FAMILY WEEKLY UPDATE: 31ST AUGUST - 6TH SEPTEMBER 2026 | BACK TO SCHOOL, POKÉMON DOUGHNUTS & SUBLIMATION
Family Weekly Update
This week's Family Weekly Update covers 31st August - 6th September 2026, and it was back-to-school week for Alice and Leo.
Before they went back, we squeezed in a trip to Krispy Kreme for the new Pokémon doughnuts and a few back-to-school treats. Wednesday was then a particularly big day for Leo as he started his new school and is now going to the same school as Alice.
Once they were both back at school, I had a little more time for drawing and blogging, and by Friday I was finally ready to turn some of the designs I've been creating in Procreate into actual products. I experimented with sublimating mugs using my dedicated craft air fryer, with slightly mixed results!
We also had a fairly quiet weekend at home with plenty of UNO, drawing and family movies.
Here's what we got up to.
💻 Monday – Vlog Editing & A Trip To The Park
I spent most of Monday at my computer catching up with some more editing. I worked on Weekly Vlog #463 and also wrote the latest Family Weekly Update for the blog.
Lawrence had the day off work, so while I was busy editing he took Alice and Leo to the park. It meant they got out of the house for a while and I could actually get on with some work without too many interruptions!
It wasn't the most exciting start to the week for me, but I managed to get quite a bit done.
🍩 Tuesday – Pokémon Krispy Kreme Doughnuts & Back-To-School Treats
Tuesday was Alice and Leo's final day before going back to school, so my dad gave us a lift over to Krispy Kreme at Trafford Park because we wanted to get Leo the new Bulbasaur and Squirtle Pokémon doughnuts as a little end-of-the-holidays treat.
The last time we bought Pokémon doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, we couldn't add them to a Pick Your Own Dozen box. This time we could, so naturally we ended up buying a dozen!
We chose one of each of the Pokémon doughnuts and added two chocolate sprinkle doughnuts for Alice because she didn't like the Pokémon ones.
Once we'd bought our doughnuts, we headed over to ASDA because I needed to get some frames for the art prints I received for my birthday. I'd been meaning to buy them for ages, so I finally got around to doing it.
Alice was also very keen to get some onion ring crisps because they're her favourite crisps at the moment.
Of course, we didn't quite make it around ASDA with just the things we'd gone in for.
Alice spotted a pink Minecraft axolotl plush that she'd wanted for a while, while Leo fell in love with a Minecraft bee plush. With it being their last day before going back to school, we decided to get them as little back-to-school treats.
Once we were home, Lawrence and I got a few jobs done around the house before we all settled down to watch Monsters, Inc. together. Alice opened her new onion rings to snack on while we watched.
Then it was bath and bedtime ready for the first day back at school in the morning.
🎒 Wednesday – Back To School & Leo's First Day At His New School
Wednesday was a big day because it was the children's first day back at school, and it was also Leo's first day at his new school.
He's now going to the same school as Alice, which should make things a lot easier going forward.
It didn't make the first morning particularly easy, though!
Because it was Leo's first day, he was starting an hour later than Alice. I had to take Alice to school, walk all the way home and then, not long after I'd arrived back, head straight back out again to take Leo.
At least that was only because it was his first day!
Once I'd finally made it home for the second time, I got the rest of the house jobs done and then spent some time drawing on my iPad.
The school day seemed to disappear incredibly quickly, and before I knew it, it was time to head back out again to collect them both.
🗣️ Thursday – Speech Therapy, Blogging & Drawing
Thursday morning was slightly different again because Leo had speech therapy.
We dropped Alice off at school first, then I took Leo to his speech therapy appointment. He actually really enjoys going, so thankfully it's never something I have to persuade him to do.
After his appointment, I took him to school and then headed home.
I started working on a new blog post and managed to fit in a little more drawing as well, but once again the school day seemed to disappear ridiculously quickly.
Before I knew it, it was time to head back out and collect Alice and Leo.
🎨 Friday – Turning My Procreate Drawings Into Sublimation Designs
Friday was definitely my most creative day of the week.
I've been working on lots of drawings in Procreate, and I decided it was finally time to start turning some of them into designs that I could actually print onto mugs.
I'd already created some seamless patterns, but they weren't quite ready to use as they were. I needed to edit them in Photoshop and alter the layouts so that they fitted my mug and pen templates properly.
It took quite a bit of playing around to get everything positioned how I wanted it, but eventually I was happy enough with the designs to print them using my sublimation printer.
Then came the slightly nerve-racking part – actually putting them onto the mugs!
I use an air fryer that I keep specifically for crafting and sublimation, so I used that to transfer the printed designs onto the mugs.
The finished mugs weren't perfect, but that's all part of experimenting and working out what needs changing. I've now altered my mug template slightly, so hopefully the next ones I make should print much better.
I'm still really pleased that I've finally started turning some of my Procreate drawings into physical items. There's something very satisfying about seeing a design that started as a drawing on my iPad actually printed onto a mug.
I also printed some designs ready for sublimation pens, but I ran out of time before I could actually transfer them onto the pens. That's a project for another day!
🧹 Saturday – Craft Room Tidying, UNO & The Wild Robot
Lawrence had Saturday off work, so while he entertained Alice and Leo, I tackled the aftermath of Friday's crafting session.
My craft room was an absolute mess!
Once I'd managed to get everything tidied away again, we spent some time together playing UNO Flip Extreme.
We also watched The Wild Robot, which Alice loves, so it was a nice quiet family Saturday after the first few days of being back in the school routine.
🎮 Sunday – Pikmin, Super Mario UNO & Hoppers
Sunday was another quiet day home.
I spent some time drawing on my iPad while Alice and Leo played Pikmin on the Nintendo Switch.
Later, Leo and I played Super Mario UNO together for a while before we all settled down to watch Hoppers.
Then it was bath and bedtime again, ready to start another week of school on Monday.
💭 Final Thoughts
This week definitely felt like the end of the summer holidays and the start of getting back into our normal routine.
Tuesday was a lovely way to finish the holidays with the Pokémon Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a few treats and a family movie afternoon before Alice and Leo headed back to school.
The biggest change was obviously Leo starting his new school. Having both children at the same school should hopefully make the school run a little simpler – once we get past first days with different start times!
I also really enjoyed finally doing with some of the designs I've been drawing in Procreate. My first sublimated mugs might not have come out perfectly, but I've already worked out some changes I want to make, and I'm looking forward to trying them again.
For now, though, we're officially back into the school routine!
🎥 Watch Weekly Vlog #467
You can see more from our week in Weekly Vlog #467, including our trip to Krispy Kreme to get the new Pokémon doughnuts, our ASDA shopping trip and me experimenting with sublimation using an air fryer to turn some of my Procreate designs into mugs.
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