Then check out this new CBBC show due to start 11th March, it will run on weekdays at 7.45am.
Now I know this is rather early and lets face it usually a manic time on school days! However, thank goodness for the record button LOL. So put it to good use if your house is as manic as mine in the mornings.
In the meantime have a look at the link below to get an idea of what to expect, cross the original Record Breakers, with all the mad and awesome stuff people get up to nowadays and your will be getting close!
Today I have had coffee in bed while I opened a few cards and a little pressie or two. I know these times can become very commercial so we always agree not to go mad and that it is the thought that counts. So I had a bought card from my OH but homemade personal ‘printouts’ from the kids (which I prefer).
I was chuffed to bits to get the soundtrack to the new Les Miserables film which has already been played today!
However, my definite surprise pressie was a fab onesie!! No laughing please I have really wanted one for ages but it’s not something I would go and spend money on for myself when there are lots of other things to pay for.
Sadly I look FAR too happy wearing this LOL
I am now sitting on the laptop while they are all ‘secret squirrel’ in the kitchen making dinner………………..I will admit I am slightly scared at the idea as my OH is the worst cook ever, so it will be like the blind leading the blind. However, like I said earlier it’s the thought that counts ( that’s until the food poisoning kicks in and then I will be swearing).
We also popped into Costa earlier(as my youngest had a party to go to) and I was able to have my favourite vanilla latte and caramel shortbread as a quick treat!
Calorie overload
AND to top it all off I have just seen that The Wizard of Oz is about to start on telly!!!
MY DAY IS COMPLETE.…………..if for some reason (possible impending food poisoning) I don’t make it to tomorrow, I can safely go knowing I had the BEST day today!!
I’m not sure if you know who this group are. They don’t sing or play instruments.
They dance to ‘techno’ dance style music mixed with lasers/ lights and tech images all combined to create a fantastic, unique show.
I had the chance to go and see their show in Leicester Square in London on Saturday. I took my OH and my 2 teens and we all enjoyed it for different reasons.
First of all, this is not the show for you if you suffer with migraines or epilepsy!! The show is based around VERY loud dance music and laser and sometime flashing lights!
However, if you are not in that minority then you cannot fail to like it. Their precision and timing are spot on and the routines are fabulously entertaining. The show lasts around an hour and beforehand they have a character come out into the crowd to film you and pop you on the screen adding cartoons! MY OH ENDED UP A SUMO WRESTLER!!!!
Check out these videos to get an idea of what the show style is:
I can see the point behind it, really I can, but to be honest it has become BIG BUSINESS!!
Florists and shops increase the prices of everything, and if you are materialistic then this is a concern as things get more expensive for this one day.
However, I personally think that it’s the little things that make the bigger impression. No this is not an excuse to be a skinflint or unromantic.
We as a couple do not take the day off or head out to dinner on that day. Today for example, my OH is on late shift starting at lunchtime. So there was no option of going out for lunch or dinner, and generally we do Valentines dinner as a family where everyone has a hand in it. My boys are 12 and 14 so it would be nice to show them a simple sense of occasion.
So back to today, what did we do?
We got the kids off to school, went to our local high street Wetherspoon pub and had a breakfast together! Not exciting, obviously not over romantic, but it was time to ourselves and a meal eaten without disruption/ arguing etc. It was washed down with a good ol’ mug of tea and it totally went down a storm.
We did exchange cards in the morning and the boys had a card each. But that’s it, and if I’m very honest it was really nice, chilled out, relaxing and enjoyable.
Now my OH is at work , my dinner is with the boys before taking my eldest to his Explorer’s club tonight!
I don’t feel unloved, under appreciated or anything else because I didn’t get over priced flowers, or chocolates that I’m trying to cut down on or something fancy JUST because it is Valentines day today………………..DO YOU?
My boys are now 12 and 14 years old. Most days I’m lucky enough to be grunted at, and if I’m even luckier ( is that a proper word?) they may well even have a proper chat that doesn’t begin with ‘ Can I have…….’
Anyway, after finding my Teenager Manual ,yes I really did find it in the library, I started to reminisce about the little funny things they used to come out with.
So here’s a few of ours :
blackcurtains………………..for blackcurrant (juice)
stemming alive………………instead if staying alive ( The Bee Gees song!)
wanking wheel.………………for wagon wheel-yes this was said by my youngest although we wont mention this one until he is older!
go-go ……………………………for Gordon from Thomas the Tank Engine
So what do you think? A good or bad idea? Unfortunately we are in a technical age where this is becoming second nature! In fact I have to ask my boys how to do some bits on the laptop occasionally. But it doesn’t all have to be Play stations and Xbox’s and kids zoning out to mindless shoot ’em up games. With I phones, tablets and I pads children from a very early age can get in on the act for educational stuff and learn to be comfortable with technology at the same time.
Check out the web show below for tomorrow:
Log onto our live and interactive show where Jon Bentley discusses how to make sure your children are getting the most educational benefits from technology
Show date: Tuesday 29th January 2013
Show time: 12.30pm
There’s no denying that smart phones and tablets have become an essential part of life for millions of us, changing the way we work, socialise and communicate. Whilst they use to be solely the domain of businesspeople and the most technologically advanced, now they’re popular throughout the generations and even amongst pre-schooles.
Research from Vodafone shows that savvy toddlers first start using smart phones or tablets at a tender 2 years 4 months and that many parents are using Apps to help their children learn to read, write and count.
But how can parents make sure their little ones are benefitting from the technology and aren’t accessing inappropriate material?
Log onto our live and interactive show with Jon Bentley, former Gadget Show presenter and Libby Pritchard from Vodafone, who will discuss how children can benefit from smart phones and tablets and how parents can make sure their children are using these devices safely.
Jon Bentley and Libby Pritchard join us live online at www.studiotalk.tv on Tuesday 29th January at 12.30pm
Yes, Yes I know I’m sooooooooo behind everyone on this but just got the last book as one of my Christmas pressies.
To be honest I jumped on the bandwagon initially to see what all the fuss was about. Now I couldn’t say that these were the best books I have ever read, but I will admit I did enjoy them as a trashy, no brainer, quick read!
However, by the time I got to the 3rd book I had to constantly remind myself that they still had only been together a few months and therefore they would have been ‘at it’ like rabbits.
But it did start to get on my nerves (jealous, me?…….NAH!) I found it was wasting my time a little to get to Mr Grey’s back story of his mother and adoption etc.
I did actually enjoy the last bit telling the story from his point of view and would have liked a little more of that as you would have been able to understand him a bit better.
Anyway, my point is, in the 3rd book I was really asking myself………….AGAIN……..REALLY?? 2nd or 3rd time now in one day……………I THINK I WOULD BE SAYING ‘LOVELY AS THE OFFER IS ANY CHANCE OF A CUPPA AND A CHUNKY KITKAT INSTEAD!!!
So what I want to know is am I on my own with this and therefore my long suffering OH is just deprived……….or would you be in the cuppa and Kit Kat club?
Now I only have to spend 15 minutes on Twitter to know that anyone from there that reads this will be an A, you just have to take a look at the links to blogs and pictures of what your kids (and you ) are up to.
However, I bet if you were completely honest you could name a few parents that you know that are a B, right?
My friend and I have had experience of this over many years, and after taking the kids down to the local park sledging on Sunday we started talking about it on the way home. Yes we had an extra with us then ( i would never begrudge the child ever) which is what started the chat.
That said parent had contacted my friend to say she would call when she needed him back!!!!! ER excuse me……..we will not be gone for the rest of the day, maybe an hour or two!!
So then we started thinking about all the stuff we do even though our eldest’s (who will be 15 this year)are probably getting way too old:
*Halloween, we still have a get together and do the Trick or Treat thing and want to progress on to an ‘older ‘style party to include the adults dressing up too.
*Easter, although family and friends drop the Easter eggs into the boys we keep them aside and still hide them around the house so they have to ‘hunt’ for them in the morning.
*Christmas, my two are old enough to know that ‘Santa’ is not real *cough* however, they do play the game even though they roll their eyes when I go onto the NORAD site LOL
*Pancake day, we still love to have home made pancakes for breakfast before they go to school and after our tea on the same day.
*Summer beach days, in the hols we still love a day at the beach and we still make our sand angels before the tide comes in to cover them.
*Snow, as this is often a very rare sight we make the most of it, they still make a snowman and love to go sledging AND even though they are both old enough to go on their own we like to go with them!! How else do you get those pictures???
*New Year, we had friends around and celebrated with fireworks and we all set off lanterns with our hopes for 2013 written on them ( we wont mention the fact that we almost set our neighbors fence alight! *cough*)
We came to the conclusion that if we don’t as adults make the effort to enjoy these events with the kids they will grow up and never pass on that enthusiasm to their children. I cannot believe there are parents who just cannot be bothered or for whatever reason just don’t do these things. Or is it that they are happy for the kids to go off with others to do it so they don’t have to?
What do you think?
So tell me, what do you do with your kids that you hope they will pass on?
Isn’t that the general feeling after Christmas and New Year?
Christmas this year seemed to fly past, was it the same for you?
Also as the boys get older Christmas changes slightly, we no longer go for our Santa visit ( apparantly at 12 and 14 they are too old!), however, we start new traditions that will hopefully keep a bit of fun in the celebrations for them.
This year we got some colour in placemates but bear in mind we are talking teenagers and so they had free reign to do as they wished with each of theirs…………………
Amazing they actually sat and did it.
This was also the first year their pressies have been put under the tree on masse, as normally they will have their own pile and then they have their family pressies seperate. But as things they are interested in get smaller but more expensive it looked much better overal to put everything under the tree.
We also went for silly bibs at the dinner table and thankfully the grandparents played along!
This year my OH has been off over Christmas and New Year so we have enjoyed jammy days in, meeting up with friends, getting out for fresh air at Shorne Park and also having friends over to celebrate the New Year.
Thankfully a gust of wind came at the right time and we were spared a visit by the Fire Brigade, although admittedly our friends on their short walk home scoured the area for burned out bushes or sheds!!
Our decorations have all been packed away now and we are getting organised for the boys to return to school on Monday ( both of them are moaning about it already and I am dredding the early mornings again!)
Now for this year. What resolutions have you made? This year I plan to expand my home based craft business to try and earn some income and will be taking all the opportunities that come my way. So this time next year ( we’ll be millionaires- good ol’ delboy) it will be interesting to look back at what the year had in store for us.
We had the chance to review a new game, Spin Mania, out in time for Christmas. It’s not your normal board game with dice and counters, believe me we have loads of them in this house.
Spin Mania is more of a hands on game and puts extra pressure on with a timer.
This game comes from Drumond Park which sell all sorts of games online check it out at their website www.drumondpark.com
Here’s the what they say about it
DESCRIPTION:
A 2+ player game to test speed and agility by completing spinning plate time trial challenges in the fastest time. Includes 1 x motorised spin base with timer, 3 x spinning plates, 3 x plate bases, 1 x plate handle, 4 x scoring pegs, and instructions. Requires 2 x ‘C’ batteries (not included). Suitable for children aged 6 years upwards.
ASSEMBLY:
No assembly is required other than putting together the three plate stands by pushing the posts into the three-legged bases. Batteries also need to be inserted into the underside of the Spin Base prior to play – a Phillips screwdriver will be required for this.
To play, each player turns on the spin base (via a switch on the underside) and, ensuring that the timer is set to the start position and the tip is spinning steadily, starts the timer and lowers their first plate onto the tip. Once the plate is spinning on the tip, the player must use their plate handle (or ‘spin spike’) to pick it up and transfer it to one of the positioned plate stands, following which they must then rush back and repeat the process with the second and third plates.
Obviously players take part one at a time, and to make the game more challenging the other players secretly place the plate stands around the playing area (agreed in advance) prior to each turn, for example in a visible but slightly difficult-to-get-to location!
The plates must be spinning at all times during and after transfer – if they are dropped en route or they stop spinning, they must be ‘spun up’ again. Once the third plate is spinning on its stand, the player races back to the spin base to stop the timer. Coloured marker pegs are included for each player to handily record their time (via holes around the side of the timer).
The winner is the player who completes the challenge in the shortest time.
Here’s what we think:
So my boys are 12 and 14yrs old. This game is suitable for 6+ although to be honest it would depend on their motor skills at that age. We gave it a go and thought it would be probably too young for my boys. How wrong could I be.
The element of competition with the timer was brilliant. Also the fact that they could place the plate bases anywhere in the room!
It wasn’t as easy as it looked though and I would suggest everyone has a practice of transferring the plates before the game starts. Our boys are very competitive so it was entertaining in itself waiting to see where they had placed the base plates.
The plates need enough spin to keep going until you can place the last plate but it’s a fine line between enough spin and wasting time.
All in all we found this to be an different style and very entertaining game. This one will definitely be played over Christmas and will be hilarious after a few glasses of wine ( for the adults of course).
Spin Mania retails around £22.99 and is in keeping with most game prices. There is no major set up but remember like most games the batteries are NOT included.
DISCLAIMER: we were sent this game free of charge for review purposes
