Miscellaneous

Do you believe in Santa?

Do you believe in Santa? I remember peering down at the bottom of my bed through the dark, at the bulky, mis-shapen pillowcase I’d laid out the night before. I have no idea what the time was, but it was cold, so it was too early for the heating to have switched itself on. There was no going back to sleep though. Nothing could stop me from crawling down to the end of my bed and retrieving that sack full of magic. I don’t remember anything after that. The presents, the unwrapping, the consuming of goodies and playing with toys …

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Wot so Funee? End of year roundup.

  The one with the dodgy spelling. For my final Wot so Funee? of the year (don’t worry, there’ll be more next week from Emma!) I decided to publish some of the funny moments I’ve found in my children over the course of the year. My trusty iPhone woke me this morning to the news that I had very little storage left, so I spent rather a long time deleting photos and video to make space. I’d forgotten some of these moments, and it was actually a lovely treat to scroll through and recapture some memories. Shocking though how much …

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Never too old to swing!

Where do the birthdays go? They seem to come round much more frequently than once a year, and my children are growing up far too fast for my liking! My girl, especially, is turning into a young lady (or a grumpy teenager – ask me on a good or bad day and you’ll get a different answer!) almost as I watch, and as she hit double figures recently I was struggling to know what to get her for the big day. Until I asked her. What she most wanted, in all the world, was a swing. The best wooden swing …

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Getting a head start on Christmas!

Christmas has started!  I know I’m totally going to polarise opinion here, but ever since I had children, I’m firmly in the camp of kicking off Christmas as soon as possible. There is just so much fabulous stuff to fit in, and I don’t want to be a chaotic heap of stress the week before the big day, only to wonder what hit me once the wrapping is off and we’re all stuffed full of Christmas pudding. So yesterday our Christmas tree went up. Often I get carried away with the romance of schlepping to the garden centre and choosing …

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How I finished my Christmas shopping in one morning.

I have just had the most brilliant morning. Yes, I should have been working, and yes, I do now have a little deadline pressure to catch up on. But it’s totally worth it for what I have just achieved. You see, my Christmas shopping is all done. And I only started today! Christmas shopping with Paypal saves time! This Christmas PayPal are asking you to share your Magical Christmas Moments with them, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes every week. Plus, if you use PayPal to do your Christmas shopping, you’ll have the chance to win back up …

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The perfect family holiday

What's your perfect family holiday?

What’s your idea of the perfect family holiday? Have you done it yet, or does it still sit tantalisingly on the horizon, waiting for the perfect time, the right age, the correct bank balance?! I wrote about my dream holiday on Space In Your Case recently – a trip to that little piece of heaven that are the Maldives. And it was indeed a dream come true. Adventurers at heart, we had worried that we might be bored on a luxury island, but our water villa, surrounded by baby sharks, and a glorious array of food and hospitality could never …

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Ox Pasture Hall hotel review

On a cold, blustery wet weekend in November, we travelled to Scarborough. The north-eastern coastline might not seem like the best place for a wet winter weekend, but we weren’t there to sun ourselves on the beach. We were there to review Ox Pasture Hall Hotel, and whilst it’s a place beautiful enough for a summer’s weekend, the winter weather totally does it justice! Still beautiful, despite the season, as we made our way through the garden to the small reception, we knew we were in for a cosy retreat, and we weren’t disappointed. The children very quickly laid claim …

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Budget hotel luxury with Premier Inn

Premier Inn budget hotels: a good night guaranteed

Premier Inn Harrogate is pink! Can we really afford a weekend away? Staying away from home is expensive, and when you factor in a couple of kids the price often makes the whole adventure financially too stressful to bother with. Especially if you need more than one night to make the trip worthwhile. We travel a lot as a family; it’s part of our way of making memories that last for all of us, and of making the most of our children, before they decide their parents are too dull to spend time with! And whilst we love a luxury …

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Growing up gently with Teen Parcel

It may not have escaped your notice that we have a tween girl living with us. I say tween, as that seems to be the descriptor most used for a child who has not yet hit the teen years, but is most definitely moving on from childhood – if inconsistently! It’s a wonderful age. She is amazing company, really funny, developing – with the odd raised eyebrow from us to keep it in check – a sarcastic dryness to her judgements, yet still young enough to be helpful, to declare her love for us, and to accept that there have to …

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Blackpool Illuminasia light show

Blackpool Illuminasia - Terracotta Warriors in the Mysteries of China Zone

We visited Blackpool for a family weekend away whilst the Blackpool Illuminations were on. Every year, from the end of August, until early November, Blackpool’s seafront plays host to the most incredible light attraction you will see in the UK. I loved it as a teenager, and I loved it again when I took my family 3o years later, and it has really left me in the Christmas spirit. Blackpool Illuminasia But if the 3 mile stretch of Blackpool’s illuminations aren’t enough for you, you can extend the pleasure of colourful light installations with a visit to Illuminasia, the world’s …

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Starstruck at Madame Tussauds Blackpool

Madame Tussauds Blackpool One Direction

The stars at Madame Tussauds Blackpool. On our recent trip to Blackpool we paid a visit to Madame Tussauds. We’d heard that someone rather famous, and very very important was going to be there, so we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to meet them… 😉 We’ve visited Tussauds in London previously, and whilst it is undoubtedly a spectacular day trip, it is massively busy, which can be a bit stressful with young children. Madame Tussauds Blackpool was refreshing though; all the wow of the same stars, without such a big crowd. We did still have to queue up to see …

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Blackpool for families at the Cliffs Hotel

Family at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

 Blackpool is also for families! It was the biggest thrill of my life. I honestly thought I’d left my stomach at the top of the ride, and I sat, shellshocked, waiting to be let out of my harness. I couldn’t do it again. I was 14, scared senseless, and in love with rollercoasters. I rode them all, then consumed a hot-dog, an ice-cream, and a candy floss, and wondered why they made me feel sick. But I still had room for a stick of rock as I waited for my donkey-ride on the beach, and I begged for a clear …

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Type 1: What my girl would like to say…

I wasn’t going to write about World Diabetes Day. This is a family blog. It’s a happy space, where I record the things in our lives that I want us to remember: the holidays, the letters to Father Christmas, the amusing anecdotes about funny toddlers that will make guests at their weddings laugh. It is not a blog about diabetes. But as I think about my daughter, about all she has had to come to terms with in the 3 months since her diagnosis, I know that I can’t let the occasion pass without some comment. I was going to …

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Wot so Funee? Getting used to a new bike.

You have these weird things sticking out of your back. Yes, they’re my bumpers… He’s skinny, my boy. The result more of running around using his young body for fun, or for football, more than a lack of interest in food. It means that the definition in his form is easy to see, from his enviable six-pack, to his shoulder blades. Lucky that he has such ‘bumpers’ then, because this week he got a new bike, a bigger bike, and it took a bit of getting used to! I remember the thrill of my first Raleigh Twenty (yes, I am …

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Why You Should Plan a Weekend in L’Estartit on the Costa Brava

Visiting L'Estartit during the Medes Islands Pirates and Corsairs festival

When you think of a weekend break, it usually involves the car. If you do decide to venture further afield, maybe the Eurostar. You don’t generally think of getting on a flight to Spain. Especially with the kids. But you should. Oh, you really, really should. Here’s how we managed a family weekend in L’Estartit, on the Costa Brava.   How to make the most of a weekend in L’Estartit A few weeks ago I picked up the kids from school on a Friday afternoon, and headed down to Gatwick. Less than 2 hours after take-off, our Vueling flight touched …

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BMW on driving a hybrid car

I’m all about saving money and staying healthy at the moment. The cost of our life has just gone up, and that’s not something we have the slack to accommodate. I take part in a feature on local radio about money-saving tips, and I can tell you, it has really made me think hard about how every small decision adds up over time. I’ve also been flung headlong into thinking hard about my family’s health; not just where an individual issue is concerned, but the health of our whole family, and the desire to make our environment a much safer …

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10 Minute Dinners: Fast Sausage and Lentil Casserole Recipe

10 Minute Family Dinners guaranteed to please     What do you pull out of the bag when your kids are hungry and you need to put dinner on the table, but time is short? Beans on toast? Microwaved curry? Tin of soup? Or would you rather have a hearty, healthy casserole that will feed the whole family and only takes 10 minutes to prepare? That’s the challenge OXO gave us when they sent us some of their Herbs and More flavour pots to create a recipe for their 10 minute dinners list. In fact, they asked to to make …

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Beauty Legacy – who do you #FeelBeautifulFor?

Who do you #FeelBeautifulFor?

Image credit: Stephanie Belton If your best friend said that about you, she wouldn’t be your best friend for very long. It has already begun. GG, at 9, has started to compare her body and face to what her friends have. She’s not the only one – they are all doing it. It has become a ‘thing,’ as they begin to fret about their shape, their hair, and the minor features they believe to be less than perfect. I have always told her how beautiful she is, because she actually is. She has a smile that can light up a …

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Diabetes: Wot so Funee?

Type 1 Diabetes - how a child is coping

Now I know what you’re thinking. What could possibly be funny about diabetes? And you’d be right. It’s not funny at all. Every single aspect of it is just bloody awful, and the fact that it is occurring to a child makes it infinitely worse. But you know what? She is doing it. All those fingerpricks, injections, snacking at odd moments, not snacking when she wants to – she is beginning to take it in her stride. And she has found things to laugh about – oh what a joy it is to see her infectious smile still there, to …

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Review: Nintendo 3DS XL console

Creating Mii on Tomodachi Life by Nintendo

Right, the kids are at school and I have the house to myself. *Looks around shiftily and draws curtains.* You’d be forgiven for thinking I have an illicit visitor to entertain, and in a way, I do. You see GG and the Bug have been given Nintendo 3DS XL consoles to review for Netmums. They have promised to play and explore all of the features on the new ‘elements of joy’ in our house, and I have promised to write up everything we’ve discovered about them so you can decide which Nintendo DS console is right for your family. But …

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