We fell in love with Center Parcs when we visited Whinfell earlier in the year. It was a perfect family holiday and had something for everyone in the family. Center Parcs are currently giving people the opportunity to win a break a the Center Parcs Village of their choice with the #wincpbreak competition which they are running on twitter and the Center Parcs facebook page.
It can be hard to find a weekend break that fit’s all family needs, in fact it can be pretty impossible, especially when you have two overactive boys aged seven and eight, a husband that works very hard all week and thinks weekends are for relaxing and me, who just doesn’t want to cook and wants a little me time.
We are delighted to be Center Parcs family bloggers here at the Mad House and cannot wait to start planning our trip to Whinfell Forest and enjoy our first family Center Parcs holiday. Center Parcs are currently running a fantastic competition to win a stocking full of goodies OR a family break at Center Parcs. Below is the stocking full of goodies you have a chance of winning if you enter.
I might not yet have teens, but they do use a different language to me and for others that need some translation then Center Parcs have come to the rescue with their dictionary of teenage slangage (slangage? is that even a word?).
I understand the importance of raising active kids. I have talked about the benefits of team sports for kids previously. Having sporty kids is a real blessing and I am always encouraging them to be active. 10 Ways to raise active kids
How do you record your holiday memories? My boys are very fortunate, blogging has brought us so many fabulous experiences as a family and I want to make sure that we are thankful for them and also record them so we can look back at our experiences and adventures.
We have a rule in The Mad House, which is that we do not partake in the ice cream van, this means that I have a freezer drawer full of ice lollies and we love making homemade ice lollies or popsicles. I never throw away nearly out of date juice or smoothies as they make fab lollies, Just like Kate at Crafts on Sea.
I married a farmer’s son, so it was inevitable that we were going to grow stuff in the garden and not just flowers. This became even more important to us when we had children. We wanted to show them where their food came from and to encourage them to grow their own. This year we are growing shallots, potatoes, carrots, parsnips, peas, runner beans, broad beans, cabbages, cauliflowers, salad leaves, radish, spring onions, tomatoes, strawberries (in hanging baskets) and an array of herbs (dill, basil, cress, flat parsley, chives, mint, sage and fennel). Center Parcs challenged us to share with you a day in our garden for this months Tots100 Center more »
I loved the small stuff meme that went round last year and I have decided that I am going to do a monthly round up of my small stuff. The things that have made me happy, made me smile and made my day over this month. March is a mega month of small stuff for me.
We love board games and have a regular family games night every week in The Mad House. We are rather over-competitive when it comes to games and have a cupboard full of games to choose from. The MiniMads are currently 9 and nearly 8.
Like many families we are squeezed. With work, family commitments, school, diy, sports, beavers, cubs, hobbies and cooking, cleaning and all that comes with a home and much more and since the new rules about holidays during school time we are even more squeezed. We have just Squeezed an awful lot on to a weekend at Center Parcs (come back over the coming week to find out just how much), but Actimel also know a lot about squeezing a lot of good things in to small things. Their 100gram bottles are packed full of yogurt, live cultures, fruit puree, calcium and essentials vitamins B6 and D.
Jen Walshaw is the author of the hugely successful Mum in the Madhouse blog, regularly ranked the UK’s #1 parenting blog. A proud Northern Mum, Jen is a vocal advocate for diversity, body neutrality, and more conversation about the role over 40s women play in the influencer landscape. Jen has been sharing content online for more than ten years and has built up a hugely successful blog that regularly reaches 100,000 readers every month. She also has more than 11,000 followers on Instagram, 45,000 on Facebook, and a monthly Pinterest reach of more than 10 million users. Mum in the Mad House is one of the UK’s top 50 blogs according more »
