Tuesday 31 May 2016

Afternoon Tea At St Mary's Inn Morpeth

I was recently invited to St Mary's Inn to try out their afternoon tea and with it being so close to fathers day I decided to take my dad along with me. Every year my dad goes to Le Man's in France in June so I never actually see him on Fathers day, so I thought a catch up over afternoon tea would be a lovely way to spend some time with him. Of course my teen decided to invite herself along too as soon as she realised their would be cake involved. 

St Mary's Inn is a pub and B&B located in Stannington near Morpeth, just past Whitehouse farm and is the sister venue of beautiful Jesmond Dene house. I have seen so many people post photos on Instagram of the delicious meals and afternoon tea that St Mary's Inn serve, so I was really looking forward to my visit. 

Afternoon tea for two at St Mary's Inn Morpeth Northumberland
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Sunday 29 May 2016

Thing's I Loved In May

As it is nearing the end of the month I have decided to sit down and write my monthly post about thing's that have made me happy this month. I love writing these posts as they are full of happy memories and are really nice and positive. It really does not seem so long ago since I wrote about what I had loved in April and now May is almost over too! Crazy how fast this year seems to be whizzing by! 

Anyway here is a few of the things that I have loved in May.

1.) Date Night. I mentioned last month that since we had a weekend away in April myself and the other half have decided to have a monthly date night. Since having children we rarely get any time together, just the two of us and when we do we really enjoy it. This month we were lucky enough to be invited along to Jesmond Dene House to try out their new early evening menu. Luckily my mother in law was on babysitting duties and we enjoyed a few hours peace whilst enjoying some delicious food and enjoying each others company for once. 

Jesmond dene house early evening menu dessert
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Friday 27 May 2016

The Baby Swimming Shop - Review

Now that it is nearing the end of May and the sun is shining (well some of the time) I have been busy buying my children lots of new summer clothing. When the weather is warmer we love nothing more then spending the day at the beach or splashing around in the paddling pool in the garden, so I knew that I would be needing to stock up on some new swimwear.


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Tuesday 24 May 2016

Other Bloggers Lives Featuring Faded Spring

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Lives, I normally post these interviews on a Wednesday but as it is my daughters 3rd birthday tomorrow and we have lots of lovely plans for the next few days I have decided to post this today instead. This week I am featuring the very lovely Ana from Faded Spring, a blog I have been reading for a few months now. If you have not heard of her fashion and lifestyle blog before then go check it out as it is amazing!

Ana is not a parent so a few of the questions are slightly different but her answers are so inspiring and refreshing to read. So lets find out a bit more about the blogger behind Faded Spring.


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Monday 23 May 2016

A 3rd Birthday Gift Guide

In just two days time my little girl Sophia will be turning three years old! When we started thinking about what to buy her for her birthday we really struggled deciding what to actually get her as she has so many toys already. We have asked her what she wants but she has only really asked for small things like a Belle doll or a tiara. So as we have struggled on what to buy for are little girls third birthday I thought that I would do a little gift guide in case anyone else is stuck on what to buy a little girl (or boy) for a gift. 


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Sunday 22 May 2016

Orchard Toys Little Bus Lotto Mini Game - Review

My almost three year old is a big fan of Orchard Toys games and puzzles so when I heard that they were bringing out a range of Mini Games I knew that these would be perfect for keeping her entertained whilst travelling this summer. Last week we were lucky enough to be sent one of the new mini game to try out, Little Bus Lotto. 

Little bus lotto is suitable for children aged 3 plus and is for 2-4 players and is super simple to play. You simply pick from the red,green, yellow or blue bus and then turn all the animal cards over and take it in turns picking a card and match them up to the animals on the buses, whoever fills up their bus with all the animals first wins. 

Orchard Toys Little Bus Lotto Mini Travel Game
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Friday 20 May 2016

Win £50 Worth Of Baby Swimming Shop Goodies

The Baby Swimming Shop has to be one of my favourite new online retailers for children's swimwear and accessories. I have a review of some lovely items going live soon, so make sure you keep an eye out for that. The website is super easy to use and stocks swimwear for children ages 0-14 years, so you can do all your holiday shopping online in one place (perfect for us time short parents).

I am pleased to announce that I'm offering one of my lucky readers the chance to win a £50 Baby Swimming Shop shopping spree. All you have to do to enter is via the Rafflecopter form below for your chance to win, but first here's a peak at this season's hottest pieces from the current Baby Swimming Shop collection to get you excited and to ensure you have the best dressed kids on the beach! 

The Baby Swimming Shop sun suit

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Wednesday 18 May 2016

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring List Of Lovely Things

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives this week I am featuring Jemma from List Of Lovely Things. Jemma's blog really is rather lovely and is full of life with three children and she has recently announced her pregnancy with baby number four. 

List Of Lovely Things UK Parent Blogger


So let's find out a bit more about the family behind List Of Lovely Things.
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Tuesday 17 May 2016

Discovering Hotter Shoes

A few weeks ago I attended a blogger event at the Newcastle Hotter store, located in Eldon square (next door to Lush and opposite John Lewis). I have walked past this store so many times, but I have never actually been inside before. I hold my hands up and admit I thought that they just sold comfortable grandma type shoes (sorry). However when I heard they were holding a blogger event I decided to go along, as I had heard people mention that Hotter do actually sell fashionable shoes. 

As soon as I stepped foot in the shop I was amazed at just how lovely the store was, it was spacious and modern looking and very cosy with very comfortable chairs that were perfect for trying shoes on. You could tell the store had been designed with customers comfort in mind. The staff were all extremely friendly and lovely and knew all of the range of shoes well and genuinely seemed to love the brand.

Hotter Roxanne Tan Wedges

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Monday 16 May 2016

Organ Donation - My Story

You always hear in the news and on TV about people who are waiting for an organ transplant, or from people who have had an organ transplant and how it has transformed their lives. You never really hear about the person who has donated the organ, or the family they have left behind. That's the thing with organ donation whilst it is wonderful and life-changing and a gift for someone to donate an organ, they normally have to die in order for you to receive that much-needed organ.

So here is my story as an organ donors family.


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Sunday 15 May 2016

Blog On 2016

Two week's ago I travelled down to Manchester with Sam and Karen to attend the annual Blog on event. I honestly had no idea what to expect as I have only ever been to one other blogging event before and that was Britmums Live last June. I was just looking forward to catching up with blogging friends and having a break from mummy duties for 24 hours.  

Manchester is about 2-3 hour drive from Newcastle so we decided to travel down on Saturday afternoon and stay overnight in a Travelodge in Oldham, as all the central hotels were really expensive with it being a bank holiday weekend. We arrived in Manchester at around tea time so we checked in to the hotel then headed to the pub across the road for prosecco, dinner and a catch-up. 

Pinterest Notebook
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Friday 13 May 2016

My Given Name Personalised Children's Book - Review & Giveaway

Regular readers will know that I adore reading and that I really hope to pass on my love of books to my own children. I also love anything that is personalised as I think personalised items are that little bit more special and thoughtful and are something that can be treasured forever. So when I heard about My Given Name Books and was given the chance to review a one I was really excited for it to arrive. 


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Wednesday 11 May 2016

#TeenTalk Helping Parent's With Those All Important Growing Up Chat's

As a parent to a teenage daughter I have already gone through the whole growing up / puberty talk with her and I have to admit I found it a little bit awkward. Growing up in this digital age is totally different from my own childhood many years ago and I honestly did not know how to broach the whole subject with her. I had no idea what I should and shouldn't say, in the end, I brought a book and left it in her bedroom before chatting with her a few days later.

So I found it no surprise that 68% of UK parents with a teenager have said they feel uncomfortable talking about puberty with their children, and one-quarter of parents have actually avoided the talk completely. Thankfully Nadia Sawalha along with her teenage daughter Maddie has launched a new campaign today (11th May) called #TeenTalk with high street store Boots and teen expert Sarah Newton. A free #TeenTalk guide will be available in Boots stores nationwide which will offer tips, advice and tools for parents about to embark on one of these important talks with their teen, through puberty and beyond.


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Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Twin Mummy And Daddy

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives, this week I am featuring Emily from Twin Mummy And Daddy. I have been reading Emily's blog for two years now, it was one of the very first blogs I started to read when I started blogging myself, I love reading about what her adorable twin girls have been up to. 



So let's find out a bit more about the family behind Twin Mummy And Daddy. 
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Tuesday 10 May 2016

Early Evening Menu At Jesmond Dene House

One place that I am constantly hearing great things about in Newcastle is Jesmond Dene house, from afternoon teas to evening meals everyone is always full of praise. It has long been on my list of places that I have wanted to visit, however having two small children means that I rarely get out to try any of the places that I want to.

So when I was recently invited along to Jesmond Dene House to try out their new early evening menu I made sure that grandma was on babysitting duty and myself and the other half booked in for dinner at 5pm, meaning we could go out for a few hours yet still be home in time to tuck our little ones up in bed and kiss them goodnight.

Jesmond Dene House Newcastle
Image courtesy of Jesmond Dene House

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Wednesday 4 May 2016

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Odd Socks And Lollipops

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives, this week I am featuring Jenni from Odd Socks And Lollipops. I have been a fan of Jenni's blog for quite a while now as I love reading about her adventures with her toddler Boo, toddler crafts and reviews. If you have a toddler you really should check out Jenni's blog as it is full of lots of lovely ideas and so many posts you will relate too. 



So let's find out more about the family behind Odd Socks And Lollipops. 

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Tuesday 3 May 2016

April 2016

I know I say this every single month but I can not believe that it is now May! It feels like only a few days ago since I wrote about what we had been up to in March and now I am sitting writing about what we have been up to in April. Regular readers will know that I write a post each month as a way of looking back on the month gone by, so that we as a family can look back on what we have been up to. 


So let's have a look at what April was like for myself and my family. 
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