24 December 2016

What I Would Really Like for Christmas

3 comments
Dear Santa, I’ve been an extremely good girl this year. I have dedicated myself to my family's needs above my own and although I’m not exactly the social butterfly I’ve tried my hardest to get out more and do lots of fun things for the kids sake as well as my own. I’ve tirelessly washed, cooked and cleaned *cough* (using the word cleaned loosely there by the way) and run around after my little darlings so now it’s time for me to get a bit of praise. Maybe even a juicy incentive to keep me on track for next year.

So dear sweet Santa I’d love it if you (or the other half, hint hint) could purchase me some of the following goodies.



Just think Santa how amazing my bottom would look in these sculpting Freddy Store jeans because lets face it, us mums need all the help we can get. Plus I think I've eaten too much Christmassy food already so really need some new *ahem* bigger jeans!

I never seem to get round to printing out photos of the kids anymore but this HP Sprocket Photo Printer would really help me combat this Santa. Instant photos of my little angels to cherish forever, what more could any mother want.

Aren't we all winging it as parents these days anyway so what better way of proudly displaying our unorganised haphazard approach to parenting than this genious Winging It jumper from The FMLY Store. For a minute I thought it was the FML store!

Christmas just wouldn't be complete without an enormous shiner on my finger and I don't mean the bruise my toddler gave me! I mean a lovely sparkly gold ring with plentiful diamonds from Rox jewellery.

Oh and Santa, you're going to think I'm nuts but I really want to redecorate my bedroom soon so this fabulous French Bulldog bedding would really make my day. In fact it would be totally perfect for my humble abode.

So you see Santa, I'm not really asking for much and I have been a really good girl...


22 December 2016

I Hate Cleaning My Windows!

9 comments
The title says it all, I really do hate cleaning my windows. It has to be one of the most frustrating housework tasks of all time especially at this time of year. Being freezing outside and hot inside lends itself to some pretty major condensation rearing it's ugly head and if you don't deal with it you can bet the mold and damp will start to grow. Of course I'm also not forgetting about how I have to dry clothes inside at this time of year, usually in the study, cue even more condensation and dripping windows. It honestly drives me nuts. I normally run around each window every morning wiping it down quickly with a towel leaving massive streaks for the neighbours to tut about but not this year! This year Vileda and their Windomatic have come to my rescue.

The Vileda Windomatic is a cordless portable lightweight hand held devise which promises to make your window cleaning life easier. It's quick and easy to use meaning you can whip round your windows in minutes. It can be used after washing your windows, for removing window condensation, wiping mirrors or cleaning up spills. It basically removes water from windows by using the wide wiper blade which has quite efficient suction power. The flexible head means you have the perfect ability to angle the Windomatic right into the corners of the window giving you maximum cleaning power. It all sounds rather fab doesn't it.
When I received the Windomatic through the post I was strangely filled with a buzz of excited. I tore it out of the box and was pleased to see it requires minimal assembly. Even my soon to be 2 year old could do this. I clicked it together then stuck it on charge. From the information in the instruction manual it advised 6hrs to fully charge. I did try and turn in on before charging and was surprised when it whirred into life. So if you're that eager I'm sure you could do a window or two before a full charge when it first arrives.

After it was all charged I was eager and ready to get to business. I decided since the windomatic isn't just for windows that I'd try it on the big mirror in my hall. I sprayed it up and pushed the button to turn on the windomatic. Literally within seconds my mirror was shining and clean. I did note that it didn't look as streak free as maybe using a cloth and some elbow grease however using the Vileda Windomatic required no effort at all and I was happy with the results.


Next on the list was Harlow and her water bottle. She likes to empty it upside down where ever she sees fit and that happened to be her little blue table one day. Not a problem any more though as out comes the windomatic, quick button push and the spillage has now vanished. The table was totally dry, I was majorly impressed with this. Saves tons of paper towels anyway.

My kitchen windows are a pain in the butt to clean. I'm tall but trying to reach into the top corners of the windows has me stretching in all kinds of ways my body can't deal with anymore. Step forward the windomatic and hey presto nice clean shiny windows. Again not as streak free as I'd have liked but still a truly awesome job for very little output in the first place.


What I really like about the Vileda Windomatic is that there's no drips from the 100ml container and it's totally easy to clean. You basically clip it out, pull off the top, pull out the plastic bit in the middle and rinse. Shove it all back together in seconds, clip it back into place and you're done. Ready to rock and roll again. It's recommended that you can get up to 20 minutes of cleaning between each charge and I literally spent a couple of minutes on each window so that's plenty of time to go round a 4 bedroom house. Oh and I almost forgot. This piece of kit is really lightweight making it easy for anyone of any age to use and I bet the kids could get right into this. I've been cleaning when Logan is at school but I might have to get him involved!


I'd give the windomatic 4 out of 5 stars personally as I really liked it. It's simply, easy and functional and doesn't require a multi tool to put it together. So if you fancy one of these bad boys in your life then they're available from Amazon at a normal retail price of £49.99 but currently on offer at just under £30.00! Bit of a bargain for you there I say.

I was sent the Vileda Windomatic product free of charge in return for an honest review.

Family Fever

21 December 2016

Is it Time to Cover Up?

0 comments
Every night I quietly sneak into the kids rooms to make sure they’re tucked up safe and snug and of course that they’re still breathing! It’s a paranoid parent thing and I’m sure almost everyone does it. I really don’t think it’s a habit I’ll ever get out of but anyway back to the topic at hand. A few nights ago I got ready for bed (I don’t like to sleep with pjs on as get too hot) then trotted through to check on Logan. I thought he was still asleep but he woke up as he must have heard me. Queue much eye covering and gasps of “You’re naked mummy ahhh! Cover up! I don’t want to see your privates!”.

Well this came as a shock to me as I always walk around naked in front of the kids. Harlow is clearly too young to care but Logan has never batted an eyelid before and still doesn’t care if his Dad’s naked. This makes me think maybe they’ve started to do more educational lessons on the body in school or maybe because he’s getting a bit older (he's 7) he’s becoming more aware of his body and that he’s different from me i.e. he’s a boy and I’m a girl.

The other half and I aren’t prudes and we’re quite open when talking to the kids about where babies come from, how babies are made and all that. Logan even has a book called Where Willy Went which I bought when I was pregnant with his sister. It’s basically a book about a sperm called Willy. It’s genius really and if you’re trying to explain how babies are made to your kids then buy it. So yeah, no idea why Logan has become so averse to me having no clothes on. I don’t want to scar his childhood with my nakedness however I’m always in the mind that he needs to see what a real woman looks like and not all these airbrushed models who grace our magazines and TV screens.

Have you had this happen in your family when your kids didn’t want to see you naked anymore or are they not that fussed. I would love to hear your experiences for my own peace of mind so please do share.


12 December 2016

Review & Giveaway: Rhino Hero Game

59 comments
Back in November the family and I had another little trip up North to the lovely cottage we booked previously in Berriedale, near Wick. We all love travelling further up the Scottish highlands and the cottage we book is right beside the sea. It's beautiful. The cottage is also fab because there's no TV, wifi or mobile reception so we really can escape from the world. With kids though it means some form of entertainment is required so when we were sent a copy of Rhino Hero to review I gladly agreed.


Rhino Hero is one of this years must have games with it's awesome 3D card stacking ability putting the fun back into after Christmas dinner games. You'll need a bit of a steady hand but this really is a game for all the family. The game can be played by 2-5 players and have some quick and simple easy to follow instructions for immediate play. Included with this game is 31 roof cards (a.k.a action cards), 28 walls, 1 foundation (a.k.a starting card), 1 Rhino Hero and of course some instructions. Depending on the number of players the game can take between 5-15 minutes to play and it really can be quite addictive.


So what is the game idea? Well you've to build a house of cards, floor by floor, as tall as you can for Rhino Hero. Just like a real house it is made up of walls and ceilings. As you never know how tall it will become the ceilings look like a roof. The marks on the roof determine how the walls of the following floor have to be erected, and the symbols on the roof determine certain building conditions, which might mix things up a bit. The aim of the game is to be the first to have placed one's roof cards i.e. you have none left in your hand.


Before starting to play you need to prepare. You do this by placing the foundation card with either side face up in the centre of the table. The easy side has two wall marks the hard side has one. You then shuffle the roof cards and give out five to every player. If there's only two players then take seven cards each. The remaining roof cards are put in a provision pile away from the foundations. You then get the walls and Rhino Hero ready.


Rhino Hero doesn't need a dice so the game is played in a clockwise direction with generally the youngest player going first. Or whoever has done a good deed that day! This game is basically building a house of cards with a few tweaks throw in to keep it interesting. Some of the roof cards have special symbols. There's a change of direction card which means if you were playing clockwise then you simply play anti-clockwise now. The exclamation mark card means take a breather so the next player has to take a rest and lose a turn. The plus one symbol means the next player has to draw a new roof card from the provision pile before they start to build. There's a couple of other symbols including one for Rhino Hero which was by far the favourite in our family. It means the next player has to move Rhino Hero from where ever he is to the new Rhino Hero mark.


This was a really exciting and fun game to play, it even got quite tense at times but what a laugh everyone had. The more players (up to 5) the better really as it can get competitive and you become quite strategic when you have the right cards. Logan loved this game very much. He had no bother balancing the wall cards, placing the roof or moving Rhino Hero around so I'd definitely recommend for children of his age (7). It's a 5+ game and is surprising cheap at only £6.60 currently on Amazon.

If it's not on your child's Christmas wish list (or yours) then definitely put it on. Or why not enter my giveaway below to be in with a chance of winning a Rhino Hero of your own? Worth a shot.

Family Fever

 

The Breastest News Copyright 2009 All Rights Reserved Baby Blog Designed by Ipietoon | All Image Presented by Online Journal