What's your flavour this Pancake Day?

Pancake day is one of my favourite days of the year. I usually indulge in so many pancakes that after I couldn't look at another pancake for at least another day or so. haha

This Pancake day Num Noms set us a challenge to make our Num Nom inspired pancakes and use The Num Nom scents to choose our flavour. 

I will admit, I have been a little bit of a cheat this year. We normally make pancakes from scratch but as we are moving we have made do with an American Pancake mix. The Num Noms helped me get everything I needed ready. The mix, and some eggs. 

I decided that I would take my inspiration from the Series 3 Num Noms. They have so many different flavours and I knew I would find the perfect flavour for my pancake. 

First I made Lily's Pancake. Lily loves Chocolate, So I used Chocolate Sprinkles as my inspiration for this one. Lily didn't want sprinkles on it though (typical 2 year old) and so it ended up being chocolate that she poured all over it and then we attempted to make eyes out of white chocolate. Okay I admit, wasn't a perfect shaped Num Nom, but a good attempt and Lily liked it. 

Then it came to mine and my partners pancakes. I will admit i'm not to adventurous with my pancakes. But luckily I found the perfect Num Nom to satisfy my Pancake needs. Cyrus Citrus. Mmmmm yes yummy Lemon with added sugar on top is usually the way I enjoy my pancakes so I was super happy to see that there was a Lemon Num Nom. 

My Partner also loves Lemon on his pancake but he also has another weakness. That is for Maple Syrup. So he was also really happy to be able to use Maple Sugars as his inspiration for his pancake. This Num Nom agree'd that Maple Syrup on pancakes is very yummy nummy! 

Num Noms are so great for pancake flavour inspiration. You don't just have to take inspiration from one Num Nom, you can also combine them to make other flavours. If I hadden't been so busy I definitely would of combined Chocolate Sprinkles with Blue Barry and maybe Strawberry Snow and make a Chocolate and blueberry and Strawberry pancake! YUM

So, Why not head to the Num Nom Website to find your flavour for Pancake day. Feel free to leave a comment below to what yours would be! 

Mummy and Me February

In my last Mummy and Me post I said I would have a special one planned for this month. But I think that will more likely be next month now. This month we haven't had many exciting moments to get a mummy and me photograph but sometimes the little fun moments in life are what matter. So I have these pictures of me and Lily from when we went to Morrisons for dinner one night and shared a apple juice. 

My Sunday Photo 26/02/17

5 Ways to Help a Toddler Adjust to Moving Home

Today has been a crazy day full of packing to move house. We move in tomorrow and so its all go go go. But I have just taken some time out of my busy schedule to share my tips on helping a toddler adjust to moving home. 

Moving home for an adult can be a really stressful event and also a big change. So for a toddler even though they aren't always aware of what is going on, its an even bigger change. I have spent the last couple of weeks doing things and planning things that I hope will help Lily to adjust to the move to her new home. 

Here are my 5 tips that I think could help. 

1. Get a Good Book about Moving 
There are probably plenty of books out there that are about moving but we decided to choose this Topsy and Tim one all about moving house. In the story it talks about boxes being packed, animals packed up, removal men coming. All the things that may happen during a move. Lily and I have been reading this book most nights and she has enjoyed listening to it. After the story I always mention how we are going to go to a new house. I think that this book has helped with the fact that there have been boxes all around the house all week and that she has had to put her things in them. 

2. Let your child help pack the boxes
This week Lily has been helping me pack many boxes, she has been putting things in (not always what I wanted in them) and she has been helping me stick tape to the boxes. Letting her be part of the move has really helped her not feel sad about all her things having to go in boxes. As we pack things I explain that all these things are going to the new house. Which she is excited about because its going to be near Nan's house.  

3. Packing their Own Special Suitcase
For a toddler its important they know that all their special and beloved items come with them to the new home. Thats why I suggest you get them their own suitcase which is especially just for them and their things. Trunki do amazing ride on suitcases for children and have just brought out Una the Unicorn who you can personalise with stickers! Or you can also personalise your Trunki by customising your own on the website. Having them personalised means that your child knows its their suitcase and so is perfect for moving home with. Lily really enjoyed packing her own suitcase and she put inside some of her clothes, a book, her current favourite dvd, her bing poster, her cat teddy, a dummy and a wooly hat. It was nice to let Lily decide what she wanted to put in the suitcase so she knows that they aren't going to be left behind. 

4. Saying Goodbye to the Old House
I think for children, to understand the concept that they are leaving something and not going back they need to say bye. I know for Lily that this is important because when leaving family members behind she has always been much happier after she has said bye. So when the house is empty we are going to go around each room and say "bye bye bedroom" etc. 

5. A Nice Welcome to the New House 
I have a nice surprise for the new home and I have named him Buster the dog. He is a cute doggy doorstop. Buster will be sat in the entrance of our new home with a nice little welcome note telling Lily all about her new home. We will then progress to take him around the house as a tour to see all the rooms. We are fortunate to have my parents house to let Lily stay with while we sort the house out so the plan is to have her bedroom ready to sleep in. It will be also really nice for Lily to see the little dog each day when she comes in and start to get used to the fact its her new home. 

Have you ever had to do a big move with a little one? How did you help them adjust? 

Nuby Dining Set Review and Giveaway

Lily is currently a Nuby Tester and so we were sent lots of new products to test out and report back to you about what we though. Mostly there was food related products which is great as they always come in handy.

We were sent

• A Soother with Dummy Clip
• An Insulted Cool Sipper Beaker
• A Wipeable Bib
• A Sure Grip Miracle Matt and Section Plate
• A Travel Cutlery Set 

The first thing we tried was the Soother with Dummy clip. Lily has used Nuby Soothers before and because the dummy's are very similar shape to the bottle teats, she gets on with them really well. I love the pictures and sayings that come on the dummy's. This one had a cute little panda face on it. The strap on the dummy clip looks really nice and is like a ribbon. But the cutest part has to be the elephant on the end of the clip. The clip is really easy to get on and off. Maybe a little to easy as Lily can rip it off. But she is nearly 2 years old and is now very strong and clever. The clip is also really easy to attach to any Nuby dummy you like with a simple velcro fastening.

The dummy and clip retails at £4.49 and comes in a range of designs. 

It was then dinner time and so the perfect time to test out the Bib and Section plate. Lily had quite a messy dinner in store of lasagne and so this is definetly a time when a cover all bib is needed. Lily was also having potatoes with her lasagne so it was perfect that the plate was sectioned into 2. One side for her lasagne and one for her potatoes. I must admit on first looking at the plate I thought to myself, "that doesn't look like it will hold much food" but actually quite a lot of food fits in it and its deeper than it looks. Lily has used it on many times and actually its currently dinner time right now and she using it with her veggies in one side and 2 fish fingers and 2 potatoes in the other side. 

The plate also is attached to a matt that grips to your surfaces like your high chair tray. Lily has just stopped using her highchair and so is currently sat at her plastic drawing table until we get a new one. Unfortunately the matt doesn't grip to well to the plastic table but that may be because the table is a rough feeling. I think it would work very well on a plastic high chair tray. 

The bib fit brilliantly and covered up all her arms and her chest. It also came quite high up so then food didn't slip down the front of it. It was easy to attach with velcro at the back but that also means its easy for Lily to remove when she is having one of her days when she doesn't want to wear a bib. In cases like this I do prefer a press stud. The design was really cute and had a picture of a cat on the front. Lily is really liking cats at the moment so she was really happy with the design. The bib also comes with a dribble bib which actually I sometimes put under a bib like this to double ensure nothing goes on her nice clothes. So I think its great that a dribble bib is included in the set. The next test was how easy does the bib clean up? EASY! In the past I have found I have wiped some with a wetwipe and it was marked already, but with this bib not a mark was left behind making it look good as new. 

The plate retails at £7.99 and comes in a range of colours.

The bib retails at £5.99 and comes in a range of designs. 

Our next thing we tried was the travel cutlery set. This is something that i've actually been meaning to get Lily for a while. The amount of times we go out to eat and I have forgot to pack her folk and spoons. This little set is perfect for keeping in your baby bag at all times so then you always have it with you. It comes in a handy little tub that easily fits into the pockets of my baby bag. This also keeps the spoon and folk nice and clean in your bag to. The cutlery is made out of plastic. It does remind me of something you would use at a picnic. We decided to eat out at Morrisons cafe across the road and I ordered Lily fish fingers, mash and peas. Lily was really excited to use the spoon and folk and wanted them right away. She gave eating her peas a good go and the spoon was a great size for that. Then she tried the folk to eat the fish fingers. We did find that the folk was so thick that it was hard to stab the fish fingers and so instead it just broke them into pieces. She ended up using her hands in the end. One more thing that is great about the travel set is that it comes with 2 spoons and 2 folks. Lily dropped one onto the floor and so it was great to be able to give her another straight away while I cleaned the first. Also perfect if you have 2 little kiddies out for dinner with you. Overall Im happy at the set and will be using them again and again. 

The travel set retails at £2.49 and also comes in blue and green. 

Last but not least its the insulted cool sipper beaker. Lily is really fussy with what she will drink from and it did take a few tries to convince her to have it. But the other day at soft play we had a revelation and I think she was so thirsty she just decided she really needed a drink. At first she tipped the cup and said to me "doesn't work". This is because she is used to free flow cups and this one is a no spill cup. So I said to her she was to suck like its a straw and she understood that and managed to use it. She has happily used it since then and so its nice to have found another drinking cup for her to drink from. I have also been wanting to give her a non spill cup at bedtime so then she can have water in the night. This cup is perfect for that. The spout that is on the beaker is really nice and soft and so doesn't effect her teeth when drinking. Though I did find her chewing on it and had to tell her to stop that. 

The coolest thing about this cup is how it keeps drinks cool but also your little ones hands don't get cold drinking it. Lily hates holding something cold and does complain usually and so as this cup has a double wall it means your child isn't holding the part where the liquid is. The cup also holds quite a lot of liquid at 9oz. I hope to get a lot of use out of this cup. 

The Insulted Cool Sipper Beaker retails at £4.99 and comes in a range of colours. 

Over all its such a good and useful bundle and I definitely would choose Nuby for my future dining products. 

Do you love Nuby? Your in luck as I have an AMAZING weaning bundle to give away to one lucky winner. It has everything you would need to get started weaning.
For your chance to win, Enter on the Gleam app below. 

Win a Nuby Weaning Bundle

The Tactic Games Play Club & Win a Games Bundle

Tactic Games are known for creating brilliantly fun games that range from children's games, family games, outdoor games, puzzles, dice games and many more. 

Buying the right game is important to them and so their goal is to be number one in board games through having hugh quality board games and puzzles for a range of ages that all the family can enjoy. 

Family is also important to Tactic games and they believe "a family who plays toggether, stays toggether". They really want to encourage family's to spend quality time toggether and believe that playing games is one way to do this. 

Thats why Tactic Games came up with the Play Club. 

The Play Club is really simple to sign up to and it takes all the hard work away by giving you gift ideas and game choice. 

No more scrolling the internet looking to find the perfect game. Instead Tactic Games make it really easy by sending you four club emails per year plus a Christmas special email which all are jammed packed with inspiration, special gaming gift ideas and money saving offers. 

By signing up to the Play Club you would receive these great benefits. 

• 20% of game prices!
• Safe online shopping from Kerrison Toys
• Exclusive mobile apps and game accessories
• Great competitions and lottery draws 
• News on Board Games and Gift ideas

And they also promise No Spamming!  

So what are you waiting for? Sign up today by Clicking this Link, and join the best gaming club around. 

Still looking for gaming inspiration? Read my Review of Tactic Games TY Games and Puzzles. 


To award people who sign up, Tactic games are giving you the chance to win a games bundle this month. Sign up and enter via the Gleam app below and your in with the chance to win three brilliant games. 

Games include - 

• ty Bingo
• Domino
• Flags of the World 

Win a Bundle of Games

Tactic Games TY Puzzles and Games Review

We visited Tactic Games at the Toy Fair and saw a great range of games and puzzles. One range that Tactic Games does is a selection of games and puzzles with ty who are a maker of cute little collectable beanie teddies. The games and puzzles really attracted Lily because of the cute little teddies and so we were sent a game and puzzle to review. 

We were sent a Bingo game and a Giant Puzzle. 

We decided to play the Bingo game first. 

The game is aimed to children 3+ but Lily is really enjoying her games at the moment and so I thought that she would probably be able to play this one at 2 years old. 

The set comes with 4 bingo boards and lots of bingo game pieces to place on the bingo cards. They are so colourful and the little ty pictures are so cute. Lily really loves how cute they are and also that they are animals she recognises like a cat and an owl. Each of the pictures have a teddy on them and then a colour in the background. There may be more than 1 of the same animal teddy, but it would have a different coloured background. For example an owl in purple and an owl in yellow. 

The game can be played with 2 to 4 players. If there are 2 players you can have 2 cards each. You then place all the little pieces facing down on the table and take it in turns to pick one up. When you pick up the card you need to match the colour and picture to the ones on your bingo card. If you don't have that piece then you place it back down. The first player to match all their pieces to their bingo card is the winner. 

Lily did quite well with the game and we managed one round with it. The game is great for teaching her about taking turns and waiting for her turn. She did well with matching up the pictures to the board but she didn't understand that she also had to match the colour. This is something she will perhaps grasp when she gets a little older. She also got slightly frustrated with the small cards moving around on the board as she is slightly heavy handed yet and her aim to get it on the picture isn't perfect but this game is great for helping her hand and eye co-ordination as she practices placing the pieces down.

As well as the game being great fun, it also helps teach children with - 

• Patience 
• Hand and Eye co-ordination
• Colour recognition
• Matching skills 
• Memory Skills

We then tried the Giant Puzzle. Lily loves her puzzles but she has never done a puzzle to this size before. I was curious to see how she would do with it. The puzzle pieces are so colourful and are a really nice size and thickness. There are 35 pieces in total. 

I definetly had to help Lily with matching the pieces up. The picture on this puzzle is so crazy with so many different patterns and colours that it was tricky for her to find the right pieces. But it did mean that it was a really nice activity for me and Lily to sit down and do toggether. I would find her the pieces and she would push them toggether. The pieces were a really nice size for her to get a grip off and really easy for her to push toggether which was great. Lily happily sat and did the entire jigsaw and then after wanted to do it again. Also as soon as Daddy came home she took it to him to do with her so they got some nice time toggether to. This puzzle is a really nice one to do as a family and gives you a good opportunity to spend some valued time toggether. 

After the puzzle has been completed it looks amazing. So colourful and Lily loves all the cute animals on it.

The puzzle is great for -

• Hand and Eye Co-ordination
• Recognising patterns 
• Fine Motor Skills

These from Tactic Games are such a good choice for a puzzle or game and they also have more in the ty range. You can head to the Tactic Games website to see more. 

Does your child like games and puzzles? What do you think about these 2 from Tactic Games? 

My Sunday Photo 19/02/17

Orchard Toys Smelly Welly Game Review

Lily has really been interested in games lately and is really enjoying doing things that are challenging her and making her think.

So when we met Orchard Toys at the Toy Fair, I was shown a amazing range of puzzles and games that they have. They also showed me there brand new game Smelly Wellies. Lily had a little try of it and she seemed to enjoy it so Orchard Toys sent us one to review. 

And here it is...

I really love the boxes that the Orchard Toys games come in. They are always so eye catching and really great for storing them away. They look great on Lily's bookshelf where she can help herself to it when she wants. I think the fact the boxes are so colourful is what attracts Lily to want to open them and get the contents out. 

The game comes with -

• 4 Jigged Monster Boards
• 24 patterned welly cards
• 1 instruction leaflet 

Again the pieces are really colourful and I just love the monsters on them. They are definetly more cute funny looking monsters than scary. The boards them self are made from really decent strong card which is great. I love that its not easy for Lily to be able to bend and damage the cards. The wellies all have recognisable patterns on to. I can say to Lily find the bananas's or find me the stars and she is able to do that.

So how do you play this game?

The game is all about finding matching pairs of smelly wellies for the monsters. 

The main way to play is by having 4 players with a card each or you could have 2 players with 2 cards each. You each have a board set which is a certain colour. These boards all come in 3 separate jigsaw pieces so they can be put toggether by your child, making it a extra activity for the game. On the back of all the wellies is either the colour green or red. You first separate the reds and greens and place all the greens out with the pattern facing down. You then stack all the red cards with the pattern facing down. Each player chooses 3 red wellies, or 6 if they are playing with 2 boards. Then you place the red wellies on the board with the pattern facing up. You should have one welly for each monster.

Then each player takes it in turns to pick up a green welly to see if it matches on of the welly's that there monster is wearing. If so then it gets placed onto the board, if not it gets placed face down back onto the table.

The winner is the first player to get all their matching wellies and they have to shout out SMELLY WELLIES!! 

The instructions leaflet was really handy as they now come in picture form and are laid out as step 1, 2 and 3. I must admit, instructions can confuse even me so its a great way to show how to play the game. Also as the child gets older they can be able to understand the instructions themselves. 

The great thing about this game is it can be changed slightly to be made easier or more difficult to suit the age of your child. 

We decided to make the game a little easier and simpler for Lily to understand. She chose which coloured board she wanted, which was blue and red. She easily managed to find all the correct coloured pieces and push them toggether in the correct order. I then laid out all the welly's with the pattern upwards and I let Lily get used to learning about a matching pair. She chose one welly with the pattern and placed it on the welly. It took her a few attempts to understand which foot it went on. But she got there in the end and cheered when she did. I then got her to try and find the matching welly in the pile. She took her time doing this but eventually spotted it and would shout out "there it is" and then place it next to the other welly. We played like this until she had got all her wellies on the board and then we celebrated with lots of claps and praise.

One thing that Lily wasn't quite understanding and getting quite frustrated about was the wellies not slotting into the shape on the board. She is so used to playing with a jigsaw where she shape is cut out and she places the shape in that she got angry that the welly wasn't staying where it should. As the boards are quite shiny and slippery, she would also get annoyed when she was placing a welly onto the next monster and would move the other welly's with her hand by accident. I think in time when her hand and eye co-ordination gets better she will find it easier to place them down and not knock them.

As Lily is only 2 years old she has a short attention span at the moment and so after completing one board that was enough for her and she wanted to go off and play. When we did try to play the game the main way of playing, she took a few turns but I think grew bored in the moments where she had to wait her turn and soon decided she didn't want to play anymore. I think for now we will stick to our simple way of playing until she is able to put a little more attention into a game. 

The game is so great for learning and here are the things I think your child would learn playing this game.

• Recognising and Matching Patterns 
• Learning and Matching Colours
• Hand and Eye Co-ordination when putting the Jigsaw pieces toggether or placing down the Wellies. 
• Patience, and Taking Turns
• Learning Left from Right
• Encourages Observational Skills
• Develops Memory Skills

The game is aimed at children from 2 to 6 years old and the game can be played with 2-4 players, although we found a way to play a version of the game with one. The game is now available to buy and is £7.50.

You can see more about the game here on the Orchard Toys website. 

What do you think to this game? Would your children love it? 

Our We're Going on a Bear Hunt Party

I hope you made it to last nights #BearHunt Party on the Uk Mums Twitter Page. It was great fun. If you didn't then follow the hashtag #BearHunt to see what went on. 

Lily had 3 friends over to join in the fun. When they arrived I had set up the Bear Hunt DVD ready for them and had a drink, a bag of popcorn and some bear crisps all waiting to be enjoyed with the film. The Dvd started and they were all transfixed to the screen. Lily has seen the DVD before but she still couldn't take her eyes of it. 

After the film we all talked about her favourite bits. Lily loved the part where she found the bear in the cave and they all loved the part where the boy wiggled his bum in the dogs face shouting "were going on a poo hunt". That part definetly got some giggles.

After this part we then did a special Bear Hunt Quiz. We as parents had to help but I must admit we even struggled with some of the questions. You do get lost in the fun adventure of the film and forget to notice the details. But one guest did very well and won herself a prize! 

Next it was time for Bear Biscuit Decorating! Each child got a biscuit and some icing pens and chocolate buttons. Lily gave decorating the biscuit a really good go and made squiggly patterns on the biscuit. The chocolate buttons never made it onto the biscuit though. Haha
All the children really enjoyed making a biscuit, and I think they enjoyed eating them just as much. Even the adults gave biscuit making a go.

We then did make your own Bear ears. The parents cut them out and the children decorated them. Lily wouldn't wear hers but one guest wore hers and did her best bear impression.

Then we had a very exciting hunt of our own. A treasure trail of Bear Hunt goodies. I hid the goodies around the house. A DVD behind the Tv, A toy in the play oven, A book under the rug and some Bear sweets in the Toy pram. I made sure every child found a prize by helping them with clues. Lily found the bear sweets and we had one really happy guest who found the DVD. 

Next was a fun game of pin the tail on the bear. Of corse we blindfolded our guests and so that did make it a little tricky. But there was a little cheating going on I think with some peeping and Lily took her blindfold of compleatly.
All the children eventually managed to get the tail in the correct place so we did a draw and found a winner who won a book. 

We had so much fun at the party and all the children were so delighted to be given a goodie bag and toy at the end of the party! Here is a happy group shot of our guests and a picture of one winner with all her goodies. The parents were really enjoyed the party to and loved seeing their children enjoying all the Bear Hunt activities. They are all looking forward to watching the We're Going on a Bear hunt DVD when they get home. 

Would you throw a were going on a bear hunt party?