Lifestyle and Parenting blog based in Surrey.

Sunday 30 April 2017

Sophie's 2nd Birthday

How can my little bundle be two already?! Time has been going at double speed I swear. Last year we had a little gathering just for family to celebrate Sophie’s first birthday but this year we decided, after Sophie has loved going to her little friends parties, that she would love one of her own too.




So last sunday we invited friends, family and neighbours into our garden for an afternoon of celebrating. We decided to host the party after nap time so Sophie would be at her most cheerful and this meant that we only provided snacks and drinks rather than a full birthday tea.


I had been eyeing up pintrest boards of beautiful pastel and unicorn themed parties, then gave myself a reality check, this was never going to translate to a toddler party with loads of adults attending too. So I made peace with myself that little touches would be fine and not to stress about it being perfect.

After decorating the garden for Sophie’s Christning party with Talking Tables decorations, this is were I turned again to add touches of pink and white to make the party space feel more special. I also decorated the front of the house, so everyone knew where the party was. Bunting and rosettes on the bay trees seems more stylish than a bunch of balloons!





I am no baker, however, I really wanted to make Sophie’s birthday cake and had eyed up some fun unicorn cakes on instagram and decided to recreate. Although my baking was an unmitigated disaster (five very flat cakes ended up in the food caddy and I was almost in tears….. why do I do this to myself?!) the decorating went much more smoothly. 





I iced the 3 tier cake with Betty Crocker ready made icing (my emotional state could’t cope with making icing….) and then piped the man and for the horn and ears I used fondant icing and drew on the eyes. I was pretty pleased with my efforts, although it looks far from professional! Sophie got that it was a unicorn, (thank fully) but didn't quite get blowing out the candles, so needed a little help from mummy.




My Top: Toyshop

I wanted Sophie to have something special to wear for the party, and she looked super cute in a beautiful tutu skirt and matching blouse from the new Marie Chantal collection at M&S, and her gold butterfly party shoes from Monsoon. As the weather fluctuated from super warm when the sun came out to a little chilly in the shade, I popped on some white tights too. She does look a little dishevelled in these pictures, after running about with her friends!



Although we had set an ‘end point’ to the party in the invite, everyone was having such a lovely time with the kiddies all playing beautifully with the garden toys and Sophie’s new climbing frame, that the party ended up rolling into the evening.


I was a bit worried how Sophie would be about sharing all her toys, but as my lovely sister came with a car full of ride-on-toys it wasn’t an issue which was a huge relief! 


We held off on opening all the generous gifts that everyone brought and staggered them over the next few days so she could appreciate them rather than a few seconds of crazy paper tearing and oh my, she was totally spoilt.


We had such a lovely afternoon, I can’t wait to host more summer parties now, let the BBQ season commence!
SHARE:

Monday 24 April 2017

Spring at Osterley Park



The Easter holidays have come to an end and I'm looking through the photos of the glorious three weeks off. We were blessed with the weather at points and I definitely made the most of it planing 
days out to enjoy the sunshine.



One of Sophie's godmothers had planned a day out to see the dinosaur trail at Osterley Park, a nearby National Trust property. We chose the date after it finished (whoops!) so we went for a stroll around the grounds instead. Sophie loved the swans and ducks in the lake and the views of the house across the park were beautiful.



I'm a National Trust member, but Victoria isn't so as we had planned to get home for Sophie's nap time we forged entering the formal gardens and house and had a lovely walk around the public areas. Luckily I packed the camera and had a jolly time snapping away at the wisteria that was covering one side of the mansion.





We obviously needed to sample the cafe, so a stop for lattes and cake in the sunny courtyard broke up our stroll, whist Sophie explored all the cobbles and mounting block.




Sophie was still recovering from a nasty cold shed had the previous week and after coffee was demanding to be carried (which she is far too heavy for extended walks!) so we decided to move our lunch stop to our home town where we found a new cafe to try - more to come on this!

SHARE:

Saturday 22 April 2017

Perfect Spa for Mum's with Home Spa London



Who doesn’t love a spa treatment? For me a massage wins hands down every time having an hour purely to relax and unwind is just heavenly. Taking an hour out doesn’t seem that difficult, and when I have one I swear I’ll do it more often. 


However, when you factor in the travelling time to and from a spa, filling in the info card, getting changed and redressed and sitting with some herbal tea afterward to really appreciate the experience, thats a whole morning gone. I don’t get that luxury that often and if I am getting a morning to myself I’m going to try and squeeze much more into it!


So when Home Spa London approached me to have a massage at home - this seemed perfect. I scheduled Joanna to arrive just after nap time, then as she set up the massage table in my spare room I slipped my robe on and we were ready to start.




We’d done all the pre-amble via email so no precious nap time was wasted before starting my deep tissue massage. I’ve always has lots of tension in my neck and shoulders (does’t everyone!) so I’d asked Joanna to concentrate on these areas and my back. Apparently I have typical ‘mum-tightness’ from carrying a little one on my hip… must stop this...! The massage felt heavenly, easing away the knot and tightness in my back - Joanna was just so lovely as well and we chatted easily for the first part of the treatment and then I felt comfortable in the quietness of the room listening to the relaxing music that Joanna also set up.


Then after the treatment was finished I had time for a cheeky cup of tea before my little one woke up. Nap time well spent and zero ‘daddy-day-care-points’ used up! Result.

Home Spa London travel to homes in the London area and treatments start at £60.
SHARE:

Tuesday 11 April 2017

Sophie's Spring Wardrobe


The weather has been absolutely DREAMY this easter holiday. So many days out in the sunshine, every meal has been a picnic and lazy afternoons spent playing in the garden. Idilic.

As the weather has got warmer it has also been time to get out Sophie’s Spring wardrobe, which I’ve been really excited about! Yes everything is a little big but (I think) she looks so cute and grown up! 
I tend to shop for an outfit rather than just buying separates that I like as it makes it much easier to dress Sophie in the morning and stops there being item that don’s get worn very much as they don’t really go with anything. 

So not a very wordy blog post - but here are the outfits I’ve picked for the Spring for my crazy little toddler.



































Far too many pictures... but I hope you like what I picked out for my little one this Spring xxx
SHARE:
Blogger Template Created by pipdig