I have wanted to join in me and mine for ages. Why haven't I? Well this lot. My boys are at the age where getting a decent family photo of the five of us is near impossible.The boys pull faces, spill stuff over themselves before a picture and don't see the need for socks. Ever. I think they may be Hobbits.

So I am a little late to the party. It was Sara who convinced me to give the project a go. Every family is different. Life isn't picture perfect all the time. It is certainly going to take some doing to make one photo like that here. Infact I have written before about how I prefer to see a balance. My boys have personality which shines through. Middle man likes pretending he is a dog. Big man thinks it is funny that he crosses his eyes. Little man just wants to be like his brothers and will do whatever it takes to fit in.

February has whizzed by. Middle man turned 6 and the half term went past in the blink of an eye. I fear that March may hurtle past even quicker. So the odd photo of us together will be nice to look back on. It may take longer than I hoped to get a new "about me" photo. One without my husband having a skylanders bag coming out of his head. But we will give it a go and see what happens. They are my perfectly imperfect family.

I hadn't been particularly fussed about visiting Madam Tussards with the boys as I wasn't really sure if they would like it. However, as we have bought Merlin passes this year (so effectively didn't need to pay to go) then we thought we would give it a go. Some friends had been and liked it and it was at worst a day out in London.

We went into the first hall and it was pretty busy. Loads of adults having their photos taken with wax models. A lot of which I didn't know and so the boys had no chance. I did start to think we had made a mistake in going. However, things picked up and we found some models we knew. And posed for pictures. OK, maybe I was more excited than the boys at having my picture with One Direction!


The sports section was fun and the boys liked the small section of Kings and Queens. The You Tube section meant nothing to them, but there was someone looking familiar next to Alfie and Zoella.


We made a beeline past the chamber of horrors as we didn't feel it would be good for the boys.

The spirit of London ride broke the experience up and was enjoyable enough.

Then at the end there is a Marvel 4D movie which takes place in what was the planetarium. I enjoyed this even if it took be a second to realise there wasn't a kid kicking me in the back of my seat, it was one of their effects.

Last of all was the Star Wars part which was a bit disappointing. I am not a major Star Wars fan, but the boys like it, but it was mainly scenes to look at. It was also pretty busy as the whole of the 4D cinema had emptied in there.

All in all the visit was much better than I had expected and if you have younger children like us and Merlin passes it is worth having a wander round. Like most Merlin attractions however, it is expensive if you don't have a pass or an offer.

This fully loaded wagyu burger is easy to make, straight out of the freezer.



As part of Iceland's #PowerOfFrozen campaign they challenged me to go into store, have a look around and create a recipe. I was impressed by the range of products on offer and even more impressed with the prices. It makes sense really. Freezing products means less waste and therefore savings are made and passed onto the customer. I stocked up on frozen fruit, vegetables, rolls, and prawns.

However, it was the wagyu burgers that caught my eye. I had absolutely no idea what a wagyu burger was. As part of Iceland's specialty meats range (Keize), the wagyu burgers are made from 100% grass fed New Zealand wagyu beef. The burgers are packed full of flavour and succulent.

This year, we saved A LOT of Tesco vouchers and exchanged them for Merlin passes. So for Daddy's Birthday we headed to the South Bank, London to see what Shrek's Adventure was all about.



Shrek's Adventure is situated on the South Bank at the previous entrance to the Sea Life London Aquarium. We went in half term and it was essential to pre-book our time slot. I booked a week before and most of the morning slots were gone. We opted for a 1-1.15 time slot. They were sold out on the day so it was busy.

Once inside there was initially a lot of queuing. This was quite annoying. We queued to have a photo. Then went up in a lift and queued for another green screen shot. It took 50 minutes until we actually started the tour properly. Once started, I am pleased to say there were no hold ups. It is worth noting that pushchairs need to be left.




You are greeted by Princess Fiona and the tour is extremely interactive. Don't worry you wont get asked to do anything awful. but the audience is used in the routine. You take a magical bus ride (aka a 4D cinema ride) to the land of far far away. Your child needs to be 90cm to take the ride. Donkey is driving the bus and accidentally kills a witch who is the girlfriend of the evil Rumpelstiltskin.

The story is a little scary for younger children who get absorbed in it.  Little man (4) was fine. Middle man (6) was really quite concerned that the witches were going to capture us. We had pre warned him that they were actors but that didn't make a difference. He ran to get away! Without giving too much away you are guided in a group of 40 through a number of rooms, each with an actor. You are trying to get back home, away from the witches. The special effects they use are great.

Once you have escaped you get to meet Shrek (where you can take your own photo) and then onto the Dreamworks room. Here there are lots of photo opportunities with your favourite Dreamworks characters.


You are then presented with a book of your green screen photos if you want to purchase this. It is really nicely presented but the same 3 photos are just put on different backgrounds. For non merlin pass holders it is a whopping £30 for this plus a couple of keyrings. We chose not to buy this.

We enjoyed our afternoon and is certainly worth booking if you have Merlin passes. It is on the pricey side if you don't.

Have you been yet? What did you think?

Middle man is a massive Skylanders fan, so choosing the cake for his 6th Birthday was easy. Well it was once I had looked at Pinterest. I went for a portal of power cake.

I started by making a standard sponge and sandwiching it together with Betty Crocker's vanilla frosting. I then spread frosting around the whole cake and placed in the fridge whilst I rolled out the white fondant icing.

I then roughly measured 1/8 of the circumference. I used this to cut out 8 of the shapes below out of ready coloured grey icing.


I used edible glue to stick these onto the cake. I made marks on them to add detail and also glued on some icing balls around each arch.

I mixed a small amount of white icing with the grey to make a slightly lighter shade. In then rolled these into the struts and added detail.



Lastly I added the figures from the game using a little icing. I was careful not to add loads of water as I am not 100% sure how they work and didn't want to break them. I think it is with magnets and either way the white icing held them in place and didn't hurt them in any way.

Middle man was over the moon with his cake and I was pleased that it didn't take hours to make.

Last week we went out for dinner. It was quite a fancy restaurant. We were the only family.

Middle man had a good look around and assessed all the diners.

"They are on a date!" he announced nodding in the direction of a couple who were doing just that.

We were quite impressed with his knowledge and I was keen to find out more about middle man's ideas on dating. This would also keep him distracted from going over to the couple and quizzing them on their intentions.

So I asked him if he thought their date was going well.

"Yes Mummy I think it is. I think they will go out again."

"Oh right" I said "where do you think they will go?" I inquired.

"I think he might take her to the park" he replied.

"And he might buy her a present."

"Oh that would be good. What might he get her?" I asked.

"He might get chocolates or flowers" he said. I nodded, pretty impressed that my 6 year old knew some ways of impressing the opposite sex even if the local park may not be a dating venue of choice for many.

"Oh and a hat, and a coat and some pink fluffy shoes. Girls like those lots." he smiled.

I smiled too and then distracted him further with selfies.

Every Christmas when I was little girl we made Rum truffles. I absolutely loved them and decided that I would have a go at some Baileys ones. Oh my they are good! The recipe is simple and you could add any flavour to suit your palette.



To make the Baileys truffles you will need:

200g milk chocolate
120ml double cream
2tbsp Baileys
1/2 tbsp butter

To decorate:
cocoa powder
chocolate vermicelli

Break the chocolate up into pieces and melt in the microwave, Check every 20s and give it a stir.

Heat the cream in a saucepan and whisk occasionally until boiling. Then mix into the melted chocolate. Stir in the butter and Bailey's. Allow to cool before placing in the fridge for 3 hours.

Trust me it is worth the wait!

Pour cocoa powder and chocolate vermicelli onto a plate.

Roll a teaspoon on the ganache mixture into a ball and cover in the cocoa and vermicelli ,

Put back into the fridge to chill. Then enjoy!

I have to admit, I had never really thought about using pesto on a pizza before. Tomato puree, BBQ sauce but never pesto. That was until Sacla sent me some of their goodies. Let's just say I am now converted! This pizza is easy to make and tastes delicious.



To make 2 large pizzas you will need:

For the dough:

500g strong white flour
1 x 7g sachet of yeast
2tbsp olive oil
1 dessert spoon caster sugar
1 tsp salt
300ml warm water

For the topping:

Sacla Classic Basil Pesto
Forestiere Mushrooms sliced
Rocket
Parmesan

To make the base, mix the dough ingredients together and knead for 5 mins. Place in an oiled bowl and leave to double in size.

Knead again for 5 mins and then roll into shape.

Cover the base with thinly sliced mushrooms. Drizzle a little oil over the mushrooms and place in an oven pre heated to 220C for around ten minutes.

Take out of the oven and cover in rocket and shaved Parmesan.

I was tempted to use the tomato pesto but I am so pleased I trusted my instincts and went with the basil pesto as it really complimented the mushrooms.


If you are looking for a light lunch option, then I can highly recommend scrambled eggs with truffle pesto.

Sacla UK, first introduced Pesto into the UK 25 years ago. To mark their Birthday they want to promote it's versatility. If, like me, you only use  pesto as a stir in sauce then check out some of their recipes. It can be used in marinades, stuffed in chicken with mascarpone, to flavour breads and they even suggested stirring it into freshly made popcorn.

What would you use pesto for?

6 must be a very exciting age. Middle man has been counting down the days to his Birthday since Christmas. He even made a calendar. Excitement is at fever pitch. He has changed his mind about the presents he wants a million times. I am sure on the day he will bounce around the room like an over excited puppy with whatever he receives. So what are the 6 things I love most about middle man?



1.His love of apples

Top of his list for his Birthday was a fruit basket. I love this! I can't even tell you the amount I spend a week on apples for him. He eats them by the bag. He will turn down sweets for apples. (I am not even sure he is my son!)  Maybe I should have just bought him a tree. I have gone all out with his basket though and instead of the value range he has the juicy Pink Lady variety.


2. His love of Skylanders

Speaking to middle man you would think that he is on the computer 24/7. He loves Skylanders. In reality he rarely plays it. He often opts to watch his brothers play it instead. He loves the little virtual world of Skylanders. He has studied his posters and magazines. In the past week he has insisted on taking an empty Skylanders back pack to school just because it has Skylanders on. He already has a list longer than his arm of all the Skylanders he wants to buy with his Birthday money.

3. His love of drawing

Middle man loves drawing. A lot. At the weekend he can do anything up to 25 pictures a day. I just love his drawings. They make me smile.


4. His love of acting

I suppose the signs were there. He has always wanted to be a rock star. This Christmas he got a reasonable sized part in the school play and he has not looked back. He now goes to drama club. He loves this as "there are lots of girls there Mummy" (see point 5) and he gets a sweet at the end.


5. His love of girls.

Now at 6 this is quite cute. In a few years time this may be on a list of things I am worried about! Whilst big man, at 8, wont even admit to vaguely liking any girls, middle man is the opposite. He loves girls. He particularly likes the pink fluffy hats that have scarves attached that they wear. He likes their soft ear muffs. I think he has started watching My Little Pony purely so he can impress the girls with his knowledge of Rainbow Dash. His current crush is a lovely little girl who lives nearby. I am pretty sure it is unrequited love. On Christmas Eve, he wouldn't go to bed until he had knocked on her door to carol sing. When I say carol sing, what I actually mean is that he sang "Spongebob's Christmas" out of tune. She was more impressed than I would have been. Yesterday he wanted to give her a Valentine's gift. After some convincing he decided to secretly post it. In disguise.


6. His love of family

Middle man loves his family. The five of us. He see's us as a tight unit. I used to think the only reason he tolerated little man was so that he could boss him around. But recently, he has shown that he really does love him. At his Birthday party, whenever her was asked to choose people for games, his brothers got chosen. Every time. Above his friends. Although it may not always seem like it, family is very important to middle man. Family photos could do with some work at the moment though as he just pulls funny faces!


There is no rushing middle man. He does everything in his own time. He is his own beautiful, imaginative, happy little person who loves singing, dancing and wandering around the house naked. Complaining he is cold. He solves this by turning the fire on.

Love you middle man! I hope being 6 is as exciting as you have predicted.

Sunday mornings, slow and relaxed.

Bliss.


Now the boys are a bit bigger, we occasionally get to enjoy breakfast in bed. I know I never thought I would see the day! It isn't every week. Their social life means we are taxis to various parties and events. But more and more we are getting to enjoy an easy Sunday morning. A flick through the morning papers and magazines. Sunday Times have relaunched the Life section of The Sunday Times magazine and it is full of interesting articles. There really is something for everyone. Of course I turned straight to the recipe pages. The poached eggs with braised leeks and creme fraiche popped out of the page at me. If I hadn't been planning a Sunday roast, I think I would have popped to the shops to buy the ingredients there and then. It is now on my list of things to make next week.


I loved looking at the article on ice fishing huts. As a blogger I am slightly in love with beach huts and get very excited if we visit a beach with them. I think if I lived in Canada I would want to go out in the cold and get snaps of them!

Whilst dinner was cooking I may have taken a little time out for a coffee and a read in the piece and quiet of the conservatory. It is ironic really that the conservatory is the boys' playroom but is often the best place to go for a relaxed cuppa and a read.


When it comes to reading I like a physical book or in this case magazine. I don't own a kindle. There is something special about flicking through the pages. Maybe I am living in the dark ages, but it is something I feel quite strongly about. My husband on the other hand likes technology all the way. He likes the digital version and I suppose it does have the advantage of no recycling necessary.


We are now waiting the arrival of the Grandparents and then a Sunday afternoon walk. As it is half term, this week is even more relaxed as there is no last minute homework to do. So here's to more relaxed Sunday mornings.

How do you spend Sunday's?

The Goan Tomato and Lentil Soup is part of the Skinnylisious range, is one of your 5 a day and is Gluten free.

If you think you could come up with the next Glorious! flavour there is a competition with Waitrose that you might like to enter and have the chance to win £250 Waitrose voucher. You can find out more here.

Have you tried the Glorious! Soups yet? What is your favourite flavour?

When it come to Valentine's Day, my husband and I have never really been into gift buying. Instead we tend to cook a nice meal, crack open a bottle of wine and enjoy the evening together. Haagen Dazs can really help out with a tasty dessert straight from the freezer. The Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream is a winner on it's own, but I teamed it up with some butter biscuits as an extra treat.


For these cookies I used a Nigella recipe but halved the quantities. It is really simple and rather than ice them I chose to add pink chocolate bean to the middle of each cookie.

You will need:

90g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

Chocolate beans to decorate

Pre heat the oven to 180C

I creamed the butter and sugar together before mixing in the rest of the ingredients. I then rolled the dough to 1cm thick and cut out heart shapes. I then added a pink chocolate bean to each biscuit before putting in the oven for 10 minutes.




The Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream is a real treat. Just the thing to spoil the one you love this Valentine's Day.

Haagen Das have kindly offered me some vouchers to giveaway to one of my readers. These can be redeemed so you can have two delicious tubs of Haagen Daz to try for yourself. Please note that they need redeeming before 31st March 2016. To enter just complete the Gleam entry below. Good luck!

Haagen Dazs



Open to UK residents over the age of 18 only Entries will be moderated, so please make sure that you comment if necessary. There is one prize of 2 vouchers to redeem against a tub of Haagen Dazs. No cash alternative. No bulk or automated entries. If you have already won the prize on a separate blog giveaway with the same promoter they reserve the right to redraw a new winner. The winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will be notified by email (make sure you leave your contact details) and will have until to respond with their address. If they fail to respond within a week a new winner will be drawn (this is due to time constraints on the vouchers.) No PO Box address Competition closes on 26th Feb at 11.59 

I was sent some Haagen Dazs vouchers in return for this post.

This months Degustabox arrived and I jumped straight in to see what was there. Some of the brands have been in previous boxes but there was a good range with some new things to try. So what did we think?

Finn Crisp: We have tried these in previous boxes and they make a good snack/light lunch,

Coldpress: This apple juice is cold pressed rather than heat pasteruised. It tasted nice and is the kind of thing I would purchase in a coffee shop.

Conscious Chocolate: I had never tried raw chocolate before and I loved it.

Jordans Country Crisp: The rest of my family have been enjoying this as I don't like raisins.

Amoy: These sauces are for two people which is handy as it is the kind of thing my husband and I would eat without the boys. (They don't eat anything remotely spicy yet.) Quick and easy and handy to have in the cupboard.

Tsingtao: A Chinese beer to celebrate Chinese New Year. It was fine but I am not a big beer drinker.

Yushoi: Snackpea rice sticks. My new favourite snack. There is also a voucher to get another pack free!

Clark's Carob Syrup: Tastes great on porridge. I tried baking with it, but need to practice!

Slim Noodles: This is a No.1 health productmade from Konjac flour and oat fibre. Unfortunately I had tried this in a box last year and disliked it so much that I am not even willing to waste my time cooking it. Sorry not for me.

Crobar: A natural energy bar. Not something I would usually buy.

If you would like to try Degustabox you can use the code BLDEG15 to get £6 off your first box!

This month's recipe might be quick and easy but my it packs a flavoursome punch.

You will need:

Finn Crisp Original Crispbread

2 eggs

Chopped spring onion

Sacla Truffle Pesto

Simply whisk the eggs and cook slowly on a low heat.

Spread the truffle pesto on the crispbread.

Top with scrambled egg, spring onion and a little extra truffle pesto.

Delicious!

Over the last few weeks I have been testing out the Vax Air Cordless Lift Duo. If I had realised how much it would change the way I  clean the house, I would have bought one years ago.



I won't lie, I have always associated Vax with the big carpet cleaners that wash the carpet. I wouldn't have thought of looking at them for a new vacuum, mainly as I have been very loyal in the past to another brand who I perceived to be the best.

The main reason I like the Vax Air Cordless is that it is easy to move around. It is lightweight. It doesn't have a cord. And best of all you can take the cylinder off for cleaning the stairs or the ceiling.

With my previous vacuum, the stairs were a nightmare. It was big and bulky and didn't fit on a stair. The cord would get tangled. This is no longer a problem.

It is easy to take apart and easy to put back together.

The machine itself isn't too big or an awkward shape so it fits easily in a cupboard. As you can see from the photo of me vacuuming the stairs, it lights up when on. This is actually quite helpful for hoovering under middle man's mid sleeper.

The fact that it is cordless, just makes it that bit easier to use. It comes with two batteries so you can charge one whilst the other one is being used. The battery just clips in and the blue light stops flashing when it is fully charged.

Another downside to my old vacuum was that it had different attachments for wood floor and carpet. We were forever losing these. The Vax Air Cordless doesn't need a different attachment. You just press a button. On the carpet a a brush goes around picking up even more dirt.

Over the last week I have been doing some Easter crafts with little man. He painted some polysyrene eggs which I wanted to display. When our Bostik box arrived, I had an idea and decided I would make some Easter twigs to display his eggs.

To make these I needed some sticks. As I have 3 boys, I just went to the stick pile by our front door! I then gathered some buttons, eggs and pom poms in spring colours as well as some flower embellishments and glitter.


Once you have found some sticks make sure they are the right length to fir in a vase or pot. Lay down some scrap paper and spray the fast tak onto the twig. Wait a couple of minutes for it to become tacky and then place on the decorations.


I then placed the decorated twigs into a vase and hung up little man's decorated eggs with some ribbon.


Have you started crafting for Easter yet? What have you made?

Horseradish potatoes are basically a potato gratin with horseradish sauce added to the cream.

Here I peeled 4 large potatoes and thinly sliced them. I then heated 150ml double cream, with 450ml milk and 3 desert spoons of horseradish. I placed the potatoes in the mixture and simmered for 10 minutes. (You may want to add a little more horseradish. As the boys were eating this I didn't want to make it too strong.) Place the potatoes and sauce in a dish and cover with foil and put in the oven with your beef.


Once the beef is cooked, take it out to rest and turn the oven up to 220C to make your Yorkshire puddings.

To make 12 Yorkshire puddings you will need:

175ml milk
175g flour
3eggs

Whisk the mixture and divide between 12 muffin holes. (You will need to add oil to the bottom of each muffin hole if you don't have a stoneware muffin dish.)

Open the oven, take the foil off the potatoes and cover the top with grated emmental. Pop this back in the oven and put the Yorkshire Puddings in to cook too.


Now is the time to steam any accompanying veg and make your gravy. I used the juices from the meat, a little flour.

Over Christmas I made some Candy Cane Bark  which went down a treat with my boys and husband. It is simple to make and turns a couple of inexpensive chocolate bars into something much more exciting. With Valentine's Day on the way I decided to make some bark with pink goodies on top.

To make this you will need:

100g milk chocolate
100g white chocolate
Vegetable oil
A handful of pink mini marshmallows
A handful of pink chocolate beans
Some freeze dried strawberries.

Pour this onto some greaseproof paper and allow to nearly set.

Next melt the white chocolate and add a drop of vegetable oil. Arrange some of the freeze dried strawberry onto the chocolate.Pour the melted white chocolate onto of the milk chocolate. Decorate with extra freeze dried strawberry, marshmallows and chocolate beans.

Set in the fridge, before breaking into pieces.  Who would you give this to?

Safer Internet Day 2016 takes place on Tuesday 9th February. To help promote the importance of online safety, Intel Security challenged big man to make a visual representation about what a safe internet would look like.

I have to say I was impressed with how much he and middle man knew about internet security, I haven't really gone into much detail with them about it before as I haven't really felt the need. We have parental filters so that certain sites are blocked. However as big man is using the internet more on his own, I thought it was a good time to discuss it with him.  His drawing shows some of the key ideas he has been taught at school even if his spelling isn't quite there yet!

The four arrows coming from his stick man say that you shouldn't give out your details like your address, don't meet people, be nice and tell someone if you are worried. He knew things like sharing passwords, telephone numbers and other personal details such as what school he goes to are a bad idea.

Intel Security are helping consumers with security software such as TrueKey. If like me you have a million different passwords for online accounts that you invariably forget, then I would suggest you look into this. Basically TrueKey is security software which signs you in with your password by using face or fingerprint recognition. Clever! Intel Security also offer McAfee LiveSafe which provides protection so you can shop, surf and keep all your devices secure online with a single subscription.

Have you spoken to your children about internet security yet? The world has changed a lot since we were at school and you will probably be surprised like I was at how much they already know.


To celebrate safe internet day, Intel Security are running a giveaway of a family ticket to Bletchley Park. Here you can explore the top-secret world of World War 2 code breaking set within a beautiful Victorian estate. Just complete the rafflecopter below. Good Luck!

I have talked about my parenting fails with little man before. Nothing awful. It is just hard being a busy Mum, juggling three boys. Who gets their names right anyway?