YoYo Panda Review & Giveaway

Back in the May we visited Edinburgh Zoo for my three year old daughters birthday, ever since we visited and she seen a real life panda she has been a little bit in love with them. So imagine her utter delight when she was sent a very cute and huggable Yoyo Panda to review. As soon as Sophia set eyes on Yoyo her little face lit up and she could not wait to get her out of the box to play with. 

Yoyo is extremely adorable, I think anyone who sees her will fall in love with her huge eyes and very cute design. Her fur is super soft and even though she is an interactive toy she is still very squishy and cuddly, perfect for little ones to snuggle up with. We were pleasantly surprised to find that she was a lot bigger then we expected her to be too. She comes with a bottle, that you can feed her with and some bamboo to eat.

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Life According To Mrs Shilts

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives, this week I am featuring one of my all time favourite bloggers the lovely Emma from Life According To Mrs Shilts. I have met Emma is real life and she is just as lovely in real life as you expect her to be on her blog. I love reading all about her family life with her little boy, and the adventures they go on. If anyone is trying to lose weight or following the Slimming World plan then you need to read Emma's blog as she has done amazing on the plan and lost a lot of weight and shares so many tasty recipes, she is a true slimming inspiration. 

So lets find out more about the family behind Life According To Mrs Shilts. 

Thing's I Loved In August

Can you believe that it is almost the end of August ? This month seems to have flown over so very fast. I love August as it is so nice having all three of my children home for the month, we have lots of lazy days and family adventures and it is also my son's birthday month. I honestly think that August is one of my favourite months of the year, as it is so relaxing. Anyway as it is almost the end of the month I thought that I would sit down and write about the thing's that I have been loving this month, even though it only feels like five minutes since I wrote July's post!  

Snuggle Sac Review

My three year old daughter Sophia loved nothing more then wrapping herself up in blankets and getting all snuggled up to watch TV. She is forever pulling the throws off the sofa and snuggling up in them, we have been told she even loves snuggling up in blankets at pre-school too. So when I was recently asked if I would like to review a children's Snuggle Sac I knew that she would adore it.

A Snuggle Sac is a super soft fleecy children's sleeping bag with a side fastening zip and even a space to put a pillow. They are ideal for snuggling on the sofa, using for sleep-overs and would be perfect for camping trips. They come in a range of different designs such as pirates, ponies, grey stars and pink polka dots. However the Fairy design caught my eye and I knew that this would be ideal for my fairy loving daughter.

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Nine To Three Thirty

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives. This week I am featuring Erica from Nine To Three Thirty, a blog that I have been reading for around two years now as it was one of the first blogs I discovered when I started blogging myself. Erica's blog is, as the name suggests a blog about life with a school aged child, covering reviews, days and meals out and general parenting posts. 

So lets find out more about the family behind Nine To Three Thirty. 

A Family Meal At The Anson Sizzling Pub In Wallsend

We were recently invited to The Anson a Sizzling Pub in Wallsend - North Tyneside, to enjoy a family meal during the summer holidays. We are big fans of the Sizzling Pub brand, as a family we often dine in them as they are perfect for a casual family pub meal.  Before becoming a stay at home mum I used to work in Wallsend and would often visit The Anson for lunch or after work drinks. It has however been over three years since I lasted visited so I was keen to see how things had changed.

The Anson is located right in the middle of Wallsend town centre, just outside of the shopping centre. As it was such a lovely sunny day when we visited lots of people were  sitting on the tables outside enjoy a drink in the sunshine. Indoors there were couples with young children and groups of older friends and relatives enjoy drinks and meals. It had a lovely relaxed vibe with soft music on in the background and everyone seemed to be having a nice time.

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Raising The Rainbows

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives. This week I am featuring Mandy from Raising The Rainbows, I love Mandy's blog and have been reading it for around a year now, I started reading her blog to follow her weight loss journey as I too am trying to lose weight. I also enjoy the reviews she does as she seems to review a lot of toys that I know my own children would love. She also writes about autism as three of her four children have been diagnosed with autism and my own daughter has recently been going through assessments for this. 

So let's find out more about the family behind Raising The Rainbows. 

Pikku Morpeth

Regular readers will probably have noticed that we have reviewed Pikku the children's hair salon and clothes shop a few times now. Sophia reviewed the Gosforth store a few month after it first opened, Jacob also visited for his very first haircut and we visited again to try out the new downstairs salon too. We are huge fans of Pikku and I do pay to take my children to get their haircut when we are not reviewing as they love it so much, it is the only place that I will take them. 

Recently Pikku have expanded opening up a new store in Morpeth, Northumberland and we were recently invited along to see what we thought. The store is located on Newgate street right in the town centre. You really can not miss the store as it is located in the signature Pikku colourful lime green and white style, with a gorgeous shop window showcasing the luxurious children's clothing they stock. 

Wickey Flip Sandpit Review

My three year old daughter adores sand, she adores visiting the beach and playing in the sandpits at pre-school and we had been meaning to buy her and her two year old brother a sandpit for the garden for ages. So it was perfect timing when we were recently sent a Wickey flip sandpit at the start of the summer holiday's, perfect for keeping little ones entertained in the garden whilst enjoying lazy summer days at home. 

Wickey is a brand that specialises in children's garden play equipment such as Climbing frames, swing sets, wooden playhouses and of course wooden sandpits. We were sent the popular flip sandpit, which comes with a clever hinged lid that turns into a bench for children to sit on whilst playing in the sand. The sandpit arrived flat packed in a rather small box and I was dreading building it as I thought it would take forever. I actually got my dad to build the sandpit as he is good at building things. He said the sandpit took around an hour to build, although he did have to do some measuring to get everything lined up correctly it was pretty straightforward to build.

A Spa Day At Oulton Hall Leeds With Little Angels Nappies

Two weeks ago I headed down to Leeds for the Day to enjoy a rare day off mummy duty to relax and unwind at beautiful 18th century Oulton Hall, just outside of Leeds. I was invited to find out all about the Asda Little Angles nappy range, along with a group of bloggers and also to enjoy a cheeky afternoon tea and spa session. Now I must apologise before I start this post that there is hardly any photos as I was having so much fun I totally forgot to take any. 

SelfieMic Review

My eldest daughter is 13 now, an actual teenager so naturally she no longer plays with toys anymore. Buying gifts for her these days is a bit of a minefield as her tastes are changing all of the time, and I am never sure what to actually buy her as she likes to pick her own things. However one thing that I do know that she likes is her mobile, she is forever on her iphone, texting her friends, listening to music or playing games. 

So when we were recently asked if she would like to try out a brand new toy, which is in fact set to be one of the top ten must-have toys this Christmas I was a bit unsure if she would be interested. Her days of playing with toys are after all long gone, she does not even pay with her younger siblings these days. However, upon hearing that the 'toy' was a SelfieMic, I thought this might actually be something that she would enjoy. 

Finding Out That #GreenCanClean With Ecover

As a mum with three children I find that I am forever washing the dishes, I must clean them three to four times every single day. We have never owned a dishwasher as are current kitchen is just far to small, so I have to wash the dishes the old fashioned way with good old washing up liquid and hot water. Washing the dishes so often I found that my hands would feel dry afterwards and some liquids actually irritate my skin and made me itch. I just thought that this was something that I would have to put up with. 

Recently though I discovered Ecover a washing up liquid that I had noticed in the shops but had never actually used before. As a Talk To Mums Mumbassador I was given an assignment to trial Ecover washing up liquid myself to discover what a great product it actually is. Once I knew how fab it was I was then given the task of spreading the Ecover message that #Greencanclean to other mums in my local area and handing them a sample so they could test it out for themselves. 

An Adventure At Walltown Northumberland National Park

Two week's ago we were invited to Walltown Quarry situated within Northumberland National Park to celebrate National Parks week. To celebrate this week long event Walltown was turned into a two day Adventure Activity playground. I had never heard of Walltown before and I had no idea what to expect from the day of adventure, so I went with a totally open mind. 

I took both my girls along ( aged 13 and 3) with me on the adventure to Walltown as they love being outdoors and having fun. Even though I had no idea where Walltown was I grew up in Northumberland and spent all of my childhood summers in Wooler, Northumberland as my grandparents had a holiday home there. I have such fond memories of exploring the Northumberland countryside, horse ridding, and family days out. I think when you live somewhere you forget just how beautiful it actually is, being back in the heart of Northumberland I was reminded of just what a beautiful part of the country I live in. 

My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic Sugarcube Corner Playset Review

Like most little girl's my three year old Sophia is really into animals, especially ponies! So when we were recently sent a cute My Little Pony Sugarcube playset from Hasbro to review, I knew that she would have lots of fun playing with it. As soon as she seen this playset she could not wait to get it out of the box and set her imagination to work playing games with it.

The Suagrcube playset consists of the Sugarcube cake shop, cakes, ball, balloon and two small animal figures a crocodile and a chicken. Of course it would not be a My Little Pony Playset without some My Little pony figures and this set came with two pony's which were Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich (love the names). I loved that you did not need too actually build anything on this playset you just simply opened the box, set the one sided shop up and you could play straight away.

Manor Walks Princess & Pirate Day

We have just been to Manor Walks shopping centre in Cramlington, a town just a few miles north of Newcastle and my hometown! I no longer live in Cramlington but it is where I grew up and where my dad lives and is somewhere that we still visit regularly, as we live just a short drive away. Today Manor Walks hosted its annual, free to attend Pirates & Princess day, located on the grassed area between Asda and Concordia leisure centre. 

The event started at 10am but as we were early we headed to do some birthday outfit shopping in Next for are little boy who will be two next week! We arrived at the event just after 10am whilst things were still being set up, with pirate music on in the background and pirates and princesses walking around the event had a lovely vibe that really got little ones into the spirit. Lots's of children were dressed up as little princesses and pirates which was very cute, I wish that I had of dressed my own children up for the event.  

The Colouring Cafe By Ribena - It's #RIBENARY

I love Ribena it is the drink that reminds me of my childhood, I used to have cartons of it in my packed lunch box for school. Even now that I am an adult if I am out shopping and want to buy a drink I always select Ribena light, it is delicious, refreshing and perfect for quenching my thirst. 

Last week Ribena opened up there very own colouring in cafe in London's Covent Garden for the day, which you guessed - consisted of colouring in whilst sipping delicious Ribena drinks. But this was not just any old colouring in session as with the help of Bristol based artist Alex Lucas this was something very different. Alex created a rather interesting and unusual city landscape, which was divided into 120 small colouring in tiles. Some very lucky fun-seekers were then invited along to the cafe to colour in these tiles of art. 

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Me, Him, The Dog And A Baby

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives. This week I am featuring Lyndsey from Me, Him, The Dog And A Baby. Which is a a blog that I have only recently discovered all about life as first time parents, book reviews and general family lifestyle posts. 

So let's find out a bit more about the family behind Me, Him, The Dog And  A Baby 

Interview With TV Presenter Laura Hamilton On Her Amazing Weight Loss

Regular readers will know that I have really struggled with my weight since having my son, almost two years ago. I am currently on a weight loss mission for the third time since he was born as I gained 4 stone whilst pregnant with him. When I heard  A Place In The Sun TV presenter, Laura Hamilton, who has two children close in age like myself and who also gained 4 stone in her last pregnancy had lost an impressive 5 stone in weight I just had to know her secrets. 

After the birth of her one year old daughter Tahlia, Laura enlisted the help of celebrity fitness guru John Beeby - who also helped Nicole Scherzinger  get in shape. With John's help Laura went on to lose an amazing five stone in baby weight. Together they devised a simple fitness routine which lead to Laura launching her own fitness app Laura Hamilton's Full Body Workout. The app has been designed to help busy mums (like you and me) to exercise anywhere, anytime. With 5 simple routines that are suitable for all fitness levels this app will help you get fit from the comfort of your own home.

July 2016

I can't believe that we are now a full week into August, it does not really feel like summer here in Newcastle as we have had so few sunny days this year so far. August is set to be a busy month for us as we have lots of fun days out planned as the other half has a week off work. August is also the month that my baby boy will be turning two years old! He is my blog baby as I set this blog up to record my pregnancy with him and now he is almost two! 

Anyway as it is August I am once again writing a post about what we have been up to in the month gone by. I love writing these monthly posts as I think they are a great way to keep track of what we have been up to and I also love to look back on them. So lets have a look at what life was like in July for us. 

Digestive Health - It Takes Guts To Talk About Guts

Talking about your digestive health is not something that people normally talk about is it ? It is certainly not something that I talk about. Although I probably should as for the last couple of years I have been suffering really badly from IBS, so much so that it is impacting upon my social life. I often refuse to go out for meals or refuse food when we do go out, I worry when I do eat that I will get pains. If I am honest it really ruins days out at times as I am always on edge waiting for an attack to strike.

Other Bloggers Family Lives Featuring Candyfloss & Dreams

Welcome to another week of my guest post series Other Bloggers Family Lives. This week I am featuring the really lovely Kat from Candyfloss Dreams. I have been reading Kat's blog for a few months now and I love the wide variety of subjects that her blog covers. 

So lets find out more about the family behind Candyfloss & Dreams.

Win A Set Of Three Storage Jars From Aladdin

Back in May when I attended Blog On I received a brilliant salad jar from Aladdin in my goody bag, it has been so useful for me as I eat so much salad since re-starting the Slimming World plan in my bid to lose weight. When the lovely people at Aladdin heard that I loved the salad jar so much they offered me a wonderful prize of a set of three storage jars worth £24 to giveaway to one of my readers.