How to Survive School Holidays with Teenagers and Toddlers

Here's a few tips I use for surviving school holidays to keep everyone happy without breaking the bank or yourself

• Remember the children are on holiday too, they don't want to be tired out from too many activities.
• Make a plan. Kids like structure, if they know that a day of cleaning will mean being rewarded by day out later in week, then you will meet less resistance and nagging. The same is true if you plan games, films, and other activities.

• For each holiday I generally plan a tidy up day, an outing, a day for friends, an activity day, a shopping day and a chill out day
• Tidy up at start of week gives a fresh start which frees up time later in week to spend together. Cleaning out wardrobes can mean a fun shopping trip, or sorting toys to donate can be rewarded by new toy later in week.
• Activity days are not just for young children, its amazing how older children will join in with designing bags, tie die and especially cooking
• Allow a day for older children to go out with friends while younger children have a play date

• Games, movies and TV nights are a great way of bonding and making children feel you have made time for them. These activities seem to work best on an evening, we start with ones suitable for younger child which everyone takes part in and then once youngest go to bed continue activity theme with older children
• Box sets are great during holidays, watch a film or episode each night, it keeps a routine and something to be anticipated everyday
• Respect that each child will want time on their own too. Younger children have been at nursery or school, they have toys they don't get chance to play with on normal working weeks. Teenagers want to relax playing on computer, read etc, so use this time to relax yourself or do chores.

Many establishments offer weekday or off peak discounts school holidays are great for taking advantage of these;

• Cinema-Many cinemas also offer discounts on set weekdays or if you visit before 5pm
• Off Peak Travel- many operators offer discounts on transport for travelling after 9:30am, if you plan your outing then travel especially on trains can be prebooked weeks in advance for biggest discounts. Always ask about family tickets when using public transport, there are some very good deals
• Restaurants- Many offer discounts for early bird eating, one of our favourites is Pizza hut buffet, but it always worth checking on website
• Discount sites- check out sites such as Groupon, Wowcher and Vouchercloud can offer discounts on days out and restaurants. It is worth checking these out a few weeks before holidays to help plan outings and spread cost
• Always do an internet search for discounts where you want to go, there usually advance tickets, offers to print or discount codes
• Linked tickets- many travel operators have deals to offer discounts to visitors using public transport, many of these vouchers need to be printed at home first, but you canend uo saving a lot more than what the travel ticket costs

Loves ya Becky x

"Mom, Toothless needs some fish"

I have made my own trap with being a crafty mom, suddenly the kids see something cool, or think up an idea and its "Mom can you make us one?"

My youngest son Quinn is mad on How to Train Your Dragon film and when Build-a-bear sold out of the Toothless cuddly I decided to make him one instead. It started as small project by simply downloading a pattern from this artist website and making from felt....but then he wanted one he could ride on....so I decided to just make head and turn into hobbyhorse style. Quinn however decided it needed wings...and a tail...and a body!

The pattern got blown up into a poster size, and after a few days frantically sewing I created a 2 metre long with 2 metre wingspan dragon. It has a broompole running through centre, with wired wings attached onto it, which makes it robust enough to ride on and handle any young viking's adventures. Quinns reaction was "Mom he needs a saddle too" So another few hours sewing, I have one dragon with detachable saddle, tail fin and one very happy little boy.

Fast forward 6 months later and Quinn now has a dragon from Build-a-bear too, but decided Toothless now needed some pretend fish to eat.

1. Handcut fish template from card, draw 2 shapes onto felt for each fish leaving room for seam
2. Sketch on details such as face and fins, then handstitch using embroidary thread, remember these are opposite sides so need to be a mirror reflect of each other
3. For eyes I cut out 2 small circles and attached on by stitching a white pupil.
4. Place fish shapes together so inside out, tack with pins and stitch all around leaving tail end open
5. Turn the fish inside out so now it all right way stuff and sew up tail end

• If you wish you can glue a small magnet inside, and then glue the opposing magnet into the cuddly toy by the mouth so he can                                                                                     pretend to eat it

The things we do for our kids, but it worth it to see them say "Wow!!"

Loves ya Becky x

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my all new blog. Yes I have tried blogging in past but life got in the way...so I have had this crazy idea of embracing all that chaos into one blog. Of course this is with a little help from the lovely Shimelle and her online courses

So lets share it all; the fun arty, crafty things that I do to keep myself sane, the beautiful family that I share my life with, and the new skills I discover along the way. But not forgetting the rest; the tips for living with teenagers and toddlers, financing our family life, and overcoming hurdles.

Life is a rollercoaster, you can either scream every time there is a bump...or you can throw your hands up and enjoy the ride

Loves ya Becky x