POP PARTY 10 ANOTHER HIT IN THIS HOUSE. YOU CAN WIN ONE TOO!!

 

 

I have always loved music from a very early age, I put it down to the fact that my dad used to be in a band with his two brothers in the 60s, so I have grown up with a wide variety of music.

I think this has been transferred to all of my children as they can all be found listening to one type of music or another. Journeys these days are very quiet as five of them have mp3 Players, so all you can see is them moving to their own music!

Every year Xene and Neva have various music CDs on their Christmas Lists, and this year is no exception, so we were delighted to be given the opportunity to review Pop Party 10.

We are certainly Pop Party fans in this household, we have every CD from 1-10...

The main thing that we love about the Pop Party CDs is that they take a wide variety of music from the past few months and each song is known by at least one member of the house.

This album has some very well known artists, including Katie Perry, One Direction and Jessie J, and we will forgive them for including Justin Bieber because we understand that lots of people do actually like him (Not here, but somewhere far far away, I am sure!!)

Listening to the entire CD I was very surprised how many I actually knew, and of course the children knew ALL of them.

The great thing with the Pop Party CDs is the extra disc that is a DVD containing some great music videos, which Eowyn loves to watch and to copy 4 year old style!!

Yet again the Pop Party is a massive hitwith The Morrisons, and with 22 songs to play, I am sure it will never get old.

It also comes with a lyrics card, so we can all sing the correct words and not just make up our own!!

GIVEAWAY.

To be in with a chance of winning your very own copy of Pop Party 10 just comment below with your favourite song of all time and why ?

Mine would have to be Truly, Madly, Deeply by Savage Garden as the words are very poignant and it was the song we had playing during the signing of the register when we got married.

Winner will be chosen using random.org

Closing Date is midnight on 13th November 2012

 

Deluxe Charm Bracelet Toys R Us Review

We were sent this Deluxe Charms set as part of the Toys R Us Toylogist.
All three girls love making things and also wearing jewellery, so were very keen to get started.
On opening the box and reading the instructions, it was evident that the kit was far too difficult for Eowyn, so the age range of 8+ is most definitely correct.

The kit contains 7 blocks of different coloured Polymer Clay, which the girls have now got on their Christmas Lists, as they thoroughly enjoyed making the bracelets, but also using the clay to make various little models.

The beads for the bracelets are fairly simple to make, by rolling a ball of clay, you then use the tool provided and attach two of the studs on either end and push them through, until they meet in the middle, you then scrape away any excess clay and you have made your first bead.

The instruction booklet tells you how to make various types of beads, by rolling different colours together, creating a marble effect, adding glitter or sparkly bits.
When the beads are ready they can be placed in the oven for 30 minutes until they have hardened.

When cool, they can be threaded onto the bracelet, and then placed in a little velvet puch which is supplied and you have your very own, personalised charm bracelet.

This is the girls first attempt, they enjoyed the process immensely and were keen to make more, although this set only comes with two bracelets, so once you have made the two, you would need to find something else to attach your beads to.

The entire kit has a RRP of £19.99 which I feel is quite good value for money as Polymer Clay itself is extremely expensive. In terms of play value, this kept the girls interest for quite a long time and got them making all sorts of little figures, once they had made the bracelets, therefore I would say this is definitely a kit you should consider if you have girls who are creative and enjoy making things, and I would agree with the age range of 8+

Adult Halloween Party anyone ?

Every year Broadland-Great Yarmouth RFC host a Halloween Fancy Dress Party, and this year will be no exception!!

I LOVE dressing up, in fact my Fancy Dress wardrobe is actually bigger than my normal wardrobe, with Halloween, Christmas and Valentines Fancy Dress Parties every year for rugby and the occasional birthday fancy dress parties, we have an abundance of them, ranging from 6 months old to Extra Large Adult sizes...

Last Year I went as a witch, and Asa was a devil

 

This year I shall be a Skeleton and Asa a Zombie American Footballer, I am guessing he will be the warmer of the two!! I am just hoping this rain ceases so that my make up doesn't run...

Each year we try our best to make it look as spooky as we can, this year I have been very fortunate to have been given some decorations to make it look fabulous.

 

 

 

Asda have supplied us with some amazing decorations, including Boris The Butler

and a very eerie looking Crow

We have light up pumpkins, tinsel, Bunting, Spider Room Stickers, lantern Lights and not forgetting

the all important Shot Glasses, oh yes people there will be drinks a plenty!! Being a rugby club there will be lots of silly games and a golf ball shall make an appearance at some point (I have a sneaky plan for that, but I will let you know tomorrow how it goes!! sshh)

 

 

Party Packs also sent us some rather groovy decs



Not forgetting Silly Jokes who sent us a string of glittery light up skulls that are just too cool..

Check back tomorrow to see how it all came together and hear about the Halloween Evening.

 



 

 

 



 

Children's Halloween Party Anyone ?

As you know from my previous post, the kids LOVE trick or treating, but sometimes we also have a little Halloween Party ad invite a few of the childrens friends over, with this in mind I started looking at Hallowwen Party products and was veryn impressed with the things on offer at Asda

For just £5 you can get an instant Party Pack, inclusive of Invites, Cups, Plates,Bowls, Napkins and a really cool tablecloth.

I love this design as it is Halloweeny but not too scary, in fact quite cute.

 
These straws were a huge hit with my children, they love straws anyway and the fact that they have them in spooky halloween colours was just awesome, accoring to 7 year old Kaide!

The Glow in The Dark window stickers have been applied, so check back on the next post for the verdict.






 

Two Very Proud Parents!

This week we had parents evening for Neva and Kaide.

Neva is in year 5, and Kaide in Year 2. This parents evening has been the first one that we have attended as parents of a Year 5 child, because they only closed our local Middle school for children aged 9-13 last year, so until now Year 5 interviews have always taken place at Middle school.

I enjoy parents evenings, or interviews as they are now referred to, because it gives us a chance to get a glimpse of our children's progress and how they behave outside of the home environment.

I have never been a parent that dreads this time and every one we have attended has been excellent, this week's was no exception.

Kaide has made a smooth transition into Year 2, his strongest subject by far is Maths, that he is working way above his age, which we already knew, but it was lovely to hear, at the end of Year one he took the new phonics test that the government has introduced and he did not get a very good mark, therefore he will resit it at the end of year 2, I had expected this to be the case as he has a slight speech problem, although his teacher reassured us that she could understand everything that kaide says, but he just needs to slow down a little!!

His current teacher I have nothing but praise for, she is bubbly and enthusiastic and I know he will thrive in her class, he enjoys school, but enjoys being out on the field at lunchtime playing football even more! My washing machine doesn't as he comes home filthy every day....

Neva's teacher from last year has followed the class into year 5, which I am extremely pleased about, as Neva did exceptionally well last year and she really knows Neva's personality and how to get the best from her.
As they are moving towards the upper end of the school, they have been allowed to take in their own belongings, such as pencil cases and stationery, so that they start to learn to take responsibility for their own things, which Neva has responded to very well.

The level of work that she has outputted in only five weeks was impressive and the levels that her work is achieving is amazing.
Her class is a very noisy and boisterous class, with some real `characters' but this doesn't seem to affect Neva (she is probably used to all the noise at home!)

Both Asa and I came away from the school feeling very proud of our children.

Well Done Neva and Kaide We Love You Very Much xxx

Trick Or Treat Anyone ?

I know that the subject of trick or treating is a very odd one, people are definitely split down the middle whether they agree or not.

Well, I am on the agree side of the fence, when I was a child I used to love going round our little village with my friends, always supervised by an adult (usually my dad, as he was the only parent that would be willing to walk around in the freezing cold, whilst we all had a great time.) I remember one house going into total panic as he said TRICK and we actually didn't know what to do, I think we squirted him with a water pistol, but then he gave us some sweeties anyway.

I suppose because I had such fond memories of this activity in my childhood, that I had no trouble with my children doing it. The road that we live on now is a long country road that would probably take them all night to walk along and only come across about eight houses, but mainly horses!!

The little close that we used to live in, located just near the children's school is a great place to go Trick or Treating, nearly all of the houses embrace the Halloween theme and decorate them with lots of lights, cobwebs, pumpkins and it really has a lovely feel about the entire evening.

All of the children dress up and the older ones, now teens take care of the little ones and usually end up with just as many sweets as the little ones, I have been known on occasions to get sweets too!

They end up with a vast array of sweets and I am always on the lookout for new Halloween sweets to try, we were lucky enough to be sent some from Asda
which the children immediately begged to try.

Wicked Wands



Brains and Eyeballs

 



 



The wands have a really lovely orange flavour and they also make your tongue go black which the kids thought was fantastic.

The eyeballs and brains I was a little sceptical about they have a cream and popping candy middle, and I have to say they were amazing, who knew that such a small amount of popping candy could be so loud in my mouth!!

Both of these fab sweets can be found in your local Asda store or online at www.asda.com


 

FINALISTS SELECTED FOR HELP DORA HELP

Public to Decide Which Entry will Receive £20,000 Award

 

Five nurseries selected from submissions from across The UK have been chosen as the finalists for Nick Jr.’s Help Dora Help Campaign. The initiative is supported by The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts and is designed to support nurseries, preschools and children’s centres in their educational curriculum. Almost 300 nurseries and preschools submitted an entry to this year’s campaign with applicants from Cumbria, Derbyshire, London and Lancashire elected as finalists. The winner will be decided by members of the public that vote at nickjr.co.uk/helpdorahelp.

"The quality of entries for Help Dora Help was extraordinary and gave a great picture of the areas of educational interest across UK preschools," said Helena Dowling, Nick Jr., presenter and Help Dora Help judge. "With funding required for things such buying a minibus to creating a mini beast learning zone, the finalists each demonstrate a desire to offer more educational opportunities for their pupils. I am looking forward to seeing which entry the public chooses to receive the award."

Voting is now open to decide which of the finalist will receive the award. Voting is open to anyone within the UK and voters can take a look at all five finalists and learn more about their submission at nickjr.co.uk/helpdorahelp. Voting is open until 2nd November with the winner of the award announced on 19th November.

Inspired by the adventurous spirit of Dora, Help Dora Help seeks to encourage support education, development and exploration in the pre-school environment. The five finalists for this year’s campaign are:

Greystoke Under 5’s, Greystoke, Cumbria - The rural volunteer playgroup would use the award to revamp their outdoor play area as well as their kitchen. Oakmount Day Nursery, Preston, Lancashire - The nursery would use the award to purchase a minibus, ideally equipped with exploratory items such as a metal detector and telescope.

The Old Forge Day Nursery, Findern, Derbyshire
-The nursery would use the award to build a log cabin with sensory room, a library and dance studio.   Parkfield Children’s Centre, West Hendon, London
– The Children’s Centre would develop their Early Years playground to reflect various countries, cultures, seasons and festivals. 
Walton Lane Nursery School & Children’s Centre, Nelson, Lancashire
- The Centre would create a bug hotel so that children could increase their knowledge of mini beasts. 

An expert panel led by Nick Jr.’s Wake Up World Helena Dowling, alongside Nick Jr. representatives and partners including The Prince’s Foundation for Children & the Arts, Dora Magazine and Chad Valley chose the five finalists with each finalist awarded discovery and learning equipment from Chad Valley as well as a classroom visit from Dora the Explorer.

 
 
  

 

  

 



Special K Cracker Crisps - And they were gone...

Special K Cracker Crisps are a tasty new savoury snack , which has 95 calories and 3% fat for a serving of 21 crisps.

We were sent a box of Sea Salt & Balsamic Vinegar and a box of Sweet Chilli to try.

I can usually tell what the children think of something, by the speed in which it is consumed, therefore, these were a HUGE hit, as they were demolished in minutes, with the household being split down the middle on their favourite flavour.

They can be located on the crisp aisle in all major supermarkets priced at £1.99 for a 100g box or 60p for individual bags.

 

Crisps and snacks are a real favourite in The Morrison household, and I think they may make it onto the next shopping list, although I am not sure how healthy it would be for me to eat an entire box by myself, however the Sweet Chilli ones have one less calorie, so I should be OK!!

Daddy, I'm A Zombie DVD Review

 

Join Dixie and Friends on a spooky adventure to a magical world of Witches, Pirates and Mummies !

 

Finding herself in a strange new world, she must befriend Isis (an Egyptian mummy princess) and Gonner (a pirate cabin boy) and defeat the evil witch, Nubulosa, so that she can find her way home!

 

UK & Ireland Cert: PG

Price : 6.99

Run time: 79 minutes.

Lionsgate Home Entertainment UK.

 

Its that spooky time of year again, and the children love watching new films, so I was curious to see what they would make of this DVD, the run time is about right for all of the children to be able to sit and watch it and the cover didn't seem too scary.

 

Eowyn aged 3, was keen to watch the film, however after 25 minutes she announced she had finished watching and went off to play with the Playmobil!

 

The other four children aged between seven and fourteen sat and watched the entire film without making any noise or arguing with each other, which means they did actually enjoy the film immensely.

 

Neva aged nine said that her favourite character was the random hippy zombie, who Lochlan (12) also called amazing.

They all agreed that it was a good halloween film that isn't too scary and was very funny, Xene's(14) favourite character  was Isis and Lochlan thought the evil person's tiny minion was very funny.

Both boys loved Gonner's flamethrower.

So I would say this was a big hit and definitely an enjoyable family film to watch around this time of the year.

 



Asda Little Angels Dry & Sensitive Range

All six of my children have at some time had dry or sensitive skin, especially as young babies, so I will always try to find the products that suit them best.
I was delighted to give Asda's own brand Little Angels new Dry and Sensitive range a test.

The first product that we tested was the bath and body wash, the children love bubbles in the bath and the fact that it is also a wash is fantastic, both time saving and no need to locate the lost soap in the bottom of the cloudy bath water!!

I added the bath and body wash to the running water and was delighted to find that loads of bubbles appeared, it doesn't have a particular smell to it, unlike some overpowering scents.

 

As you can see the bath was full of bubbles and they actually lasted a really long time. The RRP for a 300ml bottle is £1.35 which I think is fantastic value for money.

 

We also got sent the Dry & sensitive Shampoo to try.

Again, this didn't have a strong smell, and it was very gentle on their eyes, especially the way Kaide and Eowyn wash their hair, they sort of just throw a bucket of water over their head and hope for the best!!

 

As you can see they are both smiling and no screaming because it is stinging their eyes.

The shampoo RRP is also £1.35 which I think represents excellent value for money and it did make their hair look soft and shiny.

You can purchase both of these products in your local Asda store or when you do your online shop at www.asda.com

 

 

 



 

I NEED a new bathroom ! #TotsDIY

At first, I was unsure which room could do with transforming first, there are so many, but a few days ago I had an email with the subject, choose your dream bathroom, so that was obviously my cue...

So here is the reason why I would love tots100 to pick me...

When we first had this house nearly six years ago, the one room that I loved was the bathroom, not because of the pink flowery decor or the `lovely' flower pictures, but the space.

Our last house had a separate bathroom and toilet, well, I say bathroom, it had a bath and a sink in it and that was it, oh, and just enough room to stand out of the bath to dry yourself!

This bathroom is probably bigger than one of the bedrooms, and both sets of parents keep telling us to shrink it, but for the eight of us it is perfect, it has two sinks which it great in the mornings, the shower space is big enough for two, the bath is standard size, so can squeeze three children in at a push, there is enough space for the little ones to get dried and dressed, or even attempt rolie polies as they do quite frequently...

so, I hear you ask whats the problem, well....

Our Power Shower, without the Power!

The shower is quite old, one morning as I got out of it, I turned the dial to switch it off and nothing happened, the water continued to pour, so, at present the only way to stop the water is to turn the two levers in the bottom of the airing cupboard, which is not what you want to do in the morning, but is necessary, as there is always something else that needs fixing before the shower!!

Tyrus trying to be helpful and turn on the shower!!

The bath is standard size, which roughly translated means my husband has to bath with his feet out the end, or bent out of the water.

The bidet has been used on approximately six occasions since we have been here, usually to wash their feet or bath the baby when they were tiny.

The toilet seat doesn't quite fit properly and on occasions pinches your bum cheek ouch!! And as you can see from the above picture it is so snug in the corner I can't actually open the airing cupboard door very well!

The double sinks are great, apart from the taps that do not match!!

The carpet, walls and tiles are all a lovely pink flower, which may be someones taste, but it certainly isn't ours!! The four lights are great for catching bugs, but nothing else, other than making all the lights in the house go out, if they are all on at once!!

So, if I were fortunate enough to have a new bathroom, I would

get rid of the little bath and replace with a large corner bath, with jets, to ease my husbands aching joints after rugby.



Corner bath and matching sinks!

 

 I would get rid of the Bidet, leaving me enough room for my bath.

Change the toilet for one that doesn't bite my bum

Install a new shower that actually switches off  and knows the meaning of power shower

Change the sinks and taps for something modern and have more shelving space.

And if there was enough left in the kitty, have a heated towel rail in the bathroom instead of having to run out into the hallway to fetch a towel from the radiator!!

A shower that hopefully has power!

Just a toilet that doesn't bite me would be good.



Love the black and white, no pink in sight!

 

Don't want much do I ??

Although mine is a little more realistic than the childrens as they would like a bath big enough for eight or two baths, one for boys and one for girls side by side!!


 

May I speak with Mrs...insert any name that telesales add!!

Fourteen Years and Still they call
You would think by now, I had heard them all
But every week, another rears its head
Causing my telephone line, to go dead....

I am of course talking about the wonderful world of telesales, which seems to takes up half of my telephone calls these days!

Now I understand that all of these people that ring me are just doing their job and I do feel slightly guilty that whatever they are trying to sell me is not going to happen, but it is extremely annoying.

The ones I have real problems with, are the ones that phone either very early in the morning at the weekend ( our house does not stir until after 9am) or the ones in the evening, with eight people in the house it is  a) extremely noisy and I have trouble hearing them and b) usually the time when I am trying unsuccessfully to put the little ones to bed, which is usually the exact moment that the telephone wakes up the baby.

We have lived in this house for nearly six years and the previous occupants were here for over 20 years, however I am constantly plagued by phonecalls for Mrs London or Mrs Goffin, but when I say there is no-one of that name living here, they then start trying to sell me something, so actually I might just as well have said yes I am that person, because they are going to take up at least 10 minutes of my time whilst I politely say no thankyou, regardless.

Over the years, my wonderful husband has adopted certain tactics to pass the phonecall.

~ He has a long debate with them about the weather in their part of the country/ world.
~ He tries to convince them to take a holiday in East Anglia and tells them places of interest to visit
~ He hands the phone to the youngest member of the family
~ He answers their questions with a question, which can go on for ages!!

I, on the other hand, just leave the phone on the side and wait until they give up and try someone else.

Although, sometimes it is my own fault, I enjoy entering competitions and I am hopeless at ticking the no communications boxes, so on occasions I have had a very excitable person ring me congratulating me on a FABULOUS holiday, however they are not quite so enthusiastic when I reply "How wonderful, a free holiday for eight of us, amazing" they quickly stutter, umm and ahh then say, "Unfortunately we are only able to accomodate four" to which I reply "So I haven't won a holiday, because I only enter for ones that take all of us, I couldn't possibly leave four children at home!!" funny enough the line usually goes dead....

I did nearly miss a fabulous win, when a lady telephoned to say I had won a Batfa Goodie Bag, worth £2500, I was very close to saying "excellent" and putting down the phone, luckily she was no nice and bubbly I probably would have spoken to her without the prize, which, incidentally was real and also amazing.

Although after all of that I DID actually swap my electricity supplier last month, from a telesales call, but we were looking to change and he just happened to ring at the right time, so I am not that awful to telesales people, honest!


I received a very funky trimphone for posting about telesales. All words are my own, true and honest opinion and East Anglia really is a lovely place to visit.

 

Now I Know Your Secret Boys!

Chores in our house are quite simple, I wash the clothes, put them into piles and the children put them away.

Up until now the girls never seem to quite get everything out away, there are always cardigans hanging on backs of doors or chairs and the drawers are always full.

The boys, however, always seem to put theirs away in record time and with great efficiency....

Yesterday I decided it was time to sort out the bedrooms, we are having a toy and book sale at school next month and I thought it was about time we had a sort out.

However, on entering the boys bedroom all looked quite tidy, there were quite a few Pokemon, Bakugan, Yu-giOh cards all over the floor, until, that is I started to open the drawers!!

They have specific drawers for each type of clothes, top drawer long sleeve tops, second drawer short sleeve tops, third drawer Jeans, Fourth drawer trousers and shorts, fifth drawer pants and socks and the bottom drawer has jumpers, this is the way i have always done it, so they know EXACTLY where everything goes.

As I opened the first drawer an array of clothing jumped out at me, (literally, jumped at me) not just the boys clothes, but some of the girls, a few of my missing socks!! Even some of Asa's clothing....

Each drawer told the same story, they have been stuffing every item of clothing in any space going...
Not only in the drawers, but I found random items of clothing in the Lego box, in Lochie's pencil case, under their piles of teddies, in fact every nook and cranny of that bedroom was filled with clothing, no wonder they only seem to wear the same clothes, its because they have no idea where the rest are!!

So, not only did I spend the entire afternoon sorting through books and toys, I also rearranged all of their drawers with the correct clothes and threatened them with permanent nudity!!!

No longer will I complain about the girls few items of clothing on the back of the chair!!!

Please, someone reassure me that boys get tidier with age...

#Shouting4Tamsyn

Last week Babyhuddle launched their Do One Thing for Tamsyn campaign to raise
awareness of Tamsyn Wood’s tragic situation. If you’re not familiar with her
story, please see this post.

This story is one that could happen to any of us, in fact only last month I had a phonecall to say that my husband was on the way to hospital with a rugby injury, thankfully it was only a giant hole in his leg, but the thought of him being unable to do all the things I take for granted would be unthinkable.

There are lots of different reasons why a person may find themselves having to rely upon benefits. Illness, job losses and accidents are just the tip of the iceberg. Tamsyn Wood’s story is, unfortunately, one of many. We know that cuts need to be made, especially to those who do not need benefits as much as Tamsyn. But we want the Chancellor George Osborne to know this:

By cutting benefits to those in dire need of them, the government is sending a very strong message- you are on your own.
We want to tell the government that they are wrong.Tamsyn is not on her own. YOU are not on your own. We shall stand strong together to make sure that our voices are heard. We shall make sure that the government realises that families like Tamsyn’s need benefits- to which they are entitled- in order to survive. We want to tell the government that families like Tamsyn’s will never be the same again if we turn our backs on them.

We’ve seen the power of social media when it is used for good and we know the difference that we can make.  Together, we are many voices. Many voices turn up the volume for the repressed and the lonely. Many voices empower the people who need to stand strong. Many voices can make a difference for people like
Tamsyn.

On Friday we shall be shouting for Tamsyn and we want you to join us. Share Tamsyn’s story. Share the petition. Lend your voice and make changes happen.

When:  Friday 12th October 2012, 8.30 pm
Where:  Twitter
What: #shouting4tamsyn
Why: to make changes happen

Are you in?

What Flowers To Choose For A Birthday ?

Birthdays only come round once a year, as does every other special occasion. This means that you have all but one day of the year to think of an ideal birthday gift,although it can be hard to think of something that special someone in your life would like to receive, or can it?

Some gifts from interflora work really well for specific occasions, and birthdays are no exception. Birthdays should be a lot of fun, and an enjoyable gift would be perfect.

For birthdays, some types of gift are ideal, while others aren’t right. As it’s one of the most important days of the year, any gifts you decide to buy shouldn’t be small and disposable: they should be grand, unique and beautifully presented like Interflora flowers and gifts are perfect, as, at their best, they’re great to look at, long lasting and incredibly fragrant, but which flowers are best to give as birthday presents?

I find that roses are the best flowers to give as a gift for any occasion, even as interflora anniversary gifts. They look great in a crystal vase, last for at least a couple of weeks and really brighten up a room. Lilies are also great, as they look pretty in a vase too, plus they come in a variety of colours, but I’m also partial to a lovely mixed bouquet containing a number of different flower types. A bold, colourful bouquet is perhaps the best thing you buy your loved one if they like flowers, as a bunch of limp tulips from a 24-hour garage aren’t good enough.

This is a featured post, as I am a real flower lover, especially at birthdays and christmas hint, hint!!