• daffodil biscuits
    baking - Family Life - gingerbread

    Daffodil biscuits for spring

    March 28, 2012 - By 

    The sun is shining so I thought I would make some daffodil inspired biscuits. Daffodil biscuits for spring I baked simple biscuits using a gingerbread kit from Morrisons. The kit contains a gingerbread mix with a cutter, a tube of white icing, a sachet of golden syrup and raisins, so all you need to provide is butter and 2tsp of water. The mix made a satisfying dough which came together really easily and smelled lovely. The golden syrup made it quite sticky so I used plenty of flour when rolling out the dough. Instead of using the enclosed cutter I…

  • days out - Family Life - pregnancy

    Half-term fun at the Tower of London

    November 12, 2011 - By 

    I never thought that we’d be affected by half-term with a pre-schooler but all our normal activities stop! This time we tried to be a bit more ingenious and made the most of activities at our local library, autumnal walks in the park as well as a trip to the Tower of London. Half-term fun at the Tower of London We’ve been meaning to go to the Tower of London for ages. It’s one of those iconic places which would be in my fantasy London Guide which represent London, along with Big Ben, black cabs and red telephone boxes. Despite…

  • Family Life - reviews

    New shoes from Clarks

    November 6, 2011 - By 

    There’s something exciting about new shoes and Edward feels the same way. Last week we were invited to our local Clarks store so Edward could choose a pair of new shoes from the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. His feet were measured and I was surprised that his feet had grown a whole size. As a size 7H he needed the widest fitting which unfortunately limited our choice to just two pairs in stock. One pair had flashing lights which were very appealing but I didn’t like the colours of the shoe and the other pair featured a rather fab dinosaur on…

  • competition - days out - Family Life - London

    Hackney City Farm {and Farmerama giveaway}

    August 2, 2011 - By 

    One of the activities on our list of things to do this summer was go to a City Farm. Fortunately last week Edward and I were invited down to Hackney City Farm to have a look around and hear about an exciting new website where you can be your own farmer. We enjoyed our visit and Edward met pigs, sheep, goats, a donkey and lots of geese and chickens for the first time. He didn’t exactly react as I thought he would and was scared of some of the animals! I’m hoping a couple more visits and he’ll be chasing…

  • competition - Family Life - holidays

    A week in Teignmouth

    July 26, 2011 - By 

    Our first family holiday was to Looe in Cornwall last summer. We had a great time but Edward was only a couple of months old so didn’t really know what was happening.  This year we went to Teignmouth with slightly less family and rented an amazing fisherman’s cottage right on the beach. The weather forecast was mixed but we didn’t let it stop us from exploring and we visited the local children’s park, the beach, castles, a steam train, a boat trip as well as plenty of quaint cafes serving Devon cream teas. A week in Teignmouth It was great…

  • Family Life

    Clarks Seasonal Showcase

    April 13, 2011 - By 

    Last week we were invited to take a look at the new Clarks Autumn/Winter 2011 collection in a beautiful period house in central London. Edward has recently started walking and I’m interested to see what shoes are available. We’d never been to an event like this before but we’re huge Clarks fans. I’ve always worn Clarks as they are so well made and good value for money and I hope Edward will enjoy wearing Clarks too. Clarks have been creating shoes for the last 18o years and the latest collection uses their Somerset heritage as a picturesque backdrop to the…

  • days out - Family Life - Local Review - London

    Our Half-Term Adventure: London Aquarium

    March 3, 2011 - By 

    We had an adventure last week when we hopped on the tube and ventured into central London. Wednesday was my husband’s birthday and we thought we’d head to the SEA LIFE London Aquarium for the day. Pre-baby we used to do pop into town at the drop of a hat but with a small child in tow it takes a bit more planning. Anyway, Edward loves the tube and we soon arrived on the South Bank.  Unfortunately we hadn’t remembered that it was half-term and it was also overcast with the promise of rain. The size of the queue outside…

  • eczema - Family Life - reviews

    Water wipes

    January 9, 2011 - By 

    Before our son was born I admit I was pretty clueless about babies. It was only at our John Lewis nursery appointment that I learned about not using baby wipes for the first couple of weeks. So we stocked up on cotton wool and I religiously washed his face, fingers and toes with cotton wool and boiled water until he was 6 months old. Our little boy has had eczema since birth so we’ve always been careful what products we use on his face and body. I knew that most wipes contained preservatives or chemical additives so have always used…

  • baby - days out - Family Life

    My lucky streak

    December 13, 2010 - By 

    It’s been a while since I have posted about my recent competition winnings. I’m finding less time so enter competitions as Edward is down to two naps during the day and they are getting shorter (already! he is only 8 months!). However I have had some great wins over the last few months. First of all I was lucky enough to win a Belling Butler in a Twitter competition. I’m not quite sure where we’re going to put it in our little terraced house but it will be great for dinner parties! Secondly I’ve been lucky enough to win a…