I have taken this idea from my friend Nikki who creates a lovely monthly mosaic of the things she has made and done. I'm not as crafty, but I thought I would just add some of my favourite pictures that summed up the month. Strangely it seems that there was a lot more nice weather than I remember!

For me, the summer is all about having fun outside with my boys. We end up having a lot of picnics. Whilst cheese sandwiches are nice, day in day out they get a bit boring. I often make sausage rolls and picnic rolls, so for the BritMums' Summer Turkey Recipe Challenge I decided to use turkey mince rather than sausage meat. It is a quick and easy recipe. Preparation time is 5-10 minutes and the cooking time is dependenent on how big you make your rolls.

When I was tagged by Jess to do the My Life According To.... Meme, I thought it looked like fun. The idea is you pick an artist or group and use their song titles to answer questions. As a massive Take That fan, it had to be them. Turns out it is a lot harder than it first seems!

Our summer holidays are in sight and I am getting excited about the prospsct of some sunny weather and some fabulous family time. After last year, I am less excited about travelling there.

So how do you keep your little ones entertained on the plane or in a car? Last year I thought Lego was the answer.

What was I thinking?

Tiny pieces all over the place. Me crawling around the cramped foot space of the plane looking for the vital part of a speed boat! In this particular case Lego was not the answer.

What could possibly go wrong with sticker books? Well with my brood it tends to be a case of middle man gets upset because he cant get the stickers off himself. Baby man gets upset because he wants middle man's stickers instead of his. Big man gets upset because he wants some attention and Mummy gets upset because she is having a meltdown over some sticker books! I have now given up on trying to be a perfect Mum, and have accepted that everyone is a lot happier watching a DVD or playing apps on my phone.

But how much do you spend on a DVD player for travelling? We bought an all singing, all dancing DVD player for the car, thinking it would see us through many a holiday and days out. Sometimes I think we forget we have kids! Middle man broke his screen first by kicking it until it fell off the seat headrest. I am not sure what big man did to his but it no longer has sound. Was it worth paying a fortune? No.

MoneySupermarket kindly let us have a new budget DVD player to see cheaper gadgets can live up to their more expensive counterparts. So far it seems great. It doesn't attach to the car seat, but as middle man will only kick it down, then it is probably safer on the lap of big man. The picture and sound quality is fine and you can put your headphones in if you wish. The battery life is 2 hours which is fine for a short haul flight or car journey. It comes with a remote too, but I really don't see the need for it, just another thing to lose. As far as I can see it is a great budget buy, and I shall be packing it in my hand luggage when we go away later in the summer. We can take a few films for the children in the mornings and some for us in the evenings.



What is your best budget buy? Do you have all the top gadgets or have you found the cheaper alternatives to be just as good?




I was given the DVD player by MoneySupermarket in order to write my opinion and the post will be entered into a competition where there will be one winner of £1000 to put towards their summer holiday.

Baby man is now 18 months old and his communication skills are coming on leaps and bounds. I thought it was about time I recorded some of his firsts for future reference. Here are some of his first words, roughly in the order he learnt them.

Bounce, bounce!  Because he loves his trampoline
Ball. Because he is obsessed with balls
Mummmmmmmummmmmummm. Because he knows I will get what he wants
Dadadada. An alternative if Mummmmmmmummmmmummm is busy.
Poo. Because he has watched middle man do a lot whilst potty training
Poo-ey. Whilst waving his hand across his nose and in slight disgust at the smell coming from his dirty nappy
E-I-E-I-O. Because Old MacDonald's farm is his favourite rhyme
Pig - Because it is the only animal noise he can make.

He is also very good at finding his shoes when he wants to go outside. If only his brothers were the same. The school run is normally a mass panic over where on earth they have hidden their shoes. They are never in the shoe cupboard!

He is also very good at finding the potty when middle man starts stripping off to go to the toilet. I can only assume that he does this as he has seen the results when middle man hasn't got there in time!

What were your little one's first words. Was it Mummy of Daddy or something random like bounce?

I thought twice about reviewing the chill factor slushy cup. At £12.99 I thought it would be a totally waste of money that didn't work, and that I would need to find a polite way of saying that in my review. Then I thought about how much I had wanted a Mr Frosty when I was young, and therefore big man would love it no matter how much I hated it. (OK there may have also been a suggestion that it could be used for cocktails too!)

So have I changed my mind about the Chill Factor cup? Well it is on the pricey side as each person needs their own cup, but that aside, it is great! You pop it in the freezer for around 4 hours, fill with a cold drink and squeeze til you have a slush. You can put fruit juice, milkshakes, coffee or cocktails in it.


Baby man had a try of an orange juice one whilst his brothers were at school. After the initial shock that it was cold, he loved it. I made a baileys and chocolate milkshake one for the hubbie to try, he conceded that it was "pretty cool."


So, if you are like me and love a slush on a hot day, always wanted a Mr Frosty, but don't want the mess that is made by such a product, then the Chill Factor is a fun gadget that makes you feel like a kid again. The boys will be able to make a nice cold slush at home without loads of sugar or colouring.


*** I thought I should update this post saying that I have since bought my boys a cup each and two of my friends children the cup for their birthdays. ***

I was given a chill factor slushy cup for the purpose of this review, but the opinions contained here are my own.

Big man even claimed he saw one, rather tiny fairy. Unfortunately due to too many people visiting the fairies have now gone :-(

Long time readers of my blog will know that middle man has an alter ego called Patterly the dog. (I had thought he was called Pattersley but now middle man's prouncitation is better, it is definately Patterly.) I thought it was just a phase but it seems to be a very long one. On asking him to get ready for preschool the other morning we were greeted with the response "Woof, dogs don't go to preschool, woof" He often attempts to get out of trouble by playing the "I'm a dog card."

On Monday we went out for the day and found out for the first time what Patterly looked like in middle man's head. He saw this dog, turned to his Daddy and exclaimed "Woof, he's so cute! He looks just like me woof!"


So my gorgeous middle man is a cute beagle.I will try and remember this the next time he is up to mischief and claiming he can't be told off because of this.

Before I had 3 gorgeous boys, I was a crafty person. I still am at heart, but don't have the time at the moment. I have always loved scrapbooking, so when I was asked to review a photo book by Vistaprint, I saw it as the chance to make an online one. As Father's Day is on it's way too, I thought I'd make one from the boys to their Daddy. I have never made a photo book before, but have received one as a gift.

Last year I wrote a #blogging4madeleine post. For me the last year has flown by and has been full of many fabulous memories of my boys growing up. The McCann's have been robbed of these with their daughter Madeleine  Today is her 10th Birthday. Six years away from her family. Her family not even knowing if she is alive. 5 Birthday parties missed.

One thing I have learnt about having boys, is that everyone is happier if they have been running around outside. I therefore invested in annual passes to our local country park this year and I think we have had our moneys worth already. Here are some of the photos from last week.

My Reasons to be cheerful this week are centered around the beautiful bank holiday weekend we have had.

I took big man to see storm troopers and got soaking wet on the water rides with him.


I made an early birthday cake for my little nephew after seeing Jess's fab cake and cheating a little.



We had a lovely day out at a county park and I managed to get a photo of me throwing baby man in the air - I am easily pleased, but his smiles and giggles are beautiful.








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