Today......

Today I got up, went for a run and then got us all ready to go out. We went to see my Nan and brother, where we had Cbeebies on the television while the boys rode my brothers back and got him to do whatever they wanted him to do.

I chatted to my Nan, drank tea as well as checking Facebook and Twitter. As I scrolled through Facebook I saw the profile pictures changed to red, white and blue. I saw people's statuses of love to all those families and friends of those tragically killed. I then scrolled through Twitter and saw people expressing this anger and sadness, as well as a few arguing with each other about their difference of opinions of the events that unfolded in Paris last night.

This all while not knowing what had exactly happened apart from my husband telling me a few snippets and briefly seeing the start of news articles on social media.

Not because I didn't care or that I don't want to know but because I was scared of what I would read, how it would make me feel and I wanted to shield myself, like I do my children everyday. I know I'm not a child but the horror of what this world is coming to scares me because this is a world I am bringing my children up in.

A world that is currently full of hatred. A world full of actual human beings with families of their own hurting other human beings and through their actions breaking the hearts of so many others.

I then went and read a news article on what has happened and it made me sad and angry and made me wish I hadn't.

It breaks my heart to hear and to read of such hatred. I'm not being selfish for not wanting to know, I'm being ignorant to what kind of world we live in and the kind of world we may be in when my children are older.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected in anyway.

Just Another Linky #29

Welcome to week 29 of Just Another Linky. Thank you to all our regulars for coming back each week and that you to our new linker uppers, its great to have you join us.
 

Meet your hosts
 

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

 

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

This week has been another busy one with preschool and then non preschool days we have been off having days out with our best friends. Now down to the linky and here are just a few rules:

- No more than 2 posts a week

- 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 Favorite 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 R is for Hoppit with You Know The Rules: The Ten Funniest Things The Toddler Said Last Week as it made me laugh, especially Michael the dinosaur, go and take a read if you get a chance.

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Sands Alive by John Adams - Review

I was pretty excited when I received an email asking if we would like to review Sands Alive by John Adams as I have been meaning to get something like this for the boys for a while. They love playing with normal sand but lets be honest its messy and that's one thing that stays outside, but with the winter here its not really an activity we have been doing with the weather being so rubbish.

Feel the fun with Sands Alive!

Bring your imagination to life with Sands Alive, the super soft modelling sand from John Adams!

Squish it, shape it, mould it, make it! With Sands Alive you can bring all the fun of a sandy beach indoors but without the mess. Once you feel how soft and sand-like it is, you’ll be amazed by how the sand holds its shape and allows you to build detailed 3D creations. One of the best features of this super soft modelling sand is that it never dries out! So you can have hours of fun by playing with it again and again!

Sands Alive is made up from all natural ingredients and suitable for children aged 3+.

So the Sands Alive turned up while Finley was at preschool and I couldn't wait for him to get home so the boys could try it out. Noah had seen the boxes and was desperate to get into them but we had to wait for Finley as it wouldn't have been fair to start without him. Well he got home and was so excited, I mean like mega excited to get started. We were sent two Sands Alive, the Classic Set and the Animal Set.

We opened up the boxes and I love how their wasn't much packaging, it was literally the box it came in, the blue tray for the sand, the sand itself and the play moulds. In the classic set it came with six moulds, all different colours, two yellow half circles, two blue half cylinders, a red pyramid and a green square. All brightly coloured and big enough to not be too fiddly for little hands. The Classic sets SSP is £14.99.

The animal set has three moulds, each consisting of two halves, and a roller that has animal foot prints on. The animals were a red elephant, a blue monkey and a yellow lion. To make the animal moulds you put the two halves of the animal together, which is pretty easy to do as Noah could do it, and you stuff the sand inside. Once full you pull the two moulds apart and you have the animal, I found it fascinating and pretty amazing. The animals set is SSP £19.99. 

Now I wasn't sure what it was going to feel like, on the box it says it was soft but I imagined soft but with a sandy rough feel but it is so so soft. It is like cotton wool that easily comes apart. Unlike sand you can hold it up and it stays together, and you have no sand particles going everywhere. It is so much fun and great how it all sticks together to make the shapes.

The boys loved it. I knew they would but I was a little worried that it would cause a lot of mess because as they are boys this is what they do. But with it having the blue plastic box its very easy to play with and not make too much of a mess. They loved how they could shape things and for it not to fall apart like real sand.

It kept the boys quiet and happy for a good half an hour, I did join in with them as I was just fascinated by how it works.

There is no trying to get it back into a bag so that it doesn't dry out, because it doesn't dry out. And unlike real sand it wont go all yucky after being played with time and time again. The other great thing is that the blue boxes just slip back into the cardboard boxes that they came in, ready to pull out and play with again.

This gets a big 10/10 from the boys and me, I would totally recommend this to anyone whether they like sand or not because as I said this doesn't feel like real sand, so anyone that is put off by it being messy or sand like in texture - its not!

You can find a full list of stockists on John Adams website.

*For the purpose of this review I was sent two boxes of Sands Alive. All opinions are 100% my own.*





Wicked Wednesdays #40

When the 2 year old plays doctor!!

My 4 Year Old Doesn't Listen To Me

Now I know children of all ages aren't known for their listening skills when it comes to things they don't want to do or things they would rather not hear. I have got used to this over the past 4 years of occasionally having my 'don't do that' or 'please leave that alone' ignored and not listened to, its part and parcel of being a parent I think.

But the last week has been a joke, I mean I actually have to laugh otherwise I would be crying every day!

Finley is a typical 4 year old where he does things he knows he shouldn't and he pushes the boundaries wanting attention and the last week has been no exception. But where he would listen to me 50% of the time and stop whatever he was doing, knowing that if he didn't would result in the naughty step or going to him room, he has not been listening. At all!!

These threats have not worked this week, they have fallen on deaf ears and I am at my wits end on what to do. Because if he aren't bothered about being told off or being put in their room what else can I go?!

For example, he has taken to climbing the stairs, using the banister, on the wrong side of the stairs! So kind of acting like Spiderman, but without the aid of whatever it is that Spiderman would use to help him if he was to fall. Finley would ultimately have the living room floor or the top of the chair if he was lucky and both of these will hurt. Now I am telling him to stop climbing the banisters because I don't want him to hurt himself, but in his eyes I am just being mean and stopping him from having fun. I tell him to stop the first time, which he does, I then leave the room and 2 minutes later he is back up there. And this will go on for over an hour even after the naughty step, being send to his bedroom and the threat of no ice cream after tea. There is just no listening. Its in one ear and out the other and I honestly could cry.

Then there's the other example of being out today and telling him constantly to not run off. Explaining to him that if he can't see mummy, then I cant see him and that he could get lost. He kept running off after being told numerous time not to, so I used the example (harsh maybe) that someone could take him and he may not see mummy again (to him after my nags this may have been a delight) and that still didn't do anything. I was sick of saying 'please hold onto the pram' or 'please get off the floor' or 'please don't run off'. My poor friend was probably sick of the sound of his name by the end of it as I am sure every other word that came out my mouth was 'Finley'.

These are just two examples of things that have happened in the past week. There are many more along the same lines and with him not listening to me, at all, and it's getting me down and I'm questioning my skills as a mother.

I feel like I have a teenager on my hands in the body of a 4 year old. I ask him to not do something and he just looks at me blankly, or worse laughs at me. Now the laughing really gets to me, in a way it upsets me as he thinks its funny to ignore me, but I end up shouting at him that then in turn makes me feel guilty but then just having to tell him off again.

Please tell me I'm not alone because this 'stage' is so bloody hard. It's like talking to a brick wall and I don't know what to do!!

My monster child with that 'look'

My Sunday Photo 08/11/15

Just Another Linky #28

Welcome to Just Another Linky 28! We are in November, how is that?

Once again as I say every week I loved reading each and every one of the blog posts that linked up, and I say that because I mean it. Such a variety and that's what I love so much about our little linky.

I just wanted to say quickly please could everyone read the rules and make sure that everyone grabs the badge so every knows where to find us. Thank you!

Meet your hosts

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

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

Rules

- No more than 2 posts a week

- Comment on at least 2 other posts

- Giveaways, reviews and sponsored posts allowed

- Link up a blog post not just your homepage

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

We would really appreciate it if you could grab the badge below and pop onto your post or blog, or even just a link somewhere on your blog would be great!

Feel free to tweet your post along with the hashtag #justanotherlinky and tweet your hosts @lifeasmumblog and @crunchy_mummy and we will retweet 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 Featured Post of the week.

Linky is open every Saturday from 12am until Monday at 11:55pm.

Featured Post

My featured post this week is by one of my lovely friends Sarah over at Run Jump Scrap with Missing You. I loved her post as this is how I have been feeling recently when I leave the boys and its lovely to see I'm not along and being silly. Pop over and take a quick peek if you can.

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An InLinkz Link-up

'The Fairy Tales Of Hans Christian Andersen' - A Parragon Book Review

Being a Parragon Book Buddy means that I get to review a book each month. This month we got to review a beautiful book 'The Fairy Tales Of Hans Christian Andersen'. It is an A4 hardback book that is purple and decorated with silver illustrations and a swan on the front cover. It is very simple but makes the book so special.

At the start of the book there are contents pages which give you the page number and a little illustration of each fairy tale. There are 8 fairy tales in the book and these include The Little Mermaid, The Emperors New Clothes, The Ugly Duckling, The Fir Tree, The Snow Queen, The Nightingale, The Princess and the Pea and The Steadfast Tin Soldier. I can remember reading some of these when I was younger and then there are a few that are new to me.

There is also The Storyteller's Story at the end of the book which is a biography of Hans Christian Andersen - one for the adults or when the children get older.

The book is beautifully illustrated with each page having something on whether it be a picture page or an editorial page there is something to make each page unique.

The book has 192 pages with each of the fairy tales ranging in length. The pages of the book are thick, shiny and very good quality. This is a book that you can keep to read over the years as fairy tales like these don't get old and they are as special as they were when I was younger.

My boys loved the book, especially the illustrations, as these kept them interested. The illustrations are bright and eye catching so perfect for my 2. I personally even loved this book.

Great book and one I would totally recommend.