A year and a half ago we had some quotes to fit a new bathroom. In the meantime we have had our driveway paved and fascias redone but still have an outdated grey bathroom. The problem is my husband and I can't agree on what we want to do. I'm happy to just replace what we have have with a white suite, white tiles and some nice coloured accessories.. My husband wants to move everything around and have a power shower installed. Whilst his ideas sound good,  my main concern with this is the cost. It appears that as soon as you start talking about moving pipes a couple of thousand pounds is added to your bill.

We are agreed that we want a white suite and that we need some type of shower over the bath. As the boys get older they are bound to get muddy from football or rugby so it is really a decision as to whether we keep a mixer shower fitting or go for an electric power shower. We are also agreed that we need some good storage for the bathroom. I would really like a unit that I could store towels in as well as an under sink storage unit which would be good for storing cleaning materials and toilet roll.

I guess the deciding factor is the decision on whether we plan to stay in this house or not. At the moment we have enough space, but as the boys are growing up, it's hard to imagine 5 adult sized people in the house. So we need to make a decision on the type of bathroom we want. As you can see it needs replacing it is just a decision on how much money we want to spend on doing it. I really don't want to write a post in another 18 months time saying that we are still deciding!

What are your must haves in a new bathroom?





In partnership with Tesco

After swearing I would never make cake pops again after doing a large quantity for little man's christening, I found a bar of Dr Oetker's dark cooks chocolate in this months Degustabox and the idea of these cake pops jumped straight into my head. These were much easier, as I think practice makes perfect. Well that and a smaller number to make.

I started by crumbling 4 chocolate cupcakes and mixing with 4 dessert spoons of vanilla frosting and a few drops of mint flavouring. I then put the mixture in the freezer for 10 minutes. I rolled the mixture into balls, melted the cake covering and dipped a stick into the chocolate and then into the cake pop ball. I then placed these in the freezer for another 10minutes.


Next I submerged the balls in the melted chocolate and topped with green sugar sprinkles.



Last but not least we ate them!



I was hoping that the boys wouldn't like these grown up style cake pops, but they loved them. Let me know if you try them.

Middle man has sensitive skin. I thought we had cracked his issue last year with a low factor sun cream applied often, but on our trip to Turkey this year he came up in a rash again as did little man. I was therefore excited to be given the chance to review Green People Organic Children Sun Lotion and Aloe Vera After Sun Lotion. They aren't cheap, with the sun lotion retailing at £16.95 and after sun at £10.50. But as I don't want my children coming out in a rash I am willing to pay this if it works. The idea for the company was born out of a desire to treat childhood eczema and skin allergies. They state that it is an organic secnt free sun lotion SPF25 which is made without parabens, alcohol (ethyl alcohol, ethanol), lanolin, methylisothiazolinone, methylchloroisothiazolinone, phthalates, artificial perfumes, petrochemicals and colourants to bring you the purest children's sun lotion that nature can offer.

Last week we had a couple of sunny days so I got the chance to try the creams out. The sun lotion is quite thick and does require some rubbing in, however, I am pleased to say that both my boys were fine with it so I will be continuing to use it. The after sun again needs a bit of rubbing in but less than the sun lotion. I must admit that I don't usually use after sun so I will need to use this a bit more until I am convinced that it is worth spending £10.50 on.

The company also sells a range of skin, hair and body care products. If you have a child that has eczema or allergies I would recommend that you give them a go (some products can be purchased in a trail size) I am really pleased to have found a sun cream with a medium factor that my boys can wear without an allergic reaction.

I was given the products for the purpose of this review but the opinions contained here are my own.

On Friday evening 3childrenandit came over with her gecko for me to look after over half term. I think this photo shows I was not a natural.



I was therefore determined to to face my fears when we took the children to the reptile show at Wellington Country Park this weekend.

Big man was in there straight away holding a snake.


Then came spiders, coackroaches, frogs, lizards......

I had a Tangled moment. I was not at all scared of him as he holds on tight.

And I'm wondering and wondering and wondering and wondering when will my life begin?

One of my fears with pretty much all animals is that they will run away. Big man also held a scorpion although I managed to scare him by saying it was crawling up his jacket. He continued to learn and touch the animals encouraging me to as well.



This one was particularly slimey and no prince in sight.



Right at the end little man decided that he wanted to hold a snake so big man helped him.


I had been reluctant to do anything more than stroke a snake. However, I was keen to give holding one a go. I wimped out 3 times, but then thought if my 2 and 6 year old could do it then I really should have a go. And with big man instructed to take a photo and get the thing off me as soon as possible I did it!



If you live near Reading the reptile show is back at Wellington Country Park on Friday. Definitely worth a visit.

I may have a love / hate relationship with teaching the boys to swim but as it is a life skill, I feel it is something they should do. I now feel confident that all three of them would be able to get themselves out of danger if they had to, but having said that if we take the boys to a splash pool we do ask the younger two to put on arm bands for an extra piece of reassurance. Today I have a giveaway of some Speedo goodies. Just complete the rafflecopter below and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"My FAVOURITE way to spend a sunny day outside is go to the park and scoot outside and bike. I like scooting because it is good exercise. I like biking because I can ride very fast on my bike. My bike is a mountain bike and I ride it outside with Daddy.

The best thing to do is to go to the park with Daddy and my brothers. There is a wall that you can climb up on. You go down by sliding down the pole. Going down the slide is good because it is fun. I also like riding on the spring animals in the park for the same reason as the slide. Mummy you are not writing the same reason as the slide are you? I meant because it is fun. How many words is that now? Is it 250? It is quite a lot isn't it?

Aha! I know what, what about Wellington Country Park? I like going on the bouncy pillow there.

(Stops to have a giggling fit about me writing down Aha.)

And there is also a lot of slides and we have races on them.



There is also an animal farm. This year they have a new animal which is a tortoise. When we saw it, it did a poo on the table. Has it been 250 words yet? Still 50 more words! Oh there is a place where you can have birthdays and a train too. You get to wave at people on the train and you see models of animals. The man on the train says to scream as you go through the tunnel because there is crocodiles. Mummy is that enough words now? (Giggles some more.) My name is Joshua and I am six years old.



This is Joshua's entry to the MAD Blog Awards Kid Blog of the Year sponsored by Vita Coco

With half term coming up and the possibility of unsettled weather it might be worth getting one of these cake angels kits for the kids to have a go at. (They are a bargain with an RRP of £2.49) I did these myself but they are easy enough for children to have a go at, although if you children are anything like mine they will probably want a few more toppings to choose from.

You get everything you need in the kit, except 60g of butter and ideally a piping bag.


You just add water to the chocolate cake mixture and whisk. Then place the mixture into the cones and bake for about 20 minutes.


They rose well, but were a bit lop sided so I just levelled them before piping the butter cream and adding sprinkles.

It is a simple kit that I would try again with my boys. When it comes to eating them, it is a case of a lot of frosting on top and then just cake at the bottom, so really you want to eat it sideways. It doesn't taste like homemade cake but the cake is moist all the way through and is good for a packet mix. To be honest I like middle man was very confused that it wasn't actually ice cream!



We were sent the mix for the purpose of this review but the opinions here are my own.

All my boys enjoy the CBeebies program Octonauts. I also enjoy it as it contains a lot of marine science. Once you skip past the fact that a penguin and polar bear live happily together in a submarine type vechile, it demonstrates teamwork and is full of fascinating facts about sea creatures. I have even googled a blob fish to show my husband that they are real creatures. Little man is currently the most obsessed of the three with the program and spends hours in the bath playing with his gups.

Tired

I love big man's drawings so have asked him this afternoon to take part in the draw with me linky. Here is his under the sea picture.


I easily spotted the jellyfish. The things that look like divers are sharks. The one on the left is about to eat a fish because "Sharks eat fish you know Mummy." Personally I like the smiley fish in the background.

I have always been a bit of a night owl, and am rarely up with the lark. Infact if the lark wakes me up I am one grumpy person for most of the day. Having three little ones that like to wake at the crack of dawn is hard work for someone that just wants a few more minutes sleep. My husband used to hate me when I was at work as I am the kind of person that presses snooze for as long as possible and then shoots out of bed in a screaming panic that I am running late.


I would love to say that children have changed me but they haven't. It just means that as well as myself I have 3 more people to get ready. Whilst my husband is working away I find this even harder. I often dress the children before they eat, but this just means that their uniforms are covered in their breakfast resulting in another change of clothes.

Big man is amazing at losing his book bag. We try to keep it in his room or by the door, however, most days he picks it up, wanders around with it and then can't remember where he has left it. Middle man is the same with shoes. Infact the only one that is slightly with it in the morning is little man, who often locates the missing items for us.

So how can I make our mornings better? Well for a start when my husband is away I am a terror for staying up late. I really need to go to bed earlier so that I can cope with the early morning call from the boys. I need to get them eating (whilst I brew a coffee) before I change them for school. If possible I need to walk to school. I know this may sound odd, but it really puts me in a better mood. If it wasn't for having 2 boys at 2 different schools 3 days a week, I would opt for walking more often than driving. The whole school parking issue is a whole new blog post.

What are your tips for a stress free morning?



This post is an entry for #MorningStories Linky Challenge sponsored by belvita. I was to late in responding to receive any Belvita to try, but I can tell you that when I am in a hurry I do quite like the Strawberry and Live Youghurt Duo Crunch.

On Saturday we headed to a deep dark wood (known as Thorndon Country Park) to hunt for the Gruffalo with my sister. Last year we did a trail at the Dean Heritage Centre which had sculptured scenes, but this was more of a walk through the woods. Armed with their maps (the trail is free and a map costs 50p) the boys excitedly worked their way round the forest locating the animals in the Julia Donaldson Classic.

Upbeat is a new, fresh high protein, low fat drink aimed at providing sustenance on the go. Upbeat comes in 2 flavours, Strawberry and Mango & Passion fruit. Using British milk, it is a good source of calcium and is under 150 calories. The idea is that the low fat high protein drink is perfect for fueling the gap and possibly avoiding those unhealthy snack temptations.

The drinks can be purchased from Tesco, Waitrise, Holland and Barrett and WHSmiths with a RRSP of £1.79. I was only able to buy the Strawberry variety from my Tesco as was it out of stock of the Mango & Passion fruit. I expected to find it by the sandwiches, but it was around by the yoghurt drinks. It tasted nice, but I am pretty useless when it comes to food choices and would probably pick up a chocolate bar to fill the gap given the choice. I would really like to try the Mango & Passion fruit flavour though so here's hoping they stock it soon.

If you would like to try it for yourself, Upbeat have kindly offered 2 of my readers 5 vouchers each. Just complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway


I was sent some vouchers to try the drink for myself but the opinions here are my own.