• baking - Cath Kidston - gingerbread - London - Olympics

    Treats for your Jubilee party

    Have you noticed that there are an increasing amount of special Jubilee limited editions food products? I felt compelled to purchase a few of my favourite brands and must admit I’ve even been keeping the wrappers for the children’s memory boxes! The Jubilee and Olympics are big events in their little lives and even though they are too young to remember, I want them to have some unusual souvenirs to look back on. There are no official branded jubilee products, and products are not allowed to feature pictures of the Queen. So, as well as the commemorative stamps and special…

  • toddler

    Review: Sorgenfresser or Worry-eaters

    We were recently offered the chance to review the intriguingly named Sorgenfresser, or Worry-eaters. They keep an eye out for bad dreams and worries in a sleeping child’s room – if they see a bad dream they open their zippered mouth and gobble them up. Take a look at this short video about them: They are based on Gerhard Hahn’s German TV series, the idea behind Worry-eater dolls is that children can write or draw their worries, and the Sorgenfresser will ‘eat’ the worries away – invaluable for parents who spend nights up and down the stairs checking for monsters…

  • baking - blogging - gingerbread - Orla Kiely - sewing

    Cybher meet and greet

    With only a couple of tickets left for Cybher 2012, the first all inclusive female blogger event of its kind in the UK, I decided I had to go so here I am: Name: Jenny Blogs: I love blogging and have been blogging at the gingerbread house since 2005, I also have my daily parenting blog and my family history blog Twitter: @gingerbread_mum Height: 5’7 Hair: brown and short   5 things you should know: I have two lovely kids which I can talk about til the cows come home and am a stay at home mum (for now!) We…

  • baking - handmade - recipe

    Banana muffins – not for toddlers!

    I made a delicious batch of banana muffins yesterday with some help from my toddler. Trying to be frugal with the food shopping I had stupidly let a bunch of bananas go too ripe and couldn’t throw them away.   Banana muffins are really simple so here’s my recipe. You will need: 225g unsalted butter 225g caster sugar 225g self-raising flour 4 eggs 1/4 tsp nutmeg 2 mashed ripe bananas Heat the oven to 180 degrees. Mix the butter, sugar, flour, eggs and nutmeg together then add the mashed bananas and mix well. Spoon the mixture into your muffin cases…

  • competition - film review

    Giveaway: family ticket to see Top Cat The Movie in London

    This summer a very exciting film will be screened – the first ever Top Cat film! If you fancy winning a family ticket to a special screening in London then please read on. Growing up Top Cat was one of my favourite cartoons, although I didn’t realise it was vintage back in the late 70s! It featured Top Cat who was the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats living in Hoagie’s Alley, and Charles “Charlie” Dibble, the NYPD who was constantly trying to evict them from the alley. The film follows the adventures of Top Cat and the…

  • baby products - handbags - handmade - Orla Kiely

    Reclaim your bag!

    Sometimes I really dislike the term mummy. Not when my son is endlessly shouting it at me but when it’s applied to me generically by the nurse, health visitor, midwife, GP, librarian or impersonal PRs! In a bid to claw some of myself back from being just a mummy I’ve started to invest some time in me for a change. I’m spending more time on my hobbies which keep getting forgotten, drawing up a list of baking projects from some new cook books I’ve received, I have a new hair cut, I’ve cleared out the ‘mummy uniform’ clothes and the…

  • homestyle - London - reviews

    Help with moving house

    We spent yet another weekend house hunting. Whilst at home we spend our evenings narrowing down an area we want to look round and make sure we can afford. Then we like to bookmark a couple of houses to look at when we’re out and about. There are a couple of apps we usually use on our iPhones and iPad as there are a growing number of apps available. Last weekend we used the new free FindaProperty.com property search app for the iPad, which provides a convenient search tool for those looking to buy, rent, let, sell or simply browse…

  • being green - housekeeping

    Trying to live a sustainable life

    Last week we participated in the P&G Future Friendly Five Days of Sustainable Living challenge. The aim was to do little things each day, reinforcing the idea that you can make your household more sustainable. We were sent a lovely hamper full of P&G Future Friendly products (which are constantly being improved so they use less energy, work with less water and produce less waste) as well as ‘energy saving tips’ to inspire us to live more sustainably and future friendly. Over the week we managed the following: Kitchen hung out the washing (on the only day of sunshine) instead of…

  • playing - toddler

    Encouraging my little builder

    The toddler has become obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine and I don’t use the word obsessed lightly. His whole day seems to revolve around the little blue engine which means mine does too. His first words in the morning are Thomas and Gordon, his favourite engines, and the first toy out of his toy box is his Thomas track and engines. I totally blame my husband who wanted to wean him off Chuggington. Little did he know his passion for Chuggington would just become a passion for Thomas. In a bid to reclaim my lounge floor and introduce a…