Lunch inspired by the book 'Lunchtime' by Rebecca Cobb

You may remember that a few months back I reviewed Lunchtime by Rebecca Cobb. We loved the book, and so I was delighted to be asked to take part in a blog tour to celebrate the release of Lunchtime in paperback. The book tells the story of a little girl who doesn't want to eat her lunch and is helped out by a friendly crocodile, bear and wolf.

The crocodile is covered in a gorgeous pattern of circles which is repeated on the end papers of the book. When we first read the book, Harry and I did some circle painting based on this, and so I decided to make Harry and Mia a special circle lunch also inspired by the book.

I collected together circular plates and bowls (raiding the toy kitchen) and prepared some circular food - round sandwiches, cucumber, crackers and a few treats. To make it more special I took out the 'party cloth' (a patchwork duvet cover made for me by my Mum) and laid it all out on the floor so that they could reach easily.

I even found them a muffin tin each with circular holes to act as a plate. They loved it, and ate more than they usually do (of course I kept the treats back until they'd had a good go at the sandwiches!)

I'd really recommend this book, it really is a lovely story to read and enjoy with your children.

I've not received anything in return for this post, I just love the book.

Valentine's Day toilet roll tube gift boxes

Valentine's Day crafts are always fun for toddlers - not only do you get to enjoy the process of creating something, you can also make gifts for others which can be given with love!

These Valentine's Day gift boxes are made using a simple cardboard tube, an idea which I've also used to make toilet roll Easter Bunnies and toilet roll Easter Chicks. These little Valentine's Day bugs are perfect for holding small sweets and treats.

The gift boxes are so easy to make, and even very young children can help. Simply paint a toilet roll red (I used one whole roll and one cut in half). Then stick on some collage bits - scraps of tissue paper, coloured paper, lace and ribbon. The heart cut outs were left over from making our wedding invitations - six years ago!

Glue a heart shaped piece of red card to the bottom to make feet and a base. Then fill with sweets - chocolate hearts, or anything in red or pink paper or foil. Don't forget the googly eyes, and top with some shredded red paper to be the hair. This would be a great little gift if you were making them in large numbers for a whole class, and when the sweets have been eaten they can be used to store small treasures or pens.

You can find more Valentine's Day crafts for toddlers here - Valentine's Crafts for toddlers

Easy Valentine's Day collage bunting

Decorating for different celebrations is a really good way to get children involved, and this bunting is so easy that as long as a child can hold a glue spreader they can join in.

First you need to cut some heart shapes from red and pink cardboard. I drew a heart free hand, but an easy way to make a heart is to use the shapes from Microsoft Word or similar and print them out. Then collect together an assortment of appropriate collage materials in red and pink - scraps of tissue paper, paper napkins, bits of lace or ribbon, coloured paper, sequins and so on.

Let the children decorate the hearts with plenty of glue. Then when they are dry string them together with some coloured ribbon or string, hang up and enjoy!

My day without technology

Joanne Mallon was challenged by her daughter to attempt a day without technology. I really enjoyed reading her daughter's blog post (link no longer available) and her own blog post about the day, and so I gladly accepted the challenge to have a go myself. I'm afraid that I didn't completely pass, but considering that for most of the day I was at home alone with two young children unable to help me I don't think that I did too badly! I needed to keep my phone on in case my husband or the pre-school needed to contact me. Here's how I got on:

7am - I normally reach straight for my phone, today I got straight up and went in the shower. Hubby left for the gym and work.
7.30am - No toast for breakfast today. The children watched Mickey Mouse while I ate. Normally I would sit at the PC, today I finished and got on with the washing up.
8.55am - Hubby rang to tell me how he got on at the gym.
9.30am - I checked my text messages as we had a playdate and I wanted to make sure that we were still on. No messages but I couldn't help noticing 5 e-mails sat there...
10am - At our playdate, much too busy running after children to miss the phone.
11.45am - Back home. Normally a quick chance to check Facebook, but got on with lunch instead.
12pm - Lunch. Again a PC opportunity but instead I ate in peace and quiet (well as much as possible with two little ones). Fortunately the cooker is allowed so I could eat soup.
1pm - Having dropped Harry off at pre-school I normally push Mia home as quickly as possible so that I can try and get her down for a nap and have some computer time. No point today so I got her out to walk for a bit and she surprised me by walking all the way home (about a mile).
1.35pm - Time to try for a nap. Normally I sit outside the door on my phone, returning Mia to bed every couple of minutes. Instead I tidied our bedroom and packed my gym bag for tomorrow.
1.50pm - Asleep! And much quicker than normal, must be the extra exercise. I treated myself to a slice of cake in front of my jigsaw. It is so quiet, really noticable that the PC is not switched on.
2.25pm - Time for a bit of cross stitch. So peaceful.
3.35pm - Mia woke up. We made flapjacks by hand. Mia ate raisins and played with the scales. Whoops, I've just realised that the scales are electric.
4pm - I needed to make pizza dough for dinner. I'm afraid I cheated and used the mixer, Mia didn't have the patience for me to do it by hand. I did toy briefly with the idea of asking her to turn it on for me though.
4.10pm - Phone made a noise I've not heard before so thought I'd better check it. Something to do with eBay that hubby has set up.
4.15pm - Hubby rings to say when he'll be home (late).
4.30pm - Mia was happily occupied with toys in Harry's room. Normally I would be using the phone, today I started to clean the bathroom and then we played ambulances.
5.15pm - Out to collect Harry. I had to use the car as it was dark.
5.50pm - Both children were sitting on the sofa with books and looking adorable. I ran to get my phone to take a picture, then remembered that I couldn't so watched and enjoyed the moment instead.
6pm - I popped CBeebies on for a bit so that I could get on with dinner.
6.20pm - Children eating again, no PC though instead I tidied up the toys.
7.10pm - Husband home. Tried to talk to him but he was busy sending text messages.
7.30pm - Children in bed, time for us to eat. We ate in silence as he was busy on his phone.
8.15pm - Hubby put the dishwasher on. Suggestion that he could also put some washing in or run the hoover round met with a withering look.
8.20pm - Spent the evening doing my jigsaw with no TV. I did have to look at the computer briefly to help compare broadband deals.
10.30pm - Bedtime with a real, paper book.

Things that I have learned

My phone stays close by me during the day mainly so that I can keep in touch with my husband. Once he was home for the evening I didn't miss it at all.

It's really annoying when other people are playing on their phones all the time and you aren't.

When I don't enter my daily calories into my phone I eat more.

I missed taking photographs to share with my husband or on Facebook.

It's much easier to get on with housework when you are not distracted by the phone.

I get irritable when I am halfway through reading something and get disturbed, if I don't start reading it in the first place then I can't be disturbed and therefore won't be irritable.

I didn't miss out on anything online.

I use my phone for much more than I realised - it's my shopping list, to do list, housework routine manager, calorie counter and weight tracker, recipe book (via Pinterest or e-mails), camera, clock and child entertainer.

Are you up for the challenge? How would you manage? If you'd like to give it a go, let me know how you get on!

Easter craft - Easter chick egg holders from toilet roll tubes

Last Easter I shared some easy to make Easter bunny egg holders from toilet roll tubes. They were based on something that I used to make for my family when I was little as a little Easter gift, sized perfectly for a Cadbury's Creme Egg or similar. Another craft which is just as easy is these cute little Easter chicks.

They are made from a toilet roll tube simply cut in half and painted yellow. The feet are made from some shaped cardboard painted orange, and some wings can be glued on with yellow tissue paper. Then just add some details for the face, I used googly eyes and a triangle of orange felt.

These are so easy for young children to make, and if you let them stick on the accessories they can give each chick its own personality. They would make great Easter gifts for friends or classmates.



A digital postcard from Ghana

I was very excited to find a postcard from Ghana in my mailbox this morning. It has been sent by Annie, Penny and Tanya, who are currently out in Ghana learning about some of the #goodwork that has been done by Comic Relief, thanks to some of the £600 million which has been raised since Comic Relief started in 1988.

These happy children are from a school based on the edge of a slum in Accra, Ghana. There was much excitement when we arrived and my camera flash was the source of much shouting and cheering!

This is a digital postcard sent from TeamHonk (www.mammasaurus.co.uk; www.aresidence.co.uk; www.mummybarrow.com ) during their travels with Comic Relief in Ghana celebrating #goodwork.

For the past 25 years the money raised through Red Nose Day has been changing the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged people in the UK and Africa. Let’s Keep Up the Good Work. 

You can follow the team on #goodwork and #teamhonk

Center Parcs Longleat

We've had some fantastic holidays at Center Parcs since Harry was born. We find that it suits us really well, with nice accommodation and enough to keep us busy for a few days. We've always visited Elveden Forest before, which for some reason is always cheaper. However this time the price at Longleat was comparable, and as this is likely to be our last visit we decided it was time for a change. Why our last visit? Well, Harry starts school in September, and whilst a mid-week break in January doesn't break the bank for us, the amount that prices rise during the school holidays is truly shocking.

The biggest difference I noticed between Elveden and Longleat is that Elveden is completely flat whereas Longleat is very hilly. We also managed to end up in the only villa that I saw with steps down to the front door. I feel that I've had a good workout this week marching up and down a huge hill several times a day!

On this visit we also broke our rule of not paying for any activities (which are also shockingly priced). On the recommendation of a friend we did the Mini Bowling (half price before 10am) which Harry really enjoyed, and even Mia played along for a bit before wandering off.

For the first time we were able to visit the swimming pool (aka the Sub Tropical Swimming Paradise) without having to worry too much about timing it carefully between snacks, naps and attention spans. We visited every day and spent almost two hours there, with everyone having a great time. Despite never having had a swimming lesson, Harry is becoming really confident in the water and can paddle about easily with arm bands. Mia has hardly ever even been swimming, but she was happily going down the slides.

We did struggle slightly with bedtime. For the first time, Harry and Mia were sharing a room with twin beds. As I blogged recently, Mia has just gone into a proper bed, and so it's all still a bit of a novelty. The first hour after 'bedtime' every night was spent returning her to bed after she had climbed out to play with the Groclock, play with the baby monitor, tickle Harry, try to climb into bed with Harry, run and hide in the corner of the room or open the bedroom door and run out. Fortunately after the first night Harry was so exhausted from the swimming and scooter-ing up hills that he fell asleep almost immediately, despite the havoc that was being created around him.

We had a lovely break. It certainly felt a lot more relaxing than some holidays that we have been on with the little ones, and that is definitely down to the fact that it is becoming easier as the children get older. I even had several long stretches to sit down quietly and do a bit of my cross stitch!

I've written about Center Parcs a few times before - here you can find my review of a stay at Elveden and here are some things that you can do for free at Center Parcs Elveden Forest.