I am not a morning person. I am even less of a morning person when I have to get three kids out of the house in order to get big man to school. Invariably big man manages to put his clothes on the wrong way round, middle man refuses to move from the TV and baby man needs a nappy change just as we are about to leave the house. This morning I urged big man to take some responsibility and pack his own PE kit. I got his clothes out and put them on his bed. He then started complaining he couldn't find his shorts. I ran downstairs, grabbed them off the radiator and rushed to get baby man his bottle. "Why are they purple Mummy?" 

This year, we decided against spending a fortune on middle man for a birthday party and instead decided to do something as a family and have some small party lunches. We celebrated with an overnight stay at Legoland Hotel. If you have read my blog before you will see that we go to Legoland a lot! We live nearby, have annual passes and the kids and I love it there. I had been wanting to go to the hotel ever since it opened, but couldn't justify the cost. Luckily as the park is closed for winter they had such a fantastic offer on, it was too hard to resist.



We told middle man we were off swimming and made our way to the hotel for 3pm check in.
The reception is filled with Lego and has a fantastic mobile with models representing the rides in the park. We had booked a standard pirate room. We took the lift to the third floor and entered our room. The boys went slightly berserk! Not only did they have bunk beds, they has their own TV, fantastic carpet and their own Lego rat! I tried to take pictures of them but they wouldn't stay still.





As we had said we were going swimming, we headed to the swimming pool. It was quite small and noisy but the boys loved the splash zone. They then swam in the bigger pool too. The changing rooms were busy, but I imagine this is only a real problem when the park is shut.

We then headed back up to our room for a hot chocolate and a play before heading down to the Brick Brothers restaurant for an all you can eat buffet. The kids (and adults) can colour on the paper tablecloths.


We had already been to the restaurant in the Summer when they had character dining, which was the only thing missing this time round. I had then hoped for a glass of wine at the bar whilst the boys played but the excitement had proved too much and they needed their beds.

We had a lovely weekend. And what was my favorite part? I just love the toilets!



You have to wash your hands in the kids basin! I was pleased to be told that I looked amazing and they liked what I'd done with my hair! I suggested that my husband go in as he might learn how to compliment better! The hotel is really set up so that the children have a great time, and if you live an hour or so away, then it is worth looking into the cheaper deals they have out of season. If you are thinking of staying at the hotel, my main recommendation would be to call up to book, especially if you are an annual pass holder, as the annual pass discounts aren't available online.

Today is the perfect reason as to why I should be linking up to R2BC. It has been a bit of a rubbish week. Baby man has had a vomitting bug, so big mans half term hasn't been as fun as I had hoped! Hubby is away again with work, and the house just seems to be falling apart. Hey ho moan over - that's not what this is all about. So what is making me cheerful?

My first reason is easy - baby man is better! He managed to keep down his anti sickness drugs and is now my smiley little man again.

Secondly Big man isn't as bothered as I am about not doing much. He is happy not having to get dressed at 7.30, and if he can play Mario he's more than content.

Thirdly, we have some friends over today and are going to play with the boys science sets. Seeing big man all dressed up in his safety goggles using nothing more dangerous than some baking soda always makes me smile.


What are your reasons to be cheerful this week?

Linking up with Seasider in the city.

When I saw that Tots 100 and Moneysupermarket were running a "That's my hero!" competition, I really wanted to enter. As in, I wanted to enter not the kids! When I was little I loved doing drawing competitions.  Big man, however, isn't great at drawing and has a very limited concentration span with anything involving holding a pencil. I didn't think any more about entering.

This weekend hasn't gone quite to plan. Baby man has been ill, and our exciting first day of half term has been rearranged. Cue Mummy thinking how am I going to entertain big and middle man? Well here is big mans last minute entry to the competition.

I explained to him that a hero is someone, who is brave, has a great achievement and might have a special power.

 "Like Batman?" 

"Yeah that's the kind of thing" I replied.

"Can I draw baby man?"

"Yes - but why?"

"He can walk.

His special power is walking. Normally little people can't walk that easily but baby man can. 

I've drawn muscles. The muscles help your legs walk. I tried to draw a muscle in his head - but it didn't work very well. He has big ears so he can hear and so you can see them quiet well. He is lifting one leg up and balancing on one toe like I can do. But he can't do hopping yet, cause that's quite hard. Nanny can't hop.


You might not be able to see it very well so I will highlight it."

So here is big man's hero - baby man - with the special power of walking.




Today I have learn't that just because big man (aged 5) isn't the best at drawing, it doesn't mean I shouldn't let him have a go at competitions. His explanation of his picture is worth recording for him to look back on when he is older, and once again I am reminded of what a caring, sensitive little man I have.

This post is an entry into the Tots100 Moneysupermarket That's My Hero competition

It is official - I hate potty training. I thought it was bad with big man. He was a breeze compared to the middle one! Middle man has just turned 3 and so far not potty trained. I have friends with boys of just over two that use a potty, and am now wondering if baby man could be trained first!

I have lots of reasons to be cheerful this week, but here are my top three

1. We had a fantastic time at Legoland Hotel celebrating Middle mans birthday. It was some well needed family time. The boys were so excited, it was fantastic to watch them running around our room.

2. I have spent some one on one time with middle man. I always worry that he lacks this and on his birthday we spent some time together at soft play, running around and around in circles. He even showed some love for his baby brother! An hour and a half after his brother had gone home, he started worrying that we had lost him!

3. I was woken this morning by a man that I love very much. He wished me Happy Valentines Day, gave me a cuddle and bought me breakfast in bed. I love you too big man - maybe you need to share some tips with your Daddy. x

Tap the cat is an app from the makers of Reading Eggs. Big man has been using it, and I am pleased to say he likes it as much as I do. It compliments his learning at school and has a variety of tasks to keep him amused.



I really like the Making Words section. It shows a picture of the word, sounds it out and then the child drags and drops the letters. When big man was playing it earlier, I tried to help. "I know what to do Mummy!" was his response. And he did, so I left him to it.

I love the idea of the writing section. Although big man found it a little frustrating as it didn't always recognise he had written the letter. For me the best thing about it, was the fact that it encourages the child to write the letter in the correct way. Left to himself big man will draw a circle and a line to make a b. Which is fine, but won't help him with joined up writing in the future.

Big man particularly likes Speak and listen. This allows him to record himself reading a word. He is then given the answer and can play back his recording to see if he has got it right.

The only real downside of this app is that it is for the ipad only and not for the iphone or other android devices. However, I believe the Reading Eggs team have got some iphone apps in the pipeline, and they do have other apps available for a alternative devices. You can try out Eggy words 100 for free and upgrade to 250 if you like it.  If you have a child going into Reception next year and own an ipad, I would highly recommend Tap the Cat which is available from iTunes for £1.99.


We were given the app for the purpose of this review, but the opinions contained here are my own.

I would love to tell you that after a lovely afternoon, I tucked middle man in bed, read him his 3 stories (Pirate, Train Driver and Fireman) and kissed him goodnight, wishing him a lovely nights sleep, on the last night he would be 2.

That would be a lie.

He had had the mother of all tantrums over a haircut - that he never ended up having. He went to bed early with only 1 story (Train Driver) and told that he would have no TV tomorrow.

Luckily as he turns 3 tomorrow the terrible twos will be over. Or at least that is what I am trying to convince myself. Now that middle man has been asleep for a couple of hours, I am remembering the gorgeous little pickle that I know and love - rather than the devil reincarnated that he sometimes appears to be. So Middle man here's a little poem for you x










Linking up for Victoria's Prose for thought seeing as I haven't wrote a poem in years and I quite like this one!

When weaning big man I was obsessed with Annabel Karmel's baby and toddler meal planner. It is full of ideas. I bought organic when I could and I spent the time when he slept in the day peeling, chopping, cooking and pureeing veg. Our freezer was full of ice cube trays with various mashed up food.

Middle man had a lot more pre prepared jars. At first I felt bad that I wasn't doing the same for him, but when half of the food you give them ends up smothered into their face anyway - you feel less guilty.

Baby man had more of a baby led weaning approach. He had the baby rice and pureed fruit, but he quickly went onto normal family finger food. At the moment he is the least fussiest eater of the boys. That may be because he is still too young to become fussy.

So what is my biggest tip regarding weaning? Well it isn't about what you feed your baby. It is the highchair! We bought an expensive highchair for big man. It reclined and had an array of attachments that I can't believe anyone ever used. The problem? Lots of padding. Lots of places for food to get stuck. Lots and lots of cleaning. An easy to clean highchair, like they have in the cafe's might not look as pretty, but it does the job and will save you a lot of time on cleaning. If you would like to see some more products that I could recommend for weaning, here is a list that I have made for the Babyhuddle website.

What is your biggest tip for weaning? Did you have a different approach for a second child?

Last week, big man came out of school beaming from ear to ear. He handed me a bag. My heart sank. We were the proud owners of "travelling piglet" for the weekend. How hard can it be looking after the school soft toy? Give me a fourth child any day!

Firstly, you feel the urge to do something. It was sod's law that this was our one free weekend for ages. It is not the first time we have looked after a soft toy, as when big man went to nursery he had a dog he bought home. I had been very excited at the thought and opened the book eager to read about his travels. It is never a good day when you discover a soft toy dog has a more exciting life than you. I kid you not this dog had his picture taken with Gordon Ramsey! I gave up on trying to impress the dog and took him to the fireworks display instead.

Luckily when opening travelling piglets book, he had been to the park, fed ducks. Nice normal activities without a foul mouthed chef in sight. He did, however, have a lot of stuff in his bag. A t-shirt, homemade scarf, bowl, spoon, breakfast cereal, flannel and toothbrush. Basically he had a lot of stuff that kept getting taken out of his bag and lost! Within minutes I was worrying about where on earth his food bowl had disappeared to!

On Friday, I had been painting with middle man whilst big man was at school. I made the mistake of leaving the paint on the table, and when home, big man fancied a go too. It appears piglet did as well. I don't quite know how piglet got covered in orange paint, but there was only one thing for it.....


It was the longest wash cycle known to man. Thankfully he survived and I didn't need to do any explaining to a class full of little people.

Up to now I may have sounded a bit down about having piglet to stay. But he soon won me over and showed me that he could be lots of fun too. (Or maybe I am just a big kid!)

Piglet went to feed the ducks and swans.


He helped bake cakes.



Went swimming.



And even had a game of angry birds whilst big man was asleep!



So what do you do with your child's class mascot? Has it had its photo taken with anyone famous? Do you feel pressure to make a soft toy have a fun weekend? Have you ever washed and shrunk it? Any great ideas of what to do with the next class toy we need to entertain will be greatly appreciated!

When I was given some of the Tilda Brown Rice Range to try, I decided I would go for the Butternut Squash one first. My reason being, is that I would never have gone and purchased it in the supermarket. I had a quick look in the fridge and on the internet and decided to make a chicken, honey and garlic dish.

I started by marinading the chicken in soy sauce, honey, seaseme oil and garlic. (Sorry I'm not good at measuring stuff I just poured some in!) I then chopped up a courgette and baked it all in the oven.


Once it was cooked I put my butternut squash and brown rice in the microwave for two minutes. Hey presto - one tasty meal - easy enough to make when the kids are around! The rice was tasty and I am glad I tried it, as I would now put it on my shopping list.


We were given the rice for the purpose of this review, but the opinions here are my own.

I like getting post - as long as it isn't bills, and I love the idea of brightening up someones day. When I saw that Jess from Catch a Single thought was taking part in Clara's Random Acts of Kindness blog hop I thought I would join in too.
Here are the rules:
If you want to take part, comment below. If you comment to recieve something, you need to blog and must promise to do/make/send something to as many people as you choose. I have decided to go for the first 4 people that comment.
This isn't about money or extravagence - it is about unexpected happiness - so as Clara wrote it could be be anything from a handwritten letter to a knitted blanket, or a doodle or a favourite book. If you are one of the first 4 people to reply, email me on [email protected] with your address. You will then recieve something from me in 2013.It is as simple as that, and I look forward to brightening up your day.