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Wednesday 30 July 2014

The Royal Welsh show with Joules

Last Thursday we filled the car with petrol and set off on a 2 hour journey to attend the Royal Welsh show in Bulith Wells. For a good while now I have wanted to attend the show, the urge to attend was even stronger now that I start an animal management course this September. The college I will be attending also had a stand at the show so I was looking forward to stopping by to have a chat.
I invited my sister in law along for the ride too so our children could spend some time together and of course my mother in law came too. 
We were offered free entrance for one adult and a voucher to spend at the Joules stand, I would have been rather silly to say no especially as I was attending anyway. I had a few stands in mind that I wanted to attend, Joules for a warm jumper and welly socks for the cold winter days when I will be at college, the college stand just so I could say hi, the Donkey Sanctuary to say hello and make a donation. You were spoilt for choice with the stands. The events that were on my must see list were the Sheep dog trials, Equus & Falco and the Royal Signals White Helmets Motorcycle display. All of the others were added bonuses.



After spending a couple of hours watching the events we headed indoors to get out of the glaring sun. We came across a stand that made things out of bees wax and had a few of their European honey bees with them, I was amazed to learn that a queen bee will only sting another queen bee and she is the only one to repopulate the colony, I have never been so interested in bees in all of my life. We walked away with a little more knowledge about bees and the kids made some bees wax candles that we will save and light on Christmas day. 



We had spent some time looking at all of the animals in their holding pens and decided to go and do a spot of shopping when my sister in law and I managed to get ourselves stuck on the opposite side of some barriers. The assembly of the livestock for the parade was about to begin so my sister in law was on one side and I on another, in between a line of huge bulls and cows paraded by. It turned out quite well that we had to wait for them all to go into the cattle ring because we had an excellent view of all the prized cattle. Each cattle that went by had won a prize at the show so what we saw were cattle that were at their best. I am not sure exactly what makes a prized cow or bull but what I do know was that they all looked excellent.



The parade finished and off we went to do our shopping with the first stop being Joules. At the show some of the prices were slightly cheaper than they are online, I bought some welly socks for £5.18, a new candy pink pony print coat for little lady for £19.98 and lastly a Cowdray striped jumper to keep me warm, it should have been £49.99 but was just £24.99. I just wished they did steel toe capped wellies so I could have some pretty wellies for college too, I do however have Joules welly socks to keep my feet against something soft, they are that soft I will be buying more.


I bought little lady the coat for this winter so its a little big for her at the minute, it is microfleeced lined and 100% weather proof so will be perfect for keeping her warm for when she is at nursery.

Disclaimer-We were given one free adult entrance to the show and a voucher to spend in Joules. All of the other tickets we purchased ourselves. All opinions and images are my own.

Monday 28 July 2014

When did you stop loving me?

When did you stop loving me?
It has been four months since you last called me,
almost a year since I came to visit.
Last time you called it was my birthday,
do you only remember me on special days?
Well that isn't true you forgot me at Christmas!
I saw you the other day, you did not expect to see me,
guilt was all over your face, you handed me money.
Does handing me £10 make you feel better?
I wish you had kept your guilt money and used it to call me,
your excuses are lame, the latest two were the worst yet!
You have no phone and are decorating.
When did the decor in your home become more important than me?
For one whole week I stayed just around the corner from you,
was it too hard to come see me?
I hope you and your family had a great time at Lego land,
I bet you didn't expect me to see the pictures either.
I am not mad at you for going on holiday without me,
I am mad that you never called, I am mad that you lied.
It is the same as last time when you took your children abroad,
you left me at home though and told me you was working.
I played in the percussion band at a music festival the other week,
I also played at my local theatre.
I am learning to play the flute too, these things I've been waiting to tell you.
I have been waiting for you to call, the call never came.
I remember when I would see you all of the time,
we laughed at funny things and ate Pringles.
I also ate delicious jam tarts, they are still my favourite.
You'd make me pack lunches for our train journey home.
I would see you every two weeks then and you'd call me lots.
When did everyone else get put before me?
When did you stop loving me, Dad?
Was it on my birthday?
I know I turned 10 but I still need you.
You may have forgotten me but I have not forgotten you.
I am still the same little girl you once adored.


I love beach days


 A couple of months ago my mum asked me if she could have the 3 eldest children for a week, yes a week, 1 whole week, 7 days, 168 hours of not having my 3 eldest children here. I jumped at the chance once I knew she was 100% certain she would manage. Now I am not certain if it is the same with all families but teens and pre-teens are hard work, throw Big T in the mix and we have mini volcano's ready to explode on many occasions, they have opinions and are not afraid to give them to you whether you want them or not, they push buttons that I never knew existed so a week off sounded brilliant(the last one was 5 years ago), they too would benefit from a week away with their Nanna, a Nanna who they don't get to see that often. I knew they would be spoilt rotten so I set about making sure the youngest two didn't miss out. I bet you are now wondering why all 5 didn't go to stay, the simple answer is that my Mum just does not have a bond with them that she does the eldest 3, we moved away before they were born so they never really spent much time together. It is strange for me to have 3 children close to their Nanna and the other 2 not to be but that is the way it is.

Having spare seats in the mini bus meant we could grab a rare opportunity to spend some time with my niece, sister in law and brother in law. Along with my mother in law we hit the beach, we always go to a place known as Black Rock in Porthmadog, you can drive onto the beach and they have toilet blocks so you can literally spend the whole day there, it is one of my favorite places to be. We had packed the minibus full of food, windbreakers, spades, kites and suncream. I also bought a fantastic gazebo with netted sides from Asda for just £30, it kept the children out of the sun whilst they ate their dinner or paddled in the pool. It will be coming to every beach day from now on.
 We had an amazing day jumping over waves and eating sand sandwiches, we all took turns to fly the kite, and the kids all threw sand in each others eyes despite being told not to a million times. We each winced at the cold water as soon as the sea level went above our knees whilst watching the kids just dive in without batting an eye, do they have no feeling? We then all retreated when the sea started coming in because it brought with it a range of jelly fish, jumping waves whilst being on jelly fish watch is not as fun but having said that it is still my favorite place to be, I just wish the jelly fish would not have the same beach fondness.
Of course I missed the eldest 3, I think little T missed his older sibling too as they normally help him to dig holes. Little lady loved having her cousin though, she loved splashing in the pool and making sand castles with her. I will cherish the day we had, we do not get to spend enough fun days with my niece and her parents so special memories were made. I will now however cross my fingers and toes that we get more beach day weather so we can go back with all of us because my eldest 3 love the beach just as much as I do.

Saturday 26 July 2014

Dulux bedroom in a box round up and competition


Regular readers will know that I recently reviewed the Dulux Avengers bedroom in a box, three weeks on and it still looks amazing and my son still loves it. If you missed the full review you can find it here. I loved seeing the other bloggers reviews of the other bedroom in a box themes that Dulux offers. I am 100% certain that my daughter would happily have the Fairy Princess theme on her walls, she loves all things princesses at the minute. 

Big T tells everyone about his Avengers bedroom, he even had hulk painted on his face at my nephews christening because he wanted to match his bedroom, it was such a shame we weren't staying at home that night because I think he would have blended in perfectly. So as he is telling everyone how amazing his new bedroom is I thought I would tell you about an amazing competition that Dulux have, if you are planning on buying a bedroom in a box now is the time to do so as you can then be in with a chance to win a Merlin pass for the family, you can check out how to enter here. Read the full terms and conditions here

Whether it be the Avengers bedroom in a box or one of the other themes I am sure your child will be talking about their amazing bedroom for weeks. Below you can see a video of some of the other bedroom transformations.


We were sent the Dulux bedroom in a box for the purpose of the review.

Saturday 5 July 2014

My little ballerina

Five weeks ago, just one day before little lady turned 3 she started ballet lessons. Her first lesson and the first time we had ever left her with a stranger she went in through the door alone, she looked like a lost lamb. Her daddy and I peered through the window nervously. She was joining in but still looked like we had abandoned her, left her alone with these dancing strangers who were asking her to do things that she had no understanding of like '1st  position' or 'good toes, naughty toes'. Her first lesson tears were released in giant sobs all because they asked her to carry a pretend balloon across the room. The lesson did not end so badly though, I went in to comfort her and show her that ballet could be fun, no I did not put on a tutu and join in I just sat and supported her. The lesson ended with her sat beside me, as far away from the strange children and strange teachers as she possibly could get but she did join in, she did enjoy it. So next week we tried again.
Week 2 of ballet, driving up to to the dance studio made little lady decide she didn't want to do ballet school anymore she wanted to go to school instead, she cried on her first induction day to nursery just 2 days previous so why she wanted to return there instead I don't know. We asked if we could just go inside and look, she agreed and joined in with the lesson. Well I say joined in she sat next to her dad the whole time but she did take part and learnt new skills. She came away with no tears this time, if we have to sit in every lesson till she is comfortable we will.
Week 3 I could not attend as I was at Britmumslive in London so Daddy2five did this one alone. He told me she did play up a little when it came to the group activity because she was still glued to his side, not quite ready to join the circle of children. She also forgot Timothy(her stuffed Donkey), at the end of each lesson they dance with their teddies then place a loving kiss on their head before laying them gently down on the floor.
Week 4 she told us she was going to go in alone, she soon changed her mind at the studio door but we did have a break through. Half way through the lesson she joined the circle, I wanted to shout to every mum and dad in the room that she had joined the circle but they might have just thought I was totally bonkers and mud sticks, I am totally bonkers but they don't need to know that do they! This lesson she was also wearing her ballet outfit, she had her pink skirted leotard, her pink crossover cardigan her seamless ballet tights and the adorable tiny ballet shoes. She looked absolutely adorable, I wanted to squeeze her. She is getting more confident, she will now happily get up on her tip toes and walk her pretend balloon across the room to one of her teachers. One good thing about one of us having to go in the room with her means we know what she has been learning and can practice at home, my husband doing some funny ballet moves to encourage our daughter is an hilarious sight to witness, I love that he will do anything to make her feel more comfortable at ballet school.
Week 5 is now, right this second as I am writing this, she went through the door with Daddy but joined the circle. She did not immediately stick to his side. Again I wanted to tell everyone that she had indeed joined that circle, she is making friends with her teachers who are all really friendly. It is sad that she will only have one more lesson before breaking up for the summer, I hope in September she still feels comfortable. I am certain that over the holidays we will be sat on our rug doing 'good toes, naughty toes'.
I am so happy that we did encourage her, you can see she loves it, if the day comes when she no longer enjoys it then she can stop. At this moment in time she loves being a ballerina.

Friday 4 July 2014

Avengers Dulux Bedroom in a box

Big T has been begging me for ages to draw him a mural on his walls like I did the Peter Pan Mural. He wanted a Captain America wall mural but I know what my son is like, he has a terrible habit of pulling wallpaper off the wall so I was not ready to spend weeks doing a lovely mural for him to destroy it in one night so I put him off, I kept telling him that I will do a mural for him when he shows me that he won't ruin his walls. With him having special needs I can't blame him too much, he gets lots of sensory stimulation from picking at wallpaper, I just hope he leaves his Avengers mural well alone.

No, I never spent weeks killing my wrist drawing on walls, I found something much simpler. The Dulux Bedroom in a box, it is a genius idea and so easy to use. You get everything you need, the paint for your walls which is a matt, a mid sheen Satinwood paint for your woodwork which surprisingly covers quite a lot for a small tin, a brilliant wall mural and the paste to apply it to your wall. All the colours compliment each other and it honestly is all you need to make your childs a bedroom of their dreams.

Below is a video review of the Avengers Dulux Bedroom in a Box & the big reveal. I honestly had no idea how Big T would react as he is so unpredictable, thankfully he thinks is room is awesome and so do we.


He did make us laugh at bedtime on the first night in his newly decorated room. Daddy2five told him to take his top off because it was warm and he squealed "I can't take my top off dad Black Widow will see my boobs". He also keeps telling me that hulk is his best mate so it is safe to say he thinks his room is the best. 

From start to finish it was really simple to do, I can not believe the results. Just follow the instructions and you can not go wrong. I only have to line my walls with lining paper because they are dreadful dry walls without a skim of plaster, if your walls a plastered you should be fine to apply it direct to the walls. 

You can buy 5 different designs of Wall murals in the Dulux bedroom in a box range, the Avengers one is priced at £75 which I think is excellent value for money. The mural is 8ft by 10 ft and you get enough paint for a room that is 3.5m by 3.5m, if your room is bigger you can add more paint to your box.




We would happily use Dulux Bedroom in a box again in the future.


We were provided with a Bedroom in a Box for the purposes of this review by Dulux and Tots100. You can find out more about the Bedroom in a Box range on FacebookTwitterYouTube and Pinterest.

My Britmumslive experience 2014

If you are a regular reader you would have read my post before attending Britmumslive , in this post I introduced my sponsor C&G Baby Club, I told you a little about who they are and what they do, thanks to them I was able to attend Britmumslive this year, without them I would have been sat at home following all the fun I was missing on Twitter.
C&G Baby Club I can not thank you enough for being my sponsor

So I bet you all want to know what I got up to don't you? Well I sipped Lindeman's wine, I ate delicious food, I spoke to some friendly brands, I learnt new skills but most of all I laughed with my blogging friends, one being a school friend who is so funny she was a keynotes speaker, you can see her keynotes here. One of the main things I learnt was about You Tube, some of you may already subscribe to my youtube channel if not feel free to click subscribe. I learnt how to add links to my videos whilst in editing. It seems so simple now but before I knew nothing about it. The session was with Greg Brand and he was rather surprised the majority of us knew hardly anything other that upload and subscribe on You Tube.
Now I know a little more than I did before!


An interesting stand for me was the Aveeno stand, I have suffered with eczema all of my life, I was talking to the specialist there and she gave me some top tips for managing my eczema. I recently followed some of those tips & bought some moisturising gloves and I will be trying this out. I will be using my hands lots when I start college this September so I need them in top condition, every little helps when it comes to managing painful eczema.
Another stand was the A2 Milk stand, I never knew that once upon a time all cows were A2 cows producing A2 milk but us humans domesticated them and made them produce A1. Some people struggle to consume cows milk for a variety of reasons, some of those who do struggle are able to consume A2 milk without a problem. This fascinated me, I had a latte with A2 milk and it was no different in taste to the milk I drink at home. I would like to research the a1 to a2 milk a little more but that post will be on my animal related blog Dreaming of a Smallholding .
After dressing up for a rather shocking photo of me holding onto my coconuts I was handed a useful card, a UV safe card. UV rays are something many people worry about, I was very pleased to pick up a UV safe card from Wyndham vacation rental stand & this I will carry everywhere with me so I can monitor when the UV rays are at the most harmful levels.

The BiBS were great fun as usual, free wine helps lots when you know you don't quite meet the standard to win awards but who needs awards hey when you have Laithwaite's wine. 
The winners at their categories were;
Food-Super Golden Bakes
Inspire-Who The Hell Does He Think He Is
Social-One Dad 3 Girls
Writer-Older Mum(In A Muddle)
Photo-Capture By Lucy
Video-Jugglemum
Travel-Mums Do Travel
Family-Mummy Daddy Me
Style-Love Chic Living
Laugh-Just A Normal Mummy
Crafts-Along Came Cherry 
Health-My Daughter Won't Sleep
Innovate-Love All Dad's Podcast
Campaigns & Commentary-Team Honk
Fresh Voice-Katy Hill
Outstanding-The English Can Cook

Last but by no means least Livescribe, I spent almost an hour at their stand mesmerized by their Smartpens. I came home talking about these wonderful pens that will help me out at college and knew I needed one in my life. My husband looked at me like I was bonkers, my teen almost disowned me at being excited about a pen but I did not care. I then received an amazing email, I had only gone and won the Livescribe 3


I of course had a little play and I know it will come in very handy for college so thank you Livescribe.

So that is it, my whole trip went perfectly, well I say perfectly, I did have one slight hiccup. I got on the wrong train home, I visited lots of stations that look the same along the way but eventually made it home safe and well 90 minutes later than planned. I only realised once I reached Wolverhampton too! The moral of the story is do not follow me onto a train thinking I know what I am doing because clearly I don't, the tube however I can navigate.

Once again thank you to my sponsors C&g Baby Club. If you are expecting a child or looking for advice please do pop over to their website and see how they can help you. 




Thursday 3 July 2014

Cirque Du Hilarious ticket giveaway


Do you like to laugh? Silly question right, everyone loves a good laugh and that is what you will find at Cirque De Hilarious. Throughout July & August they will be putting on their hilarious show at Blackpools central pier. 

I have tickets for a family of four to go and watch Clive and Danny who are a Father and Son duo this summer. To be in with a chance to win just enter just fill in the rafflecoptor form below.




a Rafflecopter giveaway