366 Competition: Snapfish

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A few months ago, I had the pleasure of reviewing some products for snapfish, the online digital photo shop. When I was browsing the range of products to choose from, I was astounded at the variety: in addition to the the usual cards, canvasses and photobooks, there were calendars, mugs, coasters, Christmas ornaments, notebooks, magents, personalised toddler storybooks and a range of Disney gifts. It made it incredibly difficult to narrow my choice down, but I managed it and chose a placemat, a jigsaw and a photo panel. I was really impressed with the range of products available and the quality of the finished products were excellent.

In order to celebrate day 100 of the 366 project, the very generous Snapfish have offered a prize for the 366/52 bloggers who take part in tomorrow's weekly linky (Facebook 'like' will be required). They are offering £35 worth of credit so that the winner chosen from tomorrow's linky will be as bamboozled for choice as I was!

When you are selecting one photo to link up tonight or tomorrow, make sure you choose a good one with lots of appeal, hopefully you'll be the winner.

The Gallery: Easter

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It's been a few weeks since I've entered Tara's Gallery, unintentional but life has a habit of passing you by sometimes, to use the wise words of Mr. Bueller. However, when I saw that this week's theme was Easter, I couldn't very well ignore it much longer.

We went away for the weekend and so I needed to make sure that we had everything ready so that the Easter Bunny could find us and leave the necessary confectionary for The Boy. After a fraught Friday morning packing up various bits and pieces, we popped down to our local country park for my toddler group's Easter Egg hunt. The weather was perfect for wandering through the woodlands, finding shiny red eggs and avoiding bunny poop, and it refreshed us wonderfully for the drive down to west Wales.

The weekend saw us searching for numbers, as well as Easter chicks on a treasure hunt through the woodland. We went swimming in one of the best waterparks I've seen in a while, even if The Boy was 10cm too short for the waterslides. The Easter Bunny managed to find us, and then have a cuddle with Oliver Monkey in The Boy's bed. We discovered that The Boy had a penchant for vintage motorcars, saw pigs and newborn lambs, dug for buried treasure and ate more chocolate. And then we thanked the Lord for Charley Bear and Jaffa cakes when we got stuck in traffic in the pouring rain on the M4.

[slickr-flickr tag='Easter2012']

All in all, a fairly decent Easter weekend.

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For more Easter weekends, click on the widgets below:

Sponsored Video: Baking With Rice Krispies

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One of the activities that The Boy and I like doing the most is cooking. A few months ago we were sent a box of one of the best cereals on this planet: Rice Krispies.

Mr. TheBoyandMe was incredibly amused when he found out we'd been sent a box of the snap, crackle and pop stuff, but he was of course more than happy to chow down on the delictable puffs of rice and what we did with them.

Snow Mountain Krispie Cakes

We mixed them together with golden syrup, white chocolate and melted marshmallows, then sprayed them with silver spray and finally drizzled melted white chocolate all over. Absolutely scrummilicious!

And they were gorgeous!

Now, did you know that the cereal that's been providing countless children and adults with a cheerful breakfast since 1928 is getting a little makeover? As with most other Kellogg's cereals vitamin D is being added to them. I can hear two questions whirring through your brains right at this point in time: 'why?' and 'surely we get that from sunlight?'

Vitamin D can be derived in our bodies from sunlight. However, as we all know, children aren't playing outside in the sunlight as much as they used to, and of course when they do they slather on the sunscreen to protect themselves from skin cancer. And without vitamin D? Well that would be why there has been an increase in Rickets. It's a little bit of a catch 22 situation isn't it?

Rickets. That disease that we all thought had died out in the 1930s, is on the increase again due to deficiencies in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency impairs the absorption of dietary calcium and phosphorus, which increase the chance of bone deformities in children, and bone pain and tenderness as a result of osteomalacia in adults. And that is why, by the end of 2012, the marvellous folk at Kellogg's are adding vitamin D to most of their cereals, particularly those aimed at children.

As we come up to the warmer (ha!) months with (theoretically) more sunshine, we need to be more aware of the need to ensure we are keeping ourselves safe from the harmful sun rays and getting enough vitamin D. As we are pale and pasty in this household, and burn too easily, I'm going to be supplementing our diets to ensure we're getting enough of this important vitamin throughout the year. The most fun way for us?

Baking with Rice Krispies and I'm going to be adapting some of these recipes:

This is a sponsored post.

Holiday Activities

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I had such high hopes for this Easter holidays; we were going to play in the garden, plant seeds, garden, water and sand play, walk to the beach through the parks and generally enjoy the glorious sunshine that has been typical during April for the past few years.

And it's raining. A lot.

I don't know why I'm so surprised, the well known term is April showers after all. Sat on the M4 for several hours more than was necessary on bank holiday Monday, with the windscreen wipers on full and the demister creating a mini-sauna, I started to come up with some ideas for the next week and a half.

  • Indoor dens: I've waited a long time for The Boy to be old enough to appreciate a good solid den. I used to make them with the dining table, chairs in a long line for crawling through as a tunnel, create another tent between the sofa and the radiator and I'd be set 'til tea-time when the family of six suddenly needed to eat. Damn rude that they needed the table cloth and chairs I think. Unfortunately our dining table has cross over legs at the base (Swedish designers didn't think that one through!) and so I might have to rig up something using a clothes horse and the piano.
  • Craft: We're still working our way through the bargains that I bought in the Baker Ross Christmas sale, and the main things we have left are human body sponges for painting. Mix and match arms, legs, heads and bodies, plus facial features. I think I might tape down a big roll of paper on the kitchen floor and The Boy can go mad with some paint.
  • Soft-play: When hell freezes over. Forget it until April 23rd.
  • Taking the children to the cinema: Yes I have one child, I know this. However, this happens every holiday when my mum ends up looking after my niece and nephew too, she gets a little tired and I usually step forward to help out in some way. After all three children and two adults is far more friendly than the alternative. I reckon The Boy could sit through an animated movie, especially if we picked one of those screenings that was family friendly (not so dark, chatter allowed, etc).
  • Doing a rain-dance: We might just don wellies and raincoats and go splashing in puddles. Because at the end of the day, when you have a two year old, you can let your inner child out every so often!

What activities are you up to this holiday?

Easter Eggs on DVDs

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Surely, you've heard of them? An 'Easter Egg' on a DVD is a special bonus feature which has been added to the disc but isn't easy to find without following a little trail to it.

Only this isn't those types of Easter eggs, this is the traditional small variety.

This was a very welcome sight when we got home from our Easter weekend away. The journey back on Monday involved copious amounts of precipitation on the M4 and since then April has really shown that it's going to live up to its reputation of providing plenty of showers. Chocolate and DVDs are therefore a must during the Easter holidays.

The lovely basket contained:

    • Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory: this original gem starring the inimitable Gene Wilder still entertains through the decades. No-one is quite as maniacal as him, and no Verucca Salt can be anywhere near as precocious as the original version. Can you believe this is now forty years old?

  • Charlie and The Chocolate Factory: I adore this film, mainly because of the magic combination of Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton. The visual effects, and song and dance numbers are astoundingly good, certainly enhanced by the modern age's CGI. Freddie Highmore is an absolute gem in this version, but for me he's just a tad too well-spoken for poor old Charlie. For me, this brilliant film is a different story to the original, it works just as well but on a different plain.
  • Yogi Bear: This modern take on the classic cartoon, mixing live action and computer animation features the vocal talents of Dan Akroyd and, bizarrely, Justin Timberlake. Yogi and Boo-boo must save Jellystone Park from destruction due to logging. This adventure for 7 year olds and over is packed full of crazy inventions, silly gags, high adventure, and slapstick comedy. Perfect as a present for my niece and nephew.
  • Bugs Bunny's Easter Funnies: No WarnerBros parcel would be complete without the addition of one of their legendary cartoon characters. And at Easter time who better for that to be than the Easter Bunny himself? In this classic, the Easter Bunny is poorly and Bugs has to step in and help out, although Sylvester and Daffy want to help out as well. This disc also contains three interactive Looney Tunes puzzle games.

I can't wait to introduce The Boy to the wonders of The Chocolate Factory (both versions) over the next few weeks.

We were sent these items for the purpose of this post. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

Review: Trunki PaddlePak

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A few months ago we decided that we didn't take The Boy swimming enough. He's coming up to three years old and is still developing his water confidence. He pretends to swim in the bath, he's more confident with water splashing about his face and head but he's still a little unsure in the water clinging to me in the pool. We made a decision there and then to take him more often, and he goes once a month now (looking to increase that now with the warmer weather).

When Trunki asked me if we'd like to review their new fun backpack for little swimmers, we were more than happy to oblige! The Boy's lovely azure blue PaddlePak was sent to us in perfect time for our trip away over the Easter weekend. The place we went to stay in, has one of the best waterworlds around for fun and laughter, so we packed his new PaddlePak with his fluffy towel, Konfidence jacket and HappyNappy swim pants, popped it on his back and off we went.

Made of waterproof fabric and featuring a roll top tight seal, the PaddlePak is the perfect size for pre-schoolers and infants to hold their swimming stuff. Obviously older children won't have something as bulky as a Konfidence jacket to fit in, giving them plenty of space for other items. The funky backpack has a reflective fish detail all over the back and in the cute fin there is a zip pocket to hold small valuables. It was incredibly comfy for The Boy to wear, especially as the straps and back are padded for comfort.

The PaddlePak gets a definite thumbs up from us; lightweight, waterproof, fun and funky, it's sure to get loads more trips to the swimming pool.

The Trunki PaddlePak is available (in bright pink or blue) directly for £19.95

I was sent the PaddlePak for the purpose of this review. I had previously bought the SplashAbout HappyNappy and Konfidence Jacket. My opinion is honest and unbiased.

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