Things do not get much cuter than these new veggie inspired hand knitted clothes from Oeuf. While your fussy eaters may not eat their veggies, you’ll have no trouble convincing your kids to wear them! All knitted in 100% baby alpaca wool, this adorable clothing collection couldn’t be more delicious! There are also some gorgeous matching veggie pillows in case you can’t get enough of your greens. But if it’s the proteins you’re missing, the fried egg hat is the one for you! Just too cute – I mean look at that aubergine baby – so cute it hurts!
I’ve decided to take a few days off to spend in the sunshine with my family and of course my little one so I will see you back here next week. In the meantime, if you feel like more reading here are some past popular posts of mine that you might enjoy:
Can’t think of what to cook tonight? This yummy chicken is a firm family favourite here. Or for something quicker, these healthy soba noodles are my go to dish for a last minute dinner.
If you’re still to take your family Summer holiday, these long haul travel tips might help.
Looking for ways to keep the kids busy? Here are some of the best fruity Summer crafts. For even more fruit inspiration, here are some fun and fruity party decoration ideas.
We adore our books here and I often recommend our best finds. This is probably one of the most popular of all the books I’ve recommended – a must have in any kids library.
While I do love a bit of a beauty splurge, there are some high-street skincare products that I cannot live without. I’ve always envied the Americans because they have such a great range of drugstore skincare and beauty products that don’t cost the earth. We may not have quite the same variety here but we do have some gems that I swear by. I’m not normally brand loyal when it comes to skincare but I can definitely say that these five products have been a part of my life for years and will be for many more years to come. You may have come across some of them but I thought I would still share them here and tell you what I love each one most for:
1. Soap & Glory Hand Dream – If you can overlook the bright pink packaging then this is the best hand cream I have used. I have tried many, many, many and most have been far more expensive. I have found that most hand creams are either too greasy or the non-greasy ones don’t moisturise effectively enough. But this Hand Dream cream does both – moisturises really well and you have none of that greasy film on your hands after.
2. Carmex moisture-plus lip balm – This lip balm is a lip balm with a hint of colour. You can get sheer peach, sheer pink or berry. This lives in my handbag as it’s not only a great little lip moisturiser but it also adds that hint of colour to your lips when you don’t want to wear full on lipstick. It’s my go to subtle lip colour especially for the school run. Also, I prefer lip balms like this one that you apply like lipstick – no sticky fingers!
3. Bio Oil – I’m sure bio oil isn’t new to many of you but I still wanted to include it because I think it’s such a useful oil for so many reasons. A friend recommended bio oil to me when I was pregnant and I used it religiously on my tummy – I didn’t get a single stretch mark. It could be luck but I swear by it. I also love it for any really dry patches of skin especially in the Winter months and it even makes a great face moisturiser, again when the weather is particularly dry and harsh.
4. Tea tree oil – tea tree oil is a great natural anti-septic with so many uses. What I love it most for though is acne. While I don’t suffer from adult acne, I do get the odd spot. As soon as I can feel it coming, I put a little tea tree oil on it a few times a day and before I know it the spot goes away and never really appears. I’ve also heard that it’s great for naturally preventing lice in kids – all you have to do is add a couple of drops to the shampoo and then shampoo as normal. We’ve only recently started doing this and no lice so far. (Always remember to buy 100% pure tea tree oil.)
5. Vaseline lip therapy – for the best lip balm that works, nothing beats these little tins of vaseline. But I especially love it as a base for my lipstick. It just makes my lipstick go on smoother and it looks better applied and I also find it makes my lipstick last longer. These tins come in five flavours – cocoa butter, aloe vera, rose, original and they also have a sun protection lip balm. The cocoa butter one is my favourite.
All of these skincare products cost less than a tenner but they really deliver great results. I couldn’t live without them! Do you have some high-street skin care favourites? Please do share.
Do you cook with your kids? There are so many benefits of cooking with kids and involving them in the kitchen. I am on a mission to involve Anya in the kitchen as much as I can. Everyday when I cook dinner I get her to join me and help. I give her tasks like making marinades, peeling garlic, getting all the ingredients together or anything else that doesn’t involve knives or heat. What I love most about this time is our chats. We have lots of fun conversations where she tells me stuff about school, about her friends and I’ve found she chats to me much more during our cooking time than if I sat down and asked her lots of questions. Similarly on weekends, Richard loves cooking and I can see what a great father/daughter bonding time this has become.
So, when Abel & Cole offered to send us their kids Summer boxes, I agreed. I tend to make more complex food on a regular basis so while I involve Anya, it is me who is very much in charge. But these boxes contain recipes that are super easy to follow, allowing kids to read the instructions and take the lead. Most of the recipes have 3-4 ingredients like this vanilla ice cream Anya made – just honey, vanilla pod seeds, cream and egg yolks. This box also contained ingredients to make a strawberry sauce and banana ice-cream which we will try over the weekend.
The recipes are very simple and so your kids aren’t likely to make you the most delicious meal you ever ate but what I love about them is that kids around 5 and older can totally be in charge and you are there just as a helper. We’ve had a few boxes now and Anya is so excited when a new box arrives as she thinks of it as hers and can’t wait to see what she’ll be cooking next. I also love the convenience of pulling out a box and knowing I have all the ingredients to get started. Abel & Cole are doing kids boxes throughout the Summer with different recipes each week so if you’re in need of ideas, check it out. Also it’s a fun way way to keep kids occupied over the Summer holidays.
Here are some simple tips to help get kids involved in the kitchen:
1. Start involving them by making foods they love – maybe baking some cookies or muffins. One of Anya’s favourite things to make is pizza which would be fun for any kid to be involved in making even for kids as young as 2 or 3.
2. Go food shopping together and once in a while let them choose what meal they would like to make or if you can, go to a pick your own fruit/veg place and they will be so keen to cook and eat what they’ve picked.
3. Make a very simple recipe where they can be in charge – this can bring such a sense of pride and achievement as I saw when Anya made this simple ice-cream. Kids love to help especially with adult tasks as this makes them feel good and appreciated.
4. Even if you’re making an involved meal, give them small tasks like stirring or measuring ingredients.
5. Involve the kids in the cooking when you have time. Everything takes longer with kids so as long as you’re relaxed they’ll enjoy it much more.
Above all make it fun. Play some music, be silly and if you’re anything like me don’t worry about the mess like I used to – it used to actually put me off cooking with Anya but I’ve learned to put my fear of mess asisde 😉 It takes a few extra minutes to clean up but it’s so worth it. Do you cook with your kids?
P.S. I moved all my kitchen clutter to one side when I took these pics – my kitchen doesn’t normally look this tidy even though I wish it did! 😀
Confession time. My 6.5 year old can’t tie her shoelaces. How bad is that? I’ve just let that little life skill slip and I’ve forgotten to teach her. It doesn’t help that nearly all kids shoes come with buckles or velcro fasteners so the need to tie shoelaces hasn’t really arisen. But that’s no excuse, every kid should be able to tie their shoelaces right? Hands up who else is in the same boat – I’m not the only slacking parent, am I? I did a bit of a google search to make sure I wasn’t the only one and I found that many children learn to tie their shoe laces a lot later these days. There is no set age but kids should be able to tie their shoelaces by around age 5.
A little while ago Anya got a pair of shoes with laces and I had tried to teach her on those but it was proving too tricky to learn on the shoes themselves even though she tried quite hard. Anya ended up getting really frustrated that she couldn’t do it so we kind of gave up and forgot about it for a while but it recently dawned on me that she should really be able to tie her laces. So instead of learning on the shoes, together we made this very simple cardboard shoe cutout for her to learn on. Using a board like this is a much easier way to teach children how to tie their shoelaces.
Anya’s only had a handful of goes at tying and she has already nearly learned how to do it. She too says it much easier learning on this board than on actual shoes. Once she has perfected it on here, we will move back on to the shoes. I’m haven’t given you any step by step instructions on how to make this board as it’s pretty obvious form the pictures. But if you do want some instructions there are loads of tutorials out there like this one that inspired me to make my own. I will add that let the kids make this shoelace board themselves and they’ll enjoy learning on it even more.
Can your kids tie their shoelaces? Do you have an easy method to teach children how to tie their shoelaces? Please do share in the comments.
P.S. Here’s a short video on a very easy method of tying shoelaces, not the two ears method. A good idea to make it even easier for younger kids.
It’s no secret that I’m keen on my monochrome tones when it comes to interiors or fashion and maybe even in every other aspect of my life. I am naturally drawn to cool whites, minimal greys and beautiful black. But there is one other colour that has recently begun creeping in to my life; a colour I never thought I would be drawn to but it’s it’s really appealing to me right now. And that colour is pink.
I’ve always thought of pink as something a bit too sugary sweet but I’m changing my mind because there are so many shades of pink out there. While I’m still not a fan of the brighter pinks, the softer tones are just beautiful when done right. I’ve been considering a dirty pink sofa for our living room (although sadly Richard isn’t playing along!). But in Anya’s room, I know I will indulge in my new love for pink and I may just sneak a bit in to our bedroom too. I went looking for some pink bedrooms for kids and I found so many beautiful shades to play with. These rooms have a lot of pink so I don’t think many would consider them for a boy but would you consider a hint of pink for a boys room? Here are some gorgeous pink girls rooms to get you inspired:
This pink girls room is so cute! There’s lots of light pink in this room but it works because it’s beautifully complemented and balanced with the grey. Having two-tone walls is a great way to have lots of pink in a room without it looking too much.
This little girls room ticks every box for me. They’ve added lots and lots of pink decorations in different shades of pink balanced with lots of black and white. The black and white is a great backdrop for the pink as it really makes the pink stand out.
There’s no hiding from the pink in this room but even with so much of it, it doesn’t end up looking all too much. The shade of pink used here is the thing that works – soft, dusty pink in abundance looks so pretty and stylish.
While I love monochromes with pink, another colour that works so well with pink is gold. Little touches of sparkly gold add fun and magic to a room. This sweet room is mostly pink including some pink furniture and those little gold accents come to life so well against all the pink.
One of my favourite shades of pink is this kind of dirty pink. If the softer, pinkier pinks don’t work for you, then this shade of pink is a great alternative especially if you little girl is keen on pink and you’re not. This room isn’t nearly as girly as the others, but it has so much charm and character. Dirty pink is a great colour not just for kids but for adult spaces too.
These five pink girls rooms are all so pretty but never over the top. I’m fully converted to the idea of using shades of pink around the home – I just need to convince Richard! Would you consider pink beyond a child’s room?
Yesterday was the first proper hot Summer’s day in London after ages. And what a scorcher it was. When it’s hot, the one thing I can’t wait to wear is my sunglasses. And luckily Anya is the same. I say luckily because we all know that sunglasses are the one fashion accessory that we need to wear to make sure our eyes are protected from the sun. And this is even more important in children. So when Zoobug offered to send Anya a pair, I had to say yes. We decided to go to a pick your own sunflowers place where Anya got to try out her sunglasses for the first time.
Zoobug make fun and fashionable sunglasses for children with UV protection and they also make very cool children’s glasses. Zoobug was started by an eye surgeon whose mission is to help kids see well and look amazing too. The kids sunglasses all have 100% UV protection so while style is all important, the sunglasses also offer the best protection too. The glasses come in a sturdy case with a cleaning cloth enclosed, making it easy to get those little fingerprints off the lenses after each wear.
I let Anya choose her sunnies herself as I wanted her to love them so that she would be excited to wear them. She chose the red python frames which are very cool. There is a subtle python print on these cute round frames but the same round style also comes in many different colours. There are lots of other styles to choose from for boys and girls including some stylish aviator frames. The glasses fit her well and I think she looked pretty cool wearing them as she played in the sunflower fields.
P.S. Picking your own sunflowers was such a fun thing to do on a glorious sunny day. We even found some deep red sunflowers which I have never seen before. We now have a house full of sunflowers to keep us smiling. We went to Garsons Farm in Esher (just outside London) and I totally recommend a visit for a really fun family day out – apart from flowers there are loads of fruit and veg to pick too. But don’t forget your sunnies!
When I was a kid, I remember visiting London for a holiday and my parents took me and my brother to Hamley’s toy store for the first time. It was like a dream come true. We were small, wide-eyed kids who couldn’t quite believe a shop like this existed. We had only ever been to small toy shops before, so to see this kind of scale was almost too much for us. Everywhere I turned, there were toys and games that went from floor to ceiling or so it seemed to me. Toys that I could touch and feel and smell! We weren’t allowed to buy much – we were each given a small budget but that didn’t matter. It was the looking, the exploring, the touching and the just being there that was the best part. I also think it would have been quite boring if we had unlimited budgets because where’s the fun in being able to buy everything.
Sometimes I think back on that experience and wish that all the brands I love for kids would be under one roof. These days I am much more in to the non-mainstream stuff which can sometimes be hard to find and almost impossible to find under one roof. While I keep dreaming about this fantasy shop that will probably never exist, I’ve discovered a virtual place that comes pretty close. It’s called Little Flea and it’s a one-stop place to discover some of the best boutiques for babies and kids.
If, like me, you like to look beyond the mainstream and seek out something that little bit more beautiful or unique for your kids then Little Flea is the place to go to. You’ll find familiar favourites like Bobo Choses and of course my very own ebabee shop too 😉 but you’ll also discover some very cool new lines like Little Indians (love them) and Magnus & Mouse. Little Flea isn’t a shop but the owner Anna carefully hand-picks and features gorgeous stuff for babies and kids which otherwise would be very hard to find. So it’s a great place to browse, discover and get inspired.
A little business tip – if you have a stylish small business or shop for kids then you too can get in touch with Anna and ask to be featured on her site. Anna is very helpful and approachable and loves the brands and products she features.
How beautiful are these wooden toys and decorations? I’m such a fan of simply designed wooden toys that can be used as pretty little decorations once they’re outgrown as play things. Both the sweet wooden cars and the stunning elephants wouldn’t look out of place in any space in your home like on a book shelf in the living room. Also all of these toys and decorations are handmade using natural materials like wood, cotton and felt.
If I had to do the whole baby stage again, these minimal goodies from Pinch Toys would very much be on my list. So pretty, don’t you think? But since I’m not going to be doing that, the next person I know who is having a baby is getting that little cloud and star mobile.
During the Summer holidays do you plan an outing everyday for your kids? I don’t because I think it’s important for kids to have unstructured play time. By that I mean simply spending time at home and letting them use their imaginations to just play. By planning too many activities and trying to fill every minute of their time, I think kids lose the ability for creative play. So at our house, we tend to mix it up – a few planned outings each week and lots of home time in between. For home time I like to have a few things up my sleeve to help keep Anya occupied and one of her favourite things to do is work her way through a kids activity book.
I recently came across this really fun and creative activity book called Tate kids Modern Art activity book and it sounded really good so I bought it. It’s by the Tate Gallery and includes lots of fun activities based around the modern artists of out time. This book isn’t about drawing and colouring within the book, but its a book of arty ideas that can help you come up with even more creative and fun ideas. Some of the suggestions would also make fun party or play date activities especially for crafty kids. So for e.g. you have things like a Henri Matisse activity where you’re encouraged to paint pieces of paper in the brightest, boldest colours like Matisse’s famous colourful collages and perhaps make an animal shaped collage of your own. Or a Salvador Dali art project where you cut out pictures from magazines and then mix and match the most unlikely pairs.
Anya is really enjoying this Tate Kids Modern Art Activity Book which comes in especially handy when we don’t have a planned day and also on rainy days. The collage activities have appealed to her the most so far. Our home is already full of all kinds of collages and we’ve only had the book a few days. But there are lots of other fun ideas in this kids activity book all of which are engaging, creative and fun to do.
The Summer holidays are in full swing and we’ve been getting out and enjoying London. We rarely go away over the Summer because London is such a great place to be at this time of year and there so many Summer activities for kids in London. This Summers mission is to enjoy as much of our beautiful city as we can and when I find something super fun to do, I thought I would share it here. Earlier this week, along with some friends, we headed to the Southbank which is always a fun day out. There is always a fab atmosphere, food, street performers and so much more. Our plan was to just wander around and soak up the sights and smells but we ended up discovering the Appearing Rooms Fountain. And once we discovered this, there was no moving the kids away.
The Appearing Rooms Fountain is no ordinary play fountain. It’s designed so that jets of water shoot high in to the air creating ‘rooms’ that appear and disappear as quickly as they appeared. It’s possible to stand in the midst of fountain and not get wet – the trick is finding the ‘room’ where there is no water shooting up or to move super quick when it does come. But the pattern of the fountain changes each time so you might get unlucky and get drenched. The kids headed in to the fountain and the joy on their faces was quite unbelievable. We thought they would play for a few minutes but they ended up playing in the fountain for hours. They absolutely loved it. There were kids of all ages there – from 2 to about 12 – and they were all squealing with delight and joy.
Right next to the Appearing Rooms Fountain is lots of outdoor seating so we sat there, ate and chatted while we kept an eye on the kids who just couldn’t believe their luck at stumbling across this magical play fountain. It may seem a bit over the top to go on about a fountain but the excitement was so evident on every child’s face so I think this fountain is a must visit for any kid. And the best part is that it’s free. Kids can easily spend 2-3 hours in there – just remember to bring a spare set of clothes or a swimsuit for them to wear while in the fountain. Because they will get drenched!
Have you discovered any London places that are fun and worth a visit? Do share so we can all check them out.
Anya wears quirky bear tee by ebabee and floral shorts by Zara (past season) {all photos by ebabee}
Ebabee Likes is a style guide for babies, kids, teens and their mamas. It’s all about inspiration, ideas and indulging yourself and your brood. It’s written by me ~ Nomita ~ a style loving girl from Mumbai who now live’s in London. Read More...
