Sleeping Beauty has to be one of those Fairy Stories that everyone knows in some shape or form. It's been re-told in so many editions over the years and there have been film versions and even pantomimes of the tale too. What I wasn't expecting though was a 1950s meets sci-fi version, but that's exactly what you get with this new edition of Sleeping Beauty, re-told by David Roberts and Lynn Roberts-Maloney. Annabel lives with her two aunts Rosalind and Flora in the 1950s. As a child she loves science fiction books and often dreams about what the future might look like. What Annabel doesn't ... read more
Review: Magic Twirl Mim-Mim Plush Toy
Little Miss C has been a huge fan of Kate and Mim-Mim since the series first started on CBeebies back in August 2014. At one point recently it appeared in the schedule as the last thing the kids were allowed to watch before going upstairs to brush their teeth before school and as a result Master C also became a bit of a fan. Both children were therefore delighted when I brought home the new Magic Twirl Mim-Mim Plush to review. This is so much more than just a cuddly toy though as Mim-Mim really is brought to life by saying eight different phrases from the show whenever you either press his ... read more
Review: Google Chromecast Audio
Last week's Currys PC World Christmas in July event featured a particularly great goodie bag for gadget lovers. The first things I pulled out were a Google Chromecast and a Google Chromecast Audio. Now I've heard of the Chromcast before (and more on that later) but the Chromecast Audio was completely new to me. The thing was that I couldn't quite understand what the point of it was. And chatting to the friend that I roped in to pull together a video review for me, neither could he initially. So the idea behind the Chromecast Audio is that you use it to "cast" (or in non Google language ... read more
Lidl Back to School Range
I know term hasn't quite finished yet (that's coming soon enough!) but if you're a parent trying to be organised then thoughts are already turning to school uniform for when our little darlings go back in September. Master C will be starting school pre-school come September and so this will be the first year that I will have two children requiring school uniform and hence I'm really starting to see how the cost increases when you need to kit out more than one child. As a bargain lover I'm always on the look out for cheap ways to buy what I need and for a good few years now supermarkets have ... read more
Growing brains with Education Quizzes
Before becoming a parent I have to admit that I'd not really thought about education for my kids much. That kind of happened at school and I didn't need to think about it much. Now that I am a parent though I realise that education is much more of a life long thing and what you do at home works so much along side what your children do and learn at school. The two really need to work in harmony and that's where a site like Education Quizzes works so well. Designed for all children, the primary aim of Education Quizzes is to help children be successful at school. The quizzes are all written ... read more
Aldi’s Easter Drink Offerings
When an email pops into your inbox from Aldi asking if you'd like to review their Easter alcohol offerings you're not going to say no are you? Well I know I certainly wasn't going to. Especially when I'd literally just been having a chat with someone about how good I've always found wine from Aldi. And what a selection of drink they sent me to try! Everything you might need to get you from pre-dinner drinks, through dinner and on to a nightcap. Now, I'm no Jilly Golden (if you're old enough to remember her!) but I know what I like when it comes to a tipple or two. We started off with ... read more
Exploring nature in our back garden as a Wilko Wild Bird Blogger
I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only parent that's keen for their kids to understand and appreciate the nature that's all around us, but the thing that always amazes me is how many people overlook the nature that's right there under their noses in their own back garden. Mr C and I have always been big nature lovers and that was cemented when we bought our first home together. Instead of having a back garden we instead explored a local community nature reserve that was at the end of our street. It gave us the desire to create our own little bit of a nature paradise once we had our own back ... read more
Review: Clangers Squeeze and Whistle Tiny
Being woken up in the early hours of the morning to the noise of a swanee whistle coming over the baby monitor is a bit of a strange experience. That's the risk you have though when you get your little one a Clangers Squeeze and Whistle Plush - or at least it is with my son! Master C was super excited to unwrap a Squeeze 'n' Whistle Tiny and she has soon become a firm friend. After three years of just being attached to his favourite cuddly toy dog he's now started taking a huge interest in other toys and treating them like friends. Tiny Clanger was one of the first and certainly the ... read more
Review: Learning Outdoors with the Meek Family
Wow! What. A. Summer. I'm sat here surrounded by bits of Little Miss C's school uniform that I've been busy sewing name tapes on to all evening. She's back to school in the morning and incredibly excited about it. It seems hard to believe that I was worried about 6 weeks of summer holidays stretching ahead of me as I just had no idea how to fill all that time. As it happens though I've had no real problems at all (although I won't deny that there have been some afternoons that have felt like forever!) and we've had a really busy summer with lots of days out, a planned holiday to Wales and ... read more
Our SwimFin Summer #SwimFinSummer
I was absolutely delighted to receive an email at the start of the summer asking if Little Miss C and Master C wanted to work with SwimFin trying out their funky swimming aids. Imagine being a child and being able to swim along pretending to be a shark whilst singing the Jaws theme tune to yourself and that's exactly what SwimFin allows you to do. We saw a couple of these in action at our local leisure centre earlier in the year and all three of us just stood their open mouthed at how utterly cool they looked and I'd even gone home and done a bit of google work to find out all about them. ... read more