Recently I was offered to review an item from Joker's Masquerade. This year, we managed to miss the "dress up as your favourite character" for World Book Day. However, I am sure that next year we will have to so I thought I would look ahead. I am a massive Harry Potter fan and although we have only just started reading it with big man, I am certain that he will soon love the books like I do. I chose the deluxe robe and a pair of Harry Potter style glasses too. The robe is made from a velour type material and has the Gryffindor badge on. It secures with velcro and has a red satin lining.


I like that it can be popped over the school uniform and hey presto one Harry Potter.
We had a go at some "potions" in it. And a stick can make a pretty good wand.



The only problem with the outfit is that if you have an imaginative child like my son, they will actually think they are a wizard. Here he is making daisies appear in the garden!



Joker's Masquerade have a whole host of fancy dress costumes for both adults and children.

For several years we have taken the boys lambing at Rushall Farm. Last year I freaked out at holding a cute little lamb. This year however, I cuddled my fear. Big man was keen that Mummy overcame her irrational fear of holding a baby lamb and promised he would be by my side to help me if I needed it. And you know what? I did it! I was pretty terrified. One had already pooped on middle man's finger which was rather off putting to say the least. However, I took a deep breath, smiled for the camera and held on to the soft four legged animal. I would like to add that it's not just lambs that freak me out, it's pretty much any animal. I think I can only cope with human babies, because they can't move.

The boys had a great afternoon stroking lambs and helping move them too. We even saw a lamb being born. Big man got the idea that labour might hurt a bit, and I looked at the grumpy looking sheep remembering what a moody and irritable pregnant person I was. If I get broody again, I'll just have to go cuddle a lamb instead.

Regular readers will know that I have sometimes created a web of lies, in order to keep my biggest boy little for just a little bit longer. This week on a random conversation in the car, it wasn't so much as a web of lies but more a general rambling about the housing and schooling issues where we live.

It all started 2 years ago. A record of our lives for us to look back on. Little man has now taken the pickle status away from middle man as he is firmly established in the terrible two's. Big man continues to keep me on my toes with his endless questions and my desire to let him stay a child for a little bit longer results in an ever growing web of lies. Unfortunately they are teaching him far too well at school and his reading is coming on leaps and bounds. I had better keep him from reading this for a while longer. We have had some amazing opportunities and can't tell you enough how proud we are to be Butlin's Ambassadors. Blogging has pretty much taken over my life. I even have real life friends from it. Every now and then I wonder why I carry on. Is there anyone out there reading it? Why am I taking photos of my dinner? But my blog is my company when my husband works away and it doesn't really matter if there is anyone reading it or not. After taking the cook with kids promise I thought I had better let big man help bake our blog a cake. He was initially worried about the cake being too small but after we had decorated it with lots of yummy cake angels decorations he was just eager to eat it!


So thank you for reading and here's to many more years of blogging.

I have never been to a Baby and Toddler show before, but I have a few friends that have been and got some good deals on products for their little ones. The Baby and Toddler Show Bluewater is being held on 25-27th April and claims to be the ultimate location for new and expectant parents in the South East, bringing together under one roof everything that you need to give your baby the best start. Tickets cost from £9.00 per adult plus booking fee. However, my readers are able to get a 33% discount by using the code BWB31 when ordering.

I love that small people are really rubbish at keeping secrets. They are even worse than me. Big man proudly announced to Daddy exactly what we had got him for his birthday. It wasn't that exciting anyway but even the vague element of surprise was extinguished.

Today however, it is middle man that was trying to keep a secret. As I picked him up from preschool I gave him a big hug and asked him if he had had a good day.

"Yes, I have made you a teacup card Mummy!"

Just as he said it you could see the penny drop. It was meant to be a secret. I knew exactly what he meant as I had received a teacup card 2 years ago from big man for Mother's Day.

"Oh no I haven't..... I have made a Valentines Card today!" he lied badly.

I smiled and told him that he was super organised. Talking of which, I must sort out a Mother's Day uummmm Valentine's card too!

This week Moshi Monsters are at The London SEA LIFE Aquarium before heading off on tour to other SEA LIFE locations. As Moshi Monsters Ambassadors we were invited to London SEA LIFE Aquarium to see what it was all about.

There are a number of character appearances throughout the day. Middle man was extremely excited to have his photo taken with Katsuma and Poppet who were wearing their diving gear.



On entry the children were given activity books and a pencil so that they could fill in where they saw moshlings in some of the fish tanks.

Big man particularly liked talking about the shark eggs and stroking a starfish. The shark eggs were just like a piece of seaweed.


The good thing about the SEALIFE centre was that lots of the bigger tanks were easy for little man to look in without needing to be carried. There were holes to look through and tunnels to walk through. At the beginning there was even a glass floor to walk on over the sharks!


Moshling spotting really kept the boys interested walking through the centre.


At the end there was a chance to swop your moshlings. Middle man hasn't got any doubles yet and when I mentioned it to him before we left he started welling up at the thought of it, so we didn't participate in that one. We then showed our completed booklet to get our stickers put in and receive a certificate.



If you are Merlin pass holders and have Moshi Monster fans then this is one for you. Alternatively there are "Kids go free" SEA LIFE promotion in the April issue of Moshi Monsters Magazine.

Here is a video of taken of the day featuring none other than me and big man, and lots of fish.


We received entry to the aquarium and goody bags for the children.

Last weekend I headed up to London with big man to let him get messy cooking some food. Persil organised the event to promote their cook with the kids promise. According to a survey carried out, 88% of parents avoid cooking with their children because of the mess they might make. Persil Washing Up Liquid has launched the promise, aimed at getting 100,000 parents to sign up to spend time baking and making a mess with their kids. Persil also has a new and improved formula meaning each bottle will clean 12 per cent (that’s 1,400) more dirty plates than before, delivering sparkling results everytime, so maybe the cleaning up wont be too bad!

The children were first shown how to make pizza dough before having a go themselves.



As you can see big man was very proud of his creation.



Whilst these were cooking they decorated some cupcakes with sweets and icing. It was one of the few times that I have seen big man eat (and enjoy) a pizza so I was really happy.

They ended the session with a somewhat messy and slippery food fight! Not something I will ever do at home!


I have signed up to the Persil promise as I believe it is important for children to learn to cook (even if there is double the washing up!) It promotes independence and seeing them proud of their efforts is what being a Mum is about. When you sign up to the promise you are able to download some recipe ideas and activity sheets to give you some simple ideas. Next week we will have to give these a try.

Do you cook with your kids? Will you take the promise?





We attended the event and were provided with a goody bag in order to learn more about the Persil Cook With Kids Promise.

You can read our reviews on the January Degustabox and February Degustabox. They are a subscription service, where you receive a box of tasty treats to try each month at less than half the retail value.

They have kindly offered one of my readers the chance to experience Degustabox themeselves. All you need to do is complete the rafflecopter below for your chance to win.

This Tomato Tart with pesto creme fraiche is a fantastic starter to a dinner party. It is easy to make and I love the look of the while cherry tomatoes.

Middle man loves his Batcave that "Farmer" Christmas gave him and it seems that he is turning into the riddler. This week I have yet to get a straight answer when he wants a snack.

What would you like to eat middle man?

"It's orange and it's crunchy and it's a vegetable."

"It's round and red and has a sticky stalk."

At the moment this is quite sweet, however, if it continues for every question I ask, I may change my mind!

We are lucky to live near Legoland and visit there often. We also have the added advantage of being able to take up any good deals they have to stay out of season when the park is shut. Last year we stayed in a pirate room and this year for middle man's birthday treat we were explorers.


The standard room sleeps 2 adults and up to 3 children, with the third sleeping on a pull out guest bed. The website states that the adults part of the bedroom is fully themed in the premium rooms, but we are quite happy with the themeing in the standard. In the adult part there was a Lego parrot, Lego dragonfly a map and some ancient Egyptian canvases.



The child's bedroom has has it's own TV, a naughts and crosses style game and a treasure chest guarded by a monkey. There is a short game where you count various objects on the carpet to enable you to get the treasure. (Hint if you have the third bed out you may want to look under it!)

The swimming pool is small but has a splash pool as well as a deeper pool. As the hotel was busy(as the park was shut) it was difficult getting in here on arrival and we were given a time of 6o'clock to go back. This was fine for us and we spent an hour or so playing in the outside playground.


Inside there is a newly refurbished castle that the children can play in and at the top is a room filled with x boxes with Lego games on them.

We ate at the Brick's restaurant which is a self service buffet. Adults are £17.95 and children over 3 are £7.95. This includes soft drinks and you can get an annual pass discount if you hold a Legoland Premium Pass. The food is nice and there are usually Lego paper tablecloths to colour, but they had run out of these and just had some pictures instead.

At 7.30 there was a magic show. This was really good. We weren't sure if the boys would be able to stay awake for this but they managed. It ended up with some dancing and foam being sprayed. Even Mummy and Daddy were singing and dancing to One Direction.



The following morning, breakfast is served from 7-10am. Again it is a buffet with many choices.

We were able to check out via the TV and then go for a swim before heading home.

The boys really enjoy it here, and if they are happy so are we! Big man was very excited in the addition of Lego toiletries this year. Maybe we have a hotel inspector in the making? I have not stayed in a premium room, and I am not sure that you gain much for the extra cost. If you have, let me know, I would love to hear your opinions. We booked the hotel directly which meant we could cancel up to 72hrs in advance as opposed to booking online, I would recommend calling to make sure you are getting the best deal.

The kids will love the whoopee cushion on the way to the swimming pool and you have to wash your hands in the children's sink in the toilets by the restaurant. It makes me smile.

Have you just had a little girl or know someone that has? Well this is the giveaway for you. A lovely present for a new pink bundle. The t-shirt is from Lilly and Sid and in size 0-6 months and there is a little pink rabbit from Mothercare too. All you need to do is complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you like our blog and love entering our giveaways, please vote for us in the Family Fun category of the  MAD Blog Awards.  Thanks!

Middle man decided on a minion cake for his fourth birthday. I was pleased as it was an easy cake to make. I thought I would share a quick tutorial incase you ever find the need to make one. I started by making a round sponge cake with buttercream filling. I then trimmed the sides to make the body shape and covered it with yellow roll out icing.


I then placed some A4 paper over the cake and drew the shape of the trousers so I could then cut the correct shape out of blue icing.


I then added balls of icing for legs and shoes and details on a pocket and straps.

Alongside the usual Biff, Chip and Kipper books this week, big man bought a somewhat confusing book home to read.  "The Future" promised to excite big man with descriptions of how the world may look in the future. You see one day in the future, every home will have a computer. Dad will buy trainers for Mum online.



It missed out that Mum would send him links of the gifts she wanted. It also advised that you will be able to talk to your grandmother via videophone.

"Is that going to be like Skype Mum?"

"Yes it is Skype big man."

Oh and there will be a fantastic machine in the house called a fax.

"What will that do mum?"


"Forget about that big man, we have printer scanner copiers they are more advanced."

So big man was left feeling thoroughly confused about what the future would look like.
I was left feeling old and wanting to put a sticker over the title calling it The Present and Past (alongside some wacky ideas.)

On the plus side it's made me marginally more excited at getting Biff, Chip and Kipper back tonight.

You will have to forgive my lack of photos here, but I am currently experiencing technical issues with the camera (aka I have lost the battery charger and have the photo's trapped on internal memory!) I have shared some great egg recipes before. I love my chorizo and scrambled egg bagels and we had these breakfast muffins over Christmas. Another quick and easy recipe and really easy for the children to help make is toad in the hole. I have a pampered chef muffin tray so we make individual ones. We start by putting a chipolata in each muffin hole and putting this in the oven at 220 while we make the Yorkshire pudding batter.

To make the batter, whisk together 250ml of milk with 250ml of plain flour and 3 eggs. Take the sausages out of the oven and add the batter to each muffin hole. Cook for a further 20mins until the Yorkshire puddings have risen. Serve with vegetables and gravy. Yummy!

This post is an entry for the #ShortcutEggsperts Linky Challenge sponsored by Lions British eggs. Learn more and find recipes at www.eggrecipes.co.uk