• book review - homestyle - What I'm reading

    Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore

    I love reading! I love discovering new authors and losing myself in a really good book. Regular readers will know that I’ve been a fan of NetGalley for a while. I’ve read some great books via NetGalley and when I saw the cover for Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore I just knew I wanted to read it. It landed on my Kindle and I read it in just a few days, I absolutely loved it! Midnight at the Bright Ideas Bookstore When a bookshop patron commits suicide, it’s his favourite store clerk who must unravel the puzzle he left behind…

  • parenting - toy review

    Unboxing Despicable Me 3 plush goodies

    There has been a lot of chatter here about the latest Despicable Me film which was released on Friday 30th June. Despicable Me 3 is a brilliant family film. We were lucky to attend the premiere in Leicester Square last weekend and we all thoroughly enjoyed the film. The mischievous Minions hope that Gru will return to a life of crime after the new boss of the Anti-Villain League fires him. Instead, Gru decides to remain retired and travel to Freedonia to meet his long-lost twin brother for the first time. The reunited siblings soon find themselves in an uneasy…

  • homestyle - subscription box

    mila & pheebs subscription box for kids

    I’m a huge fan of subscription boxes so it’s probably no surprise that my children love receiving happy mail too. I find subscription boxes are perfect for the weekend. We all have a little more time to kick back and relax and they are great when the children need some quiet time. We received the latest box from mila & pheebs, this is a great subscription box for kids containing stationery and crafty activities. You can see a previous box reviewed by us here. Take a look at our unboxing video to see the theme of the latest box: The theme…

  • days out - Hampshire - National Trust - parenting

    A day at Mottisfont House and Gardens

    A few weekends ago we met up with some friends at Mottisfont House and Gardens in Hampshire. Entry was free with our National Trust membership cards and we had a great day out exploring the house and gardens. The weather wasn’t great (ok, it rained on and off all day) but it didn’t stop us from spending an insane amount of time outside. Mottisfont House is a former Augustinian priory set beside the River Test with an amazing park and garden. The park has ancient trees and an eighteenth century summer house. The Lime Walk was designed by Geoffrey Jellicoe…

  • competition - homestyle - Summer

    Win 1 of 4 bags of Fox’s Limited Edition Ice Cream Favourites

    Nothing says Great British summertime like your favourite ice cream flavours, and this summer, Fox’s Glacier has launched an extra-special edition to help you re-live summers gone by. Brought to you by the makers of Fox’s Glacier Mints, Fox’s Glacier Fruits and Fox’s Glacier Darks, a range which has been enjoyed up and down the country for 99 years, Fox’s Ice Cream Favourites are inspired by the nation’s favourite flavours. Each pack contains an irresistible mix of Raspberry Ripple, Strawberry Cream, Rum & Raisin and Banana flavoured sweets, which are guaranteed to bring back memories of choosing your favourite flavour…

  • crafts - Nature crafts - Summer

    Frozen flowers play {A-Z Play at Home}

    Now our garden is in full bloom it’s been fun to use some of the flowers in our crafting. Every week we have been joining in with the A-Z Play at Home blog hop. This weeks letter was the letter I which immediately made me think of ice. The children love making ice, using ice and playing with ice. We wanted to give our ice play a little seasonal twist so picked some fresh blooms from our garden for some colourful ice play. We used: heart shaped plastic trays from the recycling bin fresh flowers from the garden water Frozen…

  • Hasbro Toy Tribe - parenting - playing - toy review

    Hanazuki wearable band and treasure

    Both my children adore YouTube so it’s probably no surprise that they are fans of Hasbro’s YouTube series Hanazuki: Full of Treasures. This is a colourful cartoon from Hasbo which is a great way for children to learn about their emotional intelligence. In each episode, the hero Hanazuki uses her emotion-themed abilities to activate magical treasures to save each moon from the dark force called the Big Bad. She has some little guys, knowns as Hemka, to help her. There is also a fun app (available on iOS and Android) which my 5 and 7 year olds have been enjoying. It…

  • crafts - garden crafts - Nature crafts - Painted rocks - upcycling

    How to make a simple cable reel blackboard

    A few weeks ago I shared a recent upcycle of a wooden cable reel. We turned it into a fairy house for the children to play with. We actually picked up two cable reels so today I’m going to show you what we did with the other. Cable reels are great and there are so many ways to upcycle them. My children love to use chalk to draw on the patio and walls so I made them a cable reel blackboard – perfect for mark making outside. We used: Rustoleum Chalkboard Paint (Old School Green) Wooden cable reel Smooth pebbles…

  • days out - film review - parenting

    Despicable Me 3 film review

    Our family love all things Minion so have been looking forward to the release of Despicable Me 3 for a while. My children have opened a few Despicable Me 3 Kinder Eggs and we reviewed some of the new Despicable Me Mineez too. They also got their hands on some Despicable Me Happy Meals toys – we’ve been pretty much immersed in all things Despicable Me and minions! So when we were invited to the premiere of the new film in Leicester Square we just had to attend. We managed to keep it a secret until we arrived at Leicester…