29 September 2014

Giveaway & Discount Code: Poppy England

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The lovely ladies, Bryony and Hannah, from Poppy England have a fabulous giveaway and discount code to offer my lovely readers today. You might have seen the recent Mumpreneur feature they did a few days ago detailing their Poppy England journey. If you haven't already had a look, please do as it's a lovely read.

They have lots of fab products on their blog including this gorgeous Snowstorm Linen Shopper Bag which they've kindly agreed to give away to one of my lucky readers. There's also a fab 15% off discount code in case you fancy treating yourself or your little one to anything else on the Poppy England website: BREASTEST15
Code runs until 29/10/14

To be in with a chance of of winning the Snowstorm Linen Shopper Bag please enter via the Rafflecopter widge below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

28 September 2014

Silent Sunday

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Review: Zombie Dice Deluxe Set

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I'm not sure exactly why but Logan is obsessed with zombies! He talks about them all the time and seems to quite like the idea of them. He certainly doesn't find them scary at all and wholeheartedly accepts that they like to eat people's brains... So when I was asked if Logan would like to review a copy of Zombie Dice Deluxe I jumped at the chance. Here's what we thought.


Zombie Dice Deluxe is aimed at slightly older children and adults (aged 10+) however even Logan (who's almost 5) got the idea of the game pretty quickly, even if he did cheat quite a lot haha. It comes packaged in a simple blister pack which you can rip open then recycle the plastic and cardboard after. Inside the pack you get a handy Zombie Dice shaker cup, 13 dice in total (all custom), a set of instructions and also a little score card book where you can keep track of all the brains you've eaten.


The 13 custom dice come in 3 different colours; green (easy), yellow (medium), red (hard). Each dice has a mixture of 3 different images on it. A brain (for eating!), footprints (means your victim got away) and a shotgun blast (get 3 and you're turn is over with no brains). So the green dice is easy as it only has 1 shotgun blast on it, 3 brains and 2 footprints. The yellow dice is medium because is has 2 shotgun blasts, 2 brains and 2 footprints. And the red dice is hard because is has 3 shotgun blasts, 1 brain and 2 footprints.

To play the game you put all 13 dice in the plastic Zombie Dice Deluxe cup, shake them up, pull out 3 (without looking), roll those 3 on the floor and see what you get. If you get 3 shotgun blasts your turn is over and you don't get to count any brains. If you get say 2 footprints and 1 shotgun blast then you keep the 2 footprints aside and pull out another 2 dice from the cup to make up 3 with the shotgun blast that you rolled, then roll again. You can keep going until you get 3 shotgun blasts on your roll or the dice run out. You have to roll with 3 each time and keep any footprints aside as those people got away and you couldn't eat their brain, hehe. If you manage to get any brains then you count those up at the end of your turn and mark it on the score card.


This really is a great little game and after a few shots you soon get the hang of it. Each game can take around 10 - 20 minutes and the first player to 16 brains wins. You need at least 2 people to play this game, to make it fun anyway. For clarity here's how Steve Jackson Games describes their Zombie Dice Deluxe game: "Zombie dice is a quick game for any zombie fan. The 13 custom dice are your victims. Push your luck to eat their brains, but stop before the shotgun blasts end your turn! Play at lunch oe while you're in line for a zombie movie! This deluxe version includes a score pad and the plastic zombie dice brain case. Eat brains. Don't get shotgunned.You are a zombie. You want braaains. More brains than any of your zombie buddies.Zombie Dice is a quick game for any zombie fan (or the whole zombie family). The 13 custom dice are your victims. Push your luck to eat their brains, but stop before the shotgun blasts end your turn!Play it at lunch (braaiiins!) or while you're in line for a zombie movie . . . !"


Logan loved this game and even though he cheated (he's allowed) it was really fun to play. It helped him with his counting and also turn taking as well as learning to keep a score (even if it was in his favour). If you fancy your own copy of this great little game it retails for around £19.99 but can be picked up for a discount usually on Amazon. You can also pick up the normal Zombie Dice game (not deluxe) for a much cheaper £11.67 on Amazon. It just means you don't get the plastic cup. Great alternative Halloween gift though!

Mummies rating - 7/10
Logan's rating - 10/10



I was provided with a copy of Zombie Dice Deluxe free of charge in order to complete this review.


27 September 2014

Mumpreneurs: Bryony and Hannah - Poppy England

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Bryony and Hannah are the brilliant mumpreneurs behind Poppy England who design and manufacture beautiful dresses for women and girls, as well as a range of other lovely products. Bryony and Hannah have been kind enough to spare some of their busy time and tell us all about them and their journey. You can see all they have to offer at www.poppyengland.com.


1. So first things first, tell me a little bit about yourself and your family?
Bryony: I am 32, I live in London, originally I come from North Yorkshire, a little town called Yarmwhich is where the business was founded. Poppy was set up by my parents in 1980 and ran successfully until 2001 when prints went out of fashion and manufacture moved from the UK

Hannah: I am 34, 40 weeks and 9 days pregnant with my first baby (we don't know if it's a boy or girl, will probably be a boy as we have a warehouse full of girls clothes!). After studying to be a designer/maker I worked out in Cuba, Argentina, China and USA as a ceramicist then interior designer before partnering with with Bryony to run Poppy, I now handle the sales, buying and general running of the business whilst Bryony controls the design (she's also an excellent business woman too!)

2. What's the story behind Poppy England?
Bryony: I went home to take over this business about 10 years ago. They had always done bold border prints and i felt there was a movement in the air towards all things nostalgic. So Poppy had a chance to grow again. With the help of my parents expertise I started printing my own fabrics from sketches and ideas I had. The main concept was to base the prints around a little girl called Poppy and her dog Fred, then I wrote stories to go with the fabrics. This way I hoped to make less disposable fashion and help children to have more involvement in their clothing. This way they would appreciate the clothing much more . We have now grown from not just making clothes for little girls but for big ones too!


3. Where there any struggles along the way?
Both: We had no idea how hard it would be, a business now has to work in so many different directions. The manufacturing process can be tricky as well as promoting and getting your self out there, then having to come up with new unique designs every 6 months and shops seem to go into sale so quickly, you think ' wow all that work for 2 months at full price!'.

Bryony: We think the biggest struggle is keeping up the momentum when you don't see light at the end of the tunnel. That's why it was so great to meet Hannah and for us to start working together really helped.

Hannah: I'm so lucky to have a business partner like Bryony, she works so hard, is naturally an amazing designer and best of all she's a great friend, even when times get tough or we disagree, we talk it through and work it out together, I couldn't do it without her.

4. Looking back is there anything you wish you could have done differently?
Both: Yes but then you also realise you had very few choices at the time and you have to take risks in order to move forward.


5. Are there any new products in the pipeline?
Bryony: Always... I am just working on the collection for AW15, so we work about a year in advance or so... it's always exciting to see the new things coming together. With us both being from a product deign background we would love to do more with our fabrics in interiors and furniture.

6. A lot of mums would love to work for themselves, what advice can you give them?
Hannah: Give it a try, it's tough but totally worth it when it works out. Being on maternity leave is a great opportunity to take a step back and look at what you really want out of life, even if you can't jump into a new business straight away due to family responsibilities, plan for the long term and start researching and building up a good business plan for when the kids start school. Take it slow at first, financially it can take time so if you have another means of paying the bills don't loose it, maybe cut down your 'normal' job so you work less days but still maintain an income, money is the main reason businesses fail so hold on to what you can until you are able to fully immerse yourself.

Bryony: I think it's hard to do it all on your own, especially if you are working from home all the time. It can be quite isolating and feel quite lonely at times. Although it's not always easy to work with someone else all the time, it's great in so many ways. Bouncing ideas of each other, perspective , you both have different strengths and weaknesses.






26 September 2014

Pregnancy: 25 Weeks

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It's donned on me this week that I'm actually over 5 months pregnant now, how did that happen! Counting the weeks never seems to make it sink in but when you say 5 months that's more than half way through the whole pregnancy. The time has gone scarily quick.

I've had a lot of, what I'd call, growing pains this week where my stomach muscles have been really achy and actually quite uncomfortable to the point where I was struggling to sit down and find a suitable pain free position. It's eased off a bit now and there are no stretch marks so hopefully it was the muscles adjusting and not my skin stretching.

This week has been the usual flurry of activities with never a dull moment. My cousin's baby shower last Sunday was lovely as well. It was so well organised with lots of fun games, food and plenty of chit chat. She's due in the next week or so, fingers crossed for her. She doesn't know the gender of the baby either so can't wait to here what she has.

There was an open evening at Logan's school this week so it was great to see what sort of things he had been up to. They do a bit of writing and drawing etc which Logan isn't a major fan of and you could tell this from the work in his books however it was nice to see he was indeed trying his best and even on his not so good days he still tried. I got to meet up with a couple of friends too, one for dinner and one for tea and cake. It was great to see them both and have a good blether.

Now that I'm 25 weeks the baby is around 13.5 inches and putting on more fat to bulk up a bit. A lot of websites say the baby should weigh about 1.5lbs so I'll go with that. There's lots of kicking and moving and every night come around 7pm there's normally a party in my tummy, so much so you can see my bump moving around which is lovely.

I need to start having a nosey up the loft to see what baby stuff I have left over from last time. I did sell a lot of it due to space etc but I kept quite a few bits as well which include the car seat but since we have new cars from when Logan was born I'll need to check it still fits. It's iso-fix so fingers crossed. One thing I'll definitely need is a new cot and nursery furniture. Logan nibbled his old cot when he was teething and the OH put his knee through one of the spars by mistake when he leaned against it! So it had to go to the skip in the end. I'm not sure what kind of cot to get this time, might go for a cot bed and hopefully one that has a drawer underneath as it's handy for storage. I know a lot of people say a changing table/unit is a waste of money however I had one with Logan and it was great. Completely saved my back and was used constantly, great for storage too.

Still need to pick a design/wallpaper for the baby's nursery so I'll be doing that this weekend. Want something lovely but also just want it done soon so I can then furnish the room and organise before Christmas comes round as that's a very busy month for us plus I'll be getting big and less mobile.

25 Weeks Pregnant


23 September 2014

Giveaway: SewLomax Mummy Pouches

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Win a SewLomax Mummy Pouch


Emma Lomax has been taking the fashion and beauty world by storm for the last two years with her ethically produced collection of stylish wash bags & accessories and this Summer she introduced her highly anticipated baby range! Her debut collection of must-have essentials consists of beautifully designed and ethically produced muslins, dribble bibs and baby bath time towel and flannel sets.

Emma has now added 3 stylish Mummy Pouches to the collection. The gorgeous pouches come in three designs and colours and are the perfect home for any Yummy Mummy's essentials!

The pouches measure 19cm wide by 13cm high making them the perfect size for all your bits and pieces.

The 'Mummy's Stuff' pouch is made from mint green canvas with a pink Nylon lining and finished with the signature SewLomax bobbin zip detail.

The 'Best Mummy' pouch is made from hot pink canvas with a red Nylon lining and finished with a cute Heart zip detail.

The 'Mummy's Only' pouch is made from Navy canvas with a pink Nylon lining and finished with the signature SewLomax bobbin zip detail.

£15 from www.sewlomax.com

It's simple and easy to enter this giveaway. To be in with a chance of winning one of these fab pouches please complete the jotform here: http://www.jotformpro.com/formbox/TBN

Giveaway closes on Thursday 16th October 2014.



Review: Munchkin Mealtime Bento Box

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A little review for you today courtesy of Munchkin. You might have spied the competition a few weeks ago which I hosted where Munchkin were kind enough to provide one of my lucky readers the chance of winning a toddler lunch bag and mealtime bento box to go with it. Well Munchkin also provided me with one of the mealtime bento boxes to try out for myself. Here's what I thought.

Now my son doesn't take a packed lunch to school, he has school dinners which he seems to really enjoy and wolfs down every school day but it's always handy to have a packed lunch box on the back burner just in case. It's also quite handy for me as working in an office there is a canteen however it's sometimes nice to take in your own homemade lunch. There's so many different packed lunch boxes out there these days but the bento style boxes are becoming quite popular.

The Munchkin mealtime bento box is quite cute and very simple to use. It has a little clip on either side of the lid which secures to the base in a quick push on pull off motion. No faffing around here. On the underside of the lid there's a fork and spoon set which easily clip on and off too. Inside the base of the box there are two separate compartments. A larger compartment (with lid) for say a salad, sandwiches, wraps, pasta, cous cous etc and a smaller compartment with two pull out same sized tubs (with lids) for either veggies or fruit. You don't have to use the tubs and instead can use the compartment as a whole which is bigger if you need to.

I like the fact there are two smaller tubs for separate food items. They're quite handy for even putting separate fruits in or even for containing houmous or a dip of some sort. When I took my bento box into work with me I was a bit boring as in the large compartment I put in a tuna sandwich cut into four pieces. The large compartment is slightly smaller than a slice of bread however cutting the sandwich into four pieces meant it could fit in no bother. For the two small tubs I put yummy Californian raisins in one and tasty dried mango in the other.


I'm happy to say that the bento box kept the contents of my lunch well contained when jostled around in my handbag. Everything stayed as it was when I had packed it and nothing escaped. I also felt it kept the food fresh with it's secure lid. All in all I was very happy and even a few people at work commented on what a lovely lunch box it was.

These lunch boxes come in three different colours; pink, blue or green. I received the pink to try out and it's lovely and girly. Not too sure a little boy would appreciate pink quite the same although Logan does like a bit of pink now and again when it suits him. They're also dishwasher safe, microwave safe and freezer safe which is all great when you're a busy mum. Prices for the lunch box vary although there's an RRP of £9.99. I've done a quick search and notice you can purchase these mealtime bento lunch boxes from Asda, Argos, Toys r us, Amazon etc so plenty of options.


All in all I think this is a great little lunch box which is versatile, reasonably priced and does it's job well. I'd definitely recommend for school packed lunches or even for adults taking into work or out and about on the go.

Mummies rating - 9/10

For more products and information please visit www.munchkin.eu.com.  You can also see what Munchkin get up to on Facebook and Twitter so why not pop over and say hello. Remember to tell them The Breastest News sent you.





21 September 2014

Silent Sunday

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19 September 2014

Pregnancy: 24 Weeks

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There's nothing much exciting happening this week really compared to the last few weeks. I've still been pretty busy plodding on and managed to pick up a few wallpaper/mural books from our local Dulux store to peruse for Logan's room redecoration and the baby's nursery. There's two lovely wallpapers I can't decide between for Logan's room. It'll either be the Marvel Superheroes Comic one or the Marvel Superheroes Poster one. Which one do you guys think looks best? They're both very similar.


I got to meet up with a lovely friend and her son on Thursday for coffee and cake and a good chin wag, but we ended up having a sort of brunch instead. Not that I needed it but was probably healthier than cake haha. Anyway it was lovely catching up and something different and more relaxing from the usual running around.

I still feel like my insides are extremely squashed as per last week and if I eat too much in one go I get a bit of acid reflux! It's a bit miserable but not too bad. Can only imagine it'll get worse as I get bigger! The baby is around 30cm long now (about the length of a ruler) so definitely taking up more space. I have ordered some nice maternity and nursing tops from Mamas & Papas as they've got a sale on at the moment so that's cheered me up.

I've got a busy weekend ahead with swimming planned for Logan (he has to go every weekend now!). My cousin's daughter is turning one and my other cousin is having a lovely baby shower. Must remember to look out a baby photo! Oh and I've got to bake a cake for work as there's a bake off on Monday! I have however managed to order up a cool custom cake for Logan's party later in the year so fingers crossed it turns out ok. It's from 3D Cakes in Edinburgh so I'm sure they know what they're doing.

So maybe not much of a rest this weekend, think I'll be going in to work on Monday for a rest instead!

24 Weeks Pregnant. My view of the ever growing bump.



16 September 2014

Review: Worst In Show Book

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As I've said before, Logan and I love nothing better than to snuggle down with a book at bedtime and read till our hearts content. When Walker Books asked if we'd like to review the highly anticipated Worst In Show children's book I jumped at the chance. A new story is always good news in our house.

Worst In Show is a beautiful tale, written by William Bee, of Albert and his pet monster Sidney. Albert thinks Sidney is just the best monster in the world ever, so he enters him into The Best Pet Monster in the World Competition. Little does Albert know that poor Sidney has to get top marks in 5 different monster testing categories to win best in show. Category number 1: your monster must have tons of hairy warts (yuk!!). Category number 2: highest hovering monster wins this round. Category number 3: your monster gets top marks for being full of parasites! Category number 4: smelliest fart is the name of the game here. Category number 5: only fierce fire breathers will do. To sum it up Sidney is none or has none of the above, so you see this adds up to a hilarious tale and much embarrassment for pet monster owner Albert. Not all is lost though, Sidney is still good at something... being Worst In Show!


When I produced this book for Logan at bed time (from behind my back might I add with the words "Ta Da!" thrown in for effect) he was most delighted and couldn't wait to snatch it from my grasp. The front cover is very inviting and beautifully illustrated by Kate Hindley as well as all the other pages in the book. It's a busy front cover with lots of things to see and point out for discussion. The first thing Logan noticed was the shiny gold trophy that Sidney was holding, never mind the fact he was a monster. Trophies are far more interesting clearly.

We dived into the story straight away with eager anticipation and each page was better than the last. There's so much happening on each page that Logan would hardly let me finish reading before we were into the next. When we had finished reading we would go back through the story looking at all the lovely pictures and pointing out different things we liked and found funny. There's loads of detail in this book and Logan loved that. Having autism makes him focus on the detail sometimes and it was perfect for him to pick out all the little signs and things he wanted me to explain further. Such as how the fart measuring machine worked in the Smelliest Fart Round.


Near the end of the book two pages either side fold out to show the amazing Sidney winning his Worst In Show trophy on stage. It's a great part to the book, so much to see and chat about we could have spent ages on just those pages alone.

Overall a lovely well written and well illustrated children's book that'll never get boring. The story is humorous and so are the illustrations. Everything works well together and seems to have been well thought out. This book isn't released until 6th January 2015 but it's well worth waiting for and adding to your child's book shelf/case when you get the chance. RRP £11.99 makes it a bit expensive so add it to a gift wish list if you can or if you're lucky you can grab a bargain on Amazon.

Mummies rating - 8/10
Logan's rating - 9/10

You can see what Walker Books get up to on Facebook and Twitter. Why not pop over and say hello? Remember to tell them The Breastest News sent you.




Walker Books sent me a pre-release copy of Worst In Show for the purpose of this review. All opinions and words are my own.

14 September 2014

Silent Sunday

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12 September 2014

Pregnancy: 23 Weeks

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This week has been a non stop flurry of work, meetings for Logan and trying to get organised. I was becoming conscious that I was so busy I wasn't paying attention if the baby was moving much or not so I've made more of an effort to pay attention to movements and note them down mentally. All is good though, baby is kicking plenty and I'll continue to pay attention now. Sometimes life gets busy though and it's very easy to forget.

So yeah, busy week. The other half and I had a catch up with the Autism group we used to attend when Logan was at nursery. It was nice seeing old faces and also hearing how the other children are getting on. We also had a meeting at Logan's school to see how he's settling in so far. He seems to be enjoying himself but does struggle with conforming to the rules and structure hence why he has some extra support on hand.

Finally handed a copy of my MAT B1 Form in at work so that's all gone off to HR for processing. Feels like it's all becoming so real now, not that it didn't before obviously but things seem to be moving faster. There's already an advert went out to find mat cover for my job and I've decided how long I'll be taking for mat leave and when it'll start. I suppose I can be a bit more organised this time round due to having a planned c-section lined up.

Still trying to decide what to do for the baby nursery and looking around for people who can paint words, murals etc so will have to get that organised soon. I've managed to get a hall and entertainment booked for Logan's birthday party later in the year so that's a weight off my mind but need to organise a cool cake now and decide on game prizes, room décor, food etc. We're going for a Lego Marvel Superheroes theme which should be really fun to do. Last year we did pirates and themed everything round this which was fab - hard work though!

I'm starting to feel like my insides are being squashed now. It's not so bad when standing up but when I'm sitting at my desk at work I just feel compressed. I get out of breath a lot quicker too but my womb is already up beside my belly button so there's not much room for the lungs and diaphragm in there anymore. Think I'm going to struggle as the baby gets bigger.



10 September 2014

Author Spotlight: Rebecca Colby

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Today we have a lovely author's spotlight on Rebecca Colby. Rebecca is the author of There was a Wee Lassie who swallowed a Midgie which you'll have seen on my: Books That Are Fun For Mum & Dad Too post. You might have also noticed that Rebecca has kindly agreed to give away 2 signed copies of her book to a couple of my lucky readers. So why not pop over and enter, very simple and easy to do so using the Rafflecopter wide. Anyway onto the questions!

So first things first, tell me a little bit about yourself and your family?
We’re a multicultural family of four. My husband is English, I’m American and my two daughters are Yorkshire. I mean that in the nicest way as I love our home community in North Yorkshire. Long may they keep their local accents, though I’ve recently heard the occasional American twang creeping into my youngest daughter’s speech.

My wee lassies are 9 and 4 years old. I credit them with launching my career as a children’s book author, and they’re always eager to share ideas. They’ll say something they feel is clever and then quickly add, “Write that down, Mummy! It would make a great story.”

Rebecca's Wee Lassies

What made you decide to write a children's book?
It had always been my dream to write and publish a book. I planned to write a travel memoir, but I never felt like I had enough time to write, so it never happened. Then I had kids and I definitely didn’t feel like I had enough time to write. Or so I thought.

It was after my eldest was born that I rediscovered children’s books. I fell in love with them all over again, particularly picture books. And picture books looked easy to write. They were short--less than 500 words each! How difficult could they be? Sharing these beautifully illustrated stories with my children, rekindled my dream to write a book. I would write a picture book.

If it hadn’t been for my children, I don’t think I would have considered writing children’s books. I have my girls to thank for helping me turn my dream into a reality.


Were there any struggles along the way?
Well, first of all, writing 500 word books isn’t as easy as it sounds. Every word must count, and you still have to write a complete story with a beginning, middle and end. Writing a good, concise story proved to be a huge challenge.

Finding time to write around a family and a job was also a big issue. But if you want to do something bad enough, you’ll make sacrifices. I spent many mornings getting up at 5am to write, before heading out to work. It’s amazing how much you can get done when no one else is awake and asking you questions like “What’s to eat?”, “Where’s the iPad?” and “Can you wipe my bottom?” (Or perhaps that only happens at my house.)

The biggest struggle was learning to be patient and accepting rejection as part of the writing life. It can take months to receive replies from editors and agents on whether or not they like your book. One time it took over a year, and that was precisely because they were interested. But then they ultimately rejected the book anyway. Decisions are rarely made quickly, and then they’re often rejections—especially when first starting out.

Looking back is there anything you wish you could have done differently?
Oh, yes! I hired an illustrator to illustrate my first book even though I had no intention of self-publishing it. This is a big no-no in the industry. Unless you, yourself, are an illustrator, you shouldn’t include illustrations with your book submission. If a publisher likes your book, they will find an illustrator themselves.

In hindsight, I realise I should have waited longer before submitting my work. I was eager to get published and began submitting books before I had honed my craft. The last thing you want to do is burn bridges with agents and editors by submitting too soon.


Are there any new books in the pipeline?
I have another book coming out in August 2015 with an imprint of Macmillan US. It’s a book about a witch parade entitled IT’S RAINING BATS AND FROGS. The main character, Delia, has been looking forward to flying in the parade but when rain threatens to spoil the fun, she changes the rain to cats and dogs. At first this goes over well, but then the animals cause problems. Delia later changes the rain to hats and clogs and finally to bats and frogs. But each new type of rain brings problems of its own. Eventually Delia finds just the right spell to save the day.

A lot of mums would love to work for themselves, especially writing their own book. What advice can you give them?
Read as many books as you can, so you know the format and word length of the type of book you’re writing, as well as what books are already out there. Then write as much as you can. Nothing helps develop your writing skills better than to write regularly.

Write books for the love of it, and not because you hope to make a career out of the venture. Very few writers are able to quit their day jobs.

Be patient. It’s tough breaking in, but if you’re patient and persevere, you stand a much better chance of getting your book published.

And lastly, don’t write in isolation. Although writing is a solitary job, seek out like-minded souls for support and advice. The best thing I ever did for my writing career was to join the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI). It’s an international organisation with branches all over the UK. They offer workshops, critique groups, conferences, grants, etc. You can learn more about SCBWI at britishisles.scbwi.org.





9 September 2014

Recipe: Chicken Dipper Fajitas

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With all the back to school rushing around the last thing on your mind is making a big fancy dinner to feed the kids when you get in from work or picking them up from school clubs. There just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day for fancy meals when the schools on. That doesn't mean to say you can't make something tasty and filling for your little treasures at dinner time though.

Birds Eye recently got in touch to see if I'd like to try and recreate one of their 'Back to School' mealtime inspirations for parents which have been designed by a panel of mini chefs aged 7-12 years old. We're always looking for something different to eat at dinner time so I quite happily accepted the offer and choose to make the Chicken Dipper Fajitas.


This recipe is so so simple and took minutes for me to make, and after a busy day at work and Logan hanging onto my leg to tell me he was starving it was the quick dinner I needed to bring equilibrium back to the house.

Birds Eye has the recipe written as follows;
1. Pre-heat the oven and cook Birds Eye Crispy Chicken Dippers (4 per person) as per pack instructions.
2. Finely slice onions and peppers.
3. Fry the onions and peppers with a dash of oil and a pinch of seasoning.
4. Heat tortilla wraps, as directed.
5. Dollop tomato salsa onto your wraps, add the peppers, onions and Dippers.
6. Wrap up tight, cut in half and enjoy!


Instead of cooking the dippers in the oven (as mine is broken at the moment!) I put them into the grill and cooked as per the packet instructions and they came out nice and crispy. Cooking in the grill is also 3 minutes faster and we all know how time matters when you have a hungry child in the house.

I cooked one onion, two peppers and a handful of mushrooms for my wraps (2 wraps each btw) and didn’t use seasoning this time as the salsa sauce I use has quite a bit of flavour. Once everything was cooked I spread salsa and sour cream onto the tortillas, threw on a handful of the veg along with some freshly chopped cherry tomatoes, placed the dippers on top (2-3 per wrap) and wrapped before cutting in half to serve. I also put a little bowl of grated cheese on each plate, some tortilla chips and extra salsa for dipping.

Dinner seemed to go down a treat, with Logan wiring in straight away as you'll see. He didn't even have time to smile for a photo he simply wanted to get his dinner down his neck as quick as he could, poor scone.


You can get your hands on your own packet of Birds Eye Chicken Dippers at an RRP of £3.29 for a 440g pack, purchasable from Asda, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Tesco and Waitrose. Why not grab a bag and give this little recipe a go yourself.

To see what else Birds Eye get up to please visit them at http://www.birdseye.co.uk/en-uk/



Birds Eye sent me a bundle of their money off vouchers in order for me to purchase the chicken dippers and create their recipe. I created this recipe because it appealed to me and my family. All opinions and words are my own.

8 September 2014

Giveaway: 2 Signed Copies of There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie Book

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Today I have teamed up with the very generous Rebecca Colby who has kindly agreed to give away 2 signed copies of her book: There was a Wee Lassie who swallowed a Midgie.

I recently featured Rebecca's book on my post: Children's Books That Are Fun for Mum & Dad Too. It's a lovely book which my son adores. If you haven't heard of this book before then you're losing out. It's very similar to There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly but so much better. This is the Scottish version! Throughout the story the wee lassie swallows creature after creature from puffins to Scottie dogs and even the Loch Ness Monster! The illustrations are fab and there's lots for your little one to point out and chat to you about. Definitely a book worth having in your child's library/ book shelf.

If you'd like to be in with a chance of winning one of these two signed copies then please enter using the Rafflecopter widge below.




Competition closes on Sunday 21st September 2014 at midnight. Please read the rest of the T&C's above for more details.

7 September 2014

Review: Organix Fruit Shapes

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I recently blogged about School Break Time Healthy Snacks and now there's another one I can add to this list. The lovely Organix Fruit Shapes. Organix kindly sent over a couple of packets for my son to try out and since we've been looking for healthy snacks I thought they were perfect for featuring on the blog.

Organix Fruit Shapes are just new to the shops and you can choose from either the Blackcurrant & Apple Fruit Stars (star shaped) or the Raspberry & Apple Fruit Moos (cow head shaped). Both look, smell and taste delicious and if it's anything to go by my sons reaction they must be good as he gobbled a packet of each within seconds!

All ingredients are natural and as healthy as possible too with no added nasties which I completely expect from the Organix Brand. As you can see from the image below there's no E numbers etc in these tasty treats and they're both also suitable for vegetarians and vegans which is nice for a change.

Ingredients for Fruit Stars (only);
Apple Juice Concentrate - 64%
Apple Puree Concentrate - 22%
Blackcurrant Puree - 12%
Gelling Agent (Pectin) - <1%
Rice Flower - <1%
Sunflower Oil - <1%


These little packets of flavour aren't just good for healthy school snacks, they're also great for taking out and about as an emergency snack for your toddler in case they get peckish when running errands with you. Or for example when we went swimming recently I took them along as a snack for after as Logan is always starving after swimming. I can tell you on behalf of Logan they were very much appreciated.


You'll find Organix Fruit Stars and Fruit Moos in Boots, Sainsbury's, Tesco and online at Ocado in a 12g packet with an RRP of 59p.  They are also available in multipacks of four in Asda with an RRP of £2.00.

Overall great little snacks and reasonable priced for the healthy element. My only niggle is that you don't get very many in the packet which is a shame. Logan was hoping he'd have more to munch on!

Mummies rating - 7/10
Logan's rating - 10/10

Please visit www.organix.com for more products and information. You can also see what Organix get up to on Facebook and Twitter so why not pop over and say hello. Remember to tell them The Breastest News sent you.



Organix sent me two packets of their fruit shapes in return for writing this little review. All opinions and words are my own.




Silent Sunday

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6 September 2014

Giveaway: Munchkin Toddler Lunch Bag & Mealtime Bento Box

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I've teamed up with the lovely people at Munchkin today to bring you this fab competition. One of you lucky readers will be in with the chance of winning a very cute Munchkin Toddler Lunch Bag and also a Munchkin Mealtime Bento Box to go with it, hurray! These bags are perfect for school lunches or for taking out and about, even to nursery if your child will only eat certain things. And since you get the Mealtime Bento Box too it's a great starter set to get your creative packed lunch juices flowing.

There's three cool lunch bag designs to choose from and also three different coloured bento boxes to choose from as well so you can mix and match or stick with the same colours.

If you fancy winning please enter using the Rafflecopter widge below.



Competition closes on Friday 19th September 2014 at midnight. Please read the rest of the T&C's above for more details.

 

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