Snaffles Mummy Is Going Camping!

Today I am packing for a weekend of camping. I am not an outdoors girl. I love my bubble baths, hair straighteners and things generally requiring electricity. I am always cold and spend my days bartering with Mr C about having the heating on.

I don’t do the outdoors, bugs, spiders, cold and getting dirty.

I have camped once before and it was horrible. However, I have been assured that I had a bad experience and that camping is all about the company, the equipment and the camp site. Get any of these things wrong and your outdoor experience may be ruined.

Snaffles and Mr C have recently started camping in our back garden. Snaffles loves it and you can see the excitement all over his face.

He has been looking forward to this camping weekend for months and tells anyone that will listen about it.

He had barely opened his eyes this morning before he was saying “Its camping today isn’t it mummy?”

After much nagging by various people I have finally relented. I have agreed to give camping one final shot.

So, Snaffles, Mr C and I will be spending the weekend with 4 other hardened campers. They have all the gear and I have no idea.

If you don’t hear from me by early next week then please send a search party to the Peak District to rescue me.

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Reviews: Hot Wheels Force 5 Battle Blast & Pass The Bomb (Junior)

We have now had our Toyologist parcel for one week now and have managed to have a good play with two of the toys.

HOT WHEELS FORCE 5 BATTLE BLAST

Age: 4+
Price: £22.99

We Liked:  There was not the usual umpteen tie wraps just to get the toy out of the packaging, the instructions are very clear and it is very quick and easy to assemble taking less than 5 minutes.
Despite getting only one car and the packaging stating that others are available separately the majority of Snaffles existing car collection works on the track.

We Disliked: This is a tough one. On the face of it, had I seen this product in the shops I would not have bought it. Simply because for £22.99 I would expect a toy to have a few different uses, or to be able to be used more freely. However, since getting this toy Snaffles has barely stepped away from it. The second he opens his eyes he goes to his track. Already in a week he has spent hours playing with it so in hindsight it would have proved a great investment for him. 

Would we recommend it?  YES: If your little one is into cars then I would highly recommend this product despite what might initially seem an expensive product. Snaffles loves it and can not be parted from it. We would give this a 4 our of 5 (losing 1 point simply for the price).

PASS THE BOMB (JUNIOR)

Age: 5+

Price £12.99

This game contains a plastic “bomb” and some playing cards which have various scenes on them. The aim of the game is to take it in turns turning over one card each and naming something you would find in that scene. You continue to pass the bomb around the players  until it  “explodes”.

We liked: That the time on the bomb was unpredictable and not the same preset amount of time. This kept us all guessing and kept the unexpected element of the game. There was also  wide range of scenery cards that catered for a wide range of age groups of children.

Snaffles is around 18 months younger than the recommended age guide but he soon got the hang of it and really surprised us with what he was able to associate with each scene.

We Disliked: There was nothing about this product that we did not like.

Would we recommend it? YES. A shiny rating of 5 out of 5 from us for this product. Reasonably priced, adaptable and educational. It also puts a huge smile and giggles on Snaffles face each time it explodes.

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The Gallery - Making Memories

Week 25 of the Gallery is themed “One Day In August”.

Hundreds of bloggers choosing to unite for the day to support 3 very special ladies who have flown to Bangladesh to represent Save The Children.

By taking part in the Gallery this week we are all helping to compile an online journal of this date (Sunday 29th August).

Seeing the photos that Josie, Sian and Eva have posted during their trip so far just goes to show how fortunate we are to live where we do, free from the worries of providing a clean, safe environment for our families and not wondering where the next meal is coming from.

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Our First Toyologist Delivery

In a week that has been pretty much non stop rain I am thankful that our first Toys R Us Toyologist parcel was delivered on my day off.

I had already told Snaffles that there was a Mr bringing him some new toys so he was very excited. Unfortunately Snaffles has no concept of time and I spent most of the day saying “not yet” to the repeated requests of whether the Mr was here yet.

The excitement soon made up for the long wait. 

Our delivery included Snazaroo Boys Face paints, Pass the Bomb (Junior), Hot Wheels Force 5 Battle Blast and Gormiti Magic Egg.

We have been having lots of fun with the new toys and our reviews will be following shortly.

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Snaffles School of Football

Welcome to the Snaffles School of Football.

You dont need fancy cones, targets or coaches.

At the Snaffles School of Football if it doesn’t move it will be used to dribble around.

If you are wondering what motivates him to try so hard at dribbling around the obstacles, it is the threat of death if the ball goes in my flower border!

 

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I Hate Cars!

It is official, My car is a heap of junk!

All cars seem to do is eat your hard earned money.

If its not petrol, and insurance and tax its tyres and breaks and just about anything else it can think of that will cost you money.

This morning was met with the discovery that my car would not move. It would start, 3 of the wheels were ready to go but there was one back wheel that refused to move.

Thankfully I have home start breakdown cover, I kind of hoped that the breakdown man would take us to a garage but instead he tackled my wheel/brake with a hammer and off it went again. (after seeing the recovery man I was secretly pleased he wouldn’t take us to the garage, he looked a little scary and smelly!).

So the good news was that my car would move again but the start of the bad news was that;
a) The brakes needed some serious attention
b) If I didn’t get them looked at and risked going to work there was the risk it would do it again and the terms of my breakdown policy are that they will not come out to the same problem more than once before you have had it looked at.

Given that I have a 1 hour commute each way to work I don’t especially fancy being stranded miles away from home.

As much as I would love a new car I simply can not afford one at the minute. Instead I am left with no alternative other than to throw money at a car which is heading for the scrap heap in the hope of keeping it on the road that little bit longer. It is hardly a wise investment but it is the cheaper of my two options at the minute.

I thought my day was going pretty bad at this point, sadly it only went downhill.

The grim news from the garage is that my rear wheel needs a new brake shoe, brake drum and bearings. A grand total of almost half a months wages just to get it back on the road. That does not include the new discs and pads that my front wheels are likely to need imminently.

If you are wondering how I took this news - I cried!

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Tapas Night

With the ever growing pressures of work, family and money, girlie nights out at the pub or restaurant are becoming harder to manage.

Thankfully the men folk within our group of friends are very accommodating and never shy away from an evening in with the children while us mummies have a night off.

Most weeks we will meet at one of our homes and indulge in some naughty food and a good old gossip.

Long hours of working, commuting, cooking and looking after children mean that our girls nights are usually hosted with as little effort as possible.

One recent girls night was met with the idea that to save even more time and effort we could each cook one small dish and hold a Tapas Style Evening.

There is no shame in saying that we are girls who love to eat. You will not see any food being pushed around plates and tiny forkfuls being eaten where we are concerned. Pile it on and tuck in.

We each made one starter and one main meal to take with us. Babies were fed, children were tucked up into bed (we had no intentions of sharing the food with them!) and the eating commenced.

So much yummy food all on one table. We all repeatedly muttered that we were stuffed but we all returned for seconds and even thirds.

Between us we made hummus and pittas, mozzarella and tomato salad, bruschetta’s and halloumi and pesto salad for starters followed my shish kebab, meatballs, tortilla and patatas bravis for main.

It was a fab night in and one that I am sure will be repeated.

I was hoping to supply photographs of the food but it was inhaled too quickly.

If you don’t see of much as your friends as you would like to why not suggest hosting an evening in, Tapas style. Line the kids up in bed upstairs and enjoy a good old girlie gossip while they sleep.

Photo Credit

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