time together, those 3 hours every day is going to be heavenly and I can't wait to fill it with creativity :)

Snappy Christmas everyone and see you in 2018!

Christmas Stocking No 4

We have a special visitor this Christmas - the boys' American cousin! I've had a lovely time making this Christmas stocking for her. I hope she likes it :)

Abracadabra!

I made a poster and tickets for the upcoming Magic Show at my boy's school :)

!

Explaining to the toddler what an "!" (Exclamation mark) is in a game of "Dobble", and he came back with the excellent "Extra-bacon mark"!

I turn my back for 1 second...

...and find him playing with a bit of chewing gum he's peeled off the pavement. 

(This is what happened the last time.)

The Big Lunch

We are having a street party in our neighbourhood, as part of The Great Get-Together in honour of Jo Cox. It's all about celebrating "community, commonality and connections", and we are lucky to be part of a lovely, friendly neighbourhood with a strong sense of community.

A small group of us have been getting together regularly to plan The Big Lunch and it's been so much fun! I've loved having something to think about outside of motherhood (maybe a bit too much) and have been enjoying getting a little creative after a long absence. I've put together some placemats and have got a little carried away making some foody props for our Insta-wall. I'm looking forward to seeing all the photos after the event, but most of all I'm looking forward to sharing food and time with friends old and new :)  

"We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us" 

Jo Cox (1974-2016)

Child play in the time of Trump

Even playtime with the kids take on a political edge these days...

The Literal Kid

We get this quite a lot from our 5 year old, with a completely straight face.

mums on the run

Motherhood has changed me in many ways. 

I'm not as laid back as I used to be, I'm impatient, I shout, I lose control of my emotions and unbelievabIy I consider waking up at 7:30am a sleep in. 

I have also recently started enjoying running. When I told this to my old school friend she said she nearly fell off her chair! I was never any good at sports and HATED running so it's no surprise really.

It started off with a Parkrun one Saturday morning at our local park. I thought I'd give it a go even though I hadn't run in over 20 years, telling myself if I can give birth on gas and air then I can overcome the pain of running 5km! I did and it hurt and I felt sick and was a complete mess but strangely I wanted to do it again.

Then I discovered Power pramming - a group of mums getting together in the park to run with their buggies - something you can do with your child and a lovely supportive group of mums AND for free - amazing! 

I've been running with the little one in the buggy since last June (although these days, he seems to prefer it when it's just me and him) and I've come to realise that actually, the challenge isn't so much the running as the constant providing of snacks and drinks to the little one whilst running. It's taken me a while to work out what the best snacks are; it's got to be easy to grab and hand over, low maintenance but chewy enough to keep their gobs shut and busy for a while. 

Motherhood is all about multitasking and learning to do a whole array of things one-handed, and now I can add 'peeling a satsuma whilst running with a buggy' to my list of newly acquired skills thanks to my ever-hungry son and Power pramming :)

Good words and bad words

I love the words that come out of our little ones' mouths. Sometimes poetic, sometimes ridiculous and funny! Here are a few uttered by our 2 year old:

(When he spotted the moon through the car window following us when we were driving at night)

(His description on seeing fireworks for the first time, followed by "Big magic, small magic, red ones, green ones...")

(Runny nose)

(Fight talk)

Incidentally, our 5 year old very clearly said this the other day:

when he couldn't quite put his lego together. After a pause, I asked "What did you say?" so he repeated it very clearly. I asked him where he got that phrase to which he proudly and matter of fact-ly replied, "Daddy".

Moany and Whiny

I managed to squeeze in a couple of illustrations, in between preparing for the BedPop Christmas Shop (which will be happening this weekend at The Higgins Museum). They are completely fictional and not based on any little people I know ;)

Hoshi's words

I did so many of these for our older boy but sadly I've just not had the time to do very much for our younger one. I find the beginnings of language with a little one fascinating, and I love the little mispronunciations and interpretations. I scribble down new words and phrases they come up with - that's about all I can manage these days so I'm really pleased I actually managed to turn these into illustrations, yay!

Can you guess what they are?

Make Your Own Poster Book

We had so much fun at the workshop I ran recently for BookFest, that we have decided to put together activity packs for making your own poster/book, along with a Facebook page where people could share their creations. The packs will contain a pre-folded book, instructions and lots of stickers and will be available from our stall at The BedPop Christmas Shop, The Higgins, Bedford on 3rd/4th December. Come and say Hi!

Order of Things 2016

Many many years ago, my good friend Jon scribbled a little doodle on my school folder called "Order of Things" (below). Here it is revisited 20+ years later, through my son's eyes during school pick up. I don't get a look in.