There’s been much crafting in the Dove household recently, even the POD Father has been getting in on the act. After the rather spectacular Maleficent costume he made for POD last year, he’s been busy creating a pterodactyl outfit for her dinosaur disco! POD and I have also been making some weather crafts thanks to the brilliant team at Bostik who sent us some absolute gems to fuel our creativity.
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At the ripe old age of five POD has adopted a love for all things pretty but she adores the great outdoors just as much. Whether it be climbing trees, rolling down hills or making potions for fairies, being outside is definitely a happy place. POD isn’t put off by the weather either, she said recently she loves the rain as she can jump in muddy puddles – a tell tale sign that she loves to get messy!
If you’re a regular here, you’ll know we love tennis. Both myself and The POD Father played regularly before POD came along in 2010. Last year we got to dust down our rackets after a five year hiatus, largely thanks to Mark Warner Holidays, and POD even had a go herself. On the back of the Aegon GB Davis Cup win, the LTA has recently been giving away free six week tennis courses as part of their #TennisForKids initiative. We’ve loved being part of this campaign with BritMums and we’ll be writing about it very soon. POD’s relished the four lessons she’s had thus far so the first Great British Tennis Weekend couldn’t have come at a better time.
I distinctly remember wandering round JoJo Maman Bebe while I was pregnant. It was refreshing to find a shop that offered a choice of beautifully tailored designs rather than a plethora of pale pink and glitter. We purchased a sleepsuit that day and some other bits as we didn’t know whether POD would be a boy or a girl at that stage. A few weeks after her Christmas Day arrival in 2010, we were back at JoJo Maman Bebe and we’ve shopped there regularly ever since.
It’s raining and I’m finding it increasingly distracting. It’s not particularly noisy but something has caught my eye outside and I can’t help but look. What I’m excited about is a bush. A bush outside the patio window adorned with purple berries. Like glistening jewels, each berry is momentarily encased by a raindrop before it falls to the ground. What I see however is one berry and a raindrop on the cusp of being separated. That’s what I want to capture, the very thought giving me butterflies and sending me outside.
If you asked me what my favourite programmes were as a child, The Clangers would definitely be up there. Originally broadcast back in the Seventies, it told the story of a family of murine creatures that lived inside a hollow planet. The Clangers consist of Mother Clanger, Major Clanger, Granny Clanger, Tiny Clanger and Small Clanger. Other planet inhabitants included the Froglets, a trio of orange aliens, the scrap metal Iron Chicken, the blue cow-like Sky Moos plus the Soup Dragon and her baby. Speaking only in whistles, they ate green soup, provided by the soup dragon, and blue string pudding!
Last summer POD wore a Konfidence swim jacket for the first time while on holiday. It made a huge difference to her water confidence having got ‘the fear’ a couple of years earlier. She began swimming lessons in January and this week we had a huge breakthrough in that she submerged her head completely to retrieve a dive stick! Being selected as a Konfidence #swimologist family could not have come at a better time as we’re sure this will be the year POD learns to swim. To celebrate Konfidence is offering one lucky reader the opportunity to win £50 to spend on their swimming essentials.
Having started nursery when she was a year old, by three POD was pretty much deciding what she wanted to wear. Granted she didn’t always get her way but she’d certainly developed her own sense of style way before she started school. These days her clothes tend to fall into two categories – beautiful dresses and cool casuals. Saltrock certainly falls into the latter with POD insisting on wearing their clothes regardless of whether she’s at the beach or in the forest.
We received another fabulous craft box from Bostik this month. With a mini beasts/garden theme, POD decided she wanted to combine the two and make a mini beast garden she could also plant flower seeds in. Having found a suitable planter and a great spot, on the kitchen window sill outside, we set about making our beasties.
