Monthly Archives: August 2011

Back to School with Tesco Clothing and £15 voucher to give away 24

 in mini mads  tagged clothing / giveaway / Tesco by

have to admit the set that we got from Tesco Clothing was a godsend last year and the shirts and polo’s washed really well. As last years trousers didnt have adjustable wastes they fell down on my stick insect children, but this year they sent us a pair of the finnest trousers for each of the boys, which have adjustable waists and are a wool blend, so quite luxurious and hard wearning.

Not only did they send a uniform set for each of the boys, but they also gave me a £30 voucher (which I have spent on a dress for The Mad Blog Awards).

Giveaway
I also have a code to give a lucky reader and commenter their own £15 voucher for Clothing at Tesco. Al you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I will draw the winner by randum number generator tomorrow night (29/08/11) at 8.0opm.

B Organic Soothing Balm

 in Review  tagged B Organic / ezema / review / skin by

I recently wrote a post about my boys having Eczema and what products we use. I have to admit that we were introduced to B Organic via twitter and that they asent us a jar of their organis soothing balm (£13) to try.

We like: It works! I guess that is high priase in itself. it really made a masive different to Maxi’s ezema which is in his creases and in small patches over his body. The balm is a thick substance so it creates a protective fim over the skin, which means it is great as a barrier cream for when he is swimming, which can cause flare ups. I love that the products are Paraben-free, Ethoxylate-free, Propylene Glycol-free, Silicone-free, DEA-free and artificial colour-free.
We wernt keen: As it is quite thick it means th

Having a blast at Beamish, the living museum of the North East

 in day out  tagged beamish / day trips / days out / museums by

he fact that there is all this history there and accessibly for the boys, made it a joy to visit. The boys were filled with loads of questions and there were plenty of staff (all dressed up in period style costume) on hand to answer them We made a run for the tea room from the park area once the rain started and it was great to see that most of Beamish is accessibly to buggy and wheelchair users.

You do not have to walk round the 300 acre grounds, as there is plenty of other modes of transport available to you including trams and an accessible bus. We took the tram to our next destination, the Pockerly Wagon Way for a ride, which all the children loved. We then had

A Great Community Gala Day 2

 in sponsored post  tagged Corus Sports and Social Club / Day trip / Gala Day / The Club by

It was a really bitter sweat day for us, as we normally would always go with my mum, but the boys had a fantastic day, watching their cousin dance with the Clubs dance group. Mini was voted as having the fancy dress costumes by the Major (so it couldn’t be classed as a fix). Mini also got to work with the birds of prey (he was the first to volunteer).

The boys tried their hands at archery and rock climbing too and it was a fantastic day. So well done to Debbie and the other people involved, you really did a fantastic job.

When good words turn bad! 6

 in maximad / mini mads  tagged Maxi Mad / maximad / Maxisms / parenting by

arly on down the journey that is raising children, MadDad and I decided that we wanted to call the boys sexual organs by the correct names, so Penis, Testicular, Scrotum, it is. Along the years Willie has nipped in too, but we don;t have pet names for them. Partly this was down to my experience growing up. My vagina was called a “frou frou” and my brothers penis was his tail. For a long time I thought that boys had tails to help them balance like animals and I don’t remember when I learned

Teabagging…… I had no idea 34

 in mini mads  tagged maxi / Mini / minimads / parenting / teabagging by

Maxi came running home from the green the other week

“Mummy, Mini has been teabagged”

Now forgive me, but I had no idea what teabagged was, but it didnt sound good. So I dedided to look it up on Wikipedia and safe to say I was gobsmaked and decided that I needed to investigate further.

So I got the boys together and asked them to demonstrate to me what teabagging was (with some trepidation as to what I was going to see). Maxi made Mini kneal on the floor and then ground his pubic area in his face, which thankfully isnt exactly teabagging, I tried very hard to keep a straight face and look suitably offended by what I had just seen.

Crayola 3D Pavement Chalk

 in Review  tagged crayola / pavement chalk / reviews by

I love toys that encourage outside play and have let the boys lose on our pavements with both chalk and homemade paint before now, so we were happy to review the Crayola 3D pavement chalk.

We liked:
The chalk is both simple to use and effect and yes it is 3D. It is very reasonably priced currently under £4 on amazon.co.uk. It does come off easily after a rain shower or event a watering can of water.

We wernt keen:

Letting go and letting the Children play outside 18

 in parenting  tagged free range. / freedom / parenting by

MadDad had an idyllic and pretty independent childhood. It was very Enid Blyton, well it would be he lived and grew up on a farm and spent most of the summer holidays returning home only to eat and sleep. I grew up with a pretty similar upbringing. We would venture out on our bikes to the nature reserve, the allotment, park or the beach. I loved it and when I was small we were allowed in certian peoples houses and the back alley.
One of our reasons for returning to our native North East was the fact that we wanted to give our boys a taste of the freedom we grew up with. Now before anyone starts with the kiddie fidlers and all that. I am a firm believer that there were such people when I was growing up and I distinctly remember being flashed at the local park, however, I also believe that there are not more of them nowadays, just that we are more aware of the dangers.

Playmobil My Knights Takealong Knights Shield Playset 4

 in Review  tagged playmobil / playmobile Knights shield playset / review / takealong playset by

We have had a Playmobil takealong castle in the past and have been really disappointed in it, so I was interested to see if this set withstood the whirlwind that is MIniMad.

I love the idea of takealong toys, the fact that you can pack up all the parts in them for safekeeping appeals to the OCD in me, but they have to be workable for play first and formost. The Knights Shield Playset (4217) £24.99 is a real multi facited play set. Not only do you have a castle and four knights, a horse and weponds, but you also have a child sized sheild and soft sword, which went down a real treat with Mini.

We liked: