UK Recipe - Fabulous Fun 2 Minute Make Kids Silly Putty/ Slime

Over the last couple of weeks I have been testing out loads of slime recipes and trying to find one that works every time with UK ingredients. I have at last been successful and here is the recipe -

Ingredients - 

• PVA glue (clear is best but white works fine) 
• Bicarbonate of soda
• Food colouring (or you can use paint)
• Contact lens solution (must have boric acid as an ingredient)
• Optional - baby oil, to stop the slime being sticky
• Optional - shaving foam to make fluffy slime

A Beautiful Day for a Dog Walk on the Beach

One of the biggest benefits of having moved to East Sussex is being close to the beach. It is my go to happy place whatever the weather but especially when the sun is shining.

Earlier in the month my Dad joined my girls and I to take the dog for a walk down on Bexhill seafront and then have a bacon sandwich and cuppa at Kerry's cafe (you guessed it, it was pre-slimming world!). We had a wonderful couple of hours together before he had to head off on the long drive back home.

Both girls were wearing their new ECCO boots with built-in GORE-TEX technology to keep their feet dry and warm in these wet and wintry months. This meant when they walked on the stones, run towards the waters edge or climbed and ran I didn't bat an eyelid about how their footwear would hold up as I know I can trust any pair of shoes or boots that GORE-TEX have approved to work with. Their checks are super intensive and they only work with the best and most trusted shoe-makers.

Kidzania - A Kids Paradise in London's Westfield Centre

I've been dealing with a very tired 9 year old today, she didn't get to sleep until gone 11pm last night and now she is jumpy and hyper-sensitive. Thank the Lord that our 1pm arrival time has come around for entry into Kidzania as she may now finally calm down a little and settle in to her afternoon of fun!

At the beginning of the year my 9 year old twin girls came to Kidzania with their school class and loved it. It was all they talked about for a couple of weeks. So when it got close to JJ's 13th birthday and he said he fancied a visit too, I jumped at Kidzania's offer to host our family on a date of our choice. We visited on Saturday 8th October for the 4 hour slot commencing at 1pm and I expected it to be heaving but thankfully I was wrong (although the girls tell me it was busier than the school day they had last visited).

Arrival

As our tickets had been booked in advance for us we had printed tickets and this meant we could head straight inside Kidzania and go up the three floor to the British Airways departure lounge. Check-in was easy and the member of staff very smiley and friendly, he certainly knew how to relate to kids. He checked if the kids had any allergies or additional needs and fitted us all with a security bracelet. This meant the kids couldn't leave without my husband or myself and it also acts as a location tracker.

They were handed 50 kidZos each (money just available for the children to earn and spend in Kidzania) and the girls explained to their brother how he earns or spent them. Miss E had saved some KidZos from her previous visit and thus had enough to open a bank account if she wanted. This was the cause of great excitement.

Review: Cool Cardz Scratcheez

It was my girl's birthday last weekend and they were super pleased to receive the "Boho Chic" themed Cool Cardz Scratcheez to review as it meant they could make little thank-you cards for the girls that came along and celebrated with them. You can make all sorts though, whatever takes your fancy - party invites, VIP passes, secret club cards etc.

The Cool Cardz range is something most young girls (aged roughly 6 - 12 years) will enjoy as it combines creativity with cool and there are loads of different sets to choose from. You make little credit card sized laminated cards for any occasion. This boxed set comes with a Boho Chic handbag design studio, 20 cards and laminate pockets as well as some gems, two sheets of stickers, a pen, a couple of ring stampers and the new scratcheez stickers.

More My Kind of Camping

The family are all preparing for their various camps that are coming up over the next couple of months but I've already mentioned I'm not very into camping. The thought of a hard and uneven floor and potentially cold nights and rain just don't appeal.

I can get on board with the idea of building my own camp out of Lego though and that is exactly what I had planned to do after the girls arrived home from school but Miss E (who is my major LEGO fan) informed me that the new LEGO Friends Adventure Camp Rafting Playset we had been sent to review said it was for children aged 6 plus and seeing as she is 8, nearly 9 she wouldn't be needing me at all.

We're off out for a run Mum!

This was the shout I heard most mornings about 8.30am during half-term week. My twins are just 8 years old but already they want to get out and have a run.  I'd love to tell you that they have got it from dh and I but my running efforts this year were pretty appalling and thwarted by health ailments and dh's well, who knows the last time he ran anywhere! lol

No, it is lucky we live in a close-knit Christian community with about 50 young adult volunteers as this means my children have some superb role models to follow in the footsteps of. One of the things they seem to be copy-catting right now is having a bi-daily run and I can't moan at that. Nor the fact that JJ has been using our new gym on site, that is fabulous too.

It was a complete coincidence that Miss E moaned to me on the Wednesday of half-term that she had no suitable footwear as it is muddy round the lake and wellies don't cut-it when you want to run and then we received a package of three pairs of truly stunning Adidas trainers with waterproof GORE-TEX® technology. The kids were over the moon when they unpacked them.

Breakfast with Santa - The Kids Can't Wait!

I don't know about you but I've always had mixed feelings about taking the kids to meet Santa.  I know they love it when they are small but very often it costs an absolute fortune, you wait in queue for literally hours and it ends up being a massive anti-climax as your child hates the pound shop tat they are given as a gift.

It really has been a love:hate relationship in the past. The dreams I had in my head for that special white filled day where the kids smile the whole time and behave like angels often ends up with a meltdown and an early bedtime.  Well, no longer there is now a fabulous solution that both adults and children can enjoy together.

Half Term Fun and Memorable Moments #GetPopped

What a great half-term week we have had. I wasn't sure whether to book a holiday but the kids all asked to stay home and just have some days out so that is what we did and it fitted in really well as just before half-term Popchips (the popped potato snack) challenged me to have six days of enjoyable experiences and to take a packet of Popchips with me for each.

They set the challenge to celebrate the launch of their new 6 pack multipacks, which are available in Sea Salt and BBQ flavours. I can genuinely tell you that I am so glad they set me this challenge as I'd not tried Popchips before and I really like them. As someone who needs to be cutting down on calories they are my new best friend at around 70 calories for a packet.

Popchips believe that every day should be filled with joyful and light-hearted moments and I set about capturing those. Not just the moments that you know are pretty special but also the ones that are easily missed and must not be taken for granted. I wrote recently about how important it is to choose joy and to make sure you live in the moment and delight in the small stuff.

Review: Y Flicker Air A3 Scooter

For quite some time now my girls have been going on at me about the new style scooters, the ones that have split foot boards and you can ride them without putting your feet on the floor. Miss M has been the one, on and on she has badgered, can she have one and I said yes, if she paid for it.  They both have perfectly good regular scooters and I didn't want to be spending money out where I didn't need to.

It was for this reason that when I saw the Yvolution Y Flicker Air A3 Scooter available for review I applied straight away. When all three kids arrived home from school and saw the scooter box there was whoops of joy and both the 8 and 12 year olds were equally as happy and could not wait to try it out. I have to say I thought it would be Miss M that rode it most and would not be willing to give it up to the other two but actually it has been her twin Miss E who is besotted with her scooter. She has been ready at 7.30am each morning before school so she can have at least 1/2 hours play before school. I can not moan at that!

Science4You - Perfume Factory Review

Look at those happy faces.  I've just spent an hour with each of the girls having one on one time and they just thrive on it. We were sent the Science4You Perfume Factory set to review and it has created not only a great learning opportunity for the girls but also a wonderful time for us to chat and enjoy each others company. We have talked about the science of how each of their perfume and beauty products have been made but also what it means to be a woman and how and if we have to use products to beautify ourselves. It has been so good for them to see for themselves that too much scent in a product is over powering and off-putting and we've discussed that make-up is down to personal choice and not a necessity for youthful skin.

Below is the set we received, it came in a nice large (sturdy) box and retails at £19.99. I was impressed with the amount of items we received in the kit as other kits we have had like this before have been a bit skimpy and we have constantly been washing a pipette or such. You can definitely tell this is a premium product and the girls liked the fact they had two different cosmetic colourings (pink and blue) and three fragrances (vanilla, lemon and peach) wthin the set.

My Crazy Kids - Schools Out for Summer.....

One of my jobs this summer is to sort out all my photos and get them catalogued away. Today I made a start on this and came across some photos I took of the kids in their school uniform having fun last November. I've used the odd one on the blog but as a set I found them really quite funny and very telling of my children's personalities.

As JJ has now left primary and won't be wearing this uniform anymore, I thought I would put them on here so I can enjoy them in the future.

I asked them to model their school uniform as their actual school photos had been awful and this was the first shot they gave me! Bottoms up.....

Dear So and So - Yay for Half Term

Whoop, whoop it is half term and I absolutely adore having the kids off. No having to get up at silly o'clock and lots of time having fun!

Dear JJ,

I'm so glad you had a wonderful weekend at Scout camp, we knew you would but we also knew you would come home and be as grumpy as anything. I am praying you get a fabulous nights sleep so that I get my nice boy back tomorrow and don't have to confiscate that iPad!

I mean it, pop a smile on your face! Mum xx
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To all volunteer Scouting leaders and helpers,

Sincerely, thank you so much for all you do. It makes a real difference to so many children's lives and I know at times it feels as if you are an unpaid babysitting service and as if no-one appreciates you but we do. I really do and I know JJ and the girls do too. I think they have possibly joined the best scout group in the country and I'm not just saying that as dh is one of the leaders. Although that sure makes it fun for all the kids when they are young. I was very proud watching the girls being invested on Tuesday night.

A grateful mummy

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I never dreamed we'd be a wetsuit kind of family! #CountryKids

Our lake that the kids love to swim in every day in summer and a wetsuit makes it so much more pleasant

That might seem like a strange statement. What is a wetsuit kind of family you might ask?

Just not one I ever thought I'd be part of is the honest answer. Growing up no-where near the sea and with parents who were not exactly adventurous I've never done any kind of activity that means I needed to don a wetsuit and now being a larger lady I suspect I may never. My husband grew up in similar circumstances and whilst he did lots of adventurous scouting type things when he was young, kids didn't really wear wetsuits when we were young.

Now our lives have changed beyond recognition and we live in 220 acres of beautiful land and have three lakes, one of which has a dedicated swimming area but of course it is cold so the kids want a wetsuit as they love to take a dip every day after school. I'm so looking forward to the nicer weather and them being able to enjoy the lake for swimming and boating.

Dear So and So - Bank Holiday Weekend Edition

Dear School,

I'm so pleased you choose to have an inset day on Friday, meaning that we got a four day weekend. It has gone in a flash but that chilled first day really set the kids up so they could then have three full-on busy days.

However, I could sincerely do without them being off on Thursday for the election. It does bug me that I can't take them out for one day to have a long weekend away but you can close the school for the election when there is a perfectly good village hall down the way!

Sincerely Mrs Pannell

Go on, say yes for a change....

It is all too easy as a parent to get in the habit of saying no when your child asks for something. I totally get why we do it, so much they ask for involves mess or work for us and to be honest some days we just want an easy life but I'd urge you to consider saying yes to your child at least once a day.

It really does help them to realise they have value and that their ideas matter. Oh and your yes can lead to a whole mass of fun like this water fight the girls had the other night.

Miss E asked me early in the day if she could have a water fight but I was busy and really did not want to clean up a house full of water so instead of no, I offered her a water fight after tea right before bath time. I had the towels ready by the front door, filled up their buckets and water guns and sat down on the bench outside my house to enjoy the show.

They had a ball, have a look...

Can you tell Miss E was the really cheeky one, she kept soaking her twin!

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Autumn Bucket LIst

I was over at Claire's earlier today and I felt inspired by her Autumn bucket list. I've never done a bucket list before (that's pretty shocking to have reached 40 and not done one isn't it?). So it was time to rectify that and here is what I plan to get up to over the next three months -

Bring it on - I'm looking forward to all these things and I actually (for once) have the time to do them. Thank you Lord.

What are you planning for this Autumn, anything fun?

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Caption this #SatCap

It's been a long time since I joined in with #SatCap, so this post is well overdue. Why don't you come and join in with Cat and share your photo for captioning too.

What is my JJ up to?? Hot me with your best suggestions -

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Growing garden peas, oh so easy!

I like a spot of gardening, you know when I have time and I have to be honest there has not been that much time of late and really I have no enthusiasm for it at the moment either. We are selling the house and moving to the countryside and that has not made me want to plant any flowers this year or tend to our vegetable patch. Right now after this heatwave our grass is like golden straw and seeing as I gave the strimmer away a couple of months back areas are a tad overgrown!

However, I just want to show you that despite my neglect the garden is still growing and the peas that dh just slung in the raised bed before he moved away have done wonderfully - despite me not watering them, nor tying them to the canes to help them grow tall! #whoops

It is so good to get the kids involved and last year they loved growing their own carrots, spuds, courgettes etc and in the future they will be even more garden savvy as the house we are going to live in has numerous fruit and veg gardens in the grounds!

I'm joining in with Mammasaurus -

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I sang, danced, spoke, cried and laughed at BritMums Live

Ready to start the day on Saturday

Saturday I returned from BritMums Live and boy what a whirlwind weekend it has been. I had such a fun time and loved being a BritMums butterfly, it was a real privilege to get to talk to a million and one different bloggers.  OK, that is an a bit of an exaggeration but I honestly think I managed to say hi to at least 300 people.

What did I think of the conference? Brilliant, amazing, great fun, super, emotional, touching, a privilege - there are so many words I could use to describe my time out this weekend. I hardly went to a session at all and I think that is what comes of having been to a few conferences and having blogged for quite a number of years now. This weekend was all about the people - the meals with friends, the coffee shared, the hugs (yes even the hugs and I'm so not a hugger), the frivolous conversations with people I have chatted online to for ages but never yet met in real life and meeting a whole bunch of newer bloggers for the first time. BritMums Live is brilliant, I do love it and I will be coming again next year and yes I'll be a butterfly again if they'll have me.

Finding my style...
One thing I really enjoyed this conference that I've not experienced before was a style consultation with TK Maxx. This is not the normal type of thing I would sign up for, my assumption would be that there is not that much they can do for me as I'm pretty large and that really I'm doing OK myself anyway.  I was sent to take a seat and this uber glamorous red-head greeted me with a big smile. She asked me what I was there for, what did I want to know?  Ohh, no idea I told her, I had just heard that the sessions were fab and I got brave for five minutes. I started to feel a tad nervous and gabbling about how I never did things like this as I'm fat and fat people don't have stylists.

My stunning TK Maxx stylist

I need not have worried, she was really lovely and made me feel so at ease. There wasn't any outfits for me to try on (being a large lady) and to be honest I was glad of that as it was too hot but we did go in the dressing room together and she asked if she could adjust my bra to show me the difference good underwear can make.  Well let it be known that when you hoick my bra up I look far slimmer. I always thought I did OK in terms of bra fit but it turns out I should probably go down a back size and go up two cup sizes. What a difference this made to me, my torso lengthened visibly and for the first time in years my boobs looked bigger than my belly - yay!

Never before have I seen any value in personal styling but I would definitely give it a go for real now.  I'm thinking the MAD blog awards in September will be a great time to see what someone can do for me, although of course you perhaps need to be a bit cautious with a free personal shopper/ stylist who works for a store as they have an obligation to get sales and I wonder if they might tell me I looked fabulous when really it was just OK.

It was good to hear that I am doing some things right in the style and fashion stakes. Apparently wearing patterns on my torso is a good move as this breaks up my ahem 'problem area' and then instead of the light cardi I had on Saturday I should go for dark colours to slim me down but pinning my butterfly badge just under my chest to create a soft waterfall look at the front of the cardi was a smart move.

The stylist (I really should have asked her name!) asked me what bodyshape I felt I was and I said presumably an apple as all my weight retains around the middle, I have at least 4 or 5 spare tyres instead of the classic one.  She got me to stand up and do a spin and informed me I was in fact an hourglass but I was just retaining some excess tummy weight. Ohh make my day, how fabulous to hear that if I lose some weight I would go all Jesscia Rabbit.

She told me layered tops, ones with detailing at the tummy area and those with fabrics that lift away from my tummy are the right way forward. I can even wear little belts to help accentuate my waist.  I told her I lost my waist many years ago and no she tells me I'm wrong, if my boobs are wear they should be I in fact have a good waist it is just higher than I might have thought. Apparently I'm balanced in terms of my shoulders to my hips but I could do with a narrower leg on my jeans. She confirmed that I'm right to go with high-waisted jeans so I don't get cut in the middle.

I was interested to hear that if I am wearing light colours on my top half I should go bold with my lipstick to give a focal point but if I am wearing bold and dark colours on top then no lipstick is necessary, it is all about my eyes. Of course the suggestion came up that I should wears heels sometimes, particularly wedges and do I really like wedges but the comfort factor is so much more with flats I find.

All this advice managed to fit into about ten minutes and I was a happy lady. I have a £100 Debenhams voucher at the moment and I'll be scheduling myself a bra fitting in the near future.  I have always thought that £25 was a lot of money for a bra but after this advice I imagine I might be spending a whole lot more than that!

With the beautiful Butterflies (image credit - A Residence)

Speaking with confidence
I sat on a panel on Saturday afternoon to talk about what it is like to work with charities, we only attracted a small intimate audience and this was great as it meant we could really chat to people and answer their questions. Check out my top tips post if you would like to work with charities and you can see what happened on my blogger journeys to Ethiopia and Belarus last year for a flavour of how things can work with blogger/ charity partnerships.

The highlight of the event...
Had to be the blogger keynote speakers and the tribute to Kerry (Our own Multiple Mummy). It was an immense privilege to end the conference singing my heart out to 'Kerry you are a firework' and remembering her beauty and contribution to parent blogging. It was also special to honour the other MM Matilda Mae and I was so proud to watch Jennie conduct herself with such elegance cross the whole weekend. Kylie from Not even a bag of sugar also excelled herself reading her post 'Jimmy Saville is Dead'. Then as a tonic to the sadness it was great to laugh along with some fabulous bloggers with more light hearted posts.

Watch out for me at BritMums Live 2014 I hope to be arriving a much more clothes confident Mich than I did this year.......  see you then.

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Review: Entertainment and Activities at Butlins, Bognor Regis

You might have seen that we took a recent 4 night, 5 day break to Butlins in Bognor Regis, you can check out my review of the Wave hotel. I thought I should probably share our opinions on the onsite entertainment and activities on the resort too.

First off I made a short video to share some pictures and video clips of some of the great shows and activities available -




Splash Waterworld -
We have been to all 3 Butlins and every one of them has a great Splash area with lazy river, wave area, kids slides, water canons, bubble pools,  flumes and raft rides.  I'll be honest, they are play pools far more then serious swimming but then play is what family holidays are about. The changing rooms are mixed sex and massive and there are enough lockers, even when it is chocca busy. You can also get involved in extra activities for a cost of £5 a session for aqua gliders, aqua walkers and even swim lessons. Bognor is probably the smallest waterworld but has our favourite slides.

Soft play -
I think Bognor Regis has the best soft play of all the Butlins, my kids had a great time on it, luckily JJ was just 1/2 cm within height to be able to use it. There are separate areas for the smaller and bigger kids and where it is in the main Skyline parents can grab a seat anywhere close they fancy, directly outside are benches or now mine are that bit older I was able to enjoy a coffee in the cafe nearby.

Bobs Yard -
At Bognor Regis there are four small fairground type rides that the little ones love. From about 1 - 7 years they are still a hit. We never waited longer than 5-10 minutes for any of them. There is also the popular puppet theatre.

Sports sessions -
There are tons of different sporting sessions available, some for specific age groups and others for all the family to enjoy together. JJ joined his 9-12 years Club Red group to do archery and absolutely had a ball. There is also football, beach volleyball, fencing, cricket etc

Children's Clubs - 
As I mentioned JJ joined the Club Red on a few occasions, once to just chill with computer games and chat to new friends, another time he went geo caching and apparently this was EPIC and then again to do archery.  There were also various sessions that he did not take part in as we were busy or he did not fancy the craft or dancing, but the good thing is you can dip in and out.

The girls joined the 5-8 year old group and did a few 'get busy' sessions, at this age the parent needs to stay with them and I would recommend you get there early as there is no booking in advance but there is lots of fun and good craft activities.

Crazy Golf -
JJ and his Nanny really enjoyed the crazy golf and at £2.50 per person it does not break the bank. However, you could easily go through the week without having to do any of the extra paid activities to be honest. Nanny said she found the course a bit hard as there were too many obstacles but JJ loved it.

Adventure play park & Billy's play garden
Outside the onsite family pub is the wooden adventure play park, this is great when the sun is shining and all the kids can run off some energy. There is also a nice safe, enclosed park for under 5's next to the Shoreline hotel.

Live Shows - 
There are more live shows than you can possibly watch in a week, some you just turn up for, others require booking (but have no cost). The video above will have shown you a clip of a few but my favourite was the Story book Panto. The girls loved Thomas Sodor Celebration and the Skyline gang and JJ was sad to have missed the superslam wrestling. The quality of the shows is really high but do expect things to be busy, you need to get to the Skyline or Centre Stage early if you want to get prime seats. We never bothered with that and nearly always turned up 5 minutes before start time, we were able to get chairs but not near the front.

Fairground -
The Bognor Regis fairground has been fully refurbished for this year, I wrote about this a couple of months ago and you can see some fabulous snaps in the video clip above. On busy days do expect to wait 5-15 minutes to get on a ride and make sure you check height and age restrictions.  JJ was upset to find he could ride the dodgems alone in Minehead in April this year but needed to be 13 years old for Bognor, most strange.

The resort -
In all we loved our holiday at Butlins, the resort is really green, clean and tidy and there is so much to do.  Too much in fact and I find you have to be quite strict with yourself to make sure you plan in some down time and just relax. As our kids get older and can go off alone for periods of time Butlins will be even better as it is a super safe environment to allow them their first small tastes of freedom.

Our kids took their scooters (and so did a few others) and they had a lot of fun going round the park and getting rid of their excess energy!

Out and about -
We also enjoyed taking a walk off resort and discovered the wonderful Hotham Park (literally just across the road). The kids met lots of new friends there and enjoyed the play park, adventure park, boating lake, model railway and pitch and put golf.

The land-train which runs up the seafront is also nice for the smaller ones and we visited the traditional arcade at the pier, as well as taking a casual stroll into Bognor Regis town to look round the charity shops.

On this holiday we made the decisions not to drive out anywhere and explore and this was an easy choice for us as we know the area well. If you come to visit and fancy heading out then head to Chichester for some great shopping, Littlehampton for a nice sandy beach, Worthing for traditional seaside fun, Arundel for a beautiful castle and generally explore the beauty of the South Downs.

In conclusion -
We had a superb week at Butlins and I'd like to say a heartfelt thank-you for choosing me to be an ambassador this year. I genuinely have nothing to go home and grumble about (well expect maybe being a bit tried as we packed so much in our week!).

I'll leave you with my kids, filmed on the last night. This is what they had to say about their stay -

Disclosure: I am a Butlins Ambassador this year and as such we were provided with a 4 night break for 6 people for the purpose of undertaking this review. I have not been told what to write and I remain honest.

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