Children's toys

When you become a mummy you slowly become used to the fact that your house will look like a toy shop a lot of the time. Now I am a mummy for two little ladies, just turned one and three, my house often looks like the Disney shop has exploded in my living room!

Although I have to admit that the brightly coloured noisy toys that we have are very well played with and loved, I do like to pack them away out of sight in pretty storage boxes when they're not being used.

Our home is obviously as shared space and has to work for us all. It is really important that the children have space to fire their imagination and creativity. Equally so I want our home to coordinate and house select pieces that are pleasing to the eye as well as our hearts.

Unfortunately I don't have any toys from my childhood to pass on to my girls. Therefore I am keen to invest in quality wooden toys which I hope will stand the test of time, whilst looking good in our home at the same time.

I also try to find toys that fit in with our décor, which is white, baby blue and grey downstairs and pale pink in their rooms. Thankfully nowadays it is quite easy to coordinate your toys with your child's nursery and your home décor to create a seamless classic theme. Here are some ways of doing this.

Mono chrome 

Firstly I have to admit I am a secret lover of the mono-chrome look. I don't think it would work in our home but I would love to have a spare space where I could give it a go. If we were to have a little boy in the future I definitely think I would go for a black and white theme in his nursery. Here are a few of my favourites;

Panda rocker  White wooden kitchen  Black and white teepee

Nesting dolls  Play table  Retro car

Toy storage box  Indoor tent  Toy pram 

When I was looking online for monochrome toys I stumbled across a fantastic website that stocked lots of unusual funky items, called Lullabuy where you can search via theme. I also loved this personalised toy storage box from My 1st Years  which I am adding to my wish list for the girls along with this lovely white play table from JoJo Maman Bebe.

Grey and pale blue 

Downstairs our home is decorated in a white / grey / baby blue pallet.I think these toys would look fantastic in our house

Coffee Machine Rocking scooter Country kitchen 

Dressing up clothes rail  Small dolls house Children's rocking chair

Wooden shopping trolley Grey wooden kitchen Wooden rocking rabbit 

We have recently sold our wooden toy kitchen as it was getting a bit too small for the two girls to play with together, I would love to either get this blue country Tidlo or this white grey GLTC kitchen for them to play with. I am also in love with this grey rocking scooter!

Pink 

Here are some super girly toys

Shape sorter   Easel   Dolls Bed

Bunny Trike   Scooter Ride On    Shopping Trolley

Train Table    Cash Till    Hobby Horse

All of these toys would look amazing in a pink princess room. My favourite has to be the little scooter trike from GLTC. The train table is on our 'to get list' for the girls as they are Thomas Tank obsessed!


I love homes with feature colour pops, particularly yellow. I am going to have a look now for some wonderful colourful toys!

Thanks for reading! xx

Weekend Tot Style #5

Hello again!

I can't believe how quickly this week has gone! It's that time of the week again where we share the girls outfits for the weekend as part of the Weekend Tot Style link up ran by ThisMamaLife and  ClearlyBex.

As you know I'm new to blogging and started up my blog as I love seeing what other mummies chose for their little ones to wear and thought perhaps some people might like to see my girls array of tutus!!


Here is what Miss GL will be wearing this weekend

 On Saturday Miss GL will be wearing her Matalan sweatshirt with her Zara tutu, George tights and ideally her Monsoon sparkly pumps, but at the minute she is rather taken with Chelsea boots so she may wear her pink Next Chelsea boots.... I guess it could be worse and she wants to wear her clippety-clop dress up shoes out!!

On Sunday she will wear her Joules floral dress and Next tights with her blue Marks and Spencer Chelsea boots.

She is really funny at the minute as she likes to accessorize her clothes at the minute with a matching toy to take out on our travels with us!

Mini Miss GL will be wearing on Saturday here bargain £3.50 Tesco tutu with a Next white top, Next cable tights and TK Maxx jacket.

On Sunday she will wear her Next tunic with Next tights and her TU gillet that came as part of a set last season.

I will add to my instagram pictures of the wearing the outfits, so please follow us to see!

As I mentioned last week, I am going to do a clothes haul vlog on the new bits I've got for the girls for Spring but my attempt this week was well, a bit of  an epic fail!

Thanks for reading!

Kirsty xx

Mothers Day Gift Guide

I was jotting a few dates down in my diary this morning and noticed that Mothers Day is just over a week away! How did that happen?!

Mother's Day has taken on a whole new aspect for me since becoming a Mummy. It is not only a day to celebrate our mother's and grandmother's but it is also a day for me to celebrate the wonderful gift of my girls. It is a day to thank them for making my dreams come true, and a whole lot more, by giving me the amazing gift of being their Mama.

My perfect Mother's Day would consist of a handmade card that is covered in so much glitter that the carpet will be sparkling for weeks no matter how much I vac-up! In our house this is the true test of a quality heart-made card! I would be delighted to receive a small bunch of my favourite spring blooms and unlimited cuddles from my littlies, as they will always be my greatest gift which I will be endlessly thankful for.

In case Mr GL is reading this struggling for inspiration, here are a few gifts that I would be delighted to open on Mothers Day.

M&S rose and hyacinth bouquet 

Cath Kidston Mum mug 

East of India heart

Cath Kidston Mothers Day card

East of India tea towel 

Cath Kidston selfie stick

I absolutely love this bouquet from Marks and Spencer and I can imagine it would make our home smell beautifully spring like for weeks to come. Hydrangeas are a very special flower in our house for so many reasons so this matching Cath Kidston card and mug would be a really special gift. 

I adore East of India products not only for their inspirational quotes but also for their effortlessly chic look. I am one of the few people who don't own a selfie stick simply because I'm not sure my bag could hold another item amongst all the mummy essentials! I really like the thought of having one to capture special moments with my girls so this pretty Cath Kidston one would be ideal to do this. 

I have quickly set to ordering presents for the important ladies in our life. I will add pictures later so not to ruin the surprise!

I hope you all have a fantastic Mother's Day celebrating all those important ladies in your lives. 

Thanks for reading xx

* Picture credits to those companies listed above.

Copper home trend

This seasons hottest home trend is metallics, particularly copper. Inviting copper tones into your space this spring summer will create a warm atmosphere with an industrial undertone.

I have been perusing Pinterest lusting over these stylish homes that are certainly on point with the copper vibe

Try to pair copper with neutral tones, natural materials, soft foliage and textured linens to achieve a classic, warm and inviting space.

A grey and white colour pallet with gentle touch of copper amongst marble and wood is the way I would make this trend work in my home. How inviting does this table look?

I am a great believer in keeping your décor neutral and adding a pop of colour via accessories, so that if a new trend takes over the interiors world in the near future, then you can change your look again relatively inexpensively and affectively.

The copper trend is in all home stores at the minute, here are my divine nine!

Dunelm Pendent £14.99   Dunelm Copper Basket £3.99   H&M Lantern £12.99

Asda Desk Lamp £20   Mia Fleur Octogon Mirror £36.95   Next Cushion £16 

Asda Biscuit Tin £5    Dunelm Star £2.99   Asda Canister set £12

I think I might find a place in my home where I can recreate this gorgeous scheme. Come and see my pinterest board for more inspiration.

Have you introduced the copper theme into your home? I'd love to see how you've created it the look!

Thanks for reading xx


*Image credits Pinterest and the stores listed above.

Weekend Tot Style #4

Hello again!

We are joining in again the Weekend Tot Style link up ran by ThisMamaLife and  ClearlyBex. As you know I'm new to blogging and started up my blog as I love seeing what other mummies chose for their little ones to wear and thought perhaps some people might like to see my girls array of tutus!!

I had a massive clear out of both of the girls wardrobes this week as they seem to have had a growth spurt. All of Miss GL clothes have been packed up for Mini Miss GL for when the time comes for her to use them. Then with MMGL clothes I have bagged some up for the clothes recycling bin, some for the charity shop, some for family, some I've added to the hidden 'just in case we have a 3rd child' box and finally some outfits to take to JoJo Maman Bebe for their From a Mother to Another campaign.

Here are a couple of the outfits we took before our clear out, so I have another big pile ready to go. I love JoJo clothes, although they're slightly more expensive than other brands I do think they last really well. In return for our outfits I was given a £5 off £35 spend voucher, so much to Miss GL's delight I picked up a tutu leggings combo outfit and a breton striped t-shirt for her.

I am just about to get down from the loft all the 12-18 months clothes we saved for Mini Miss GL. I have bought a few new bits for both girls which I will show in a clothes haul post next week..... I'm also thinking about being super brave an trying to do a Vlog about them! I have to admit I love watching clothes haul videos whilst we have our breakfast, as its so lovely to see how real life mums style themselves and their little ones

We have a fairly quiet weekend this week, which we are really looking forward to! Here are Mini Miss GL outfits for this weekend.

Tomorrow Mini Miss GL will be wearing her Joules Wish Upon a Star top and Next sparkly grey leggings. On Sunday she will be wearing a gorgeous Next top which we are gifted when she was born along with Next pink sparkly leggings. For her birthday she was given this beautiful jacket form TK Maxx which I'm delighted she is big enough to wear now!

Miss GL is going to wear tomorrow her Next pink star top, H&M  grey and gold star tutu with Next pink sparkly leggings. On Sunday she is going to wear her H&M dungaree shorts with a Matalan grey sparkly top and grey star Next leggings underneath. Whilst tidying out her wardrobe I found this gorgeous Next coat that I had bought ages ago from the clearance section of the Next website. I'm so sad that I had forgotten about it but I'm going to squeeze her in for a bit!!

Sorry I haven't managed to get pictures of the girls in their outfits but of course will add them to my Instagram and add them on to here too.

Thanks for reading! I'll be back soon with a little ones clothes haul and possibly even a Vlog! eeek!!

xx

Asda home haul

Today when doing my food shop I happened to stumble on the home isles Asda, their George at Home range is gorgeous.

We started off looking at all the gorgeous wooden toys they have in stock at the minute, they had a gorgeous wooden pram very similar to our GLTC company one which I loved! We have their market stall and dolls house already and I've been really impressed the with quality, particular for the price we paid. We picked up these gorgeous toy storage baskets which were £14 for two baskets! They're so pretty and go perfectly with Miss GL pink gingham themed room.

After looking at all the gorgeous children's bedding and room accessories I stumbled upon the sale isle.... my sort of isle!!!

Our kitchen has a pale blue and white theme so I couldn't resist this flan dish (£2.99) along with these cute bird pie flutes at an amazing 75p each! I'm looking forward to making a pie this Sunday when we have guests for dinner.

I then picked up these lovely baking spoons (£1.99 for two), cooking timer (99p) and this flour shaker (99p). Although I like baking I have to admit it isn't really something I do very well! We have a bake sale coming up so I need to up my game so the GL household bakes are saleable! Our cooker has a timer on it I thought that this would be handy for me to carry in my pinny with me, as I tend to get on with other jobs once the cakes are baking and then return to a burnt mess! I then thought that with the shaker I could disguise the burnt bits with a dusting of icing sugar!!

I also could resist this gorgeous teapot at £2 as after all the toy sorting, pie making and baking I will need a cup of nicely brewed tea!

Thanks for reading! xx

The Ordinary Moments #1

 
You can't change the world but you absolutely can change someone's world.

Welcome to our first ever Ordinary Moments post! I have loved reading other peoples posts over the last year and it spurred me on to set up my own blog to document all the up, downs and crazy moments that we encounter each week in our little family!

As you'll have seen in my previous post about our Valentines book collection, we love celebrating festivals / special occasion. Due to the nature of my work I am all too familiar unfortunately with how short and precious life is... and how today, right now, is the time to pack as much as possible into it! So we have had fabulous love filled week, packed full with time with our favourite people doing lovely things!

This week started with a real proud mum, a pinch yourself kind of moment! Miss GL is a really kind hearted little girl, who loves wholeheartedly and endlessly. For a just turned three year old she is a sensitive deep thinker. In the midst of an advert break between back to back Peppa Pig (arrrggghh!!) a charity advert come on centred around disadvantaged, poorly, starving children in Africa. Miss GL was devastated to watch this poor little baby with "the most gorgeous smile" look so sad and lifeless until he was cared for by the doctors and fed. I explained, in a way suitable for an inquisitive three year old,  how unjust the world is and how that could have easily been one of us. I explained that for a her pocket money we could help one little child like this little baby. Miss GL loves to get a comic every now and then as a treat with her spends.... she told me to take her drawn on comic back to the shop for a refund and to pop the money in the post Mama before the postie comes! I was so proud when my little love decided that she would like to send her spends from now on to a child who needs a little bit of kindness. Everyone needs and deserves a little bit of kindness, some more so than others. I am a great believer in that you can't change the world but you absolutely can change someone's world.

This week saw us bid a fond farewell to my sister-in-law who is returning to her job abroad. Since she came home at the end of last year the clock has been ticking, like the elephant in the room, to her return. I think we were all hoping the lure of the soggy British weather would sway her into staying! haha I don't think so!! Last weekend the realisation that it was her last weekend at home for nine months hit everyone... so the only way to get rid of the blues was to have a good family get together! It was a lovely!

Miss GL has been very emotional about her only aunty going away again, so to cheer her up my SIL and MIL joined me to pick her up from preschool. We went out for a lovely lunch and afternoon of fun. Although we were all really sad to see her go yesterday we were also delighted to see her wipe her tears away and confidently head for departures where her dreams await.

Of course we can't forget Valentines Day!

This week I have tried to centre our crafts and activities play around Valentines Day or a general love theme for a little variety. We have made cards for our loved ones and their friends, baked cupcakes, had heart themed lunches, learnt to draw and cut out hearts, made Hedgehugs (our favourite book) with some old odd socks for our garden hedgehogs, made Frozen hearts ice cream (just vanilla ice cream thats melted a bit with marshmallows and strawberry sauce added and refrozen) and bought treats for our favourites.

For me Valentines Day isn't about expensive gifts or big showy gestures, its more about laughing away another day with my wonderful little family, all together just being us. Mr GL and I have been together for 14 years now so we have done all the romantic gestures, massive cards, clammy overpriced red roses (not my favourite flowers!) and awkward meals where the couple next to you are either not talking, arguing or putting on a PDA!! Nowadays I am lucky enough to receive a heart felt card from my three loves, a gorgeous bunch of my favourite blooms, a hand picked bunch of flowers with a tinsy bit of grass in it for good measure from the littlies, a little lie-in followed by a scrummy breakfast and lunch out where as usual we all never stop talking and giggling. This to me is prefect!

So we have had a busy, teary, happy, crafty week really!

Thanks for reading everyone xx

Weekend Tot Style #3

We are joining in the Weekend Tot Style link up ran by ThisMamaLife and  ClearlyBex. We loved taking part again in this weeks tot style and seeing all the gorgeous outfits that the other mamas chose for their wonderful little ones.

Today the girls pink-tastic!

Today Miss GL was a super hero (Pink Girl) in her Next Bat Girl top which is her favourite... hence all the creases on it as she had put it on / taken it off a few times before I managed to take a picture! As always we teamed it with her gorgeous black tutu and pink leggings from Next. She wore her sparkly trainers from Tesco which were a fabulous £4 in the sale!! I have to admit I also picked up a matching pair for myself.... we will wear them on different days obvs!!

Her outfit was  accessorised with her new dog in a bag, Lucy the Chihuahua! My lovely little lady thinks she is Cheshire's version of Paris Hilton and has wanted a dog in a bag for sooooo long. As a congratulatory present for starting preschool she finally got it this week. Lucy (the dog) is going to go on Instagram as my little lady would like to see how many people think she is cute! Please like here!

Mini Miss GL wore a gorgeous little outfit that she was given when she was born. It's a beautiful Next tutu with little sequins inside and a beautiful Daddy's girl top, which is very true! She spent most of the day rustling her skirt around to see the sequins move!

Tomorrow we are going to go out for lunch and a wander around the shops. Miss GL is very much in to star gazing at the minute so when I saw this falling stars top in Tesco I just had to get it her. She will be teaming it with her bargain sale F&F tutu and tights. Mini Miss GL is wearing her next sweatshirt dress that has gorgeous metallic stars on it so that they are sort of matching.

On Sunday we are planning a walk in the country followed by a comfy afternoon at home realising why we love each other so much,

Both girls will be wearing Joules outfits, that were picked up in the sale, under their puddle suits. I think you are all getting by now that I am a bargain hunter and most of the girls outfits are reduced!

How cute is this lil bag we got from Accessorize sale?! Miss GL loves to stash her post lady stamper, hair brush and magiclip dolly in here...just the typical 3 year old's essentials!!

Sorry the sun was shining in (*not complaing!) so the picture isn't that great and my photography skills are even worse!

We hope you all have a lovely weekend with your loved ones.

Thanks for reading xx

Miss GL Valentines Book Corner

“The more that you read, the more things you will know.
The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”
Dr. Seuss

In our home we like to celebrate all the seasonal events and occasions, not only so we can make precious memories together but also so we can form our own family traditions, for hopefully our girls to continue with their children and so forth.

One of my favourite ways to celebrate an upcoming occasion with the girls is to read them stories around this topic. It's such a lovely relaxing way to teach them about different religious festivals, holidays and generally appreciating those around us, whilst also getting cuddles with us. 

We have read to our girls from day one as we want them to enjoy the escapism a book can offer. It is wonderful to see Miss GL's imagination take over as she becomes part of the story going on magical adventures. Each night we have three books that we read, a trusty favourite (currently Stick Man), a few pages of a big girls book (currently James and the Giant Peach) and finally a seasonal book.

With Valentines Day at the weekend we have recently rediscovered our collection of books around the theme of love, appreciating the wonder of our loved ones and Valentines Day itself. We have gathered these books over the last three years so there are some books the Mini Miss GL can enjoy, stories they will both enjoy listening to now and hopefully in many years to come.

On Miss GL's book ledges the current selection of books about love in its various forms is;  

Love in my heart 

Hedgehugs 

Guess How Much I Love You 

10 Valentines Friends

Biscuit's Valentine's Day 

Where is Baby's Valentine? 

The Day It Rained Hearts

We are also reading these books at the minute;

I Love You When 

I Love You Night and Day

When You Were Born 

The Perfect Hug 

They're all beautiful stories which we enjoy rediscovering every year.

We hope you have a lovely Valentines Day celebrate all the different forms of love in your life. 

Thank you for reading! xx

Weekend Tot Style #2

We are joining in the Weekend Tot Style link up ran by ThisMamaLife and  ClearlyBex which is combing Weekend Mini Style and Trendy Tot Thursday.

We loved taking part in this weeks tot style and seeing all the gorgeous outfits that the other mamas chose for their wonderful little ones.As soon as I saw Chilling with Lucas' digger top from Next I ordered it for my little miss! She loves diggers so I've saved this top for her to team with a tutu as a treat!

We have a busy weekend of family and friends parties so the girls are dressed accordingly in sparkles!

Tomorrow (Saturday) the girls will be wearing these gorgeous matching Next dresses. I got them in early December to see them through the many birthday and festive celebrations. They still look fantastic and no stains in sight, yey! So I'm getting my wear out of them before they're too small!

They will be teamed with these cosy shrugs from F&F and M&S.

On Sunday my littlest lady is wearing her big sisters hand-me-down Next tulle dress. Aren't hand-me-downs awesome when they look like this?!

Miss GL is wearing this hare Next top with F&F sparkly grey tweed shorts which also came with these tights all for £10!

I popped into my local Home Bargains store the other day for some Easter craft materials but ended up coming out with these gorgeous large hair bows for the girls. They were 69p for two bows!

Whilst in Asda today I spotted this gorgeous bunny mac for the girls. I resisted temptation, as well they do have more than enough coats/jackets for two little people but..... oh my gosh I want them! At £12 too I think they're a good price.

There are little ears on the hood and a cute little bunny tail. On my Instagram you will see a picture of the back of this gorgeous jacket.  Should I go back???

Thanks for reading xx

Day of fun with Mum - Homewares shopping

This New Year Mum and I set it as our New Years Resolution to spend one day a month together, just us.  With very busy lives we very rarely get time to ourselves to just be Mum and daughter. As life takes over it is very easy to miss out on spending quality time with the most important people to you. That stops now, for one day out of 28/31 days in the month we are going to put the chores on hold and instead do something fun!

We were going to take up a night class together however we couldn't decide on one that we would both enjoy and benefit from.  Instead, we are going to choose an activity that we will both enjoy, some ideas we already have are a horse riding class/hack, having a make over, a personal shopping experience, theatre trip and having the most scrummy afternoon tea that Cheshire has on offer! If you can think of something for us to do that's a bit different to the norm, please let us know in the comments box below!

On Sunday we headed to the Barton Square which is the dedicated home store section of the Trafford Centre.We both love interiors, we even love admiring the trends that would necessarily work in our homes but equally would look amazing in the right space.My mums house is like a clutter free show home with carefully selected pieces that all look beautifully together. Obviously I have two little ladies and along with that I am a fan of 'dust collectors' so my house is more shabby chic and sometimes with more emphasis on the shabby!!

We actually arrived really very early, so after coffee and cake whilst giggling away we decided to drive to the nearby retail park which has the Dunelm Mill and one of my favourite stores, B&M Bargains! A lot of my household accessories are from both of these stores, as when I feel like revamping a room I can do this relatively inexpensively by carefully selecting a few key pieces to add to the theme of choice. I am a great lover of the shabby chic look, its not for everyone, but it is for me and our home.

In Dunelm Mill I picked up some gorgeous loral oilcloth and fabric which I have selected for an upcylcing project. You will be able to hear more about this next Friday when I hope to upload a Freebie Friday post all about finding free or very cheap items and giving them a new lease of life to be loved in our home.

I lusted after everything in the Dorma display!

This chair is stunning! Sadly I don't think hubby would agree to spending £799 on one chair, but oh my, it looks good!! I loved these large ceramic candle holders in a gorgeous duck egg blue colour. I couldn't find the blue ones on the Dunelm Mill website but you can find the cream version here. These beautiful cushions would be a great statement piece.


We then headed in to B&Ms where I found a lot more than I anticipated!

I adore inspirational signs so I couldn't resist this extra large grey wooden heart (£3.99), heart plaque (£2.99) and blue multi sign (£2.99). They will look lovely dotted around the house. I also adore this Happiness Is Homemade jug (£3.99) which perfectly displays these cheery daffodils.

I couldn't resist this little trio pots of lavender (£2.49) which will brighten up the room ready for spring. This gorgeous teapot of lavender (£2.49) is adding a little cheery to my kitchen shelves. As I said before I am a sucker for motivational comments so this metallic print Happiness Lies Within mug and at a whole 99p it had to come home with me!

I have been looking for a new biscuit barrel (£2.49) for some time now so snapped up this beauty! I also got the matching bread bin (£5.99) to store extra rolls/crumpets etc in that don't fit in our current bread bin. Its a little dented but as it was the last one I thought it was still worth getting. I later picked up this 'for display purposes only' tea towel form Marks and Spencer!

We then scooted back to Barton Square to browse the other home stores. I have decided to give out bedroom a little makeover soon. I have decided a fresh white look would look better than our current Eau De Nil scheme. I plan to add accessories in to change the colour scheme as and when my fickle heart decides a change is needed!! My mum treated me to a lovely new white bedding set in the BHS sale which was a fantastic £27 for a super king set! Mum also got me these beautiful beaded cushions so I can add in a hint of grey. I will be back with a bedroom makeover soon.

We had a lovely day together doing some homewares shopping whilst setting the world to rights! I'm looking forward to our February Day of Fun With Mum already!

Thanks for reading! xx