A Letter From Santa Claus - Review & Giveaway

As I have previously written, Christmas has got a lot more magical since we had the boys. This year especially as Finley has started to really understand Christmas and Santa Claus so when I was asked by Lapland Mailroom to review a letter from Santa Claus and to host a giveaway, I couldn't say no. The letters start from £7.95 depending on what package you would like. They kindly sent us two letters, one for each of the boys, and when they arrived just 3 days after ordering them we were not disappointed.

They arrived while the boys were at my Mums so when they arrived home yesterday, our elf Sausage had delivered them in Postman Pats van. Their faces were a picture and they were both so excited. Noah doesn't totally understand but follows Finley's lead so the fact he was excited it was mirrored.

We settled down in front of the Christmas tree to open the letters, well I say open, the boys ripped them open. They were fascinated by them and were even more excited when they realised they were on the nice list. Along with the letters from Santa Claus we received a nice child list certificate to let the boys know they were on the nice list and that Santa Claus would be visiting them. Finley did a little bum wriggle with a huge smile on his face at this!

We then sat and read both letters. There are 4 letters you can choose from, 3 standard letters with different content and one baby's first Christmas. I choose two different letter formats so that they would have different content for the boys. To make it personal to your children they ask some different questions such as your child's name, their age, where they will be on Christmas eve, what they are hoping for from Santa Claus and their gender.

They also ask if you would like to add anything at the bottom to make it a little more personal. I decided to add a bit about how brave Finley had been with his toe and for Noah I put how good he has been at preschool. They also ask if you would like the letter to be signed off by Santa Claus or Father Christmas.

The whole design of the letter and certificate is beautiful and so realistic to children. There are a few tiny touches that make it look authentic with the Lapland stamp of the envelope and certificate, Santa Claus's picture on the letter and also the colour of the paper. It's not just plain white, it has a stained paper effect. Both the letter and certificate have been signed off by Santa Claus himself. The paper quality is great quality.

These letters are fantastic and add that extra magical touch to Christmas and add some excitement for the children. A lovely keepsake for them in years to come. The boys loved these letter and now can't wait for Christmas day.

Lapland Mailroom are kindly giving two letters away to two of my followers. For your chance to received one of these letters for your little one just enter via the rafflecopter button below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and Conditions

UK residents only.

A winner will be chosen at random via rafflecopter.
There will be two winners.

Competition starts at 12am on 07/12/15 and ends 12am on 12/12/15.

The winner will be announced within 2 days of the competition closing.

The winner has 7 days to claim their prize. If the winner fails to claim their prize within 7 days an alternative winner will be chosen. This is due to the last posting day of the letters being 20th December.

* For the purpose of this review I was sent 2 letters from Lapland Mailroom. All opinions are 100% my own. *

My Sunday Photo 6/12/15

Just Another Linky #32

We are finally in December, yey! I absolutely love this time of year, even more so now that we have the boys. They make everything that little bit more special. We have sausage the elf staying with us until Christmas and he has been up to some naughty things each morning when he returns from the North Pole. I love seeing the boys faces each morning when they find him doing something he shouldn't.

So here is to Christmas, the most wonderful time of year!

Now onto week 32 of Just Another Linky. Thank you again to each and everyone of you that linked up last week. Once again I loved reading all of your posts.

Meet your hosts

HOST - Beth | Life-As-Mum | @lifeasmumblog

CO-HOST - Kirsty | Something Crunchy Mummy | @crunchy_mummy

Here are just a few rules:

- No more than 2 posts a week - Please!

- Comment on at least 2 other posts

- New or old posts welcome

- Grab the badge below so everyone knows where to find us

Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning @lifeasmumblog and @crunchy_mummy and we will retweet for you.

By linking up to this linky you are giving Beth & Kirsty the right to copy one of your photos if you are chosen for the Favourite Post of the week.

We are open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

This weeks Favourite Post

My favourite post this week was by Emily from Twin Mummy and Daddy with her post A Special Visit To Ty Hafan Children's Hospice & How You Can Help. Such a fantastic charity to be a part of.

** GRAB THE BADGE **

 

<a href="http://www.somethingcrunchymummy.com/p/just-another-linky.html?m=1" target="_blank"><img alt="thumbnailsize" border="0" src="http://i67.tinypic.com/t9f86g.png" style="border: none; max-width: 100%;" /> </a>

An InLinkz Link-up

Gro-to-Bed ~ Review

We absolutely love anything made by the Gro Company. We have their sleeping bags, Gro Clocks and have previously had the Gro-Egg room thermometer and their swaddle blankets. It's just the quality of their products that has always drawn me back to them when I have needed something to do with the boys that I know that they sell.

So when I was contacted recently and asked if would like to collaborate with them I jumped at the chance. The first thing they have asked me to do is to review one of their products. After looking on their website the only thing we didn't have that would be beneficial to us, and them to make a good review, was the Gro-to-Bed. I loved the look of these and when they said they would be happy to send one out to be reviewed I was so excited!

As Noah is not yet in a bed and is still in his cot I have reviewed the Gro-to-Bed with Finley my 4 year old. Now he has never been the best sleeper and is constantly kicking off the sheets, which leads to shouting in the middle of the night for his duvet to be replaced, I just knew the Gro-to-Bed was going to change our sleep for the better.

It arrived just a few days after I had chosen which one we would like. We had gone for the Racing Ahead design which goes perfectly with Finley's bedroom. It is a white sheet with a green stripy pillow and a duvet covered in track marks ranging from blue to green in colour. It looks just as good in person as it did on the website.

I couldn't wait to get it on the bed but I am a bit ocd with washing things so first thing was first, it went in the wash. After washing, I put it straight on Finley's bed and he couldn't wait to get into bed that night.

Finley's bed has sides to it already but the great thing about the Gro-to-Bed is that if you are changing a cot to a cot bed, for instance, and it doesn't have sides, the Gro to Bed will act as side because of the two zips either side of the sheet. The zips are half way up the sheet and are very easy to zip up and down, with or without a child in the bed. The other great thing about having the zips is the duvet will not move so your child wont lose their duvet during the night, causing them to get cold or irritated.

Another great feature is the pillow case as it is attached to the sheet. There is no worry of your child moving and getting their head under the pillow as they sleep. Also for their comfort it wont move in the night and find them sleeping on just the sheet and mattress.

The quality of the sheet and duvet is great, soft and perfect for little ones to sleep in. Finley absolutely loves it and get a bit disappointed when its time to wash it and its back to the normal duvet while its being washed.

Great product and it gets a 10/10 from us!

* For the purpose of this review we were sent one Gro-to-bed. All opinion are 100% my own*

Wicked Wednesdays #43

The strangulation cuddle

Me & Mine ~ November

This month we have Auntie Sara joining us :-)

We are finally here, December and it's Christmas time! But where did November go? It's been another busy one for us with some lovely memories made but here is what we have loved in November.

Mummy is loving:

* A lovely day shopping with my Mum and Nan

* Completing my third 10k this year in a personal best time of 58 minutes

* Ovaltine - my pre bedtime drink of choice

* Taking the boys ice-skating for the first time

* Fireworks night with our friends

Daddy is loving:

* His new Xbox One

* Quality time with the boys while mummy went off shopping

* Being a big kid and going down the slide at the farm park

* The Hot UK Deals app!

* Getting to watch his television series

Finley is loving:

* Meeting Father Christmas at his magical castle

* Feeding the goats at the farm park on his cousins 1st birthday

* Trying out ice-skating for the first time and not falling over

* Shimmer and Shine on Nick Jr

* Playing with Uncle Ryan

Noah is loving:

* Making gingerbread men

* Celebrating his cousins 1st birthday at the farm park

* Lots of play dates with his best friend Eva

* Visiting Father Christmas

* Costa dates with Mummy while Finley is at preschool

Our A&E Trip

When Finley started moving I was told to put everything out of this reach because now nearly everything was a danger. We have had our fair few bumps and accidents with general items, falling into sofas, falling off the sofa, hitting his head on the corner of the dining table - the list goes on. But I never thought our iPad would be a danger, until yesterday when Finley dropped it on his toe. And he had no socks on.

Now this isn't something I would normally take him to A&E for but after an afternoon of him not walking on it and wailing in pain most of the day I began to think we should get it looked at. Then when he woke up 10 minutes after falling asleep screaming in pain and not being able to console him I took the decision to take him to be seen.

Unfortunately our local A&E doesn't open at the weekend so I had to drive half an hour to our nearest big hospital. As it was 8.30pm on a Sunday night I was hoping the wait wouldn't be too long and we would get seen rather quickly.

As we arrived the waiting room was rather quiet so my hopes of being seen quickly were still there. After booking in we were taken to the children's waiting area and this was were my hopes were dashed, it was rammed! But luckily they had loads of toys and Finley had perked up a little bit so was scooting round on his bum playing with the toys, as he still wouldn't put weight on his foot.

We waited about an hour to be seen. We were seen by a lovely Italian doctor who sounded like Gino D'acampo. He was fantastic with Finley and really made him feel at ease. After looking at his big toe he said it could be broken or he may just need it drained so would take him to have an x-ray. I thought we would need to wait a while but we were straight into x-ray and seen immediately. Finley was a little worried until they let him know I would be able to stay by his side while wearing a lead coat which he found hilarious!

My brave minion

After being x-rayed the lovely lady let him have two stickers which he was pleased as punch about. We were then back to see our lovely doctor to see what the x-rays had shown. On getting back to the bed the doctor came in saying he was looking for a minion, Finley found this so funny and also got very shy.

Luckily there was no break. He said he could drain it which would mean he would be able to walk on it quicker than if he left it but it was up to me. I decided it should be drained as to have someone like Finley not walking would drive us both potty.

To drain it he had to use a tiny pin in the nail which Finley wouldn't feel. The doctor kindly gave Finley his stethoscope to keep him occupied and take his mind off of it. Finley was so brave and didn't flinch so it was over within a few minutes. With a blue plaster on his toe and a blue helium balloon that the doctor kindly gave him we were off home at 10.30pm.

I can't thank the doctor enough for being so kind and putting Finley at ease. It's the small things to children that mean the biggest things and that balloon and the stickers this morning mean everything to him!

Even though it wasn't broken I am so glad that I went as he was in so much pain and when it comes to children you cant get much sense out of them when they are in a state. It put my mind at rest due to the fact he wasn't walking on it but I now know in a few days he will. Anyway follow your instincts.

So today we will be having a day at home with Mummy being Mr Finley's slave, even more than usual, and carrying him around while encouraging him to walk. And he is currently watching random people open kinder eggs on the said iPad!!

The toe!

My fuel today

Just Another Linky #31

Welcome to week 31 of Just Another Linky. Thank you to everyone that linked up last week and everyone that comes back each week.

I am currently writing this with a 2 year old on my lap at 11pm on a Friday night as he has woken up with a cough that sounds a little like croup. Fingers crossed it's not but I am sure tonight will tell. This is after spending the whole evening trying to order one of Finley's Christmas presents online, I had a few problems with an online website!!

Now onto this weeks linky, I can't wait to read what you have lined up for us. 

Meet your hosts

HOST - Beth | Life-As-Mum | @lifeasmumblog

CO-HOST - Kirsty | Something Crunchy Mummy | @crunchy_mummy

Here are just a few rules:

- No more than 2 posts a week - Please!

- Comment on at least 2 other posts

- New or old posts welcome

- Grab the badge below so everyone knows where to find us

Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning @lifeasmumblog and @crunchy_mummy and we will retweet for you.

By linking up to this linky you are giving Beth & Kirsty the right to copy one of your photos if you are chosen for the Favourite Post of the week.

We are open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

This weeks Favourite Post

My favourite post this week was by Supermum and other disguises with her post about her half marathon training. I am also in training and as it tums out for the same half marathon so I wish her luck!

 

** GRAB THE BADGE **

 

<a href="http://www.somethingcrunchymummy.com/p/just-another-linky.html?m=1" target="_blank"><img alt="thumbnailsize" border="0" src="http://i67.tinypic.com/t9f86g.png" style="border: none; max-width: 100%;" /> </a>

An InLinkz Link-up