Harry Potter Magical Capsules unboxing review

With a swish of her cloak and a flick of her wand, Little 1 comes running into the room followed by her brother and sister both wearing wonky school ties and scarves to their knees. 'Petrificus totalis' they shout, grinning and giggling as I freeze on the spot pretending not to be able to move. The Little Ones are playing 'Harry Potter' again. 

Home learning.. how we did it

With school closed for lockdown and three children at home the prospect of a prolonged period of home learning was not something I was looking forward to. How was I going to get all three children's home learning done at the same time?

Gymnastics at home, it's not the same

The arrival of lockdown came at a time when both the girls were training hard for the beginning of the acrobatic gymnastics competition season. Last year Little 2 wasn't ready to compete having moved up to the Junior Elite competition squad just as the season had started and Little 1 wasn't yet at competition level.

And then they were gone..

The last six weeks we have been in lockdown, there are several things we are really missing and one of them is the amount of time we spend outdoors. Most weekends we would go out on a Sunday, a walk, a National Trust place or the local wetlands centre.

Keeping the children entertained with Spinmaster Toys

We have all heard those dreaded words uttered from the mouths of our offspring, on wet rainy days and those where we have been stuck inside, the long summer holiday or the days where they just seem to annoy each other endlessly. 'I'm bored', they say. Well, not this week as we have been having some mother-daughter time with the help of the Kumikreator 2 in 1 necklace and bracelet maker and the Go Glam nail stamper kindly gifted to us from Spinmaster.

Boredom busting with Ideal games

We are just over four weeks into lockdown and quite frankly no one knows how long it is going to last, we are spending a lot more time at home than we are used to and boredom is beginning to set in at times. Imagine the looks of delight on the Little Ones faces when they saw the contents of a rather large box that arrived for us one afternoon, a huge bundle of games.

Home learning - Coding Critter fun with Bopper, Hip and Hop

There are some cute munching sounds coming from the dining table, followed by some snores. Little 3 is completely absorbed practicing his left from his right and learning all about cause and effect as well as early coding, home learning is going well today. You see he is playing with Learning Resources Coding Critters and having a great time.  

Shopkins real littles icy treats review

What is it about cute little collectibles that has the girls angling after them so much? They want them for Birthdays and Christmas and save their pocket money and ask to go to the supermarket at weekends to see if there is anything new. Well something new there is, the Shopkins Real Littles icy treats collection.

Little 3 turns 5- How did that happen

What is it that makes 5th birthdays seem so much of a milestone, it it that your child is officially school age, no longer considered little, the start of independence? Somehow that age of 5 years old means a proper little boy (or girl) and all too soon it is Little 3's turn to reach that milestone, my youngest, my last child- How quickly did that happen?

It feels great to be eight- a change of tide

It has been a few weeks now since Little 2 turned eight years old, and there has been a big change in her. Her actual birthday was a school day so time for just a couple of presents before Daddy went to work, school as usual, then more presents after school and the grandparents and Uncle M came to tea, pizza at Little 2's request.

Uni-verse surprise, the collectible with the fun reveal

There is a new collectible on the shelves that combines three of the 'in' things right now, that had both the girls eager to test when they arrived through our post box. Uni-verse surprise has a mixture of surprise reveal, slime and unicorn collectibles not to mention the fun emoji shaped cloud design. No wonder the girls were keen to see inside.

Sweets for my sweet- personalised Valentines gifts from Swizzels

Isn't it lovely when someone does something a little bit different or does something that it makes you feel that they have made a little effort to find something personal, for you? Well, I am talking Valentine's gifts here and the lovely people at Swizzels have gifted us a selection of their fantastic NEW personalised goodies so we can have a bit of a treat and indulge a little this Valentines, as well as telling you about the new range of course.

  

A New Year, a new blog header and a refresh

This month marks six years since I started this blog, I can't believe how fast time has gone and that I am still blogging either. When I started writing, spurred on by a friend and fellow blogger, I did not think I would still be doing it now nor how much my blog would have changed over the years.

I started writing in January 2014 when I was a stay at home mum with two children, the girls, who were then 2 and 4, as a diary of the things we got up to as a family, toddlerhood, our holidays, crafting and cooking with the children, puddle jumping and days out. Then Little 1 started school and I documented my pregnancy with Little 3 and the worries he gave us with his heart.

As time went on although I continued to blog about holidays and days out, with the girls at school and after my return to work in 2017 when Little 3 also started nursery, my blog changed a little and I began to do more reviews particularly toys and books.

I want to bring my blog back to what it was, less reviews and more about what we get up to as a family, our days out, holidays, family life, following the little Ones through school now that Little 3 has started Reception and life with two gymnasts in competition squads.

It seems that now is the right time for a new blog header. The one above was done in 2015 when Little 3 was a baby and has headed my page ever since, he is nearly 5 now and all three Little Ones have really grown, our lives are filled with gym runs and training schedules and homework although we still love jumping in puddles and getting outdoors, it was time for an update.

So what do you think? The Little ones are bigger, haven't they grown. I think it is easier to tell who is who with the new podium design and it shows the girls interests in gymnastics and Little 3's love of trains. I love the brighter colours and in particular Little 2's leotard.

Along with a little header refresh I have an updated avatar and I have updated the Little Ones pages (which I do a few times a year), each child has their own page, Little 1, Little 2, Little 3, an all about me if you like, running across under the header and you can also access them by clicking on their photo on the side bar. You can find a little information about each of them, what they currently like or their hobbies, who is the best at sharing and who is the grumpiest!

So grab a cuppa, tell me what you think of the new header, read about what the Little Ones are getting up to and get ready to read more about holidays (we have bought a tent!), outdoor adventures, gymnastics and life with three Little Ones.