Book Review || Fred 'N' Friends - A Woodland Adventure

Fred is a sausage dog, long and lean, He trips people up, he's not easily seen.

Written by a mother and daughter team Angela & Stephanie O'Donnell, who have taken inspiration from their very own pets, Fred and Carrot.

They are constantly seen striding around the Great British Countryside seeking new and innovative ideas to join their wonderful book series.

Illustrations are by Timm Joy

We were very kindly sent a copy of 'Fred 'N' Friends A Woodland Adventure' the first book in the series to read and review.

Join Fred on his adventure in the exciting world of the woods and find out what happens when his owners aren't there! Just who is the Woodland Boss and why did he trample Mouse's house?!?!

The twins loved it straight away as the illustration of little Fred made them giggle, they also said he looked like a small Ray (our dog).

It was an easy read and it flowed nicely, it kept the boys interested and the illustrations caught their eyes.

They were wanting the pages to turn quicker so they could find out what was happening.

Once Fred's owners have gone off to work, he goes and meets his friend Bear and heads off into the woods, along their stroll they keep bumping into distressed little animals. Who keep telling them the Woodland Boss.

So on they go trying to discover who this Woodland Boss is.......

We kept trying to guess but we each had a different answer. 

The book doesn't actually tell you, it just leaves it up to you to decide.

Which is good because it brings up conversations about the book once you have finished reading. Having the kids ask questions and saying who or what they think is a great way to engage with them and shows you that they were actually listening.

The boys loved the book so much, I'll probably end up buying more the rest of the series.

If the boys sit still and hardly make a sound it's always is a sure sign they love the book.

The other books in the series are;

Fred 'N' Friends - A Seaside Adventure

 Join Fred on his seaside adventure as he makes a whole collection of new friends in his search for Mr Crab's missing shell! Just who did steal the shell and can Fred help find it!?

Fred 'N' Friends - A Canal Adventure.

This time his adventures include rescuing trapped ducklings and saving Daisy the otter before disasters strikes?! Do Fred and Alfie succeed?

You can find Fred on Facebook and Twitter

You can buy Fred 'n' Friends over on Amazon £4.99

www.frednfriends.co.uk

 

**we were sent a copy of the book for free in return for an honest review. All thoughts are my own.

Mini Clothes Haul || Noah

Noah is the scruff bag of the family, no matter how many times I throw out his shabby looking clothes, he'll find some other old thing and attach himself to that.

So I told Jon Noah was on the hit list for new clothes.

Whilst I was out spending the day in a nursery Jon went off to Sainsburys and picked out a few bits to smarten Noah up with.

Sainsburys always have a nice big range of boy clothes, which sometimes can be hard to find in other shops. 

First is this polo shirt - 

Noah has a thing for New York,  He also wants to start skateboarding so this is right up his street.

A superhero top is just mandatory when shopping for boys!

Shorts for when it gets hotter,

Some lovely chinos just because 

Now my mission is to remove all the old bits that I hate with out him noticing until it's too late!! 

Review || Little Bunnies Bath Products

The Little Bunnies Story

Once upon a time there lived an Earth Guardian named Lily.

Since the dawn of time Lily has been watching over and protecting the Earth from disasters, both natural and man-made.

Lily began to notice something alarming!

She began to notice a dramatic increase in the amount of toxic chemicals in food and toiletries.

She became very concerned for the health of human begins.

So one day Lily decided to give four normal bunnies magical powers from nature in order to allow them to make human products safe again

we were very kindly sent Daisy's Natural Baby Lotion 250ml £6.99 and Baby Bow's Natural Baby Wash & Shampoo 250ml £6.99

Both of which are suitable from birth and all completely natural, vegan friendly & fragrance free

The baby wash was great and you really only need a small amount, which means it will last a while.

The boys all loved their bubble baths and it left their hair shiny and smooth.

A small amount gave you a nice bubble bath, enough bubbles to even make bubble beards!

Everyone loves a bubble beard .... right?!

Oscar's skin has been really dry recently so I've been trying to find a new body wash that wouldn't irritate his skin further and since using Little Bunnies his skin has really improved!

With the added help from the baby lotion his skin is feeling as good as new.

 He has stopped itching as much as he used too.

I usually like soaps to smell of something lovely, but having fragrance free soap actually was much better, there was no over powering smells and I think the boys appreciated that.

From now on ill leave the sweet smelling soaps for myself and stick with the fragrance free stuff for the boys.

The baby lotion has become a part of Ru's bedtime wind down routine, without routine set in place Ru wont sleep. Ru knows when I put him into his pyjamas its time for milk and bed, if I put him into his pyjamas and take him back downstairs all hell breaks lose.

Ru has been enjoying bedtime massage and will happily lay down with out wanting squirm away.

The hand pump makes it nice and easy to apply, no fuss is always a bonus when dealing with squirmy babies!
The twins liked it as they could dispense the lotion themselves and rub it on their bellies just like "big boys".

I'm really happy with both the products and ill be replacing them once they've run out.
If you're looking for new bath products for your babes why not check out the Little Bunnies range over on their website site - www.littlebunnieshq.com

**I was sent the products for free in return for an honest review, all thoughts are my own.

Places to visit in Kent || Elmley Nature Reserve

On Saturday cabin fever really started to set in so after a massive sulk from myself I grabbed my camera, something I don't use as much as I should and the boys and headed off to Elmley Nature Reserve for some fresh air.

 Elmley Nature Reserve is only about a 5 minute drive from the house, I hadn't know about it until our neighbour told us we should take a visit.

It will be a place we visit again as it was just so beautiful.

Next time we hope to get a little bit further along the path, as we only lasted about an hour before all the boys decided their legs were no longer working, Noah couldn't bare to be apart from him PS4 for much longer and well Ru he just decided it was time to just sit down.

'Elmley National Nature Reserve is a special landscape where remote and peaceful meadows and waterways are dominated by huge, ever-changing skies.  The marshes are renowned as one of the best places for conservation of wildlife in the UK.'

It really was stunning, a great place for the boys to explore and a fantastic place for me to practise my photography skills.

I've had my camera for over a year now and I haven't given it much love.

I'm so attached to my phone so I usually just use that.

After visiting Elmley I really got a feel for the camera and I love how the photos have turned out, ill be trying to make more of an effort to use the camera from now on, specially when taking pictures for the blog.

Rupert loves being outside, being able to explore the world on his own, he even made a few friends with some mini beasts.
A ladybird being his favourite, he was quite happy to let it walk along his hand, the moment we put it onto Oscar he screamed blue murder!!

Ru is a definite animal lover.
Every time he saw a bird fly over or on the water he would point and sign bird and then any beastie he saw he would bend down and point to it.

Before the moans and "evil eyes" (Noah) set in, the boys were actually having great fun running along trying to spot different birds and bugs.

I was hoping to see some Seals but I don't think we got far enough down the track to see them.

It so lovely to be some where so peaceful and calm and just be able to breathe.

Not being able to go out in the garden at the moment (due to it being a bit over run with dump loads piling up - a job for this week.) is hard on the boys as they are outdoorsy and hate being cooped up indoors for too long.

Having Elmley will come in handy for those moments.

I'll probably take Ru on mini adventures once the twins are back at nursery and Noah is back at school.

He will love it and its much more exciting than our usual park visits and with the weather improving it will be just perfect.

Do you have a special place you like to go when cabin fever sets in?

Book Review || Kids Don't Come With A Manual

Ever think all the trouble and issues you have with your kids, just happen to you?

I did...up until I read this Kids don't come with a manual book.

Written by Carole and Nadim Saaid

Carole is a Montessori trained teacher, a parenting coach and an NLP practitioner. She is passionate about helping parents on their parenting journey and has more than 14 years of experience teaching young children and working with parents to help them improve their relationship with their kids.

Nadim is a parenting coach and a serial entrepreneur. He holds an MBA from INSEAD and has founded and expanded companies in three continents in such diverse sectors as retail, telecoms, home management and car finance. He is passionate about sharing the transformative parenting tools that have made such a difference in his family life.

As parents of three children, Carole and Nadim wanted to make their family life more harmonious and enjoyable despite their different parenting styles. So life-changing were their discoveries that they have devoted their lives to turning what they learnt into highly effective parenting tools to share, support and guide other parents on their parenting journey.

The first page I read really hit a nerve -

What a child may be thinking in the first chapter;

How to prevent power struggles and other issues

'"I feel like all I hear from my parents is "Do this! Do that!", "No, not like that", which often makes me feel like I can't do anything right.

My parents boss me about the whole time and it makes me feel like I don't matter and whatever I have to say is not important, because mum and dad always know better.

So sometimes, just to get my parents' attention, I will refuse to do as I'm told, or shout "NO", or do something I know I shouldn't be doing.

I also find that arguing works because If I argue enough with my mum, she usually gives in and lets me do what I want to do.

However, when I start arguing with my dad, he gets pretty mad at me.

As I am scared of his reaction, I try not to argue with him. But if I do and he reacts badly, I run to my mum and she usually protects me and tells my dad to leave me alone.'

After reading just that little bit it was like a smack in the face and it was as though Noah wrote it!

We often have struggles with Noah over his screen time, iPad time or even just getting him to do his homework without him having a massive power sulk that he has to do something other than playing his beloved Minecraft.

More often than not it ends in a fight between the three of us.

Jon shouting, Myself shouting and Noah shouting back at us before he stomps off upstairs and starts banging around, leaving Jon and myself carrying on the argument downstairs and blaming each other for not being tougher or being too tough.

I was keen to find out how this book could help us turn it all around.

The book is so easy to read and its nicely set out so you can skip ahead to whatever issues as a parent you are facing, and then will give you tools and tips to help you solve them.

Solving Power struggles has 8 Tools to help you.

1. Teamwork

2.Limited Choices

3. Asking Questions

4. Positive Redirection

5. 'I' Statements

6. Diffusing Whining & Arguing

7. Planning Ahead

8. Creating Routines.

Each tool is a mini chapter and it will tell you about each point, why it works and how to combat it, or plan ahead.

I have found section of the book really helpful for when dealing with Noah when he starts whining about one thing or another.

 With the help of the book both myself and Jon feel we are actually combatting something that has been a huge issue and its slowly becoming a thing of the past.

I'm not sure Noah even knows what's hit the house to turn both our attitudes to him around but he certainly isn't moaning as much as he used to do and it is a lot easier to get his homework done.

Instead of taking over an hour to do its only taking half hour if that.

This by far is one of the best parenting books I have read, and I know it will become like a bible to me when I hit issues with all the boys, I know ill be able to turn to it and think aha that's what I need to be doing. Not like this, but like this.

I highly recommend reading this book to every parent, grandparent, stepmums, stepdads anyone and everyone who looks after children.

It really does put things into perspective, specially when things may seem cloudy.

www.bestofparenting.com

You can buy a copy from Amazon now 

Things to do in Kent || Gravity Trampoline Park - Superhero TrainingToddler Group

Last week we were invited along to Gravity's superhero training toddler group session.

The whole of the park was open to just under 5's so there was no fear of being knocked over by bigger bouncers.

I didn't really know what to expect but I dressed up the boys - not hard when they are hardly ever out of their batman costumes, Ru was even keen to dress up and headed off to Maidstone.

The boys were greeted by a "real" Batman, who came over to give them all a high-five. I'm not sure I've seen the boys smiles as big as they were right at that moment....oh wait they got even bigger when they saw SPIDERMAN!

We were given our special socks and were sat down to watch the safety video.

Which everyone has to watch, before they are allowed onto the trampolines.

I wasn't sure if Ru would be too impressed with it, but he was off running around and the twins were in their element. 

They were off before I could blink.

The place was booming with kiddies all dressed up as their favourite heros.

The staff had all dressed up as different hero's and all the kids were star struck.

The twins latched on to poor Spidey and wouldn't let him out of their site!

Batman kept coming along to get in on the twin action but they were far too busy loving on Spiderman!

The staff were all fantastic with the kids and it was lovely seeing them  get involved and show off their own jumping skills. Ironman even showed the kids how to do a slam-dunk at the basketball trampolines!

After Ru had finished running around in circles he finally took notice of these big superheroes and started going up to them and showing them all his star (he was dressed as captain America) and they all got down to his level and showed an interest in, some even tried to give him high fives but more often than not he left them hanging!

I did expect a little structure into this "Superhero training" but it was a bit of a "do as you please" 

Which I actually think it suited the kids & adults more.

Trying to organise a lot of kids in such a fun place is probably more stress that its worth!

I know I wouldn't have been able to stop the boys bouncing off if they were being told to stop and listen.

After the bounce session was over, they all headed over to the activity table and all started to colour in. I'm not sure what the boys loved more, being able to sit right next to their hero's and colour in or run around after them and show off.

The boys really enjoyed themselves and Oscar cried when we left as he really wanted Spiderman to come over for lunch.

If Gravity ever have another Superhero toddler event, we'll be first at the door!

You can find Gravity Trampoline Parks on -
Facebook & Twitter

You can find out more about sessions and events over on their website - www.gravity-uk.com

Favourite photos monthly round up || March

Instead of sharing my favourite products  I thought I'd do a monthly round up of my favourite photos from the month.

Some you may have seen, if you follow me over on Instagram and some you may not have seen, ones I haven't shared on any SM.

Taken on days out and days indoors.

Waking up to a joyus Batman on World Book day.

Swing delight 

Spot the Ru

Noah the Roman

Shoe shopping with Ru

My cousin Alex bonding with the boys. 

Sunset over Sheppey

Love 

Never fear the mini beasts are here

App fun

Beach hangs 

Woman hold this slimey thing whilst I lick it.

School run poses 

Joy!

If it's something you'd like me to keep up, just let me know in the comments!