Exploring Nottingham - Gotham and the castle.

From the moment we went to Nottingham for the Midlands Bloggers Meet Up the boys have been desperate to return and go to Gotham in search of Batman (did you know it's actually pronounced Goat-am?)

Not wanting to disappoint, and finding out that Nottingham Castle had a freebie open day (another place on their wish list)  we decided to make a day of it.

Made in Sheffield: Out Of This World 2014

We have just got in from the most fantastic time in town at Out Of This World.  A relatively free event run by Sheffield City Council with input from loads of places.

As far as I gather the events we saw today differed slightly from yesterdays but we had so much fun,

We started the morning down the Moor watch the Hype Dance Company (with some kids as young as 5 or 6) showing off the dances they had been practicing.   I know Ben would love to do something like this but like most things I'm worried I'd pay a lot and have him give up after a few sessions like he did at football.

Following on from Hype came Titan The Robot.  WOW this guy sure could bust some moves - the boys were hypnotised, must admit mummy was pretty impressed.
  Ben and Noah loved his rendition of Gagnam Style and his crying.

Christmas Planning - Week 10: Kitchen

Woops, anyone trying to follow my planning along with Organized Christmas may have noticed the elves creped in last week and covered the wrong rooms.  So the next few weeks may not be in quite the same order.

This week is Kitchen Week (for me anyway).

300 picture book challenge - October Update

October

We are still plowing through The Enchanted Wood trilogy, book 3 now.  

92 days left in 2014 and 49 books to read.  After a few rocky periods am beginning to think we CAN do this.... in fact we may even excel...

• The Folk of The Faraway Tree - 77-82 (book 3 in trilogy)  - complete :)
• Twas The Night Before Christmas
• Little Miss Neat
• Georges Marvellous Medicine (15 chapters)

23 chapters/ books in October so new total:  274/300

300 Picture Book Challenge

The aim of this challenge is to read 300 picture books with my boys in 2014.  Although Ben is now 5 and likes slightly longer books so some of them may be thrown in too.

We must have 300 easily in our collection so this will be a great way of seeing what they do and don't enjoy (personally I Loved Puddle Lane and Julia Donaldson..... but do they?)
I'm not counting unique books but any book, so you may see favourites appearing more than one.

Check out our Pinterest Board and follow our progress below.

When you work it out thats 25 books a month, easily doable.... right.

Progress
January Progress - 25/ 300 :)  - check out what we read here
February Progress - 66/ 300  - check out what we read here
March Progress - 97/300 :) - way over target - what did we read... look here.
April - total: 117/300 - I was a really naughty mummy this month - see why here
May - 149/300 :)  - a FARR more respectable month - here's our list.
June - now up to 183/300 - really on track.  here's what we read.
July - a bad month - only reached 206/300.
August - a busy month... just not where books were concerned.  Only made it to 219/300
September - a really good month ... back on track 251/300
October - we loved George's Marvellous Medicine this month - 274/ 300

Face Paint Fun

This half term has been all about facepainting in our house.  I bought a set of Snazaroo assorted colours for Ben's birthday and we've experimented quite a few times, must admit I'm quite enjoying it.

We started off with a cheap selection of facepaints last year but you can really tell the difference in quality.  Trouble is with the selection being only 1 and 2 ml some are running out so we are saving the pennies and waiting for a good offer (like 3 for 2) so we can buy the larger 18ml ones.

Here's a selection of what we've done so far - I'll be updating the album as we do more.

Elmo and Cookie Monster

Flashback Friday - The Spooks of Bottle Bay

The Spooks of Bottle Bay was shown on CITV between 1993 and 1995.  It was created by Ian Allen.

The show features Sidney Sludge and his horrible brother and sister Sybil and Cedric Sludge, as well as his faithful dog Maxwell.   At nighttime the Bottle Bay Spooks come out to tease poor Sid.

There are a number of Spooks who live in the Bay who put on their sheets and come to life, the main ones being Sally, Fred and Baby Spook.

Freshly harvested fruit and veg make the perfect .... dessert

If you were reading my blog the other week you'll have read all about how Tesco are passionate about bringing us seasonal flavours to enhance our meals.  Not only this but they like to ensure all their harvested fruit and vegetables is fresh and of the highest quality.  

You will already know that if you see the Red Tractor logo on their products you can be assured they are working with suppliers who have passed rigorous production standards to bring you the best possible food.  It's no secret where Red Tractor food comes from, you can trace it all back to the farm it originated on.

And of course you will already have seen that Tesco set some of their Orchard Club members a challenge, to use their freshly harvested products and let everyone know about them. 

The Thread of Life. Project & Exhibition

While on Twitter the other day I came across a lovely project by a local resident artist Sharon Mossbeck that I thought others would love to know about (especially my friends new and old in the )..
MSE Cross Stitch Cafe

The project is based on the mythological Greek figures of the Fates, or Moirai and called "The thread of Life" and is in 2 parts.

Trick or Treat (part 2)

This year sees the first ever Swizzels Trick Or Treat Trail at all three Gulliver’s theme parks in Warrington, Matlock Bath and Milton Keynes throughout October half term through to Halloween weekend and we've been invited to go along and experience the spooky magic.  So the boys faces painted (Noah wanted to be a yellow angry bird and Ben was apparently "Batman Fake" we set off to Matlock Bath to experience the Swizzels Trick or Treat Trail.I refrained from doing my own make up given that it was a 2-hour journey on Public Transport!

  

Christmas Planning - Week 8 and 9: Guest Room and public spaces.

sorry sorry sorry, I may be having an organised Christmas but the rest of my life is completely disorganised.  It also doesn't help that the site I base my posts on (Organized Home) has a glitch or a virus or something and constantly throws me to an 'update Adobe Flash" page with an instant download.  Please delete this download as I am concerned it's a virus as I've gone thro the proper adobe site and should be up to date yet it's still showing up all the time.

Anyways I battled round it and thankfully (as I'm soo behind) there's not a lot to add to my list.  I'd like to say check the website for the full lists but.......

Of course weeks 8 and 9 are also Halloween prep so they have some great ideas for getting you organised there too.  We don't do Halloween massively here so I'll not be covering it in this post.

I have sorted out the boys letters from Santa already though thanks to Offiical Lapland, check out my post and competition here.

If Halloween and sweets are more your thing then I have a Spooky competition from Swizzles live too, here.

Don't forget to turn your clocks back.............

Heroes in a Half Shell........ Turtle Power.

I promised you I'd let you know how Ben's birthday and his party went... so here's a round up for you (I'm going to get round to the "how to's" I promise).

The decorations I mentioned a few posts ago from Kids-Partyshop.co.uk look absolutly fantastic.

  

Groupon Goods - if fulfilled by "Delux Homebrands"avoid.

You've probably read my tweets about how my omelette maker has become non-stick so guess how excited I was for it a Groupon goods to appear so I could order a new one for £15.98 (with free delivery.



The fine print said to allow up to 7 working days for delivery, so you would expect (having ordered on the 10th October) that I would be able to tell you all how fantastic it was.

Sadly not.

Trick or Treat?

I was young .... once

We love Halloween, we don't go trick or treating ourselves (I was never allowed as a child) but that
doesn't stop me and the boys dressing up, eating junk food and having a fab time and this year it'll taste even better as Swizzels have teamed up with Gulliver Theme's parks.

This year sees the first ever Swizzels Trick Or Treat Trail at all three Gulliver’s theme parks in Warrington, Matlock Bath and Milton Keynes throughout October half term through to Halloween weekend and we've been invited to go along and experience the spooky magic (I am already planning the outfit) on Monday.  I cannot wait to tell you all about it when we get back.

So then Santa said to me......

I know what you're thinking... Santa doesn't exist.... except I know a secret ..... he does and we've recently been talking about Christmas, after all it's his specialist conversation and I may be a teeny bit excited already... Ben taking after me has started going to bed listening to the Christmas CD.

He introduced me to a delightful website where he works hard with Mrs Claus to write lovely personalised letters for children in time for Christmas.

Tuneful Tuesday - Glasses - Chris jarvis

Like many mums when my boys were a bit smaller hours were sent watching Chris and Poi on Cbeebies.  Hmmm I thought, I recognise him .... surly after all this years it is not the Chris I remember from my childhood?  So ... like most people..... I turned to Wikipedia.

It was indeed THAT Chris Jarvis..... the one who in the early 1990s appeared on Children's BBC, presenting in The Broom Cupboard alongside Zoë Ball and Josie d'Arby.  THE Chris Jarvis who presented Playdays. In 1997,   THE same Chris Jarvis who hosted Fully Booked with Tim Vincent and Gail Porter.

In 1997 Chris was part of The Friday Zone, which was broadcast on Friday afternoons on BBC One.  Alongside Debra Stephenson (Bad Girls/ Coronation Street), Peter Simon (Run the Risk/ Going Live), Dominic Wood (one half of Dick and Dom), Steve Rock and Emma Lee. As a spin-off to tgis show they released a single called "Glasses" to raise money for Comic Relief. Sadly, perhaps due to the fact it was up against the official song by the Spice Girls "Mama" not many people, other then me, bought it (it was cd's and tapes back then)

Did you buy or not??

Freshly harvested fruit and veg make the perfect ... ... accompaniment to any Sunday dinner.

It's really Autummy out there now, I don't know if you'd noticed, and Tesco are passionate about
bringing us seasonal flavours to enhance our meals.  Not only this but they like to ensure all their harvested fruit and vegetables is fresh and of the highest quality.  If you see the Red Tractor logo on their products you can be assured they are working with suppliers who have passed rigorous production standards to bring you the best possible food.  It's no secret where Red Tractor food comes from, you can trace it all back to the farm it originated on.

Confident of their products Tesco set some of their Orchard Club members a challenge, to use their freshly harvested products and let everyone know about them.

Party planning - the perils of RSVP

Ohh I am sooo angry.

Last year Ben had 10 friends to his party but (due to a communication error) I thought one mum hadn't RSVP'd, didn't after a reminder so he invited someone else ....... and we ended up with 11.

Every party this year had the same idea as me "text me to say you are coming".  I must admit, bad forgetful mum that I am I only replied a week before but mums were fine (after all they were catering for around 30).

This year Ben has invited 4 friends (twins and 2 others).  We hand-made and hand-wrote the invitations, as it's at our house I am sure there is no uncertainty we've not invited the whole class!
one mum hasn't RSVP'd (and it's the Saturday).  It's now far too late to invite someone else if she replies with no without that child's parents knowing they were a drop-out extra.   We have tried to catch her before and after school all week and seen her once but as soon as went to approach her she'd vanished.

I've tried to get her number from a couple of mums but none have it, besides they'd probably not pass it on.

It just makes me so cross when he's had to be selective that the parents can't even be bothered to let me know.

How do you manage party replies?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - Party Supplies

Mummy...... can I have a party??

Those words every mummy/ daddy/ carer dreads hearing, and yet every year without fail (normally 6 months before their birthday) those words are uttered.  Depending on what sort of person you are you either go into a mad panic mode, or you book the tortuorous soft play party or, like me, you simply say "maybe, we'll discuss it nearer the time" (hoping they may have forgotton/ lowered their expectations) ........ until 2 months before their birthday when they again ask and you think "ohh pants, I guess I'd better get this party planning hat on then".

Last year I took the easy option, the fail safe option and booked a party at Pizza Hut for Ben and some friends.  Ouch that was an epic fail in itself.  From the 5year olds that "don't eat Pizza" (seriously!!) to the lack of planning and from the place itself..... but I won't go into that - you can read all about it here. 

A year was spent where most weekends we were at one party or another, it was so much fun (for the kids)... not quite as enjyable for the parents who had to endure soft play hell or the party hall of doom.... 30 screaming hyperactive kids ... no thank you.  

     Then you had the element of "who can outdo who"..... one had a bouncy castle ... so the next had a ball pool and a bouncy castle.  

      One did the party games all by themselves (very brave).... anther hired Elsa from Frozen to run the show for them.   

      There were facepainters, dj's, The Hulk, foam pies in faces, balloons.... balloons and oh did I mentin balloons?  

      There were the parents who provided a nice slow cooker curry (YUCK) for the parents while their kids ate semi-stale sandwiches and those whose family own the local Chinese (YUCK) takeaway and provided a complete buffet for the grown ups (while kids ate cold nuggets and smily faces) .... and then you have the parents who thought they were feeding the entire school and were probably eating cold party food for weeks to follow (my personal favourite -I think I ate my weight in strawberries at that one).