We like to make sun catchers for our windows so thought we’d make something fun for Halloween. We already have munchkins on the mantlepiece and a Happy Halloween banner. The toddler has made Lego pumpkins and ghosts but there are still so many things to make and do! I cut out some spooky houses from black paper using a self healing mat and scalpel. I did this the evening before as I didn’t fancy using a scalpel with the children around. The children tore out pieces of coloured tissue paper and stuck them to the houses with glue. The tissue…
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Did you know it’s Feed the Birds Day on October 24th? How about making a simple bird feeder and giving them a tasty treat? All you need is a cardboard tube, bird feed, peanut butter and string. Spread peanut butter all over the cardboard tube and roll it in the bird feed. We poured the bird feed into a plastic container so the seed didn’t go everywhere. Then we cut a length of string and threaded it through the tube and tied a knot in the two ends. Then we headed out to the garden and hung it on a…
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After a very busy morning we came home and baked. We are a family who loves to bake so everyone helped making White Chocolate Chip and Vanilla Cupcakes. We were kindly sent a selection of products from Dr. Oetker so used their white chocolate chips and handy baking powder sachets. They smelled delicious and the children enjoyed licking the spoons whilst the cakes were in the oven. As the children were ‘helping’ they really wanted to decorate them with everything we had! We made a milk chocolate and white chocolate ganache using bars of the Fine Cooks’ Chocolate, covered the cupcakes and let the…
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With an all-star cast led by Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams, The Big Wedding is an uproarious romantic comedy about a charmingly modern family trying to survive a weekend wedding celebration that has the potential to become a full blown family fiasco! To the amusement of their adult children and friends, long divorced couple Don and Ellie Griffin (De Niro and Keaton) are once again forced to play the happy couple for the sake of their adopted son Alejandro’s wedding after his ultra conservative biological mother unexpectedly decides to fly…
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If you’re the parent of a pre-schooler you are probably familiar with the magical world of Tree Fu Tom and Treetopolis. My son loves the programme and can often be found sending magic to Tom in his own unique way! He was pretty excited to receive a copy of the new Tree Fu Tom magazine which launched last month. The magazine is packed full of activities to keep little ones busy. My children enjoyed the stickers, colouring, learning about ladybirds and playing the games. There was lots to do so they kept returning to it and I think it represents…
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Now the toddler is at school during the afternoons I find feeding him a little tricky. Although we live near school he starts at 12.25 so I need to fit in lunch, clean him up and get him changed into his uniform before leaving the house, it can be a rush! Sometimes a lie-in or just playing before breakfast means there are only a couple of hours between breakfast and lunch and he’s not very hungry. Fortunately he’s always really hungry after school so I ensure he has a really healthy meal for his evening meal. my dirty school boy!…
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Packed full of 100 tasty recipes, the first ever Ella’s Kitchen Cook Book (The Red One) encourages kids of all ages to get hands on and messy in the kitchen and make mealtimes fun. The book is packed full of ideas, I reviewed it here, and we’ve been busy working our way through the recipes. Some of the recipes would be great for Halloween parties, and they’re great for all the family to enjoy making together, including a Swirly Whirly Cheesecake, Awesome Orange and Ginger Cake, and Smiley Spiral Apple Tarts. This morning we made the Swirly Whirly Cheesecake which can be decorated with…
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So we’ve all heard about the great Spring Clean but does your house need an Autumn Clean too? We had a lovely autumnal walk to the library and back today. The toddler is curious about the seasons so we try to collect as many little treasures on our walks as the size of his pockets allow. When we get home the treasures are pulled out of pockets to be examined and if possible ‘crafted with’. As I sit and write this I can see a pile of leaves, nuts and shiny brown conkers on shelves and window sills. I’d like…
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The toddler and his sister are both obsessed with taking photos on my iPhone so when I heard about a fun challenge to help children capture the colours of red, blue, green, yellow and white while on their summer holidays, well I knew they would love to take part. The toddlers’ selfies are famous around here but fortunately they don’t fit into any of the colour categories so instead whilst we were exploring the Great Western Lego Show the toddler got busy with the camera.* The Great Western Lego Show takes place at Steam so he was kept busy snapping…