Our new house will create two of our three bathrooms as “Jack and Jill” bathrooms. Feel free to check out our first floor. ”Jack and Jill” bathrooms are bathrooms with two doors, usually to two bedrooms which is the case for one of ours. My daughters en suite can also be accessed from the spare room and my sons can also be accessed from the landing. This gives all permanent residents and overnight guests en suite bathrooms as well as having a “family bathroom” accessed from the landing. We achieve this without having to have additional and mostly unused bathrooms to pay for and to clean.
Diva G’s en suite is in progress and I shall share the before and afters very soon. We have just past the last of the brick dust days and the new wall to what will become the guest bedroom, currently still the now much smaller bathroom, is up and I am choosing the furniture. It is going to be a wet room style shower room – shower, sink, toilet, storage unit, mirror and towel rail – all wall hung. Colour wise we are going grey – large rectangular tiles, dark, slate grey on the floor and paler, softer grey on the walls.
I’m good with everything but struggling to find the right basin as ultimately for 99.9% of the time it will be Diva G’s bedroom from age five through to adult hood – it needs storage. There will be make up, hair styles and god help us, hair dye to be experimented with. She needs to be able to stand in front of the mirror and be able to have her “stuff” under the sink FOR HOURS!
I spotted this design from Bauhaus, Solo is small, beautiful and rather smart in its use of space and now available in Quartz which is a soft grey – just what I am looking for…
I popped down to my local stockist Opulenza by Tubs and Loos in Heald Green, Cheadle to check it out, loved it. The solo unit is the perfect fit at 500mm wide but the basin is wider than the unit by just 50mm and those 50mm make it just too wide – gutted! Luckily the team at Opulenza helped me leave armed with brochures of alternatives to flick through so I am now a little bit closer to making a decision. With the shower going in this week I need to get on with it too.
If you like the Bauhaus Solo it is also now available in Azure, a gentle blue joining the existing Graphite, Calico and White options, bringing the colour choice to five.
Unbelievably the artist formally known as Baby G, now self titled as Diva G will be starting school in September. As a sibling and an October birthday she is very excited and ready for this next milestone. The step into education is one which will last 14 years. It’s her first big step into independence and a huge milestone for us all, our family will develop and adjust as Diva G starts in reception and Lil H starts in Y3 in the Juniors.
I love capturing my children’s milestones in photographs so here is a nostalgic look back at Diva G over the last four years.
Baby G on her first birthday holding a newborn photo of herself.
Age Two – hello Peppa Pig, Dolls, Keys and Jigsaws – just some of her favourite things.
Scooting, dancing, Barbie, Princesses and shopping are just some of the things she loved aged three.
Then last year just before she turned four years old she started at Pre-school.
There are lots of things to do before September that will get Diva G prepared and ready for her first day. She has settling sessions in June, school uniform to try on and order, a lunch box and water bottle to choose and school shoes to be fitted. Then it’s time to get the camera ready, the milestone captured and the education started.
Between now and then I shall be making the most of my “Mummy Days” on a Friday and getting inspiration mostly from Pinterest for how I am going to capture Diva G’s first day, of so many, at school.
My two take packed lunches to school / pre school. Typically these are a sandwich, wrap or crackers, a fruit squeezy, a yoghurt, a biscuit and a fruit smoothie to drink.
We’ve recently been trying the newly launched Vita Coco Kids in Apple & Blackcurrant and Pineapple & Mango flavour and they are getting a thumbs up from the Lancaster’s. As the weather is getting warmer the naturally fruit flavoured water is more thirst quenching than the usual smoothies, often they will ask for a second smoothie.
Mum says …
They’re all natural, no added sugar, colouring, preservatives, flavourings or concentrates – I like this!
There is less than half the sugar in the Vita Coco cartons than our usual smoothies – I like this!
The kids thirst is quenched by one carton so they drink fewer – I like this!
They cost less than the usual smoothies we buy – I like this!
The kids like them – this I like the most!
I had already discovered Vita Coco, I’m a big fan of green smoothies for breakfast. Here’s my favourite green smoothie breakfast recipe (makes 2):
1 head of pak choi, roughly chopped
1/2 papaya
1/2 mango
125ml cold water
280ml coconut water
1tbsp ground raw flax seeds
1tsp spirulina / ‘supergreens’ powder
This Easter we have enjoyed the story of Patchi, a playful dinosaur and his fun-loving friends.
Walking with Dinosaurs The Movie will take you on a thrilling prehistoric journey. The story is one which we all enjoyed as it took us back to the time when dinosaurs ruled the Earth. The smallest of the pack, Patchi (a Pachyrhinosaurus) embarks on the biggest adventure of his life as he tries to find his place in a spectacular world, there are a few dangerous encounters and adventures to overcome along the way.
Lil H, who celebrated his 7th birthday over Easter, was definitely and unsurprisingly the biggest fan of the movie. He particularly liked the fact profiles for the different dinosaurs that were included throughout the film as we met new characters and species of dinosaur. The movie is a visual delight for all, especially kids, and a must see for dinosaur fanatics. Where Spielberg’s Jurassic Park trilogy is a story based on Hollywood drama and fantasy with a dusting of fact, this dinosaur movie has its roots firmly in the BBC documentary series and facts. Whilst Patchi is a cutie the reality of nature is presented in the raw as it is thought to have been in prehistoric times.
We’ve been getting our craft on this week and making some spring time decorations for Easter.
Our Easter tree of twigs sprayed white with chicks and sherbet lemons is on the mantle piece. Tiny pom poms have been made using a fork in white wool to create swags of bunny tail bunting. Tiny yellow pom poms have born cute Easter chicks.
Easter hunts are an annual tradition in our family, my parents “chocolate lollipop tree” is legendary, it only bears it’s chocolate lollipops on Easter Sunday but on this day it’s branches are laden with lollipops! We can never have too many rehearsals ahead of the Easter Sunday hunt at my parents.
Waitrose have developed a lovely Easter game all about new life that takes little ones on an exploring adventure learning all about Spring, the great outdoors and get some Easter treats along the way. What’s lovely is it can be played in the garden, park or even in the house if the weather missed the memo about the Bank Holiday weekend!
You can download the Easter hunt as well as find lots of ideas for things to make, bake and decorate at Easter with your children. Check the ideas out here.
Thank you Waitrose for sending us some goodies to find on the Easter hunt, practise completed, we’re all set for Easter at Villa Lancaster – what about you?
is out now on Blue-ray 3D, Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD.
