Lifestyle Archives - Page 23 of 27

MAD Blog Awards Finalist – Photography

Given PODcast only launched in January last year, it’s hard to explain how thrilled I am to be a MAD Blog Awards Finalist. Especially in the Best Blog Photography category. But thrilled I am – over the moon in fact.

THANK YOU, thank you, thank you to everyone that nominated.

As parents it’s not difficult to find excuses to take photographs of our children. We want to remember all occasions like they happened yesterday.

We want to capture the special moments so they stay with us forever. Whether it’s a feeling, an emotion or something that happened for the first time.

Like testing a new swing,

blowing a dandelion clock,

or licking a lolly.

We might just want to remember that impromptu lie down because she didn’t know you were there.

As well as the moments, we enjoy storytelling. We like to share our adventures so you can picture yourself there too.

Whether a boathouse and the wooded valley at Winkworth Arboretum,

the Devils Punch Bowl with its incredible views, fascinating history and wild horses.

or spotting exotic butterflies in a state-of-the art Glasshouse.

As well as keeping a record of our adventures, I love to photograph the detail in the every day. Capturing the magic? I don’t know but it’s very exciting, a bit like butterflies in your tummy.

It’s what makes me lie in the mud waiting for a ladybird to scale a blade of grass.

It’s what makes me to walk to nursery when it’s cold and foggy.

It’s what makes me capture water droplets when it’s pouring with rain.

It’s what makes me photograph a leaf to show you how delicate it is.

It’s what makes me kneel on the gravel so I can get under a flower.

And it’s what makes me lie under a tree even though I know I’m being watched. But I love every single minute.

Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games 2014

Sunday 23rd March saw the Dove family head over to Stratford for the Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Games. We have fond memories of Queen Elizabeth Park having experienced the incredible wall of noise in the Olympic Stadium during London 2012. It was a spectacular day, one that will never be forgotten.

Last weekend we traveled to London. It’s was POD’s first time on a passenger train (having only been on the chunnel to Bruges) so it was all very exciting. The escalators and the tube afterwards equally so!

The weather wasn’t on our side when we arrived so the waterproofs were on pretty swiftly. Once the dark clouds had passed we were greeted with sunshine so we fared pretty well.

We amused ourselves while we waited to go into the park by pulling silly faces

and taking in the wonderful view of the Aquatic Centre.

Daddy wore a Sport Relief t-shirt, coupling it with the Elvis sunglasses I wore for the Team Honk Relay

I went for the Sport Relief all-in-one I’d purchased for the Team Honk Relay – the red afro and deeley boppers were absent on this occasion.

After a fun warm up, which included POD showcasing her dancing skills, we were off! Daddy ran with the buggy and I displayed a innovative speed waddle in an attempt to keep the knackered pelvis in its place.

The surroundings were fabulous, seeing the Orbit brought evoked so many memories

as did the Olympic Stadium.

After a speedy photo, we ran over the line to collect our medals.

The excitement was too much for POD who had peaked too early and worn herself out!

We then had a wander around the event village before enjoying a ginger beer while we waited for our wood fired pizza.

Sport Relief has been incredible this year, I’m so proud to have been a part of it. The Fleet leg of the Team Honk Relay has raised £1,300 (Team Honk overall a whopping £30,000) and our Sport Relief Games, albeit not in the same league, raised £200. We ran a mile, walked about five, and next year we’ll better that. It was a great family day out and POD loved all the medals.

Bunny Loves to Play

What’s great about being a Parragon Book Buddy is we get to read stories we’d not always choose ourselves. POD adored Everybody Loves Butterflies last month – a wonderful story about the life cycle of a butterfly.

This month we’re reviewing Bunny Loves to Play, a finger puppet book similar to the Five Little Monkeys and Old MacDonald books we reviewed last year.

Bunny Loves to Play is a storyboard book with a soft finger puppet toy built into the story. Wiggling the puppet encourages interactive play, which usually involves POD trying to grab my fingers, and hand-eye co-ordination.

The book focuses on what Bunny likes to do, whether it be dressing up to the castle,

playing hide-and-seek or splashing in the stream.

Bunny also loves to play in the park as well as playing follow-the-leader.

Bunny Loves to Play is perfect for POD’s bedtime when she needs to quieten down a bit after her bath. She’s also memorised the words of the story so she can share it with her dollies. She’s only three but she takes this role very seriously! It does mean we may read the book several times over in one sitting but the length makes that very easy.

The Bunny Loves to Play Finger Puppet Book is a great size for POD and for carrying round in your handbag. It’s available from Amazon priced £3.99 (RRP).

Disclaimer: As Parragon Book Buddies we received a copy of Bunny Loves to Play for the purposes of this review. Opinions are our own.

A garden update

After discovering the Alpines at RHS Wisley last week, it seemed a good time to share photographs from the Dove garden.

Although it’s in desperate need of some attention at the moment there are signs of Spring everywhere. The unkempt beds have seen flowers start to bloom and the bushes in need of a pruning are sprouting with life.

We’ve seen a few crocuses this year and this was the last man standing. Beautiful flowers, such a joy to photograph with all their purple veins.

To date there has only been one daffodil in the garden but there are buds everywhere. I hope over the next week or so we’ll start to see that yellow carpet appear.

We’ve seen a huge rise in insects over the past week or so – butterflies and ladybirds especially have all come out from hiding.

The wonderful Magnolia tree seems to have completely flowered in the space of two weeks. It looks glorious against a bright blue sky.

The inside of each flower almost looks like it’s made from strips of streaky bacon!

When the opportunity arises it’s been great to capture dewy webs. Although the photograph I took last week was better, this one came out well. I just love how the water droplets look like miniature crystals. It just shows how clever spiders are too.

There is a huge bush of these yellow flowers, they look great – especially when you’re looking skyward.

Finally whilst taking a photograph of our flowering lavender, I spotted two metallic looking beetles. On doing some research, it seems they’re Rosemary Beetles which originate from Southern Europe. They devour rosemary, lavender, thyme and sage leaves so they’ll be removed from our herb garden at the first available opportunity!

Linking up with #HDYGG with Mammasaurus.

The Swing

The skies were blue, there was barely a cloud in the sky and the birds chirped loudly in the trees. The warm sun meant flesh was on show for the first time in a while.

In the garden POD was up and down the slide over and over giggling as she flew off the end of it. Then she was in her playhouse offering interesting meal combinations – the favourite being asparagus and egg with cake!

The swing was put away when the storms began so it’s the one part of her activity set that’s been missing. It got its first airing on Sunday and was greeted with much enthusiasm. That is one happy face!

POD loved going back and forth on the swing with the breeze in her hair. Once it slowed down, she’d watch Daddy tidy the shed staying in the same position.

Now and again she’d take a break to examine ladybirds, watch butterflies or run around the garden

but it wasn’t long before she was back on the swing! Mummy never pushes as high as Daddy so it came as a surprise to POD when a degree of height was achieved – encouraged by shouts of “push higher Mummy”.

A raucous giggle was followed by an infectious belly laugh – it really is the best sound ever. If only it were possible to capture that moment of utter joy, just wonderful.

POD loved being in the garden sunshine. She was tired and dirty but she’d definitely missed that swing of hers!

M&S to launch celeb ‘Kids Shwop’ for Oxfam

You may have heard about an initiative from Marks & Spencer (M&S) and Oxfam to raise money for mothers living in poverty around the World.

Celebrity mums Joanna Lumley, Abbey Clancy and Zoe Ball have joined forces to launch the ‘Love, Mum’ campaign which is part of the retailer’s ongoing Shwopping campaign. M&S is calling on the nation to shwop, not bin, unwanted childrenswear items (of any brand) to M&S stores nationwide in the run up to Mother’s Day.

That’s not all! This Thursday, M&S are also opening their first-ever childrenswear pop-up store when the Kids Shwop Boutique opens to the public for three days.

Shwoppers will be able to pick up once loved childrenswear items from Britain’s top style icons and celebrity mums including Abbey Clancy, Peaches Geldof, Alex Gerrard, Zoe Ball, Rochelle Humes, Sarah Story, Mel Giedroyc and Shwopping ambassador Joanna Lumley.

Each celebrity-donated item will include personal words of wisdom stitched into the fabric of the item for its new owner too.

If you fancy going along, the event takes place at M&S Marble Arch, 458 Oxford Street, London W1C 1AP from Thursday 6th to Saturday 8th March (8am to 9pm).

Entry to the Kids Shwop Boutique is free, but you will have to shwop, bring an unwanted item of kids clothing, as a ticket to the exclusive sale.

The Shwop Boutique will sell over 1,000 items of schwopped childrenswear clothing donated to the Shwopping campaign with all money raised going to charity partner Oxfam as part of their Mother Appeal initiative supported by M&S.

The aim is to raise £10 million for projects that help mothers around the world lift themselves and their families out of poverty for good.

The public can show their support by Shwopping items in any M&S store add their words of wisdom on social media @shwopping using the hashtag #LoveMum. Further information on Shwopping can be found here.

That moment

There will always be photographs for those special occasions, the best ones being when they don’t know you’re there. Like the time POD wanted to play in the garden just before her Christening!

What I love about photography is that you capture that moment. Whether it was the first time POD blew a dandelion clock,

tasted a lolly

or tried out her new swing!

Occasionally there’s no photograph, just something that happened you simply have to remember. Last night POD opened a nursery rhyme book at bedtime, said “what’s this one Mummy?”and promptly sung it word for word. Only to do the same again with a further ten nursery rhymes. It’s the most wonderful sight to see our three year old have an impromptu sing song at bedtime!

Haba Doctor’s Suitcase

POD is often heard addressing her toys or parents with “I’m a doctor. Okay?”. She takes this role very seriously, even more so since receiving her Haba Doctor’s Suitcase.

It’s metal with a wooden handle and lunchbox size so patients can be treated wherever they are. It’s easy to open and close too which is essential when it’s required all the time!

Inside is a prescription block, pencil, spatula, syringe, tube of ointment, spoon, thermometer, an elastic bandage and plasters. The contents are sturdy yet beautifully made and the attention to detail is spot on.

POD’s first patient was George – he was sicker than Peppa but both had been in an accident. After having his temperature taken, he was provided with medicine and his stomach wound plastered.

Having made him comfortable, POD moved onto her next patient – Peppa Pig “what’s your name?” “what happened to you?” “it’s alright I’ll make you better”.

As you can see, POD takes her doctor role very seriously. She cares for each of her patients and regularly checks to see if they’re alright. Thankfully Peppa and George survived another day.

Many toys have been treated now. You’ll find them strewn across the house donning red plasters until they’re fit enough to enjoy themselves again.

The Haba Doctor’s Suitcase is perfect for pretend play. It’s wonderful to watch POD as she likes to refer to herself in the third person and involve many.

Here she has taken her chair and booster seat into the front room so she can see to her patients – and sing to them like Jo Jingles does at nursery. Being treated on this occasion was a teddy, a cat doorstop and a Christmas reindeer.

POD is happy to relax nervous patients by demonstrating how it’s done, highlighting there is nothing to be afraid of.

If group care is what’s required, that’s what she will provide – keeping everyone informed as she works. You have to admire her multi-tasking and balancing skills.

Mummy and Daddy are also regular patients. POD is able to take a temperature under your armpit in double quick time now with cream and bandaging following afterwards. She also enjoys checking your throat with the spatula and administering medicine to make you feel better.

The Haba Doctor’s Suitcase has been played with more than any other toy since Christmas – a feat in itself given POD’s birthday falls on 25th December. It’s great quality and well worth the £22.60 it costs, it’s available from The Toadstool

Sport Relief Team Honk Blogger Relay

The Sport Relief Team Honk Blogger Relay is a person to person relay from Lands End to John O’Groats. It’s a route of nearly 3,000 miles involving nearly 200 bloggers, their family and friends.

The Fleet leg took place on Thursday 6th February.

Dressed in a Sport Relief all-in-one, red afro wig and Elvis glasses, I met @MummyBarrow, @bruceb_uk, @lady_briggs and @navininika at the station where we caught a train to Farnborough Main.

This provided the perfect opportunity to make funny faces,

experiment with new looks

and shout “H-O-N-K” down a bollard!

At Farnborough Main we walked and scooted a mile to Farnborough North where we caught a train to Crowthorne. Passers by pretended they couldn’t see us!

In Crowthorne we met birthday boy @andywebbdj and his wife @missuswebb who was in a wheelchair for the day due to a recent diagnosis of Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia. Their daughter @Katiielou_xo also came dressed as a unicorn.

Having stopped off for essential supplies we embarked on the four mile walk to Wokingham.

It rained a lot but we remained in good spirits. We waved at passing traffic and cheered when we were honked. We had a good sing-a-long too thanks to the brilliant music system Andy and Sarah brought with them.

In Wokingham we were treated to delicious warm bacon rolls, lovingly prepared for us by Suzanne from @3childrenandit. She was part of the group cycling to Reading which also included @gourmetmum, @BelindaAlbasini and @Owen2306.

After the bacon rolls, we all walked ¼ mile to Luckley House school. With Chariots of Fire playing, we arrived to the most amazing welcome and a sea of Team Honk banners.

Afterwards the baton, aptly named Mr B, was passed to the cycling team by @MummyBarrow.

They then embarked on their nine mile journey to Reading. We drove to there to meet them and they beat us! Having handed over the baton in Reading, the cycling team headed back to Wokingham and we grabbed a late lunch before heading homeward. It was an incredible day spent with an inspirational bunch of people.

To date Team Honk has raised a staggering £18,690 for Sport Relief – £1,165 of which is from the Fleet leg.

We’re linking this post up with #whatsthestory here on PODcast. You’ll find the Linky for w/c 17th February 2014 here.

If you enjoy this blog, please vote for us in the photography or family fun categories. We’d love to be nominated in the MAD Blog Awards 2014.

First gymnastics class

POD learnt to climb at an early age so much so we nicknamed her ‘Danger Dove’ for a time. Although she no longer attempts to stand on the kitchen table, she still loves to climb, has a great sense of adventure and boundless energy.

We’ve been toying with taking her to gymnastics recently and decided to give it go when we discovered somewhere near us was offering a trial session.

The room was hugely appealing, awash with bright colours and lots of apparatus. POD was almost beside herself with excitement watching it being set up.

Sitting on a fun bouncy floor, the warm-up saw the children form different shapes with their bodies and learn basic positions such as the pike and the straddle. POD didn’t pay too much attention as she was itching to try out the apparatus!

As it was our first time, we were taken round the course by a coach who explained what she was doing at each stage and supported POD throughout.

First up was the trampoline where POD enjoyed bouncing up and down with two red pom poms. Next came the trapeze which she was desperate to have a go on! She took to it with great gusto and let go when she was told to landing in a pit of foam shapes.

There she let out the most enormous giggle – it would have made a brilliant photograph! As it was a trial session, and other children were there, we were sadly camera free. Imagine a smile like the above photo but much much bigger!

After sliding down a tube, POD did a downhill forward roll in tuck position before jumping over a mini vault and pulling herself along a low beam to ring a bell. She then hung from a bar while attempting to ring bells with her feet before walking across apparatus similar to a wobbly bridge you’d find in a playground.

We didn’t think POD would be on a balance beam in her first session. But she was. She walked the entire length of it, with support from the coach, carefully stepping over a hoop in the process. She showed incredible strength and balance, didn’t lose her footing once. After that POD tried out the rings before finishing up by climbing a horizontal ladder.

The gymnastics session ended with all the children under a giant parachute. An utterly brilliant 45 minutes – POD absolutely loved it.