I love halloween and I love to carve a pumpkin. I was so pleased with these two I popped to the shops yesterday to get a couple more and they were all sold out! It appears that this has been happening at all the nearby supermarkets. I have tried a butternut squash but it was too hard to scoop out. Next year I will have learn't my lesson and will buy them early! Pumpkin pie anyone?

And now this one is really frightful! Middle man the vampire after a flour accident!



Seeing as it is trick or treat time - how about entering my competition to win a pirate or princess recorder set - as some will see it as a trick, some a treat :-) Happy Halloween!

In the comedy programme "Peep Show" one scene features a conversation on eat as much as you like restaurants. Toni turned to Mark and said that "it's eat as much as you'd like. There's no competitive element involved."


So when eating at the "All you can eat buffet" this weekend, rather than see it as a challenge I tried not to over eat and instead piled my plate with salad and veg. I ordered diet Coke, but then went and sat in my husband's seat and accidentally drank his full fat one! The intention was there at least.
I was really pleased this week when I weighed myself and had lost a kilo thanks to the Jenny Craig diet plan.. This week is full of lovely currys so I am sure I will be fine. I had a chat with a consultant on Wednesday. She didn't seem very interested in my weight loss, but more interested in analysing my eating habits. I suppose that it isn't intended as a diet but as a lifestyle change so really it is about recognising the way you eat and changing for the better. I forgot to ask about eating out, so called their help line. The lady there was really helpful. She even went off to speak to a lady whose husband worked in Legoland to recommend the best place to eat. She advised to eat the Jenny Craig plan for the rest of the day and just substute dinner. I also enquiried about the transition into cooking your own food. She advised that once people have got to half of their goal weight, then they work together with their consultant at substituting meals for ones of their own.

Next week I am hoping to have my laptop back, so will post some pictures of the Jenny Craig food, so you can see just how much you get to eat in a day (and I am on the lowest calorie plan! It's worked out from your weight at the start and what you need to loose.)

I'm hoping that some more weight will come off this week, but I am pleased to say I am already needing a belt with some of my jeans. In the mean time please check out my fellow blogging friends on their weight loss in a linky set up by Life in a break down.

Half term is here, and big man has enjoyed his first few weeks of school. The change in him is amazing. His teacher has managed to spark his interest in reading and writing. She has explained that it is all about making learning fun and getting them to learn without realising that is what they are doing.

Back in September big man and I went on a casting afternoon for Tesco Toy Team. He didn't get chosen as one of the toy testers, but he enjoyed the day, and I have just spotted us in the clip below. Blink and you might miss us, but thought you might like to see what we got up to.






Did you spot us? I'm in green and big man is playing with angry birds - just after the girl talks about the Furby. What is your little one's must have toy this Christmas?

Here are two very different books which share a link



The link is my Grandad. He used to call me princess what a mess.  I am pretty sure that this wasn't because I looked like a dog, but more that I am a little bit messy. I would love to say that as an adult I have changed, but I haven't. The other book is my Masters thesis. Not a well read book by many, but it is dedicated to my lovely Grandad and my Nan. They encouraged me to work hard in school, and I am sure they would have been proud.

So the penny has finally dropped. I am around a stone heavier than when I fell pregnant with big man. This was five years ago, and I have had three gorgeous boys in that time. However, if it has taken 5 years to put on, I can't expect to lose it in a couple of weeks. I know this isn't rocket science.  There is no quick fix, it needs to be a lifestyle change, where there are more vegatables and salads, rather than puddings and bars of chocolate. I need to be as active as I can be. So with this in mind how has this week gone?




Well I have eaten healthy for a whole week! I started the Jenny Craig diet plan on Wednesday but had prepared myself for it but cutting out chocolate and eating more vegetables. My consultant called me on Tuesday and talked me through the weekly plan. Pretty straight forward, eat EVERYTHING on the day you choose and you can eat the food within the day in the order that you want. Once you have started a day you must finish it,but you can swop days of the week. A lot of people have asked me how the food is. They seem to want it to taste horrible, or leave me starving. I am not going to lie, they don't look like they do one the front of the packets, but they are really tasty. For example here is the pasta bolognase which looks less appealing than the packet at the top of the page.



They generally take a couple of minutes to heat up in the microwave, and thanks to being allowed a low cal hot chocolate drink I am managing fine. I might not have lost loads of weight, but I feel healthier. I am now 4 days in and I am craving the baguette that my husband kindly walked through the door with this afternoon. It's not on the plan, so I am not going to eat it. I have only deviated from the plan once by having a glass of white wine on Friday. My reasoning for this is that I have no intentions on giving up alcohol totally, so there is no point not having it now and then having it the moment the 2 week trial has finished. I hope my consultant is ok with this on Wednesday. And the best thing is I am allowed my weekly Costa as long as I use it as a milk serving and ask for it skinny!

I cheated and weighed myself this afternoon. I know I shouldn't have done this as it isn't a week of Jenny Craig and it is a different time of day. I was disappointed that I haven't lost any weight yet. I hope that on Wednesday I might be a pound lighter. If not I hope the lady at the end of the phone can encourage me to keep going.......

I am doing a 2 week trial of Jenny Craig, and have been given the food free of charge to enable me to do the review, but the opinions about it are my own.

New Year's Eve 2011 was a turning point in my life. I went from thinking that Justin Fletcher was a kid's TV presenter who did nice things (but told terrible jokes) to thinking he is one of the funniest men alive. We went to see him in panto and I really did laugh out load. He was fab. Since then I have positively encouraged the boys to watch him on the TV - not that they need much encouragement. Justin's house is a firm favourite.









When I showed big and middle man the Justin's annual 2013 they were interested straight away. For a 2 year old there are big stickers, stories, recipes and ideas on crafts. Middle man really enjoyed completing Justin's fancy dress outfits.


Big man is nearly 5. For him there are games, colouring, puzzles, and jokes. The rrp is £7.99 but most stores have offers on annuals on the run up to Christmas. Even at full price, I think it is well worth the money compared to a couple of children's magazines which tend to be filled with adverts. If you have a Justin Fletcher fan they will not be disappointed. As I have said, I am bias as I think the man is great. The real question is do my boys' like the annual? Well they were running about the house with it at 7.30 this morning singing the theme tune to Justin's House - so I would say it's a yes!



I was given the annual for the purpose of the review but all the opinions contained here (including my admiration for Justin Fletcher) are my own.

Earlier this week I showed you big man's giant bedtime toy. Well here is my old bedtime toy. This is Peter, my very much loved rabbit.

I have talked before about middle man and his crazy roll call of bedtime toys. Big man, however, can be just as bad.

My sister has always had a thing for massive soft toys. Not large soft toys. The "100 times actual size of animal" type of soft toys. When we were expecting big man she bought him a large giraffe. We thanked her and said it was very kind, but our house is quite small, so if she could hold off buying anymore giant creatures that would be great. Big man arrived in November and she showered us in gifts, but no more giant soft toys. Phew!

A few weeks past and it was Christmas. My husband ran down the stairs on Christmas day to open the door to an enormous penguin. Somewhere hidden behind this was my sister! Apparently its ok to buy a 3ft penguin, because you can "hide him in the loft and just get him out at Christmas." Yes that would be fine, if we were allowed to put him in the loft.

Here is big man with him tonight. What monster would dare to fight a penguin of this size? Big man is sleeping safely in the knowledge that no monster will mess with him or Mr Penguin tonight!



This is my entry to the Warren Evans "Who fights the monsters under your bed?" competition.

You may have seen from my facebook page that I have agreed to do a two week trial of Jenny Craig. My Mii looks rather tubby, so in turn so must I.

For those of you that are not familiar with this, Jenny Craig is a scheme where you get diet meals delievered to your door. I have never done a "proper" diet before, but have always been interested by this type of scheme. I know where I am going wrong with food and I am hoping that doing a trial and sharing my experiences on my blog will help me get back on the right track.

My friend got be interested in blogging when she started up her own blog about getting smaller. I share a lot of her thoughts on food and I need to change the way I think. My husband works away a lot - too much if you ask me. When he is away is when I eat the worst. I can't blame my weight on the boys forever. Baby man will be walking before I know it, and I would rather be a yummy mummy rather than a cuddly one. The following scenarios with eating tend to happen:


1. I eat the same as the boys and at the same time as the boys. The problem with this is that they eat at 5 and I end up having a snack (always unhealthy) in the evening.

2. I don't eat with the boys, have a nightmare putting them to bed, can't be bothered to cook myself something healthy and eat something that is quick.

3. I reward myself for managing to get the kids to bed with chocolate/cake/a glass of wine and on a really bad day it could be all three.

The reason that the Jenny Craig diet appealed to me, was that you are given breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. You can add fruit and vegetables of your own too. The meals are simple to prepare (or at least that's what I have been told) so should be able to fit in well with my hetic evenings. So far I have spoken to the call centre and arranged delivery of the meals and a callback with my personal consultant once the food has arrived. They have been a pleasure to talk to and extremely helpful, and best of all the call centre is open til 8pm so I can speak to them once the children have gone to bed. I have high expectations. The diet is not cheap. At £249 a month plus delivery for a four month subscription, you expect good customer service and results. I need to lose a stone or so. I am not expecting to be able to do this on a 2 week trial. I am hoping that in a couple of weeks I might see the scales go down 4-6lbs. Even if they only go down by 2lbs I will be happy, as I can't seem to move the scales at the moment. I exercise when I can but it hasn't made a difference. I am lucky to have been chosen to take part in this trial so I am going to take it seriously and do my best. However, my first question to my personal consultant will be am I still allowed to drink a strong coffee each morning.



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This is my beautiful baby man. He is not my first boy but will be my last. People ask if I was trying for a girl. They do a disappointed "ah" when I tell them he is my third boy. They expect him to be dressed in hand me down clothes all of the time. (Of course he does have a lot of hand me downs but some lovely ones of his own too.) I wanted another boy but would have been just as happy with a girl. Another little playmate for my boys. I love him to pieces and wouldn't swop him for the world. All I ever wanted was a healthy baby and I was lucky enough to get three. Baby man is a happy smiley baby, who loves his brothers and loves exploring the world. So what do I say when people ask if I was disappointed he wasn't a girl? Well there's a lot of things I could say, but it is easier just to say no. Here he is in his own little outfit at a week old. How could anyone ever be disappointed with this gorgeous little fella?



This Blog post has been written as an entry into the Tots100 competition in association with Boots Mother and Baby

A couple of weekends ago big man was invited to a toy testing session for Tesco held at RADA. I had no idea what to expect but as we had the afternoon free, I thought we would give it a go. The idea was that they were looking for children to review their top toys this Christmas to go on you tube. I have always fancied myself as an actress so was excited about having a look inside RADA itself (even if they were silly enough to turn down Ewan McGregor.) To be honest it was a bit of a disappointment. I was expecting something very grand, but instead got a normal looking building which seemed to have a lot of fire doors!

Anyway big man had a look at the toys on show and for me it was good as I could see what the toys were actually like before buying them!

Angry birds knock on wood was the game that big man chose to take in with him to the casting. It became apparent quite quickly that he wasn't really into describing in detail how the toy worked to the producer, more wanted to get on and play with it. Big man liked it. It is his favourite ipad game and it contained a catapult. I wasn't as keen. For a price tag of nearly £20 it is hardly value for money. It is made from plastic, not wood, and some of the structures seem near impossible for an adult to assemble let alone a five year old.

The producer asked big man if he would like it for Christmas? He was expecting a yes/no/maybe I imagine.

"Are the elves able to make green paint?" was big man's response. The producer looked confused. Luckily a lady behind piped up that the elves would be able to manage this and everything was fine!


Big man didn't make it to the final casting session but he enjoyed his day. Even better, was that as it was the end of the day we were allowed to take one of the toys that had been tested. We took the Fisher Price Bucky pirate ship, as I knew middle man would like it. Unfortunately, it was missing a couple of water cannons, but that hasn't made a difference to middle man who keeps saying "I love Bucky!" Now once again this has a huge price tag of £49.99. Generally I have a rule that toys are only really worth paying half the price. For the rrp it is expensive. It comes with Jake and sully, and the tick tock croc pops out one of the doors. However, if you, like me have a huge fan of Jake and the Neverland pirates, I can tell you they will love it. I was a little bit sad at how much middle man liked it, as it would have been a perfect Christmas present. His face lit up! So it looks like Captain hook and his boat are likely to be top of middle mans Christmas list.


Whilst I was there I also got to meet some lovely bloggers, Baby Genie, Actually Mummy and Merrily Me. Have a look at their blogs, they are great. Merry also has an online toy shop that looks great too. She stocks a wide range of Hama beads - something I am looking forward to getting big man interested in!

Last week I told you that I was really excited about a book that was being sent to me to review. Well it finally arrived and I am pleased to say it is great! The idea behind the book is for it to aid adults in answering their little ones questions. Therefore it tackles a large range of questions from "What are rainbows made of?" to "Why do I always fight with my brother and sister?" Guess which one of those questions I looked up the answer to straight away!

After making them I swore never again. They are fiddly and time consuming but look really pretty and taste really good. And now that a couple of weeks have past I have forgotton all the hassle of making them and am thinking about making them for baby man's birthday!

I love Halloween, mainly because I can wear a witches hat and have a go at apple bobbing. So when Mummy Mishaps set up a halloween linky for using the seasonal editing on picmonkey I had to give it a go. My friends tell me that my "about me" and twitter profile doesn't look like me. Well here it is before I have had chance to have a coffee in the morning.

I am sitting here this evening a little disappointed that we had no post today. I am waiting for a copy of the book: Big Questions From Little People......Answered By Some Very Big People. I have blogged about big man's endless questions before, and the older he gets the more questions he is asking. Some I can deal with, some are crazy and some I haven't a clue where to start!

Last night I really didn't want to go to the gym, but Tara Cain made me. She didn't tweet me saying "Get off the sofa, stop eating fatty, get down the gym!" She posted that this weeks Gallery theme was fitness.


Going to the gym is the only bit of me time I get at the moment (other than blogging) Baby man wont even let me go to the toilet in private. I don't like the thought of going to the gym, but when I am there I nearly always feel better for going. I had been doing an exercise class in the day with a lady who provided childcare whilst you worked out. Unfortunately middle man wasn't keen on this and wanted to join in. I found it less than helpful when I was trying my hardest to do a plank, and he mounted me saying "Giddy up Mummy!" So for now I have reinstated my gym membership and go late at night when I really want to be sitting watching the TV.

I am also hoping that the 20 minute walk to school will help improve my fitness. I have been enjoying our walks to and from school as it means that big man and I get to talk about his day. Generally he can't remember what he has done or who he has played with, but the play doh all over his jumper is usually a clue to one of the activities he has undertaken. I have impressed myself by walking on most days and have ony been caught out twice by underestimating the huge black rain clouds above my head.

So what do you do to keep fit? Do you pay gym membership just to feel guilty that you don't go? Do you have a favourite sport that keeps your body and mind active? Or are you a busy Mum that keeps fit just from running around after your little ones?

Here is a picture to prove I did actually work out whilst I was at the gym - although taking a photo of yourself exercising is very hard!

Bedtimes when my husband is working away are frantic to put it mildly. Baby man has now learnt to stand in his cot and come 7pm you will find him there screaming in protest of his early bedtime. Meanwhile, middle man insists on performing a roll call for all of his soft toys, and starts crying because he has lost "My Mickey", Wenlock, Donald......the list goes on. Big man starts to get ready for bed and then gets distracted. I often find him dressed in pants doing his sticker book, or similar, claiming he can't find his pyjamas. Then the phone rings.....

Before I answer it, I have to find it. So amidst the screaming, crying and looking at stickers, I find myself running around the house trying to track down where the noise is coming from and where I left the phone. More often than not it is a telesales call, mainly because all of my family and friends know it is bedtime and not to call. Clearly these people are unaware of this fact.


On the whole we don't get too many telesales calls, but the ones we do get are usually between 5 and 8 pm. I suppose this is because there is more chance that they will catch someone in. We generally get 3 types  of telesales calls:

1. TV.
Would we like to upgrade our existing package? I politely say no, my husband on the other hand usually gets fooled into thinking he has enough time to watch a sports channel. This is probably why they keep calling.

2. Credit card company
They are always trying to get hold of my husband to sell him some insurance or make him pay for some sparkly new card. They call a lot!

3. The ones I hate the most.
"Can you complete a quick survey?" I got confused once thinking it was a company I know and after about 10 minutes of questions I advised I was going to need to end the call. It was an overseas call centre and both of us had difficulty understanding each others accents. When I advised I couldn't continue with the call the lady started arguing with me and it resulted in me hanging up on her and asking her company not to call again. (I am pretty sure they have.) I have no idea where they got my number. And if it had been a short survey I wouldn't have been bothered. I have worked in company to company telesales before, so I always try to be polite, but when someone starts arguing with me when I am trying to help them, I get annoyed.

Do how do you deal with telesales calls? Do you ignore the phone and let it go to answer phone? Do you find that they always call just as you have got your little one to sleep? How do you feel about companies selling your details?

Bounty have asked me to write this post, to spark discussion on the topic of telesales calls.

I have been tagged in the I want Meme by lifelovelollipops which originally started over at Mammywoo's blog. When the boys start a sentence I want....... I usually finish it with .....get's nothing. So thinking of an "I want" list is quite a hard thing to do - but here it goes:

I want to not feel tired most of the day and then wake up at bedtime
I want to play with the boys more
I want the tidying up to me done by magic
I want my boys, family and friends to live long happy and healthy lives
I want to not worry about silly little things
I want to go on a relaxing holiday
I want to take the boys all over the world.
I want chocolate to be healthy
At the moment I want our internet connection to work properly so I don't have to sit upstairs to use the laptop.
I want world peace, and no poverty.

Now that's not too much to ask for is it? What do you want? I am tagging Nikki and Jess to see what they want too.