50 Days of Summer

Today marks the first day of 50 days (give or take) till then end of the summer holidays and the beginning of the September school term.

I love a challenge so I am using these days to challenge myself in a number of ways.

I am going to set myself several challenges that I will go over the 50 days.

I am not going to beat myself up is I miss a day or two, I haven't failed if I don't do the things I say I am going to do EVERY DAY.  But I will be aiming to make positive changes to make life better over the next 50 days.

Will you join me?

Here are some of the things I am challenging myself to do:

Eat nourishing foods 80% of the time.

Do a daily Bible study (I am using Day by Day with God),

Write down 3 gratitudes daily,

Pray daily (I sometimes forget!!)

Read to the children every day,

Post on Instagram every day for my business,

Get outdoors every day,

Maybe the most important one:

Go to bed before 12PM 5 nights out of 7, (I was thinking of calling this the "go to sleep challenge"!)

I might add more to this as the days go by, but I am excited to do something to motivate myself and discipline myself to commit to this, hopefully these will become habits that I will continue into the Autumn term and perhaps the rest of the year (or life?)

Creating good habits is the theme of an article I am writing for a new Home Ed Journal that began publication last month.  You can still buy the July edition where you can find my article on how to support other parents (and yourself) to be a better parent.

Check it out HERE for both a print and digital copy.

Fun things to do with toddlers - A week of activities!

We've been busy!  it's been a fun and activity filled summer, here are some of the things we have been doing in a bumper week of fun toddler activities. 

Ice play - Way back in 2013 I put an ice cream container filled with water, stones, twigs and herbs into the freezer and there is sat for 12 loooong months until one hot and sunny day in August when I remembered it, got it out and smashed it to smithereens on the patio!

It looked beautiful, you could see through the ice to the objects within, suspended in frozen animation like a time capsule of the previous year.

Boris had a poke around with a trowel; this activity needs careful supervision to make sure shards or ice aren't flying near eyes. I helped him to smash it up to get the the objects inside. (I think I may have used a hammer)

Biscuit was intrigued as well and picking up the ice and pushed it around. The smell of the mint that was frozen inside was amazing!  I couldn't believe how well the sent was preserved in the ice, not only stimulating the sense of touch but also the sense of smell and taste!

A great thing to suck on on a hot day.

Do you have a back log of toddler activities?  Feel free to share a link in the comments, we can have a link party!

Hello September, Hello Autumn!

So we have officially reached the end of summer and what a great summer it has been.  Having my other half working from home most days has been wonderful, it has meant lunches as a family in the garden, evening walks and the odd mid week day out.  The weather has been fantastic, I have been out with the boys every single day visiting playgrounds, parks, friend's gardens, paddling pools, woods and lakes.  It's been too hot for me at times (I am a delicate English Rose after all) but mostly I have enjoyed wearing sandals and skirts and sort sleeves, I have definitely loved the long days and hanging wet washing on the line to dry every day (love the smell of line dried washing) and whaduya know, we are in for an Indian summer!

But I am happy to welcome in the change of the season, bringing with it crunchy leaves underfoot, and that feeling of crispness in the air.  definitely much better to look for the positives in Autumn and Winter than mourning the loss of the summer and moaning about the negatives of colder weather and shorter days. I can quite honestly say that the only thing that worries me about the Autumn and Winter is the washing.  There is little worse on a cold wet day that a living room with wet laundry hanging in it. But while the warm weather lingers I won't worry about that little grey cloud and I will ponder on all the things I have to look forward to in the coming months - Birthdays, meeting friends, new toddler classes, toddler groups starting up again, themed weeks. This week alone holds a 7 day raw food challenge, a visit from my lovely sister and a Lion King theme.  Bring it on!

Elderflower Champagne

In the past I have made elderflower cordial and elderflower presse, but never champagne, so I had to give it a go, I mean what could be more delicious to enjoy on a warm summers evening than glass of bubbling homemade Elderflower Champagne? or as I prefer to call it; Elderflower Berkshire.  I made this a few weeks ago and now I have 6 bottles good to go.  Can't wait to share it with friends in the garden.  Here is how I made it:

I got 4 liters of hot water,
700g sugar,
2 tablespoons of white wine vinegar,
About 15 elderflower heads in full bloom, gathered on a sunny day,

Juiced and zested the lemons

Added the sugar to the hot water in a sterile fermenting bucket,

Added the lemon juice and zest to the bucket then topped the bucket up with enough cold water to make up 6 liters,

Added the elderflower heads and white wine vinegar,

Got a little boy to give it a stir,

Covered with a cloth then left for a couple of days.  I then checked it, it was foamy, and fizzing but if it wasn't I would have added a pinch of yeast to get it going  Left it for another four days then filtered it through a clean muslin.

Poured it into sterilised bottles and left for at least a week before drinking, frequently releasing the pressure from the carbon dioxide that is produced in the bottles by the continued fermentation process. 

DRANK IT!!  Sorry I didn't photograph that but I can assure you it was delicious, so sweet and fizzy!  Definitely worth making again, it didn't take long to make and was super cheap, just lemons and sugar really.  Give it a go before all the elderflowers have gone!

Have you even made elderflower champagne?  Was it delish?  What else have you tried?

Here is the full recipe I used courtesy of channel four and River Cottage.

Don't forget to gather the elderflower away from the road.