Before children I know my washing basket didn’t overflow, it was easy to keep on top of. After children, the machine is on every day and dirty washing permanently seems to cascade out of the washing basket and over the floor. I must have the dirtiest children as it doesn’t seem to matter what they do, their clothes are always grubby and need changing after every meal or activity. This means our poor old washing machine sees a lot of use. Just take a look: Eating – 3 messy meals a day Baking and decorating cupcakes (and tasting too!) Painting…
-
-
This is my last post as part of the WWBack2Best challenge with Britmums. Today I’m going to share some of the equipment I’ve been using in the kitchen. I adore cookery books so was very pleased to add The Complete Kitchen Recipe Book and Members Favourites Recipe Book to my collection. I plan our meals weekly which can be a bit boring but means I don’t have to worry about opening the fridge at 5 and wondering what to cook! I’ve enjoyed looking through these books for inspiration and found some lovely new recipes which we’ve all enjoyed. measuring spoons…
-
Do you have children who like to dress up? I don’t. I was offered the chance to review a costume from Simply Fancy Dress and seized the opportunity. They have a great selection and I was totally drawn to the Little Gingerbread Man Costume for the toddler. The costume arrived in a useful clear plastic bag and consists of trousers, top with attached gloves and headpiece, and comes in three different sizes. It’s made of polyester and is quite thin, so if I can ever persuade my toddler to wear it he’ll have to put on something underneath! Simply Fancy…
-
Over the weekend I attended the inaugural Mumsnet conference. I applied to join the Mumsnet bloggers group when it launched but I never heard back, so you might wonder why I would pay money to spend a day with them. conference essentials: programme, iPad mini and Orla Kiely I saw it as a day off from my children and yes, I’d happily pay for that pleasure. When I saw my old blogging friend Liska she told me I looked radiant. Yes, I told her. I have a child-free day. I had make up on. My clothes were clean and I’d…
-
Have you ever heard of a book advent? I think I first heard about it on Pinterest and thought it would be fun to do with the children. Instead of a tacky Advent calendar with cheap chocolate, we’ll be unwrapping a Christmas book every day of December leading up to Christmas Day. This way we will get to spend more time reading together, which is something we all love, and some time each day to enjoy the festive season. The hard part has been finding the books. 24 Christmas-themed books can be difficult. I really wanted to buy second hand…
-
The South Ken Kids Festival brings you a marvellous mash-up of music, live drawing, and fun for the whole family! This children’s book festival features dozens of literary events, workshops and talks for kids of all ages. Quentin Blake, Emile Bravo and Tony Ross are all on the bill. This year we have Franco-British drawing duos, a preview screening of “Ernest and Célestine”, and many many workshops….see their website for full details. I have a great give away for 2 pairs of tickets to the Drawing Jam with David Coulter as part of the South Ken Kids Festival on Saturday…
-
The toddler is very lucky for he was recently sent a lovely picture book and audiobook featuring Myro, the smallest plane in the world. Aimed at pre-schoolers, this is a series for children which follows the adventures of Myro as he settles into his new home in Australia. Myro is created and published by Nick Rose, who bought a Microlight in 2004 and flew it around Australia. He then began developing the series when he realised there was a gap in the market for a quality series of children’s story books and iPad story Apps about aeroplanes that encourage children…
-
We’re currently counting down until Little Sis’ first birthday. I’m not sure where the year has gone, it’s been fun but not without it’s difficulties. Her cheeky little smile seems to have got me through the worst of the sleepless nights and days of screaming. Yes, my child is not perfect and has only just started sleeping through without waking! So far, the handmade birthday card has been sent in to CBeebies, 6 weeks early as requested. We’ve had a dry run with making Peppa Pig biscuits. The final version were flooded with pink icing but I forgot to photograph…
-
I’ve always wanted a slow cooker, which is lucky, because I was offered the new Morphy Richards Sear and Stew Slow Cooker to review as part of my role as a Morphy Richards Innovator. Initially I turned to Twitter for help and was inundated with recipe suggestions. So far we’ve tried pulled pork and rice pudding and I’ve ordered some Slow Cooking recipe books for inspiration. The Slow Cooker is incredibly easy to use, light and goes in the dish washer – what more could you ask for?! The Sear and Stew Slow Cooker allows searing and slow cooking in the…