Well middle man has been up to his usual tricks again, so I went with the thinking of don't get angry, take a photo! So here you go, see if you can give it a caption.


Have a go at some more #satcaps by clicking the link below:

This weeks Gallery prompt is 8pm. Generally I am a happier person at 8pm than I am at 8am (I am not a morning person) but it is still not the greatest time of the day. So what does 8pm mean in our house. Well if  the other half is away on business, it generally means I am trying to get all the kids to sleep, and most likely giggling a baby man on my knee whilst checking facebook or twitter. Sometimes I am at the gym, wishing that I was actually at home stuffing my face with a massive bar of chocolate. Some days I am filling/emptying the dishwasher/washing machine or preparing big man's packed lunch. The only day I like 8pm is a Friday. Because more often or not it means this:

You may have noticed I have been a bit quiet this week.  I am busy baking for baby man's christening, but the computer has also decided to have a blogging break! For some unknown reason ( to me and my husband) he is refusing to connect to the internet. Luckily the iPad is happy so at least I have some connection to the outside world! It has, however, meant I have been able to create loads of lists on babyhuddle but it is refusing to let me review the Philips AVENT bottle feeding essentials! I was basically going to say that I love Avent bottles and a microwave steriliser is a great idea if you haven't got space for a steam one.

I think we may have to take the computer to see a dr...... I hope he doesn't endure a long stay in hospital. Hopefully I will have lots to write about when it is all sorted.

Tomorrow big man and I are off to the Tesco Toy event. I have no idea what it involves but I fear that it will mean even more toys added to his Christmas list!

Regular readers will know that I am a Mum of three little monkeys boys. We were given some Happy Monkey Smoothies to review and I have to say they went down a treat. My regular fridge raider was straight in there, taking the drinks out to have a try. We were sent the orange and mango flavour smoothies. Big man was a bit confused thinking they tasted of orange and strawberries but he liked them. Middle man cried when I told him there weren't any left! Each pouch contains a portion of fruit and although they need to be kept in the fridge they will stay fresh for 12 hours so are ideal for lunchboxes or picnics. The drinks also come in strawberry and banana flavour and promotional packets are currently offering special deals to Chessington World of Adventures. There is also a chance to win a family short break to the Chessington Resort Hotel and 5 sets of family tickets to Chessington when you visit www.Chessington.com/happymonkey.

We were given the smoothies for the purpose of the review but the opinions here are my own.

I think we all like to live in our little bubbles - I know I do. I moan at my husband that I want to go on another holiday, that middle man wont stop eating, that the kids have broken a toy. At the end of the day we are very privileged. My children have hot meals and warm beds. They have warm winter coats and new school shoes. There are too many children in this country that do not. When I think of poverty I immediately think of other countries not the UK. It shouldn't happen here is Save the Children's first ever campaign in the UK. It highlights that the poorest children in the UK go without one hot meal a day and often their parents go hungry to feed them. 13% of the poorest children have stopped asking parents for anything because they know their parents can't afford it. Most of these families have at least one working parent and Save the Children is therefore calling that the Government make work pay by encouraging more employers to introduce a living wage.

I am linking this post to the Babyhuddle blog who are raising awareness of the Save the Children's campaign because lets face it, it shouldn't happen here, but it does.

The beauty of big man is his kind gentle nature. He looks after his brothers and is so thoughtful. He gave us all an imaginary kiss today to take home with us as we dropped him off at school.



The beauty of middle man is his cheekiness. He is at his most beautiful when he is covered in mud and loving nature. His beauty shines through his eyes.



The beauty of baby man is his development, every day learning something new and taking everything in with a beautiful smile.

These are my beautiful boys. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and on this post I may be slightly bias!

Today big man started big school - or infant school as most people call it. I am not sure where the last five years have gone! I was worried I would be in a pool of tears, but how can you cry when your little man is beaming from ear to ear and so proud that he is going to "big" school. As you can see his jumper now fits and he is striking a pose that is far too much like that of his father for my liking!

So on his first day at school, what words of advice can I pass onto him?

Firstly, I have told him to try and learn peoples names. He has never been very good at this and gets upset when other children don't respond to him when he is calling them by the wrong name!

Secondly, the teacher is always right - even when they are not. If he is getting told off for something that he perceives isn't his fault then he is probabley doing something wrong anyway and just do as the teacher says. He can always speak to the teacher later if he needs too.

And last but no means least be the happy gorgeous little boy that I know and love so much.
Good luck big man and I hope you are filled with smiles in a few hours time xx

So this is it. Tomorrow big man finally starts "big" school - or infant school to you and I. The lovely people at Popchips sent us some ideas for some healthier swaps for the school lunchbox and after school treats from their nutritionist Azmina Govindji which have been a great help, and I thought I would share:





1. Trade a regular bag of crisps for popchips - they are popped with heat and pressure so there is no fat used in frying them.
2. Choose squeezy yoghurts over ice cream for a good fix of calcium and protein
3. Leave the chocolate on the shelf and opt for Jaffa cakes as a lighter sweet treat
4. Choose a low fat cheese spread as a source of calcium and protein over processed meat which can be higher in salt.
5. Stir up a calcium-rich milkshake and forget those sugary soft drinks.

So here is big mans first packed lunch.



I have no idea if there is too much/too little in there for him to eat - but I guess I will figure that out. I have opted for cream cheese sandwiches. I will be freezing the fromage frais overnight so that it will be defosted by lunchtime and still be cool. I have opted to put in a few popchips as a treat. A bag is a bit big for big man  - when I say that he would eat it all but then not eat his sandwiches! I have also learnt that I need to hide the remaining half a bag so that it can be used on another day, as big man has got hold of it and is polishing them off as I type! A few grapes (which I have cut in half out of habit from pre-school) and some cheese as big man is a bit of a mouse. I shall fill my bag with food for him after school incase he is hungry before he is rushed off to his gymnastics class.

We were sent some Popchips for this review, but the opinions contained are my own. If you would like to see my Popchips review click here.

Mellow Mummy is running a "I made this" meme competition. Obviously the best things I have ever made are my three gorgeous boys.

Before I had children I had spare time! I used to scrapbook and do crafty things. I have just about managed to finish middle mans first year scrapbook, but baby mans is so far empty. Looking after three little ones makes it hard to find time to make things - and entering the world of blogging also takes away some of that time too - although I see it as my online scrapbook. I do, however, enjoy making my children's birthday cakes. I don't know why but I feel that it is part of my role as a mother to do this, but I do. Don't get me wrong, if you go to the supermarket and buy a cake I don't look down at you at all. You are very sensible infact. It is generally a lot cheaper to but a cake than it is to make one yourself, and it must make the stress levels before a party much better. However, I have something in me that says I am a mum, I must bake a cake! Each time I make one, they get slightly better. The only problem is that my 4 year olds requirements get more complicated. So here are the Birthday cakes I have made for my boys in the last 5 years

Big man's first birthday cake was a bit of a cheat. I was working part time and I bought the cake itself and iced it. He liked dinosaurs, I liked sweets so both were incorporated. I was still working when he was 2 but I felt braver. His favourite book at the time was the tiger that came to tea, so I made a tiger's head. I do have photos of these but since Hubbie has backed up the computer I can't find them! So for now we will have to start from when big man turned 3.

For his third birthday he had become more demanding and had opinions. He wanted a crocodile cake with the crocodile swimming through a mud pond of fudge and jelly snakes!



Then came middle man's birthday. Middle man loves his food so it had to be a cookie monster cake.



Then came big man's fourth birthday - a red and green snake. I had to draw a picture for him so he could say if he liked the idea or not - luckily he did.



Then middle man was 2. He loved Fireman Sam so I had to make a fire engine cake. It was my first attempt at a 3D cake and it looked fine. (Well it did from a distance.....)


However, he had Octonauts toys for his birthday so I had to make some cupcakes too. These are by far my best creation, but I do feel that I have raised the bar too high. Middle man now thinks all cupcakes should be "octo-cakes" and I am not sure that I can do any better than this.


I would like to point out that I never intended on making Dashi, Shellington and Tweak. The orange for Kwaazi went wrong and I am not sure how I ended up with the green for Tweak. Any normal person would have stopped here and been pleased with these cupcakes. Unfortunately I am obsessive in nature so I had to bake some more cakes so that I wasn't missing Prof Inkling and Tunip. I don't know if the boys appreciated this extra effort but it enabled me to sleep at night!



Big man now wants a cherry almond smurf village for his 5th so keep posted to see if it all goes well or if it ends up being a blue mess disaster! With three children I have a lot of baking to do!


As it is a meme I am going to tag my friend Nikki who I know makes loads of lovely things and Jane who has just started a blog full of her lovely handmade children's clothes. Both of them should be proud of the things they have made.