10 top tips to keep kids happy in the holidays.

I saw a very amusing post from the hilarious Hurrah for Gin.  Its about the six stages/weeks of the Summer Holiday, starting at positive and excited and descending through shouty and sweary and finishing with "rocking in the corner".  The replies to this post were all in agreement.  Many parents find the long stretch of the summer holiday quite hard work.  For some it's all about juggling paid and unpaid holiday from work with finding kind-hearted relatives or friends, or paying for holiday activities.  For others it's just not knowing what to do with these pint-sized people for all that time and feeling a vague sense of guilt whenever they are glued to a screen.

As you'll know from my post here on the 9th July, while I'm enjoying my long teacher school holiday I am also aiming to get a good head start on all my planning for next year as well as getting the classroom ready and organised.  To add further spice to the holiday we are also intending to move house during the final two weeks of the break, so there's an awful lot of clearing, sorting and packing to get done too.

Here are my ten top tips to keep the children happy in the holidays:

1. Plan a few special "extras" - new things or places to go.  We've cancelled our proper holiday in order to move house, but are going away for a long weekend to a Folk Festival, and I've booked them on a climbing activity and in for a snorkelling lesson at the local swimming pool.
2. Go out every day.  This doesn't need to cost much or indeed anything, and doesn't need to be a full day outing, but just breaks up the day into more managable chunks.  Examples are: go swimming, playdates, bike ride, grocery shopping, walk in the woods, geocaching, meet friends at the park, soft play, pick-your-own, skate park, play dates, free workshops at local nature reserves, libraries and museums.  Speaking of museums, use your holiday to be a tourist in your own back yard and check out your local cathedral, museums or walking tours.
   
3. Spend time doing something with your children at home every day.  Even if you are busy trying to pack your house, paint the walls, clear out detritus from kitchen cupboards, plan literacy lessons and create exercise book labels, weed the garden and do the ironing (all simultaneously if you are anything like me), make sure to set aside some time to be with your children, or be prepared to stop what you are doing every now and then if they ask you to.  We're not talking about lots of fancy "Pinterest ready" crafts here, we're talking about your time.  Things like: face-painting your daughter, helping them make cardboard puppets for a show and then watching the resulting show, baking cookies, cooking dinner, making jam (with the fruit you got from the Pick-your-own), reading together, playing a board game, doing that craft kit they've had in the cupboard since Christmas, having a water fight, making stuff from Lego, making bracelets with beads, collecting unsuspecting mini-beasts.
   
4. Involve them in your activities.  Yes, they can in fact help clear out the cupboards, they could even decoupage the pencil pots for your classroom, stick labels on exercise books and paint the walls.  They can't do everything, but often they'll be pleased to join in.
5. Get them helping with housework.  It takes time to teach little people to do new things.  They don't know how to polish a table, wash dishes, cook, work the vacuum, clean shoes or hang laundry.  That's not to say that they shouldn't be expected to do these things at Primary School age, it's just that it takes time to teach them.  During term-time schedules are often very hectic and its easier just to get the job done than to spend the required time with an apprentice.  Take the opportunity over the holiday to tutor your child in a couple of new tasks.  By the time you get to September hopefully they'll have mastered it and be able to get on with it with minimal supervision and time investment and it can become a new responsibility for them.  I'm also working on getting them to take a bit more responsibility around the whole house.  I find the "tidy up" thing can be a bit overwhelming, particularly for my scatter-monster six-year-old.  Instead this last couple of weeks I've gone for a fifteen-minute-hammer approach.  I set the timer, we all clean and tidy like crazy in our allocated room for fifteen minutes, and then the timer goes off and we stop and all inspect one another's progress.  One day we spend the fifteen minutes in the bedrooms, the next day each person selects a folded slip of paper with one of the communal rooms written on.  If, at inspection, it's clear that the tidier hasn't spent their fifteen minutes very productively, then they must do another 15.  I try to do this just before dinner time so that the house is relatively tidy for the evening.
6. Make them play outdoors.  Outdoor play is good.  It allows kids to socialise, connect with nature and get physically active.  Whether it's your garden, the street, the park, the woods or the beach.  Insist that your kids spend some time outside every day, even if it's raining (they won't dissolve!).  Sometimes this requires me to lead the way with a suggested (or instructed) walk, bike-ride or fruit picking expedition, other times they are out in the yard on their bikes before they've even had breakfast.  We're very lucky in that we are currently in the countryside with a large yard and field with safe access behind the house, I'm not sure how easy this will be when we move into a city, but even with a small yard you can set up swing-ball or a paddling pool, or encourage them to find a sunny spot to read or play outside rather than in their bedroom.
   
7. Guilt-free screen time - Don't feel guilty about letting the kids watch the TV.  Most of us watched the box during the holidays when we were growing up and we seem to have turned out okay.  My eight-year-old has a tablet with parental controls, and we have set him a time limit of 2 and a half hours per day for the holidays, a large portion of which is used up before breakfast.  This may seem like quite a lot of time, but as he is still making stuff, reading books, playing on his bike and being sociable the rest of the time I'm okay with it.  They'll occasionally put a film on or watch a bit of TV late in the afternoon too, and since they've usually done something with me, been out, played outside and done some housework by then, this seems absolutely fine to me.
8. Bicker-free zone.  Kids will be kids and if you have more than one, then it's almost certain that bickering will ensue at some point.  To keep this at bay try adding more children to the mix as often as possible.  They will get bored with each other's company, so arrange some play-dates with other children.  Also, don't be afraid to separate them.  If they are bored they will often gravitate towards one another, even if it's just to be annoying.  If you keep hearing bickering, insist that one plays outside while the other plays inside or has some 1:1 time with you.  The space may well spark some creativity and the time away from one another may provide new ideas for games or things to talk about.  Even if you are busy, I also find that the best way to diffuse an argumentative situation is to give some attention, so that's often the time I realise that I haven't been following my own advice numbered 2, 3 or 4 above, and quickly suggest a bike ride or trip to the swimming pool and then we all feel better.  If all else fails, put the TV on or plug them into a tablet!
9. Give them time - despite what I've just said about bickering happening when children require attention, I do think that children need time to just BE.  Running them from activity to activity and planning a full timetable through the holidays is both unnecessary and expensive.  They should be allowed to make their own fun and learn to direct their own time.  Creativity and imagination flourish when the mind wanders.
10. Keep it fun!  When you think back to the summer holidays when you were a child, what do you remember?  Do you have fond memories of the long holidays or were they an ordeal?  I have great memories of playing with my sisters, blackberry picking, playing outside in the street, doing a jigsaw with my mum, mum teaching me to make friendship bracelets, getting to go to work with my dad, chatting to the next-door neighbour over the fence... and I'm sure quite a bit of bickering with my sisters in between!  The point is that I remember the holiday time as being active but largely self-directed, fun and relaxing.

What do your kids get up to in the holidays?

Family fun in... London

 In October half-term we spent a few days exploring London.  We took them a couple of years ago, and decided it was time for another trip following our successful city-break to Venice at Easter.  Here are my suggestions for great things to do as a family in London, based on our trip and trips in the past.

Accommodation
Depending on your budget there are lots of options for accommodation.  Last time we went to London we took the caravan and stayed in an excellent site near Maidenhead (Hurley Riverside Park) from where we could visit Windsor and Legoland as well as catch trains into London for daytrips.  The time we went to London before that we stayed at YHA London Thameside at Rotherhithe, which offered an en-suite family room at a very reasonably budget.  This time around we chose a serviced apartment on Commercial Road.  This allowed us a good base to stay with the children, allowing them some space and freedom, us the option to self-cater and space to sit up and chat later into the evening which we wouldn't have if we were all sharing a hotel or hostel room.

 Activities - 
Here are just some of the activities that we've got up to on our trips:

• Bus trips - lots of them!  We've previously done one of the open-topped hop-on, hop-off bus trips, but found that the children weren't really in to listening to the tour guide, so it's a bit of a waste of money.  Instead we found the Number 15 bus from just outside our apartment on Commercial Road went right past Tower Hill, and St Pauls Cathedral to Trafalgar Square.
• Boat trip - we went on a boat trip on the Thames from Tower Hill to the London Eye, which was pretty awesome!
• The Emirates Airline Sky Ride over the Thames was also a great addition to our day.  We had been to Greenwich so it was a short hop to the sky-ride and then back on the DLR to Shadwell to get back to our apartment.
• The London Eye is a favourite for our two.  Over three trips to London we have been during daylight, in the dark, and this time at twilight.  It's nice to get a broad overview of London.  I'm convinced that C and Bug spend more time looking at the touch-screen interpretation computer thingy than actually looking out of the window, but I quite enjoy the space to admire London from above.
• Museums and Galleries - we have been to: the Natural History Museum - great for budding geologists and naturalists, and of course dinosaur and fossil enthusiasts.  We went on our last trip, but not this time, which was a disappointment for C who has been studying Mary Anning at school and was keen to see the Icthyosaur fossil that she unearthed on the Dorset coast; the Science Museum - we went here for a good look at the Space stuff and enjoyed an IMAX show about the view from the Space Station, and a moving theatre experience about the shuttle trip to the moon.  Disappointingly you have to pay extra to get into the interactive exhibits and the queue was phenomenal; the British Museum - it's such a huge place that it's a good idea to have a specific theme in mind.  We aimed for the areas that we knew would fit into the History Topics that C will be studying this year - namely Stone and Iron Age and the Ancient Egyptians.  The Audioguide picks out highlights and explains them; I visited the Horniman Museum when C and I were much smaller, there's an interesting collection of artefacts, and a small aquarium in the basement; the Docklands Museum - another one we did when they were toddlers, quite an interesting look at the history of this part of London with a great interactive gallery for the kids with plenty of things to play with; the National Gallery - we didn't spend long in here, having already been to St Pauls and the British Museum on this day, but we again had a specific plan - Bug wanted to see Picasso and C wanted to see Van Gogh.  We went for those areas, admired a few other paintings on the way in and out and then left.  The AMAZING thing about all these museums and galleries so far mentioned is that they are all FREE ENTRY - only asking for a donation.  Of course, they won't be able to stay free unless people donate - so please do.  Finally, Greenwich Observatory, where we went on this occasion with cousin Rachel - a great place to learn about clocks, navigation, longitude and latitude etc.  I don't think the kids got it all that much, but there were just about enough interactive bits to keep them busy while the grown-ups did some learning.
• Other great buildings - St Paul's Cathedral - You'd think that a Cathedral wouldn't be a great place to go with children, but ours quite like the huge soaring spaces, the paintings and statues and especially the audio guide.  They were very taken with the crypts, where Bug was delighted to find the memorial to Edwin Landseer who sculpted the lions in Trafalgar Square where she had been sitting the previous day.
• Camden Market, Covent Garden Market, Portabello Market, Spittalfields Market - Portabello Market is great for antiques but not for children, only go if you don't have them in tow.  Spittalfields Market and Covent Garden Market also not that great for little ones, though there are plenty of places to stop for coffee and cake.  Camden Market on the other hand is a wonderful place to lose track of time and spend lots of money.  I particularly like the clothes on sale here, and C and Bug both managed to spend a large proportion of their pocket money.
• Other spots - we didn't go into the Cutty Sark, but walked around it admiring from the outside; Trafalgar Square - a place to climb on the lions of course!  I love the signs - not forbidding you to climb, but warning you not to fall off!
• A Show!  This time around we thought that the children would be old enough to see a show,  We looked into Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Lion King and Matilda, and eventually settled on The Railway Children at Kings Cross Theatre.  It was wonderful, with a real steam train playing a leading role and chuffing into the stage at several points in the performance.

We've made it to the holidays!

Woohoo!  It's the holidays.  

After my first term back to work as a teacher I am remembering the feeling of relief when you wake up in the morning realising that you've made it.  A lot of people look at teaching and think it's an easy option - you get so much more holiday than everybody else and the kids are only at school from 9-3.30 right?  It's true.  We are pretty lucky.  What the public don't necessarily see though are the hours of preparation, marking, assessment, record keeping, report writing and creating resources which means that many teachers work well into their evenings, weekends and holidays.  Or that when the kids are at school you are never really "on a break" as you're preparing for the next lesson, running clubs, on playground duty or interrupted by a knock on the staffroom door - and that interacting non-stop all day with thirty seven-year-olds can be pretty intensive.  I'm not looking for any sympathy here, it's probably the most rewarding and wonderful job there is, I'm just explaining why teachers start exulting, cheering and whooping, before dropping onto their sofas for a sleep, when the end of term arrives.

It's also pretty exhausting for the children.  Bug has just reached the end of her first term at school too.  Aged four, she has found the last couple of weeks stretched her a little thin.  Christmas fair, school play, school disco, swimming lessons, Mummy's school play, with the addition of Breakfast Club and After School Clubs to fit in with my work has meant that she's been asleep almost before her head's hit the pillow this week and is now full of cold.

So waking up this morning and knowing that it's the holidays has felt pretty good for all of us.  Even Hubby gets to join in, as he also now has a week off work - so we're all in "beginning of holiday" mode together.  Today's tasks involve Christmas cards, wrapping gifts, last minute gift shopping, housework, haircuts and bathing the dog - all of which can be done with no real urgency.  Thank goodness!

I've also reached a milestone.  I was pretty disappointed not to get the permanent teaching jobs I applied for at the school where I've been teaching this term (on a one-term contract).  I know they liked me and my teaching, but my job application and interview did not do me justice.  The headteacher gave me a lot of really good feedback, and was able to give me some great advice and support writing my next job applications - so I did get a job from that one.  I'm starting at a new school in January, this time teaching Reception Class for two terms.  It's going to be interesting as I will be team teaching for the first few weeks, before the current teacher goes on maternity leave.  I'm also intrigued by the classroom set up, as the school has rapidly grown, and their building expansion hasn't yet kept pace, so there will be two classes (with all the Teachers and Teaching Assistants) in one classroom until the new room is built.  Watch this space for an update!

Christmas is coming!

Yesterday on Facebook I saw a post from a friend saying that his wife had the Christmas cake in the oven, and we get to the sudden realisation that Christmas must be coming. 

I remember as a child that Christmas was not allowed to begin (i.e. talking about it, shopping for it, getting excited about it) until after Dad's birthday (20th November), which held back the craziness nicely.  We have a similar rule here chez Inkspots - Hubby's birthday is the 29th November.

Not quite that easy though.  Here are the things that thrust Christmas earlier onto our conscience:

• THE SHOPS.  Yes, the Christmas things came out as soon as the Back to School things went away, shoulder to shoulder with Halloween delights.  Now that Halloween is out of the way they can go at Christmas with gusto!
• MAIL ORDER.  Many of us now do the bulk of our Christmas shopping on-line, preferring an evening with the laptop and a glass of wine to the hot shops/ cold outdoors crush of pre-Christmas shopping (except maybe as a one-off to buy a couple of things and smugly sample the Gluwein at a Christmas market while raising your eyebrows at the antics of the non-mail-order shoppers).
• CRAFTING.  Anybody who plans to make gifts for Christmas, table decorations, Advent calendars and so on will should already be well underway with their endeavours to have any hope of getting it all done in time.
• SCHOOL.  If you're a parent you may well be aware that the children are already practising Christmas songs (that's me doing that!) and the Christmas play - all that starts straight after half term.  If your school is one of the many that sells Christmas cards designed by the children themselves, then your child will have designed their card weeks ago and you'll probably already have had to submit your order.  Teachers are right now planning what Christmas delights they will be making to send home with the children so that they can squeeze it all in with the Christmas play, carol concerts and maybe even a bit of reading and writing. 
• FAMILY PLANS.  I've had the message from one sister asking for ideas for the children's gifts, to which I have duly responded, keeping a few ideas back for when my in-laws ask the same question nearer December, and one or two for me too.  We've made our plans of when we are visiting each part of the family over the Christmas period and where we'll be on Christmas Day, and have also got another invitation to reply to.

So far I've got as far as: 

• preparing the Christmas songs to inflict on the children at school, 
• contributed to the ideas for the Christmas production at school, 
• planning the school PTA Christmas fair,
• making a list of what I am going to gift each member of my family, highlighting things that need making,
• planning our Christmas, including trying to work out when the best time will be to go to the supermarket... too early and the food will go off while we're away visiting the in-laws, leave it until we get back and it's OMG CHRISTMAS EVE AT THE SUPERMARKET!

I still need to:

• plan what and when I'm going to cook or bake,
• actually do something to help with the Christmas fair.
• Sing the Christmas songs with the children at school so that we don't deafen the old folks at the residential home we are visiting at the beginning of December.
• make stuff on my list,
• buy stuff on my list,
• write Christmas cards, and oh... everything else.... jingle, jingle... Christmas is a-coming!
  

Recipe for a super family holiday

Ingredients:

• a lovely campsite (we enjoyed our stay at Camping and Caravan Club - St Davids)
• sunshine (a bit of rain is acceptable and, let's face it, in a British climate inevitable)
• a good tent
• family
• time off work and/or school
• scenery and things to do.

Method:

Choose a destination with lovely scenery and activities for your type of holiday.  We chose beaches, cliffs and history.

Now arrive on site, set up your tent with a stunning West-facing view of the sunset.  If possible the best view on the campsite, and set up your home from home:

Go for lovely walks

Visit historic places

Take part in fun activities for the children

Play on the beach

Enjoy some pleasant refreshments.

Spend time with fantastic family.

And there you have it, a wonderful Summer holiday building memories.

Kid's Activity - Junk robots!

I know the term "found materials" is preferred over "junk" these days, but "found material robots" just don't have the same ring about them.

This activity was eagerly anticipated by the children as soon as they saw it on the Holiday Plan, and their imaginations were already fired up and ready to go.  I actually had to do very little.

First we raided the Recycle Bin for any robot components.  We found plastic lids, cardboard boxes and cans.

Next we laid out our chosen materials on the dining table.  C thoughtfully laid out newspaper before we got started, and I fetched scissors, PVA glue and brushes, kitchen foil, and selotape.  The children also fetched their craft boxes and zippy bags (full of pom poms, pipe cleaners, scraps of patterned paper, craft foam, tissue paper, googly eyes and any other craft paraphernalia you care to imagine).

I sat next to them and worked on my own robot.  I tried not to make suggestions, but every now and then gave a commentary on how I was doing something.  For example I mentioned how I was cutting tabs at the ends of my toilet roll tube to make it easier to stick on, and how I was trying to stick the foil on flat before adding the face features.  I also commented on how they were doing things, for example the choice C made about his robot's eyes.  Here's my robot:

Here's C's:  

 I love the hose coming out of the arm.  I think it's so that he can put out fires.  C is delighted with it.  The face features apart from the eyes are done with Sharpie permanent pens.  See how he's done the tabs on the toilet roll tubes too?

 Here's Bug's:

 It's cardboard boxes are still showing through on the front.  This is a design feature apparently.  It is silver on the back, with feathers for a special robotic decoration.

 I note that this one also has a hose.  It also has an important added feature in that the head is removable.  This is a design feature, so that it can get under low furniture or bridges apparently.

After our creative session the children cleared up most of their stuff, and then set about playing an elaborate game of hide and seek with their robots for the rest of the afternoon,

Seasonal Beach Activities

The beach is most definitely not just for Summer

It doesn't matter whether or not you live near to a beach.  The UK is a small island, so you're never more than a few hours from your nearest bit of sea, definitely achievable for a family weekend away at any time of year.  As the seasons change, you're drawn to the beach for different reasons, and different activities really come into their own.  Here are a few suggestions of different fun family activities to enjoy on the beach at different times of year:

Winter
A day on the beach in wild weather will provide a greater appreciation of our rugged coastline, but winter days can be sunny and bright too.
For winter you need to wrap up warm, take a flask of hot chocolate, a blanket or rug and some spare warm, dry clothes.  Here are a few ideas:

• sand dune hide and seek - use those beautiful, steep-sided dunes as a place for a fast game of hide-and-seek.  Take care though, marram grass can be sharp, and too much dune erosion can be detrimental to natural coastal defences.
• Shadow Tag - late afternoon on a sunny winter day and you'll find your shadows stretching away in the distance.  Play shadow tag, where you have to jump on the other person's shadow rather than catching them!
• Sand Angels - yep, just like snow angels.  Lie down in the sand and waggle arms and legs and then get up and admire your angel.
• Take the dog - many UK beaches have restrictions on dogs during the Summer months, but these are lifted through the winter, so take your dog and let him feel the salt wind in his nostrils and the spray in his fur as he runs and tumbles like the surf.
• Wave Chicken - as the surf sucks back down the beach see how close you dare chase it... before the next wave comes racing towards you.  You might need those spare clothes!  (on some beaches advancing winter waves can have a dangerous undertow which can pull you under if the wave does catch you, so this is best left to older and stronger swimmers, and definitely not for stormy weather).

And if the weather really does come in, there's always the opportunity to visit the arcade on the pier to waste half an hour and a handful of 2p pieces, followed by hot salty chips in the beach shelter before the drive home.

Spring and Autumn (Fall)

Weather alternates between wintery storms and beautiful golden sunlight, so brave it and head to the beach.  Again, warm clothing is required, preferably with some spares.  Activities should keep you moving, to stay warm.  Here are some ideas:

• Play all those brilliant beach games that there isn't always space for when the beach is crowded in the summer - volleyball, cricket and football.
• Fly a Kite - pick a breezy day, wait until the tide is out (more beach) and fly your kite.
• Fossil hunting - Some cliffs around our coastline are particularly good for fossil hunting, as the rock they are made of was laid down at a particularly good geological fossil forming age.  Dorset and East Devon are excellent, as is the area around Whitby and Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire.  Coastal erosion during the winter storms will have revealed and broken up a whole load of fresh rocks that won't have been picked over by many hunters yet.
• Surfing and Kayaking - You get nice big waves without the winter storms or cold, and without the summer bathers, so you can safely go out to play in the waves on your board or kayak.  Always make sure that you know what you are doing or get an instructor to go with you.
• Beach combing - as with fossil hunting, winter storms will have provided an array of new material for the beach comber.  Look for sea-glass, driftwood and anything else of interest.  The west coast of the UK is better for beachcombing because of the prevailing wind direction.
• Sand-writing - Get emerging writers to have fun forming letters and numbers in the sand.  Can they write your name?  Can they read the message you've written them?  Can they write you a message back?
• Bonfires - In most cases, as long as you aren't causing a nuisance to anybody, and are below the high water line (so the tide needs to be out) and you clean up afterwards, its okay to light a small fire on the beaches of the UK.  There are exceptions, I believe the National Trust has a no-fires policy on its beaches.  It is vital to follow the guidelines above though, pick a more secluded beach, and keep things sensible and take your litter home afterwards.  Sitting around a fire cooking sausages and toasting marshmallows on sticks, with the sun setting and a blanket around your back... what could be better?

Summer

The summer is a great time to be at the beach.  The onshore breeze and the sparkling sea cool you down on a roasting day.  You can laze contentedly while the children just play in the sand... bliss.  Don't forget the hats and the sun-cream.

• Build sandcastles - hold a competition.  Don't just build castles, build sand cities, sand football stadia...
• Driftwood sculptures and beach art.  While many people head straight for the pristine sand of the upper beach, this is a great reason to head for the tide-line where there's plenty of seaweed, driftwood, shells and other material to work with.  Make a frame with driftwood twigs and then use other items to make a picture within.
• Sand Sculptures - Make a car, make a boat, make animal sculptures, sand men (think snowmen).  What can you think of - can you make an image of it in sand?  Mermaids are one of my favourite, complete with scaly tail, sea shell bra, and seaweed hair.
• Dig a hole - how deep can you go?
• Down by the water dig channels in the sand, pour buckets of water along the channels and then dam them.
• Rock pooling - take a bucket and net, turn over rocks in the pools and see what you can find.  By all means examine your finds, but make sure that you put them back in the same pool that they came from.

Lets face it, any of these activities can be done at any time of year, but some seasons lend themselves more to some activities than others.  Whatever time of year it is, do get out there and enjoy the beach.

What activities do you love doing on the beach?

Christmas Holidays - From Stay-at-Home-Mum to Work-at-home-mum - diary of a transition

Christmas Holidays

I made no attempt to spend too much time working during the Christmas holidays - figuring that trying to do so would only mean I'd be disappointed in myself.  This was a good decision.

C had just finished his very first term at school and was absolutely exhausted - combined with the excitement of a five year old of Christmas of course!  Bug too was pretty worn out, and also very, very excited about Christmas.  So we spent the first few days of the holidays just relaxing.  We watched a bit of TV, we played with Lego, we went for long walks in the woods and played at the adventure playground, we made a gingerbread house, and we snuggled up on the sofa - bliss.  


On Christmas Day they woke up, opened their present from Santa (a puppet theatre and various puppets), looked in their stockings and we exchanged presents.  

We followed this with a walk in the Wyre Forest on Christmas morning on our way to my Sister-in-Law for Christmas Dinner.  

We stayed there for a couple of days, incorporating a visit to see Dick Whittington at the Regents Theatre in Stoke-on-Trent which was hilarious, and some snowman building on Boxing Day.  

Sunday was at home, with another long dog walk and some time to play with new toys (and get some laundry done).  

Monday morning Hubby was back to work, and the children, dog and I travelled down to see my family in Devon.  More walks in the woods, present exchanging, swimming with the cousins, playing on the beach etc.

Back on New Year's Eve, with my mum in convoy.  She stayed a few days, and we did a bit of shopping and pottering about, including a visit to Hereford and to Worcester.

Sunday was another restful day, and a long dog walk.  Monday, the last day of the holiday, I took them for a long-promised treat to the Play Planet in Hereford.

This week they are back to school.  We've all finally succumbed to the germs that Bug has been coughing at us all holiday.  I'm back to work.  So far this week I've sold two items (I'm still getting excited about this.  Looking forward to when I sell so many that it's no longer a novelty!).  I've bought some more fabric to make some more sandwich wraps and snack packs, and ordered some wooden items to paint and embellish ready for my first craft fair, which will be the 1st March.  I've blogged once so far this week, and completed one i-writer article.

I feel quite hopeful that I'm getting there with the balance.  I feel as though I'm on the cusp of making some actual money from doing things I enjoy doing, and with the flexibility to be there for my family when they need me.  Roll on a successful 2015.  Happy New Year!