Ladybird Books - A Gurgle Girls Review

Gurgle and Ladybird sent me and my fellow Gurgle Girls a customised bag of books. Top Ender and Baby Boy were delighted as books in our house are a big part of our life (and living room) as we love to read. There wasn't just books inside the bag however (which was really useful when we went Sweet shopping the other day), there was also a little camera, a ladybird cuddly toy, a DVD, a cookie cutter and a sticker. I think that is all that was in there, but when the wrapping was ripped off Top Ender and Baby Boy divided the goodies amongst themselves and ran off to read before I was aware of what was going on so I am not too sure!

Ladybird had customised the bag by sending out books that were suitable for Top Ender and Baby Boy by age range. Top Ender is a confident reader thanks to her school and home efforts and sat down with the two Read it Yourself books and was well, reading away to herself. I got her to read them to me at Bedtime on Sunday and I really enjoyed the stories! "The Elves and the Shoemaker" and "Sly Fox and Red Hen" are classic stories, but are written in a more simple way that allows young readers more ease with reading them.

The third book that Top Ender got was from "Puddle the naughtiest puppy" series and was the book "Magic Carpet Ride". Top Ender has a couple from this series already, as they were popular in Party bags in the last school year. They are large print, easy to read stories about a puppy (called Puddle!) and his adventures and they make great practice for reading and even better bedtime stories. Top Ender isn't actually keen on dogs, so I am hoping that by reading a few stories about a naughty, but lovable puppy she might get over this aversion.

Baby Boy got two books one which was a "Ladybird Big Noisy Book" and is called "Emergency!". As you can guess this book makes noises and is loved by Baby Boy. He loved it so much that he hid it in a special place and I couldn't find it for a couple of days even though he was reading it during the day. It was hidden under the cushions on the sofa! Baby Boy loves pretending to read the book and pressing the right buttons as indicated in the text to get the noise that enhances the story. Daddy and Baby Boy read this book on Sunday night at bed time and they really loved it judging from the giggles!

The other book that Baby Boy got was "Peek-a-Zoo!" a rhyming flap book and it is really sweet, he has been reading this book with me and making the noises that the hidden animals make and the obligatory "Peek-a-Zoo" phrase when ever he lifts the flap! Both books are quite sturdy, although Baby Boy has ripped the back cover of the "Emergency!" book as he could see a gap between the spine and the back page. A bit of sticky tape sorted this right out though!

The last part of the bag was a Spot DVD and Spot shaped cookie cutter! I don't really remember having any Spot the dog books when I was younger (I am a whole year older than Spot), but I do remember children that I babysat having them and loving the stories. I remember when it was turned into a cartoon as I think someone brought my sister and I a video to share of Spots adventures.

Baby Boy and I waited until we had Top Ender at school before we sat down to watch the DVD with new episodes of Spot and I baked some quick mixed spice biscuits (they were going to be gingerbread but I didn't have any ginger!). Baby Boy loved the DVD and the biscuits and we had an enjoyable afternoon snuggling on the sofa!

Take a look at the other Gurgle Girls and what they got in their bags and if you are really lucky I might even share my gingerbread mixed spice biscuits recipe with you!

A new addition

Just a couple of days ago my sister was starting to think that her third daughter was never going to be born. She had grown weary of curry and pineapple, her legs were tired from the hours of walking she had undertaken and the cobbles near her house are almost flat from the wear and tear caused by driving over them for hours on end.

And then it happened and it happened fast (which bodes well for me, but more about that another day!)

We were lucky that Daddy had the day off work yesterday, which meant that we were able to go over and visit with my sister and her three daughters as we had the car and I got my first hug with my newest family member.

So it is my pleasure to introduce you to Smallest Cousin;

Smallest Cousin with her Mummy

Top Ender welcoming Smallest Cousin to the World whilst Little Cousin looks on

A kiss from Big Sister and Top Ender

Big Cousin and Little Cousin saying goodbye with Granny

Wordless Wednesday - A family portrait updated

A Mothers Ramblings take on the Shiny Happy People Meme!

I have been tagged in the Shiny Happy People Meme by New Mummy over at New Mummy Tips and I was actually very pleased that I got this one as I had been waiting for it!

So this is the Shiny Happy People Meme and the rules are;

1. Name a song that makes you happy - a song you would listen to if you needed a sudden injection of happiness. And
2. Post an image that makes you smile. It can be anything - a silly photo, an image taken from the Internet, It just has to make you smile.

So here is my song. Yup Ghostbusters. I stick by my choice!!!!

And here is my image. Okay so there are two here, but I couldn't decide!

These were the first two pictures that were taken of me Top Ender and Baby Boy. I just love how in the first picture I am looking at the camera and Top Ender is looking lovingly at Baby Boy and in the second photo Top Ender is looking at the camera and I am looking lovingly at Top Ender and Baby Boy.

And now I tag;

Bare Naked Mummy

Kathryn at Crystal Jigsaw

Burns Night - A Mothers Ramblings Style!

Today is Robert Burns birthday, and so traditionally today is the day where there will be a celebration of his life and poetry works... altough a Burns night can be held on any day you like.

My Mum is Scottish, and so I grew up knowing about Burns and about his poems and even memorised one which my Mum taught me (To A Mouse, on Turning Her Up in Her Nest, with the Plough) and I can only say in my fake Scottish accent (I say fake as I am 100% English and my Scottish accent is very dodgy) but I have never been to a Burns Supper.

Tonight however I will serve neeps and tatties (mashed turnip and potato) with mince and onions to my teaghlach (Yes I know a few bits of Gaelic, the best bit when I was growing up was learning Gaelic swear words to use during school until we got a Scottish Teacher and luckily she laughed it off) and we shall have a mini celebration of Burns.

Luckily I know the proper format of the evening thanks in part to a conversation with my Mum yesterday, a long ago conversation with my Gran (who even after living in England for about 44 years never lost her scottish accent!) and of course a Wikipedia search which is;

Start of the evening (General socialising, so in other words normal in our house)

Host's welcoming speech (Me explaining what is going to happen and The Selkirk Grace)
Entrance of the haggis (which I won't do as I know what it tastes like and I don't like it and the poem is sooo long and hard to make funny!)
Supper (the affore mentioned mince, neeps and tatties)
Immortal memory (a quick bit about Burns)
Appreciation (will be skipped)
Toast to the Lassies (About women in general and Top Ender and I)
Reply to the Toast to the Lassies (About men in general and Baby Boy and Daddy)
Other toasts and speeches (Hopefully a quick Thank you Mummy!)
Works by Burns (My party piece)
Closing (Bed time!)

So tonight, if you are celebrating with a Burns supper or not please do raise your glass and think of a great Scottish hero.... or my Gran who will always be my Scottish Hero.

Top Enders Birthday

Today is Top Enders Birthday, so please excuse me if for not being here. As an apology here is Top Ender on Birthdays past!

To the most wonderful, kind and beautiful Girl we know!

We hope that today, and everday, you get all the good things you deserve. That you always have enough love in your life and that you know that we are here for you at any time you need us.

Grow up happy and well and keep all your dreams and ideas alive. Make sure you brush your teeth and don't worry about things that you can not change.

Be patient about growing up and don't try to force it, or rush it. Enjoy every moment whilst you can and eat lots of your favourite foods.

Remember that boys (other than those related to you by birth or marriage) are yucky and we get to meet all boyfriends before you go on a date with them and I promise not to ask them if I should buy a hat.

Love Forever

Mummy, Daddy and Baby Boy xxxxxx

High Five Meme

It always surprises me when I am tagged by other bloggers with Awards and Meme's and the most recent one The High-5 Meme was something I was surprised to be tagged with not once but twice! Sandy at Baby Baby tagged me as did Aly at Life's Laundry. Both of these blogs have been on my blog roll for a while and I love reading their posts... talking of which if you haven't seen what Uncle P gave to Sandy's boys for Christmas then you don't know why Top Ender is dead jealous and wondering if she could marry a two year old.

So Thank you to these lovely peeps for tagging me and not just because the rules say I have to thank you!

Anyway back to the Meme, after thanks I have to list my top five highlights of 2009 and then tag five people who I would like to here their top five highlights...

So in no particular order here are my Top Five!

1: Baby Boy learning to walk and seeing his first steps. That morning I didn't know that anything special was going to happen. I joked with the teacher that if Baby Boy did walk that I would like it documented, but I really didn't expect it to happen. Having him walk to Top Ender and then kiss her was one of the best things ever not just of this year! I could go on about the things that he has done this past year, but it would be a very long list!

2: Getting a great job. It is hard for me to believe that it was only this past May that I started my job. It feels like ages ago, but as I explained to Daddy the other day, I know that I am good at my job. I don't need anyone telling me, I don't need the facts and figures I just know. And I like not having to worry about work. Don't get me wrong I loved my last job and met some great people (who may or may not be reading this post lol) but the politics of it all were just so horrid!

3: Spending time as a family. I know that this is a generalisation, but honestly this past year having spent time as a family group has been great and I can't wait for warmer weather to come round again so that we can start spending time together outside again. The walks that we went on every weekend were one of the highlights of my week and if we have another water fight in the garden can we use warmer water?!

4: Now stick with me on this one. When Daddy went to Chile it wasn't a hightlight, but it was the time that we spent talking to each other via webcam and on instant messanger and then when he finaly came home they were the highlights. Getting to see Top Ender and Baby Boys faces as they saw him on the computer screen just showed how much they love him and then when they finally saw him when he was back it was just great. So missing Daddy whilst he was away not a hightlight, but seeing him again when he came back was!

5: Telling everyone my weight and doing something about it. Starting the Yummy Mummy with No Tummy Challenge for me was a milestone in my life. It was me turning around and stating loud and clear that I knew what I was doing was wrong and that I was slowly killing myself. It was something that changed my lifestyle and made me realise that I want more than this out of life.

And that is it. So I am going to tag

Tara at Sticky Fingers
Anna at Part Mummy Part Me
Claire at Being a Mummy
Diane at DianeDenmark and
Catherine at BabyGenie

Christmas Celebrations Kick Off!

This weekend is going to be a busy one for us, as it really kicks off our Christmas celebrations.

Daddy is at work, but Top Ender, Baby Boy and I will be going to Top Enders Christmas fair this afternoon (its seems to be a tradition that Daddy is at work the day of the fair!) and then Top Ender is going to stay at Granny's for the night as she hasn't had a sleep over for some time!

Whilst Top Ender is at Granny's St Nicholas should come and leave sweets unless she has been naughty of course, in which case a tree branch is all that she will get. Of course if Baby Boy, Daddy and I have been good enough he will stop here too!

Sunday morning Top Ender is coming back over with Granny, Auntie, Cousin and Baby Cousin as we are all going to the Dobbies Christmas Breakfast with Santa. We went to the Easter breakfast with the Easter Bunny earlier this year and enjoyed ourselves so much we thought we should go to see Santa too.

After we have spent the morning with Santa we are going to come home for Hot Chocolate (with Whipped cream and marshmallows!) and some lunch before we head off to our Drive-Thru movie in the afternoon. I have brought a new Christmas CD to listen to in the car on our way to the Drive-Thru, and so there will be a lot of Carol Singing and classic Christmas songs!

We are going to have sandwiches, popcorn and chocolate and other snacks instead of a "proper" dinner whilst we are at the movies. I shall make up a big picnic for us all and make sure that I include lots of Christmas type foods and drinks. We are also going to set up a little playpen in the boot of the car for Baby Boy to play in, as we can fold one of the seats down so if he gets bored of the film he can have a play in the boot!

If we are then very lucky we should be going for a drive through London to see the Christmas Lights, but as it will be late we won't be going to the Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park... we need to save something for another day!

So I wish everyone here a good weekend and hope you have as much fun as we plan to!

Top Ender Giggles - Handy Manny I blame you!

Baby Boy loves Handy Manny (and so do I) and so it is often on in our house. Of course this means that Top Ender is quite often forced to watch it. One of the episodes that caused quite a stir in our house is when Manny goes to his Family Reunion.

"Can we have a family reunion Mummy?" Top Ender asked for around the 100th time.
"Well, who would you invite" I asked because for various reasons one side of my family and one side of Daddy's family have essentially been cut out of our lives
"Our family obviously" she replied
"Yes but you traditionally only invite one branch" I countered
"Oh. Well I guess your family as I am more related to your family that Daddy's" she said
"What do you mean Top Ender?" I questioned
"Well Baby Boy and I came out of you so we are more your family" she said

Top Ender Does Panto... "Oh yes she does!"

This is a special post by Top Ender, (Oh No it isn't! Mummy stop adding things and Oh Yes it is!) Mummy has typed what I have told her to say, but she has added pictures and stuff. Mummy also wants to talk at the end.



Last week we finished up our bottle of Blackcurrant that we had been given by Nanny B. On the label it said that I could Put on a Panto. I know all about Panto's as Mummy has told me about them as we are going to go and see Cinderella at the Milton Keynes Theatre as part of the Have A Lovely Time series "The Great British Panto, 2009".



So I got Mummy to take me to the website that is here and followed all the steps to get my own panto of Snow White. I thought that as I was going to see Cinderella that I should do another one, and I like Snow White.



I asked Mummy if she would be the Beautiful Evil Queen as I would be Snow White and I was going to phone up Daddy at work and ask if he would be in my panto too, but Mummy pointed out that even with us all playing a part we still wouldn't have enough people and so I would need to ask some more people.



I thought about this for ages and then decided that I would play all the parts using puppets! Mummy is going to help me make the puppets and a special theatre made out of a box, which she said we would paint red and white stripped like a Punch and Judy tent. I decided that if I used the laptop in my tent, I would be able to use the Autocue 5000T to do all the voices, and that way I wouldn't have to worry about not being able to read the script.



I am really excited and Mummy said she will record our Panto so that we can send it to Nanny B at Christmas as it was her bottle of Juice that gave us the idea! I am off to draw my puppets!

Mummy here (Boo Hiss!), Top Ender is really excited about this Panto and so if I can I will edit a small amount to be shown on here in the run up to Christmas... but you might need to wait until Daddy is around as I have no clue how to do it!

The Robinsons Website is great and Top Ender was easily able to navigate it, and understand what she was supposed to do. I would recommend it to anyone (in fact I already have in the School playground) and if you think outside the box like Top Ender it is easy for those who are younger to be involved in the Panto production too!

Swine Flu

We have it.

That's right all of us.

At the same time.

Well, actually Top Ender was hit first and then me and then Daddy. Somewhere in the middle of it Baby Boy got a very mild version and generally hasn't been effected as much as the rest of us. For which I am incredibly thankful but, before I count my chickens, he has slept longer today so we might be in for a rough time still.

We were at my Nans when Top Ender got ill, and at first we didn't want to attribute her illness to swine flu, mostly because my Nan fits the at risk categories and I didn't want to be the one bringing it in to her home! We knew that it was a possibility however as two of Top Enders friends from her school year had been diagnosed with it the week before Half Term and a further friends brother was hospitalised from complications (but as far as we know he is okay now).

When we took Top Ender's Temperature and it was 104°F (40°C) we decided that we probably were dealing with Swine flu and so Daddy called the helpline. After answering the questions they gave Daddy a reference number and together they worked out where the nearest chemist to us was. Seeing as my Nan lives in quite a rural area, we were surprised that there was one quite close.

Daddy jumped in our car and set off, it was only when he was in the Chemist that he ran into problems.

"Do you have any ID for yourself?" asked the Pharmacist
"Yes, will a debit card do?" asked Daddy
"Yes, that's fine. And do you have any ID for Top Ender?" queried the Pharmacist
"Erm, other than photos of her on my phone, No. I didn't know I needed any." said Daddy

Turns out that if you call the helpline they neglect to tell you this little detail. Daddy of course realised a second problem, we are actually on holiday and so we couldn't even pop back home for any ID for Top Ender without a 3 hour drive first.

The Pharmacist was luckily understanding to our plight and whilst attempting to call to check what to do in an case such as this decided that our need was greater than protocol and sent Daddy on his way with the medication and advice on how to help make Top Ender better.

When we left my Nan's on the Monday (when Top Ender was over the worst of the fever), I realised that I was feeling tired. I put it down to having had a stressful weekend and with the motion of the car I was soon asleep. About an hour after we got home that I asked if we could turn the heating on as I was freezing. Something made Daddy take my temperature and he saw that it was 102°F (39°C).

It was only then that I realised that I had a sore throat, a pounding headache, a runny nose, a horrid cough, aching muscles, I wasn't hungry (there's a first!), and I actually felt a little sick... two hours later and Daddy got the chills too, although his temperature was 101°F (38°C).

Right now I am feeling semi okay. I am still running a fever but have enough strength to watch the children and play games on the floor (well I sit on the floor holding various items passed to me!) and I have even managed to put a load of washing on!

Top Ender and Baby Boy are on the way to recovery and had omelette's for tea tonight (Yes I did gag whilst making it). Top Ender doesn't seem to understand how she is feeling better, but still can't do anything without suddenly needing a short nap afterwards! Baby Boy is just wandering around all snotty asking;

"Boob pleeeeeeease Mama?"

Daddy is currently sleeping which I am hoping means come tonight he will take care of Baby Boy and Top Ender, but I am not holding out any hope!

So please pass on to all you know that you need to take a form of identification for the person picking up the medication AND the patient who the medication is prescribed for!