06/03/201423/06/2015 by jo

World Book Day

World Book Day was today. H got her voucher from school and we’ve decided on The Worst Witch as her choice, an activity book.

They didn’t dress up at her school – I’m not sure why. Instead it has been announced they’re doing a week of book related things when at the start of next term.

The relief thinking we’d got away with it turned to “uuuuhhhhh nooooo” when I realised we have to find an appopriate costume for the day. At least we have a month and a half to think about it!

So far my suggestions have been…
A Pigeon (Mo Willems)
Little Miss Naughty (we have the costume)
Topsy (she’ll need a Tim)
My Naughty Little Sister
Milly Molly Mandy
Meg (she can use Jessie Cat as her Mog)

they haven’t had the most enthusiastic response.

Before then we have to get Easter out of the way – there’s a school bonnet parade before the end of term and fortunately Poundland have kits in stock. We just need to make it now…

What did you dress your child in today, or is your school going later too?

Here’s some previous costumes we’ve done!

02/03/201403/03/2014 by jo

Internet Safety and Staying Safe Online

Last weekend we were invited to The Disney Store in Stratford to attend a short talk about internet safety in conjunction with Disney Club Penguin. Now, some might say H is a bit young to be learning about this at four and a half, but I think she’s the perfect age and as parents it doesn’t do us any harm to be reminded of things we may forget.

Disney Club Penguin is a social network for kids and has impressed me since we’ve registered – with good security levels I feel protects H well, keeping it age-appropriate. I won’t let her go there on her own, but I feel like she’s safe. Nobody can contact her, and nobody can leave bad messages to her as they have strict guidelines for no bad language or being mean to others.

H signed a pledge last week to be ‘treat people how you want to be treated’ – which is a lot easier when you’re just starting out. CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre) who run a great website Think U Know had lots of handy information on the day. They have a simple checklist to help protect your children and decrease the risks they take:

– Ask your child to show you the sites they use
– Ask your child to set their profile settings to private
– Ask your child about their online friends
– Set appropriate parental controls on your child’s computer, mobile and games console.
– If your child is worried about something online, make sure they agree to tell you
– Know where to get help if you’re concerned about your child (the CEOP Safety Centre provides access to a range of services).

According to Disney Club Penguin research, one in three parents admit to feeling baffled by over-complicated user manuals.

To provide ongoing support for parents, Disney Club Penguin is offering a special e-hotline giving parents throughout the chance to e-mail any queries about online safety to saferinternethelp@clubpenguin.com

Disney’s Club Penguin’s online safety campaign, It Starts With You, aims to empower kids to take the lead in spreading positive behaviour online and give their parents the tools to better support them. The campaign, which launched last September in the UK, encourages kids and parents to make the online world a better place.

8 OUT OF 10 UK PARENTS BELIEVE INTERNET SAFETY SHOULD BE A FUNDAMENTAL EDUCATIONAL PILLAR

New research from Disney’s Club Penguin reveals parents believe that inteRnet safety should be the fourth R

1 in 4 kids aged between six and 12 confess to sharing personal information online with strangers

Around 30% of parents cite a compulsory log in for all internet users if they could make one change to the internet.

The report, conducted by the virtual world as part as its ongoing safety initiative, It Starts with You, polled 1,000 parents with children aged six to 12 year olds and their kids, about internet safety, what they think is acceptable behaviour online, and the changes that they would most like to make to the internet, in keeping with Safer Internet Day’s 2014’s theme of “let’s create a better internet together”.

Not speaking to strangers is the number one life lesson children are taught in the real world, however, when it comes to the digital world, one in four (25%) young people aged six to 12 years old confessed that they think it is acceptable to share personal information online, including their full name and address, passwords and images, with people they don’t know. Yet despite mums and dads calling for internet safety to become a matter of course in the classroom, worryingly, almost one in six (15%) also admitted they think the sharing of such personal information with strangers is appropriate.

The report unveiled that more than a third (36%) of mums and dads admit to not regularly monitoring their children’s use of the web, and found that families aren’t aware of the rules of the road when it comes to online safety. Those parents who did admit to overseeing their kids’ online use, cite making sure that they are not speaking to strangers online (43%), or not spending too much time online (24%) as the top two reasons.

Almost a third (27%) of parents stated that they don’t think that there is enough being done to help educate children about online safety, with half calling for more to be done by schools, internet providers and third parties to teach kids e-safety. Furthermore, whilst some parents (9%) believe the safety features on their children’s device will keep them safe, more than one in three (36%) confess to feeling baffled by over-complicated user manuals when it comes to setting them up. One in five (20%) admit to only bothering putting them in place on devices that belong to their children.

This call for education, coupled with parent’s lack of knowledge when it comes to internet-enabled devices, has led to the world’s largest virtual world Disney’s Club Penguin taking steps to tackle these issues head on. To help parents and kids, learn the rules of the online road, Disney’s Club Penguin will be holding free online safety sessions for parents and children across the UK on 15th February, in addition to hosting a special session with Sophie Ellis-Bextor on Safer Internet Day. Fully trained ambassadors from Child Exploitation & Online Protection Centre (CEOP) will be on hand in store providing help and advice for young people on how to navigate safely in the digital world. The Geek Squad will be available to teach mums and dads how to set up those all-important parental controls, so children can surf the web worry free.

Lucy Woodward, Interactive Live Services Director at Club Penguin comments: “‘As a mum, I know how hard it can be to feel 100% confident having conversations with your children about online safety, especially when it feels like your kids are more comfortable with the internet and technology than you are! That’s why we seek to give parents the tools to support, and educate them, as well as empowering kids to take the lead in making the internet a better place. We want parents and kids to make their pledge to making the web a safer place this Safer Internet Day – it really does start with you!”

Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Disney’s Club Penguin ambassador comments: “My children are all different ages but have all grown up with the web, so it’s important that I know how to make sure that they are safe online, like I do in the real world. It’s great that Club Penguin is helping parents and kids learn the rules of the online road. The internet is an amazing place for learning and discovery, but the potential threats to kids are real, so we need to make sure that parents and children know how to navigate the internet safely.”

Disney’s Club Penguin’s study also revealed that:

· Close to 30% of children (26.8%) would put “internet police” in power if given the tools to create the internet, with parents citing “appropriate content” for kids (32%), “filters and safety technology” (24.9%) and” internet police” on their top internet wish-list (18.2%)

· Children’s most preferred single change to the internet would be safe sites that are checked (27%). Meanwhile parents’ more popular change was online log-ins for users (27%)

It Starts with You, sees Disney’s Club Penguin partner with Childnet and the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP) and aims to empower kids to take the lead in spreading positive behaviour online, and give their parents the tools to better support them. Disney’s Club Penguin has seen 200 million penguins created since launch and spans 190 countries from the UK to Chile across computer and iPad, with more multiplatform launches set to be announced. Parents and young people can visit www.clubpenguin.com/safety to discover how to make the online world a better place. It Starts with You!

01/03/2014 by jo

Canvas Design Giveaway!

Canvas Design were looking for bloggers to review their canvas prints, and I’m never one to turn down the chance to try a canvas!

Canvas Design are based in Darwen, Lancashire and after having emailed a photo to them, two days later Interlink Express had delivered it. The photo was taken back in October on my phone – a silhouette I love of Shaun and H standing in the wind at Chesil Beach near Weymouth.

I was impressed with the quality – the canvas also includes everything you need to hang it on the wall. I received the 22×26 size which looks lovely on our wall – see?

That’s not all though – Canvas Design are offering a print as a giveaway at Mum Friendly! The giveaway is open to UK Residents only and you can choose from any size canvas from 6×6 to 40×40 inches, with any picture you’d like. Here’s what you get:

Your canvas prints will arrive at your home or workplace ready to hang.
A free hanging kit is supplied to ensure perfect positioning.
Your photo printed on pure 100% cotton canvas.
38mm deep pine frames sourced from renewable European forests.
Canvas frames include corner wedges for tension.
Photos with Red Eye removed free of charge.
Free Shipping with 48 Hours Delivery.

So here’s your chance – good luck! I’ve been impressed with how quickly we received ours and the courier gives you an hourly slot so you know when to expect it.

As an additional entry I have a special discount code that can be used on their site – click the option on Rafflecopter below to access it! Canvas Design can be found here.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

24/02/201424/02/2014 by jo

Need Your Heating On At Different Times? Hive Active Heating Can Help.

Half term seems to be one of those times bloggers all tell stories of fabulous trips they’ve had to various places, showing photos of picturesque beauty. Not us. We’ve had to work. H has been in holiday club which makes things easier, mainly as I’ve finished at the same time every day.

In addition to that H has had several trips out for the day and I’ve been instructed (by H) to come a bit later so she can play for longer. I can safely say Holiday Club has been a success.

One thing which can’t be guaranteed is the weather, nor how cold your house is when you get home – especially when you have unpredictable hours (and weather) like we’ve had all week. It’s all well and good setting your timer to come on at the same time every day so it’s warm when you get in, but getting home at different times or even just remembering to change the timer in the morning isn’t always going to happen.

This is where Hive, an offspring of British Gas comes in – a new system which links in to your heating system and can be controlled via your Smartphone or browser. So on Monday when I got to pickup nice and early around 3.15 I could have programmed the Hive Active Heating to come on by the time we got home. On Thursday when it was a 5.15pm pickup I could do the same – saving that couple of hours of heating, but not having to be home to do it.

Hive Active Heating sounds too good to be true – it does loads! It lets you monitor, alter and control your heating and hot water. You can adjust your schedules and temperatures away from home and have alerts sent to your mobile if temperatures reach a certain level.

I tend to do most of my personal stuff on the train to and from work, so knowing I could control Hive this way is something which works for me. Alas, our heating system at home is old and nasty (we even have an immersion switch for our hot water) so getting one installed wouldn’t be possible. A girl can still dream though! (or think about moving house)

Hive costs £199 from British Gas. The app is compatible with iOS and Android devices – and you can even control it via text. You don’t need to change your energy supplier either.

We received payment for this post, all opinions are our own.

23/02/201423/02/2014 by jo

Banoffee Pie

To celebrate H turning four and a half we made Banoffee Pie. Ever since it featured on The Great British Bake-Off, Shaun and H have been wanting to make it, but we’ve wanted a nice simple recipe so H could help too.

Banoffee Pie isn’t difficult to make. Here are the ingredients :

One pack of digestive biscuits (250g crushed)
100g butter
Can of Carnation Caramel
300ml Whipping Cream
Three bananas
Chocolate for topping (grated)

Crush the biscuits – these are going to be the base of the pie. Melt the 100g butter and add to the crushed biscuit base to make a solid base. Grease a 20cm tin with butter, and press the mixture into the tin to form the pie base.

Leave to set in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes bring the base out of the fridge and add the Carnation Caramel. Chop the banana into slices and place on top of the Caramel.

Whip the cream lightly until it forms soft peaks. Add bananas (if you think it’s a good idea – we did). Spoon this onto the top of your pie.

Banoffee Pie cream

Place in the fridge to chill for a bit longer.

Banoffee Pie Cream Top

Grate the chocolate and once your pie is ready to eat, sprinkle on top. This last step can be tricky as for some reason our grater had a weird static reaction with the chocolate so it went flying everywhere!

After that, eat.

This was nice and simple to make, the only cooking involved was melting the butter, so a perfect one for H to do the majority of!

This recipe is based on this one from the Carnation Website and takes approximately 15 minutes (without taking the 30 minutes chilling in between) to make.

22/02/2014 by jo

Heat Holders Thermal Tights

It’s cold. So cold. I’m cold all the time. At home it takes a while for me to warm up. At work I’m always freezing. I live in Uniqlo Heattech tops and jeans to try and stay warm before I give up and switch to thermals. Ah, thermals. Those unattractive undergarments you hide underneath your regular clothes to attempt to stay warm. Those attractive shades of beige, right?

Wrong! Read on to find more about the Heat Holders Thermal Tights I’ve been sent to review.

Heat Holders Thermal Tights are my kind of tights – thick black ones which don’t fall down (always a problem when you’re tall like me). I was offered a pair to review, and having bought a couple of skirts for myself in the sales I knew a good time to try them out would be on a trip to the park.

This wasn’t just any trip though. This was as the cold, icy winds were making their way towards London. Oh they were bitter. This would be the kind of weather I’d probably try and put my waterproof trousers on over my jeans for extra warmth. The park we visited is in the middle of Banstead, but still gets a lot of wind thanks to the open space.

The verdict? Freaking marvellous! I had such warm legs!! This was a whole new experience for me – tights I’ve worn in the past are generally 80 denier and vaguely warm until it gets chilly. This time I was toasty warm all over – and it was Shaun and H who both wanted to leave the park first due to being cold. I’m really impressed, they’re lovely and thick (140 denier), come in four sizes (small, medium, large, extra large) and have a tog of 0.52. We’re not talking duvet warm, but we’re talking warm.

The Heat Holders thermal tights wash well and so far I’ve had no issues with snagging. In fact, my only issue is that I need more pairs – at £8 they’re not cheap, but having tried them I’m going to get myself another pair, if only to be able to wear more skirts again!

Heat Holders Thermal Tights can be bought from the Sock Shop for £8 a pair.

We were sent a pair for the purpose of review – all opinions are my very toasty own.

18/02/201418/01/2015 by jo

Love Our Library – The Pigeon Wants a Puppy by Mo Willems

The Pigeon Wants A Puppy by Mo Willems is another in the wonderful Pigeon series, and one which we picked up from the library last week.

H’s reading is really coming on, so as an experiment (as we’re working quite hard on expression at the moment) I had her read the book and sound out any words she wasn’t sure about. There aren’t many words, but there’s a good story to be read.

The pigeon wants a puppy. He really does. He’d really love a puppy and he’ll tell you why, repeatedly. He’s SO in love with the idea of wanting a puppy that when he actually does get one he realises he didn’t actually want it at all.

Within the book there are plenty of exclamation marks, it’s funny, the pictures work well alongside the text, and for a four year old who is moving gradually into regular books it was lovely to hear her read it, not struggle with any words and giggle at the funny bits.

We only own ‘Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus’ plus another one of his books, though I spotted there’s a new pigeon book due in April which is VERY exciting indeed. In fact, there’s a whole website of goodness over here.

We love Mo Willems’ books, we really do. REALLY.

18/02/201418/02/2014 by jo

Weekend Box

Weekend Box is a new idea – four easy activities posted to you in a box, aimed at children from 3-8 years old. That’s the simple version, there’s a little more to it than that though – read on to see what we think.

Weekend Box were offering a free box via Facebook, and being someone who loves to try before I buy I went for the offer – and a week or so later our first box arrived.

The weather hasn’t been great lately and while we’ve got out, there are only so many games of Pop Up Pirate you can have before it’s quite nice to do something different. Add to that we’ve all been full of cold and thinking of things can be an effort, especially when there’s some preparation involved. The Weekend Box is like a takeaway of decent kids activities, posted twice a month in a letterbox sized box.

This was our only problem – the box had come undone so some parts were missing. A quick email and the missing bits were posted and arrived two days later which is great customer service. There is a list on the website of what you should get which is really handy.

Each box has four activities – Something to Make, Something to Cook, Something to Read or Write and Something Green. Ours were to make some Snowballs, make a Miniature Kite, some Finger Painting and some Map Making. All these activities are perfect for H – she often comes home with a map she’s created at school, loves flying kites and loves baking so we opted for the latter two.

When each activity is done there’s a small sticker to put on each page, and one bigger sticker to add to a poster – when you’ve completed a certain number of activities you can send Weekend Box a picture and get a surprise.

There is also an option to rate each box after you’ve tried it which is handy.

Would you like to try a box for free? If so, my referral code is JO1848 – put that code in when you register (which only takes a minute). Each box costs £7.50 which if you consider the convenience (they even include glue) isn’t too steep a price to pay if you know you’ll do the activities. 100% of the Weekend Box contents are reusable or recyclable; 95% come from recycled material.

The snowballs were good, and H took charge while we were making them (Shaun took care of the baking). The kite was also made with one of our old Ocado bags and flies quite nicely indoors too if you happen to move fast enough; we haven’t dared brave the winds yet, they’ve been strong and loud.

My favourite part of the Weekend Box was being advised of the extras we’d need to do the activities – more often than not we’ll get things we don’t have in stock, and as I do my online shopping at the weekend for the following week it’s nice to plan a few days ahead.

The Weekend Box is fortnightly, I love the organisation of it, and like other boxes you can stop your subscription at any time, thanks to their new customer portal. We’ve had our second (paid for) Weekend Box, but I will be pausing ours, if only to catch up!

17/02/2014 by jo

First Proper Packed Lunch

H has a week of holiday club this week while Shaun and I work. She also has several exciting trips planned throughout the week, most of which require us to send our children in with a packed lunch.

Packed lunch isn’t something I opted for at school for her – it’s easier for her to have school dinner, it’s easier for me. Working from 8.30 and picking her up some time between 3.20-4.20 every day means by the time you’re home and you’ve gone through her school work, you kind of run out of time.

That and I’m permanently tired. However, now I’ve had to make one (as my girl isn’t going to starve), it’s actually not so bad. As long as I have fresh bread (we baked some last night) and plenty of fruit and snacky bits, we’re fine.

We also have the Munchkin Bento Box which is ideal for packed lunch that we were sent to review late last year.

So I kept things simple. H fancied cheese sandwiches, so I made them up and cut them into heart shapes. My bread was a bit of a disaster so I was only able to get three heart sandwiches from two slices, though they fitted perfectly in her lunchbox.

We had a Barny Bear sponge cake which tucks nicely alongside it, leaving enough space for a banana in the main compartment. I’m already feeling proud of this.

The two smaller sealed compartments have chopped pepper and carrot for her to snack on (and probably share with her friends), and some mixed fruit (cherries and cranberries) in the other.

As she didn’t need the spoon and fork with this food I left them out and tucked in a Bear Nibbles Yo Yo under the lid which fits perfectly.

All my preparation took me approximately five minutes. In fact, it was pretty easy really. I have another packed lunch to prepare later this week so I’m going to see how much more I can fit in…

16/02/201427/03/2018 by jo

Barny Bear Returns – The Celebrity Biscuit Bear

We tried out Barny Bear snacks back in September, and have now received two new flavours. A lot has changed since last time…

Barny Bear are yummy bear shaped sponge snacks, previously available in milk and chocolate flavours and now also available in strawberry and apple. We were sent a box of the latter two flavours to try. Oh, and Barny has his own adverts over here now – which H insists we all watch. Barny is pretty easy to find these days – many a time I’ve spotted him racked out in the supermarket, never mind those television appearances (during the ad breaks). Let’s just call him a Celebrity Bear…. H certainly thinks he is.

The only trouble is, when you want to head out for a bit of peace and quiet and you take some Barny Bear in your backpack, people seem to want to photograph you.

On Saturday we headed to Westfield Stratford changing trains near St. Paul’s. Someone must have been tipped off, as photographs exist of the backpack where Barny Bear resided. Must’ve been the paparazzi, right? They’ll do anything to find the bear… Good job H can demand no more photos, right?

Barny Bear returns

Today there was a party and as I’m conscious of too much sugar, a Barny Bear is a good pre-going-crazy-at-soft-play kind of snack when you know party food is coming an hour or so later, so I packed one in my bag in case of emergencies… fortunately the only photographer was the family hosting the party, I think our celebrity bear was safe. I’m not so sure about that zebra though, getting a little too close to our Barny Bear for comfort.

The day finished with a quick race in the back yard. There was only one prize to be had for the winner – a Barny Bear snack of course. Shaun and H were poised; ready, steady, go! and they were off.

H won of course! So she claimed her prize. The verdict? “I thought it was nice. I like the apple taste and it isn’t too sugary” says H. I can go for that. There is no further word whether the paparazzi are still seeking Barny Bear, since his mysterious disappearance…. ahem.

This post is an entry for BritMums ‘Winter Little Adventures Challenge’ sponsored by Barny, individually wrapped bear-shaped sponges with a hidden filling. Find out more about Barny here. We were sent a pack of each Barny flavour to participate.