I’m so glad we’re back in our ‘normal’ routine – as normal as life can be with a baby and toddler. The little man is back at his school twice a week which means I get a couple of hours with the baby. We’ve just started going to a weekly music class and it is lovely doing something together and getting out of the house. However the end of summer means getting back to our plans of moving. We’re doing all those small jobs around the house which we’ve ignored since moving in 5 years ago. We’ve replaced the broken…
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Last month two new books were published by the Irish fashion designer, Orla Kiely, in her range of cloth bound board books. Just like numbers and colours, creatures and shapes are two beautiful books for babies and toddlers. Shapes focuses on some of the most common geometric shapes and then places them alongside a common object or animal featuring that shape. I love the hexagon and honeycomb page, but there are also a rectangle and house, an oval and a ladybird as well as a star and starfish. Creatures shows her strong geometric-style graphics and patterns to illustrate a variety of animals, from monkeys…
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Although we don’t take the children trick or treating I can’t resist making some sweet treats with them. This Halloween Lyle’s has revamped their traditional black treacle with the name ‘Trick or Treacle’ and turned the entire tin into a pumpkin head. It’s a really lovely collectable item so I snapped one up to go with my Lyle’s ‘Happy and Glorious’ Golden Syrup from the summer. They make great pen pots! Did you know you can use black treacle to make lots of yummy treats? There are some great recipes floating around for Halloween – how about Witches’ ribs with…
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Woo hoo! Time for another update… On the 19 September 2010 I started a Day Zero list: a place to record goals, discover new challenges, and gain motivation to achieve them. I made a list of 100 things I want to do over 1001 days. The list is due to be competed by 16 June 2013. 9. Lose baby weight For the past couple of weeks I’ve been taking part in the BritMums challenge to lose weight with WeightWatchers ProPoints. I have to admit it’s not going brilliantly but I’m enjoying trying lots of new recipes. 50. Join the WI!…
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My 11 month old has white blond hair, a pair of sparkling blue eyes and a wicked smile. It seems like everyday she gets mistaken for a boy and it’s all my fault. You see, I’m thrifty and dress her in her brothers’ cast-offs. Most of which are blue. If you saw a child in blue you’d probably assume it was a boy, wouldn’t you? It’s not a choice based on gender decisions, or trying to confuse old ladies. But one based on economic necessity and plain old thriftyness. I can’t bear to give away clothes which bring back happy…
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We went to Westfield Stratford City yesterday. Most of the shops already had Christmas window displays, Boots was full of gift sets and I picked up a collection of gingerbread mixes, cutters and kits to try out and perfect over the coming weeks. When we got back we had a bit of a gingerbread making session, and every cutter we have was used by the children. I’ve tried to keep on top of Christmas planning so far. I’m a real list person so have lists of stocking fillers and Christmas presents, Christmas card list and a menu for Christmas Day.…
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In celebration of its first ever release on Blu-ray and to coincide with the film’s 30th anniversary, I’m giving you the chance to get your hands on one amazing prize! Simply answer the question below to be in with the chance of winning a copy of E.T. on Blu-ray! When an imaginative boy meets a lost alien, it is the beginning of one of cinema’s most endearing friendships, as Elliot (Henry Thomas) helps the marvellous creature he calls E.T. find his way back home before government agents can capture him. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg’s magical…
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I can honestly say we love Little Tikes so I was delighted to be asked to review the 3-in-1 Trike with DiscoverSounds Dashboard. The box was surprisingly small considering it converts to three stages and it was easy to put together (according to daddy). You don’t have to worry about storing lots of pieces to convert the trike as all the pieces are really well thought out. My children are the perfect age for this trike. The 10 month loves it as she can be taken for a ride whilst playing with the interactive dashboard. The toddler has also been…
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A couple of weeks into the Back2Best challenge and I have to admit it’s going very slowly. I’ve been enjoying healthy meal planning and trying out lots of new recipes, I’m just quite hungry in the evenings. Old habits die hard and very slowly it seems. As part of the challenge I was sent two recipe books and the lastest WeightWatchers magazine and I’ve spent many hours looking through them for inspiration. Most of the recipes are pretty straightforward and it’s great being able to make tasty meals for myself and my husband. In fact, I’m not even sure he…