You know when someone suggests something, and you think it might be okay and agree, and then you start to think maybe you've had an idea above your station? When the doubts creep in and you start to wonder if everyone is pointing and giggling?

Well I thought like that about our #HealthySnackChat Twitter discussion...

There we were, the 4 of us, Anna In The Playroom, Eileen ET Speaks From Home, Pippa Red Rose Mummy and I, waiting for 10.30am. I say waiting, actually I had to rush about like a squirrel locked in a car in order to be ready.

At 10.25 I got a retweet, we had a punter, it was all good. We wouldn't have to give all the prizes to ourselves, someone would be walking away with the picnic rucksack from SA Fruits at least. We just needed 4 more people to win the Change For Life and other goodies.


!0.29 and I've never felt so nervous......(well, except when I had my driving test, my children, got engaged, job interviews, first day at school, kids first days at school and some other stuff )....

10.30 arrived, Pippa went for it, and stunningly, people replied! We had people! Actual people had turned up and were ready to talk to us and join in. Real live people. Ten minutes in and we were trending. I cannot begin to tell you how many cool points this gains me with the teenagers. In fact, half an hour in not only was #HealthySnackChat trending, it was up there at the top! It was in first place above Suarez the Zombie Footballer, as at least one very vigilant and witty young man noticed....


By the time I had to get my questions ready it was a bit manic, there were conversations going off at tangents everywhere, people were posting photo's, we had fishmongers and fruit snack companies adding their suggestions. I could barely spot anyone actually replying to me.


The last 15 minutes was all a bit of a blur, trying to catch up with what people had said and answered and I hadn't spotted. And then I had to go do nursery pick up and leave everyone to it, and they were all still talking. Win.

There were some amazing answers and brilliant ideas. It was fascinating finding what everyone feeds their children for snacks and Capture By Lucy joining in with her beautiful Bento boxes was an absolute pleasure.

The Gorgeous Seaside themed Bento from Capture By Lucy

The winners were -

Winners for the mini prizes are
@charliechinuk
@AttachmentMumma
@lifewithasd
@mymummysworld

Winners for the rucksack are
@cherylp59 (during the event)
@thesoupdragon44 (retweets before the event)

Huge THANK YOU to everyone who took part, I hope you all learned something, we certainly did.

I'll leave you with a photo that was posted later on by the self-confessed tyrant BlueBearWood, whose clearly angelic daughters have possibly invented next years healthy feeding trend - #ChildLedSnacking

Frozen peas and sweetcorn - delicious!

I fell in lust with the Eco House from Wonderworld the very first time I saw it. I loved the solar panels and windmill, and the sheer gorgeousness of it. Unfortunately that was at the end of last year and our Christmas budget was spent in September.


I've continued to spot it everywhere, it's been taunting me and showing off it's little recycling bins and water butt. During the Christmas period we had already bought boy no.4 a selection of smaller items for his birthday this March and didn't think we could justify getting him something big to go with it, but then a wondrous thing happened - he got birthday money!


Without consultation we spent his money, fortunately we know him quite well and he adores small world play and has a great imagination, he spends most of his time playing with 'figures', so we knew we'd be safe.


The open plan layout means this is ideal for more than one child to play at the same time, or just for one younger child who isn't so precise with their play, and the size is a good fit for Playmobil and lots of other little character ranges and vehicles. 


It is a brilliant tool for teaching children to think about the world around them and why we do certain things? Where does electricity come from? Why would you collect water in a water butt? It encourages them to think about materials - which things are glass, plastic, paper? What can we recycle?


Next Monday is Earth Day 2013 and a day when we are encouraged to think about greener and more sustainable alternatives. I fully believe that education should start when our children are very young, and consideration of everyone and everything within our environment should be something that is second nature to them.



This is a really accurate depiction of an ideal eco-house. Our teenagers have spent months doing projects designing eco-houses and the open plan, glass walled, fireplace in the centre of the house layout is spot on. The scooter is electric, the house creates it's own energy, water is collected and waste recycled, they shower - no baths and they grow their own veg. 




The Eco-House is currently on special offer at The Toadstool for £98, which is I feel is a very fair price. It is fairly traded, made in Thailand from sustainably forested Rubberwood and painted with water based non-toxic paints. It should easily outlast your child, it is really robust and has huge scope for play. It is totally appropriate for either girls or boys and has so many fantastic little details which are just not available or thought of usually. We love it!

I can however bring you tonight's meal. There were 8 for tea tonight.

There were 3 veggies dining, so we all ate Quorn (I cook, I choose....muhahaha. I let them eat meat a couple of times a week). Start with a teaspoon of oil and lightly fry a sliced onion and a bag of Quorn chunks. Finely chop a courgette and add a few handfuls of sweetcorn for extra veg that they'll barely notice.

Lightly fried, or at least defrosted.

You too can get a patina on your pan like this. It takes years of dedication, but the newness can be removed.

Make or purchase some pastry. On this occasion I'm using shortcrust, but puff pastry is just as good. Never ever attempt to make puff pastry yourself, always buy it. Making it requires 2 spare hours and will save you 7p.
Because you only put a top on the pie and not a bottom as well, you are being good and healthy - honest...well, you're using half the pastry, so that must be a good thing.

A nice egg wash over the pastry

Looking just like Nigella's pies, or the Hairy Bikers pasties

Cook it in a medium hot oven (gas 6, 200c, 400f) for about half an hour until the pastry looks scrummy.
Those spuds are NOT very healthy, but in fairness I had assistance from a teenager and they poured loads of oil over them, and they were crispily delicious.

And to think I didn't even wipe off the dribbles of gravy....shame on me.

It was lovely, everyone ate it all and it contained a couple of portions of veg each, plus carrots and broccoli! Healthy pie.

I was introduced to Blogs Up North as a brand new blogger by Pippa from RedRoseMummy, and on Sunday I went along nervously to my first proper meet up. There were 16 bloggers in attendance, and it was fantastic to meet so many people who's work I've read and commented on and laughed and cried at.

We were given free entry to the Legoland Discovery Centre and we arrived and nervously hung around in the shop until we saw the familiar face of Laura the never-looking-very Tired Mummy of Two and organiser of the meet.

We were split into 2 groups for the 'factory tour' which still amuses my boys even though they've seen it umpteen times - they're brave enough now to go and stand at the front and help make the Legoo and the bricks - turning cogs and jumping on buttons.

I've never had any trouble getting any of my children to eat fruit, they'll even eat a lot of veg. I can never understand when children (my own included) don't want to try all these sweet and colourful things, it makes me a bit sad because I feel they're missing out.

In a previous life I worked in Adult Education, working in various Community Buildings. I'd be the last to leave and had to bring everything with me, which would include any leftover lunch - including huge trays of fruit. I couldn't and wouldn't ever throw them out, it'd be criminal, so I'd take them home. Boy no.2 and my daughter would be delighted if I went to fetch them from school in the car, because they'd know I'd been off somewhere at work and the first question would always be 'is there any pudding left?'

In a bit of a change from usual I'm joining with 3 other bloggers for the next week to promote healthy eating.

Along with Anna from In The Playroom, Eileen from ET Speaks From Home and Pippa from Red Rose Mummy I'll be helping host a Twitter discussion and competition to win family prizes promoting healthy eating.

We want YOUR ideas for how to encourage reluctant children to eat things that are good for them, and we also want to know what you think is healthy?

We have been sponsored by SA Fruit, who have provided us with 2 x family picnic rucksacks to give away . They explain in their blurb ~

"South African Fruit is affordable, produced in a sustainable manner and fairly traded. The fruit industry creates jobs and is empowering previously disadvantaged workers, who are now  taking on management and ownership roles." 

For a chance to win one of the Family Picnic Rucksacks, retweet this Twitter status before 10am on Monday 22nd April 2013.


For a chance to win the second Family Picnic Rucksack and other spot prizes join us between 10.30am and 11.30am on Monday 22nd April on Twitter using the hashtag #healthysnackchat

You MUST be following at least one of the hosts to be eligible to win @etspeaksfrom, @redrosemummy, @TheBrickCastle and @ummziyad

SA Fruit also kindly sent me a selection of the fruits they export to Britain when our home-grown fruit is out of season. These are available nationwide in supermarkets.




Knowing full well that people of all ages eat far more fruit if it is cut up, I presented my 2 little boys and my partner with a bowlful each. Every piece was delicious and sweet, but we were all particularly impressed with the Red Williams Pears, the flavour was gorgeous. The plums were not bitter at all, and the apples had just the right amount of tang.


Hope to see you at the Twitter party! #HealthySnackChat



T&C below for the competition:

Every now and again the Little Tiger Press send me some books to have a look at with my two little men, and a few days ago we received two fantastic books from them....




 Dr Duck by Steve Small and Hannah George


This is a really cheeky story, that appeals to the horrible in my little boys. It has trumps and snot and a porcupine who sneezes their prickles off. It made my lads laugh and cringe and had exactly the desired effect!


The style of drawing reminds me of books I had as a child in the 70's, it's quaint, with Dr Duck wearing goggles when riding his bike and sidecar for example. The story is in rhyme, which will help children to learn rhythm and anticipate the next lines and words. My boys really liked it and I give it a 4/5.

 Mouse And The Moon by M Christina Butler and Tina Macnaughton


This book is really beautiful, it's fantastic to look at, with gorgeous soft-edged drawings and glitter throughout. The moon is always shiny and glittery, and my 3 year old especially loved touching it and feeling the texture.


The story is very simple and appeals to very young children. It tells of a group of forest animals searching for the moon during a storm. I have to practice my thunder and lightening sound effects - I was rubbish! Both boys really like this book, it is an excellent book for bedtime, we give it 4/5.


Little Tiger Press books are available countrywide, including online from Amazon.

Everything you ever didn't want to have to know about Chicken Pox from a Mum who has nursed 5 of my own children through Chicken Pox. What follows isn't a Medical guideline, it's my experience. If you want a medical explanation or advice then there are millions of pages online such as this NHS page, and you can go and see your GP or Practise Nurse, you could even look it up in a good old-fashioned book!

If you remember Chicken Pox then it's probably because you had it really bad when you were a teenager or an adult, and the experience is etched on your mind forever. You were really ill and everyone laughed at your scabs (maybe). If you had it young then you were probably just a bit itchy and can't really remember it at all. As far as I can see, somewhere between 2 years and 6 years is the optimum time to catch it, and is indeed the point when most children do...

In glorious technicolour ~

1.Chicken Pox starts before that first single spot, in fact your child is highly contagious for a couple of days before you could possibly know they have it. You may find yourself faced with a really grumpy and irritable child who isn't happy at all. You may know that they aren't well, or you just think they turned into a teenager overnight.

Day 1 AM, Day 1 PM Day 2 AM, Day 2 PM

Today is exactly 1 year since my little brother died. He was 32 and an alcoholic. He had always liked a drink, but the day he gave up was the day that his child died. It took him several years, but eventually he killed himself. We all had to watch, and none of us could help. No-one could make him understand it would never be his fault.

Today FSID has a new name. The Foundation for the Study of Infant Deaths has changed to The Lullaby Trust. I think it's an excellent name. It speaks of peace and calm, which is what I wish to anyone who loses their child, at whatever age.

I'm linking this with Jennie Edspire and Ghostwriter Mummy's Lullaby Linky. I was a brand new blogger just getting to grips with Twitter when I saw Jennie's tweet at the top of my page and wrote this. What I've seen since has been a mighty community with a level of support and understanding that never ceases to amaze me, and a woman who has a strength and poise beyond human.

The number of babies who are lost to SIDs has reduced by around 65% since we became aware of ways to reduce the risks in 1988. Lets bring it down further.

Yeah, if you do accidentally set fire to your frying pan, probably best to grab the kids and leg it, but I was reminded last night of a question we always asked when I was at school. If your house was on fire what would you grab to take with you as you run out of the door?

If you had time to grab just 3 things (and everything living is safely out on the lawn already - including the fish and the Yukka plant), what do you take? This isn't real, this is fantasy, so 'the bath' is a real option.

When I was 15 it was band posters, tour t-shirts and my midi system - of which I was very proud and it cost an entire 60 quid! Back then £60 was the equivalent of a million pounds - well, to me it was.


Now I'm a weeny bit older , I actually DO still have my tour t-shirts and posters (not the cheap tinny midi system though). Up in my loft is a mildewed programme bearing the autographs of Michelle Shocked, Billy Bragg and Michael Franti. I've got a poster that Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera has signed and written 'Sorry' on because I was crushed at his gig at Rock City. I've got programmes, maps, tickets and wristbands from every festival I ever went to. I even have a flyer from when me and 7 other people went to see My Bloody Valentine at The Dial in Derby on a Tuesday night for £2.50. None of it would make it into my top 3 though....

No.1 ~ Photo's of the kids. Real photo's, the kind I used to walk into town to collect and it cost me £2.50 for the film, and £3.00 for developing and I'd have 3 blank photo's, 2 shots of the floor, 1 picture half superimposed on another, 6 shots so blurry you couldn't see anyone, 4 where the heads were cut off and (if I was lucky) 3 where the subject was actually looking at the camera. We didn't even get a computer until my oldest was 7, so my real photo's mean a lot to me. (Good job this is fantasy because that's 2 tea chests already).

No.2 ~ All the 'treasure' I've collected from my children over the years. The certificates from school, the paintings, the cord clamps (everybody saves them, right?), first teeth and shoes, birth certificates, first passports, GCSE work they threw out and I rescued from the bin, birthday cards, programmes from plays and assemblies, bits of paper with the first 58 times they drew a recogniseable human on them......all that.

No.3 ~ The Jewellery Box my partner bought me for Christmas the year before last. I love it, it reminds me of one my Grandmother had and it's very beautiful. It has my treasure in it - ear-rings and gift tags and little Lego boxes with tiny things in, and on top are some cuddly things that my children and my partner gave me....

It's also possible I might just be able to fit in 4 or 5 band t-shirts at a push....


I guess that time and experience teaches us what is actually important, things are just things really, and anything that can simply be bought can usually only ever have limited value.


What would you save?