We’ve been sent some fantastic things to try over the last couple of months that would make great christmas gifts, these have been two of my favourites!

For the kids

The playmobil zoo would make the perfect main present from Santa. Like all playmobil stuff it takes a while to set up but it really is worth the effort. What’s cool is that now we have quite a few sets all the stuff is interchangeable as it’s all set to the same scale. It’s like playmobil heaven here Oh, and you should totally add the meerkat rookery because it’s beyond cute and a bargain at just over a tenner!

For the stationery lover

I love stationery and when I was offered a Journal 10 I couldn’t resist. Each page is basically split into ten years. For each day you write a few lines, what you end up with is ten years of memories on each page, cool eh. Imagine reading that back. My plan is to starting writing our on the 1st January which means we’ll be done by the time Erin’s 16!

Shloer

We love Shloer here, in fact it was our drink of choice last Christmas – Erin loves the white grape. We tasted the limited edition berry punch which was delicious with a drier flavour. It might have to be a bottle of each this Christmas!


Animagic Benji

I’m tipping Benji to be one of the top toys this Christmas. For kids without pets it’s great, almost like a real life puppy. Benji lives in a ‘dog basket’ (a fashioned cardboard box) in Erin’s room. I’m not sure if he’s toilet trained yet but she’s been putting in the hours with him.

Siemens iQ-700

I could wax lyrical about this dishwasher all day long but I’ll let my video review do the talking.

By Guest Writer Jo

I have a bit of a thing about packaging.

My new boyfriend was thrown into a complete panic at Christmas, spending far too long agonising over different wrapping papers, after my sister told him I would care far more about the wrappings than the presents.

I have a whole dressing table covered in make-up that I hardly ever use, simply because I like the little boxes it comes it. All perfectly healthy I?m sure. After all, it?s what?s on the outside that counts right?

Beautifully British

It was the gorgeous packaging then that drew me to the Beautifully British Hand & Body Lotion by Natural Empathy. Yeah it won Best New Natural Beauty Product 2011 in the annual Natural and Organic Products awards, but to be honest I don?t buy stuff because it?s won awards, I buy it because it looks pretty.

It smells nice too. We were in bed, a few hours after I?d tried some out on my hands, when my boyfriend started snuffling around. ?There?s a really nice smell just there on your arm,? he said, pointing to a patch on my arm and sniffing, ?what is it??

Having forgotten that I?d even used the lotion, I was at a bit of a loss to explain why one particular patch of me smelled so nice, but then the next morning I remembered. ?Was it this?? I asked, sticking the bottle under his nose.

?Ergh,? he recoiled, and smeared some on his arm. ?Oh hang on, it smells different now, yeah, that?s it, it smelt so strong in the bottle though.?

?That?ll be the essential oils,? I explained, assuming the air of someone with an expert knowledge of toiletries.

The whole Natural Empathy range is free from any nasty synthetic ingredients or parabens, it?s cruelty-free, suitable for sensitive skin, and is made lovingly in small batches. It contains naturally active ingredients which are very pure and not diluted by cheaper oils, bulked out by fillers or contaminated by harsh, harmful chemicals.

Although the more exotic essential oils can?t be sourced from the UK, everything that can be British, is. Beautifully British Hand & Body Lotion is available to buy from www.naturalempathy.com priced at ?15 for 200ml.

By Guest Writer Kizzy

Again the format of this book was the same as all the others so after we read the book with the Tag pen, my daughter went back and played a few of the games as well as trying to read the words after going over it with the pen.

Her reading at school has improved and she has really become more confident as well which I think makes a huge difference with how quickly children learn.

Madagascar 2 Escape to Africa Air Penguin

As I have said before, even my little man who is two loves the books and wants to join in whenever we read. This is great as you can never be too young to love books.

Well next week is the last week of the challenge and I must admit I am a bit sad about this as we have really enjoy this challenge as it has made us make a bit more time to spend reading together apart from bed time.

Pop over to my other blogs to see what I’m doing this week! Pampered Mummy and Mummy Needs.

I was very pleased when this arrived during half term. It’s a brand new toy from Playmobil – The Grande Mansion.

This is one heck of a dolls house built over three floors. The main set is the structure of the house and all the ‘rooms’ come in seperate packages. It took ages to build as each piece of furniture has several bits to it. Usually this sort of thing would hack me off but in this case I felt it was worth it as the end result was stunning. The attention to detail is amazing, stained glass windows and ‘real’ working fireplaces and sidelamps make this an extra special dolls house well worthy of the ‘main’ christmas present.

Erin absolutely loves it and in terms of roleplay toys it’s the best toy we’ve reviewed. The Grande Mansion has even managed to overtake the wooden dolls house we had, which has now been moved to Nana’a house.

One for the birthday/christmas list if you’re looking for a really lovely dolls house. Definitely more suitable for five and upwards though as there are a lot of little pieces.

COME AND CELEBRATE THE WIGGLES? 20TH BIRTHDAY ON THEIR 2011 UK TOUR!

The Wiggles are very proud to be bringing their Greatest Hits Tour to the UK & Ireland in 2011! The fun begins on 19th May in Belfast and continues to Castlebar, Killarney, Dublin,Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Brighton, Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham, Bristol and finishes up with two days of shows at London?s HMV Apollo on 4th & 5th June.

In 2011 the band will celebrate their 20th birthday so with twenty years of hits such as ?Hot Potato?, ?Fruit Salad?, ?Rock A Bye Your Bear? and ?Toot Toot Chugga Chugga Big Red Car? the show will be jam packed with audience favourites!
Murray Cook (Red Wiggle) said: ?It?s quite amazing to us that we?ve been together 20 years!

Joining Jeff, Anthony, Murray and Sam on stage as always will be their Wiggly friends Dorothy the Dinosaur, Captain Feathersword, Wags the Dog and Henry the Octopus.

2011 UK TOUR DATES

MAY

Thursday 19th BELFAST Waterfront Hall 1pm & 4.30pm 028 9033 4455

Friday 20th CASTLEBAR Royal Theatre 4.30pm 0818 300 000

Saturday 21st KILLARNEY INEC 2pm 064 66 71555

Sunday 22nd DUBLIN Grand Canal Theatre 11am & 2pm 0818 719 377

Tuesday 24th GLASGOW Theatre Royal 1pm & 4.30pm 0844 871 7627

Wednesday 25th EDINBURGH Playhouse 1pm & 4.30pm 0844 847 1660

Thursday 26th NEWCASTLE City Hall 1pm & 4.30pm 0191 261 2606

Saturday 28th BRIGHTON Brighton Centre 1pm & 4pm 0844 847 1515

Sunday 29th NOTTINGHAM Royal Centre 11am & 2pm 0115 989 5555

Monday 30th MANCHESTER Opera House 1pm & 4pm 0844 847 2277

Tuesday 31st MANCHESTER Opera House 11am & 2pm 0844 847 2277

JUNE

Thursday 2nd BIRMINGHAM Alexandra Theatre 1pm & 4pm 0844 847 2302

Friday 3rd BRISTOL Hippodrome 1pm & 4pm 0844 847 2325

Saturday 4th LONDON HMV Apollo 1pm & 4pm 0844 844 4748

Sunday 5th LONDON HMV Apollo 11am & 2pm 08448 444 748

We’ll be going to the Edinburgh leg!

Guest post by BigDaddy

Dance Juniors for Nintendo Wii

I fired up the Wii for the first time in months today (Kinect has dominated family game time recently) so Erin could try out her new Dance Juniors game. The game relies on co-ordination (which I have none of) so I was merely tech support on this one!

My help wasn?t needed all that much though as Erin found navigating all the menus very easy and choosing the songs to dance to was a doddle.

The song choice for kids is excellent and she was very impressed that a few songs from the Shrek and Kung Fu Panda soundtracks were there. I was a little disappointed that the songs where all cover versions but I?m a music snob, so that explains it.

Along with pop and disco classics there are also a few nursery rhymes and kids songs which are ideal for younger kids. I would say this game is best suited to kids between 3-8 yrs old.

On a computer nerd level, the Wii remote doesn?t provide the sensitivity that Kinect does, so as long as one arm is doing the movements you?ll do well.

Erin liked the game and it kept her attention for a while. Great for kids, adults will get bored. 3 stars.

Bambi

The very first cinema experience of my life was going to see the cinematic re-release of Bambi when I was 3 years old. It must have had a profound effect on me as I turned out to be a bit of a movie addict! I’m also a massive Disney fan so when we received the new Bambi DVD I was just as excited as Erin to watch it.

Disney DVD has done a great job of remastering the original movie with the crystal clear picture quality and a whole new sound mix courtesy of THX sound. While all this spit and polish on the technical side is impressive, it?s the story, as always with Disney that really makes this worth watching. It contains timeless themes of friendship, family, love and loss. It pulls at the heart strings quite a bit (everyone cries when Bambi?s mum gets shot, so sad). Disney haters may say it?s a bit sickly sweet and a bit kitsch but I think it?s a wonderful piece of art, almost genius. Children take so much out of this film on so many levels but it never feels dumbed down or schmaltzy.

To say Erin enjoyed it would be an understatement. She watched it four nights in a row for her bedtime DVD (a special holiday treat) and we also enjoyed watching it together. From my point of view it was a great moment of passing the classics on to the next generation and I don?t think it?ll stop with Erin either. Quite an achievement for a film released in 1942! Classic, 5 stars.

Guest post by Leah

Sewing is making a big comeback at the moment, and there are more and more funky sewing pattern companies and fabrics becoming available, making it really good fun to sew children?s clothing. If you?re a beginner sewer and/or don?t have much confidence, sewing kids? clothes is a great way to start as they tend to be easy and relatively quick to make. You?ll feel a real sense of accomplishment when you finish your first item of clothing, and your child will look great and have something totally unique to them.

Until last year if you wanted to get hold of some of the best childrens? patterns you?d have to buy on E-bay from America, but now they?re pretty easy to find in the UK too. There are a few independent pattern companies that really stand out from the rest.

For beginners, I can highly recommend Oliver & S patterns, which can be bought in the UK from Backstitch. They are a growing collection of stylish, fun, and unique clothing for boys and girls, with super clear step-by-step instructions; and best of all, they even sell licences so that you can sell clothes you make using their patterns. And if you love their designs but really really don?t want to sew, they have a list of retailers selling Oliver & S clothing on their website.

I made the Oliver & S Teaparty Playsuit for my little daughter.

Another fabulous collection of patterns is Modkid, which can be bought in the UK from Sewbox. They are a collection of modern, trendy clothes patterns for girls, including tops, skirts, dresses and jeans. My favourite is the Julia double-layer twirl skirt.

It?s a shame they don?t do boys clothes yet, but hopefully that?s something that?ll come with time.

If you?re a bit more of an accomplished sewer, you might want to try the Danish sewing pattern company Onion. They have some really quirky, individual childrens? sewing patterns. Unfortunately the original instructions are in Danish, but English translations for most of the patterns are available on the site. The current website is pretty difficult to navigate but the lovely owner Maria promises that a shiny, brand new website will soon be unveiled under the name www.mariadenmark.com.

I’ve been super busy with my own launch this week so I’ve drafted in some help to test this new product.

Over to my guest reviewer Modupe.

When I first read the description of WellStart, the first thing that came to mind were other online equivalents ? why pay for something when you can get something similar for free? But on using the program, I found that there are so many cool features that make WellStart worth the money, and besides, it was developed by two mums so it’s got to be great!

So, to get started you can add a pregnancy and/or details of children you already have. The first thing that struck me was that because it was on my pc. rather than internet based, I felt a lot more comfortable entering my child’s details, which is great.

The main feature of the program is the calendar, where reminders and development milestones are provided based on the information you’ve added on a pregnancy and/or a child. Each of the reminders show the photo (which you upload) of the child it relates to, which makes it very easy to follow. The reminders also come with tips and information and a tab for you to write your own notes. You can also create your own reminders/records. The thing that I loved the most about these is the fact that you can add media to them. So for instance, when I record my son’s first steps, I can upload a video of him actually stumbling around and everyone clapping with delight, which is then attached to the record ? how cool is that?!

There are also sections for you to write mum and dad’s first thoughts on the news of being pregnant, pregnancy manifesto (?I will not take it personally or sulk when my partner loses her temper over minor things because of hormones? – great one!), birth story, recovery (haha!) story, etc.

Another great feature is that you can print or email from WellStart which makes sharing your experiences with friends and family very easy.

In the main screen, clicking on ‘Online Child Development Resources’ takes you to www.Babycentre.co.uk . If you read an article on potty training that you find particularly useful, you can bookmark it here instead of saving an email from Baby Centre in your inbox (which is what I currently do) and losing it amidst all the other millions of emails.

If you can get used to the program automatically minimising itself and disappearing from the screen whilst you use another application, random photos of children and women on the front screen and reminder screens, and not being able accurately record your child’s birth time (you have to use arrow buttons, with 15 minute intervals, so for my child who was born at 23:48, it’s a bit of a bummer), then WellStart is a fab computer based media journal that helps you to keeps all your child related resources together in one place and record your parenting journey from embryo till 5 ? and all at a very reasonable price. I like it!

Update: Dr Phil has kindly come back to us to let us know that the ‘random’ photos will update once you upload your own. The intervals go up in 5 mins, but they are looking to adjust this so you can put in an actual time and that the minimising thing is a design feature so that you can continue with other work with the software in the background.

Thanks Modupe!

The Giveaway

I have nine complimentary copies of Wellstart to give away! Yep, just give away.

The first nine people to contact me will get a license key for a FREE copy.

Contact me now to claim yours!

Erin’s a total girl. She loves dressing up, pink and anything that sparkles, shimmers or that can be applied to beautify. Her vanity case makes my own make up bag look, well, rather ridiculous. I’m a grown woman and my four year old has more make up, nail varnish and lip glosses than me!

As you can imagine the chance to model clothes was never going to be passed up. Given the option of a vlog or pictures she went for pictures. She quickly changed into the outfits and start throwing herself into various poses – I have no idea where she’s seen this before but she seemed to know exactly what she was doing! Should I be proud or worried, I have no idea

The clothes we’ve been trialling are from Tatty Bumpkin and are “organic, sustainable, fair trade and carbon neutral”. ‘Hippy clothes’ I thought to myself as I read through the emails, and then I flicked onto the site and saw that the clothes were actually very pretty and a 60′s looking dress caught my eye straight away – In fact it was a “raspberry tunic dress made from a bamboo and cotton mix and is entirely carbon neutral“.

The truth is that the clothes we’ve received are made from high quality materials, are very comfortable and in terms of style are a nice departure from the high street.

If you’re concerned about the way your children’s clothes are made then buying Tatty Bumpkin clothes is a no brainer. If like me it’s less of an issue then don’t overlook the quality on offer at Tatty Bumpkin, buying something that has been eithically produced just adds a bit of icing to a very fashionable cake