Thursday 29 October 2015

Free Halloween Fun

Activities don't have to be expensive and when it comes to special events such as Halloween things can add up.

Free printables  are something I love with a passion.



Having a day of nothing can end up with the boys bouncing off the walls, so I always try to find some cool colouring pictures to keep them entertained for an hour or so.



Today is such a day, we're waiting for new sofas to turn up and the boys need to be entertained. 
They were causing a mass destruction of their rooms and the lounge! 
So our printer came to my rescue. 


Being Halloween on Saturday I thought I'd find them some Halloween'y ones.



Here are the links to the sites I used this morning -


Happy colouring x

Spooky goings on in Basingstoke

In and around Baskngstoke this weekend? Stuck for ideas to keep the kids entertained??


Festival Place is your place for a spooktacular Halloween this year with their two-day long Halloween extravaganza. 




Taking place from Friday October 30th to Saturday October 31st, the fiendish family fun event will have a range of eerie entertainment, 12-6pmto get customers set for the scary season. 


Porchester Square will be transformed into the centre’s very own Spooky Hollow, raising money for Ark Cancer Centre Charity, with scary face painting and a Shear Beauty nail artstand for kids – big kids welcome too!


Customers will then have the chance to win a variety of great prizes from Festival Place’s retailers simply by taking a photo in the centre’s custom-built photo booth (including scaryprops!) and sharing it on social media with the hashtag #spookyfp


Prizes will go to the spookiest photos, so customers are encouraged to come along in their creepiest costumes and ghoulish gear.


To keep up to date with details of these and other upcoming events at Festival Place visit www.festivalplace.co.uk or find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.



Happy Halloweeeeeen!!! 

Tuesday 27 October 2015

The House of Twits App • Review •

The Twits is one of Noah's favourite books so when we were asked to review the new House of Twits app of course we said yes!


You start off playing with Mrs Twit and once you reach level 9 you can play with Mr Twit.

The first game is annoy Mrs Twit by poking her,pulling out her glass eye and turning her upside down! 
Noah loved this and was giggling in hysterics when she pulled her own eye out and said "I've got my eye on you"
You go to different rooms to do different things, so the more you play the more fun you can unlock.



The kitchen game is my favourite part!  You feed Mrs Twit up trying not to get the order wrong and she'll burb in your face, throw up and falls backwards off her chair. 
The more you get right the more choice of foods you get.
Maggots. Bird pie. Worms. Dog hair!
All very delicious!
All very funny! 


Great entertainment, and a great app. Fun for everyone.

If you fancy winning a copy of the beardy Twits book, why not head over to my  Instagram and comment on this picture 


and tell me what prank you would play on the Twits! 
Best Prank will win!
Giveaway will end Friday morning! 

Noah gives the app 10 out of 10!!





Introducing Little Bear Bots!


Little Bear Bots is Amy's brain child, it's a fantastic children's clothes range!
Made with lots of love and completely original!


Perfect if you like your little one to be dressed in something different to the usual high street wear! 


The bit I love is that the range is completely child friendly, in Little Bear Bots your child will look like a child and not a mini adult. 
Something that I really don't get! 


Amy very kindly made Ru this adorable bear hoody for us to show off in this post. I have lusted over a few of the pieces on Little Bear Bots Instagram and was thrilled to be asked to do a post about the new up coming range.
Ru has worn this a few times and has spilt dinner down it, rubbed bogies on it, you name it he's probably rubbed it on it!
It has washed well each time and looks as fab as it did when I received it.

Little Bear Bots sizing for babies, toddlers and children, head over to Facebook - LittleBearBots to find out more! 

Amy is going to be launching the animal Hoodies in January 2016! 

Amy's little man Fletcher has a very funky owl design.


A little bit from Amy - 
    "When I made the decision to stay at home with my little Fletcher bear, I always knew I wanted to do something else alongside being "just a mum". By the time life with a new baby had settled down into what we now consider normal, I dug out my childhood sewing machine and started to make some clothes for a 6 month old Fletcher. I always found boy baby clothes on the High Street so dull and obvious. Of course there's a place for diggers and cars (our house is full of them!) but can't Fletcher have t-shirts with something else on? I love bright colour combinations, chevrons, arrows, stylised animals, industrial textures... and I wanted them on Fletcher's clothes too. So Little Bear Bots was born with a simple dress (how ironic) and customisation of our beloved hybrid cloth nappy brand gNappies. And it has all grown from there."

"I love combining bold colours and interesting patterns, and try to bring that to a lot of my clothes. I also love experimenting with new ideas and I like a challenge. The idea of repurposing clothes and other fabrics has become a big passion of mine too, and the concept of helping to contribute to circular economy. Partly because of my work customising and up-cycling gNappies but also wanting to get more use out of beloved items of Fletcher's out of which he so quickly grows. Some things seem too precious to be thrown away but a waste to have sitting in a box un-used; why not get as much use as possile out of something you love!"

Amy is booking orders for mid to late January now, so if you want your little one to have an amazing piece of clothing I suggest you get in touch with the lovely Amy. 



You can find her on the following links - 



Love it. Wear it. Little Bear it!

Sunday 25 October 2015

Divine Chocolate

Divine is the only Fairtrade chocolate company which is 44% owned by cocoa farmers!!!



 Not only is this deliciously smooth, silky chocolate absolutely amazing, it's has the feel good factor too it!
It is a Fairtrade company of which 44% is owned by the cocoa farmers that farm the cocoa beans! 

While Fairtrade ensures farmers receive a better deal for their cocoa and additional income to invest in their community, company ownership gives farmers a share of Divine’s profits and a stronger voice in the cocoa industry.

I was very kindly sent some samples for the boys and myself to try out. I was lucky to receive them as I was out when the delivery turned up so a neighbour across the way took them in and mistakenly opened the box thinking it was for him, when I popped over to collect the parcel he told me he was very jealous and that it was such a great delivery and he wanted to keep it!



For all that know me, know that I'm a complete chocolate fiend and survive on the brown stuff they also know that 'Hannah doesn't share!'

So luckily for the boys I'm trying to reduce my sugar intake which meant the boys were in for a treat.
We had a great selection of bars to pick from and Noah's all time favourite was the ...... Hot Chocolate! 

Noah describes the Divine Hot Chocolate as ' the best hot choccy I've ever ever ever eveeeeeer had!'

The twins aren't too keen on Hot Chocolate so they passed on the cup of liquid heaven!

The caramel bars were my favourite and I was pretty gutted to share them between the boys and my friend Jenny! I could have gobbled them both up in 5 seconds flat (I should be ashamed of my chocolate eating skills, but I'm really really not!)
They were perfect, not too sickly like some other caramel bars you can get.

Jon's favourite was the chocolate orange bar, he ate that all to himself with out telling me he had cracked it open!

The boys all loved all the bars and were happy to try all of them, I thought they might turn their noses  up at the white chocolate and strawberry bar but they ate more of that than myself and Jon!

I've never bought Divine Chocolate before, I've always seen it when I'm browsing the chocolate isle but never have I reached for it!
That has changed when I'm shopping for chocolate its the only brand I'm now reaching for!

A little bit about the Divine story .....

Divine Chocolate Limited is a private company limited by shares. When the company was first established in 1998, its 99 ordinary shares were owned by three parties; 52% by the Fairtrade NGO Twin Trading, 33% by Kuapa Kokoo farmers’ co-operative, and 14% by the international retailer Body Shop International.

Cocoa from Ghana is of a high quality and trades at a premium on the world market.   Kuapa Kokoo's motto is pa pa paa - which means the best of the best in the local Twi language. Kuapa's premium quality cocoa is now sold to chocolate companies around the world.

Divine Fairtrade milk chocolate, made from Kuapa's best of the best fairly traded cocoa beans was launched in October 1998 and by Christmas 1998, had made it onto the supermarket shelves . .

The Divine board meets four times per year and one of those meetings is held in Ghana.


Over on the Divine Chocolate website, they have a section of scrummy recipes that you can make with their chocolate bars......www.divinechocolate.com/uk/recipes if they don't make your mouth water then there is something seriously wrong with you!

You can read more about the Divine story here - divine-story
You can buy some bars for yourself here - www.divinechocolate.com/uk/shop
To find out all the good stuff click here - www.divinechocolate.com/uk/good-stuff

If you haven't tried Divine Chocolate yet, I order you to go out and treat yourself to a bar .....NOW!!!! 

#MySundayPhoto


On Friday Jon and I took Rupert for a walk along the beach.

He enjoyed throwing stones in the sea and finding treasure.

Just before we left we saw a flock of birds flying across the sea.

I do love seeing nature at its best! 

Happy Sunday X 

OneDad3Girls

Thursday 22 October 2015

Eye popping oddities with Ripley's Believe it or Not! 2016 • Review •

Looking for that one Christmas present sure to have everyone flabbergasted???

Well look no further - 
Ripley's Believe It Or Not 2016! 
Will do just that. 


The Ripley's Believe It or Not! annual has now firmly established itself as a Christmas must- have, with an ever-growing army of loyal fans. Following hot on the heels of last year's Top 10 bestseller, Ripley's Believe It or Not! 2016 offers a completely new compendium of strange but true facts and amazing stories, ranging from the woman who married a Ferris wheel to exploding cow farts, and from the girl who cries stone tears to the pizzeria that deliver its customers' orders by drone. 




We all love seeing strange and wonderful things! 
Ripley's is great for that. 
You'll uncover a world of wonderfully strange things.
Ripley's will have you "oooooohhhhh and ahhhhhhhh'ing" to very closely nearly vomiting! 
It's all good! 


Ripley's will make the perfect Christmas present for pre - teens to big teens. Everyone is sure to want to have a look.
Sure to be a great conversation starter!

A great book to take into school and share with your friends!


A little bit about Robert Leroy Ripley -

Robert was an American cartoonist who created and developed the world-famous Ripley's Believe It or Not! cartoon strip in the years after the First World War. 
He travelled the globe in search of unusual objects and stories, and built up an extraordinary collection of everything from shrunken heads to dinosaur eggs and iron maidens. 
These are now exhibited in Ripley museums around the world, including one in London's Piccadilly Circus. The Ripley's Believe It or Not! annual has become an international bestseller.


We had lots of fun with the Ripley's Believe It Or Not app.....where you get to put your face into the book!!

We had plenty of giggles doing this, Noah thought it was amazing!




You can go and try it for yourself by clicking the link - http://ripleysweirdworld.co.uk/ 
Sure to bring a giggle out of even the grumpiest family member!!! 

Wednesday 21 October 2015

A mother's secret weapon!!

Shopping with Ru, used to be so pleasant. He would sit nicely in the trolley wave and smile at everyone and just look lovely!

A few weeks ago we made the mistake of letting him wander around on foot - which resulted in me chasing him around Morrison's like a headless chicken and Jon knocking him in the head knocking him off his feet with the basket! (Not on purpose!!!!)
Yes people noticed and they tutted Loudly!! 

But now he will no longer sit in the trolley with out screaming in horror and thrashing his head about like we've put him in some horrible torture device.  

So now I try to avoid taking the little terror shopping but when I do .....


I have to bribe him with sweet goodies to get him stay seated whilst I do a supermarket sweep kinda shop!


brummymummyof2

Tuesday 20 October 2015

Mini Halloween Haul - From Poundland!

We don't usually go too crazy at Halloween, we'll carve some pumpkins, Noah will have a costume and that's pretty much as mad as we go! 

This year the twins are more excited about Halloween as they have a spooky corner at nursery and they are loving it.

Noah always wants to decorate the house and go trick or treating. 

After pumpkin picking on Sunday I'm all into it, so today I popped into Poundland ..... Not really a shop I go in a lot because it always have stupidly busy queues.

 
I didn't go too mad, but I am planning to go back and get more!

This little Halloween candle holder was too hard to resist 


The essential pumpkin carving tools 


Noah is learning about the day of the dead at school so I bought him this candle skull'd lantern


Some pumpkin fairy lights to go around the banisters in the hall way 


 
Then this centre piece to go along side our many pumpkins 


I also got two packs of batteries and the grand total was £7!!!

Like I said I'll be going back in the next day or so, so I can get more. 

Do you decorate the house for Halloween ?? 


Monday 19 October 2015

Guest post from Aimee Foster :: Two important ways to give your baby's heart a better start!

We all worry about our babies and how we can help them to be healthy and safe! 


That worry starts almost instantly from the moment that we conceive our precious little bundles of joy. 

 

This is an important read for every mother / mothers to be out there!! 


Two Important Ways to Give Your Baby's Heart a Better Start


Baby Loss Awareness Week took place last week. On Thursday at 7pm, thousands of people across the globe lit candles in memory of the babies they have lost



The 15th October is recognised worldwide as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. My husband and I added our candle to the global wave of light, remembering our baby girl Grace who we lost to a congenital heart defect.

Last week was about commemorating those who were taken too soon. This week, I’d like to talk about the steps we can take to prevent some of those deaths. Specifically, how we can prevent deaths caused by one of the most common birth defects – congenital heart defects (CHD).


Heart defects affect 1 out of every 125 babies, making them the most common cause of birth defect related deaths in the UK. 

Shockingly, only 1 in 3 babies affected by CHD have their condition detected during pregnancy




Early detection of CHD saves lives. That’s an undeniable fact. However, at present, the 2 out of 3 babies whose heart defects are not detected during pregnancy have to take their chances.


I am very proud to volunteer for a wonderful charity called Tiny Tickers, which aims is to improve the detection of CHD during pregnancy and give heart babies a better start in life. Tiny Tickers’ mission is entirely achievable and their methods work

At present, Tiny Tickers are training sonographers to be better equippedto spot heart defects at the 20 week scan. Statistics show that the training works – in the regions where it has already been carried outthere are significantly higher detection rates of CHD. Tiny Tickers is a small charity with huge ambitions – to train sonographers all over the UK so that every baby with CHD has the best start in life. But they are not quite there – yet.

With this in mind, there are two very important steps you can take to ensure that, if your baby does have CHD, it is detected and treated as soon as possible:

1) Give Your 20 Week Scan the Big Tick:

Tiny Tickers have created a Big Tick card, which you can take alongwith you to your 20 week scan. It contains questions you can ask your sonographer to enable you to confidently discuss your baby’s heart health together. The Big Tick Card is completely free and can be ordered from visiting the Big Tick website here . It only takes a few seconds to order and doing so means that you will be well prepared with the questions you need to ask about how your baby’s heart is developing. 




In the vast majority of cases, babies’ hearts are perfectly healthy. But if there is a problem, spotting it at the 20 week scan will give him or herthe support and medical care they need straight away. This means a better chance of survival.


2) Think Heart:

During my time as a volunteer with Tiny Tickers, I have heard many stories from new parents whose instinct told them that something was seriously wrong with their baby but who were dismissed by health professionals. 

For example, Grace Brown had voiced her concerns overdaughter Honey’s health many times before her heart problem was finally picked up. By the time Honey arrived at hospital she had already gone into heart failure. Luckily, her story has a happy ending (you can read it here).


Part of Tiny Tickers work includes spreading a very important awareness message called Think HeartIf a baby is not thriving and does not seem to have an infection, jaundice or any other common cause, parents should ask a health professional to check the following 5 signs of a heart problem:



 

For more information on recognising the signs of CHD, please visit the Think Heart web page.



My daughter, Grace, had a heart defect called Ebsteins Anomaly, which was detected at my 20 week scan. In most cases, early detection of CHD gives babies a better chance of survival. Unfortunately Grace’s heart defect was so serious that, even with the most expert medical care, she didn’t make it. But, early detection meant that she received the best treatment available. At least when I look back now, I know that everything possible was done for her. 

Without the eagle-eye of the sonographer at my 20 week scan, it is highly likely that we would never have met Grace alive. She would almost certainly have been stillborn if my pregnancy had continued unassisted. 

Instead, we had a precious few hours with her before she passed away. Those memories mean the world to us.


Tiny Tickers receives no government funding and is entirely reliant on the generous help of supporters to carry on with their life saving work. Regular gifts from their Heart Champions allow them to plan for the future and train more sonographers.


£5 SENDS A NEW DIAGNOSIS  PACK  WITH SUPPORT AND INFORMATION TO TWO FAMILIES WHO HAVE JUST FOUND OUT THEIR BABY HAS A HEART DEFECT.


£10 A MONTH    TO TRAIN ONE SONOGRAPHER ANNUALLY WHO WILL BE BETTER ABLE TO DETECT CHD IN THE 300 SCANS THEY CONDUCT EVERY YEAR.


 

 

£25 CAN SEND VITAL DETECTION INFORMATION TO 40 BABY CLINICS AND GP SURGERIES TO RAISE AWARENESS OF CHD AND THE IMPORTANCE OF EARLY DETECTION. 

 


 

1 in 3 babies with CHD are discharged from hospital with no one knowing about their life-threatening conditions. Tiny Tickers needs as much help as possible to change this frightening statistic.

If you would like to become a Heart Champion and help Tiny Tickers continue their vital work assisting heart babies before birth, please click here to find out more. 



Please remember these two positive actions you can take to be aware of your baby’s heart health. By sharing these tips with as many fellow parents as possible and assisting Tiny Tickers to achieve their aims, we can all play our part ingiving heart babies the best start in life.

 

Written by Aimee Foster, 12th October 2015



 

A bloggers perspective "Not one of the cool kids"

I wasn't sure wether to share my experience of Blogcamp London, but then thought this is my blog and I can do as I please. 

For one I hardly learned anything.
From the talks they had planned I thought I was going to come away with my head bursting with knowledge.
That wasn't quite the case.

The first half was filled with speakers from Israel telling us how they set up their businesses and such. It was interesting to hear their stories but I didn't really find it relevant.
One of the speaker even admitting she'd never really knew what bloggers were and that she'd never read a blog.

The second part of the day when the pro bloggers were talking was a lot more useful but I don't feel they had enough time to say what they really needed too. 
 


Secondly the blogging community is meant to be a friendly bunch and everyone goes on about how everyone is said to feel very welcome at these blogging conferences. 

Well that may be the case for some.
Me on the other hand not so much, I  stood right next to people just to be ignored.
I even had someone turn their back on me after I tried to start up a conversation.
Even the host of the day didn't say a word to me.
I felt like a little child back at school being ignored by the popular cool kids.

By the time I got off the train and was in the car with Jon I couldn't control my emotions any longer. I broke down and cried. 

I've spoken in pervious post about how I don't look like the typical "normal" person and I've had lots of lovely comments from other bloggers. 

We all have flaws it's just mine is smack bang on my face for all to see and judge.

When I come to talk to you at a conference it's not like I'm trying to be your best friend I'm just being friendly.

We're adults we are meant to be a bit more accepting these days. 
For me coming to these sort of things is really out of my comfort zone and I do become socially awkward but I try my best to be nice and friendly. 


The whole experience has made me not want to bother returning to a Blogcamp again. 


I'm sorry if this sounds a bit too bitter but I just needed to get this off my chest. 

Sunday 18 October 2015

Pumpkin picking!

We headed off to Hoo this morning to pick ourselves a pumpkin.

Neither Jon or myself have been to a pumpkin patch before so we were both excited. 
The boys were all on a hype just because we were going somewhere new!

The plan was to get one pumpkin each .... That plan went out the window as soon as we stepped onto the field....
The boys got carried away, we got carried away and we just couldn't help ourselves! 


We now have more pumpkins than we can shake a stick at! 

We've popped one of a munchkin ones in to the oven so we can have it with our roast dinner. 

We're going to attempt to make a pumpkin pie then we'll have to google some more recipes.

If you have any, pop them in the comments below. 

Hope you enjoy the rest of the snaps I took.











It was free to get in and for the whole wheelbarrow it was £20!
I did think it would cost a lot more so I'm not too bothered by the price. 
Just imagine if we'd stuck to the one pumpkin each rule it would have been a pretty cheap day!

The boys loved running around trying to find the best pumpkins, I enjoyed hunting for the tiny ones and Rupert liked falling over!

I'll be following up with some blog post about what we make with our left our pumpkins! 

Lesson of the day don't fall in a rotten pumpkin ... They are stinky! 

Have you been to a pumpkin patch? 
Did you get as carried away as we did?