seaside daisies / she does cranky well as she pulls on my new dress / I thought he’d be a bit tired of the camera – he isn’t 

When the tourists have gone home and it’s gloomy enough to stay indoors, we venture out. I find that it’s really easy for me to stay in at this time of year; I’m a homebody and autumn begs for lazy afternoons in bed. But sometimes what I crave is the very opposite to what I need so I muster the flock and we head to the ocean. The water is warm at the moment and the young ones jump in, clothes ‘n all.

The past two weeks of holidays have been beautiful for their simplicity; we’ve been together and that has been enough. Tomorrow school returns and with it the Mon-Fri rhythm. I feel quite confident going into this term, I know what works for us as a family and what I can do to make the school week simple, enjoyable and possible – for us all. Pop back tomorrow for 5 Ways to Simplify the School Week.

But right now? Daniel is currently singing Wonderwall to a captive and enthusiastic audience (I never get the same response), once the kids are in bed the dishes await, and then it’s tea, just-iced banana cake and an episode or two of Game of Thrones (I dismissed it for a long time, it took me six episodes to really get into it, now I can officially say I’m hooked – although I spend a lot of time with my hands over my eyes; the blood and gore!).