He had just woken up from a nap in the car and it was the end of the world (this continued for 30 minutes!!)
Wednesday, 16 December 2015
Tuesday, 15 December 2015
A Fancy Dress Challenge With Tickled Pink - Review
Dressing up is something both my boys love to do as I am sure it is for most toddlers/pre-schoolers. We have Spiderman, the Gruffalo along with a whole bunch of make believe dress up. Dress up lets children express themselves in lots of different way and I believe it is a fundamental part of learning for them.
When I was contacted by Tickled Pink and asked if I would like to take part in their Fancy Dress Challenge, I thought this would be great for the boys. The challenge was originally for their adult fancy dress range but when I explained how much the boys love to dress up and my ideas they were more than happy to let us bend the rules a little.
I selected a Santa suit for Finley which was aged 4-6 years and as their costumes start at age 4 I said we would add one of our own in for Noah. The price of the Santa's outfit on their website is £7.99, but currently priced at £5.99.
When I was contacted by Tickled Pink and asked if I would like to take part in their Fancy Dress Challenge, I thought this would be great for the boys. The challenge was originally for their adult fancy dress range but when I explained how much the boys love to dress up and my ideas they were more than happy to let us bend the rules a little.
I selected a Santa suit for Finley which was aged 4-6 years and as their costumes start at age 4 I said we would add one of our own in for Noah. The price of the Santa's outfit on their website is £7.99, but currently priced at £5.99.
The costume arrived just a few days later and the boys were so excited to get dressing up and playing make believe. Along with the Santa's outfit we were also sent an additional Santa's hat and some glasses.
We started off with Finley being Santa and Noah was the Gruffalo with a Santa hat on. We decided to go for the traditional photo to begin with, so I sat the Gruffalo on Santa's knee and without any prompting Finley asked Noah what he would like for Christmas. This resulted, as you can see in the pictures, in a long discussion between them. Finley was loving being Santa and the outfit fitted perfectly. Finley then wanted to riffle through his sack for presents for Noah in front of the Christmas tree. I loved how both boys were getting into the Christmas spirit with the outfit and Finley's imagination went wild with getting into the role of Santa.
Noah then wanted to try on the outfit and Finley wanted to received some presents (trains). Even with Noah only being two he has picked up the fact that Santa asks children what they would like for Christmas so he was going around asking myself, Finley and his Daddy what we would like for Christmas. With Noah being Santa Finley wanted to be a Minion Santa.
This was such a great way to get the boys into the Christmas spirit and to see what they actually think of Christmas. With dressing up they use their imagination as well as using real life situations they have been in.
The outfit was great quality and I am sure will be in our dress up box for years to come. And will be used throughout the year.
* For the purpose of this review we were sent one Santa's outfit along with a Santa's hat and glasses from Tickled Pink Fancy Dress *
Sunday, 13 December 2015
Saturday, 12 December 2015
Bepanthen - Winter Skincare Review
From the moment they were born both my boys have suffered with their skin, Noah more so than Finley. So when I was contacted by Bepanthen and asked if we would like to review some of their products for a winter skincare feature, I of course said yes.
I was expecting to receive a couple of their products but I wasn't expecting what came in the post a few weeks after I agreed to take part, this:
A huge white box turned up and I really didn't know what was inside but when I opened it I was blown away by the generosity of Bepanthen. There was some Whittard's hot chocolate and marshmallows, a White Company blanket, hat, candle and towel along with one of their teddy's (a white dinosaur), Nappy Care Ointment and Baby Moisturiser. It was gorgeous! As well as all this there was some great skin care tips from their official skin care experts.
The teddy is now my sons favourite cuddly toy and it gets taken to bed each night, and joins us on most days out. I'm not surprised as it is so soft and cuddly. We have enjoyed all the other goodies since we received them, the hot chocolate and marshmallows went down particularly well.
Now onto the review of their products. When we were sent this we had just started to potty train Noah so weren't using the Nappy Care Ointment in the day but we have been using it at night. Before we started using it, in the morning when we were taking off his night nappy he was a little red from where I think his skin was now used to having pants on in the day and then his skin having a less breathable garment on at night. We have now been using it for over a month and every morning his skin has been the same as when he went to bed. It is a cream coloured ointment that isn't sticky once applied and leaves a breathable layer on the skin. You can't see it once applied and if it was to accidentally get on clothes it doesn't leave a mark like most creams.
The Baby Moisturiser has been something we have used on a regular basic, daily as part of his bedtime routine and when his skin looks dry in the day. With the cold weather joining us I always find Noah's skin tends to dry out a little bit, so I have been applying this moisturiser and have seen a huge improvement. It says it is suitable for use from newborn and is for EXTRA sensitive skin. It doesn't have a strong smell and it is lovely to apply as it isn't sticky and is really easy to rub into the skin. We love it and will definitely be going out to buy this once we run out.
Both creams don't have a strong smell which I love about them as I don't like to cover my children in unnatural fragrances. I would totally recommend these to anyone with children, newborn or older as you can really use them for everything and they are such great products.
Thank you again to Bepanthen for sending us such a generous and thoughtful gift box.
* For the purpose of this review I was sent a box of goodies from Bepanthen along with their products. All opinions are 100% my own. *
Just Another Linky #33
Hello and welcome to another week of Just Another Linky. This week has been full of Christmas fun and seriously excited little boys.
Thank you once again to all our regular linkers and welcome to all our new ones. Once again it was great to read such a varied range of posts.
Meet your hosts
CO-HOST - Kirsty | Something Crunchy Mummy | @crunchy_mummy
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- No more than 2 posts a week - Please!
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Feel free to tweet your post, along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky, mentioning @lifeasmumblog and @crunchy_mummy and we will retweet for you.
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This weeks Favourite Post
My favourite post this week was by Mum in Brum with 'OH SH*T....Parenting Moments in Year One. Made me pretty relieved that I'm not alone in some parenting fails!
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 Mum in Brum with 'OH SH*T....Parenting Moments in Year One. Made me pretty relieved that I'm not alone in some parenting fails!
** GRAB THE BADGE **
Thursday, 10 December 2015
'The Night Before Christmas' - A Parragon Book Review
Each month we are kindly sent a new book by Parragon Books as we are one of their book buddies and with it coming up to Christmas our November book was 'The Night Before Christmas'.
Both boys were very excited about this book as it had Santa Claus on the front and he is a huge hit in this house at the minute, it might have something to do with the fact that in less than 3 weeks he will be coming with presents!
We waited until bedtime to settle down and read the book as it sounded like the perfect bedtime story to send them off to sleep dreaming of Christmas.
As with all the Parragon books that we have been sent it was a huge hit with its colourful illustrations and Santa Claus appearing in a lot in the book. Each page is full of all the traditional colours of Christmas, lots of sparkle and Santa Claus flying through the sky on his journey to deliver all the toys.
It's a book the boys could relate to with the Christmas tree and stockings by the fire. As I read the story the boys were looking at the pictures and I could see them taking it all in and knowing this is what will be happening on Christmas eve.
The white space on most of the pages is great for a children's book as the pages don't look cluttered which makes it easy to read.
The story is the traditional Christmas rhyme but with modern illustrations to capture the children's attention and really draws them into the book. I can remember this rhyme from when I was a child and it was lovely to read it to my boys.
This book is being chosen night after night, which I'm not complaining about as I honestly love it myself.
* We were sent 'The Night Before Christmas' from Parragon books for the purpose of this review. All opinions are 100% my own. *
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
A Little Errand
I am sure as a parent we have all been there. A little errand that needs to be done that can't wait until the other half gets home, or when we have someone to watch the kids while we pop out. When this little errand has to be performed with little children in tow, the 'little' part of the sentence no longer exists and it is replaced by 'nightmare'.
This happened to me yesterday when I had to pop to the post office. It was a job that had to be done yesterday as I had been a naughty ebayer and hadn't yet sent off a parcel someone had bought a few days earlier.
Now with the big post office being closed down in our town it has been replaced by a few little ones dotted around the town. The fact it was Monday morning and less than 3 weeks to Christmas didn't dawn on me and as we pulled up to the shop panic came over me, there were no spaces! Then on the way to the entrance I heard one man saying 'they are just chatting while there is a queue out the door' and I was hoping he was meaning for the shop not the post office. I was still being hopeful until we entered the shop.
The queue was in fact at the door and weaving between the shops aisles filled with sweets and bottled alcoholic beverages. A minefield when you have two small children that don't do queueing and waiting and were desperate to get to soft play.
My initial thought was to leave and come back later but with my husband not back from work until late I would just have to return with the boys, so we got into the queue. We had literally been stood there 2 seconds and it started, Noah started grabbing the chocolate goodies that were on display while Finley's hand was wriggling from my grip. Luckily the lady in front of me asked the age gap of the boys, said she had the same and she knew how it was. A friendly, sympathetic companion in the queue was just what I needed.
So we waited 25 minutes!!!! In this time the boys fought with each other, they disabled my phone, they nearly hit over a display of crates of beer, Finley licked a wrapped lolly pop, Noah screamed and kicked me, Noah made Finley cry, Finley made Noah cry, they nearly hit a whole shelf of things off and I smiled through gritted teeth. Because if I didn't I would have lost my s*** or ended up crying!
We finally got to the post office till point and I was fraught, and I am sure the cashier could see this. And she went as slow as she could, took my parcel and money then proceeded to ask if I had paid. Well my abrupt 'Yes' was met with an 'Ok' and rolled eyes while I was stomping out the shop with now two screaming boys.
This used to be a job that would have taken the same amount of time due to the queue but would have been a lot less stressful and I would have been up to date with all on Facebook and Twitter from my time in the queue.
We headed off to soft play, even though I knew the boys didn't deserve it just so I could sit down in a corner quietly and drink a HOT cup of tea!!
Now with the big post office being closed down in our town it has been replaced by a few little ones dotted around the town. The fact it was Monday morning and less than 3 weeks to Christmas didn't dawn on me and as we pulled up to the shop panic came over me, there were no spaces! Then on the way to the entrance I heard one man saying 'they are just chatting while there is a queue out the door' and I was hoping he was meaning for the shop not the post office. I was still being hopeful until we entered the shop.
The queue was in fact at the door and weaving between the shops aisles filled with sweets and bottled alcoholic beverages. A minefield when you have two small children that don't do queueing and waiting and were desperate to get to soft play.
My initial thought was to leave and come back later but with my husband not back from work until late I would just have to return with the boys, so we got into the queue. We had literally been stood there 2 seconds and it started, Noah started grabbing the chocolate goodies that were on display while Finley's hand was wriggling from my grip. Luckily the lady in front of me asked the age gap of the boys, said she had the same and she knew how it was. A friendly, sympathetic companion in the queue was just what I needed.
So we waited 25 minutes!!!! In this time the boys fought with each other, they disabled my phone, they nearly hit over a display of crates of beer, Finley licked a wrapped lolly pop, Noah screamed and kicked me, Noah made Finley cry, Finley made Noah cry, they nearly hit a whole shelf of things off and I smiled through gritted teeth. Because if I didn't I would have lost my s*** or ended up crying!
We finally got to the post office till point and I was fraught, and I am sure the cashier could see this. And she went as slow as she could, took my parcel and money then proceeded to ask if I had paid. Well my abrupt 'Yes' was met with an 'Ok' and rolled eyes while I was stomping out the shop with now two screaming boys.
This used to be a job that would have taken the same amount of time due to the queue but would have been a lot less stressful and I would have been up to date with all on Facebook and Twitter from my time in the queue.
We headed off to soft play, even though I knew the boys didn't deserve it just so I could sit down in a corner quietly and drink a HOT cup of tea!!
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| The post office trouble makers |
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