The Ultimate 90's Flashback - The Clubbing Years

So many many years ago I was a clubber. Long long time ago before husbands, children, mortgages, grey hair and my boobs going south. I loved it. I loved the whole ritual of buying the outfits, spending hours getting ready (so much glitter/ feather boas/ sequinned boob tubes), making the plans, taking the journey to the club and then actually being there. Sometimes it would go to plan and it would be the best night of my life (AGAIN) and other times like the time when I turned up to Club UK for a night and it seemed to be cancelled - but only us and 5 others didn't know this! Also the night at Peach when someone got the tear gas out - that was a good one, one of my mates loved his asthma attack.....and then there was the one where I puked all over myself and the whole dancefloor at The Gardening Club....NICE. But on the whole they were amazing times! I travelled for my love of clubbing -north to Gatecrasher, south to The Zap, west to Escape - only place I didn't go was East - couldn't have been the hubub of clubbing over there.

I had a proper music ADDICTION. I was obsessed with Radio 1 and tape recording the Essential Mix every Saturday night from 2 - 4am (the day I got a stereo where I could set a timer for this was brilliant) - I didn't have to be awake for it - although I probably was awake just elsewhere! My only clubbing regret is that I only went to Ibiza twice and I only really count the first time as that was with a mass group of clubbers who all worshipped House music. I loved the nights, El Divino, Pacha, Cafe Del Mar....they were great and the days sleeping on the beach. It's a holiday I will never ever forget.

So where's this going? Claire at Bad Fiction has started a linky asking for our top 10 90's clubbing anthems. I've loved thinking about this and looking up tunes, but I also discovered that my brain seems a bit addled and my memory isn't as good as it was.....here are a few of mine but I could definitely tell you about another 100 that I loved and danced to in my teens/ early twenties. I loved piano house as you'll see but since I just did this small amount of reliving my youth I realised that The Prodigy's album Music for a Jilted Generation really is the nuts!

Barbara Tucker - I Get Lifted

Raze - Break for Love (this breaks the rules as I think is more late 80's...but is a tune!)

The Prodigy - One Love

Yosh - It's What's Up Front that Counts

Everybody Wants to be Somebody

Alex Whitcombe and Big C - Ice Rain

Nalin And Cane - Beach Ball

Sneaker Pimps - Spin Spin Sugar

De'Lacey - Hideaway

Gat Decor - Passion

I have loved doing this - thanks to Sophie for drawing my attention to this linky - a post I've loved writing!!

Silent Sunday

Muddy Puddle Cakes!

On Monday I fell foul to 'Pester Power' in the Sainsburys and I ended up with this box of cake mix in the trolley:

You can see why, Isla's love of Peppa Pig has no limits and actually it's so inexpensive and easy to do that I would buy it again.

She had fun doing the small amount of mixing that it required (just add 1 egg and 3 tablespoons of water to the mix), spooning it in the cases and finally icing them. Throughout she asked when she could lick the spoon and bowl, I'm not sure why she bothered asking me as whenever she thought I wasn't looking she had her her tongue attached to the spoon and it was a bit obvious what with the icing being chocolate!

I took a few photos of her enjoying baking:

Jubilee Weekend!

Another fun weekend has just passed and boy was it a lovely long one!! We had the most fun. Housework still suffering but I reckon the Queen would excuse me for wanting to enjoy the extended bank holiday!

Firstly we went to a lovely friend's for a BBQ on Saturday. The weather forecast predicted dire weather but that held off till the evening and we had a lovely sunny afternoon - the kids playing together and the adults enjoying leisure time. It was wonderful and so nice to get together with old friends.

On Sunday we chilled out at home all together, watched the Flotilla on the TV and then the OH took the kids round to his mums for a couple of hours to give me a chance to relax a bit. Again, another great day.

And then I think I can safely say that Monday was my favourite day of the weekend. What the Diamond Jubilee is ALL ABOUT! A STREET PARTY! Unfortunately not our street, but my sister's, the second weekend in a row where we're we've spent quality time with her and her partner and my niece. Isla LOVES playing with Cousin M. We arrived about 3pm and it was obvious that that street really had come together to make an occasion of things. There were marquees in the street with tables laden with food and cakes. Bunting hung from every lamppost and house - one poor man had all his shirts cut up by his wife to provide this red/ white and blue spectacular! Another lady spent 7 hours baking and decorating delicious cakes. Music played from one of the residents houses and for the kids there was a crown competition! There were two winners and everyone got a Jubilee certificate. Such lovely touches. My sister did face painting for the kids too. Then in the evening the BBQ's were fired up. It was a brilliant afternoon.

Yesterday I took Isla to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea with my NCT friends and their kids. It was excellent. Isla loved it and so did I actually. It's not a particularly long book so it was great the way there were songs in it. Audience participation was encouraged and the kids were all shouting out. Anyone looking for a first theatre trip for their little ones I'd recommend.

Thank you Ma'am and keep the good weekends rolling that's what I say!

Plum Cookery School and Weaning

How many mums find weaning a real headache I wonder? I know first time round I found it quite hard to follow all the different advice that was flying at me from all directions. Obviously I managed as Isla is now chomping her way through lots of different food (although fish fingers remain her favourite!!) and we eat the same meals together as a family. She is a bit of a fuss pot though, and from one day to the next she changes her mind about liking things. One day she likes pasta, the next she doesn't. I *know* that this is all about her having control but it's still frustrating. We've actually come a long way since I wrote this post about her eating habits - as you can see the list of food she ate back then was quite limited and I worried a lot. I think we all put too much emphasis on how quickly children should be eating what we eat, they will get there in their own time.

We're now weaning Noah, who is 10 months old and I was really happy to hear that the people behind Plum Baby have set up a cookery school specifically to help mums, offering exciting recipe development classes and the opportunity to talk to child food experts.

One of my favourite TV chefs Rachel Allen is working in conjunction with Plum Baby to create some tasty new recipes. Isla and I recently baked some biscuits together following a recipe from Bake and I personally think as soon as children are old enough they should get involved in the preparing and cooking of food. It gives them more of an interest in the food they eat and stimulates their curiosity about how things taste. I can't think of anyone better for Plum to partner up with as Rachel is a mum and her food is top notch - not too complicated but oh so tasty!

I haven't got an obsession with Rachel's cookbooks....honest!

I would say from my experience first time mums are a lot more nervous - I was! Second time round I'm so much more relaxed. My biggest tip to anyone starting weaning is to keep the mantra "food before 1 is just for fun" in mind and try not to get too uptight. Before 1 a baby's main source of nutrition is milk so don't get too down hearted if they're not eating roast dinners and chilli con carne. Food is strange and exciting at the same time for them, they are mini explorers getting to know different tastes and textures! They can refuse food many times before they finally find it acceptable.

My other top tip is to try and relax about the mess and this means the mess your baby will get into, the mess you will get into and the mess on the floor! If you own a dog, he's going to LOVE weaning!

This muckiness used to annoy me a lot (even though Isla looks cute!)

Now I just embrace the muckiness with Noah - it's all part of the fun! (this was extreme I have to add!)

I would also say don't beat yourself up if you can't make your own fresh food all the time. Buying pre made baby food isn't a failure, it's a real saviour! I actually don't know where I'd be if there wasn't Plum Minted Pea and Lamb on the shelves! It was Noah's absolute favourite meal over anything I make (hmmm perhaps I should feel cross about this!?).

So weaning may feel a bit mind blowing at times but if you keep calm about it then so will your baby. Here's us having a bit of fun at dinner time - food must be fun....

This post is an entry into the Tots100 competition to win a super dooper all expenses paid two day cooking experience with Rachel Allen at the Plum Cookery School - I would love this prize as I think I definitely need to get my cooking mojo back and my husband can vouch for that! It also includes a stay in a swish hotel, a video camera and £500. It's worth saying that I LOVE Rachel Allen and the OH can also vouch for the fact that I drove him mad watching her on UK Food the whole time I was pregnant - I love her food!

Galt Toys - Ants in your Pants!

The lovely people at Galt Toys sent us a new game this week, Ant in your Pants and it has been played at least 7 or 8 times today! Wednesday is my day to work from home in the morning until lunchtime so most of the time my mum comes over and looks after Isla while Noah is at nursery. They have some really lovely one on one time together and while I'm working I love being able to hear what they're getting up to downstairs. I was really looking forward to Isla playing this game and thought this morning was the perfect time for it to get trialed. Mum was up for it and so I heard many happy games of Ants in Your Pants this morning!

The game is really simple but Isla loved it. There are lots of pairs of different coloured pants and a dice with corresponding colours on it. On the other side of the 'pant' cards there are ants - differing numbers of them and then there are also a few cards with Ant Eaters on them. To win you have to have the highest number of ants. BUT if you get an Ant Eater card then you wipe out your ants and have to start again. Mum said that Isla didn't like the Ant Eaters and she was trying to cheat, refusing to take the Ant Eater card if she chose it! When we played it later she was really funny, making the Ant Eater eat the ants, doing the sound effects. I took a couple of videos of our game, so here you can see it in action.

There are a few things I like about this game, there's the colour matching with the dice and the colour of the pants. There's also the opportunity to count up how many ants you have at the end of it. It's also teaching fair play, you have to accept the pitfall of getting an Ant Eater card, it can turn your fortune in the game at any moment.

It's such a simple game but I can see that it will get played loads. It's not bulky either so it can go over to the grandparents and it will also come in really handy when we go on holiday to Sand Le Mere! We give this game a big thumbs up.

We were sent this game free of charge in exchange for our opinion which I've given honestly.

Sunny Weekend & In the Night Garden!

I can only describe this weekend as being absolutely fantastic! Now I'm back at work I put so much effort into making sure that weekends with my family are fun packed. The only thing is the housework suffers but when it's 25 degrees outside who cares about housework anyway?

This weekend was even better as it was the OH's long weekend off work so we had all day Saturday together which only happens every 6 weeks. I was really looking forward to Saturday as we had been given tickets to a VIP performance of In the Night Garden Live at The O2. We set off and found that the O2 is so easy to get to and any journey on the train is exciting for a nearly 1 year old and nearly 3 year old!

When we got to the O2 we made our way to the show and on turning the corner we saw these massive inflatable Ha Hoo's! Someone was really excited to see them. We entered the big inflatable dome where the performance was going to happen and were met by people handing out brilliant goody bags for the kids filled with In the Night Garden stuff to keep them occupied. There was a small soft play area for the kids to let off some steam before they went into the show and also lots of refreshments for adults and kids alike.

After a bit of playing and guzzling juice we were called to go in and see Iggle Piggle and friends. The story was about Iggle Piggle losing his blanket, which we also have as a book at home. The show was a brilliant mix of puppetry and also life size characters. It was great for Isla's age but more surprisingly it was also good for Noah. The show was 55 minutes long with no interval and I would say that he lasted a good 40 minutes before needing a little break. He was so taken with the projections of flowers, the tittifers and the Ninky Nonk and pinky ponk, all around the ceiling of the showdome. He also loved it when the Ninky Nonk came of the stage and was whizzing around. All in all I would totally recommend the show, all the kids recognise the songs and the colours are so bright and captivating. It feels really magical. After the show we got a family photo with Iggle Piggle - Noah is thinking "What the....??"

After the show we travelled home and then got ready for an impromtu BBQ with friends. It was so lovely being out in the garden with all 6 kids ranging from 7 months to 3 in age - they all behave so much better when they're able to have fun outside.

On Sunday after we'd turned a cardboard box into a pirate ship (!) we took a spontaneous decision to go and visit my sister, her OH and my niece and join them for Music in the Park. Isla loves seeing Cousin M, they're only 3 months apart in age and Noah is getting really social now too and loves joining in. They live about an hour from us, so the kids get a good nap on the way. It was another beautiful hot day and ideal for picnics. We packed up some food and lots of sunscreen and set off.

The park was steadily filling up with people surrounding the bandstand where the musicians played all afternoon. We had a lovely sunny/ shady spot and the kids just ran around and danced by the bandstand. They were so cute jigging about. Another special event happened. Noah stood on his own two feet for about 8 seconds!! The sweetest thing was that he knew he had done something special, the smile on his face is committed to memory. After the music finished we went back to my sisters, gave the kids a bath together (all this outdoor playing gets them filthy!) then PJ's and the long drive home.

This amazing sunny weather is probably not set to continue into the Jubilee Weekend so I'm glad we made the most of the glorious sunshine we just had!
If you'd like to take the kids to see In The Night Garden Live then visit:  www.nightgardenlive.com or call 0333 300 0023

Tickets are £10 - 27.50 plus premium seats are available. Two separate shows throughout the run: The Pinky Ponk Show and The Ninky Nonk Show.

We were given free tickets to attend In The Night Garden Live. My views about the show are my own.