Saturday is Caption Day

Can you think of a caption for this photo?

You can then check out some more fab entries for Saturday is Caption Day over at Mammasaurus blog by clicking the badge below. Happy Saturday!

Tayto Time

Tayto crisps, what can I say, they are the national crisps of Ireland. So on this trip back to Ireland I decided it was about time to introduce Ben to the famous Irish delicacy. The flavour of choice being Smokey Bacon. He loved them so much he asked for more..

Ireland by Rocket!

We flew to Ireland yesterday but not by aeroplane as you might expect, instead we went by rocket ship! Well that is the story if you ask two year old Ben.

Ben decided as soon as we got to Heathrow airport we were in fact in outer space. The lights from the aeroplanes and the ones illuminating the runway outside were stars and planets and there were rocket ships everywhere. Unfortunately for him he slept most of the flight here (probably dreaming of rocket ships) so he missed out on his big space adventure. It doesn't stop him talking about it though...

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day

Can you think of a caption for this photo?

You can then check out some more fab entries for Saturday is Caption Day over at Mammasaurus blog by clicking the badge below. Happy Saturday!

The Gallery: Christmas of Yesteryear

This weeks theme for The Gallery is Christmas of Yesteryear. I have decided to pick the year 2009 as it was a very special Christmas for us being Ben's first. He was three months old that December and I remember him being fascinated by the twinkling lights on the tree and the colourful decorations everywhere. That year I made a last minute purchase of a Santa suit for him to wear which I am so glad about now as I absolutely love these pictures of him in it especially the one of him waving.

Santa Ben having a little rest

Big waves from Ben and Teddy

I remember taking this picture as he slept in my arms that year

Love you Mama, Love you Dada...

It melts my heart when Ben comes running over to me and says "Love you Mama" as it does when he turns to his Daddy and ever so cutely says "Love you Dada!". We're lucky parents aren't we? Our son clearly loves us but when he goes and kisses my iPad and hugs it saying "Love you iPad" I do wonder who or what he loves the most ;).

Disney Junior Christmas Card Creator and Coluring Fun

If you are looking for some ideas to keep your little ones busy in the run up to Christmas make sure you check out the Christmas Colouring Fun, Create a Christmas Card or e-card online and Print a Christmas Card activities available for free on Disney Junior which lets you print out colour in sheets with all your little ones favourite characters and customise and print out Christmas cards starring Mickey, Special Agent OSO, The Jungle Junction crew and other Disney friends.

I was delighted to discover these especially as we had to wait in for deliveries for the past few days and they were great for entertaining my little toddler. We did lots of colouring and had heaps of fun making a special Christmas card for Ben's Daddy which of course had to have Ben's favourites Donald and Mickey along with a picture of Ben himself inside.

They really are fantastic fun for any little Disney Junior fans out there!

Saturday is Caption Day

Can you think of a caption for this photo?

You can then check out some more fab entries for Saturday is Caption Day over at Mammasaurus blog by clicking the badge below. Happy Saturday!

Saturday is Mammasaurus Day

How could I resist joining in on the revolution that is #MadCap Day? So here's my photo (which I acquired from a certain naughty elf) of the great Mammasaurus herself!

Dr. Seuss Band iPad / iPhone App Review

This week saw the release of the fantastic Dr. Seuss Band app by Oceanhouse Media. This app is so much fun to play and will not only appeal to kid but adults alike. It takes the fantastic music and artwork from the well loved Dr. Seuss stories and uses them to bring us a very cool app which turns your iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch into a musical instrument.

There are two modes of play Freeplay or Music Game which make it suitable for all ages. Ben loves the Freeplay mode and happily composes a variety of musical masterpieces to bop along to whereas his Dad and I enjoy the competition of the Music Game (yes, it really is for the mummies and daddies too!). It reminds me a little of guitar hero in that you have to press the correct buttons that match the coloured notes on screen. When playing Music Game mode you can select from Dr. Seuss ABC, The Cat In The Hat and There's a Wocket in my Pocket which are free or choose to unlock one or more of the other seven Dr. Seuss songs which include Green Eggs and Ham, Horton Hears A Who and The Bippolo Seed amongst others which cost 69p each or £2.49 for all songs. You simply select your song, pick between Easy, Medium and Hard and then the game starts.

Playing The Cat In The Hat on easy

Other fun features include the ability to select between different horn instruments with the Trumpet and French Horn free and the Clarinet, Trombone and Flute as additional in-app purchases for 69p along with fun effects, again Echo Chamber and Normal are free and there are additional in-app purchase for 69p each such as a Train Whistle which is a big hit with my train obsessed toddler! All the Horns and Effects can be purchased for £2.99 and both Songs and Horns and Effects together for £5.99. You can have a lot of fun using these features mixing and matching the parts of the horn while playing and I do believe there are over one hundred and twenty possible combinations so it is sure to keep you and your child busy for some time finding them all.

In-App Purchases and Unlocks

I have to say I am not hugely keen on In-App Purchases especially in kids apps mainly due to the danger of accidental and unintentional purchases by little hands therefore it is worth noting you can switch of In-App Purchases in your device settings if you are concerned about it. However the location of the In-App Purchases in the Dr. Seuss Band app limits this happening as you have to navigate to the settings so I am not overly worried about it with Ben. Overall I have found Dr. Seuss Band a very entertaining fun app and the great thing is it is suitable for all the family.

Dr. Seuss Band is available to purchase for a special introductary price of 69p from the AppStore and is compatible with the iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch. I highly reccommend it - it's a fun app for everyone!

Ben enjoying making some funky music!

* Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I received a promocode to download this app for free however this has in way biased my opinion.

Breastfeeding a Toddler

I have now been breastfeeding Ben for over twenty seven months and he is showing very little signs of giving up. I was hoping that he would self-wean and had set a deadline of two years in my mind but it is not exactly going to plan. I was lucky with Ben in that he took to breastfeeding straight away and it has never been hard or difficult really but it has come to a point now where I am thinking will he ever stop? I have nightmarish visions of Little Britain and the whole 'bitty' scenario.

When Ben was little I didn't think twice about breastfeeding in public and quite happily obliged my baby's demands as and when they happened. Now Ben is a toddler I have to admit I feel considerably less comfortable about it all. His demands are a lot more vocal and physical, even verging on aggressive with him often just grabbing at and trying to whip my boob out in public whilst shouting "booby time now Mama". As a result there have been more than a few embarrassing moments. Breastfeeding a toddler isn't easy, there is a lot of pinching, tugging and pulling and sometimes I feel like I have gone ten rounds with Tyson as he thrashes about from one boob to the other. I do however still value the bond I have with him that breastfeeding brings, it is a very special thing which is why I was, and still am, really hoping weaning will be baby (or should I say toddler) led.

So today in an effort to reduce Ben's feeds we are trying something out, when he asks to feed I give him a very special Mickey Mouse cup with a twirly straw instead and I am happy to say it has worked so far. It is a start, even if I can get him to use it during the day for now I will be happy as I know a lot of the reason he wants to nurse at night has to do with comfort above all else. So wish us luck and if you have any advice I would love to hear from you.

A Favourite Christmas Book: Pull-Back Busy Santa

On a recent visit to Trotters Children's Store on the Kings Road I picked up a fantastic Christmas book for Ben called the Pull-Back Busy Santa Book by Usborne which tells the story of Santa's journey as he sets out to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. Ben loves it, as the name suggests it has a little Santa on a sleigh toy which can be pulled back and then travels over the different tracks on each set of pages in the book.

The story starts off in the North Pole where Santa races across the ice with a sleigh full of presents waving goodbye to the elves and passing the snowmen as he sets off on his adventure. Santa then flies around a busy city, above snowy mountains and roof tops, delivering presents down chimneys before heading home into the night sky. It is a lovely colourful book which has lots of detail and encourages children to look closely at the pages and develop their observational and counting skills by asking questions such as "Santa whizzed past four snowmen. Can you spot them?" and "Santa spotted two cats. Can you?" on each set of pages. The little Santa on his sleigh toy speeds about the tracks but you do have to make sure you support the book or prop another book under it so the tracks are flat.

This is the first Christmas where Ben, who is two, understands that Santa will be "coming to town" (his words, which we hear at least twenty times a day at the moment). It's a very magical time and this book is wonderful to read with him, I love the way he chatters on about Santa in his sleigh as he sets the toy off whizzing about the tracks on the pages as I read it to him. The look of excitement in his face is priceless. I can highly recommend this book for toddlers, they are sure to love it!

I purchased this book from Trotters for £14.99 but it is also available in a variety of other stores and online from Amazon and Usborne.

*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post. I am writing about this book as Ben really enjoys it and I wanted to share it with others.

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day

Can you think of a caption for this photo?

You can then check out some more fab entries for Saturday is Caption Day over at Mammasaurus blog by clicking the badge below. Happy Saturday!

A New Money Saving Me

It is that time again where the car insurance renewal forms are due to drop through the letterbox any day. Yes, it would be easy to just let it auto-renew but I have decided it is time to make a list of things such as car insurance, electricity, gas, broadband and so on and see if I can find cheaper alternatives. So first on my hit list is to compare car insurance deals and see if I can get it any cheaper elsewhere.

I have always hated filling in the seemingly endless information required when searching for car insurance but I found this process pretty painless. The Tesco Compare site which I used is very user friendly and the thing I liked most about it is that you don’t have to complete it all in one go as there is an option to save the quote as you go along which is pretty much essential when you have to deal with as many toddler interruptions as I do as soon as I go near my laptop.

Once I had all my details submitted a list of over thirty insurance quotes was returned to me which I could then compare. I was also emailed a link to my quote and it can be retrieve by logging into the site which is great as it means I have it ready to go as soon as I need it. Before I used this site I have to admit the thought did cross my mind as to whether it would be biased towards Tesco Car Insurance but it definitely wasn’t, in fact Tesco appeared right at end of my list of options. Another big win with Tesco Compare is that if I do end up buying my car insurance through them I can collect Tesco Clubcard Points too!

For once in my life I now feel very organised and will be ready to compare my options once the renewal forms arrive - an attempt at my new money saving self perhaps? Well it’s a start anyway...

*Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post but has in no way biased my opinion - I found using the Tesco Compare site very easy to use and I will definitely be using it again when looking for more savings on bills.

Jerricho The Elf iPad App Review

Today I came across another great iPad app which I just had to feature, it is called Jerricho The Elf which is developed by Emantras Inc and brought to us by Punflay. Although it is designed for kids five and over Ben who is two absolutely loves it.

Jerricho and his lucky hat

The app is an interactive ebook which tells the story of Jerricho who is chosen to be one of Santa's elves this Christmas. It sees him setting out to make his way to work at the North Pole by bus (which I thought was quite amusing - I never knew they had elf buses ;)). Along the way Jerricho loses his lucky hat, meets the famous toy maker elf, Bushy Evergreen and then gets to work making toys. The story even sees poor Jerricho having to chase a nasty goblin who tries to steals the toys. When I first saw the goblin I though Ben might be afraid of it but no, silly me, of course he wasn't he loved it! I guess a goblin is no scarier a character than the well loved Gruffalo. The highlight of the story for Ben was when Santa appeared which was excitedly noted by clapping and lots of "Santa, Santa, ho, ho, ho!".  The interactive sections in this app are great and include features such as selecting Jerricho's lucky hat, joining numbered dots to make Bushy Evergreen appear, pressing buttons on the toy machine and making and sorting toys, fishing Jerricho's hat out of the river along with various birds that tweet and stars that twinkle when touched - there is definitely a lot to keep little ones engaged throughout.

Interactive feature: connect the numbered dots

The nasty goblin!

Ben and I have already read this story many times today and he is getting quicker and quicker at the interactive parts, he especially loves joining the numbered dots and making Bushy Evergreen appear. This is a great app as the story appeals to young kids, the Goblin is a big hit with Ben who, like most children his age loves these kind of scary characters, the interactive features keep it engaging while fun yet educational and the ending is just perfect with Santa arriving to save the day.

It's Santa! Ho Ho Ho!

Jerricho The Elf is available to download for free with adverts from the AppStore and is compatible with the iPad. You have the option to remove the adverts in app for £0.69 but in my experience of using the app they did not cause any problems as they are placed at the top and Ben never pressed them (so far anyway). Jerricho The Elf is one kids Christmas app not to be missed in my opinion.

Ben busy connecting the numbers

*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.

The Gallery: My Awesome Photo

This weeks theme for The Gallery is My Awesome Photo which was a hard one as I have so many pictures which may not be technically brilliant but I love as they capture special moments. So I spent awhile looking through all of them trying to figure out which I could see hanging on the wall as a canvas and I kept coming back to this one as I just love Ben's expression and cheeky little grin which captures his personality perfectly.

Our Play-Doh Christmas Tree

Today Ben and I decided to have some fun with Play-Doh and amongst a variety of colourful animals and monsters we made a Christmas Tree which is now taking pride of place amongst the Christmas decorations in our home. There really is something special about your little ones handmade creations - I love Ben's little tree :).

Wigwam Play Tent Review

I was delighted when Playhouses.co.uk got in contact with me and asked if I would like to do a review as they do a fantastic range of children's outdoor products. I decided to chose the Wigwam Play Tent because I had a feeling Ben would love it and I wasn't wrong. As soon as I took the box out of it's packaging and my little toddler caught sight of the picture of the Wigwam on it he was impressed, in fact he was so delighted he started hugging the box.

Hugs!

My plan to wait until my husband got home to set it up quickly went out the window as Ben begged me to get it built. I have to say I was very pleased with how easy it was to put together and thankfully there were no small fiddly pieces for Ben to grab and run off with or me to lose. To put it together you join two sets of six poles in the middle with plastic connector pieces, thread these through elastic loops inside the canvas cover and slot into the foot holders at the bottom. A rope is then threaded through holes in the top poles which are separated by wooden beads which you tie and hey presto the Wigwam is ready to be erected. It really is as simple as that!

Ben examining my *ahem* building work

The quality of the canvas is superb, it is made from a thick, hard wearing material which is sure to withstand a lot of use and not tear or rip easily - something which is so important when you have a boisterous toddler. I love the pictures and designs on it as does Ben who spent ages walking around it pointing out all the animals and different colours on it. It really is the perfect hide away place for a little kid as Ben demonstrated by grabbing his rocket, colouring book and crayons and my iPad and then shutting the doors which fasten easily with velcro while popping out every few minutes to say boo! There is plenty of room inside the wigwam and both Ben and I could fit comfortably inside along with a collection of cuddly toys and he was able to stand up so it is a great height. We put it up inside but I can see this being a fantastic little play house outside for Ben in the summer. Another great thing about the Wigwam is that it is as easy to take down as put up and stores neatly inside the box which it comes in so it takes up very little space when not in use.

So that's where my iPad got to...

Boo!

The Wigwam is available to purchase online form Playhouses.co.uk and is priced at £49.99 which in my opinion is very reasonable given the quality of the product, the size and the ease of construction. I can highly recommend this product - Ben has already had so much fun playing inside it and there is definitely lots more to come.

* Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post. I received the Wigwam free in exchange for a review but this has in no way biased my opinion - it is a great product!

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day

Can you think of a caption for this photo?

You can then check out some more fab entries for Saturday is Caption Day over at Mammasaurus blog by clicking the badge below. Happy Saturday!

Rockford's Christmas Song iPhone / iPad App Review

If you haven't guessed by now I love Christmas so to spread the festive cheer I want to tell you about a fantastic Christmas iPhone / iPad app that I have recently come across. Children's Xmas App - Rockford's Christmas Song by Apache Solutions Ltd features Rockford, the ever so cute dog who you may know of from another app called Rockford's Rock Opera in a pretty magical animated song called Christmas Morning. The song opens with a sleeping Rockford who is waking up by the Christmas tree on Christmas morning and then shows him going for a walk with his owners where he encounters lots of other animals and has fun along the way.

There are four options to select from - you can watch a documentary on "The Making of Christmas Morning with the Foulds School Choir, select More Rockford where you can download more free Rockford content, share the app via email and also select Quiz to answer questions based on the song clip. Ben loves this app as do I, it has a lovely feel good Christmas feel to it which is sure to make even the biggest scrooge drop his or her bah humbugs. I have a feeling this song is going to be played over and over again in the run up to Christmas - if not by Ben by me!

The very cute Rockford!

I love this little dog - reminds me of Coco our chihuahua :)

Children's Xmas App - Rockford's Christmas Song is available to download for free from the AppStore and is compatible with iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Get in the festive mood and go download it - you and your kids will love it!

*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.