Wordless Wednesday

This is Master Craftiness ready for his Autumn Festival. He was met with lots of 'you look funny,' as not a lot of the other kids bothered to dress up. I was very proud of him as he managed to sing in the choir, despite being very uncomfortable in his costume.

Original Gift Company Christmas Express Train

If you are looking for a scene setter for Christmas, then this is it! Place this beneath a Christmas tree or as a table centrepiece and delight all your friends and family. It is little touches like this train that make a house look truly magical. In fact, when you have this in your household it turns your house into a lookalike of Santa's workshop. Truly magical! I found this treasure online at The Original Gift Company.

This is not a toy but a festive decoration. It is made of metal, hand-painted and embossed. As you can see from these photos the detail is really amazing.

It has articulated rolling wheels and is 31" long. I love the detail of the smoke

As soon as December arrives I will be filling up the carriage and train with Cadbury's Roses and candy canes.

Each carriage connects by a hook and loop. The train would look great with some fairy lights draped over it as well. I just love this item, if anyone else has any novel Christmas decorations, I would love to hear from you!

This one is exclusive to The Original Gift Company and priced at £29.95, but will last me forever.

Lakeland Bethlehem Advent Stable

Christmas is coming and what better way to build the excitement and anticipation than with an advent calendar. After evaluating the quality of this advent calendar, I almost feel like substituting the Marks and Spencer slogan. 'Not just any advent calendar, but a Lakeland calendar.' I admired this advent calendar in the Lakeland catalogue for a long while but struggled over the issue of price. It was £59.99, but is now on sale at £39.99, so for anyone who wants a treasure; buy it now. It is most certainly worth it!

Last Christmas I was very ill, I gave birth to my son on the 21st December (induced through having preeclampsia) and on Christmas Day I barely made it downstairs I was so weak. So I vowed this Christmas will be the best ever. SO I decided that meant creating the ultimate Christmas atmosphere, which involved getting the most out of this world calendar. Yes, this one......

So here is my review:

When the postman knocked on the door with the Lakeland package I was immediately surprised by the weight of the box. This calendar is no cheap, flimsy item. It is a heavy, well built, sturdy item that is going to last and last. In fact, I can envision this advent calendar being handed down from generation to generation.

When we pulled the advent calendar out of the box, the whole family gathered around to gasp over the beauty of it. December isn't here yet, and already it demands attention as it is just so beautiful. It has quickly become a centrepiece in my living room.

The whole scene looks like someone has waved a magic wand over a real life scenario, to create this miniature version. That's how realistic the calendar is. The rafters on the roof look real and feel real. You can almost smell the smell of the hay, and see the stars twinkle, as the whole scene is so atmospheric.

As you can see from the below photo, it looks just like the catalogue photo.

Here is the back of the calendar.

Inside the stable. How great is that????The scene is on a revolving base so that you can swivel around 360 degrees for easy access. Inside each of the 24 hinged boxes is a character to make up the Bethlehem scene. Below you can see the quality and details of the characters.

Amazing isn't it?

Whilst I don't see myself as particularly religious, I think it is good for children to know the background of why people celebrate Christmas. It's a lovely way of making Christmas a bit less commercialised and it's great that you don't have to pump your children full of sugar each day! We absolutely adore this calendar, it looks classy, is fantastic quality and drums home the real reason that we celebrate Christmas. Come Christmas Day, this scene is going to look absolutely amazing!

Verdict 5/5

Available from Lakeland

Lifft Sling

When I was asked to review the Lifft sling, I had no preconceptions. Ultimately, I thought that all slings were the same, and were destined to leave me with backache and a rather overheated wriggly baby. When my baby was newborn, I thought a sling would be the answer to all my problems. I thought that I would breeze around the house with baby happily in tow. Alas, after trying the Close carrier and the Wilkinet slings I thought that that would be the end of any babywearing for me. As a member of the ABM (Association of Breastfeeding mothers) I had read so many stories of positive stories of babywearing, which left me feeling frustrated when the slings I used didn't work for me. Too many fiddly strings and a wriggly baby was a nasty combination.

With my first son I didn't do any research, just bought the first sling that I found which was the Wilkinet sling - which was the worst thing I could have done. Struggling with the strings was enough to put me off straight away, and I never tried again until my second son.

Desperate to give slings a second try, I made sure I done my research the second time around. It was a tough decision - I couldn't make my mind up between the Close Carrier and the Lifft sling. In the end I went for the Close carrier because of the fact that I wanted me and my husband to be able to use the sling. The Lifft sling works specifically on sizes. I hated the Close carrier.

Anyhow, I received my Lifft sling and it looked very trendy with the Lifft logo emblazoning the front but I was very dubious and was holding out no hope of it actually working. That was when I was very pleasantly surprised!

I couldn't believe the simplicity of the design and how this design worked so well! There was no messing around; baby was in there within a few seconds. The instructions were easy to understand and baby was instantly contented. This was such a relief for me as I suffer with a curvature of the spine which made my back ache terribly after carrying my baby throughout the day. This was like an instant cure to my problem and my son seemed to love the closeness.

Because of my son's age (10 months) we could only test out the side position, I just wish I had tried this sling earlier.

What do I feel is different about this over other slings?

• The sling operates solely on size. So each sling is catered specifically around your build. Meaning that it doesn't droop anywhere and feels nice and snug. The most obvious difference is there no fiddling with buckles or ties.
• The Lifft sling is the only sling scientifically proven to improve posture whilst carrying your baby.
• The sling looks stylish and sleek

Before actually testing out the sling, I would have complained about the fact that a partner/husband wouldn't be able to wear as well. Now I have used it, I understand the way the sling operates and because it is so easy to get on and off it just makes babywearing bliss.

To roundup, my three favourite things about this sling:

• Ease of use
• It looks lovely wearing the sling; other slings can be quite ugly.
• Comfort when using.

And I loved the fact that when my son fell asleep on me with the sling, it didn't even wake him up when I removed him from the sling! Thanks to Lifft I have now found an element of freedom that I didn't know existed whilst having a baby! Thank you!

For more info see Lifft

Santa in the City Decorations

Lime Green and Pink Dot Balls

 

Dangling Ball Ornaments

 

Glass Cone Shaped Tree

Diva Heels

More to come!

Santa in the City!

 

Santa in the City!

Your whimsy tree! Polka dots, pinks, divas, reindeer, huge lighted balls and lighted Christmas presents. Cheery, fun tree!

Toy Story Mania - Wii

There are times when being a mum of boys is very hard work, particularly when it comes to play-time. We go down the crafty route a lot, but when it comes to playing it usually revolves bashing a few figures around in pretend fights. I don't think my knuckles can take much more in terms of toys bashing against them. So you can imagine my delight in discovering this game for the Wii. My favourite movie in the whole world is Toy Story, so I was more than pleased at the thought of some mother/son bonding time over a Wii game.

Putting it in to the Wii Machine, we set about playing and gathered our verdict..........

Firstly, it was great to be greeted with the familiar voice of Buzz Lightyear. No cheap voice imitations used here. This immediately made me warm to the game, knowing that we were able to interact with some of our favourite characters in a sense.

The game is based on a ride in Walt Disney World. If the game is anything to go by, the ride must be a lot of fun. We had fantastic fun and with over 25 games combining arcade style shooting and various arcade-style games we were spoilt for choice. Up to 4 players can play this game, which I am sure would make a good competitive evening. You also have the choice of wearing 3D glasses which come with the game, but unfortunately we weren't very impressed with this aspect. It seemed to make game play more disorientating.

The game contains over 25 mini-games in which you earn points which can be used to unlock bonus items. Whilst it's not a particularly challenging game for adults, it is a game children will enjoy as goals are obtainable. Choose between 'Story' or 'Free Play'. Story mode involves you completing the required objectives before you can unlock the particular level in free play. Once you have unlocked 'Free Play' mode you can pick and choose which level you want to play.

We particularly enjoyed:

• The range of shooting games which require point and click action. Great for improving hand - eye coordination in children. If you are playing multi-player on this game, this usually revolves you all falling around with laughter, whilst frantically trying to beat each other.
• Trying to hit the most targets.
• Doing a spot of fishing.
  
• Trying our strength with the hammer.
• Hamm's egg toss.
• Bo Peep and her balloon pop.
• Buzz Lightyear's ring toss.
• The Army Men's plate breaking.
• Woody's suction gun shooting.

The quality of the game is excellent and holds the same level of credence as the movie for me. Highly addictive and highly recommended! Would make a great Christmas gift!