Review - Katsuma, the Moshi Monsters Trunki

As regular readers will know, we travel quite a lot with our little ones, and when Harry was three we bought him a Trunki. Both children love it, and so I was delighted when I was asked if I would like to review one of the new Moshi Monsters Trunki suitcases, as it meant that Mia would be able to have one of her own.

I chose the Katsuma Trunki, which is bright orange and based on a monster which is a cross between a cat and a satsuma. I was very pleased when I first opened the Katsuma Trunki to find that the opening catches are different on this newer model and are much easier to open than on our old Trunki. You just need to squeeze in the button to release the catch.

We have found our Trunki fantastic when used as hand luggage. In most cases a Trunki fits within the size guidelines for plane hand luggage, although it is recommend to check with the airline before flying. The appeal of the Trunki lies not so much in its usefulness as a suitcase, but in the way that it can be used by a child. It can be used as a seat while you are standing around waiting, it can be propelled across the floor by the child, and you can use the sturdy strap to pull a small child along. The long strap also makes it comfortable for an adult to carry for longer distances.

Airports are vast places, generally with smooth floors, which makes them ideal for Trunkis. Harry's Trunki has been particularly invaluable on our trips to the US, where you can easily spend over an hour waiting in a queue at immigration with jet lagged, exhausted children that have been cooped up in a plane for an entire day. It's so nice to have somewhere that they can sit and rest as you pull them along a few centimetres at a time.

I must admit that when actually flying I don't really use the Trunki for things that need to be accessed during the flight, as a reasonable amount of space is needed to open it fully and aeroplanes are cramped. Instead we use it to pack things for the children that we will need when we arrive, such as pyjamas, cups and spare clothing. Harry has always loved helping to pack it, and will happily fill it with some of his favourite toys. Because it has hard sides it's also very useful for keeping our own things in that we don't want to get squashed, like small electronic devices.

When we are travelling by car we let Harry pack his Trunki himself, so that he can keep all his things separate from ours. It gives him a sense of independence, and he loves being given a list of things to pack, like four t-shirts or two pairs of trousers. There are a couple of hidden compartments in the Trunki too which really appeal to little ones and a handy elasticated pocket which is perfect for a few cars or small toys. One side of the Trunki has elasticated straps which hold everything in place.

Having had a Trunki for a few years now, I can attest that they are very durable. Our older Trunki has been pulled about across airports and roads and it's in excellent shape. I would definitely recommend one if you travel with small children, and I know that Mia will be very excited on our next holiday when she has a Trunki of her very own!

We received a Katsuma Trunki to review, and I have also based this review on our use of our original Trunki that we bought a couple of years ago for Harry. Amazon links are affiliate.

Win £100 of Zalando UK vouchers!

I am delighted to announce that I have a fantastic prize to give away to one of my readers - a £100 voucher to use at Zalando UK.

Zalando UK is an online fashion boutique, stocking over 1,500 luxury and high street brands from all over the world. There is so much to choose from, whether you are looking for Christmas gifts for the family or maybe something to treat yourself. Zalando offer a great range of clothing and also some lovely things for the home, from textiles to storage and accessories.

Entry is via the Rafflecopter form below. This giveaway closes at midnight on Friday 13th December 2013.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions - The prize is a £100 voucher to be used on the Zalando UK website. The winner will receive a voucher code which is valid until the 6th June 2014. The give away closes at midnight on Friday 13th December 2013. All entries to the giveaway must be received via the Rafflecopter form above. Invalid entries will be removed. If the winner does not respond within 14 days I will redraw and reallocate the prize. One entry per person, no third party or automated entries. There is no cash alternative.

The story of Father Christmas

Harry was nearly a year old on his first Christmas, and although of course he didn't fully appreciate what was going on, he knew that something was up, likewise his second Christmas. By his third Christmas we wrote his first letter to Father Christmas and he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted - a pink train. Last year we kept things simple, his main present came from us and Father Christmas bought him a few little bits in his stocking.

This year he has a present in mind, and it looks as though that will be arriving from Father Christmas. This is also the year that the idea of Father Christmas has become much more complicated. It doesn't help of course that I keep adding to it, with extra details like the Elf on the Shelf. We are now faced with a daily barrage of questions about Santa, his home and his elves.

The information is also parroted back to us as complete fact, which is starting to make me uncomfortable. Harry obviously believes everything that we say, and I hate lying to him. I'm always very careful otherwise not to lie to him, and it feels wrong. It's no longer a case of simply saying that Father Christmas will bring him presents on Christmas Eve, there is the whole back story and constant reference to it throughout the festive period.

Am I strange? Am I the only one that feels this way? Is it really lying? I'd love to know what others think!

Book Review - Jack's Mega Machines books

We really like the books in the "Jack's Mega Machines" series. We already have the Rocket Racing Car and the Dinosaur Digger, and this week we were lucky enough to receive the latest books in the series to review -The Mighty Monster Truck and The Supersonic Submarine.

The stories are all about Jack, a mechanic who enjoys exciting adventures while test driving the vehicles that he repairs.

In The Mighty Monster Truck, Jack finds himself rescuing some monsters, then having fun with them in a monster skate park.

In The Supersonic Submarine, Jack has an underwater adventure, playing football with an octopus.

The best thing about these books is that each one in the series comes with a pop out cardboard model of the machine featured in the book. Harry absolutely loves this brilliant idea, and being able to act out the story using the prop while I read it to him. They are pretty sturdy too, the ones from our older books are still going strong. I also love the bold illustrations in the books, and the imaginative stories. This is a great series for little ones.

We received these two books to review, Amazon links are affiliate.

My cross stitch sampler update

I last blogged my progress with my long term cross stitch project way back in May, so I thought I'd do a little update. I'd had in mind that I'd quite like to finish it by Christmas this year, but I soon realised that was unrealistic. I have lots of things that I like to do in my free time, and I also quite like having the cross stitch there in the drawer to do! So here it is now:

The sampler is the Three Things sampler by Moira Blackburn. From the picture I can see that it's actually coming along pretty well, there's only actually a few areas on the far right to complete. And my name and the date along the bottom of course, they will go in last!

Who knows, perhaps my next update will be a picture of the finished sampler!

Review - Andrew James Soup Maker and Blender

Until my husband bought me one for my birthday, I didn't know that I wanted or needed a soup maker. I really enjoy making soup, and I find it very easy to make up my own recipes, but it can be a bit of a faff. In particular, I like to blend my soups, but with a larger capacity saucepan than blender I always made a mess trying to transfer the hot soup about from container to container to blend it up properly.

My husband chose the Andrew James Soup Maker and Blender which actually does a lot more than just make soup - you can also use it make smoothies, grind coffee, crush ice, steam vegetables and even boil eggs. I've only used it so far for making soup, but I can see that it would have been brilliant for making up pureed baby food, and I'll definitely be trying out some smoothies.

I found the soup maker machine very easy to use. There aren't too many buttons, and you only need to press a couple to get the programme that you want. You can also stop it at any time.

When making soup you can select smooth or chunky. I quickly found out that I preferred the chunky soup, although I'm not sure that chunky is quite the right word because it is still blended to a very smooth consistency. It's really easy to make soup - just chop up your ingredients and place inside the jug, then turn it on and select the programme. It takes about half an hour, running through a cycle of heating and blending. I love just piling all the ingredients in and leaving it to it, no standing for ages by the hob and stirring away. I made the short video below of the soup maker as it made up a batch of my spicy butternut squash soup:

Because the soup was blended so smoothly, if I was making a soup with ingredients that I wanted to remain relatively intact - a bean soup perhaps - I would add them in at the end so that they weren't broken up.

The soup maker is not super easy to clean as you can't fully immerse the jug in water due to the heating element underneath. There is a handy brush supplied which works very well to clean the bottom, although I did find that after a couple of uses there was residue stuck to the inside hot plate which I found impossible to remove.

Although the blender function works very well when being used to make soup, I would say don't buy the machine just for the blender function if you are only looking to blend small quantities. I used it to blend up some tomato sauce which I had made on the hob and it didn't work very well, a lot of the sauce was wasted as it was caught up inside the lid. Now I'm more confident with the machine, I think that in future I'll be making the sauce actually in the soup maker, and making double quantities to fill it up more.

Something that I have found about this soup maker is that it only makes enough for two large or three smaller portions. This is absolutely fine for me, as that is all I want to make at a time. What it does mean though is that many of my soup recipes make a quantity which is too large for the soup maker. With this in mind I've been going through and adapting some of my recipes, and I'll be sharing some of my favourites in a post shortly. Generally you need a recipe with no more than about 500 ml of stock or other liquid. There is a small recipe book supplied with the soup maker but the recipes didn't really appeal to me - instead I'm building up quite a collection over on Pinterest!

I'm really impressed with the soup maker, it's something that I was living quite happily without and yet it has made a big difference to my life, which is why I wanted to share it on my blog! Do you have a soup maker? I'd love to hear what you think of it!



We purchased this soup maker, Amazon links are affiliate.

The Elf on the Shelf is watching you...

As I mentioned in my Advent post, this year we will be counting down to Christmas with our new friend - The Elf on the Shelf - named by Harry today as "Elfiegoy". The Elf on the Shelf is a scout elf, sent by Father Christmas to keep an eye on children during the festive period and report back to Santa each night on their behaviour.

We are going to be keeping it very light hearted. For me, the Elf tradition isn't about making the children terrified that they won't get any presents for Christmas. Instead I'll be focussing on the creative and playful side, and coming up with fun ways for Elfiegoy to occupy himself before the children find him in the morning. There is masses of inspiration on line and I have a few ideas lined up - he'll definitely be having a play with our Hama beads and other crafty things, and he'll probably bring some festive treats and activities for the children to do too.

I won't be blogging daily pictures of our Elf (I admit he's rather creepy, I don't want to freak everyone out) but I may well do a weekly round up post sharing all the things that he's been up to!

Elfiegoy arrived on the doorstep after lunch, wrapped up in his box and announcing his arrival with a ring of the doorbell.

Harry has not been very well this week, he's in the middle of chicken pox so he's feeling rather miserable. He's been spending a lot of time watching the Elf on the Shelf DVD which accompanies the story, so we based Elfiegoy's arrival around that. We left him in his box while we read the book, and gave him his name. Then, after some fascinated faces peering at him he was left alone to settle in.

After the children were in bed he of course flew back to the North Pole to make his report, then settled himself down for a good view from the Christmas tree.

Bloggers and parents seem to fall into two distinct camps when it comes to the Elf on the Shelf, but I have found some like minded souls, and I'm joining in with The Elf on the Shelf Takeover. Click the badge below to go to the linky which opens on Tuesday, and follow the adventures of scout elves staying with different families. You can also find other UK Elf on the Shelf fans over on the Elf on the Shelf UK Facebook page.

Do you have an Elf on the Shelf? What do you think about it?