Me & Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - February

Has it really been a month already? February is a short month but it really has felt like it has flown by! I am still struggling to find some time for me, and blogging but hopefully that will happen soon.....I hope!

What have we been up to this month? We enjoyed Valentine's Day, Pancake Day, our 13 year anniversary of meeting, as well as half term and all the activities that involved. Wiss went to Pirate School at the South Bank 'Imagine' Festival, and got up on stage with Cowboy Max, learnt some circus skills at Clown School in Suffolk, and got brave at the waterpark going down the flumes by himself! I had a nasty bout of mastitis which knocked me for six and wiped me out for a week. The husband went to the NME awards show and tried not to feel too old! And February was a big month for little Ferne: she started on solid foods, learnt to roll from back to front, celebrated her 6 month 'birthday' and started babbling and saying 'mama'!

This month's photo was taken by a photographer at the water park - we were not expecting to have our picture taken but it's a great memento of a very fun, and noisy day on the last day of half term.

I am loving being part of this family portrait project - not only are there such great pictures being shared each month by all the other participants, but it is making me find the photo opportunities that I wouldn't have done before. It's wonderful to see all 4 of us together!

Do pop over and have a look at the rest of this month's Me & Mine portraits...

#SilentSunday

Me and Mine - A Family Portrait Project 2015 - January

I'm back! Tax return done for another year, and now finally I feel like I am able to begin this year properly. I know that it's already a month in but I still have eleven more to plan, fill, enjoy and record!

I have lots planned for the blog, for This is Wiss and for our family life but more of those in the next post. One thing I do want to do is take more pictures of the four of us together, and that's where this fantastic project comes in. Me & Mine is a family portrait project that has been running for a couple of years already, organised by Lucy from Dear Beautiful. The idea is simple: one family portrait each month. By the end of the year each participant will have a wonderful and very personal record of their family - you'll be able to see how you all change, how you grow, what was happening that month. There are loads of people signed up for 2015 and you don't even need to be a blogger as there's a facebook page now too. All the details can be found here.

So here is mine for January...

This month we have been celebrating Lewis's 5th birthday, hoping that it snows (and settles) in London (it didn't), watching Ferne learn to roll over, wrapping up warm to go to the park, listening to Lewis read, making Ferne laugh and eating lots of yummy family meals together.

New Year, Same Beginning... Or how I've not found my inner calm!

Hello, and happy new year to you all! I realise that I'm actually two weeks late and that more than likely all the festivities seem an age away to you, but the thought is there.

If you're anything like me, it will have taken you a while to get back into the rhythmn of normal life. The school runs, baby groups and a bottomless washing basket have taken up a lot of my time this year (!) but before I can establish any kind of new routine there is one thing hanging over me...

It's the same every January and you'd think I'd learn but apparently not. I hate these adverts so much! I'm so jealous of the people pictured finding their 'inner calm' that they make my blood boil. It feels like they are mocking me from the bus stops, the billboards and even from the radio!

So it is with a heavy heart that I must put everything else that I'd like to do on the back burner until February. I'll be back then with all the usual posts, including Kids Clothes Week (2-9 February)

Good luck to everyone else who is in the same lazy boat as me, hope you get all your receipts to work out :)

We Like To Read - The First Hippo on the Moon

'The First Hippo on the Moon' is the latest childrens' book from David Walliams. Who doesn't love David Walliams? He is super talented in many ways (even open water swimming!) and it appears that he knows just what kids like too.

This is the story of two Hippopotamuses who share the same dream: to be the first hippopotamus on the moon! But they go about it in very different ways.

Wiss really loved this book - he asked me to read it again immediately after we finished, and we've read it repeatedly over the last three days too. It's got all the key elements: a good story (with a lovely moral to 'dream big'), lots of fun (Wiss liked the two porcupines best) and a good helping of toilet humour as well (bottoms, poo and farts!) The wonderful illustrations are by Tony Ross and they really bring the story to life.

I found some of the language tricky (hippo-po-rocket for instance!) but Wiss really liked the silliness and repetitiveness of these words. This book was a huge hit in our house and I will definitely be tracking down Walliams' other book for young children.

You can buy this book by clicking here or why not enter my competition to win one?

If you would like the chance to win a copy of 'The First Hippo on the Moon' for yourself then use the RaffleCopter below to enter. The competition will be closing on Monday 1 December. The winner will be announced and they will receive their copy in time for Christmas.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of the book for free so we could review it, but all opinions are our own. We really did love it! Wiss is nearly 5 years old but I think that it would still appeal to older and slightly younger children.

Mini Meals - a recipe invented by Wiss

I hope this post isn't too indulgent but when Wiss told me that he'd thought up a recipe all by himself I was intrigued. What would a 4 year old make for dinner?!

In his own words: "you need a bit of pastry or something, and make it round. Then you can put stuff in it like creme fraiche* or ham or cheese or anything really. Then cook it."

I have to say I was pretty impressed and thought that could be delicious - they're a bit like a pasty or an empanada. Wiss even came up with the name for them, and a theme tune too!

So here is our recipe for Mini Meals...

You will need:

• Puff pastry - ready rolled or a block rolled out to about 5mm thick
• Various ingredients you like such as tuna, cheese, ham, spinach, mushrooms, peas, sweetcorn, peppers, olives, tomato puree, creme fraiche etc
• Beaten egg or milk

Cut your pastry into round shapes using a small plate or similar as a template. Use any left overs to make decorations for the tops - Wiss cut out stars and elephants!

Spread one half of your circle with either tomato puree or creme fraiche depending on your preference, but don't go right to the edge. You will need this bit free from ingredients so you can stick it together.

Then add whatever combination of ingredients you fancy. We went for ham, cheese and sweetcorn, tuna, spinach and olive, cheese, peppers and peas, and one with pretty much everything in! Everyone can choose their own concoction - great for kids!

When you have filled them the way you want brush the edge of your pastry circle with the beaten egg/milk and fold over to make a semi-circle shape. Use your fingers to pinch and crimp the edges together. Decorate with the extra pastry shapes if you have them and glaze the tops with egg/milk. We added the last of the cheese on top too...

Bake at around 180 degrees until the pastry is crisp and golden. Serve with salad and enjoy!

The 'Mini Meals' were delicious! What with the recipe and the Mini Meals jingle, who knows, you may see these in the supermarkets soon!

*This is not actually a sponsored post but Wiss is addicted to creme fraiche and would eat it with everything if he could!

Kids Clothes Week - Autumn 2014: The Results!

If you are a regular reader of this blog you will already know how much I love Kids Clothes Week - I find it's a great opportunity to force myself to sit down and make stuff for fun, just for the love of it (and love of your kids.) And you can really have some fun too. You can see some of the things I have made over the years in these posts: Autumn 2011, Spring 2013,  Summer 2013,  Summer 2014 

Excuses, excuses but my new little daughter really isn't playing ball when it comes to letting Mama have time to sew but a couple of times this week she did actually go to sleep at bedtime and stay down for the night. Woohoo! It felt so good to be back behind the sewing machine again so I'm hoping that I'll be getting a bit more time now. We'll see I guess!

All my sewing this time was for Ferne (sorry Wiss!). Firstly, I decided to alter this beautiful dress I got from a local nearly-new sale. It's actually a Kenzo dress and it's wonderfully made from needlecord, but I don't really see the point of dresses on small babies: they just ride up all the time as you hold them and you spend all your time yanking them down again. So I altered this dress to become a little romper suit instead. I didn't have enough of the fabric to make a gusset though so it was a very basic alteration. I made the skirt into two legs to which I added elastic, then used bias binding to make a strong facing inside the crutch to take the poppers.

It worked really well, even if I do say so myself but unfortunately, Ferne has grown so much that it is already a bit snug on her (and when she's wearing her washable nappies there is no chance it will fit. Such a shame.)

Next I made her a sleepsack using this fab organic jersey from Birch (collection is called Elk Grove) Mine came from great fabric shop Ray Stitch. The arms and binding are upcycled from old t-shirts. I added a good few centimetres to my pattern as Ferne is very long. I really love this fabric and pattern so I'll definitely be using it to make some more clothes for her soon.

And finally I had time to make her this cute little outfit. I used a pattern for Skinny Harem Pants from Brindille & Twig, and the top is just a short version of the sleep sack. I am planning on using fabric paints to stencil 'Boo!' onto the top as it will be Ferne's Halloween outfit, but I thought it was simple enough to also be worn after the event. Both fabrics are from old t-shirts (I like to pick up shirts from charity shops or primark to use in this way.)

So this week wasn't my most productive ever, but it definitely wasn't a wash-out either. I guess I spent a total of 7 hours over 3 nights sewing. It goes to show just how much you can get done in a short space of time. So, did anyone else join in this season? Or has anyone been inspired to start sewing for their child? The next challenge will be for Winter 2014 so keep an eye on the Kids Clothes Week website for more details.

Happy Sewing!