With the autumn rugby internationals starting this weekend, I’m feeling all patriotic and Welshy. My days of watching our boys in the pub are long gone – so what could be a better accompaniment to the game than a Welsh cake or six? I wrote this little verse a while...
We love arts and crafts! However, I’m just not a very crafty person and a lot of the projects I see on places like Pinterest (I’m on there as cardiffmummy) fill me with dread, as they look way too complicated for me and my children to do. I’m not even...
My children love pirates and they also love dinosaurs, so you can imagine how much they love a book combining the two. Especially when the books are as fast-paced, adventurous and brightly illustrated as the Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs series, written by acclaimed children’s author Giles Andrea and...
These are my pyjamas. I have various pairs that look something like this and I love them. They are so warm and cosy, especially now winter is setting in. For the summer, I have pyjama shorts and vest tops. I have two silk negligees somewhere in the depths of my...
A review of Match, at Sherman Cymru, Cardiff Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Match Girl is a heart-breaking tale of a poor young girl who sells matches to make money. After an unsuccessful day of working in the cold, she is too scared to go home to her abusive father....
I have to admit I was a bit unsure when the publicity team for Artes Mundi asked me if I’d like to bring my family along to review this year’s exhibition. My children are fairly cultured (I hope!), but I worried whether it would be too much for them. Contemporary...
Officially I’m on maternity leave at the moment but, being self-employed, it’s difficult to completely disappear for nine months as there are clients I really value and don’t want to lose and jobs I love doing. And so every so often, I find myself doing ridiculous things like writing articles...
Yes, yes, I know it is only October and Christmas is still more than two months away, but I’m not going to apologise for bringing it up, because if you want to do this one, you’ll need to get yourself organised fast! I’ve also had three conversations about it in the past...
I have a love-hate relationship with children’s magazines. I love them because I think anything that encourages children to read is a good thing. And as someone who makes a living writing for magazines and newspapers, both print and online, I know that these young readers will be keeping people...
I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to my blogs on 10 books for babies to read before they turn one, and 11 classic books for toddlers. They’ve gone a bit viral and I’ve had so many comments from parents telling me their favourites from my lists. Some parents have said...
We love fancy dress in our house. We have a huge box filled with superhero, princess and pirate costumes, a doctor, police officer and fire officer, not to mention a star, a bumble bee, the odd Mr Man and a selection of animal masks, headwear and other accessories. I deliberately...