Mother’s Day

Parenting: What Defines a Mother?

I don’t have any photos of my boy on the walls of my house. There are 32 of my firstborn, as I’m frequently reminded by my son, who is a second child. I’ve been meaning to do it for 10 years – I’ve just been too busy. Being a mother. It’s not that I don’t feel guilty – believe me, I do. There just always seems to be something more urgent to take care of. I even bought a frame, just like the one I did for my daughter, but it’s gathering dust under my bed, where it’s been since …

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Last-minute Mother’s Day Gift Ideas

Mother's Day gift inspiration

Have you sorted your Mother’s Day gift yet? If not, don’t panic; you’re not alone, and I have a suggestion for you. Apparently, more than half a million Brits leave it until an hour before midday on the Sunday to shop for Mother’s Day gifts! As someone who has been victim of a ‘whatever’s at the petrol station’ present, I’m urging you not to leave it that late, but even if you do, help is at hand. Mother’s Day gift inspiration Supermarket giant Tesco have some research that suggests that 22 per cent of us have no idea what to …

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Kate Middleton’s necklace from Merci Maman

The duchess necklace, inspired by Kate Middleton - a beautiful gift for Mother's Day

A beautiful necklace for mothers When the world started asking where Kate Middleton found the lovely necklace she was spotted wearing a year ago, Merci Maman were proud to realise that it was one of their own pieces, purchased by Pippa for her sister after the birth of Prince George. Sweet and simple in design, it was classic enough for a royal mum, but personal enough that any mum would love to have her own version. So they created the Duchess necklace, which retails at £79.  What I love about this necklace is the mix: the simple inscription of a …

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Wot so Funee? Signs my children are getting older

Mother’s Day, as always, was bliss. I saw some tweets bemoaning the fact that children make for a less than perfect (ie. relaxing) day, but that is not so for me. My children, at 9 and 6, are incredibly good company, well-behaved (mostly), thoughtful, and capable of helping their Dad in the kitchen. Happily, despite his usual tendency to chaos, and his penchant for chilling out, Actually Daddy pulls out all the stops on Mother’s Day. I know, I’m lucky. I am very partial  to the children’s usual shopping list – what’s not to like about pic ‘n’ mix? But …

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Pink – 365 #13

You know that time of year when the first blossom appears on trees? You get excited for Spring, but then it stalls. You try to take photographs, but there’s just not quite enough. The branches are still there, just dotted with pink. I found my first candy floss tree this week – great big cotton wool balls of pink. And just look at the sky behind. Like a bag of pink and whites. It made me happy. And flowers! I got flowers this week, for Mother’s Day. Not from my kids – they will bounce onto my bed in a …

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Mum of the year: Why turning into your mother is a good thing.

Before my mother was a mum, she had a job. Not (as an elderly aunt once asked) “a little part-time job,” but (as my mum corrected, emphatically) “a very big full-time job.” Her title was Operations Director. Not a lot of people know this, but my mother was once in charge of 185 London pubs. It was a BIG job. Needless to say, Grandma and Grandad were very proud. And when she gave up working to be a stay-at-home-mum, that was all to the good. Nowadays Mummy earns money through writing – some of it comes via this blog, other …

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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!

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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A Mothers Day shopping list

My Mothers Day shopping list Mother’s Day is one of the most important days of the year – third only to Christmas and my own birthday. School has been prepping me for this happy day for several weeks now. Each afternoon has seen me returning home with an additional line under my belt to the celebratory song which begins ‘My Mum’s ever so special…’. I have had a home-made card in my book-bag for a good few days; the strain of keeping it hidden through the daily bag searches that Mummy performs has been almost unbearable. I have spent several nights unable …

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