Cinderella Went To The Ball!

Last Night Husband and I enjoyed out second child free night since Rosie was born. We got really dressed up and headed off to a Summer ball. Here we are on our way out:

I felt really pretty in my new pink dress and Husband looked really smart in his DJ.

It was a gorgeous evening for it.  We were greeted by a band, enjoyed champagne, a delicious three course meal. fairground rides including dodgems, a bucking bronco, bouncy castle and coconut shy.  There was even an ice cream stand. Oh and not forgetting an amazing firework display too. It really was a fantastic evening.

Living across the river from the venue, husband had even arranged for a private boat to bring us home. It was  a prefect end to a magical evening. The water was so still and like a mirror. It was so quiet and the dim lights everywhere made it very romantic. I felt very special.

In bed at 2am, tired and a little tipsey, the evening ended....

....Then at 4am poor Rosie woke up screaming having half cut another tooth, not quite the lazy lie in we had planned but never mind.

This afternoon we are allowed another few hours off to see Harry Potter and I must say I am feeling totally spoilt.  I think my parents might need a rest after that though.  After us all being awake all night , with Rosie we are more than a little tired.  Thanks Mum and Dad, we really appreciate you.

Karen x

Oh Dear Toy Lasted Less Than 1 Hour!

I was sent a Zoobles to trial and review from Spin Master Toys. These are bright and colourful little creatures which can hide themselves by rolling up into tiny balls. To open them again, you just place them in their base and they will expand to full size. There are over 300 of them to collect.  We were sent the Mama and Zoobling one called Icetasia and Iceabella  #324. 

They are described as cute and quirky but I must admit I just thought they looked a bit plasticky and flimsy. Not the sort of toy I would rush out to buy for my little girl. They are pretty small and the baby part was tiny. Not great when I have a 1 year old in the house too.

Having not had toys like this before, I was surprised at how excited Poppy was.  She couldn't wait to get it out of the box and was really interested in how it worked.  Within a few minutes and with a little help from daddy, she had worked out how the little Zooble opened.  She could also put the baby inside the Mummy and close it. The only thing she struggled with was getting the baby out again.  She happily played with it for an hour. You can see how happy she was here:

........But then it broke!! 

Poppy is just 3 rather than the advised age of 4+, however, she has been brought up to respect her toys and look after them. She is not the sort of child that breaks things and chucks them around. When it happened both My Husband and I were with her too. She was not being rough or particularly heavy handed or anything. She was just trying to get the baby out. She was devastated as you can see from this photo:

This toy therefore lasted only an hour and we were not very impressed with it.  I could not recommend Zoobles and will not be buying any more for her.

I felt I needed to update this post as I was sent a slightly different one in response to this post (the Zoobles Mama and Zoobling,  Unga and Bunga set).  This one has lasted much better and was easier to get the baby out. There is much more room for Poppy's childish chubby fingers! So it may have been that we originally had a faulty one or that Poppy was just too young, I don't know. Whatever, the reason I feel I may have been a bit harsh! If you do have children under or at the lower end of the recommended age group, I would advise  buying this one.

Thanks for giving me a second chance Spinmaster.

Karen x

Lack Of Sleep Makes Mummy Grumpy

Today I am tired, so tired and I do not function well with out sleep.

Poppy got up 5-6 times in the night for a wee.....I think it was really the rain that was disturbing and waking her up but really... 6 wees!

This is not a usual occurrence in my house. I sleep trained my little ones using the Baby Whisperer techniques and unless unwell they both have slept through the night from about 12 weeks. Therefore when we do get a night like this, I am very tired and grumpy the next day.

Usually a very calm and relaxed Mummy I was snappy and short with them this morning, The constant "Mummy......Mummy.......Mummy" was driving me crazy and piercing my eardrums! I just wanted to scream out loudly "leave me alone" and curl up with a pillow and duvet and go back to sleep. Obviously as a parent we dont get to do that.

After putting Rosie down for  a morning nap and encouraging Poppy to play in the playroom, off I went for a shower. Once washed and dressed I ran round the house picking up toys, hoovering and clearing up the disaster area in the kitchen before finally feeling back in control.  After a nice cup of tea and writing this post I am once again the calm and patient Mummy I usually am and am ready to play with them again!

Honestly though..I would love a lie in.

Luckily for us, we have my parents coming today and they are kindly babysitting for us tomorrow night while we go to a ball and the following evening while we go to watch Harry Potter (their suggestion). They told us to make the most of them being here so to go and see it. They are also taking the girls out on Saturday morning so we can have a little lie in and pull ourselves together after a late night...What fab parents I have! Having not had much child free time at all in the past year, I am very excited about this and appreciate it greatly.  It couldn't have come at a better time.

Karen x

This Dizzy Mummy and Her Playday Experience

For those of you who don't know today is National Playday, sponsored by Savlon. I have written two posts about it here and here.

Due to it being holiday season and not many people being around, I decided to meet up with a friend and her girls and just have our own little Playday in the park, after all its not about how big your event is...its just about getting your children to play outdoors! Unfortunately her eldest has had a temperature since yesterday and is not very well so I had to have a change of plan.

Having recently looked up Playday's in this area, the nearest was Paignton. I wasn't too bothered about going there but this morning I randomly typed in Dartmouth Playdays and came up with this advert here. Distracted by my daughters and not reading the advert properly, I was thrilled to discover there was an event next to my Daughters nursery with face painting and a bouncy castle and all those things children love. So I packed a picnic, snacks and drinks and set off.

Unfortunately I did not check the date...when I turned up to the children's centre, the staff did not know anything about Playday or an event.  The very nice lady checked out the advert I had seen on the internet and it was in fact the right place but the date was 2007...whoops!! I felt very silly as you can imagine.

With an upset three year old who wanted her face painted, the park was not going to do, so I decided off to Paignton we would head. They had an event at the the local Community College organised by Torbay Council's Early Years, Play and Childcare Service. There was lots of planned events including archery, sports coaching, bouncy castle assault courses and paint your own pottery. There was even clowns with a magic show and balloon modelling, a "jungle Jim" ventriloquist show and a chance to meet some exciting animals.

Poppy had a great time. She especially loved the animals, the magic show and balloon modelling.Rosie had fun too. She loved crawling about on the grass and practising standing up and sitting down, her favourite past time at the moment.  I think she might be walking very soon.

Here are a few photos:

There was plenty to keep you busy but I think this particular one was aimed at older children. However, despite the day not turning out quite as planned I am glad we joined in and supported the event.  We even bumped into a family we knew.

Next year though, I would like to host my own event like my Sister Not Yet A Yummy Mummy and Mummy and The Beastie. Check out their sites for details of their joint event in Richmond Park.  I would have loved to join in with that one but its soo far away!

Hope you all enjoyed your day and that your children enjoyed playing outside.

Karen x

Magic Crocs Chameleons - Colour Changing Shoes

Crocs were one of the sponsors at Cybermummy and were just giving them away...for free.  I know I was amazed too, so generous.

Having been looking at them for a while and dithering over the price, I was fortunate enough to pick up these gorgeous new colour changing crocs for my little girl.  She thinks they are so great so I just wanted to tell you about them.

They are currently on sale for £34.99.  Quite steep I thought for this type of shoe but they are very comfortable, let the feet breath and are "pretty cool" according to Poppy who is three.

"It's like magic! The new Crocs Chameleons™ Translucent Clog changes colours in the sun. Using exclusive breakthrough patent-pending technology, these kids’ clogs transform from one colour to another almost instantly when exposed to sunlight. So kids can watch them change right before their eyes!"

See for yourself:

Poppy has the clogg version in oyster/pink lemonade.  They look like this indoors:

They then start to turn a light pink colour outside before turning to this:

Yes a bright purple colour.  Doesn't she look all colour co-ordinated in this outfit?

They really do look totally different! She has had lots of comments about them from others, especially when they change before their very eyes.  They come in several different colour/style combinations so there really is something for everyone.

Poppy gives them a big thumbs up and a huge score of 9/10.  She can't wait to get them on and play outside in the sun.  Have you got yours yet?

Karen x

For the record, although I received these for free I was not asked to write a review. I just wanted to because we like them!



     

Fresh Air and Fun - Kids Need To Play Outdoors

For those of you who don't yet know Wednesday is National Playday, sponsored by savlon.  I have already written a post about it which you can read here but the idea behind it is that we need to get our children playing outside more. 

Some pretty shocking statistics came out of their research. these included:

• 42 per cent of children have never made a daisy chain
• 32 per cent have never climbed a tree
• a quarter of children have never rolled down a hill
• a third of children have never played hopscotch 
• one in ten children have never ridden a bike    

We have been fortunate to have just spent a glorious week with my parents. They have a huge back garden and lots of outside toys. This coupled with the beautiful warm sunshine meant my children did not want to come indoors.


Poppy enjoyed running, skipping, jumping and hopping as well as football, catch and the hula hoop. She loved the new tree house her Gramps has built for the grandchildren and enjoy playing inside it as well as sliding down the slide.


Rosie loved the slide as well as crawling and trying to stand. She enjoyed the feel of the grass under her feet, picking up and dropping the pebbles as well as water play.  Nanny and Gramps have a sand and water table but they also turned the hose on too...great fun!!


I thought the best way to demonstrate what a lovely week we have had is to show you through pictures (just a tip don't bother putting it on full screen as it doesn't like it)!:

As you can see they had great fun and really enjoyed their break.

Playing outside and fresh air is so good for our little ones and its free too. It doesn't matter if you dont have a garden, there are plenty of parks around.

Karen x

MUMenTum - Week 13

Hello again,

Its week 13 already and although I had been doing very well the past few months, I have just spent the week at my parents and feel as though I have put a bit back on.  In particular I have noticed my stomach is not as flat as it was last week. Although I didn't eat lots of unhealthy stuff, I did eat bread which I don't usually eat and I have not been exercising either.  It really has made a difference.

On a good note though, I brought a new dress during the week....in a SIZE 10!!!  Get me.  So exciting.  I also have brought a few new t-shirts in a 10 too but they do look more like 12s if I am honest.

So that's me.  I am a UK size 10-12 and feel quite good.  Yes I need to exercise to keep this way but I am not as fat as I have been in the past, my tummy is flatter than it has been for a while and I feel okay about the way I look.

This week I do want to be good.  I have a ball to go to on Friday night and have a beautiful new dress to wear (bright pink of course)! So I am going to continue to listen to my slimpods every night and am going to exercise in my hotpants too.  I am not on a diet any more but will not eat junk or bread and will drink lots of water and fruit tea. Hopefully that way I will be feeling pretty in pink on Friday evening.

Hope you are all doing well too

Karen x