Things We liked In August

I have really been neglecting my blog over the summer as we have been enjoying so many days out and making the most of family time. As a result of this, my little blog has been getting a bit neglected the last few months and I have had review items piling up. Instead of just posting review after review to catch up I thought that I would combine them into one post reviewing some of the items that we were sent. 

Firstly we were sent some Thomas J Fudge salted caramel Florentines, these are described as being "A tantalising trio of chocolate, nuts and sated caramel". I am not normally a fan of anything salted caramel flavour but I thought I would give these a try.  They were rather nice they had a nice blend of nuts, raisins, chocolate and caramel and were really chewy and perfect for enjoying with a cup of tea as a treat.

Birthday Gifts From Toxic Fox

My eldest daughter will be turning 13 in just a few weeks time and I have started to think about what to buy her and how to celebrate her turning into a teenager. I have been struggling for gift ideas for her as she no longer plays with toys and she does not let me buy her clothes any more, whenever I ask her what she would like she says she does not know. 

So when Toxic Fox got in contact and asked if I would like to review something, I knew that I would find something that Chloe would love. If you are a regular reader of my blog you may remember me mentioning Toxic Fox before as I reviewed a scrabble frame for Valentine's day. I am now a huge fan of the site and plan on getting some Christmas presents from there as they really do have a gift for everyone.

Personalised ClaireaBella phone case

Penwizard The Snowman And The Snowdog Personalised Book

I am sure that regular readers will know by now that two of my favourite things are books and personalised items, as I am a huge fan of both. So imagine my delight when Penwizard offered me the chance to review a personalised copy of The Snowman and the Snowdog and customise it to feature a little girl who looks just like my toddler Sophia who features in the book. I was in my element. 

Slimming World : Week 17

A few days ago I wrote a post about how I had not attended my Slimming World group for a few weeks and how I had falling off plan and was thinking of changing my group to a one that would suit me better. Well on Monday night I attended my new group and I am so glad that I made the decision to switch groups, from the moment I stepped through the door I felt welcome and even though I have not stuck to plan the last three weeks I did not gain as much weight as I had feared.

Jacob You Are One

Dear Jacob 

Happy birthday baby boy, mammy cannot believe that you are one today! The last year seems to have gone by so quickly and you are no longer a baby but a little toddler boy with lots of personality. It really does not seem so long ago since the day you were born, I remember it like it was yesterday. I had been so worried about being induced early with you as I was told you were a small baby, well the doctors got that wrong as you weighed 8lb 6.5 and you arrived super quick in just 40 minutes. 

You have only been a part of our family for one year but it feels like you have been here forever and you complete our family, your mummy's little dude, daddy's little man and Chloe and Sophia's baby brother. Mummy does not write about you or share many photos of you on the blog, but as it is your birthday I wanted to let you know how much you mean to us and what your first year was like.

Calm Colour Create Magazine : Review And Giveaway

 I adored colouring in as a child and now I am a mum I enjoy colouring with my children.  In the last few months, I have noticed that adult colouring books have become really popular and I have been tempted to get myself a one. Well, now there is also a monthly colouring magazine available for adults called Calm Colour Create. 

The magazine is filled with 60 + pages of beautiful calming black and white designs for you to colour in, with a mix of patterns, mandalas and triangle designs. The magazine is great quality and very appealing and as soon as I received it I wanted to start colouring straight away.

What I Learnt At Britmums Live 2015

It seems like so long ago since I attended Britmums Live 2015 thanks to my wonderful sponsor MAM UK. I wrote about my experience of Britmums Live soon after the event and I came away with a notebook full of tips and a head full of ideas on how to improve this little blog of mine. Then I came home and I was exhausted, seriously it took me days to recover.

I have been reading my notebook of tips I learnt whilst I was there and I thought that I would share with you some of the things that I learnt from Britmums. I have loved reading what other people learnt as everyone seems to have had different experiences and learnt completely different things. 

The sessions I attended were Google +, Social media, Bloggers and brands, Beginners SEO and Photo styling. So this will be a quick rundown of little things I learnt in each of those sessions.

Funky Giraffe Bibs : Review

One baby item that I think that you can never have enough of is baby bibs! You will need them for the early newborn days to clean up milk dribbles and sick right through to the toddler days when you will need them for teething dribbles and messy eating. Over the years I have brought so many different bibs from so many different places and by far my favourite kind is the stylish bandanna bibs as I think they look nicer and can complete a little outfit. I have brought a few over the years both online and from the high street and have found Funky Giraffe bibs to be the best, they are very absorbent as well as being super stylish. 

So when I was offered the chance to review some Funky Giraffe bibs for Jacob I jumped at the chance, as now he is a little bigger I thought he could do with some more stylish bibs. We were given the choice of which bibs we would like and I opted for a ten pack of bibs that I thought would look great with his outfits. The pack contained a mix of plain coloured and patterned bibs in a range of blue, black and grey colours and with a rocker theme to them with patterns such as motorbikes and guitars. 

How To Grow Your Pinterest Account And Get More Blog Traffic

I love Pinterest and could happily spend hours looking at amazing cakes or children's bedroom decor, but I don't really use it to promote my blog posts, I think I have only pinned a handful of my own blog posts. I am also guilty of going on once every so often pinning tons of pretty things then neglecting my account for days or weeks at a time. However even though I only have a fairly small following on there (in the 300s) I do actually get traffic from Pinterest every single day, thanks to a few Slimming World recipe posts.

So when I heard that Pinterest UK was holding a talk for bloggers in Newcastle at the biscuit factory, I knew I had to attend and find out how Pinterest actually works. I thought it would also be useful to see if I could use it to gain more traffic to my blog. The talk was held by Lizzie who works for Pinterest UK and this is what I learnt.

Jungle Jacks Soft Play At Eldon Leisure Newcastle

The summer holidays have been a bit of a washout here in the North East with lots of rainy days and not many sunny days. I am sure now we are into the third week of the summer holiday's that there have been many shouts of "I'm bored" from the children of the North East. Well, I have discovered a brilliant new place right in the heart of Newcastle that will appeal to children young and old, the newly refurbished Eldon leisure complex. 

Situated upstairs in Eldon Square the centre has been part of a £3 million development project which includes an upgraded gym, 8 lane ten pin bowling alley, Vertigo climbing area and Jungle Jacks soft play as well as two cafes. We were invited to try out the new facilities and we decided to try out the new soft play, as my baby and toddler adore trips to the soft play.

#OneInAMinion With Asda

Like most of the country, we love Minions in our household. My eldest fell in love with them when she went to see Despicable me at the cinema many years ago, and my toddler fell in love with them last year and became a bit obsessed with them wanting to watch Despicable me 2 every single day for about six months. I must admit myself and my partner are also a bit partial to the cute little yellow creatures too, and I am sure baby Jacob will fall in love with them when he is older. So when I was recently asked if we would like to review some Minion goodies from Asda I knew this would score me some major mummy brownie points with my children.

It took me age's to decide what to order as there is a whole Minion section on the Asda website full of everything from clothing and toys to bedding and beach towels. In the end, I enlisted the help of my oldest daughter Chloe who decided that she would really love a Minion beanbag, night light and alarm clock for her bedroom. I then decided to get Sophia a Mischievous Minion t-shirt, as she really is mischievous and we actually call her our little minion, as she sounds like a Minion when she babbles away. I also got a Minion cup and a pair of socks for Chloe. 

Professor Scrubbington's Review & Giveaway

When I attended Britmums Live in June I discovered a bottle of Magically foaming hand and face wash from Professor Scrubbington's Emporium of clean in my goody bag. I had never tried these products before and my children were amazed that the hand wash actually foams in their hands, making washing hands fun. I was impressed and loved the fresh scent and stylish packaging. So when I was offered the chance to try out the rest of the range I was looking forward to seeing what it was like.

We were sent a box suitcase of products from Professor Scrubbington's Emporium of clean, which I thought was a fun way to package them and my tween instantly declared the box of products as her own. Inside the suitcase there was Magically foaming hand and face wash, Magically foaming shampoo, Magically foaming conditioner, Magically foaming hair and body wash and a Magically fragrant roll on. All of the packagings is nice and stylish and has a grown-up feel to it which appealed to my twelve year old. These products were designed for young people to help encourage them to keep themselves clean, with easy to squeeze bottles and products that foam in the hands making keeping clean fun and easy.

My Sunday Photo 02.08.15

I am really lucky living where we do in the North East as we are close to the amazing North East coastline. Last week we visited one of my favourite beaches Cullercoats in North Tyneside. I remember visiting this beach as a child and it is actually where my grandma went into labour with my mam many years ago. We had a lovely day here playing on the beach and visiting the nearby park and of course having fish and chips and ice creams.

A Slimming World Weigh In After Two Week's Off

It seems like ages since I have written a Slimming World post, with my last one being my 13 week update. I am now on week 16 of Slimming World. The reason I have not written an update for a couple of weeks is simply that I have not been to class, as I missed two weeks. The reason I missed two weeks is that the first week I was exhausted as Jacob has still not been sleeping and I just could not face getting myself and the two little ones dressed, ready and out the house by 8am to attend class. The second week I missed class as we had a last minute family day out at the beach, I ate fish and chips and had an ice cream whilst we were out. I'm not going to lie, I really enjoyed it.

This week I was determined to go to class as I knew that if I missed another week I would end up not going back and would fall off the plan, which is the last thing I want to happen. So I went to class on Thursday morning fully expecting a gain as I had not only had fish and chips and an ice cream but I also had a Chinese take away at the weekend too.