When I was offered to review Clarks Maple , I said yes for two reasons. Firstly, the last time I bought some maple syrup it was an incredible £5 a bottle and secondly it gave me an excuse to try out their white chocolate and blueberry pancake recipe.

We were given a large Clarks Original Maple Syrup whose (rrp is only £1.98 for 180ml) and a smaller bottle of Clarks No.2 Amber Maple syrup at an rrp of £2.99. I was extremely pleased with the prices as they aren't anything like I have previously paid. Next up was a blindfolded taste test to see if we could tell the difference. Without a doubt me, my husband and big man identified the more expensive syrup as it tastes stronger. Middle man didn't really understand what was going on and just wanted to eat more maple syrup!

And so for making the pancakes.....








I will certainly be buying the Clarks Maple syrup and if the boys have their way I will be making these pancakes again as they were delicious!


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

The Anagranimals and the Wishing Tree is a new book by Leith Moghli with fantastic illustrations by Ian King. It tells the story of a group of animals in Pogo Bogo who find a wishing tree and chose to wish for the best parts of their favourite animals.

When I opened the book, I was initially shocked with the amount of text. For this reason, I decided that it was best suited to big man who is nearly 6. I didn't think the younger ones would have coped well with the long story, but I'm sure they would have enjoyed looking at the pictures. The book is aimed at 5-9 year olds.


Big man described it as a chapter, which in a way it is, as it will be part of a series of books about the animals adventures. He also enjoyed the pictures and the names of the new animals. For example the Piggy-Croco-Puss.


Big man enjoyed the book and asked if we could get the next one in the series. Anigranimals and the Wishing Tree is released on 1st September, and I am pleased to be able to offer one of my readers a signed first edition copy. Open to UK entrants only. Please see terms and conditions on the rafflecopter below.
Good Luck!


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I was given a copy for the purpose of this review but the opinions here are my own

As part of my 99p stores blogger challenge I bought a DK Baking Book. We had some bananas and I had never made a banana loaf before, so I waited for baby man's nap time and got big and middle man to help me cook. It turned out to be a bit of a learning curve. The lessons I learnt are here:

1. Just because you thought that you put butter on the internet shop, doesn't mean that you did.
2. Butter doesn't last forever, and just because you have found some wrapped up in the fridge, doesn't mean it is edible.
3. The flora cuisine that you bought on a special promotion can be used like butter. Even better is that it is like melted butter!
4. Just because you bought half a kilo of raisins a week ago, doesn't mean that you have any left. Just because you hate them doesn't mean the rest of your family do.
5. Maple syrup is a good alternative to honey

So as you have probably guessed, I promised the boys to make a banana loaf, put baby man to bed and then realized we didn't have half the ingredients. We improvised with the ingredients available and it tasted pretty good. To be honest, I was only going to put raisins in it to stop me eating it! And what did the boys think? Well they were just happy that they got to crack an egg an lick a spoon!



I bought the baking book as part of the 99p stores blogger challenge. Other posts for the challenge are: Picasso at work, Why I am not a food blogger and A celebration fit for my princes

Although my friends might disagree, I think that before I had children, I used to be able to hold a reasonably intelligent conversation. Now? Not so much. My husband is away with work at the moment and what do I find myself asking him when he contacts me? Not have you had a nice day? Has work gone well? How was your flight? No. I ask him my most important query of the day.

This weeks Gallery theme is pets.

We don't have any pets as such. Although we briefly had our caterpillars.


They were loved very much and big man was distraught when the butterflies were set free.


Actually I tell I lie we do have one more pet. Patterly. A dog. Here he is doing doggie paddle.


Middle man still insists on pretending to be a dog once in a while. Sometimes he puts a belt round his hand, pretending its a lead. When in character he refuses to answer to his real name. I can tell you now that I felt pretty stupid yelling "Patterly" when we were at the beach earlier this summer. He often reverts to being a dog when he is doing something a little bit naughty. I don't know why, but he perceives that he will get told off less if he is a dog. On a recent trip to the park, Patterly went into the paddling pool fully clothed. He then bounded up to me saying "Woof, I wet, I cold!" Yes he is a very clever dog that can speak too! So for now, we will not be getting any pets as Patterly is a handful. Maybe just some more caterpillars next year.

What pets do you have? Are they hard to look after? Do you have a child that is obsessed with being an animal?

Middle man is slightly obsessed with Disney Junior. I like it too as I love all this Disney. Doc McStuffins is a favourite of middle mans. It is about a little girl whose Mum is a doctor. The girl puts on her toy stethoscope and turns into a doctor herself, who is able to fix her various stuffed toys with the help of her other stuffed toys, Lambie, Chilly, Stuffy and Hallie. It is a nice programme with catchy tunes. The only problem with Doc McStuffins is that because the main charterer is a girl, Disney have aimed pretty much all the Doc McStuffins merchandise at girls. I am sure that I am not the only person with a 3 year old boy that likes the show. Luckily though Disney have now released a CD including the songs off the series. I think a CD is pretty unisex. Middle man beamed from ear to ear when I gave it him in the car.


The CD is a collection of all the songs from the series with my personal favorites Time for Your Check Up and Eat Good Food. Middle man loves it and you will now find me singing along to Doc McStuffins tunes in the car when I have no children with me, because I have forgotten that I don't need to listen to it!

We were sent a copy of the CD for the purpose of this review but opinions contained in here are my own

At the beginning of the summer, big man came up to me with an oragami kit asking to make a pumpkin. After a long time, I managed to make one, but there was no way he was going to be able to do it. When I saw Popagami, I wondered if it would be any easier. Thankfully I can say it is. I recieved a combo pack which consists of an instruction booklet and 24 large printed papers. It took me a couple of goes at folding to get the hang of it, but after that it was simple. Big man even had a go, although he needed a little help, he did most of it himself. Here he is at the last step, blowing it open.



I like the product as because there is a printed design it makes it easier to work out where you are meant to fold it.


Once made they make great little puppets. Another suggestion for their use is to fill them with small gifts or sweets and they become party decorations that double up as a favour.

Whilst I appreciate that origami isn't everyone's cup of coffee (sorry I couldn't help myself with that one) I think that it is a great activity to get the children doing in the school holidays. (No glue or glitter involved!) It would also make a good little stocking filler at Christmas.



Fancy having a go yourself? Well Popagami have kindly offered a combo pack for one of my readers. All you need to do is complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

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I was given a Pogagami combo pack for the purpose of the review, but the opinions contained here are my own.


Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

This week I am linking up to "What's the story?" with this picture. My husband and big man looking for treasure! Well looking for a geocache. We first went geocaching a few years back with some friends and it is a great way of making an afternoon stroll more interesting with the kids. It has really taken off recently and there are loads of them around, to start with you need the app. This tells you the geocaches near you and then acts as a map and compass so that you can get close. You also need this:


All geocaches have a piece of paper to record the date and who found it so you will need to take a pen or pencil with you. So why do you need a couple of whistles, bat ring,  lizard and plastic frog? Well one man's party bag rubbish is another man's treasure. Some geocaches (the ones my boys love the best) are filled with treasure. The idea is that you can swop a piece.

So off we set to our local park where 2 geocaches were near by.


We got close


We read a clue and Mummy found it! I was chuffed as it was the first one I had done by myself. Tucked in a hole in a tree. It was just a pot covered in duct tape (to make it waterproof) with a list inside. We wrote down that we had found it and headed across the park to find another.

This one was tricky. I had to read some of the comments from other people to help me locate it, but we eventually found it. We recorded that we had found it and agreed on one more before heading home.


The last one was tricky. My husband and big man were bent over looking under a tree stump. But this was treasure worth finding! Yes we had found a clip lock treasure chest filled with bounty!


So we swopped our treasure. Big man had a nice "new" skull, middle man a jewel (aka a glass bead used in flower vases) and baby man with a gold coin that he could put in his pocket. Tired and hungry we headed home, and just got distracted by a few puddles.



Have you been geocaching before? Have you made your own? I am so pleased there are so many round us now, I can see this being a regular outing.







Don't forget I have 2 giveaways open at the moment Popagami Combo Pack and Jack the Giant Slayer Blu ray

Warner Brothers is pleased to announce the arrival of Jack the Giant Slayer on DVD and Blu-ray, starring Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor and Stanley Tucci.

So what is the story?  "Unleashed on the Earth for the first time in centuries, the giants strive to reclaim the land they once lost, forcing Jack (Nicholas Hoult), into the battle of this life to stop them.
Fighting for a kingdom and its people, and the love of a brave princess, he comes face to face
with the unstoppable warriors he thought only existed in legend... and gets the chance to become a legend himself!" 

The film is directed by Brian Singer (X-Men,Superman Returns)

So how would you like to win a copy of the Blu-ray? How brave are you? Just take the quiz 
here and fill in the rafflecopter for your chance to win. I am so brave that fear is afraid of me! I think if I had saved the dog I might be a courageous warrior. (Please read the terms and conditions as the winner does need to provide contact details in a small amount of time to claim their prize, or a new winner will be drawn.)




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Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com

One of my Get Good Summer Challenges was to lose half a stone. Unfortunately weeks of picnics and eating out doesn't really go hand in hand with losing weight and I have decided to refocus myself in September and enjoy the last few weeks of the Summer holidays. I have, however, been trying out a pair of Zaggora Hotpants. The fabric of the HotPants is designed to harness the body's natural heat when you exercise to help you burn more calories.

I am a size 12 and was given a pair of small HotPants to try. I was worried that they may be on the tight side but they fit nicely. They are made of a type of neoprene and are a bit like wearing a wet suit to do exercise in. I have managed a couple of Bokwa classes in them and definitely have the impression that I have worked harder, due to the sweat. I would like to add that you don't appear to be sweaty as the sweat  collects under the trousers but doesn't appear to come through the material.

Zaggora challenged me to wear my zaggora hotpants everyday for 30 mins whilst I was active for 2 weeks. Again with the summer holidays and day trips this hasn't been possible everyday but I have worn them most days. Although my weight hasn't really changed, my waist has gone down an inch and my hips by 1/2 an inch.

It is hard to say if the Zaggora HotPants work. They are no miracle cure, if you over eat whilst wearing them, you will still gain weight, but I think they can motivate you to do exercise. What I can tell you is that they look really nice on. They are easy to wash. I have washed mine by hand, but they can go on a cold wash in the washing machine. They are comfortable to exercise in and although you get hot in them, you only feel sweaty when you take them off. I really like them and as I am often tired when I manage to drag myself down the gym, I am happy with the thought that they may be helping me burn a few extra calories whilst I exercise.  They are on the expensive side. These trousers cost £55 online. However, if they help encourage people to do exercise and become healthier, then they are worth paying out for. I am hoping that they will help focus me into shifting a few pounds come September and I will have another attempt at the 2 week challenge.



I was given a pair of Zaggora Hot Pants for the purpose of this review, but the opinions contained here are my own.

One advantage of the nicer weather is that messy activities can take place in the garden rather than Mummy having a meltdown that paint is going everywhere. Here is middle man the artist, carefully painting his seed pot. And then himself!




Needless to say he was carried for a bath as soon as his masterpiece was finished! Now which lucky family member will get a lovely painted pot?

I bought the seed pots as part of the 99p stores blogger challenge. Other posts for the challenge are: Why I am not a food blogger and A celebration fit for my princes

When I had just started blogging my brother in law shared a friends blog on facebook. The blog is LearnLoveLive and is written by a father of 3 girls. If you are ever having a bad day, the kids are getting you down, or you are feeling sorry for yourself, I suggest you have a read. I also suggest you have a box of tissues at hand as it is very emotional, but extremely inspiring.

The writer of the blog is called Eric and he has Motor Neurones Disease. A progressive disease that attacks the nerves in the brain and spinal cord. If you watch DIY SOS you may have seen how Eric's local community came together to help adapt his house for his needs. He has been in a wheelchair for some time and now uses an eyegaze computer to communicate. Eric and his family and friends are keen to raise money for and awareness of MND. This is where the Happy Badger comes in. The Happy Badger from Appliances Online, is spreading some happiness in the blogosphere and has said that he will kindly make a donation to the fundraising of Eric's family and friends for MND.

One of Eric's wishes is that he can stop at least one person from sleep walking their way through life and to enjoy the privilege of getting older. Reading his blog has certainly opened my eyes and made me appreciate the simple things more. I hope it will for you too.


If you have a blog and would like the Happy Badger to visit you click here.

Disclaimer: The Happy badger has donated £50 to teamrivers fundraising page that goes to MNDa in return for me writing this post.

My reasons to be cheerful this week are due to good customer service. As you may or may not know, I used to work in customer service so it is a big pet hate of mine when companies get it really really wrong. PC World is now classed as a swear word in our house. This week 2 companies have made me happy and restored my faith in customer service. Firstly is Photobox. They offered me to do a review and I chose a pop art canvas of middle man. It arrived and the quality is great, but it just isn't what I was expecting. 

Summer is an exciting season, where we are more likely to get good weather than any other time of the year (apparently). The kiddies are off school for another few weeks yet, and already you might have noticed them getting into a few scrapes. Safety is essential wherever you are, and the world is a very dangerous place. Keep reading for tips on how to keep your little people safe this summer.

Sun Protection

It seems simple. It is simple. Your child can burn easily when playing and they won’t even realise it until they are rolling around struggling to get to sleep because of their little burnt shoulders. Apply a factor 50 sun lotion or cream to your child 30 minutes before they plan to go out, paying special attention to the face, ears, neck, shoulders and tops of feet. Really, the whole body should be covered thoroughly. If you are going to the beach, a national park, or anywhere else that means you will be out for the majority of the day, make sure you know where there are sheltered areas, or take a little pop up family tent so you can all get some respite from the midday rays.

Wristbands

Some organisations offer free wristbands that you can put on your child on days out. These bear your name and details, which is invaluable if your child should wander off, only to find you went a different way. Losing a child while you are out is terrifying and even the most attentive parents have had little ones run off in the split second of distraction.

Pay Attention Around the Home

Summer holidays mean that you will all be spending a little more time in the house, and it is very normal for your house to look like a bus drove through it, spreading toy parts and debris as it passed. Make sure that anything that could be dangerous (especially the innocent items that can be turned dangerous) is out of sight and reach of children. If you don’t have the time or energy to completely clean through every single night after they go to bed, at least clear up and rubbish or tripping hazards and make sure that any safety measures such as corner protectors have not been dislodged during the wild one-toddler party that happened in your living room!

Teach Your Child to Stay Safe

Young children can be very trusting, so make sure you instil the dangers of accepting sweets and help from strangers. If they do take anything, make sure they know to ask your permission before eating or using it. When a child can talk, this becomes easier to explain. Have them hold your hand or the pushchair when crossing a road, teaching them to look both ways. If need be, try and use some educational play or role play activities to teach your child what to do or how to respond to things.
Basic safety skills will last them right through life, but for now it just makes mum and dad’s life that little bit less complicated!


About the Author This article was written on behalf of Galt Toys. Galt Toys have been manufacturing educational toys for children for 175 years! Galt really know a thing or two about learning… and having fun!

This week's funee post is from big man. We were chatting about the holidays and going back to school. He was beaming from ear to ear when he said he was really happy about going into year one. This is turn made me happy. My boy enjoys school and is looking forward to learning. So why is year one going to be even better than reception?

"Well in year one you don't do Maths Mummy!"

"Mmmnnnn, I think you find you will....."

"No Mummy, because when I do Maths, I see year one running around outside"

Bless him, I think that big man may be disappointed with year one and the 10 years after! I think he will however, learn that the PE timetable has to vary so that you don't have the whole school using the netball courts at once!

Today we went to the Lollibop children's festival in Olympic Park. When I had seen all the social media for the event, it looked great. The thing that stopped me from buying tickets, was that I wasn't sure how my children would cope with a festival. Then I had an tweet from The Boy and Me saying I had won 4 tickets, so I decided to buy another from Littlebird and give it a go.

We headed down to Westfields and parked there. At £5 for a days parking I was very pleased. The walk to the Olympic Stadium took about 15mins. This was problematic for middle man and his small legs! We had only taken the single buggy and he was not happy with this.

When we got there we headed towards the Wow and Duplo tents. Here they had toys to play with and big man got a Duplo sticker pad so he was happy. We then headed for the main stage to sit down and get some lunch. Here we saw Pre School. I don't watch Britain's got talent so had never heard of them and was really impressed. Next was Peter Pan who are touring around Christmas with what I would describe as a Baz Lurhman style show. Dick and Dom then came on. I would have liked to have watched them, but the boys are a bit too small so we wandered off. Big man was extremely happy that Haribo were handing out sweets and Barny were handing out cakes!

We then went to the science museum tent. Big man was extremely keen to have a go at some Science and get his card stamped. This meant a bit of queuing but he managed to get an experiment book at the end so he was happy. We then went to the National Geographic tent. I liked it in there mainly because middle man got hold of the microphone and told his one and only joke. He was so proud of himself.

"Clownfish taste funny!"

They had boxes to put your hand in and guess the materials which big man enjoyed and then all three of them searched for dinosaur bones.



We then headed to see Katy Ashworth. Big man really enjoyed her. I now have a new found respect for her. I can tell you that at no point in any of my pregnancies did I have the energy and enthusiasm that she showed!


We then rushed to see Justin who had already started. It was heaving and hard to see him even on the big screen. We still managed to have a dance and do the Hokey Cokey. I would have loved to do more but the boys were getting really tired and heading fast towards meltdown. We headed towards the meadows where they rolled down the hill and then headed out.

We had a nice time, but weren't there all day as the boys were too tired to cope with anymore. I can totally understand why some people didn't enjoy the Lollibop. It was very very busy. The layout wasn't that great, and it's a long walk from a car park or station. Food and drinks weren't horrendously priced, but when you've already paid out for the tickets it adds up. I think the biggest problem is that although there are lots of things for the smaller children to do, they can't cope with a long day out with long queues. If our children had been older, or we just had just taken big man with us, it would have been much easier. I know I would have felt extremely disappointed if I had paid full price for our tickets as it would have totaled over £100. Would I go again? It would really depend on if I thought the boys could cope with more than 4 hours, and if I could get a half price deal like we did with Littlebird (or be lucky and win tickets again!) I would make sure that we got there super early so that we could enjoy it whilst it was quieter, pack a picnic and hopefully if the children were older we could get a slightly better spot near the main stage.

Did you go to the Lollibop? What did you think?

Having lived a stones throw away from Ascot most of my life this week I finally went there! On Saturday we headed off to Ascot for the Dubai Duty Free Shergar Cup. We had been lucky to win tickets through a competition on Emma's Blog. This is where our luck ran out! Not one winner in six races. I think we would have done better picking the horses that came last! It was still, however, a fun day.

Picnics are allowed inside the racecourse so we started off by finding a spot to eat whilst my husband went and placed a bet. We had premier tickets which meant that we could go to a special seated area to view the races. If it had been a rainy day, it would have been great as they had shelter. The weather was lovely so it didn't matter. A dress code is required which mainly meant my husband had to wear a suit and tie. There were some fat boy bean bags and an x box that kept the boys entertained between races. However, after race 4 they were restless and  needed to get outside so we went and had a go on some of the free rides.

I was shocked at how short the queues were. They only lengthy queue was for the pony rides and that was less than half an hour. The boys went on the areoplane ride numerous times and middle man was very happy when he found a soft play area with a ball pit.



After the racing had finished a concert including Go West, Atomic Kitten, Blue and Rick Astley commenced. Big man was shocked at how Mummy knew the words to the songs that were playing. We had a fantastic day and will certainly look into going to a family day again - you never know we may even manage to pick a horse that doesn't come last!



We won 2 premier admission tickets to the races (children go free) and we didn't need to write about the day, I just wanted to.

Recently I wrote about our holiday to the Aparthotel Alcudia Pins in Majorca. Because the children are little and the main attractions are the other side of the island, we generally stayed around the hotel. My husband, however, can't spend a week playing in the pool and the on the beach so we broke the week up with a few short and inexpensive trips.

The first trip we went on was to Alcudia Old Town. We didn't actually mean to go there, but the bus was busy (due to a market in the old town) and we missed our stop for the port. We did, however, have a nice time wandering round and looking at the fortress and stopping off for a drink in a local cafe.



As we hadn't made it off at the right stop we tried again another day. Alcudia Port was beautiful and you could paddle along with the small fish. There was also a climbing frame of the beach that big man enjoyed.





We also broke up the holiday by taking a few bike rides. When I say bike rides, I mean one of these car type bikes. I was fine pedaling along the quiet roads but not so happy on the bigger ones!


We had a fantastic holiday and it was lovely to take things slowly for a while and recharge our batteries. How do you keep your little ones entertained when you are away?