When I was about eleven years old we used to watch a programme on television called Challenge Anneka. It was one of the Saturday night entertainment spots for my generation of children and along with ‘Noel’s House Party ‘ and ‘Blind Date’, was one of my favourites!   One of the episodes I remember was the challenge for Anneka to get a load of celebrities to help make a children’s tape. As with many of the episodes the challenge was […]

It’s hard to believe in this day and age that children are still starving to death in the world. We use the phrase ‘I’m starving’ so flippantly and probably without even thinking that for some it isn’t just a flip comment but a very real circumstance. Drought and poverty cause malnutrition to children. Somewhere this morning as we leave some of our breakfast because we’re not that keen on what we’re eating there is a little child just like mine […]

When I was little my eyes were always drawn to the adverts during children’s prime time television programmes – I was a little consumer. I knew exactly which toys and gizmos I was interested in and would then spend hours pouring over the toy catalogues afterwards marking pages and leaving my parents in the full knowledge of what I wanted for Christmas! Florence is exactly the same and is always declaring she’d like such and such then finding it in the […]

We were very happy to take part in the #Hungry2Happy Challenge set by Britmums using Richmond Mini Meatballs in our recipe! We hope you enjoy our quick and easy meal which my little ones thought was fab! I like to make food fun as it really gets my two interested in eating, something they’re not generally keen to take much interest in. The Richmond meatballs were actually of a much higher meat content than I had presumed and I was […]

A while ago I won a competition with some fabulous Fisher Price prizes. There was quite a lot so we have been taking our time to play with everything. I have written about other items on my blog because mainly we have been very impressed with the toys and baby equipment. I like the way the Fisher Price things are made in a sturdy and lasting way, the colours are always bright and engaging and they usually work very well […]

My children are not fabulous eaters it has to be said. Jimmy eats way more than Florence did at the same age but still, looking at my friends babies I would say he doesn’t eat very much at all and Florence, well, talk about picky! I often have to pick sweetcorn, beans or even bits of rice out of things, at times separate the food on her plate and not have any sauce of any kind touching the rest of […]

Lambeth parents celebrate as one family wins FREE childcare for a year A while back I wrote about the London Early Years Foundation open day that we attended. This year The London Early Year’s Foundation, a group of private nurseries, is celebrating 110 years of offering first class day care and parenting support and in true celebratory style they were holding a big competition with a BIG prize! They asked parents to visit one of their 24 nurseries in 6 boroughs of London, […]

We spent bank holiday weekend and a few more days at my Mum’s in Norfolk and in typical Mum style she had dug out a load of old bits and bobs for me to decide if I wanted to keep them or not. Nestling among the many piles of papers which included the screen play to Pretty Woman given to me by my best friend (kept) and a lot of old birthday cards (binned) I found an old school report […]

Around three years ago my little sister Phoebe, who was then 9, came to stay with us for a couple of days. I remember her watching the BBC programme Horrible Histories on the computer for absolutely ages and chuckling away. (Their site has games and programme information too.) She kept asking Jonny to come and see it, wanting to share the fun and he sat with her for ages watching episode after episode. Later on that day I said to him […]

I’m Going away for the night this weekend for a friend’s 40th birthday. We’re going to a spa hotel where as well as pampering, I intend to try and sleep as much as possible! There will also be alcohol! I’ve bought some sparkling wine from a friend who works at an independent wine merchants in Essex. He recommended NV Blanc De Blancs, Charles Pelletier and I know his recommendation will be perfect – we’ve drunk wine he’s recommended before! My […]