New Smurfs Toy Range!

When I was younger I was a big fan of The Smurfs, if I remember rightly it was on TV on a Sunday morning and I’d watch it while my Mum and Dad were still trying to squeeze the last few minutes out of lying in bed before I came and bothered them to wake up (now I know how that feels)! I loved all the characters, particularly Smurfette and loved feeling scared by Gargamel, I also had a soft spot for Azreal the cat.

Last Sunday while I was on a girlie weekend, OH took Isla to a special screening of Smurfs 2 and to take a look at the new Jakks’ Smurf Toy range. They had a really lovely time. Isla had decided to take her Shaun the Sheep rucksack with her and on entry to the cinema this was given intense scrutiny by the Smurfy people, they’re not keen on sheep apparently! We haven’t seen the first Smurfs movie and Isla has only seen the Smurfs cartoon a handful of times but I think that there is something about these little blue characters that is immediately appealing to kids. And I predicted that Isla would love Smurfette which of course she did. OH said that she was a little scared of Gargamel, but not to an extreme and I think she is like a lot of kids in that they like being a little bit scared – that is part of the fun afterall!

After they watched the film, they took a look at all the new toy range. 

I made a big error in not sending her in Smurf fancy dress as apparently there were prizes for the best turned out Smurfs. She was very happy with the little Smurfette figurine she was given though and they are available as part of the range as Grab ‘em Single Packs including some of the other characters from the film. 

I think she would also love this little Mushroom House Play Set (including Smurfette) and this Smurfette Fashion Doll which comes with a mix of outfits that you can snap on and off and add accessories. She also has style-able hair! 

These are just the kind of toys that Isla loves playing with, and that I find myself coming across all over the house :) This Smurf-tastic toy range is available from leading toy retailers nationwide this summer, find out more about Jakks’ Smurfs toy range at www.jakks.com

To experience the Smurfs 2 movie trailer and for further information on one of this summers’ hottest releases, visit www.smurfs2.co.uk

We were invited to this special screening which was free of charge and the kids got a goodie bag each.

Me and Mine - July 2013

Here's my 'Me and Mine' post for July - a bit late I know, but July is a really special month for us as we have two birthday's to celebrate - Isla turned 4 and Noah turned 2. I didn't want to miss recording such a special month on my blog so here we have the 'Princess and Pirate Birthday Party' shot!

For all other Me and Mine entries hope over to The Ar-Blog

Bumper Book of Summer by Sainsbury's

It’s the LOOOOONG Summer holidays. This fact is something that up till now has rather passed me by as Isla isn’t at school yet, but in September school is going to become a reality for us, and the holidays are going to become part of our routine. In order to make sure the kids don’t utter the mantra “I’m bored” all summer long Sainsbury’s have released ‘The Bumper Book of Summer’ with over 60 boredom busting ideas for action-packed days. There are ideas and activities for children aged 3 – 12 years and they cover things from active days to crafting and also some great tasty recipes to help replenish some of the energy the kids have burnt off. They are also budget conscious which is key when there is a whole 6 weeks to fill.

We were lucky enough to be invited to the press day for the launch of the book and we went as a family to London to experience some of the activities. Here’s what we did:

Face Painting!

Making Photo Frames

Cardboard Car Races

Making a Monster

Becoming Pirates! Shiver Me Timbers!

A lot of the activities can be done using things that you have lying around the house, boxes, toilet rolls, silver foil, glue and paints. And for anything that you may not have, Sainsbury's also have a really great 'Get Creative' range including everything kids need to have fun with crafting, including pom poms, googly eyes, friendship bracelet kits. They are all reasonably priced and would really supplement the book.

I love the book for the reason that it's really clearly set out, the activities give guidance for the age they are best suited to, the time it should take to complete and lists all the required items for the activity. Isla and Noah had such fun at the event. Noah had his face painted for the first time and he loved it. They particularly liked being pirates, and the pirate ship made from a cardboard box was genius! They also did a nature hunt which is something I'd like to do more of to help them get over little fears of spiders and beasties. All in all it was a big hit and we can't wait to get going with some of the ideas.

Bumper Book of Summer is available from Sainsbury’s priced at a really reasonable £5. It comes with scrapbook to keep a record of all the fun you’ve had, over 100 stickers, a wall poster to plan activities and a DVD with step by step guides.

You can add your boredom busting successes to the Sainsbury’s Facebook page here: http://app.facebook.com/boredom-busters/

We were invited to this fun event to help publicise the book and we were given a goodie bag including the Bumper Book of Summer!

#SAVESUMMER with Asda

You may have seen Asda's online campaign to #SAVESUMMER and if you have there is a chance that you may have seen Isla and Noah on the website. We were lucky enough to take part in some of the activities that feature in the campaign and so I thought I would share some of them with you as they really are good fun for the kids over those LOOOONG Summer holidays!

One of our favourites was the Angry Birds Water Balloon game. It's really simple.

Chalk out some bad piggies

Fill up your balloons (fill them as full as you can - they might bounce rather than burst if you don't!)

Draw angry bird faces on the balloons

Ready, Aim, Fire and wipe out the Bad Piggies!

Check out the campaign here for other ideas and on social media look out for the hashtag #SAVESUMMER to see other peoples efforts and similarly if you do have a go then share them and tag them with #SAVESUMMER too and your efforts can feature on the Asda website too.

A Day Out with Thomas - Brilliant Family Fun!

Yesterday we went on 'A Day Out with Thomas' at the Kent and East Sussex Railway. Noah is a fan of Thomas and I thought that this would be perfect for him and I also admit I was excited about the day too. I love giving the kids a thoroughly fun day out and I can hand on my heart say this was one family day to remember! 

I had booked us on the first steam train ride of the day at 10.25am which meant us leaving the house at 8.30am (nice early start!) so we were there for the half an hour before departure that the ticket suggested. On arrival we saw The Fat Controller and also Charlie the Clown entertaining the crowd prior to getting on the train. Thomas wheeshed into Tenterden Station, and it felt really magical. I’m a bit soft since becoming a mum and I actually felt a bit emotional – good grief! The kid’s faces lit up and then we hurried to the platform to get a better look at him. Thomas wasn’t actually taking us on our steam engine journey, that was down to another train and at 10.25 we set off on our travels, which took us along the line 10 and a half miles to Northiam Station. 

It felt like going back in time. The carriages were old and quaint and I loved the feeling of a bygone era that I got. I checked on the KESR website and the railway and station have been used in TV and film, which is no surprise. We took picnic food with us, so we munched on some muffins and took advantage of the buffet cart that came around for a cuppa. We bought Isla and Noah a flag each at £1.50 a go. They enjoyed waving to the people waiting in their cars at level crossings, the people at the platforms we went past and spotting the cows and other such countryside animals. The train goes to Northiam, stops for a bit and then makes its way back to Tenterden.

Once we got back to Tenterden we enjoyed all the other things that were included in the ticket price. They both had unlimited goes on the bouncy castle and the merry-go-round. Isla loved the Punch and Judy and children’s entertainer, especially when he performed the magic trick making a rabbit appear in a box. She was a fully participating audience member shouting out and getting involved. We also got our photo taken with The Fat Controller who was on hand all day looking super important in his top hat and tails! Charlie the Clown stopped us at one point and got Isla to perform some magic which she loved and he aimed a few jibes at Mummy and Daddy which made her laugh too. Thomas did do some rides during the afternoon but we missed out on these.

On site you can buy food which is reasonably priced and there are picnic benches to sit and eat at. We found the little grassy play area where there was a wooden train that all the kids were playing on and sat there to eat our lunch. As the area was quite small it made a nice change for us grown-ups to be able to sit down and eat lunch and have the kids within eye-shot and not have to follow them around. 

We had a look around the shop after we’d eaten some ice-creams and Isla had watched the children’s entertainer for the second time (!) and they both came away with something – Noah chose a die-cast ‘Hank’ and Isla a cuddly rabbit (yes I know not really very train themed!) and I also purchased a Thomas book that I got Christopher Awdry to sign – he is the son of the Rev W Awdry, the creator of Thomas the Tank Engine and the reason for the stories coming about as they were told to him by his father when he was ill as a boy. 

Our ticket was £44 for a family of 4 and I think that was such good value for everything that was included in the ticket price. I loved that the event didn’t seem oversubscribed, they hadn’t crammed in too many people and so there weren’t queues for the other attractions. There was a lovely family feel to the day and we enjoyed every minute!

To check out where there is a Thomas Day Out near you go to Day Out With Thomas

Ella's Kitchen - The Red One Cook Book Review

We were lucky enough to be sent a copy of the Ella’s Kitchen - The Red One Cook Book to review. It is packed full of yummy ideas for making mealtimes fun for all the family!

There are over 100 recipes in this book for littlies and big kids. The instructions are simple and the emphasis is on getting children hands on and messy in the kitchen from a young age.

I love that this is more than a recipe book and also contains fun ideas and activities that get the kids involved with food other than at mealtimes. There are grow your own ideas, a fun activity to get the kids planting their own food, decorating the flower pots, watching it grow and eating the produce. Ideas for role play setting up a kids cafe, encouraging the children to use their imagination to make up their own menu and create fake food.

So far we have cooked 3 of the meals in the book. This is the Zingy Lamb and Cous Cous with Mangoes and Raisins. It was delicious!

We have also cooked Cosy Cottage Pie and Magical Moroccan-style Chicken. They were both also really tasty meals, so tasty in fact that I totally forgot to get any photos of them and they were eaten in no time!! 

We were always big fans of Ella's Kitchen while weaning Noah and so it's really great that we can continue to feel supported by them as he goes through toddlerhood. However don't think that these meals can only be eaten by toddlers as that is far from the truth, we have all enjoyed what we've made so far as a family. 

The recipes are really easy to follow and simple to make. There is nothing complicated about it and the timings are shown really clearly for each recipe, so if you know you only have half an hour then it's really easy to see which meal is more suited to the time you have to prepare that evening. We haven't tried any of the sweet recipes as yet, but they are next on the list of things to try out, I've got my eye on the Carroty Cakes, what better way to get some of that important Vitamin A.

Get your copy of Ella's Kitchen The Cook Book – The Red One here

We were sent this book free of charge. All views and opinions are my own.

Big Birthday Weekend with Bezerkaz Circus!

So this past week has been all about the birthdays! First it was Noah's, he turned 2 and then it was Isla's and she turned 4. I feel like it's a bit of an end of an era with Isla as she starts school in September and so this is her last pre-school birthday. I also feel like time has gone too fast. As parents we're always looking to the next milestone, wishing they could do this and do that but actually we should celebrate the now more. I absolutely love the age she is at now. She is fun, she is sweet, she is loud, she is cheeky. She's a challenge at times, she can be a bit over emotional, she hasn't got a hint of self consciousness yet. All that said, I am looking forward to school coming up and watching her blossom and learn about the wider world.

We've done loads of fun things for their birthdays but I'd say the best bit was on Saturday when a good friend of mine came over, he runs Bezerkaz Circus and gave Isla and Noah and their best friends a circus party in the garden. I've known Shaun for over 20 years, so it was really lovely to get together with all our kids and have some fun and see what he does for a living these days. There was juggling, plate spinning, unicycle riding, giant bubbles, accordion playing, diablo, acrobatics, face painting, balloon modelling and last but not least fire juggling and fire eating! It was all really exciting and we all (adults included) were wowed by the giant bubbles!

Here's are the photos from our day: 

You can read about Bezerkaz Circus in my previous blog post and check out their website here. AAAAND there is a rather exciting Summer of Adventures competition on the Nick Jnr website at the moment to win a Bubble Workshop with Bezerkaz Circus. Give it a go as I can say with much enthusiasm that the kids loved the giant bubbles on Saturday and so did the adults! 

This is not a sponsored post, I've not been paid to write about this, it was just a really brilliant afternoon spent with talented friends who know a thing or two about entertaining little ones!