Helen

Colourful midlife mum to two teens. Determined not to do as she's told and slide off into invisible old age. Much cooler at 50 than she was at 15. Host of the Teenage Kicks podcast, about mental health for teenagers.

App of the Week! #SunFun

Daddy must have most of the available ‘daft-apps’ on his iPad; he is glued to it 24/7 and it goes everywhere with him (and I mean everywhere). There is even an app called Talking Poo, would you believe? But last week he discovered a free TRANSFORMERS Cyber Toy app for iPhone and iPad by Glu Games Inc; I guarantee you will want it. Check out the moves on this dude:   And here is Daddy’s painful attempt: The app is free, but I’m pretty sure you will end up paying the nominal fee for all of Bumblebee’s mates, so you …

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A short story about self-harm

There was once a little girl with a temper. A bit like the girl with the curl in the middle of her forehead. She was helpful, kind (if a bit bossy), mature, supportive, funny and clever. She was an incredibly determined little girl, who learned things fast and loved to read. One day the little girl started piano lessons. She never wanted to practice, but her Mummy sat with her and they both played together. She got stuck a few times, because learning the piano is hard. When she got stuck she flew into such tempers that she cried, screamed, …

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How children learn to read and write at school

I wrote a post recently about my loquaciousness and use of intricate words, and the irony of the fact that I don’t always know how to replicate them appropriately in my writing at school. I sailed through my reading bo0ks and declared myself a ‘speed-reader’ to my year 1 teacher. Mummy hasn’t known how to read with me, because I prefer to read by myself, or to be read to while my brain switches off: so not up for a challenge before bed! Last week Mummy was a school pupil herself when parents were invited in to discover the processes …

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65/366 Photos (Well, a video actually)

Yesterday the weather was grim. It rained; it poured; and we were gobsmacked when eventually it snowed. Great big wet splodges of slush, splattered on the window pane as we gazed hopefully at the trampoline: Luckily for us, it was Mother’s day so we stayed home and ate, and played Slug in a Jug all day!

The Perfect Mother’s Day

Yesterday was Mother’s Day. You forgot, didn’t you? *Panic sets in across the parenting nation with thousands of Dads causing mass internet chaos as they rush to check online calendars.* Ok, it wasn’t really; but Daddy figured out that next weekend is Mother’s day, and that he is going to be in the USA at South By South West (SXSW) for a huge digital marketing conference. Guilt-stricken, he geared us up for the perfect Mother’s Day and calmly informed Mummy that her day off would be occurring one week early. So she got Apple and Gingerbread Muffins in bed with …

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Apple Gingerbread Muffins Recipe

Daddy is a fan of baking on a Sunday morning, and he has been perfecting  his muffins for a few weeks now. For Mother’s Day he proposed a mesh of all his previous efforts, with the addition of some ginger, and came up with this, his best attempt yet at apple and gingerbread muffins. If you are more of a cupcake fan all you need do is whizz up some butter icing, flavour with lemon, and pop some diced crystallised ginger in there – YUM! You will need: 75g butter, melted 100g dark muscovado sugar 25g caster sugar 2 eggs …

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64/366 Photos (Not Mother’s Day)

Considering it was pseudo-Mother’s Day today, Mummy couldn’t stop working – these badges have been needing stitching on for weeks now. How old do I have to be before I can start sewing?

How not to tell lies #SunFun

I go to drama school at the weekends. It helps in my day-to-day life; it gives me the confidence to know how to tell a lie with conviction. The same cannot be said for my friend Eloise, who recently lost her cool under interrogation from her mother: E (to younger brother): If you push your willy backwards between your legs it makes you look like a girl. E’s Mum: Who showed you how to do that? E: no-one, what? E’s Mum: What happened when you came up with that idea? E: No, nothing happened in the boys toilets at school! …

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63/366 Photos

Amazing what a day out and a splash of sunshine can do to your mood, isn’t it?

62/366 Photos

Meet Mr Foam. He came from a can of Crazy Soap that we were kindly sent today. We love him…. 😀

61/366 Photos

Thank Barbie for coffee. And wine. And snacks – it has been one of those weeks for Mummy!

13/52 Photography

This week Mummy has been rubbish at taking photos. To be fair there has been little more than vomit to photograph. Until yesterday; when Mummy sang with Rock Choir at Wembley Stadium. Here are her pictures, mascots, stadiums, singers and under the stadium waiting to go onto the pitch:

Friends: 60/366 Photos

Mummy cheated on the the old photo a day thingy today. Firstly she was so fed up with having no internet yesterday and this morning that she rather got the hump with it all. I know how it goes: you try, you fail, you give up. Except that’s not what she tells me to do, so she needed to get back in the saddle too! Internet back, she opened her inbox to find 159 new emails, the first of which was from her good friend Five Go Blogging, posting for the Gallery linky. No chance of Mummy seeing her friends …

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59/366 Photos

See that little orange light. That was the route (see what I did there?) of all Mummy’s problems today. No internet. No internet > too much empty time > frustration > TV > chocolate > fish and chips for tea > wine > more chocolate. Just one little thing caused all that trouble today!

Inspired! By Edible Books!

Once again I am taking part in the gorgeous Dear Beautiful Boy’s Inspired linky, but this time I am on a mission to create me a cake that could win me an original drawing by Emma Chichester Clark, the illustrator behind one of our favourite books, Blue Kangaroo. All I need is to get inspired to create an edible book! Hmmmm. “What,” you may ask, “is an edible book?” “Quite literally that!” would be my answer! The Edible Book Festival is being held  on the lovely blog Playing By the Book, where we are invited to join in by creating …

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SunFun! Countries in the news

It’s  time for SunFun, and we have a perfect Bug moment for you – a typical toddler conversation full of knowledge and, erm, misunderstanding: Bug: Why are you on the iPad when I’m in the bath Daddy? Daddy: I’m reading about the Greek financial crisis. Bug: Is Greece poor Daddy? Daddy: Yes, do you know any other poor countries? Bug: Erm, China, Africa, France….? Daddy: Well….. why do you think those countries are poor? Bug: Erm, they’ve got not very much bath toys? Daddy: Hmmmm, maybe not. What else don’t they have. Bug: No flannels….. And just to show it’s …

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