Wordless Wednesday - Another Year Passed

An update to my Wordless Wednesday post one year ago One Year Changes Everything.

Bob The Builder - A Toys R Us Toyologist Review

Do you remember I told you that Top Ender and Baby Boy had been asked to be Toyologists by Toys R Us? Well we have tested all the toys to the best of our extent from our first parcel and the first review we are posting is a Bob The Builder Dancing Bob toy which retails at £19.99.

The Dancing Bob sings and dances to a song which is turned on and off by pushing Bob's hand and for the first week, we only ever got the intro to the song as Baby Boy loved that he was able to control it by squishing Bob's hand! As soon as we got Baby Boy to realise that there is a dance associated with Bob's song then we managed to get Baby Boy to dance along.

So I present to you Bob The Builder, with backing dancers (who are actually in the foreground) Top Ender and Baby Boy and a guest appearance from Geoffrey the Toys R Us Giraffe!

If we get enough requests, we might even post the video of Daddy and I dancing along...

Toyologists? What on earth is a Toyologist?

In the run up to Top Enders being born, Daddy and I would often go out of an evening and wander round a shop or two. Top Ender loved to be up late, and watching TV and staring at the same four walls whilst being kicked from the inside just wasn't cutting it for us. We used to drive to Toys R Us in Bedford as it had late night Christmas Opening times and walk round looking at all the toys and seeing what we would like.

Eventually in 2005 Toys R Us found a site for a store in Milton Keynes and Daddy and I were thrilled that we could start going to a local store instead with our baby. Several years later and we still love the Milton Keynes store, not only because it is HUGE but because all of us (Baby Boy included) love to walk round and look at the toys and what we would have if our house was bigger!

It was with great interest that I replied back to the email from Geoffrey (you know the Toys R Us Giraffe, of  "there's millions of Geoffrey's all under one roof" fame) about becoming a Toyologist. And after some careful consideration I agreed that Top Ender and Baby Boy would become Toyologists and Daddy and I would be their assistants!

We were invited down to Bucklebury Farm Park in Berkshire to meet the other Toyologists and to have a bit of a tea party and as Daddy was at work I took my Mum (AKA Granny). I had explained to her what it was we were going to and why and it was then that she exclaimed;

"Toyologists? What on earth is a Toyologist?"

"Not a what, a who. Your Grandchildren are going to be Toyologists for Toys R Us" I explained

"Is it to do with that blog thing you do?" she said (I could hear her eyes rolling)

"Yes Mum" I sighed

"Your going to put this conversation on there aren't you?" she said resignedly

"Yes Mum" I said Smugly (Love you Mummy!)

Top Ender and Baby Boy had a great time and Top Ender even discovered that TB (GlowStars and Urbanvox eldest) isn't evil despite being a boy! They played in the playground, in the sandpit, on the slides, sat next to each other and even talked in Horse to each other. As I was the only one who could translate Horse it might of just been me making things up, but they didn't care. Well, not until I announced that TB had just asked Top Ender to marry him...

Whilst we grown ups had a little question and answer session about how the Toyologist programme is going to work, Granny took Top Ender and Baby Boy to play on some of the fab things at the Farm (such as a huge jumping pillow, a lot of slides, a zip slide sort of thing and a playground) and also they went and talked to a few animals and snacked on the cookies and muffins that had been laid out for us all to share.

After this we were all brought back together as it was time to open our first box of toys. Top Ender and Baby Boy got Granny and I to remove the tape and then they dived in pulling toys from the box and working out what was the best thing to look at first. There was a lot of toys and both Top Ender and Baby Boy exclaimed "COOL!" more than once as they examined the contents.

After this we went on a Tractor ride to see the Japanese Sika, Axis and Fallow deer that are at the Farm. We were allowed to feed them and as you can see from the photos they weren't shy!

We went home, happy but tired and with a huge dollop of excitement over playing with some new toys. I hope that you will enjoy the reviews that we do over the next few months and remember that anything we say is the truth, we aren't being paid to be nice (we aren't being paid at all, but you know what I mean) and hopefully it might give you some ideas about Christmas gifts!

Who is The Stig?

Some say that The Stig might be Michael Schumacher or Ben Collins or Julian Bailey but I say that rumours are all that they are and all they should ever be!

To those of us who watch Top Gear (and I believe it to be quite a lot around 7 Million tune in via TV, or the Web) The Stig is a mystery that not even Scooby and the Gang would unmask (they are fans of Top Gear I am sure) because it is part of the fun of the show. It is the fun of not knowing, the fun of Jezza taking the mickey out of him with his intros, the fun of seeing his "cousins" when the Top Gear team are in different countries, the fun that even the celebs say that they don't know who this man is, the fun of everyone being in the same boat (well car) and just marvelling at the fantastic driving that The Stig does each week.

Top Gear is one of those programmes that isn't just for petrol heads. I'm not a petrol head, in fact if Jeremy Clarkson ever became ruler of The World and declared that we must all be petrol heads, the only thing that would stop me from going to prison would be the obvious positioning of who I would put in the snog category of the three Top Gear presenters in the game "Snog, Marry, Avoid"!

I like to watch Top Gear because of the stupid boy projects that they carry out, I like to watch the laps that the Celebs do, I like to guess what insult is going to be used against James May and then feel sorry for him that everyone is picking on him. I like the guessing of how Richard Hammond is going to have his hair this week, or if his teeth are going to get another mention.

Its because we don't know who The Stig is that we can all build up mythical status for this man (or maybe a woman who knows!) and so I plead to you in the media don't reveal the secret, have a heart and let us keep one hero untainted!

Anyway, we all know that Baby Boy is The Stig. He has a T-Shirt to prove it and I think that this video proves it without a doubt...

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dNaMrczhio)

Little Dish Favourites Cookbook and Top Enders meal plan

Did you know that Little Dish has a cook book? Its called the Little Dish Favourites Cookbook and I knew because they sent me one. Top Ender has spent her time pouring through it looking at the various dishes, pondering on what ones she would request that I cook for the family. Baby Boy didn't quite understand that a cook book was full of recipes and wasn't something you were meant to eat and took a bite out of some of the pages!

Top Ender found a section called Meal Matchers towards the back of the book that recommends what dishes you can make that go nicely with another dish and she was busy copying out the names so that she could play restaurants with Baby Boy and I. It gave me an idea though, if she was smart enough to work this out, what would happen if I asked her to work out a meal plan for the week?

I gave Top Ender some simple instructions. Don't choose anything that nobody will eat, make sure that we get at least one portion of fish in the week, see if we can use the same ingredients in more than one dish, and we like to have a Roast on Sundays. Top Ender spent half an hour looking through making notes in her little notebook and finally was ready to sit down with me to update our spreadsheet.

Her list was as follows;

Meatloaf with Ratatouille
Sausage and Lentil Casserole with boiled potatoes
Spanish Tortilla
Shepperd's Pie
Easy fish in foil with Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese
Burgers with Wedges
Simple Roast Chicken with trimmings

I was impressed. She had chosen meals that she knew everyone would eat and more importantly that I could confidently cook! All of the dishes apart from Meatloaf were dishes that I cook and know how to cook, but I followed the recipes as stated and found that although the dishes didn't taste too different to how I cook them normally that Top Ender ate everything we gave her... traitor.

All of us (apart from Baby Boy) loved the Meatloaf recipe, so much so that everyone had seconds. I don't ever remember us all having seconds. Baby Boy was keen on the leftovers in a sandwich the next day, so it was a good job there was a lot leftover, as I had to make another sandwich for me! The Meatloaf recipe was such a success that I wrote to Little Dish and asked if I could share it with you and they agreed. So for your delight (and consumption) here it is;

Ingredients

1/2 Small Onion, peeled and diced
1 Large Carrot, peeled and diced
2 eggs, beaten
60ml (2 fl oz) whole milk
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
100g (3 1/2 oz) fresh breadcrumbs (2 1/2 slices of brown bread)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard (optional)
500g (1lb) lean minced beef
500g (1lb) lean minced pork

Method

Preheat the oven to 190oC/375oF/Gas 5

Line a baking tray with foil. Lightly oil the foil.

Combine all the ingredients, apart from the meat, in a large bowl and mix together thoroughly. Using your hands, add the minced beef and pork and make sure it is well mixed in and evenly distributed.

Shape your ingredients into a loaf and place on the baking tray. The loaf should not touch the sides of the tray but sit nicely in the middle. Bake for 45-50 minutes, then let it stand for 10 minutes before serving.

This should serve 8 children or a family of 6 with leftovers according to the book. It served us as a family of 4 with seconds and leftovers and I was generous with the portion sizes. I found that I had to cook mine for 70 minutes as after 50 minutes the centre was still pink, and I also think that next time I would cook the carrots a little before adding them as we found them a little hard and if they were softer I think that it would have just made it a little better. Mind you I probably should of diced it smaller!

The only problem that we have now is that Baby Boy wants to make a meal plan...

The Little Dish Favourites Cookbook is available from WH Smith, Waterstones, Tesco, and Sainsbury’s, or online at Amazon.co.uk (and other places if you Google it) and its RRP is £14.99.

The Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue

Last weekend we were lucky enough to be invited to the Film Premier of Disney’s TinkerBell and the Great Fairy Rescue being held at the Mayfair in London. The whole family is a BIG fan of anything Disney and Top Ender loves the Disney Fairies and everything to do with Pixie Hollow! Having already seen the first two films and owning them on DVD, we knew that we were going to be in for a good time and couldn't wait to watch the film.

As soon as the film started Baby Boy sat in his chair with a big grin on his face and kept calling out "Cool!" as he would quite like to be a fairy or Peter Pan, (he isn't sure which is better yet). Top Ender was able to keep her squeals of excitement a lot quieter especially as she had heard that the voice of Lizzy was in the audience and didn't want to appear to be uncool!

I really don't want to give too much away about the film, as it was so fun but I can confirm that this is the first time that the Fairy world and the world of humans mix and it is just as magical as you would expect! There is a bit of mild peril but Baby Boy wasn't that bothered by it (I was more worried than he was!) as I think that he knew everything would work out in the end! This is the official trailer of the film, if you want to take a sneaky peek!

After the film I was talking with Baby Boy and Nell McAndrew's son Devon about the film and both of them said they had enjoyed the film. Top Ender had of course loved the film and hoped that she could meet a fairy and has resolved to leave drawings everywhere so that Fairies know that she is a believer!

We were lucky enough to get a few minutes to speak with Lauren Mote, who is the 13 year old actress who lends her voice to Lizzy in TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue. Lauren goes to Sylvia Young Theatre School in London and was really sweet; I hope that she is a big star in the future as she certainly deserves to be!

To share with you the fantastic world of Disney's TinkerBell, we have the first TinkerBell DVD along with a TinkerBell Fairy figure in a competition for those of you in the United Kingdom! To enter you need to answer the following question, the answer to which can be found somewhere in this blog post.

What fashion item did both Lauren Mote and Top Ender wear to the Disney premier of TinkerBell and The Great Fairy Rescue? (Hint look in the photos!)

Please leave your answer in the comments on this post; it is limited to one entry per household and to those in the UK. If more than one answer is correct then the correct answers will be assigned numbers and a random number generator will choose who wins. The competition is open until 1pm on the 15th August and I will email the winner to get contact details, so please make sure your email address is correct when entering!

Wordless Wednesday - The things you can do with a spade!

Prize Winning Wheat Free Cupcake Recipe

During July, Top Ender and Baby Boy entered English Mums Bake Off in the Children's section with their Wheat Free Fairy Cakes. A few days back Heather from Eggs Cream and Honey (don't you just love that as a name?) who was judging the competition announced the winners and to our surprise Top Ender and Baby Boy won!

We thought that it would only be fair that we share the recipe with you, so that you could recreate the winning Children's entry if you wanted!

Ingredients
6oz Butter
6oz Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
6oz Self Raising Flour (we use Doves Farm)
5 tbsp Milk

Method

Preheat the over to Gas Mark 6. Mix the Butter and Sugar until Fluffy, then beat in the eggs and Vanilla, followed by gradually by the milk and flour.

Put the cake mix into paper cases, roughly half fill the cases and then bake for ten to fifteen minutes. Allow to cool and then decorate or eat straight away as they taste scrummy!
 

This was originally a recipe that we took from a Doves Farm Flour Packet, but I am sure they won't mind me sharing it with you.

Wordless Wednesday - Baby Boy after Millets Farm

Not a picture, but a video of Baby Boy after our trip to Millets Farm at the weekend.

See video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkzwUFXVXNs

As you can see, he was just a little tired.

Water Bombs and some Family Fun

In Leighton Buzzard there is a 99p Store. Every so often I go there and spend a fortune on things that I wouldn't of brought normally, but as it is only 99p find it to be really good value and can't resist a bargin. A couple of weeks back I brought Water Bombs because everyone loves a good water bomb fight.

I told Daddy that I was going to fill up two of each colour from the very large pack (300 in the pack) and that we could have fun chasing Top Ender and Baby Boy with them, and took to the bathroom to fill them up as the Bathroom sink has the only tap that the tap adaptor would fit. Twenty minutes later I was very wet and had really mastered filling up Water Bombs.

I think that what happened can only best be explained, by this short video...

Cupcakes and a bake off!

Daddy, Top Ender and Baby Boy stole my idea last weekend and made a batch of cupcakes. I was planning on making some myself as I wanted to enter English Mum's Bake Off, but I was busy hiding in the living room playing Farmville or something and so they did this all without me.

Baby Boy found it odd that Daddy's whisk was bigger than his. I found it odd that they didn't use Ken (my Kenwood food mixer) but opted for the hand method.

Top Ender helped measure out all the ingredients whilst sporting a country casual look.

Both Top Ender and Baby Boy had a good mix.

Top Ender was even allowed to make sure that all the lumpy bits were out of the mixture

Baby Boy was too worried that his juice was going to be stolen and added into the mix and so kept a firm grip on it.

Baby Boy also decided that baking was easy and could be done with his eyes closed.

Top Ender preferred to keep hers wide open.

The cakes were allowed to cool, but Daddy had to distract Baby Boy as he just wanted to eat them fresh from the oven.

Top Ender opted for a sneaky sprinkle fix.

Finally it was time to decorate and this was Top Enders idea of heaven!

Whilst Baby Boy had a little bit of help from Daddy this design was all his and eaten before Daddy even had the camera pointing at him.

And the verdict from Top Ender on the wheat free cupcakes?

I believe that's a thumbs up!

This time last week

This time last week I wasn't here.



I missed the School fete, where Top Ender and Baby Boy decorated biscuits,

I missed seeing what goodies were won on the children's Tombola,

I missed going to the park, (Yes Top Ender had an outfit change)

But I did have a really great time at CyberMummy so I think that it all balances out in the end.

Wordless Wednesday - Swinging Fun

Baby Boy Giggles - Ice-cream is his God

Baby Boy and Top Ender both had an ice-cream at the air show we went to on Fathers Day. Baby Boy being the usual glutton that he is had eaten almost all of his before Top Ender had even scoffed a quarter of hers.

With a stub of cone left Baby Boy looked to Top Enders almost full ice-cream
"Mamma? Swap?" Baby Boy asked gesturing at Top Ender
"No honey, no swap" I answered
"OH!" answered Baby Boy

He finished his ice-cream without talking to me and stood next to Daddy, who was clearly now his favourite parent.

"Dadad? Walk?" asked Baby Boy
"Sure Baby Boy, lets all go for a walk" answered Daddy

We all walked down the field a little with Daddy and Baby Boy leading the way. A few moments later Daddy turned to Baby Boy and said;

"Baby Boy? Where are we going?"
"More Ice-cream Dadad!" answered Baby Boy as if it was obvious.

Play-Doh Fun Factory review

When I was little my sister and I would often play with Play-Doh. One of our favourite games was to pretend we worked in a Play-Doh Cake Factory, where we would make cakes and then put them in our shop window (bottom of our wardrobe) whilst we got on with serving the customers at the counter (the long desk we had in front of our bedroom window). Had we have had the Play-Doh Fun Factory, it would of been so much quicker on the cake production line!

These days Play-Doh is still a big favourite in our house. I do insist that whenever we play that we do so on a tray just like I was always told to do as a child. I think my Mum was sick of us treading Play-Doh into the carpet. Anyway when the opportunity came up to review the Fun Factory which is being made extra special because Play-Doh turns 50 this year (I know, doesn't look a day over 21 does it?) , I knew that if I said No Top Ender would of disowned me.

Now I know that Play-Doh is supposed to be for Children over three (or at least this product is) but I don't let Baby Boy eat it anymore and so I let him join in with the fun with Top Ender and I. Look you can see his foot in this picture of the Fun Factory.

Baby Boy, Top Ender and I played with this for at least an hour, making all the different shapes and then making various other things from the shapes we made. It was great, with Baby Boy and Top Ender taking it in turns to choose a shape and then to squeeze down the purple handle to make the shape. They let me have a few goes too which was nice, although not as much fun as when I played with it on my own that evening!

The red dial on the front was soon removed by Baby Boy, so that he could clean off bits of escaping Play-Doh and when he did that he discovered a secret little storage area underneath the red dial to store the Play-Doh pots in, which I thought was a great little touch! Although you don't need to remove the dial to find this.

The best bit of the play session was when Top Ender made some earrings from the red Play-Doh (Baby Boy got the blue Play-Doh because that is a boy colour you know) and Baby Boy cracked up at my impression of Roy Evans (you know from Eastenders)

"I don't like your Earrings..."

We got to keep the Fun Factory, but if we hadn't had fun with it then I would of told you!

First Strawberries of the Season

Whilst I was taking a time out (okay I was skiving off the hard work), Daddy took the Top Ender and Baby Boy out into the garden. He was going to mow the lawn and the plan was that Top Ender and Baby Boy would play in the play house and move the play things in the garden as and when Daddy needed them to be moved.

I had just closed my eyes when Top Ender came bouncing in and asked if she could pick a strawberry from the Garden. Daddy had already looked and confirmed that some were ready for us to pick and so I agreed.

Baby Boy got in on the act too and they both appeared a few minutes later to show me their first picks. Top Ender took the crop and gave it a quick wash before they both reappeared to show me the reactions to the first taste. As you can guess Top Ender thought they were beautiful and sweet as her grin proves it!

As you can see however Baby Boy wasn't as impressed to start with as his Snape sneer shows through with his first bite.

I didn't take a picture of me eating my first one, (because I am just not as cute as Top Ender and Baby Boy) but believe me it was tasty!

Wordless Wednesday - Wet Wet Wet!

Baby Boy Giggles - BEANS!

"Who do you love Baby Boy?" I asked

"I love Mummum and Daddad and Top Ender" he answered
"Who do you love Top Ender?" I asked
"I love Mummum and Daddad and Baby Boy she answered
"Who do you love Daddy?" I asked
"I love BEANS!" answered Daddy
"BEANS!" I exclaimed
"I love Daddad and Daddad loves beans!" laughed Baby Boy

Now whenever we ask Baby Boy who he loves he just laughs and answers

"BEANS!"

One face covered in bean juice.