FAMILY WEEKLY UPDATE: 6TH – 12TH JULY | The Tooth Fairy, Thespians, Fun Home & Leo's School Fair

Family Weekly Update

This week felt like one of those weeks where there was a little bit of everything — missing teeth, visits from the Tooth Fairy, theatre trips, school fairs and plenty of time spent working away on blog posts and videos behind the scenes.

There were also two press nights this week, with trips to see Thespians at HOME Manchester and Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre, while the weekend was all about family time, donuts and Leo's school fair.

🦷 Monday - A Visit From The Tooth Fairy

Monday morning started with a little bit of drama before school when Alice discovered that one of her teeth had fallen out — but nobody could find it anywhere.

She was convinced she had lost it while sitting on the sofa, so after dropping the children off at school I had a proper hunt for it and eventually found it wedged down the side of the cushions exactly where she thought it would be. Thankfully disaster was avoided and the Tooth Fairy would still be able to visit later that evening.

A little later that morning, Lawrence and I headed into school for Alice's EHCP update meeting.

After the meeting I came home and spent the rest of the day doing what has become my usual Monday routine — editing the weekly vlog and writing last week's Family Weekly Update blog post.

For dinner we decided to treat the children and order Domino's as they had one of their Monday offers running on the app.

We ordered two large pizzas — a Meatfielder with a thin and crispy base which is my favourite and also Alice and Leo's favourite because of the meatballs, and a Mighty Meaty which is always Lawrence's first choice.

There was plenty left over, which turned out to be useful later in the week.

Before bed, Alice carefully placed her tooth under her pillow ready for the Tooth Fairy's visit overnight.

🧚 Tuesday - Spending Tooth Fairy Money

Tuesday morning started with an excited Alice discovering a shiny £1 coin waiting under her pillow from the Tooth Fairy.

After dropping the children off at school, I spent the day writing up my High School Musical press launch feature from the previous week and catching up on a few bits of housework around the house.

Once Alice got home from school, we headed to the local shops so she could spend her Tooth Fairy money.

She still had another pound left over from the last tooth she had lost, so she had a grand total of £2 to spend.

Originally, she had her heart set on buying an axolotl plush toy, but unfortunately they had sold out. After much deliberation, she eventually decided on a Minecraft Ender Dragon plush instead.

The only slight problem was that the toy cost £10, which was rather more than the £2 she had in Tooth Fairy money. In the end, I paid the remaining £8 on my card and Alice happily used her Tooth Fairy money towards it.

She was absolutely delighted with her new Ender Dragon and spent the rest of the evening showing it to everyone and deciding where it should live in her bedroom.

It was another incredibly warm day and by the evening I couldn't face cooking, so I happily finished off the leftover Domino's pizza from the night before.

🎭 Wednesday - Thespians at HOME Manchester

Wednesday morning was spent writing my blog post about our trip to see The Gruffalo at The Lowry the previous week before heading into Manchester in the evening with my dad for the press night of Thespians at HOME Manchester.

This was a show I had been looking forward to for quite a while. I had previously seen Peter Pan Goes Wrong, but this was my dad's first experience of a Mischief Theatre production and I was interested to see what he would make of their first full musical.

After collecting our tickets we stopped for photos on the red carpet before heading upstairs for the pre-show drinks reception.

My dad enjoyed a lager while I stuck to apple juice, and we spent some time looking through the cast information sheet and chatting while more guests arrived. The reception itself felt really special, with white and gold balloons, photo opportunities and cast members mingling with guests before the performance began.

The show itself was exactly the sort of theatrical chaos you would expect from Mischief Theatre, with plenty of laughs throughout the evening.

More than anything though, it was just lovely sharing another theatre trip with my dad.

👉 You can read more about my Thespians visit and shorter review HERE

👉 Read my full All About Theatre review HERE.

🎶 Thursday - Fun Home at the Royal Exchange

Thursday was largely spent writing up my review for Thespians before it was time to head back into Manchester for another press night, this time for Fun Home at the Royal Exchange Theatre with Lawrence.

We arrived with plenty of time before the performance started, collected our tickets and picked up a programme before spending some time exploring the building.

One of the things I love most about visiting the Royal Exchange is that every production seems to spill out beyond the auditorium itself, with props and pieces of the set often displayed around the theatre building for audiences to discover before taking their seats.

The production itself was beautiful, emotional and incredibly moving.

Unlike the big spectacle musicals I often review, Fun Home felt much smaller and more intimate, which suited the Royal Exchange's in-the-round staging perfectly. There were moments where the audience were laughing together and others where the entire theatre felt completely silent.

After the performance, guests were invited to stay behind for food and drinks with the cast and creatives.

Mini burgers and sweet potato fries were served in the Great Hall while everyone chatted about the production. Lawrence and I stayed for a while before reluctantly heading home to relieve my parents who had been looking after the children for us.

👉 You can read more about my Fun Home visit and shorter review HERE

👉 Read my full All About Theatre review HERE.

🎬 Friday - Reviews, Reels & Family Games

Friday was another work-from-home day spent writing my Fun Home review and editing the reel from Thespians.

By the time the children got home from school, I was more than ready for a break from the computer.

We ended up spending the evening playing several games of Uno together followed by a few rounds of matching pairs before it was time for bed. Sometimes those quieter evenings at home end up being some of my favourites.

🍩 Saturday - Krispy Kreme Treats

On Saturday morning my dad kindly drove the children and me over to the Krispy Kreme shop in Trafford Park because we had a 12 donuts for £12 voucher that expired that day.

After what felt like a very important family discussion about which flavours to choose, we finally settled on our dozen donuts before making a quick stop in ASDA so I could buy Alice some onion ring crisps, which are one of her favourite snacks.

Once we got home, I made the children some lunch and afterwards they enjoyed choosing a donut each as their treat.

While the children played upstairs, I spent the afternoon editing my Fun Home reel and writing up my blog post about my theatre trip to see Thespians with my dad, which ended up taking up most of the rest of the day.

🎪 Sunday - Leo's School Fair

Sunday was all about Leo's school fair, which he had been looking forward to for weeks.

My parents and my brother came along too and we arrived shortly after midday ready for the fun to begin.

The first thing the children wanted to do was head straight for the bouncy castles. Wristbands cost £3 each for unlimited use throughout the day and my brother very kindly paid for both of them.

After that they tried hook-a-duck, picked out cuddly toys from the toy stall and had a go on the tombola where they both managed to win prizes. Alice was particularly pleased with her rainbow dinosaur pop-it while Leo was excited about his bubble wand.

One of their favourite stalls was the mystery book stall where all the books were wrapped up so you had no idea what you were choosing until you opened them.

Inside the school they also made little teddy cars using mini Mars bars and Smarties before choosing cakes from the cake stall.

Unfortunately both children picked cakes they didn't actually like, which meant buying a second round of cakes that they would actually eat! Sometimes parenting really is trial and error.

Unfortunately Leo started feeling unwell during the afternoon, so Lawrence took him home while the rest of us stayed a little longer.

I treated Alice to a hot dog, some face glitter, and a temporary tattoo and her nana treated her to a rather spectacular mermaid ice cream complete with sprinkles and a flying saucer on top.

By the time we eventually got home, Leo was already feeling much better and happily eating a cheese toastie for lunch.

💜 Final Thoughts

Looking back, this week felt like a lovely mix of family life and theatre life.

From helping the Tooth Fairy find Alice's missing tooth and taking her shopping to spend her pound, to press nights in Manchester and Leo finally getting to enjoy the school fair he had been looking forward to for so long, there were lots of little moments that made the week feel special.

Theatre-wise, both Thespians and Fun Home offered completely different experiences but I really enjoyed both of them, while spending time with my dad at HOME and with Lawrence at the Royal Exchange made those evenings feel even more memorable.

And honestly, I think any week that includes theatre trips, donuts and a mermaid ice cream is probably a pretty good week.

🎥 Watch Our Weekly Vlog

If you'd like to see everything we got up to this week, including our trips to see Thespians and Fun Home, our Krispy Kreme donut run and all the fun of Leo's school fair,

You can watch the full vlog below and come along with us for another week of family adventures.

https://youtu.be/O3dhQzmcwX8

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