Santa Claus and the Magical Christmas Journey - Review

Last Thursday we popped along to the Fairfield Halls in Croydon to see a special little Christmas production they have going on in the run up to the big day. It's called Santa Claus and the Magical Christmas Journey and it's a short, sweet festive show that's brilliant for pre-schooler age and upwards. 

When we arrived we were directed to the little studio theatre where a small stage is set up. It's a great intimate space where the kids can get up close to the action and right from the start the actors did come out into the audience, engaged the kids and encouraged them to call out. Mine love a bit of shouting out and joining in! It's also only 50 minutes long and so restlessness doesn't really happen, making it a pleasurable experience for parents too.

Both my kids were enchanted by the play and really warmed to both of the elves, Charlie & Kara who are a bit naughty! There was also Muffin the bear who Isla loved and felt very sorry for him when he lost his job navigating Santa's sleigh. There was also a familiar voice in the show, Russell Grant! He was the voice of the computer on Santa's sleigh. 

The story goes like this: 

It’s Christmas Eve, and Santa Claus is flying high above the clouds delivering presents to all the good boys and girls around the world. Hiding in the back are two naughty elves, Charlie and Kara, who have snuck on board for the ride!

All is well until suddenly, just as Santa Claus flies high above Croydon, the Sat Nav goes haywire and breaks leaving him stranded without his list of postcodes to deliver presents to! With the clock ticking and morning fast approaching it’s down to Charlie, Kara and Muffin the bear to come up with a clever plan to save Christmas!

Our favourite part was when Isla got chosen to go up on the stage to sing Twinkle Twinkle. She was a star! She loved every minute of it and actually may have been slightly put out if she hadn't been picked! And the next best bit in her book was getting to sit in Santa's sleigh and meet the big guy himself and they were both given a colouring book. There was also a lovely moment when snowflakes fell down all around us, Noah loved that bit. 

Check out http://santaclausonstage.com/christmas-journey/tour_dates_info for information and tickets. It runs until Wednesday 24th December. Tickets are priced at £12.50 & £14.50 for adults and £10 & £12.50 for children. Family tickets are £40 & £49. £1.50 booking fee applies. 

This is one Christmas delight you won’t want to miss!

We were given free tickets to see Santa Claus and the Magical Journey. All opinions are my own. 

Barbie Malibu House - Review

Our house feels like Barbie HQ at the moment! Along with all the other Barbie stuff Isla already owned she was very happy with the addition of a Barbie Malibu House, which is derived from the web programme, Barbie, Life in the Dreamhouse, something Isla has watched on YouTube a fair bit recently. 

Even Thomas and Friends were welcome at Barbie's pad....

As I was on my own with the kids when the house arrived I was charged with putting it all together. I'm not really a natural at doing that kind of thing but with very little stress and maybe only a couple of bad words muttered quietly, I did it in just under an hour - including getting all the stickers on and asking the kids to stop moving the pieces untold number of times..... 

The house has 6 rooms for Barbie and comes with some fixed furniture and other pieces of furniture that can be moved from room to room. The main bedroom also doubles up as a shower room with the clever use of a bed that you can stand up to become a shower and wardrobe. There are lots of small pieces in the set, food, drinks, items for the fridge as well as a tiny iPad and remote control. I would say if you have any really small children in the house, be wary of these pieces. Fortunately this isn't a problem for us. 

The staircase section of the house has an aquarium pillar going through the middle to which you attach your Barbie. Using the pulley system, Barbie can take the staircase to access the upstairs areas. I have found this a bit tricky to use, it needs to be a smoother ride for Barbie and seems to take a bit of effort for Isla to work and she is 5.

(Doll not included)

One of the upstairs rooms is equipped with a holder that you can hang on the wall to put your iPhone in so Barbie can watch herself in episode of Life in the Dreamhouse!

From a parents perspective I like that it folds up quite compactly. We live in a two up two down and with the kids toys gradually taking over the house, it was good to know that we can tidy this away quite easily. 

There has been some great imaginative play going on since the Barbie Malibu house arrived and the Barbie dolls have been played with a lot more than they did before we had it! I have to say I don't know many girls who wouldn't love this for Christmas, just maybe get Father Christmas to deliver it already constructed, otherwise you'll have one impatient recipient on the big day.....

Recommended for children aged 3+
RRP £99.99

We were sent the Barbie Malibu House free of charge for the purposes of this review.

Chelsea Flippin' Pup Pool Playset - Review

For a few months before we were sent this playset Isla had seen it on TV adverts and had mentioned it repeatedly when asked what she'd like for Christmas, so I know that it's something that will appeal to many girls in her age group. What's not to love? Puppies - tick. Waterplay - tick. Barbie related - tick! Look at her face when it arrived....

The set comprises of a pool, diving board, slide, Chelsea doll, 3 puppies, a dog bed and little towel. One of the pups is designed to flick over and do a somersault at the end of the slide. This is so simple but looks effective. The slide has a catch at the bottom and the puppy hits it and flips over, catapulting her into the pool! The other two puppies are squeezy and squirt water from their mouths so they can have a water fight with Chelsea who also has a dolphin water feature to squirt water from!

Isla, Noah and Cousin M all enjoyed some time at my parents last Sunday playing with this toy. Water play in the house can be a bit tricky but with a few towels down there wasn't too much mess and in the summer it will be perfect for the outdoors and will go nicely with the Barbie swimming pool we already own.  

This set really would make a fantastic Christmas present for any fans of Barbie and also any little brothers who particularly like to stick their Disney Cars in the pool for swim too! 


Recommended for Children aged 3+
RRP £22.99

We were sent the Chelsea Flippin' Pup Pool Playset free of charge for the purposes of this review. 

The Snow Gorilla this Christmas at The Rose Theatre - Review

On Monday night I popped along to Kingston to see a fantastic family circus themed show at The Rose Theatre. I can safely say that The Snow Gorilla will wow the kids this Christmas! I wasn't sure what to expect before we went along, I purposely hadn't looked into the show too closely as I didn't want to have any expectations. Any expectations that I did have were exceeded though as the show just kept giving. 

The Snow Gorilla is set in a travelling circus, Circus Marigny where the Ring Mistress, Fanny Marigny is struggling to keep the circus going due to dwindling funds and a thief in their midst. Along comes Sunny, a runaway looking for adventure and that's definitely what he gets, along with a romantic dalliance with the ring mistresses daughter Chloe. He discovers The Mighty Gor hidden in a cage in the circus and strikes up a beautiful friendship with him. Sunny unwittingly becomes the suspected thief within the circus, but between him and Gor they trap the real criminal and restore happiness to all. 

What is brilliant about this show is throughout the story the audience gets to see all the circus acts as they practise for their performance, so we were treated to African acrobats, Flamenco dancers, a contortionist, a juggler and an aerial act. My favourite were the African acrobats, they had such energy, the musicians that played along to their act really got the audience into it. They were massively entertaining, showing skill and humour every time they appeared. I also thought the aerial act was amazing, but just a word of warning if you're in the stalls downstairs at the back you may struggle to see them as they are high up. I craned my neck to make sure I saw all of their daring act. 

Now I have to mention how brilliant the Gorilla is! He is voiced by Brian Blessed who is someone I absolutely love. I couldn't imagine anyone else voicing him now to be honest. Then the look of Gor is amazing. You can't appreciate how clever the costume is until you read about how the costume was made for the man inside to wear it and how he has to use buttons and levers within the suit in order to animate Gor's face and make movements. The way he moved around the stage was so real to a Gorilla, he shuffled around on his knuckles, he rose up in anger and his face had such expression.

The entire cast are fantastic and you can tell that they have a great chemistry. The singing is good, I particularly liked Chloe and was lucky enough to get a snap of her before the show when the cast were circulating amongst the crowd in the foyer. There is a baddie in the show and he got great pantomime treatment from the audience with lots of booing and hissing when he appeared. 

This show has everything for everyone, great songs, spectacular performances from circus acts, to a show stopping singing Gorilla, a pantomime feel to it and an engaging story. We didn't take the children as it was an evening performance but I wouldn't hesitate to go back with them as I know they would love it. 

The Snow Gorilla runs until the 5th January 2014 and tickets are on sale now. For more information about the show visit www.rosetheatrekingston.org or call the Box office on 0844 4482 1556.

We were given 2 tickets to see The Snow Gorilla in exchange for this review. Thanks for inviting us! 

Christmas 2012 - My Favourite Photo

I haven't had a lot of time lately to blog but I just wanted to post my favourite Christmas photo here of Isla and Noah. Christmas morning with their favourite presents - Simba and Nala from The Lion King - a film that we watched non stop before Christmas as it was Noah's first film obsession! He's moved on to The Grinch now.......gah!

How to Make a Christmas Snow Globe

The kids and I have made a few crafty things in the run up to Christmas - these Homemade Tree Decorations:

And also some salt dough decorations, which were fun to make so we got on a bit of a roll and I decided we'd be a bit ambitious and make a Christmas Snow Globe. This was made all the more exciting because it meant I would need a glue gun - something that is a must have for most crafters - so I think I've made it into the ranks now! hahahaha! 

What you will need to make a Christmas Snow Globe:

Materials with my Glamorous Assistant!

An empty clean glass jar with a secure lid

Enamel paint to paint the jar lid

A plastic Christmassy ornament - important to pick a material that won't perish in the water

Glitter

Glycerin - can be bought from pharmacy

Water

Glue Gun

Silicone

And one Glamorous Assistant!

Firstly Paint the Lid with the Enamel Paint - we chose Red!

We dried the lid with the hair dryer in order to speed up the process!

Add glue (using glue gun!) to underside of lid and attach Snowman.
Stick optional stars around the jar.
Fill jar with water!

Add Glitter - LOTS!

Add Glycerin - just a dash - to thicken the water and
make the glitter float and swirl around better!

Then screw on your lid and seal up the jar using silicon
 (the stuff that you would use to seal round baths) - smooth it round neatly
and then leave the jar with your  Snowman upside down overnight, to ensure silicone dries and seals

In the morning turn over your snowglobe and check that it's not leaking!
Add a pretty ribbon to the bottom and give it a good shake and watch the magic!
This will make a fab Christmas gift for the Grandparents! 

Activity Superstore - Champagne Afternoon Tea Review

If you're stuck for ideas for Christmas presents for your friends and family then look no further than Activity Superstore. I also think it's a brilliant 'lazy' option, no need to trudge out the door in the freezing cold and scour the high street, just turn on the laptop and order a gift experience for your nearest and dearest!

I was lucky enough to sample one of the many treats that Activity Superstore has to offer, a Champagne Afternoon Tea for Two at the Park Lane Hotel and it was blooming lovely, blissing out in the calm tranquil surroundings of the Palm Court, sipping champagne and gorging on eating dainty sandwiches and delicious cakes whilst a harpist played in the background. The Park Lane Hotel is situated close to Green Park station so very easy to get to and perfect for a bit of relaxation after hitting the shops in London's West End. 

The OH and I enjoyed this treat so much as we'd been here some years ago in our early years of dating and so it was a nice reminder of how we need to take some time out to enjoy eachother's company more away from the children every now and then. The hotel was decorated from head to toe with Christmas trees and gorgeous decorations it really made me feel that the holiday season was in full swing.

So what does a champagne afternoon tea in London in the Art Deco surroundings of the Park Lane Hotel involve, apart from the obvious champagne.....? On arrival you are served with a glass of Mumm champagne and offered the tea menu. We're really boring when it comes to tea and we chose English Breakfast tea - nothing beats a cup of builders! Then we were served with a selection of delicious sandwiches, followed by some warm scones with the obligatory jam and clotted cream but also the most delicious lemon curd I've ever tasted! As if that wasn't enough we also followed up the scones with 2 fine french pastries each that we could choose from a selection. I chose a delicious passion fruit and coconut number and another little cake that I forget the name of. OH chose a chocolate cake and a pannacotta. All were exquisite. We were so pleasantly full after that lot that if we didn't have to get back to pick the kids up from nursery then we would have easily have sat in the Palm Court for another hour and indulged in another glass of champagne.

The surroundings are relaxed and the staff are attentive enough and make you feel very special. I think this is the ideal kind of present for the person who has everything. These kinds of gifts are memorable and taking time out for yourself these days is a very rare thing. The Afternoon Tea for two at The Park Lane Hotel will set you back £79, but in my opinion it would be worth every penny as a treat for your nearest and dearest - it's something I will be considering doing for my parents when my Dad finishes his cancer treatment in the not too distant future.


Thank you Activity Superstore for letting us have this enjoyable experience, all views and opinions expressed here are my own.

Great Disney Princess Stocking Fillers!

Isla's weekend has mostly comprised of walking round with a little pink drawstring bag with all her new 'treasures' in it. They are in and out of the bag all day long, they all come out, get lined up on the table then they all go back in. I've found that Isla loves having collections of lots of little things, and if they're Princess 'things' then all the better! Yesterday morning I surprised her with some Disney Princess gift sets and that's what I'm referring to here. 

The stuff that was within these gift sets was enough to make Isla say 'WOW' a lot. With every new discovery of a lip balm or hair glitter or hair slides there was extreme excitement. Here she is getting stuck in to the Cinderella Lip balm. This needed to be surgically removed from her lips by the end of the day.... I'm joking but she must have the softest lips in Surrey! This is what we received and what we thought.....

Shimmer and Sparkle Set

This super value box set includes a clear shimmer lip balm, a glitter hair mascara wand, a heart ring and a mini diamante tiara. A mix of three designs and colours are available featuring your favourite Disney Princess characters, Ariel, Cinderella and Rapunzel. Available from October at Asda, Boots, Sainsbury’s and Superdrug, RRP £4.00.

We had the Rapunzel gift set. The hair glitter and lip balm were the real hits in this pack - we all had to have hair glitter - mummy, daddy, Noah and Nanny Helen! At first the hair glitter wand caused a little bit of confusion as it looks like a mascara brush and Isla often sees me applying this to my eyes so I did have to do a bit of a pep talk about not putting it near her eyes, after that we were good to go though.

Shimmer Lip Balm with Clips

Available in three Disney Princess-inspired designs including Cinderella, Ariel and Rapunzel. The set features a moisturising shimmer lip balm available in three fragrances including berry crush, blueberry and honey peach along with two pink sparkle heart hair slides. Available from October at Asda and Boots, RRP £2.50.

We had the Cinderella version of this. As you can see from the photo, she loved the Lip Balm, she was smothered in it! She also got me to put the hair clips in straight away.

Ballroom Beauty Essentials

Available in three Disney Princess-inspired designs including Cinderella, Ariel and Rapunzel, each bag contains a signature Disney Princess hand mirror, a plastic heart shaped ring, either berry crush, blueberry or honey peach fragranced bath bubbles and a glitter hair mascara wand. Available from October at Asda, Boots and Sainsbury’s, RRP £7.00.

We received the Ariel version of this gift set. This was a big favourite - the bag now contains the goodies from all the gift sets. She also loves rings and I think we have hundreds of them all over the house, so it's always good to have a few more to replace the mislaid ones.

Bath time Pamper set

The Princess Bathtime Pamper Set contains everything your Princess will need to pamper herself. The set includes a summer fruits fragranced bubble bath, two glitter bath fizzers, bath confetti, a mini tiara, a heart shaped ring and two heart gem hair bobbles! Available in Asda this Christmas | RRP £6.00

We received the Ariel version of this gift set. We had to use the bubble bath this morning (as well as the bath fizzers in the set below) - the bottles are really cute - because it was Isla's gift she insisted on putting it in the bath and getting her to have her bath was no problem at all.

Cinderella’s Bathtime Dressing-Up Set

Spend bath time creating the perfect outfit for Cinderella with her Bathtime Dressing up set. With 3 interchangeable wet and stick dresses there is an outfit for every princess occasion. This set also includes three glittering Fizzy Bath Hearts which create a sweet smelling aroma when dropped into the bath.

Available in Boots this Christmas | RRP £5.00

This has been a real hit! But....it did cause problems in the bath because Noah kept taking the dressing up pieces when Isla was trying to do them. He's in a real 'mine' and snatchy phase, so she got a bit fed up, but once he got out she played with them for ages, making all 3 Cinderella's in no time, sticking them to the side of the bath. The Fizzy Bath Hearts had to be used in one bath, I couldn't refuse her happy face as she kept plopping them in. 

Most of these bits and pieces are sold in Boots, which means that they're in the brilliant Christmas 3 for 2 offer that Boots run at Christmas time, and you also get to earn advantage points. All items are appropriate for children aged 2 - 5 years and I think would be a real hit as stocking fillers on Christmas Day judging by the reaction from Isla to all the loot this weekend....she's currently badgering me to have ANOTHER bath with her new bath fizzers....so see you later.


For further information on H&A’s tried, tested and trusted toiletries, cosmetics and gifts, including stockists, please visit www.handa-uk.com


We were sent all these items free of charge, but all opinions are my own and honest.

Making Our Own Christmas Decorations

I love 'trying' to do crafts with Isla. I say trying because after about 15 minutes it does feel that way as more and more mess gets made and we're covered head to toe in glue, glitter and paint! It does feel like a major test of my patience but somehow I manage to pull it off and go with the flow!

A few weeks before I had a little look on eBay for some bits we could use for crafting and I was actually amazed by the stuff you can buy and also how cheap it is. I bought a mixed bag of buttons (£2.95 for approx 200 buttons) and lollisticks (£1.80 for 100 sticks) - we don't eat a lot of ice lollies in our house! I didn't really know what I was going to do with them at that point. Then I bought some silver and gold paint and it came to me to make a few Christmas decorations.

A rainy Sunday presented itself and so we cracked open the glue, paint and glitter. Isla loved the buttons. There were so many different ones and it really appealed to her 'magpie' nature as they were like little treasures - loads of sparkly ones, brightly coloured ones. She kept trying to secrete them in various pockets but I had to ask her to give them back as Noah is still of the age where he'll put stuff in his mouth and choke.

Yes, that is a Wigwam in the background in our living room and
Isla does have 'warpaint' on!

With the lollisticks I got her to paint them silver and then when they'd dried I dabbed glue on and she sprinkled on the glitter. We also added a few buttons and then I stuck them together like a snowflake. I also cut out some cardboard disks and she painted those with silver paint mixed with some glue and stuck the buttons on and sprinkled with glitter. All I need to do now is get some silvery string to attach to the 'snowflakes' and button baubles so that we can hang them on the tree.

I'm pretty pleased with our efforts and I look forward to putting them up. Isla really enjoyed making these and I can't wait to get the buttons out again to make some other cute crafty things!  

Shrek The Musical - Review

I was really looking forward to seeing Shrek last week as I'd been invited to a media night performance, so when Noah was poorly that morning I just knew that I wasn't going. Obviously priorities lay with the babies so I hand over my blog to my two best friends now to give you the low down, over to you girls:

"When Sharon asked me if I wanted to go to see Shrek with her as she had been invited to review it for her blog, I was thrilled. Even though it is primarily aimed at children (and we were not taking ours), I love seeing musicals and having seen the film years ago, I was interested to see how it had been adapted for the stage.  However, on the day, Sharon’s youngest was ill and she was unable to go. She asked if I could take someone else and review it for her. It was such a shame that Sharon couldn’t come but as they say; ‘the show must go on’ (or in this case the ‘review must go on’), and I found a friend happy to accompany me.

We arrived at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and were kindly given our tickets and a programme. Now I never buy programmes but I really liked this one. It was beautifully designed and gave good background information on all the cast and my 3 year old son loved looking at the pictures the next day (and now wants to go and see it). We went to the evening show which is actually a really good time to see it. I imagine the matinees are much busier and it was great to not have to queue for drinks or the toilets at the interval!  We had great seats which enabled us to get a close up view of the cast and their fantastic costumes.

I won’t go into the story of Shrek as I can’t imagine many people don’t know it. If there is anyone out there who hasn’t seen it, it is essentially a love story about an Ogre and a Princess, with a vertically challenged self obsessed Lord who wants to be a King, a host of fairy tale characters and a talking donkey.

From the opening scene, involving many disgruntled fairy tale folk, we were taken on a colourful musical journey, meeting some brilliant characters along the way.  Lord Farquaad in particular is excellent and raises the most laughs by far. I liked that they made Fiona slightly more narcissistic and sarcastic than in the film – referring to herself as bi-polar in the scene in the tower where she is impatiently waiting for her prince, ranging from hopeful romantic to a crazy female obsessed with being rescued. The donkey was great, as you would expect for one of the main characters. Shrek himself did the job really well, although I did find at times I couldn’t understand his singing over the voice of Fiona and the loud music. The costumes were great; the fairy god-mothers being a particular favourite of mine with all its glorious purple sparkle!

The most impressive scenes by far were those involving the dragon. Seeing the 4 actors bringing this huge dragon to life across the stage, with its shining eyes and soulful singing voice was amazing; only beaten when the same dragon flew over the audiences head to land on the stage! I thought the young boy behind us would be terrified but he loved it. I think that is why it is recommended for children aged 5 and over. I know my 3 year old would have been terrified and begging to leave!

The show moved along at a good pace, I didn't find my mind wandering as it has at some other theatre productions where some scenes fail to impress that much.  The storyline was enough away from the original film that you didn't feel they were adding or missing parts, whilst still keeping the characters (mostly) in character. The scene changes were flawless and I was very impressed with how quickly they changed Fiona to an ogre at the end, it was fascinating watching that happen.

The finale was a real feel good sing a long which saw the entire audience clapping away, made even more special by the Confetti that exploded all around us. I watched the young boy behind us collecting up the pieces to take away as a small memento of a show he clearly enjoyed.

So all in all I would definitely recommend Shrek the musical as a great show for the whole family (not including those under 4 or 5). It was a real feel-good show and my friend and I left having had a thoroughly entertaining couple of hours.  So a big thank you to Sharon for giving us the opportunity to go; and I am sorry you missed out!"

Thanks for the review guys - sounds like you had an amazing time! Instead of going to the show I took at the look at this video that the cast of Shrek The Musical and Centrepoint have made to celebrate Christmas. Centrepoint believe in giving homeless young people a future. To donate £2 to Centrepoint's Christmas appeal, simply text OGRE12 £2 to 70070.

WIN TICKETS TO SEE PEPPA PIG'S TREASURE HUNT IN LONDON!

Win Family Fun at Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt this Christmas

A Christmas treat for Peppa Pig fans! I have 1 family ticket up for grabs to see Peppa’s theatre show, Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt, at the Criterion Theatre, London, this Christmas. The lucky family will see the stage production on Tuesday 18th December at 11 am. A family ticket is for 4 people, minimum 1 adult.

In this new theatre production Peppa Pig and her friends set off on a treasure hunt. Peppa, her brother George and friend Danny Dog get up to fun and games on a day out on Granddad Dog's boat. There are clues aplenty as Pedro Pony, Polly Parrot and Zoe Zebra help them find their treasure as they all enjoy a day of adventure. Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt features true-to-life puppets, perfect sing-along songs and a new story that will charm and delight all her fans.

For your chance to win this Family Ticket to see Peppa Pig's Treasure Hunt on Tuesday 18th December (11am showing), please leave your answer to the following question in the comment box below. Please leave a way of contacting you in the comment box

Q:        What’s the name of Peppa Pig’s mother?

A - Mummy Pig

B - Mummy Sheep

C - Mummy Rabbit

** For an added entry into the competition please tweet: "I have entered to win tickets to Peppa Pig's Treasure Hunt with @iheartmuthahood" - and then leave an additional comment below to say you have done so - for two entries you MUST leave two comments. **

Competition will close at midnight on Saturday 1st December. Winner will be contacted shortly after and details passed on to the PR company.

Peppa Pig’s Treasure Hunt runs at the Criterion Theatre in London’s West End 6 December – 6 January. For further information on the show please go to www.peppapiglive.com. No cash alternatives, accommodation or travel are provided in this competition. The tickets are non-transferable and only for the date mentioned above.

Justin's Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book - Review

As you know we like Justin Fletcher A LOT! If Isla catches 'Something Special' on TV at any time then it's quite tricky to drag her away from it. She loves all Justin's silly characters and so this new book 'Justin's Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book' is perfect as she can make up silly characters of her own!

Isla was really excited when I showed it to her and I did have to stop her from filling in the whole book in one go. The idea is that there are lots of blank faces and lots of stickers to make the faces come alive. There's a face for a pirate, a snowman face, a princess and so on. The funny thing is though that Isla never wants to make the face as it should be, so we have a snowman that looks like a princess and a monster that looks like a snowman. That's the beauty of it though, you can peel off the stickers from the pages and use them on other faces. Here's some of Isla's funny faces!

The Queen had a bit of a temperature....

Isla is 3 and it's perfect for her pre-schooler age group. This book would make a great Christmas Stocking filler as it's quite inexpensive at around £3. While we're touching on the subject of Christmas (i know, i know, we haven't  even done Halloween yet!), there will be a Justin Fletcher Annual coming out soon too that would also be good for little ones stockings. 

If you'd like to keep tabs on Justin then you can follow him on twitter @_JustinFletcher and like him on Facebook

You can pick up Justin's Funny Faces Sticker Activity Book from all good bookshops and from Amazon from the 4th October.

We were sent this book free of charge to review all opinions are our own.

The Year that was 2011!

Well that whizzed by in the blink of an eye didn't it?! 2011 been and gone. Must be something about having kids that makes this happen, and given that we had our baby boy Noah this year I put the blame solely on him ;-)

Anyway, seriously, 2011 has been a pretty fantastic year for me and my little family. I spent half of the year pregnant (the last 12 days when the baby was overdue feeling longer than the previous 6 months!) and the other half of the year running round after Isla and Noah like a blue arsed fly and battling extreme tiredness (again!). So here's a quick run down of what we got up to in 2011.

January - This month I started Bump Watch on my blog. It began at week 15 when Noah was a teeny tiny thing in my tummy. I love having this record of my pregnancy. It's fascinating to see my tummy grow week by week.

We were also fully in the grip of the Annie obsession. It's funny because a year later we still have days where a random burst of 'Tomorrow' can be heard. It really was the start of Isla's love of films and I actually rather love that film too. Which is far from what can be said about her new fascination with Princesses - particularly all the Barbie Princess films that have been on Nick Jnr over Christmas!

We were also having regular swimming lessons thanks to a blog review opportunity from Swim Baby Swim.

February - This month we found out we were having a baby boy! We were gob smacked - I know it's a 50/50 chance but in my mind I always had a picture of 2 little girls running round together, so when the scan revealed it was a boy we were speechless but happy!

This month was also where I had a starring role at The Baby Show - I brazenly wore a maternity bra on the Bras4mums stand. It was a great way of getting attention for them and it also really boosted my confidence. It is something that I would never have done had it not have come up through my blog. I really think that my blog has given me so many opportunities and it has made me far more confident and interested in the wider world. 

March - Nothing really happened this month, it passed by with me getting huge, doing lots of pregnancy yoga and preparing for the new baby.

I posted two of my personal favourite blog posts Spectacular Puke & POO!

April - This month one of my good friends and his partner came over from Australia and I got to meet his little boy and they got to meet Isla and see the bump! His parents were also kind enough to invite his friends over to their place in France so we could all spend some time together. It was fantastic but so different to our previous visit where we all stayed up drinking most nights! There were 5 children in tow this time and 2 bumps. They organised an Easter Egg hunt for when we arrived and as usual made us some lovely meals - we were thoroughly spoilt and the weather was pretty nice too!

May - We went to the Lollibop Picnic! It was fab!

I found out I was a MAD Blog Awards finalist which was very exciting!

I was also really in that Mamas and Papas supplied me with some absolutely fantastic maternity wear and I showcased it on the blog. They really were my saviours to be honest and I felt great wearing the clothes! Far better than I actually feel now post baby about my clothes!!

June - I went to Cybermummy, waddled my way around and met up with some of my blogging buddies. All in all it was a really good day, meeting some old and new friends.

I also finished up at work for maternity leave. It felt so good not to have to trek up to London carrying my massive bump around on the train and around the Circle Line!

July - We had our bouncing baby Noah! He was due on the 1st and arrived on the 13th. Weighed in at a whopping 9lb 14oz and has become a real little character. 4 days after Noah's birth we celebrated Isla's 2nd birthday. She was really brilliant to be honest about the arrival of her new brother. We had some melt downs and it felt like she'd gone deaf sometimes when I was asking her to do things but this all worked itself out within a month or so.

August - This passed by in a hazy newborn fog! Loads of visitors to see Noah. We managed to get up to London for the Lollibop event - we didn't have a great time - this is no reflection on the event which would have been fabulous had it not bucketed down with rain the entire time we were there and we didn't have a 3 week old baby with us!!

We had a slight scare with Noah and I having an overnight stay in hospital for a dodgy rash. He was fine in the end but it was a bit frightening.

September - We took our first holiday as a family of 4 to Cornwall. We went on a fantastic farm holiday to Coombe Mill, Isla had a great time and we'll definitely look at a return in the future! Isla still talks about it now, she will never forget that the goat knocked her over, however if asked what her favourite animal is she will always say goats!!!

It was also the MAD Blog Awards night. It was fabulous, I didn't win but that didn't matter a jot. It was nice to be part of a community and the evening was my first out since having Noah, all made more fabulous by my outfit sponsor, Debenhams, who made me feel wonderful!

October - My Dad had his 60th birthday, a low key lunch with mum, sis, OH and munchkins. It was lovely! We also had Cousin M's second birthday and the OH became a God Father.

November - The OH and I had our first night away without the rugrats! Did we go all goo-ey and romantic? Did we hell! It wasn't the best evening we've ever spent away in each others company but all we wanted to do was sleep! We did but admittedly not as well as we would have done in our own bed, so next time we will be having a child free night in our own home, just need to get the Grandmothers lined up!

I also went to a brilliant event for Give As You Live, read the post and see how you can do your bit for little effort!

December - Noah's first Christmas and the first Christmas where Isla had some understanding and we could start to weave some of the magic about Father Christmas. If I'm honest it was my most tiring month so far as a mum of two. After finding things getting slightly easier they have started to feel harder but I might save all that for another post.

So that was my year. It's been brilliant. I'm particularly happy about all the opportunities my blog has given me and all the wonderful people who have liked what I've been doing here. It's my hobby and I don't get too hung up on stats but it's always nice to be appreciated. That leaves me to say:

Happy 2012 one and all - hope it's a healthy and prosperous one! Hope you'll still be following me this year!