• Win a copy of Blue Monster Wants It All!
    competition - Family Life

    Win a copy of Blue Monster Wants It All!

    January 9, 2018 - By 

    What do you get for the Blue Monster who has everything? Blue Monster loves brand new things. A fancy new hat, a shiny submarine, a fabulous funfair and a paradise island, all of his own. But he’s still not happy! What will it take for Blue Monster to realise there are some things that money can’t buy? Blue Monster wants it all! is an original, humorous and unforgettable fable from the creators of the award-winning The First Slodge, perfect for introducing little ones to the idea of materialism and helping them to realise the importance of family. Can money really…

  • Family Life

    Decorating Your Home with Artwork You Create

    January 9, 2018 - By 

    Photo by Crew on Unsplash For most of us, our home is an extremely important place. Even with the busy lives that we lead it is still where we spend the majority of our time. It is also the place we tend to feel happiest and can truly relax. There are all kinds of ways to approach decorating your home. Naturally, I really enjoy making things for my home and I know that many of you do too. So, I thought a short round-up post of ideas might be in order. Many of the ideas below are really easy. In fact, my first…

  • Family Life - Monday Happy List

    Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things

    January 8, 2018 - By 

    Welcome Monday! It was lovely having a slow weekend to re-charge our batteries. We baked, we walked in the woods, we crafted and watched films. It was bliss. Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things Our Christmas holidays lasted part way through the week so we were able to squeeze in one last day out at BrickLive Christmas. The kids loved playing with all the Lego and you can read my review of it here. I think my children were happy to go back to school. Fortunately it was only a 3 day week for them. This week will be tough…

  • Family Life

    A sense of pride in your local community

    January 5, 2018 - By 

    Photo by Tim Marshall on Unsplash One of things I was most excited about when I became a parent was feeling part of a community. Living in London can be strange. It’s a huge city and it often felt that I spent more time commuting or at the office than I did at home. Once my maternity leave started, and I had a little baby at hand, I loved exploring my neighbourhood. When I was at home during the day I found it was a completely different place, and started to meet people and make friends within my community. A sense of pride…

  • Top tips for a healthy start to the New Year
    Family Life

    Top tips for a healthy start to the New Year

    January 5, 2018 - By 

    Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash I don’t know about you but I am struggling to feeling energised this New Year. I have a brand new diary, am de-cluttering like a mad person, but just feel a little sluggish and tired after a hectic Christmas. So I thought I would share my top tips for a healthy start to the New Year. Top tips for a healthy start to the New Year I’ve been following Slimming World for the last 10 months but had a break over Christmas. I really felt it. My diet suffered which has had a knock on effect on…

  • Updating a girls bedroom
    Family Life

    Updating a girls bedroom

    January 4, 2018 - By 

    Over the past few weeks I have been buying a few pieces for my daughter’s bedroom. She recently turned 6 and declared she hated pink. Unfortunately for her, we painted her room pink a few years ago. I love decorating so was happy to change her room around. I think she has one of the nicest bedrooms in our house. It is a long room, overlooking the garden and has the most awesome storage cupboard which holds a lot of toys. Last year we bought a lot of new white furniture to make it a nice place to hang out.…

  • BRICKLIVE Christmas at the Saatchi Gallery
    days out - Family Life - Lego - Local Review - London

    BRICKLIVE Christmas at the Saatchi Gallery

    January 3, 2018 - By 

    Yesterday was the last day of our Christmas holiday so we decided to head into London and visit BRICKLIVE Christmas at the Saatchi Gallery. We all love Lego. Christmas was spent building Lego BB8, Lego Boost and the Lego Nutcracker so we thought this would be a fun morning. BRICKLIVE describes itself as an interactive Lego-based Show for Lego fans. You can wonder at expert builder displays, build a mosaic, build a present and even meet Father Christmas. The show was split across four zones, the Christmas Zone, the Creative Zone, Minecraft and Star Wars. Each one offered a different…

  • Sylvanian Families Town
    Family Life - Friends of Sylvanian Families - toy review

    Sylvanian Families Town range launches in the UK in 2018

    January 2, 2018 - By 

    I love the start of a New Year. After a lovely Christmas and New Year I’m excited about what will happen in 2018. One thing I’ve been looking forward to is the launch of the Sylvanian Families Town range, launching in the UK in 2018. If you’re a fan of Sylvanian Families then you’ve probably heard about the Sylvanian Families Town range. Yep, the Sylvanians are coming to the big city! Expect there to be shops, hotels, houses and trams! I follow a few Japanese sites which had the Sylvanian Families Town range in April last year. I’ve seen quite a few sets…

  • Best of nine on instagram
    Family Life

    Monday mindfulness – 5 happy things

    January 1, 2018 - By 

    Happy New Year! I know it doesn’t seem very long since I wrote my Wednesday Happy Things post. I love this time between Christmas and New Year, although it’s difficult to know what day it is! Monday mindfulness- 5 happy things We went away the day after Christmas Day and visiting family and friends means it has felt like a bit of a holiday. We’ve actually had a few great days out and some lovely meals too. One thing I love at this time of year is seeing my ‘Best of nine’ on Instagram. It’s a bit silly but a…