It's only the first Monday in November, but it seems that now that Halloween is out of the way everyone's attentions have now turned to Christmas. A certain supermarket chain even had a tree up just inside their entrance when I visited this morning! I personally love Christmas and it's exciting to see how Little Miss C is going to react to it all this year, now that she's that bit older and also now that she's got the whole build up to it at pre-school. I was intrigued to be asked if I wanted to receive a review copy of Christmas by Dick Bruna as it is a book ... read more
Review: Matchbox 60th Anniversary
The world of toy cars is still a little bit of a mystery to me. I know that there is supposedly no difference between boys' and girls' toys, but I don't really recall having toy cars when I was a child and Little Miss C's never had many either. Whenever we used to visit DorkyMum and DorkySon for playdates (before they moved to the other side of the world!) I saw a true car obsessive in action. DorkySon loved nothing more than playing "traffic jams" when he would line all his toy cars up all over his road rug and I can see Master C going the same way. As soon as he ... read more
Halloween Cupcake Decorating Workshop
I was delighted to manage to get myself a place on Heaven is a Cupcake's latest cupcake decorating workshop - a special Halloween themed one. I've enjoyed Lucy's cupcakes for a while now and am always admiring photos of her amazing works of art that she regularly posts on her Facebook page. Ever since my attempts to make Thomas the Cake for Little Miss C's 3rd birthday I thought I'd better do something to up my game before I need to make the next one. Heaven is a Cupcake run regular evening decorating workshops here in St Albans and I've always heard good things about ... read more
Wakey Wakey Big Brown Bear! – Tracey Corderoy and Rachel Swirles
Little Miss C's school recently celebrated literacy week with a week which involved the local fire brigade fetching a large egg down off the school roof! Watching a whole school's worth of pupils watching this unfold in the playground taught me so much about what an important role books play in our children's education. Stories can take them to new places and teach them so much about the world around them, as well as being great fun to read too. This week it was time for our next monthly review book to arrive from Parragon and LMC and I excitedly unwrapped a copy of Wakey ... read more
Remember, remember to be safe on the 5th of November
With Bonfire Night fast approaching please remember to be safe as well as having fun on the 5th November. Infographic from ArmyCadets.com Discalimer: No compensation was received in exchange for posting this infographic. I just believe that it's an important message for people to remember at this time of year. ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Sounds and Pictures Book 4
I'm turning to a series that we've not featured before here on Ladybird Tuesday for this week's entry. Series 622, Books for Toddlers is a set of seven books which was created because Ladybird realised just how popular their Early Learning books were for both children and parents. I'm yet to find an original copy of the first book in the series, The Ladybird a-b-c, and from what I've read it may be hard to find one. It's one of their most popular books though and has been reprinted and reissued many times. The rest of the series is six books (imaginatively titled Book 1 ... read more
Amelie and Nanette Sparkly Shoes and Picnic Parties – Sophie Tilley
One thing that I really like about reviewing children's books on here with Little Miss C is that we've now been doing it for long enough that I'm starting to see second, or even third, books by the same author and therefore starting to get a feel for them and their work. It almost seems strange that up until only three years ago my only experience of children's books was what I remembered from my own childhood, and even then it's something of a hazy memory, especially when it comes to picture books. We were recently sent a copy of Sparkly Shoes and Picnic ... read more
Knitting help required!
I'm going to try and use my blog here today for purely selfish reasons - to see if anyone can please help me with my current knitting project! Now, once a week I normally go to a lovely knitting group, with a talented bunch of women who I'm sure could help me. The only thing is that I couldn't make it last week as I was too busy trying to get a broken washing machine fixed (which still isn't fixed incidently - in a week in which both kids came home from school / nursery covered in mud of course!) and as it's half term this week I can't really try and juggle both kids ... read more
Post-it Note Pumpkin
Please note that the Post It Note Pumpkin has moved to Penny Blogs. You can find it here. Happy Halloween! ... read more
Mine! – Sarah Hammon and Laura Hughes
When our review copy of Mine! arrived and I read the accompanying press release I found myself tutting a bit. Not a nice habit, but I was a bit concerned about the statement "Mine! is a hilariously true book about how little girls play." I'm sorry to say that in my usual way I was a bit frustrated to see what I initially saw as early gender stereotyping. As Little Miss C and I sat down to read the book together though I actually found myself reading something which almost accurately described a playdate that LMC has had just a couple of days earlier! Kitty is playing ... read more