I found that pool even cheaper!

 http://www.tesco.com/electrical/product.aspx?R=8135218&bci=72|S_Id

I found the pool for cheaper on the Tesco site! Only £74 – Tchibo was £100+!

Ooooooh!

Daniel the loved lion

This is Daniel (with beany fox too) he was given to Elias not long after he was born by his God parents. He’s a lovely floppy, beany, snuggly friend for our little boy. Sadly his stuffing is a little clumpy from a couple of washes, and his beans are mostly in his feet now.

Has anyone seen any more like him?

We’d love another one just the same, I’m always worried he’ll be left someplace, or that one day he’ll be too worn out for another wash – because I think, if he survives, he’ll be one of the few toys we’ll keep for Elias because he’s been so special to him.

Photos on flickr

I noticed Robin has put more train (and other) piccies up on his flickr site – I love the ones of Joy in the third class carriage, and of course the couple he has posted of his gorgeous self.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rjjm/

 

Pizza

Have you tried making your own pizza? No, not buying the base and a tomato sauce to go on top… I mean making the dough and then making the sauce from scratch, then lovingly putting it all together – stepping back in admiration and, after it’s cooked … munching the lot!

No??

Well, give it a whirl, making the lot makes it super tasty, it’s great  fun to do with the kids – and tastes awesome.(much better than shop bought frozen ones that are often bland and mean with the pepperoni – or take out which is too fatty for my liking!)

I’m off to make up some dough…..

Real trains are too big!

We have a boy who loves trains, he will quite happily spend ages crouched on the floor  running his trains around track, and often carries a small train around with him. He very much like Thomas the tank engine – so we thought we’d visit the local train centre as it’d be right up his street.

We got that wrong! What we hadn’t realised was that Elias used to his trains three year old fist sized – the full size trains were all a bit much and he refused to clamber all over them like his big sister and Daddy! We found one that really looked like Percy (Thomas the tank) and when we suggested this we received a very firm ‘ No, it’s not Percy’ and there was no budging him on that!

The rest of us had a fab day, Elias has since enjoyed looking at the pictures we took, funny little guy!

  

So here’s the boy sized trains, Daddy & Elias dwarfed by the real trains… and no, it’s not Percy!

Forget me not

I’m not really a gardener, and the few bits I’ve done my kids tend to either trample on or pick the flowers off. Last night my friend Helene bought me a little forget me not plant, she mentioned that is spreads like mad. I’m really looking forwards to planting it out, they are such lovely flowers, and hopefully they’ll spread fast enough to keep up with the kids picking them!

I’ve also been enjoying seeing them all over the place in people’s gardens just now – a sea of blue tiny flowers – gorgeous!

Ikea vs Habitat

I love Ikea, it also drives me quite mad. I’m sure I’m not the only one who on the one hand loves the huge range of products in all different price ranges – but on the other hates to have to travel so far to get there, and risks the very things I went there for being out of stock (oh, and trying to fit it all in the car is another one….)

I really like Habitat too, although sometimes the ranges are a bit too out there for my liking (I reckon they’ll look dated pretty quickly) and in comparison with Ikea they are always more expensive.

Today though I went into Habitat to look for something I’ve been after for a while, and I was genuinely surprised to find exactly what I’d been looking for, at a pretty good price. If I factor in the price of fuel getting to Ikea and the hassle aspect I don’t think the inferior offering there would be worth it. Whereas Habitat’s offering was solid wood, and gorgeous!

So. I still love/hate Ikea. I like Habitat even better than before. And I’m happy to have found exactly what I had been looking for 15 minutes drive away. Hmmmmmm. I think that only after having a lifetime’s shopping in both the stores I’ll have really figured out which is best overall!

Six terms - a bad idea?

In our area we have adopted the 6 term school system this school year – initially I saw little difference from the regular three terms but I, and other have been noticing rather annoying differences as we’ve progressed through the year. First thing was that some term end breaks are 1 and a half weeks, instead of the usual one week. Not working myself it just breaks my week up a bit, but I understand that working parents have found it very difficult to cover the extra child care.

Next thing was Easter. Most schools absorbed the Easter bank holidays as their normal end of term holidays, no such luck here though – we had 4 days off for Easter and then the kids went back for 3 and half days before their holidays. What happened was that two weeks of school were disrupted. And I’ve not heard anyone say it was a good idea.

Next week it’s bank holiday, and the school is shut on Thursday for the election – although I can’t really pin that on the six term system, I do object to such disruption to the kids school week – again!

Day one, 7 posts!

I’ve just looked at the stuff I’ve put up today, on my first blogging day. I’ve been surprised at how easily I’ve been able to do this, having been put off blogging for a while assuming it’d be pretty complicated. (Whe in fact it’s not!)

The only drawback I can see with this is that I may be already becoming a blogaholic!

 

Joy has noticed that she’s not been featured in a photo yet, so this is for you sweetie, a budding giutar player like Daddy?? I guess only time will tell.

  

A few weeks ago my husband Robin and I took a ‘flight’ on the London eye – something I was not sure I’d ever do. We had a sunset ‘flight’ (yes, that is what a trip on the eye is apparently called) which was heart-stopping for two reasons, the fact that it gave such amazing views over the capital and the fact that I was scared stiff! I have found that over time I have become more and more wary of heights, and just going on such an erm, freestanding/flimsy looking wheel was enough to make my knees turn to jelly. That said though, I had many moments when I could look out and really marvel at the sight of the red sun dipping behind all those famous landmarks, it was real ‘scene in a movie’ stuff. Above are just three of the many pictures we brought back with us to prove we actually did it! (I hope the photographers in the family appreciate  the attempt at composition and the arty wheel shot!)

I reckon it’s a must do for a visitor to London, it offers a unique and breathtaking overview of the city, just make sure you’ve picked out a pub close by for a stiff drink afterwards!

Taggy Blanket

My gorgeous little boy like labels, it doesn’t seem to matter what they are on, a soft toy, a blanket, tea towel – whatever. If he’s feeling sleepy he’ll often seek one out and twiddle it while he sucks his fingers and there is instant calm……… my sister found this taggy blanket and I wished I’d  had the exact same idea a couple of years ago, my guess is that this is the brainchild of another label-lovers mummy.

Blooming Marvellous - nursery equipment, baby and toddler toys, Taggy Blanket

Sadly, at almost three, my boy is now too old to fully appreciate this funny little blanket, but I hope through spreading the word to other parents it might find happy homes elsewhere, and there might be a little more peace in some busy households!

A cheap pool

I’ve always had a secret dream to have a swimming pool in the back garden, I found one on Tchibo this week for a measley £120! I know it’s not the real deal, but a good compromise I reckon – especially as our temperate climate is not perfect for an outdoor pool anyway. (I must point out this option is unheated – so if you buy one you’ll have to pray for a lot of sunny days to heat it up!)

http://www.tchibo.co.uk/is-bin/CurrentTheme?B=644

The only real problem I can see with buying this pool in particular is that you’ll be at the mercy of Tchibo online services – whilst they will bend over backwards for you in their stores and their customer service is faultless – the online ordering certainly had a few glitches last time I placed an order. Maybe it has improved? Buy a pool and tell me…..

Stepping logs

I

We recently had our tree felled to enable more light into our garden, as an added bonus we gained stepping logs which are proving great fun. Here’s Elias contemplating his next move!

IKEA STEFAN chair

IKEA | home | Chairs | Chairs | STEFAN chair

We bought some of these ‘disposable’ chairs so we’d not mind the kids wrecking them, they’re great in red. Won’t last ages I don’t think, but look pretty!

My first Piccie!

So, I’ve tested my blog, and I’ve learnt how to add pictures – how cool is that??

So here I am, in London a few weeks ago, nice backdrop eh?

First time blogger

This is a test to see if a newbie can post something.