Little Loves September

Can't believe the kids have been back at school for almost a month now. The temperature has definitely dropped and the evenings are darker, if I'm honest I have been looking forward to Autumn for a while now.

But of course the end of another month can only mean one thing, it's time for my little loves round up for the month of September.

Read

Mango Delight Book Review

My eldest daughter is at a stage where hormones are starting to go crazy and emotions are all over the place and with her having just started secondary school it's sometimes hard to know what to say to her in certain situations. This is where books can make a profound difference and Mango Delight is a book that does just that.

Seventh grader Mango Delight Fuller loves Beyonce´, running on the track team and hanging out with her best friend, Brooklyn. But when she outshines her bestie on the track, jealousy and an accident with a cell phone plunge Mango's life into chaos. Middle school is hard enough with a great friend, so when Mango is left friendless and kicked off the track team, school seems impossible. To make matters worse, Brooklyn maliciously signs up Mango to audition for the school play! Mango's pride will not let her be humiliated, and after a buzzworthy audition, Mango earns the lead role. But being in the spotlight comes with its own set of challenges: new friends, new rules, new expectations, and new problems. Soon Mango finds herself forced to make tough choices about the kind of friend she wants to have . . . and the kind of friend she wants to be.

My Little Pony Pinkie Pie Swimming Seapony Toy Review

I was a huge fan of My Little Pony when I was younger, I used to watch them on the TV and play with the ponies themselves, my bedroom used to be filled with them. It's nice that I can still share these sorts of things with my children, especially because My Little Pony are still around, even if they are shall we say a little different.

We were recently sent one of the new range of ponies to play with and review, my youngest two were eager to get her out of the box and see just what she could do.

Read With Me #39 2017

Hello and welcome to this weeks Read With Me, the first one for the month of October, seriously where is the year going?

This week I wanted to give a mention to a lovely book I was sent a couple of weeks ago. Illustrated by Jean Jullien, Imagine is the first picture book set to the iconic lyrics from John Lennon's absolutely classic song of the same name.

As you read the lyrics, the pictures tell the story of a pigeon who is on a mission, a mission to spread the words of peace, kindness, love, friendship and freedom.

My Sunday Photo 2017 #39

As the days get shorter and the darker nights start creeping in I'm trying to take advantage of these last moments of being able to sit out in the garden, sipping on a glass of wine and just enjoying the peace as the sun goes down.

Check Those Breasts

As the title says check those breasts. I've always done this regularly and I'm oh so glad that I do. A couple of months ago I happened to find a lump in my right breast. Now this isn't the first time I have found an abnormality in my boob but in the first instance it got put down to hormones as by the time my specialist appointment came round whatever it was had disappeared.

Because of my previous experience I decided to wait a little while before visiting the doctor but this time the lump was going nowhere, in-fact it is still there four months down the line. In the instance my doctor decided it was indeed worth checking out due to how long the lump had been there and because I was over the age of twenty five.

The Secrets You Keep Blog Tour

Today I'm joining in with The Secrets You Keep blog tour. Katie White's latest novel was released last week and it's set to be a popular read amongst those that love mystery/thriller genres ...

You've lost your memory. A woman has been murdered. Your husband is keeping secrets. How do you know who to trust?

FurReal Chatty Charlie the Barkin Beagle Toy Review

We don't have pets at home, although we would love a dog, it's just with time, space and finances it isn't really possible right now but that's ok because the girls have recently found a suitable replacement, and that comes in the shape of FurReal's Chatty Charlie the Barkin Beagle.

With a RRP of £59.99, this is one cuddly puppy who just loves to talk, well bark to you. And believe me he has a lot to say, with 80+ barks to phrases. His collar  even lights up as it translate what's being said as he barks. Your kids will be able to chat with this pup for hours at a time.

Read With Me #38 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. I hope you're all well and that you've got some interesting posts to show me.

I've done really well over the past few weeks, I've managed to win 3 different book competitions so I have had extra book post recently and we all know that's my favourite sort of post!

My Sunday Photo 2017 #38

This photo was taken the weekend before the kids went back to school. We were down Folkestone seafront as they'd just opened up a new part of the beach/harbour for the public to walk down. This quirky building was part of that.

How Does Your Garden Grow

Now if you're a regular reader of my blog you may recall me mentioning one or two times that I'm not very green fingered. In fact I'm that bad that generally I can't even keep a bunch of flowers alive for more than a couple of days.

Our back garden isn't very big and it's the husband's job to mow the lawn, well what's left of it anyway, see we can't even grow grass. Our poor garden is looking a little bit bald shall we say. But nethertheless, when my father in law gifted us a chilli plant and a tomato plant I thought I'd give it my best shot at keeping them growing.

Barbie Deluxe Colour Specialist Styling Head Review

What a lot of my readers won't know is that I'm actually a hairdresser by trade and although I don't really do a lot of hairdressing these days, I still enjoy putting up my daughters' hair, having a fiddle with different styles and my girls are no different. In fact quite often you'll find them "making me pretty". My nine year old is getting quite good at french plaits and even does her younger sisters hair on occasion. But as they say, practice makes perfect and what better to practice on than the new Barbie Deluxe Colour Specialist Styling Head.

Blonde To Pink, Flip & Reveal 

This is no ordinary styling head. Not only can you style the hair, but you can change the colour of it two. It comes complete with 19 accessories which includes: hair extension, hair brush, 3 hair stencil barettes, marker pen, applicator, mixing bowl, mixing brush, hair foils, nail wheels, sticker sheet and elastics. 

Dinotastic Books For Fans of Dinosaurs

I am a mum of four girls and I've not failed to notice all the news lately going on about genders and how we shape a child with the things we give them. Just to go against a lot of what has been said, my daughters are fairly stereotypical, they love princesses, make-up, there is a lot of pink in our house (although daddy wears pink too). 

But that's not stopped them liking other things, they like getting dirty whilst exploring, they go out with their dad whilst he goes shooting with his air rifle and they enjoy playing with Lego, dinosaurs and other things considered more boy friendly. They've always made their own choices when it comes to what they like.

Now last week saw the launch of two fantastic dinosaur themed books from two of my favourite publishers, Little Tiger and Buster Books and my girls were most thrilled when we were gifted with a copy of each book (so was I), I can't be the only one that gets excited at a bit of book post can I? And what I noticed straight away is that they can't be criticised of being aimed at a particular gender as the colour of the books are what most people would consider neutral.

The Book of Prehistoric Beasts from Buster Books

Read With Me #37 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. Are all the kids back at school now, has normal routine resumed?

My youngest daughter is finding it hard getting back to doing reading etc after school, she much prefers the idea of playing so we're having to build up the amount of time we can get her to sit still for again.

My Sunday Photo 2017 #37

We were lucky enough to receive a special Weekend Box this week, it was filled with Snazaroo face paints. My girls love getting creative so that's just what they did.

The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris - September Book of the Month

It's no secret that I'm a big reader, I enjoy books and there are a lot of stories that I'll tell you that I liked but not quite as many that I can honestly say that I love but my choice for September book of the month, The First Last Kiss, is a novel that has stayed with me long after I finished reading the final pages. To say it isn't what I expected when I read the blurb would be an understatement.

How do you hold on to a love that is slowly slipping away from you? 

Can you let go of the past when you know what is in the future? 

And how do you cope when you know that every kiss is a countdown to goodbye? 

Why don’t Moon Fairy and Sun Prince Live Together? Book Review

Divorce rates are going down year on year in the UK with statistics showing that younger couples are staying together for longer in recent years however both separation and divorce still occur. I remember quite clearly when my parents split up. I was eleven years old, just hitting puberty and I became angry, confused but didn't really have anyone to talk to or anyway of truly understanding the situation. 

Kids will often ask the question, "why?", it's their way of coping with a situation, of making sense of what's going on but as parents we don't always have the answers, it's not easy to put things into words in a way that can be understood by younger children especially when it involves a change which is out of their control. There are lots of books for adults on parenting but not so much on the subject of divorce and definitely not ones that a child can read for themselves.

Shnooks Toy Review

Have you heard of Shnooks before? I'll admit I hadn't but when I was asked if I'd like to review the new range, my youngest two girls pleaded with me to say yes.

Born in a bubble, they love to cuddle, Shnooks are your friend so true. With colourful hair, they'll always care, they're here to shnook after you.

What are Shnooks

Read With Me #36 2017

Hello everyone and welcome to this weeks Read With Me. Can you believe that it's now September? My kids have a couple more days to enjoy before they head back to school, when does everyone else's children go back to school?

I'm excitedly waiting for the postman today as Sarah J Maas's new novel was released today and I happened to pre-order it, my finger slipped whilst I was on Amazon the other day... Do you pre-order books or do you tend to wait for them to come down in price?

My Sunday Photo 2017 #36

We were making the most of the lovely bank holiday weather the best we could. We had planned to go to a sandy beach but the husband hurt his back and was unable to drive so we settled for a walk down to our local pebble beach instead. The girls were content in finding shells amongst the pebbles.

What I Read In August

Hello September, goodbye August. The Summer holidays are almost over and now I can tell you all of the books that I managed to read last month. I was actually pleasantly surprised at the amount of reading I was able to fit in.

The majority of my reading was actually dedicated to one series of books, Sarah J Maas's Throne of Glass series which up until now consisted of 6 books, although I'm now waiting for next instalment which is due to be released next week!

Assasin's Blade by Sarah J Maas

Celaena Sardothien is Adarlan's most feared assassin. As part of the Assassin's Guild, her allegiance is to her master, Arobynn Hamel, yet Celaena listens to no one and trusts only her fellow killer-for-hire, Sam. In these action-packed novellas - together in one edition for the first time - Celaena embarks on five daring missions. They take her from remote islands to hostile deserts, where she fights to liberate slaves and seeks to avenge the tyrannous. But she is acting against Arobynn's orders and could suffer an unimaginable punishment for such treachery. Will Celaena ever be truly free? Explore the dark underworld of this kick-ass heroine to find out.

This book is actually a set of short stories bought together in one book. I read this first and it really gives some background detail as to why the main character is like she is in the rest of the books, one words sums up this book, Sam!