Guilty!

images from the week: Oona caught in the act! looking a little guilty as a little too much talcum powder on the bears, the bunnies and the bed are discovered, all in the name of play. we throw up the sheets and laugh in a room full of what looks like snowfall.

sometimes good things go wrong so that better things can go right.

 

Once Upon A Week - Filling the Cupboards for Autumn

With the changing season comes shorter days, wetter and windier too. So with the girls at my side with tape measure, kettle and aprons at the ready we've been busy making some fun changes to our indoor space. Having a kitchen 'grand designs' of our own. 

One advantage about moving house again and again is you learn how to use furniture in different ways. A huge antique cupboard that has moved with us with each move, previously used as wardrobe, once a hallway cupboard and then used in the playroom for the girls games, puzzles and playthings now houses an inner room of its own. It is a piece I want to keep and so it must adapt to what space we have and what role it can be purposed for. Though its not yet finished..... here's what lies inside....

The middle section now opens up into a cosy kitchen, the doors now have hooks on the inside to hang their aprons, utensil racks have been hung, and kettles, teapots and pans hang at a reachable height, there is even an enamel washing bowl! The girls eye up every pretty little tin, jam jar and spice box that I have in my kitchen and everyday hears ' Have you finished with it yet?' 'Can I have it for my kitchen now?'

 
I'll have to wallpaper their little kitchen though I dream of tiling it (perhaps I will)! I'd love something like this tiled wallpaper.'Mixed Folk' coated wallpaper by Louise Body. Though its already bordering on upstaging our 'real kitchen' all it needs is a few terracotta pots of herbs!

It has seen so much play and some very creative cooking which see's things going missing from my own kitchen to be found on their shelves or in their oven mixed in with other random ingredients. I only hope this isn't fashioned on my own culinary skills! Perhaps I ought to let them borrow a recipe book or two.

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once upon a week - No Ordinary Day

As I fall asleep on what seems like an ordinary day, I realise our days are not so ordinary at all. The girls are learning so much at school that I cannot keep up. They change, they blossom, they grow every day. Sometimes the change is so fast they're a different person as they fall asleep from when they woke that morning. My own work teaches me new things every day and every day is different. No day is ever ordinary. No day is ever the same despite it following a vague routine. Every day is extraordinary. Sometimes I wonder if we have to be grateful not for what we have but for the fact that we can see it. 

ordinary day pictures top to bottom: Oona splashing in the bath, cuddles with daddy, Oona discovering numbers, breakfast in bed, and yes even my laundry basket makes me happy, seeing all those colours all those days of fun piled up ready for another.  

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon A Week - Sarajevo

With the school holidays coming to a close we have been doing a dutiful tour of visits to see family we rarely get to see. We have just returned from a week spent in Sarajevo with my husbands family. I have traveled a lot, from Cambodia, Indonesia, India and all that lies inbetween to almost all the countries that make up Europe but this is one place I find very hard to visit.
Perhaps its because we roadshow ourselves from one Aunt to another, one cousin to another with conversations translated and so much food being offered that you simply can't refuse a bite in case you offend, despite how your stomach feels so full you barely have room for lungs. Perhaps because its so hard to unwind and slow down with so much going on and having to ensure the kids are happy, cool and not over-exhausted. Or perhaps because it reminds me of my husbands battles, of his sadness of what has happened to his country, his family, the memories of his childhood obliterated by the scenes he saw before he came to London. Perhaps because its recent history haunts the town and faces in it and reminds me of the atrocities that were happening whilst I was happily listening to miss sarajevo by U2. Perhaps, because I cannot voice myself clearly with so much lost in translation, or the overbearing climate we have been met with on each visit or perhaps its all of that mixed in with visiting the mother-in-law.

When we arrived the summer temperatures had soared to 45 degrees in the capital so I couldn't take the girls into the city to show them the dichotomy of the capital, the parts I fell in love with when I first visited in 2004. The city's architecture reveals it history as though a picture painted by all those who have occupied it since 1461. Bosnia Herzegovina for most probably brings to mind the war that saw a 1,400 day siege upon the capital, the longest seize of a capital in modern day history. The city bares the scars of it still, as do its people. Though many of the family do not talk about what happened, the divide it caused is clear from people now scattered across the globe having being fortunate enough to escape, or their fate having cut their lives short by the war that saw an estimated 12,000 lives taken.
There are many newslinks and a video here,  here and here of what was happening at the time, or to understand more take a look at wikipedia here.

The siege of Sarajevo, as it came to be popularly known, was an episode of such notoriety in the conflict in the former Yugoslavia that one must go back to World War II to find a parallel in European history. Not since then had a professional army conducted a campaign of unrelenting violence against the inhabitants of a European city so as to reduce them to a state of medieval deprivation in which they were in constant fear of death. In the period covered in this Indictment, there was nowhere safe for a Sarajevan, not at home, at school, in a hospital, from deliberate attack.

— Prosecution Opening Statement, ICTY vs Stanislav Galić, 2003^[14]

A 'Sarajevo Rose'; filling the spots where mortar has landed

So, instead of a planned cruise around the city, visiting markets and showing off to the girls the beautiful city their father grew up in we instead headed out of the city to the cooler climes of the countryside to stay at Uncle Enver's newly built house. It is less of a house, but rather a huge ranch with big rooms and a whopping wrap around terrace with views over the rollings hills,  forests and fields where his horses roam free. Horses that he breeds, Arabian horses, Lipizzaner's, and others that I can't recall. Oona insisted on renaming them as she couldn't pronounce their names; so they became , weetabix, apple, vanilla, red riding hood and so on. In the cooler hours of the day, early morning and early evening we would walk to discover fruit tress, coming home with baskets of plums, we would visit the horses offering them apples to eat from our hands and enjoy the stillness, the silence of the country. I even managed to do some reading and couldn't remember when I last sat and listened to the stillness of a day. We enjoyed a feast with more than 40 members of the family coming together some, seeing eachother for the first time in nearly 20 years. The girls had a wild time roaming the land that belongs to the ranch and are now begging for horses of their own! But we have promised they can ride when we next visit and hopefully then, at a cooler time of the year I can show them the city where their father would ride his bike, where he would sit and eat ice-cream with friends and maybe one day when the girls are much older they will begin to understand why London became home for their father and see the layers to him that I see. Until then we'll eat plums and ride horses.

Coming home I discovered that we've been featured on a wonderful and inspiring blog here where I tell the story behind the photo. A picture with a story that is still being written. Reminding me not just of the words I wrote that mean so much but more my love of how people unite, joining together to bring inspiration and spark imagination. I wrote about the company Capturing Childhood here, and love the work they do. I have learnt so much through them and am continuing to learn everyday. I highly recommend you go along to their website, and while you're there take a look at the series 'the story behind the photo', you'll discover me there as well as lots more of beautiful stories.

...... and finally, Oona has now moved into a 'big' bed sleeping her last night in the cotbed she outgrew but was reluctant to leave. I had to snap a picture before we took it down. The girls have asked we keep it, store it away for when they have children....... or maybe one day I'll need again?!

I suppose in a lot of ways this week has showed me how we have to let the past be and move forward

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon a Week: Thank You Camp Bestival

Sisters and family had a super besti-festi-holiday at Lulworth Castle.  We skipped and played under sunny skies. We shared the Sisters Guild treasures and met lots of lovely people.  The children felt the wonder and freedom of being in a field full of lights and colour, music and theatre. It was a magnificent spectacle, a magical playground. An unforgettable adventure. Thank you Camp Bestival.

3 sisters shopping at Sisters Guild in silly specs

Lulworth Castle & giant flowers

BrightonArt, Chroma Collective and Two Tigers Fireworks joined forces for the second year running to create a Fireworks and Projected Animation Spectacular.  Inspired by the theme of the "Silly Olympics", the team was joined this year by the genius animation company Persistent Peril.

What an incredible finale from an outstanding team.

We hope you all had a great festival adventure - see you there next year!

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon A Week - Now I Am Six

How I wish time could slow down or just pause a while. Sometimes we are so very busy looking at whats ahead of us, trying to reach the horizon each day that we don't see all that is around us. 

Sessi has just turned six and though for her its as though she's crossed a border into the world of Grown-up-child, (yes it is a place that actually exists) suddenly leaving her little sister behind her it has made me feel as though I need to hold on to time, to slow it down while I catch up.

She has been so busy growing up, learning so very much and I have been busy with, well, life I guess that I haven't noticed so very much all the individual small but so significant changes. More and more the roots of who she is are growing deeper and she is becoming her own person stronger and surer.

She holds ahead of her the opportunities to discover what she wants to become and yet has no reason to think of her future ahead, but only to spend her days in the here, in the right now, in each passing wonderful moment of childhood.

How is it that though she's been growing up for quite some time now I feel as though I am seeing it for the first time. There are certain milestones that make it feel as though our children have suddenly jumped forward into another time in their lives, leaving us wondering where all the time has gone. Turning six certainly feels like a leap into a whole new world of looking back - for me at least.

Measuring Sessi on our family height chart on her birthday morning I realised she is not growing away from what she was but more growing into who she will become now I know that even when her height ceases to grow her growth will never stop, just as I am still growing at 34. I only hope I can hold her the way I do now, that we will always be the way we are now, that we will still go to the swings in the rain and above all I hope that one day she too will feel this feeling when she is a mother and her own daughter turns six.

Our memories lie behind us like a string of lights that follow where we go. I can see them all twinkling when I see her and they shine as bright as the stars in the sky. I am now aware that she will outgrow me so much faster than I will ever outgrow her. But just as we were once joined by the umbilical cord so will we always  be joined by the string of lights. 

"Some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again"

- C.S Lewis.

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon A Week - Dear Daddy

A selection of clothing and big boy toys from Sisters Guild

It's father's day on Sunday and as a team member of the family who needs to be celebrated we've been making gifts and cards and getting excited about having a day all about daddy.
We grew up without a father and as a mother of 2 girls who adore their daddy and their daddy dotes on them I love to watch them together, both grateful and happy to see their love for eachother. Sophia when asked in an interview for pirouette blog if she knew anyone famous once said ' do you mean daddy?' For the girls daddy is a hero, the man who fixes things, who makes them pancakes every weekend morning, who gives the best airplanes, who's knees are best for climbing on and who's absence through work is a mystery, though Oona thinks he paints at work just as she does at kindergarten!

our 'giving tree' : a gift for daddy - see below for the how to

On Sunday we will make daddy the pancakes, we will give him some big boy toys and cater to the 8 year old boy that still sits inside of him, the girls will proudly hand over their handmade cards and he will open them with watery eyes and wonder when did they grow up, how did they grow up so fast. He'll take them to the park and they'll get to do all the things that I don't like them to do..... go headfirst down the slide, climb trees higher than I would allow, and I will stay at home giving them time to be together just the three of them with a smile on my face knowing they are together having proper daddy fun.
I know we are fortunate to have a father to celebrate, and I will be sending a card to my mother with a pretend moustache and a thank you for playing that role in our lives. Because whoever plays the father role, be it an uncle, a mother or a family friend they should be celebrated and thanked no matter how much or how little they do, because doing things out of love with nothing expected in return is worthy of 'Thank you', especially if they are good at giving airplanes!

top picture - a selection of clothing and big boy toys from SistersGuild

bottom picture - our 'giving tree' a picture we made to frame for daddy. It's easy to do and a great inexpensive gift - draw the trunk and branches of a tree ready for the children to paint on top and then give the children ink or paint to make leaves using their fingers to print each one. 

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon a Week - Jubileed indeed!

a moment of mama contentment captured

We have had many days of celebration this past week, including a friends wedding and the Jubilee party in our lovely community garden.  Having a new baby as well as a 4 year old has made the occasions all the more memorable.

We moved at the beginning of the year to a whole new county, a new town, a new street and slowly discovered that we had landed right in the heart of the most generous, creative and friendly community. There shall be cake and crafts a-plenty thanks to my new neighbours also known as Tea 'n' Cake and Fromemaid (who made the fabric Jubilee rosette as pictured)

As a family we are thriving on the lifestyle change that we made.  Gabe has blossomed with all the outdoor space and a gang of buddies, and Ruben has been embraced as the youngest and smiliest member.

As I sat amongst a bunch of inspiring people with music, chatter and food in the evening sun, I felt a moment of pure contentment that I hadn't felt for a long time.  We're going to enjoy it here.

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wednesday Woo'.
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Once Upon A Week - Mice, Nose picking and masks, its all a walk in the park

Oona lost in thought, waking up to discover mice on my bedside table, the children give me inspiration for the Monday Makery, climbing on daddies knee is still the most fun in the park, the nose picking shots .... need I say more! flowers picked for mama on the way home, discovering masks can say things exactly as they are - Oona's face is exactly this, early morning rises and straight to the colouring pencils and afternoons spent walking in Battersea park collecting daisies for chains.

It's been a week of sunshine and laughter, early mornings and cleaning bogies off the arm the sofa!

We're looking forward to a sunny Jubilee weekend having picnics with friends, celebrating in Battersea Park, eating strawberries and cupcakes and making our very own crowns too.

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.
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Once Upon A Week - Fulfilling A Dream

Do you remember your childhood dreams. Part fantasy, part reality. Did you follow them. Did you let them lead you to where you are now. Or did they get lost somewhere along the way to adulthood along with that magical view of the world that children seem to hold the key to, but let go of when the world enlarges. As though the same key no longer fits a locked door of latent ambition. Childhood contains that space in time where dreams can come true. A sanctuary of ambition as bright as the sunshine. It is where we write the first pages of our book. A book that has yet to be filled and every possibility lies before you. Chapters yet to be written and read. Adventures before us that will never end. Childhood dreams are our promises to our future.

For as long as I can remember Sessi (Sophia) has wanted to dance. She has an inherent elegance, an innate grace and an understanding of music that flows through her as she moves. Music spirits her every move and there is nothing more she likes to do than to dance. A delicate theatre of ballet courses through the house as she turns each song she hears into a story. She dreams of one day becoming a 'real' ballerina, a prima ballerina assoluta,  following in the steps of Margot Fonteyn de Arias and the brilliant few that followed.

Last weekend she was able to live one of her dreams as she danced on stage moments after and moments before the graduating students of the English National Ballet performed 'My First Sleeping Beauty'. I watched with goose pimpled skin and glittery eyes as the thrill of the lights, the scratched vinyl floor, the music, the red velveteen auditorium was absorbed as though she'd done it everyday of her life and she danced. With a rise en pointe that lifted her as though she were pulled to the sky, and a lift that gave her the ecstatic feeling that all ballerinas get to experience, a plie, a grand jete, pas de chat and a dozen pirouettes, there she was fulfilling her dream.

Even if next year her dreams change, if somewhere between child and adult she lets go of her most inner passion, even if she never becomes the vision of herself she see's right now. This was a day she fulfilled a dream, a wish came true and for 60 minutes she was a real ballerina.

Perhaps this is the best part of being a parent - those moments you see your child in the happiest here and nows of their lives. 

When they begin to write the pages of their book.

Childhood dreams change as we change. Sometimes we can see it happening. Other times they vanish without a trace. But if you turn back just a few pages, you'll see they're still there. A future promise is still in our future. Waiting to be woken.

I have a picture, a simple painting of me as a child only 3 years old, painted by a dear friend. It hangs to remind me of my first future promises. The me I hoped to become and a constant message to myself. 

Would the 3 year old girl be proud of the grown up girl now? 

Yes! She would. She is.

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.
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Once Upon a Week - Mothers Rituals

There is a part of the day that perhaps I hold the most fondly above all. It is a part that goes unseen, unheard, and one that all mothers have a talent and tendency to do ritually.
When the day is over and after all their day of adventures, of wondering,of pursuing their desires the children are tucked into bed, we read them a story that may quieten their busy minds or perhaps invite wonderful dreams, and then, in the silence of their room I sit beside them as they sleep. Stroking their hair away from their face, absorbing their troubles. I watch them a while as their day echos through me. Yet we are actually doing something that every mother knows is really rather magical indeed.
Last night as the girls fell asleep against the meandering rhythms of their undulating thoughts I remembered a passage at the beginning of 'Peter Pan' in which J.M Barrie describes the ritual beautifully.

Mrs Darling first heard of Peter when she was tidying up her children's minds. It is the nightly custom of every good mother after her children are asleep to rummage in their minds and put things straight for the next morning, repacking into their proper places the many articles that have wandered during the day. If you could keep awake (but of course you can't) you would see your own mother doing this, and you would find it very interesting to watch her. It is quite like tidying up drawers. You would see her on her knees, I expect, lingering humorously over some of your contents, wondering where on earth you had picked this thing up, making discoveries sweet and not so sweet, pressing this to her cheek as if it were as nice as a kitten, and hurriedly stowing that out of sight. When you wake in the morning, the naughtiness and evil passions with which you went to bed have been folded up small and placed at the bottom of your mind; and on top, beautifully aired, are spread out your prettier thoughts, ready for you to put on.

Walking away from their room into the silence of our hushed home I discover the paused play, the what grown ups call 'mess' but is in actual fact the travelling of their minds. A map of their thoughts interpreted by their play; the pink dinsosaur paused in his position hanging from the plank of the pirate ship, the circle of dolls and doted upon characters still awating another slice of cake, a pile of pictures and beginnings of stories interupted by annother idea and abandoned at the concept of creating a huge castle/town using every piece of lego, building blocks and boxes they can find.

It is this smile I wear at this moment, the smile that forgets the most mundane of motherly chores, that smile that obliterates harder moments. It is a smile that if had words would say I am happy. I am floating above happy, and, this life we have together is an adventure I never want to stop. And so, then, as the children sleep and dream I tidy away the day ready for a new. Beacuse, the adventures of tomrrow never stop.

Whilst Neverland may be second to the right and straight on til morning mine is right here.

Picture taken from 'An A-Z of Sisters Guild -  B is for Bedtime' 

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.
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Once Upon a Week - Not in a million years!

So, despite the fact that your washing machine has been in constant use for the past 3 days, the laundry pile is still as tall you. Your youngest is still not sleeping through the night even though theoretically she should be, and there's no amount of concealer that can disguise it. Your morning beauty regime consists of washing your face whilst answering an onslaught of questions that seem to begin upon waking even though your own head isn't switched on until your first slurps of morning caffeine have kicked in, and applying mascara whilst getting the breakfast ready before the school run. Which seems to be all you do - as though you're on a yo-yo! You wear whats easiest to find and the days of trying on countless outfits before leaving the door have long gone, despite the fact you swore they never would. The beautiful shoes (mainly high heeled) that you once drawled over, the ones that became the lust haves you saved for are now teetering on the edge of the children's dressing up box and 'practical' flats are the norm. Your hair hasn't been washed and brushed simultaneously in days and the stylish-messy-side-ponytail that's now in vogue is already a bore. Your childrens social life has now taken over yours and the last romantic meal you had was a sandwich from pret-a-porter whilst the children slept in the buggy. Despite the fact you do occasionally get forgotten in the whirlwind of everyday life as mum. Would you ever change it?

Not now. Not ever. Not in a million years.

Of all the things you once were, you are still, only now you are so much more. You are a mother. Your heart journeys with your children and there is nothing in the world more wonderful, more beautiful more satisfying than that!

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This is part of our 'once upon a week' collection. We also have other stories and features including our 'Monday Makery', 'I Spy' , 'The Art of Living', and our weekly 'Wedesday Woo'.
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Once Upon a Week - Are the bears coming too?

Oona walked into the sitting room where it was starting to look quite stark. With her favourite bears tucked under her arms she says; "Are the bears coming to our new house"? "Yes, of course they are" I said before sitting down and talking through what will be coming with us and all the fun of making a new home together.

"We can't have a home without the bears, and the bears can't be without a home!  With all our belongings being boxed up and their things slowly 'disappearing' there's an air of curiosity and puzzlement for Oona as the house is stripped of its character. "I think the bears might like to help us pack things to take to our new house. Why don't we pack a suitcase of all your most important things you'd like to carry with you."

So, we're moving house again!  Though I've envisioned how each room will look, what will go where, what pictures will be hung, Oona the younger of the girls has needed some help in understanding  it. So, with the all important suitcase packed (with the help of her bears) which is a mix of books, clothes and an eclectic mix of loved possessions, that makes me wonder what is going through her head the idea of moving has taken on a new excitement.

It is now, for the girls another adventure, its more boxes to make dens in and bedrooms to arrange as they please. Tours with the bears of each room and a chaos that invites them to be wild as we're busy re-juggling our lives.
For me its a nightmare of packing and labeling our lives into boxes and bags and living with stack upon stack of our possessions as we ready for the moving day. All whilst trying to maintain a sense of order. Discarding the feeling of being a little lost, exhausted and annoyed with the inconvenience of it all.
Perhaps I would be better able to see it as an adventure too if it was not the fourth property I'll be making a home in since Oona was born. She isn't yet three and I crave the stability of a family home. As a woman and a mother I feel I just want to nest and though we have never moved from the area we live in I'm a little tired of feeling as though we're in waiting. Waiting for our lives to begin...... again...... and again.......and again!

So, as ever you turn things around to see its positive. So now, I'm using this time to remove the clutter from my life. The clutter that sits in each drawer, nook and cupboard. The things you supposedly need but in actual fact had forgotten you had it! It feels as though I might too be starting a new adventure now. And for the first time I feel excited. A new home will be born and we will fill it with our chaos of love, laughter and Oona's favourite bears!

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week - Missing The Moment

Sometimes life gets so busy I forget to slow down, to pause and appreciate all that's around me. A week can go by in a blur of school runs, cooking, cleaning, doing homework, running here and running there and cooking again that in all the flurry of motherhood I forget the biggest pleasure of all; being still with my children.

People say 'they grow up so fast' and sometimes its hard to see that on a day when you wish they'd grow out of a bad habit, grow out of nappies finally or be able to be that little bit more independent rather then cling to your legs whilst you're trying to make it round the supermarket, and on days when I'm exhausted i'm certainly guilty of wishing the day away until bed time. But lately I've been trying to pause and slow down because we can't rewind the days when they are young. It does go by so fast and sometimes I wish we could have the day forever. 

All of us now share our lives, with a portion of their days now spent in school and I miss my girls. Not all the time but mostly I miss them. We no longer have those endless days of discovering together that are those first few years. Where did the time go? 

Life is just too short to let it go by in a blur, to not catch each moment. Tomorrow the weekend arrives and I shall wake in the morning and say 'today is ours!' and I shall treasure it for all of our tomorrows. Time today belongs to us.

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week: Light

November feels like a month of preparation and strengthening ourselves as we feel the sense of Winter tiptoeing, or rather, stomping in!  Whilst October excites us with all the colour of the changing trees, the harvest and surprising warm sunny days, the months that follow have more darkness.  That's why we have been making the most of the light. Catching as many daylight hours outside and then coming home to the warming flames of a log fire. 

This week we visited Bradford-on-Avon and explored the Tithe Barn.  We enjoyed seeing the big space and the patterns of light from the narrow windows. In this photograph Gabe was running around chasing the light.  It was a beautiful sight.  I watched Gabe and wished I could capture in a jar some of those rays of light to see me through the Winter.

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week - A Place for Homework

Since school began this term Sophia has been bringing home more homework. Homework in year 1 consists of spelling, reading and sometimes, maths and handwriting and occasionally things she'll need for a project and a special topic.

I took for granted the days when walking home from school was a slow stroll and a chance of ambling through the park at a pace where we can chat about our days. Coming home to get cosy, to discard the uniform for the day and spend time together as a family, doing what we love doing together before a leisurely supper, bubble bath and then the tucking up into bed with a story and the promise of a beautiful sleep.

Now, after school there is a military precision to the few hours left we have together in the day in which we need to all complete our tasks that are required of us.

Sophia will, before discarding her uniform, sit at my desk, little sister on one side colouring in and me on the other guiding and showing the kind of enthusiasm for the homework that would win an Oscar. Beginning with her spelling worksheet, which she insists on doing in her best most beautiful joined-up hand writing. Then if Oona gives us the chance we all sit together whilst Sophia reads us her new book she has brought home that day. I must say she is an excellent reader and loves to read to us despite the distractions her little sister throws up; 'what's that?', as she tries to turn the page before her sister has finished. 'Look, that's Oona, that's Sessi and that's daddy. Which one do you like?' But big sister has more patience than Mary Poppins and talks Oona through the story as though she was leading a class of nursery children and carries on, giving Oona the extra narrative that she asks for as she goes.

As soon as homework is finished its a race to cook a nutritionally balanced and brilliant supper, avoiding what might have been on the menu for school lunch less I be reminded that she has already had meatballs/fish/creamy chicken today!

As the oven beeps and I call the girls to the table I think of all the other parents who are also doing this fine balance of after school 'activities' and wonder how I'll manage when Oona too brings home a bag of school work. I think about the rampage that Kirstie Allsopp has been famous for, believing homework disrupts the most important part of family life and that children should be free from it, left instead to bond, play and spend quality time as a family after school. I admire her for standing up and saying 'This is not right'. I can understand her argument and I admit there are times I want to rebel and say. Right. No homework today, instead we're going to play dressing up, snakes and ladders, paint some pictures, you girls can go and be free and play together (having had the day apart) or we're off to see this or do that or visit so and so for the afternoon.

But, no, I go along with what's expected, too worried that Sophia might fall behind her classmates if I do, and then perhaps I'll be called into the headmasters office and be questioned as to my parenting abilities.

But today is Friday! There is no homework to be taken to school tomorrow and today we rebel against the routine and are free to be a ourselves.

We'll meet friends for supper after a play in the park and then we'll all do what we want. The school bag will remain unopened until late Sunday afternoon when I'll be thrown into a panic at having ignored our tasks and we'll spend Sunday afternoon at the table together bonding over a list of words that contain the sound 'igh'.

Though all that Sophia is learning in school is incredibly important and of course I want to support her, show her my enthusiasm and let her see how interested I am in all that she is doing and also to be a part of it, I can't help but feel that perhaps our life together, spending time as a whole family unit rather than separated by our chores and tasks might perhaps be a better lesson to learn and a more important life skill?

In the meantime I will occasionally fall short of what is required by school and I will go to the park instead to kick the autumn leaves, because childhood is too short, too precious a time to let slip away and quite selfishly I want to enjoy each day we have together just being us.

Spell 'RESENTFUL'

We'd love to hear your views and perhaps learn some tips on how to get the balance right.

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week: Cousins

It's been wonderful to see the cousins growing together over the summer, playing in Granny's garden and enjoying the special bond that cousins have. Stripping off and paddling on the hottest days, out in wellies and macs in the rain - or escaping with just soggy socks on without a care in the world.

'Come on Gabe' says Oona, the youngest but secretly the leader.  Gabe giggling as 'Oona is soooo funny.'  Sessi, being the eldest, dutifully reporting back to the grown-ups about what mischief they are up to!  They remind us to make the most of each moment, to feel free and relaxed, to let them get mucky and stay up late under the stars.

We captured many moments on camera but we hope each of them have their own bank of memories of cousins time at Granny's.

'When it's sunny in Granny's garden it feels like we can do things forever' Gabe

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week: Rapture

Sometimes beauty sneaks up on you and makes you feel that rare feeling of pure rapture.  This week there has been an unusual low tide on Brighton beach that revealed a vast expanse of sand with wide seawater pools.  The beach was full of people parading the sand at sunset, like an exodus to witness this Indian Summers' final offering of warmth.  People were shedding layers of clothes and splashing into the sea, lost in the moment of joy.

There were many families out late, like us, forgetting the routine of dinner, bath and bed, forgetting calls of duty and domesticity.  We saw many faces glowing with smiles as the sun went down - parents looking at their children with a new serenity.

Gabe splashed, paddled, whooped, giggled and felt free.  I stood and held my pregnant belly, breathing in this beautiful moment.

Thank you Brighton for such magic.

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This is a new series - Once Upon a Week - where we give you a glimpse into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week - The Kiss

Circus performers
Sophia on her 5th birthday with little sister Oona 

It was a Wednesday, an ordinary day or so it seemed until the walk home from school. The sun was shining and Sophia had met me at the classroom as usual, bag heavy with the day, cardigan slung over her shoulder, hair disheveled no doubt from a day of racing around the playground and enjoying the freedom from the classroom. We walked home Oona singing in the buggy "the more we get together, together, together. The more we get together the happier we'll be. Because my friends are your friends....." and so on. Only repeating it before it ended and of course with all the actions that accompany it too.
Sophia was asked all the usual questions; " How was your day?", "Did you have a nice lunch?", hoping lunch was not the same as the supper I had planned! There was a pause in our conversation followed by a "mu-um", the kind "mu-um" which usually precedes a request for something extraordinary like a treat or a telltale story of some happening at school whereby so and so did this and so and so is going here. I was ready for the auto response of "It's not treat day today...." and "Well, so and so probably shouldn't have done that (insert appropriate response)." But, no, today the walk home was discovering soemthing completely different than so and so is off to disneyland for the weekend.
I was not expecting, for some time I might add, my only-just-turned-5-year-old daughter to say:


S: _____ kissed me!

M: Really!?! Where did he kiss you?

S: Well, (she raises a hand out palm to the sky, one hand still cruising the scooter) first he kissed me on the hand, then he asked me to marry him, and.....then he kissed me on the lips.

M: How did it feel?

S: Kinda, well, a bit yucky. (looks confused/disappointed)

M: It gets better. (immediately realising that perhaps that wasn't the right thing to say)

S: I hope so.

There's another pause, both of us digesting what it all means.

M: So where were you when you kissed? (trying to get a picture of it all, surely it was part of some game or just a silly thing whilst getting a reading book)

S: Well, (I can't believe she's starting conversations with 'well' as though she's 18 and chatting to her girlfriends) he tricked me!..... He came over and said 'I've got a really good game" and I was tired from all the other games so I just said 'ok'. Then he kissed me!

M: So you didn't know he was going to kiss you! It was a complete surpirse!

S: Yeah! It was in the corner of the playground you know that bit by the side of the building.

M: Did your friends see you? (trying to ascertain if they were alone)

S: No, but we told _____ and _______ .

M: what did they say?

S: They laughed and said 'yuck' and ran off!
I think _____ and I will get married. Can I wear your wedding dress?

M: Of course you can. Though you might not be tall enough for it now. You know that a boy has to ask the father if he can marry his daughter? So ______ will have to ask daddy if he wants to marry you.

S: Why does he have to ask daddy?

M: Well I guess it's important to daddy's to know that their daughters will be happy with who they get married to, and daddy has to 'give you away', if he's going to give you to someone he wants to know that he is good enough.

S: I think he is good and we can live next to you.

M: Well I'm not sure if daddy is ready to give you away yet.

We walk in silence a bit more. I've got a million questions running round my head and Sophia is scooting home as though she has wings powering her along. There is suddenly a different feeling to her and I realise she is in love.
She is far off in front of me now and yet seems so much taller than she did when I dropped her off at school. And, she is. She's taller, she's that little bit more grown up she is very much a young girl. No longer my 'baby'. I think to myself 'This will be the first love of her life' and smile.

Though I don't think we'll be inviting ________ over to play!

Who remembers their first love, their first kiss?

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This is the third in a new series where we give you an insight into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk

Once Upon a Week: Does the baby know it's in your tummy?

My son has been full of questions this week as we all went to my first scan and saw 'the baby' for the first time.  It was an exciting moment for us all and we giggled at the fact that the baby was on his/her head and showing us his/her bottom! It took some time for the Sonographer to jiggle the baby into the right position and Gabe soon lost interest and wanted to play with the toys.

It was the next day that Gabe started asking lots of questions:  Can the baby hear me? Yes, and the baby will love hearing your voice.  Does the baby know it's in your tummy?  Yes, I think so. And, of course he is asking But when will the baby come?  To which it is lovely to answer that first there will be autumn when the trees shed their leaves and then it will be winter when it's cold and snowy and you will have your 4th birthday, and when the trees start growing new leaves, that is when the baby will come. It will be Spring.
Gabe is happy with this answer, probably beacuse I've reminded him of his birthday!  I will have to wait for the inevitable questions of how did the baby get there and how does the baby come out?  (Sis, I shall be consulting you on this as I'm sure Sessi was extra inquisitive about Oona!).

In the meantime we are enjoying sitting together on the sofa feeling close and sharing the wonder of 'mummy growing a baby.'

It's a whole new experience when you're having your second isn't it?

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This is the first in a new series where we give you an insight into the lives and times behind the scenes of Sisters Guild.

We also publish other series in our blog including our Monday Makery, Tuesday brings the closing of our series 'The  Story Behind Our Collections' inviting you to take a closer look at the designers we house and the beginning of a new series 'Tell Us Its Tuesday'.  Wednesday we show you our favourite seasonal pieces and Thursdays is dedicated to the 'Art of Living' in which we share ideas and inspiration from places to visit, things to see and articles about things that enrich our lives.


www.sistersguild.co.uk