“There is no friend as loyal as a book.” ― Ernest Hemingway

As family activities go, reading books is a firm favourite in the Brookes household.  Without fail, we will  read stories at bedtime. We often tag team as we have two littles that often fancy a different story.  Some nights I will read to P and Sam will read to L, other nights we swap round and sometimes we all sit together to read one of our ultimate favourites.  Books are not just a bedtime thing though we love snuggling up, especially at the weekend with a good book or two in the lounge.  We made an area in our lounge where lots of the children's books are easily accessible to them so that they can go and grab a book to look at whenever they fancy.

Because we value reading so much in our house I thought it would be nice to blog about some of our favourite books at the moment.  It'll be nice for us to look back on and it might also be some inspiration for any other mamas and dads out there who fancy some fresh bedtime story material. :)

I am sure you all know and love the classics such as, The Hungry Caterpiller, Stickman and Where the Wild Things Are... Posey has recently learnt about butterflies at preschool so really enjoys listening to The Hungry Caterpiller and listing all the things he eats through.  Stickman has long been a favourite in our house but it has taken Lochlann until now to request the story at bedtime rather than  just watching the film.  I love reading this to him at bedtime especially as it is has a Christmas theme too (I am an all year round Christmas enthusiast).  We enjoy Where the Wild Things Are as Posey loves to pretend she is one of the wild things swinging through the trees.  This is one we often we if we are all doing story time together in Lochlann's room.

Fox's Socks is a lovely one from the range of lift the flap books written by Julia Donaldson.  This one was much loved by Posey when she was a little younger and now Lochlann loves searching for the missing sock in the story.  Though it has to be said sometimes he gets a little too enthusiastic and the flaps in the book have needed to be fixed with sellotape!

The other two stories I wanted to write about are two that you may not have come across before.  Oi Frog HAS to be read by Daddy as he is far better at reading it with a cockney accent for the cat who is telling the frog all about where different animals need to sit 😂.  Needless to say this book has our littles giggling away and reciting it along with Daddy as he reads.  This is a good one as it is one that I would say is definitely entertaining for children and parents alike!



The Cow That Laid An Egg is another silly but very entertaining one.  Another great one for parents that like to put on accents for the different characters.  I like to think I am great at speaking for the cows in the story (not that I am sure what cows would speak like if they could ha) Lochlann and Posey love it and that is what's important.  It has some funny illustrations to accompany the story and is a highly requested story when 7pm rolls around in our house!

There you have those are the stories we have been enjoying the most lately.  I am thinking about doing a post like this for the books that I have been reading recently so if anyone is interested, let me know.

I really hope that Posey and Lochlann have fond memories of story time with their mummy and daddy. As soon as I knew I was going to become a mother, story time was one of the things I most looked forward to the most.  Both Sam and I have read to the children since they were small babies.  I can only hope that they love books as much I do because if they do my oh my the places they will go and the things they will learn are endless...

“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” 
― C.S. Lewis

Thanks for stopping by,

Lots of love,

Holly xx

Dear Diary June 2017

When I younger, certainly through my teenage years and early twenties (as if I am now classed as my late twenties) I kept a diary.  I wrote in it every day, religiously.  It had my deepest, darkest thoughts inside it.  Every happy memory, worry and low moment I had, written down.  For many years it was my escape and the only way I could manage to get through the external things that went on that were out of my control.  Then I met my husband and the writing stopped.  He said it was because we were content, happy and I agreed.  I was proud that I didn't need to pour myself into my writing anymore and for a long time I haven't written.
But I have missed it.

I didn't always write because I needed to escape sometimes I wrote to recount a happy day, to ramble or simply for myself and over the last year or so I have come to really miss it.  This blog came about mainly to document the lives of our two beautiful children but I have decided to use it as my outlet too.  Both for the happy times and the not so happy.  A blog is basically an online journal and so why not use it as one?

So from time to time, when I feel inspired to do so I will write a Dear Diary post.  It will be for me.  Perhaps others might read it and of course I would love for that to happen.  Every connection I have made with a reader of my little slice of the net has been a positive one and it would be great if people felt they could connect with me through these posts too.

There will be no agenda or strict list of subjects for this part of my blog.  I may ramble more than usual and for that I apologise. But man, it feels good just to write...  I feels like I have rediscovered a small part of me that I had lost to my past.  It is ok to write, it is good to write especially when I have some many wonderful people in my life to write about now and so many exciting adventures that we are about to embark upon!

Anyway, there we have it.  Dear Diary entry number one.  :)

My Two #5

Half term has rolled around again which hopefully means I will have a little more time to update my blog.  I love having this little slice of the internet, I just wish I had more time to work on it and I wish I knew what I was doing... I am not brilliant at the whole technology thing.

Anyway here are some some little words about my two littles. 

#1

Posey is almost three and a half years old.  I know it is a cliche but where on earth does the time go? When we move to Abu Dhabi will we be prepping her for starting school, I just can't get my head around it.  For so long I have been used to having two 'babies' as we had our two so close together but now I realise in reality I have an actual child,a proper little girl with her own thoughts and feisty little temper!  The threenager stage is still very much a reality for us over here but I know she is just testing the boundaries and that is ok. I need to remember to breathe and not let it get the better of me.  Despite this stage, she is sweet and kind.  She dotes for her little brother and although he drives her crazy at times she is fiercely protective over him.  

She doing really well at preschool and has recently been introduced to phonics.  She is desperate to be able to read all by herself! Slow down little one, you may be the eldest but you will always be our little girl. 

#2

Lochlann is almost 2 and a half years old. He is as cheeky as ever and thinks everything is ridiculously funny at the minute.  We have tried potty training a couple of times but after a poop in the garden without him even realising he'd done it we have decided he is just not quite ready yet, bless him.  In other news though his sleep is improving again and hes now had the side taken off his cot (emotional day for this mama I can tell you).  He is doing so well with that and is yet to fall out or scream at the gate on his door, although I bet I have jinxed that one now!  He is still very much a home loving boy, whenever we are out no matter how much fun he is having it's not long before he is asking when are we going home.  He just loves being at home with the three people he knows and loves the most.  It is just so sweet, he isn't quite as independent as his sister.  He likes being close to his mama and I am still flavour of the month, which in honesty I absolutely love... except for at 6am when I am the only one that he will let change his nappy! I do worry about our little boy and how he will cope with our move to Abu Dhabi.  In my heart I know he will struggle more.  I guess we just gotta keep that in mind and be patient with him.  He is a gentle soul and is still only 2 years old, after all.

Despite the ups and down and the constant guilt of being a full time working mama, these two littles have changed my world.  I honestly feel like before them and their daddy, my life was a little empty and I was never sure what my purpose was.  Now I know, I am here for them.  To be their mother, to learn and grow with them. With the events that have gone on in Manchester this week I cannot begin to describe how much I love them and how incredibly grateful I am to the universe for my two beautiful, healthy and most importantly safe children. The world around me has seemed blurred this as my only focus was these two little people that inspired this blog, I have wanted to stay home, safe with them in our house in Warrington but my I am still a teacher with a job to do and that job seemed all the more important this week. Especially as I teach in Manchester itself.  My thoughts constantly wander to the parents involved in the atrocity on Monday night.  I cannot imagine the depths of their despair and I cannot help worrying somewhat about the world our children are growing up in.  But what I do now is that children as resilient, they are strong and they can surprise us all.  

P & L, be strong, love hard and be forever grateful for your safety and your happiness. 

Lots of love from mummy xxxx 

Thanks for stopping by, 

Holly xx