I was rather excited to see a new book from Lisa Stickley arrive for us to review last week. We met Edith in her last book, Handstand, and she appears again in My New Room. Designer Lisa Stickley has a style that has already become instantly recognisable here and as soon as Little Miss C saw My New Room she went looking for our copy of Handstand to put with it on her bookcase. In My New Room, much as the title suggests, it is time for Edith to move into a new bedroom with a "Big Bed". It's a step that many children go through, and sometimes it can be a bit of a scary one, especially if the ... read more
Brio Special Edition 2017 Train
I swear that Master C's train obsession is growing by the day! Hours and hours are spent with him on the living room floor, pushing trains around the wooden track that regularly snakes around the legs of the kitchen table and trips me up on my way to make a cup of tea. He recently seems to have clocked that mummy is sent toys to review and for about two weeks our walk home from school would involve him asking me if anyone had sent me any "toy trains for work". Imagine his delight one day before the school Easter holidays when I was able to tell him that I had been sent the Brio Special ... read more
Interplay Pocket Microscope
For absolutely ages now Little Miss C has been obsessed with the idea of becoming an explorer and naturalist of some kind. She loves nothing more than being outdoors and hunting for insects and bugs. We have so many bug hotels situated around the garden - many of them made from old shoeboxes and other things pilfered from my recycling bin. It therefore seemed perfect to ask her to review the Pocket Microscope from Interplay. We've had handheld magnifying glasses before in various kits, but this is the first time that she's had a microscope to play with. In the box you get the microscope ... read more
The Powerpuff Girls Story Maker Dine and Dash Playset
I'm not quite sure how the Powerpuff Girls arrived in our lives, but they most certainly did so with a bit of a bang. Little Miss C just suddenly knew all about Blossom, Bubble and Buttercup and their father Professor Utonium. LMC loves nothing more than having strong female role models to look up to and that's exactly what these girls are. It does seem slightly bonkers though (and makes me feel rather old) that next year the series will be 20 years old. How is that possible??? LMC was therefore thrilled when I brought home the new Dine and Dash Storymaker playset for her to review. ... read more
Dreaming of that big win with Lottoland
Have you ever worked out what you would do if you won the lottery? I mean properly worked it out? I know many of us talk in wishy washy terms about what we'd like - holidays, new cars, bigger houses, not to have to keep working etc - but I found myself sat on a train the other day, daydreaming, about what I would actually like to do should I suddenly find millions in my bank account. Firstly I think I'd pay someone to come and take control of all things domestic at home. Clean the house from top to bottom, sort out all those piles of paperwork that keep appearing and totally clear my kids ... read more
Writing with the Parker IM Pen
As anyone who knows me in real life will know, I love writing things down. I love handwritten lists and action plans. I often jot down notes for blog posts in a notebook before sitting down and typing them up. I'm one of those people that nearly always has a notebook on them and it's full of everything from what I need to buy the next time I'm in town, through to my travel bucket list. I'm also a huge fan of handwritten letters and cards. I may not have the time to write as many of them as I'd like to, but there's something special about sending and receiving things in the post and a ... read more
Review: Teksta Micro Pets Raccoon Adventure Park
As a family we've not really played with robotic Artificial Intelligence pets before. I've seen the original Teksta puppy being demonstrated, but being sent one of the new generation of Micro Pets was my first change to get my hands on one of these little cuties and try it out for myself. We were sent Raccoon variant of the new Teksta Micro Pets Adventure Park and what you get inside the box is the interactive pet raccoon, plus several pieces of track that can be fitted together, and a ball for your new pet to play with. Now, let's start with the track. This is made of plastic and ... read more
Taking tea with Oteas
Anyone that follows me on social media, especially on Instagram, will know that I'm rather partial to a cup of tea. In fact some people seem to think that I spend all day drinking tea. They may in fact be right. Although I'm quite good at multi-tasking so it's not the only thing I do all day! When an email dropped into my inbox towards the end of last year from Oteas asking if I would like to review some of their teas it didn't exactly take long for me to respond to them. Oteas are a UK based speciality tea company who have a desire to promote an active, healthy and balanced lifestyle, ... read more
Review: Thomas the Tank Engine Bedding
"Mummy! When can we go on a train again?" That's the question I hear more often than anything from Master C. He is train obsessed at the moment and seems to like nothing more than us using the family railcard to go somewhere on the Thameslink line, mainly just so he can look out of the window and be all excited about actually being on a train. One of his favourite trips has to be to go just up the line to Luton, as he knows that once there there is a perfectly positioned Starbucks where he can sit in the window and watch not only the trains, but also the buses in the next door bus station ... read more
Collecting Memories with Hope House Press
Cast your mind back to April if you can... Back in April the world seemed like a simpler place didn't it? Yes 2016 hadn't started amazingly, some celebrities had died but we had no idea back then that Brexit and Trump would be coming later on to make the world seem like the crazy, crazy place it is today. The other thing that happened back in April is that we all went off on holiday to the Isle of Wight. You may recall that last year I won a whole load of holiday vouchers in some little Facebook competition and so we were lucky enough to be able to book a more trips away than we might ... read more