• ASK Italian - eating - eating out - food review - Local Review - London

    A delicious family meal at ASK Italian

    On Sunday we headed to our local ASK Italian for a Mother’s Day meal. We ate in the ASK Italian in Northwood which is in a converted Post Office. I’ve often walked past but never gone in so I was excited about finally venturing inside. I booked online in advance as I knew it would be busy so when we arrived we were immediately taken to our table. The building is really light and airy and makes excellent use of the old sorting office for a spectacular environment to eat. Although there was a special 3 course menu we opted to…

  • Crafts for kids - Easter - Kids crafts - Spring - Toilet roll crafts

    Toilet roll chicks

    I have a quick and easy Easter craft to share with you today. It involves two of my favourite things recycling cardboard toilet roll tubes and Spring time. The weather has been beautiful today so we’ve thrown open the back door and spent some happy hours crafting away, we have lots to share over the next week or two. How to make toilet roll chicks To make some sweet little Easter toilet roll chicks you will need: empty cardboard rolls from paper towels or toilet rolls, yellow paint, orange cardboard, glue stick, scissors, sticky tape and a black pen. Cut…

  • housekeeping

    Bissell Vac & Steam review

    I love receiving products to review, especially ones which save me time and money and aren’t bad for the environment. The Bissell Vac & Steam seems to tick all those boxes 🙂 Our new house has a mixture of floors including large floor tiles and laminate. At this time of the year the children are in and out all day long, I shout at them ask them nicely to remove their shoes but they frequently forget and I often find myself cleaning the floors downstairs every day. I’m really hoping this will become less frequent the older they get but…

  • baby - competition

    Win a Baby Blooms New Baby Gift Basket and 6 month supply of Fairy Non Bio products worth over ÂŁ100

    It can’t have escaped your notice that we’re celebrating Mothering Sunday in the UK today. I’m looking forward to a delicious lunch out with my little family and not having to do the washing up. It’s a chance to remember how lucky I am to have two happy healthy children and of course appreciate my own hard-working mum. I’m allowing myself a little sentimental wallow in the memories of those early weeks of being a new mum.  Every parent knows that there is nothing more special than the power of a super soft newborn cuddle. Who can forget those sleepless…

  • cooking

    Cooking a main meal in minutes with British Lion Eggs

    I’m currently working with BritMums as a “Shortcut Eggspert” to promote yummy British Lion Eggs.  Sometimes it can be hard work providing the family with three meals a day and I frequently rely on eggs for cooking quick and tasty breakfasts, lunches and main meals! I was set a challenge of cooking a main meal in minutes with British Lion Eggs. I’ve tried a couple of recipes over the last few weeks but our favourite has to be omelettes. Today we went to our first car boot sale of the year and we needed something substantial and quick when we…

  • Easter - playing - Playmobil Playologist - Spring - toy review

    Alternative Easter eggs from Playmobil

    My very lucky children were recently sent early Easter presents from Playmobil, Playmobil Easter eggs. They always seem to receive lots of chocolate at Easter and these are a great alternative and a little longer lasting too! Inside the plastic shell is a Playmobil figure and the shell can be re-used as a money box. Little Sis was delighted with her magenta egg with the Flower Fairy with Enchanted Tree and Big Brother received a Biker with Motorcycle in the blue egg. Both were easy to put together and my children enjoyed playing with them  and adding them to their…

  • crafts - handmade - Kids crafts - Toilet roll crafts - tutorial

    Painting with recycled cardboard flowers

    Our routine has been established since my little man started nursery sessions every afternoon. When he gets home he’s quite tired but still wants to craft so I’ve started setting up a craft activity ready for when he gets home. Anything using cardboard rolls is generally a success as we have a ready supply of them, so yesterday we did some painting with recycled cardboard flowers. Painting with recycled cardboard flowers We used: cardboard tubes scissors paint I took some cardboard tubes from my stash and cut them in half. Then I cut them again, about an inch down, to…

  • baking - recipe

    Granola cookies for Mother’s Day

    If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ll know that I love to bake and cook from scratch, as a stay at home mum I feel like I should! I love trying new ideas and was recently sent a recipe for some delicious sounding granola cookies made with Jordans Super Nutty Granola. I made these yesterday whilst my children were eating their dinner, they took 10 minutes to put together and 14 minutes in the oven (Gas Mark 4). They’re so quick and easy they’d make a great treat for someone special if you’re celebrating Mother’s Day or any…

  • book review - competition - crafts

    Win How to Catch a Star! by Oliver Jeffers

    Once there was a boy and the boy loved stars very much. One day he decided he would catch one of his own, but first, he’d need a plan. This year sees the 10th anniversary of world-renowned illustrator Oliver Jeffers’ debut picture book, the much-loved How to Catch a Star. The book has achieved huge critical and commercial success and Oliver and HarperCollins are proud to mark the anniversary in style with an exquisite gift edition, including a letter from the author and previously unpublished drawings. Ten years on, How to Catch a Star’s beautiful illustrations and enchanting story have…