We're fans of the Alphablocks, we watch them on TV and we've bought the magazines and have a couple of their DVD's. Letter Teams Volume 3 is their new compilation DVD featuring 'teams' of letters, usually pairs, which occur regularly in English language and make a specific sound that your child can learn to help with their reading - 'OO' being a really obvious and clear example.


This DVD is ideal when children reach the stage which my 4 year old is at, when they are confident with letter sounds, have learnt a few words, and are ready to move to the next step. It still has a great deal to offer my 3 year old, who is only confident with a few letters and hasn't yet the ability to put them together into words, because it reinforces all letter sounds and the stories are short, funny and captivating. It really holds the attention of both children, who don't even consider it to be 'learning', they think they're just looking at a group of characters with 'letter names'.


This DVD features 9 different letter teams episodes, plus a 'Letter Sounds' episode and an introduction to all of the Alphablocks characters. It has a running time of almost 90 minutes in total.

I think this is a really useful series of DVD's, it's fun, very easy to understand, the characters are friendly and it really shows children how words are made.

Because Alphablocks are a CBeebies programme there is also loads of free supporting information available on the CBeebies website, which gives you the tools to let your child gain the most from watching this DVD.

My children love this DVD and they gain a great deal from it. My 4 year old is learning the sounds the 'letter teams' make and the 3 year old is reinforcing his letter sounds. They both watch wide-eyed and with a big grin at the great little storylines. They have no idea just how much basic literacy they are learning, they really do view it as a series of stories and they're delighted when I put it on for them.



The Alphablocks DVD's, including Letter Teams Volume 3, are distributed by Abbey Home Media

"Abbey has been at the forefront of creating quality children’s programmes for over 15 years, specialising in audio, DVD and books that are particularly suitable for the younger child."

The very lovely and witty and intelligent Karen from GrumpyishMum has started a linky where we write an ode to a fellow blogger. Clearly I'm not a poet, but I've given it a shot. I couldn't really just write about one person because there are so many people who have been there for me ....

There was once a place called the net
Where some amazing people I've met.
Insomniacs, intelligentsia, compers,
Daft sods and keyboard warriors,
And the best 24/7 friends you can get!

I do have one special Blogger I need to mention though. My ode is to someone who took me under her wing and has looked after me almost since I first started The Brick Castle (I think she needed a lift at the time, but it's expanded a bit since then :p).

She's also been there for me day and night over the last 5 weeks while my partner has been ill - right from the early hours of the morning before we went to hospital when I was complaining he had Man Flu, through to when I was worried he was seriously ill and she seconded my opinion to make him go to hospital. She was the first person I spoke to when he was admitted, and the first person I told he had Meningitis. She was there to look after my small boys and do anything she can to help and I will be forever grateful for that unceasing friendship and support.

There was once a Red Rose Mum
Who was there for me when I was dumb
She helped me with stats
And Twitter and that
And now I have Klout, Kred and some.....other stuff that seems to be very important in Internetland....

 I did warn you I wasn't a poet!!Now's your chance to be a better non-poet than me! Why not compose an ode to your special blogger and join in with the linky...

Tom Jones arrived at our house the other day.


I was quite surprised to see he was very smartly dressed, he obviously wanted to make a great impression!


He helped in the kitchen while I cooked, stood round the hall and chatted to visitors. People were keen to pop by and say 'Hiya'. We had visits from Heather from Bury Family Life and Sim from Sim's Life Blog...



And even Robert Pattinson came over for a visit and a glass of wine....




Sadly, when we arrived, it became obvious very quickly that the wind was far too brisk for Tom, and he was having problems staying on his feet..



We were a bit worried he might be blown away, so, once we'd taken him to look at Blackpool Tower from a distance and he paid for the parking (he's a gent) we let him stay in the van.




Back in Manchester and we were going to a neighbour's for a glass or 12 of wine, so we took Tom with us. It looked like rain so he wore a mac. On the way there a couple of people commented on what a sensible chap he was....



We had a great time with Tom and you can spend time with him too - or in fact pretty much any celebrity of your choosing! Celebrity Cut Outs have offered a reader of my blog the chance to live with their own celebrity - to enter please follow this link >>>>


Tom Jones was sent to us from Celebrity Cut Outs, where you can choose from a huge range of full size or mini cut outs, masks and canvases. Tom costs £32.97 which we think is worth every penny because he is a fantastic laugh!

Well.....nearly....

The most popular person in my house right now is Tom Jones - we had a great day out with him yesterday - he's a right laugh!

Celebrity Cutouts have offered one reader of my blog the chance to choose a cutout of your choice from their website. Who would you choose? Will it be your own Tom Jones? Have you always fancied spending time with Angelina Jolie? Do you want to do the Gangnam dance with Psy?

Entry is by Rafflecopter below...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

When I had the opportunity to review Vertbaudet children's clothes I leapt at the chance. My daughter had several gorgeous pieces from them when she was small, including the dress, hat and bag she wore to my sister's Wedding!

 I love their clothes and the children look incredibly smart and sweet wearing them. I was told to choose sizes and colour preferences and I would be sent a surprise...



The packaging was really lovely and special, and what was inside wasn't a let down.  A gorgeous striped 100% cotton jersey jumper in really lovely and somewhat unusual colours.


The jumper is really nicely made and very soft. It has a double round neckline, ribbed cuffs and hem and 3 buttons at the neck to make it easy to put on and take off.


This sweater is available in sizes from 2years up to 14 years, and in 3 different colours. It's also very special as for every one of these jumpers sold, Vertbaudet will donate £1 to UNICEF.

I've washed and dried my jumper and it really has made no difference, it looks and feels every bit as nice as it did before, and my 4 year old is very happy with it  - as you can tell from the photo's!

One of my girls was at a loose end yesterday and asked if she could bake a cake. I'm hardly going to say no!

On the back of the packaging (which my 3 year old opened a bit too excitedly) from some Silicone Children's Bakeware from Pyrex was a recipe for an Apple Sponge which is really simple to make, so I left her to bake by herself. Last time I did this was when she made Ice Cream Bread, so I maybe should have learnt, but hey, what could go wrong?


"10 minutes later and I had a "help" from the direction of the kitchen, followed by "this looks like sick, is it right?". "Erm....not usually, no".


After a bit of explaining about why you shouldn't just add the eggs and milk all at once, instead you should add them bit by bit and mix well each time, and 5 minutes with a hand blender, we were back on track.

The Pyrex Flexi-Twist For Kids Numbers Tray is a fantastic cake dish that is really fun and different and it only arrived the other day, so she was keen to try it out.









The cake itself was lovely, the peel was soft and I think she was right to leave it on. It's quite dense as you'd expect with  a cake containing so much apple, and it went beautifully with some vanilla ice cream...

We love Plus Plus, and my lot play with it regularly. I can't sweep the floor without having to pick a few pieces out from among the detritis. Everyone plays with it, from the youngest at 3 to all of us adults. If we have it out on the table then visitors pick it up and fiddle and before you know it they've made a chair or a figure or something else. It's great for busy hands.

Small Bomber Spaceship V's Star Wars Fighter Ship

We reviewed it here, and showed you a lot of our designs up to then, and now The Toadstool is offering a 250 piece pack of Plus Plus as a prize for a reader of my blog. It is available in bright colours or neons and at only £5 for a 100 piece pack it makes an excellent stockingfiller or other present or treat for any child over 3.

We have the bright coloured Plus Plus and as soon as I got it out today my 4 year old decided he was making spaceships and robots and having a battle....and that's pretty much been what he's done all day. It's kept him entertained from 10am until bedtime, when he announced to our teenagers "no-one take apart my models".

Long Armed Transformer Robot

Spider Robot Alien

This giveaway has now ended.

Four weeks ago I had watched my partner have a Lumbar Puncture, and 3 hours later we'd had the results.

He'd been put into isolation with positive virus and bacteria results and we were both a mess.

He was on his 3rd lot of intravenous Antibiotics and still confused and in agony. Thankfully none of the children had really realised the gravity of the situation and the big ones were doing a brilliant job of watching the little boys and looking after themselves.

Four weeks later and this is where we are....


He's gone back to work.

He can only manage about 3 hours, and no-one else (including the Doctor or his boss) really wants or expects him to go back, but it's important to him. He wants to be normal, he wants to be better and for him going to work is enough. I'm driving him there because his reactions and concentration aren't yet ideal, and after 3 hours he's really shattered, but he's there and keeping everything ticking over instead of sitting at home worrying about them breaking everything in his absence.

When I fetch him his limp is bad and his legs and arms are very sore. His back aches and he feels generally very 'ill'. His head hurts and he comes home and goes to bed, but after a rest he's okay and he can switch off work and relax, which he couldn't do without going in.

He's admitted that he understands why people wouldn't dream of going back to work so early and he jokes about needing a wheelchair, but he's happier. I think by Friday he'll be exhausted, and I carry my phone about waiting for the call to fetch him, relieved when it comes. I'd be delighted if on Thursday he decides his week is over already, but I understand his reasoning (even if I don't really agree with it) and he's not suffering too much or pushing too hard yet. If he does then I'll tell him...you can be certain of that.

Men, eh....tsk....

Cable & Cotton make some amazing strings of lights and when they asked for people to review I was immediately keen. Up here in Manchester we have mainly very grey days and early nightfall all year round, and spend a lot of Winter needing lights on all day. Because we need it so much we make effort to have interesting lighting rather than just a big bulb in the middle of the ceiling.


I was given the opportunity to choose a string of lights. There are pre-selected strings, but I chose to pick my own colours. The entire selection and order process only took me a few minutes - most of the time spent was choosing exactly which colours I wanted and what 'feel' I wanted them to give to my room.

Everything about these lights is really beautiful and carefully thought out, starting with the packaging.