I have a dream. It's a dream I've had since I was about 21. In this dream I live with my family in an absolutely gorgeous house in the country. A house in which everything is just perfect. Every single thing is in the right place and is absolutely gorgeous. It's a dream. A complete fantasty. Real life isn't really that perfect. Is it? Last week though I finally stepped inside that dream house. It may have been in central London instead of the countryside, but every other detail was spot on. Inside my dream house it was Christmas Eve. Gifts were wrapped under the tree. ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Tricks and Magic
When I was a child my Gran used to come and visit us every Saturday afternoon and we always ended up by having tea and scones round the dining table (with the same tea service) and something that was classed as "family entertainment" on the TV. Apart from the time that a hot airballoon had a crash-landing into a neighbours back garden (honestly - quite mad) the most exciting part for me was watching the Paul Daniels Magic Show whilst we ate. One year I was even lucky enough to receive a Paul Daniels Magic Set for Christmas. I was so excited! I would have loved to have owned a copy ... read more
An evening of berries at Tesco
When my friend Jenny from Cheetahs in my Shoes asked me if I was free one evening I thought she might be thinking about a few drinks at a pub in town, or maybe even trying to catch a film or something mad like that. When she then followed it up with "would you like to come to Tesco with me?" I honestly thought she'd lost the plot! What sort of mum goes to wander up and down the aisles of their local supermarket in an evening through choice? But it seems Jenny had something else in mind... Our local Tesco store, which happens to be one of the super big ones and is also ... read more
The mutiny over the mutiny over the Bounty Mutiny
If you've had a baby in hospital here in the UK over the last few years you're likely to have encoutered a lady (and I think I'm right in saying that they're nearly all ladies) from Bounty visiting you in your hospital bed to give you your "Bounty pack" and offer you their service of taking some photos of your new baby. You're also likely to have been given another bounty pack by your midwife at your first booking appointment. These packs come full of (helpful) leaflets, plus lots of advertising, vouchers and free samples from companies that you may not have heard of pre-children, but that are ... read more
Eleanor’s Eyebrows – Timothy Knapman and Davis Tazzyman
When it comes to subjects for children's books I've seen some slightly strange ones, but this is the first book I've ever come across where the main characters are a pair of eyebrow, but in Eleanor's Eyebrows that's exactly what you've got. Eleanor's never been too sure what her eyebrows are for and as a result they're left feeling a bit unloved. One night whilst Eleanor sleeps her eyebrows go off on an adventure of their own visiting the zoo, working for a magician and being false legs for an ant who wanted to be a spider. When Eleanor gets up the ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five – Children’s Clothes
There's no doubt that having children can be a costly business. Clothing them is one big expense, especially as they just seem to grown over night. There are ways to save money though through buying second-hand and here are five top tips as to where to pick up children's clothes. 1. eBay As the best known online auction site, eBay still can hold a few real bargains if you know where to look. In amongst all the "seconds" and brand new listings you can often find job lots of children's clothes in a certain size range. The good listings will detail what is in the ... read more
That first tooth
As any parents knows teething can be hellish. Watching your little baby scream in pain not understanding what is going on is torture. We had it lucky with Little Miss C as her first teeth didn't cause much pain other than the couple of hours before they actually popped through the gum. With Master C it seems to have been a different story, with months and months of build up before that first tooth came through just a couple of weeks ago. As an aside - according to my dentist boys are often much later than girls in getting their first teeth too, which is maybe why it feels like it ... read more
Thomas the Cake
It's hard to believe that it's nearly a month since Little Miss C turned three. A busy month in which we've had lots of family adventures, but it means I've not yet had chance to tell you about the cake, or more accurately about Thomas the Cake! I'm not sure where she got the idea from but one day, about two months before her birthday, LMC suddenly announced (as toddlers do) that she was going to have a Thomas Cake for her birthday. Now she is a little obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine at the moment, but it still took me a bit by surprise. I then did something that no ... read more
Review: Hotter Shoes
When I like a brand I tend to talk about it. That's just the way I am and over the years my friends and family have just got used to that. Or got better at ignoring me! Over the last few weeks I've been testing a pair of shoes that I was sent to review from Hotter Shoes and, as usual, I mentioned to quite a few people that I was doing so and how I was getting on with them. What surprised me was their reactions. Now I have to admit that up until another blogger told me they were looking for reviewers I hadn't actually heard of Hotter Shoes before. It seems I was in a bit of a ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Ladybird Book of Aircraft
Well we've survived our first foreign holiday as a family of four and even managed to fit in a wedding in a foreign language and following wedding reception without too much incident. I'm therefore catching up on all things blog related (including a full low down on our trip) but it seemed obvious that this week's Ladybird Tuesday has to be holiday related, and seeing as there are no titles related to overseas (why?) I went for Aircraft instead. We've already learnt here on Ladybird Tuesday as to how the aeroplane works so this time we're doing a bit of plane ... read more