• playing

    3-in-1 Trike with DiscoverSounds Dashboard

    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…

  • #WWback2best - cooking

    #WWback2best update and cooking

    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…

  • cooking - Family Life - recipe

    Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe

    Did you know that Whitworths have recently launched a new ‘Whitworths for Baking’ range, comprising of six high quality baking sugars – fine caster, superfine icing, fine demerara, crunchy demerara, light soft brown sugar and dark soft brown sugar, as well as a ‘Twist and Sprinkle’ icing sugar duster with built in sieve. The range has been made and packaged especially with home bakers in mind. Easy Butternut Squash soup recipe The Whitworths website has some great recipes and not all of them are cakey. As well as cakes, biscuits, and desserts there are also some savoury suggestions. I liked…

  • competition

    Win with Aunt Bessie’s

    I can’t resist a bit of help from Aunt Bessie’s with my Sunday roast. Her roast potatoes have always come up trumps in our household. I bet you didn’t know that Aunt Bessie’s makes more than 70 products to help families create quick and tasty meals. I have a great giveaway for two readers to win a £10 Aunt Bessie’s voucher but first let me tell you about some of the delicious new products which are perfect for creating a proper family meal. Containing a mixture of carrots, swede and parsnips, seasoned with thyme and generously drizzled in honey, Aunt…

  • crafts - handmade - sewing

    Cross stitch iPhone case

    In between my Christmas crafting I’ve been making the odd thing for myself. I’m terrible at buying fabric and all kinds of items which I just never get round to using. This is one of those projects. I bought all the equipment but took ages to actually get a needle out and start. I bought the cross stitch iPhone case so long ago I actually imported it as I couldn’t find any for sale in the UK! I love the idea of customising an iPhone case. It’s the one item I have near me all day (besides the children) so…

  • vintage

    Vintage Fisher-Price toys

    Ok, I’ll admit I’m addicted to vintage Fisher-Price. The products are just so nostalgic and such great quality that my children enjoy playing with them as much as I did. I always see vintage Fisher-Price in charity shops and they are not too expensive to collect. In fact I spotted an original Fisher-Price telephone in a shop in Pinner yesterday but thought I might get told off if I brought another one home! Anyway, I wanted to showcase some of the toys I’ve bought recently so please join me on a little nostalgic trip back to my childhood. The Fisher-Price…

  • crafts - handmade

    Things to do with washi tape

    I seem to have accumulated a lot of washi tape. It looks pretty but is useful too. We were invited to a birthday party today so I needed to wrap two little gifts but only had brown paper. I had pinned some pretty washi tape projects so I thought I would try them myself – perfect for the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge. I really like the end result and am thinking this could be a great way to jazz up Christmas presents! If you fancy taking part in the PinAddicts Pinterest Challenge just choose something from your Pinterest boards to create…

  • book review - Christmas

    Sparkly stocking fillers

    This year is going incredibly quickly and over the last few weeks I’ve been busy buying gifts for the toddlers’ stocking. He was recently sent three books which would make the perfect stocking fillers (if we hadn’t already read them!). We always read a couple of books before bed and these are the perfect length for a seasonal bedtime story or two. Thomas & Friends: Snowy Tracks The island of Sodor is covered in a thick blanket of snow and the engines have been told to be careful and not to go over any big hills. Of course Gordon doesn’t…

  • competition

    Win a Halloween party kit with Duracell

    I’m sure we’re not the only family who go through a lot of batteries. The toddler has some really noisy toys and he often has a little pile of toys waiting for daddy to replace their batteries when he comes home from work. I was recently contacted by Duracell  to see if I wanted to take part in a fun Halloween challenge. We were sent a Halloween party pack with everything we needed to hold our own spooky party, including decorations, music and games to play in the dark made, which were made even spookier by using a torch, run…