Another opportunity for me to indulge my inner geek on this week's Ladybird Tuesday with 'How it works' The Aeroplane. Another book from series 654 which promises to explain exactly how things work in a way simple enough for a child to understand, but without being at all patronising. All the basics of flight are covered, from how air pressure changes with altidude, lift and drag, airflow over wings, stability of the plane in flight and how it is controlled. How the plane takes off, reaches cruising altitude and then descends to land safely is all described in detail along with how ... read more
Review: Bigjigs Activity Centre
Today's visit from the delivery man brought the kids' first Bigjigs Play Patrol assignment and as the youngest Play Patrol Agent Master C is taking his testing duties very seriously. He was sent an Activity Centre to review and with an age range of 6 months to 2 years it was the perfect choice for him to cut his reviewing teeth on. Straight out of the box the activity center is lovely to look at. With the expected Bigjigs build quality it is all made of wood with the exception of the metal "wire" with wooden beads on it. There are five activities in total: wooden ducks to ... read more
Review: Ella’s Kitchen
It's hard to believe that it's over three months since I first wrote about weaning Master C. He's still a little boy who loves his food putting on weight exactly as he should be. Since the early days Master C seems to have shown a particular love for Ella's Kitchen pouches and even now his face lights up when he sees them come out of the cupboard. I was therefore really pleased when we were sent some of the savory ones to review. Whilst we started off with some of the first tastes pouches (apple, pear and banana on their own) he quickly moved on to their Stage 1 Baby Food range and he ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Horses
When you look at some of the old Ladybird series they just don't quite make sense. Series 682 was originally released to show children about domesticated animals, but as the series title suggests it ended up with only two titles, Dogs and Horses. Why it was not extended I have no idea. This book starts off by pointing out the vital role that horses played in life before other forms of transported were invented - one that many children may not think of. Starting with the basic anatomy of the horse, how they have evolved over time, along with their role, is described. Mr C has always ... read more
When multitasking goes wrong
When this tweet arrived in my stream last week I was absolutely delighted. I've been wanting to go to BritMumsLive! this year for a variety of reasons and as a huge Bigjigs fan, and recently appointed Play Patrol Agent, was thrilled that they had agreed to sponsor me to attend. DELIGHTED to confirm @sussexmummy & @beingmrsc as our brand ambassadors at #BritMumsLive2013 ! :-) *woop woop* #PlayPatrol— Bigjigs® Toys (@bigjigstoys) May 1, 2013 Last week was a bit of a busy week though. As well as the usual children to look after and organise there were also some other things happening ... read more
Praise your children
I just can't hear the word praise without thinking of this Fatboy Slim track and also the accompanying video. I was at university when this came out and whenever I hear it I am instantly taken back to the college bar and many, many an hour in there with some lovely friends. So, why am I talking about praise today? You may recall me writing about the parenting course that I am currently attending and as the weeks progress I'm realising just how valuable what I am learning on is. I therefore plan to share the things that I'm finding most successful for our family. Last week we ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Learnabout… Knitting
There are some Ladybird books that I keep looking out for. Titles that I really wish I'd had as a child and dream of owning now. It's rare that I find them when searching the shelves in charity shops, but sometimes you do get lucky and today was one of those lucky days. Series 634's Learnabout... Knitting is probably up there with Learnabout... Sewing as two of the books i most want to own in the whole Ladybird back catalogue and I was so pleased to find a copy of it on the shelves of my local charity shop for just 33p! If you're new to knitting this really is the perfect ... read more
When Turkeys are Profitable…
I am a housewife. There, I've said it. It may not be a sexy title, but it's what I do. I'm a wife who stays at home and looks after the children and runs the home whilst my husband goes out to work. It's not something I feel forced to do because of my gender, but it's the job that I am currently doing and it's something that women (and some men) have done for years. Women (and in the past there have been many more women than men) have been running homes for years and there's no doubt that we're doing as wide a range of things now as ever. Some of the role has ... read more
Featured post: Dressing the kids
I feel I should start this post with a caveat. Possibly quite a large caveat. My fashion sense isn't exactly always what I think those in the know call "on trend". When it comes to dressing the kids though it all seems so much easier. Maybe it's because you look at the kids all day that you can tell what suits them and what doesn't, whereas I hardly ever see myself in a full length mirror. Something I realised quite soon after Master C was born is that I now needed to familiarise myself with boys clothes as well as girls and what has surprised me is just how ... read more
Featured Post: Money for old clothes?
I've written before on here about the disaster zone that is our spare bedroom at the moment. One of the biggest problems in there is the huge amount of clothing that we've all grown out of in the last couple of years. Not only do the kids grow up, but after two children in less than three years I've also changed size (and shape!) several times. With no more children planned it's time to tackle the clothes mountain once and for all. There are several options as to what to do with all these things we no longer wear. Many of the children's clothes will be passed on to friends ... read more