A friend of mine today explained on her Facebook page that her family would no longer feature on her blog. She'll continue to talk with authority and be a fabulous advocate in her field, but won't share personal stories. This was at the surprise direct request of her 9 year old.


When your children are little it may not occur to you that you are sharing anything they wouldn't like shared - you may not even know. I think you get away with this scott-free for a shorter period than most people might think.

It seems at the moment that everyone is asking their children some seemingly easy questions, and then posting the answers to social media. The replies are very often cute and charming, and are a great keepsake to remind yourself of the little things your children say and do which get forgotten over time.


Here is a printable list of 20 Questions To Ask Your Children, which I have shared with my 8 and 6 1/2 year old monsters darlings...

Q1. What is your favourite colour?
My 8 year old has been very honest - purple - even though some people say it's a girl colour. My 6 year old paradoxically chose green, which he specifically can't really see (3 of my sons are colour-blind), so your guess is as good as mine there...

Today we had a special job to do as my 6 and 7 year old boys had been asked to review Vietnamese Street Food at Pho in Manchester Corn Exchange.  They were going to be on film talking about the food, and I was a little worried about what reaction they were going to have...and possibly also just how sensible they'd be for the camera lady... I was also a bit concerned about how well vegetarians were catered for, as 2 of us don't eat meat or fish.


Thankfully I needn't have been concerned, my small boys ate absolutely loads, as did we all. Vegetarians are very well catered for, but be sure to mention it to your hosts, as they will omit fish sauce from your meal.

Christmas is expensive, and presents that are opened and then sit in the cupboard all year are a disappointment to everyone. Especially when you are buying the first sets, you want to make sure your LEGO investment will be a set that your child will like, and will open up a huge world of creativity for them.


The most important thing is to start by thinking of LEGO as a creative puzzle toy, rather than a brand. Following a LEGO instruction book to build a model is not so different from following any model instructions, or even completing a jigsaw. The difference is that once you've finished, you can play with it, dismantle it and rebuild it however you want.

Choosing might be more simple than you think, and to me has 3 main questions:

1. What toys does your child like playing with?
2. What is your price range?
3. What age and ability range is your child?

On the Lamaloli website it says 'home of the world's favourite characters', and a quick look around confirms that - Minions, Star Wars, Disney, Super Mario, Hello Kitty, Skylanders and a host more. Lamaloli have licences for over 40 different TV and movie ranges. All of my children's favourites are available on t-shirts, pyjamas, swimming costumes and an array of clothing and accessories.


We were given a voucher to choose some clothes for review, and my young lads took ages to choose becausethey liked so many of the clothes! We could have spent our 40€ five times over, and I did top up the order to get a few extra bits for the Summer, because the prices and designs are lovely.

100 Family Adventures is a thick book full of fabulous activities that families can do together in any different situation or with any level of ability that you can think of. It has ideas for in the house, in the garden, on the beach or anywhere families can play.


We really haven't got up to much the last couple of years, which is a real shame as our older children all went camping every couple of weeks throughout their childhoods, so it feels the little two miss out on that. Camping might be something for later in the year, but what can we get up to right now?

I'd much rather feed my children something that I feel is healthier and has nutritional value, than a snack that offers their tiny bodies very little else than energy. I try and ensure they have their 5-a-day, and snacks can be a great way to help reach that number.


We were given the chance to try Fruit Heroes bars. Massively popular in their native Denmark, they're a relatively new launch in the UK.

They're vegetarian and count as a full portion of fruit, are made from only natural ingredients and are raw. There are no preservatives, colourings, added sugar, added salt or Sulphur Dioxide and they are gluten and dairy free. Basically they're just fruit with a tiny amount of vegetable oil (2-3%) and water.

I thought maybe my boys were growing out of playing with Green Toys vehicles, except for in the bath and sand pit where they're always popular, but the Flatbed Truck & Race Car is a bit different and has caught the attention of even my 6 year old, despite being a toy suitable for 12 months and over.

Every year since the oldest was tiny my children have, around this time of year, collected their Argos book of dreams and sat and circled all the things they'd like for Christmas. They do then have to pick out a small selection of those 15 billion items (approx) to write Christmas lists in their own best handwriting, to pass on to Santa.


The choice out there is immense, and buying the wrong character or colour or set is all too easy. This is the modern world, young children are computer literate, and so it really isn't a surprise that this year Argos have released a Christmas Wishlist app. that children as young as 3 can use to create their own wishlist online.

Yesterday we had a smashing day out at Gulliver's World in Warrington. We only took the 2 little boys as the teenagers were all elsewhere, and that was ideal because Gulliver's World is a theme park especially suited to families with children aged 2-13. On the way home our 6 year old pronounced it "the best day ever".


Set in spacious grounds, but compact, incredibly flat and easy to walk around, even for younger children, Gulliver's World has over 90 rides, shows and attractions. 

It'll come as no surprise to anyone who knows us that we now have 3 LEGO camper vans (as well as a real one). The larger Volkswagen Splitscreen LEGO model belongs to the grown ups, but the 2 smaller models are the children's.


Friends sent the children the 60057 set as a gift, and without any prompting our 4 1/2 year old opened it and built it entirely on his own. He was incredibly proud. This is the first time he's taken a set with instructions and built the model as suggested, rather than just making up something himself or using the picture on the box as a rough guide for his own creation.


So what is the camper van like? It's pretty cool actually. The model has a suggested age range of 5-12, costs £17.99 and has only 195 pieces. This makes it ideal for a younger builder. There are no overly fiddly bits, and it's a fairly straightforward build. The shape of the vehicle comes together pretty quickly, so it's easy to see where it's going.


The previous (now discontinued) LEGO City Camper Van model 7639 was much smaller and a lot less sophisticated. It opened down the middle, and while it was still very cool and we were very happy with it, you can see that play is somewhat limited. The opening sides meant it took up a lot of space and the 2 seats inside filled the rear interior.


The current LEGO City Camper Van set 60057 is substantially bigger, and uses some of the different techniques that LEGO are regularly adding to builds nowadays, such as the hinged side and large windows and wall plates. The yellow surf board and red pushbike (not shown) are replaced by the red kayak, life jackets and paddles.



The increase in size allows for a table and a downstairs double bed - pretty essential in campervans.  It also has a huge TV sticker. Our 4 year old misread the instructions and fixed this to the window initially.


The increase in space also allows for the walkthrough to the front cab, you can then turn around the drivers seat as is possible with real campers, and the large roof bed (still only accessible from outside), plus additional roof storage.



Our 4 year old has grown up with little LEGO, so he's pretty good at it, and I think the age range of 5+ is right, he had no issues with the actual build. He doesn't quite understand how number plates work though, and although he can read numbers and recognise letters, he didn't think it was so important to have them the right way up....


...and why would anyone want to correct him when he's this proud....


I think it's a great build, and for the money offers a play set/vehicle that's robust and really easy to play with. It's full of potential for storytelling and imaginative play, and if your 6 year old only had this one LEGO set, they'd still be able to play with it for hours.


The front left Camper Van Play Set 7639 is a discontinued model.
The front right LEGO City Camper Van 60057 costs £17.99
The rear Volkswagen T1 Camper Van 10220 costs £79.99 and I've reviewed it here...

This isn't a post about Bootstraps, news which I'm sure will be welcome. This is a post about a company called World's Apart. They emailed me just a few days after Elspeth died, and offered me a nightlight to review.

They got my 'out-of-office' notice and I probably wouldn't have heard from them again, but my 4 and 5 year olds were having awful trouble sleeping. By fluke I saw the email and it was so timely that I replied asking if I could please take a nightlight and review it at some point in the future. At the time the idea of going shopping for lights was even more horrific than it is now, I couldn't have done it.

The PR replied and was incredibly lovely to me and said she'd just send me a light and a torch and she didn't want a review. She wanted to try and help. Here's my thank you...

Blogging can give you some great experiences, and we've been really lucky - and busy - over the last couple of weeks having a look at some of the events running over Summer in the North West. One of the things we've really enjoyed is meeting the Moshi Monsters who have taken up residence at Manchester Trafford Centre Sea Life this Summer.

Our latest review for Green Toys is a fabulous one. We've had a very special delivery recently - and it is made from 100% recycled plastic milk bottles and 100% recycled cardboard printed with soy ink.

Top 10 lists are really incredibly popular, so a book full of them designed for children to browse at their leisure for hours has to be a great thing. We've been sent the Top Ten Of Everything 2015 by Paul Terry for review.


Devised by the late Russell Ash, the Top 10 Of Everything Annual has enthralled millions of readers over many years, and this mega-edition to the Top 10 series is a must-have for curious kids. 

Cirque Du Hilarious are currently touring Butlins and will be taking up residence in Blackpool this Summer in the Central Pier, before heading over to Newcastle for their annual sell out panto. Headed up by Clive Webb and Danny Adams, the Cirque Du Hilarious show is a fantastic mix of slapstick comedy, death defying acts and pure stupidity.

I'm a vegetarian, so I don't really work with meat and I don't often promote it, but my partner and 4 of our children eat meat. I don't mind them eating meat and I'm happier if it's better quality. They love hot dogs, but finding a decent quality hot dog sausage can be really tricky.

A couple of weeks ago we took 5 of our children to Warwick Castle for the day. I haven't been since the early 90's, so I knew it would be different but I didn't realise how much. It turns out pretty much the only thing that's the same is the castle itself.

Everyone loves Bahlsen Biscuits, right? But how many have ever used them in baking rather than just eating them as a biscuit? I know I hadn't until this week, when I was one of the bloggers taking part in the #bahlsenbakeoff.

I'm going to start by saying how much I love these books. My 4 and 5 year old boys love these books. They're brilliant, they're only £5.99 each. That's the most important bit of the review out of the way, I'll move on to the rest....


We've been sent Pirates Ahoy! and The Land Of The Dinosaurs to review from The Wonderful World Of Simon Abbott series of books. They're published by Ticktock Books and especially recommended for young readers aged around 5-7 years old .