Pit & Peak Of The Week #1

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When I was browsing through links in a Facebook group last week I came across a post by a blogger called Lets Talk Mommy,  who identified one high and low of her previous week. This idea really appealed to me as it is so easy to let the week go by without acknowledging one really good thing that happened, no matter how small. Likewise, it's also important to identify a little struggle or moment which could have gone better. As Meera Syal said, "Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee!"

Pit:

Without a shadow of a doubt, the pit this week has got to be the news about my teeth I received on Monday. I've got dreadful teeth; anything that can go wrong, does go wrong. I suffer from panic and anxiety attacks from it and have no confidence in my regular dentist. 16 months ago I had a broken, upper molar removed. The extraction took 90 minutes of pulling to complete, and it transpired she left a root in. It took a year to have an appointment back in the hospital to discuss the corrective extraction, and I had to wait two months for the appointment to have that done. At the same time as we discussed how it would be corrected, I was referred to a different department for corrective root canal surgery on another tooth.

I went for the appointment on Monday, thinking it would be done then but it turned out to be another consultation where they basically presented me with the revelation that there is virtually no point in having the corrective surgery as there is no opposing tooth (it was the one extracted), the tooth itself is too fragile to be successful, and that having had root canal surgery fail twice this probably wouldn't work. Plus it would probably be six months until I'm seen for the appointment, then two-three months of treatments to do it, and then a crown later on.

So I basically need to have this one out as well. On top of the wisdom tooth I'm having out in April.

I feel horrendous about it. I feel like a pikey who hasn't cared for their teeth. I'm devastated that I need to lose yet another tooth, but I cannot bear another nine months of this constant discomfort in my mouth, let alone the abscess which is damaging my jaw bone.

Definitely a big pit this week.

Peak:

 With the weather as it is in Great Britain this week, it's incredibly difficult to identify a peak when the whole family are stuck indoors looking longingly outside. On the weekend I could stand it no more and in a break in the rain we togged up and went to Barry Island.

The wind was insane, but not quite gail force so we proceeded with caution. The tide was incredibly low, and the beach has a wide expanse of sand with no-one else on it, to run around madly on.

Which is precisely what we did.

For twenty minutes we ran around playing tag, chasing each other, making sand angels and then walking backwards (to avoid the hail which descended quickly) along the beach to the slope leading back up to the promenade. Definitely the best moment of the week!

Barry Island

Pit & Peak Of The Week

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

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I tasted a delicious pudding on the weekend which I was desperate to recreate. However this is a slight cheat as it's not really a cheesecake in the traditional sense.

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

  • Makes: 8 inch cake serving 8-10 (depends how big a slice you want!)
  • Preparation time: 30 minutes
  • Cooking time: caramel – 2o minutes
  • Setting time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

  • For the biscuit base:
    • 300g bourbon biscuits
    • 70g butter
  • For the caramel:
    • 200g condensed milk
    • 100g light brown sugar
    • 100g butter
  • For the filling:
    • vanilla instant-whip dessert (i.e. Angel Delight)
    • chocolate instant-whip dessert (i.e. Angel Delight)
    • 2 tablespoons of cream cheese
    • 4-5 Oreo cookies
  1. Break up the bourbon biscuits into fine crumbs (I blitzed them in a food processor).
  2. Melt the 70g butter in a saucepan and add the bourbon crumbs.
  3. Transfer mixture into a 8inch flan tin (for ease I used one with a removable base and inserted a cake liner too) and press down firmly all over to compress the mixture.
  4. Place in the fridge to cool and set for twenty minutes.
  5. Melt 100g butter in a pan and add 100g light brown sugar to dissolve. Pour in the condensed milk and raise the temperature very gently until it starts to simmer. Keep the temperature low and stir continuously for around twenty minutes until brown.
  6. Once thickened, pour over the set base and transfer to the fridge to set for twenty minutes.
  7. Mix the two packets of instant-whip desserts separately, use two-thirds of the milk that it suggests on the packet (this will help with the firmness of the filling). Add one tablespoon of cream cheese to each mixture.
  8. Spoon the two different mixtures over the base alternating into a pattern, then stir them through loosely to create a marbled effect. Place in the fridge to set for twenty minutes.
  9. Sprinkle the crushed Oreo cookies over the top of the dessert and serve immediately.

Oreo & Caramel Cheesecake

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Linking to Recipe Of The Week, Share Your Stuff Tuesdays and Tasty Tuesdays

Making Life Easier (Sponsored Post)

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Tomorrow morning is going to be chaotic. I just know it already.

Let me explain our weekday mornings in detail so you fully understand the problem.

We have two, possibly three, type of weekday mornings. We have Monday, Tuesday and Friday mornings which consist of my lovely husband doing the waking shift with The Boy; getting him up and giving him his cereal. Then at 7.30 they come and wake me up (thanks for the lie-in by the way) and I take over organising The Boy while Mr. TBaM showers and gets dressed for work. Then I shower and get dressed. Mr. TBaM leaves for work at 8.30 a.m. and I get The Boy dressed and take him to school. Luckily we only live two minutes walk from school so I can leave the house at 8.50 a.m.

That seems fairly straightforward, although it can be complicated by me having to wash my hair (every other day).

However, on Wednesday and Thursday morning life becomes that little bit more stressful! These are workdays for me and Wednesday is even worse because I have to leave the house by 8.10 a.m. Luckily my mum comes over and sorts The Boy out from 8.15 a.m. so we just have to concentrate on ourselves.

We're not good in the mornings.

At all.

What we could do with is some form of device to to help us:

  • an automatic 'me-waker-upper' to keep prodding me every three minutes over the course of fifteen minutes to wake me up, because otherwise I'll just fall asleep again;
  • an automatic 'packed-lunch-maker', so I don't have to deal with making meat sandwiches);
  • a 'mother-pleaser', so I don't have to feel riddled with guilt about something I might or might not be doing wrong.

Maybe a clone of me would be more helpful? Someone to do the menial tasks while I can do the more important bits? All of these things could be programmed, timed and controlled through an app on my mobile phone (which is never far from me). One swipe of the screen and his lunch is made, complete with jigsaw sandwiches and fruit kebabs. A press of my thumb and my hair is washed, dried and my make-up is applied.

Life would be so much simpler if there really was an app to make school mornings easier!

There seems to be an app for everything else!

Did you know that there is now an app which connects to your heating remotely? Like controlling the heating in the house while I'm still at school, so that when The Boy comes home from school the living room is toasty warm for him to snuggle up on the sofa and watch CBeebies. It would be so convenient on the weekend when we're out to be able to tell the heating to turn on an hour before we were due to arrive home.

As busy as a bee and operating at the centre of the home, the Hive system works to make life easier in today's busy world controlled by technology and the constraints of the working parent. Through a wireless thermostat, receiver and hub the heating and hot water in your home can be easily programmed using an app on smartphones.

What would you invent an app for to help daily life?

This is a sponsored post.

Chocolate Marshmallow Stirrers

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We're huge fans of marshmallows in this household, The Boy adores them in hot chocolate when they turn gooey. These made from scratch marshmallow stirrers are straightforward but do require time and patience, something which I needed a little assistance with from Mr. TBaM!

Chocolate Marshmallow Stirrers

  • Makes: 25
  • Preparation time: 45 minutes (plus cooling)
  • Cooking time: 25 minutes
  • Setting time: 4-5 hours

Ingredients:

  • For the marshmallow:
    • sunflower oil, for greasing
    • 1tbsp cornflour
    • 1tbsp icing sugar
    • 200ml/7fl oz cold water
    • 450g/1lb granulated sugar
    • 100ml/3½fl oz hot water
    • 25g/1oz powdered gelatine
    • 2 large egg whites
    • 1tsp vanilla extract
  • To decorate:
    • 150g/5½oz milk chocolate, broken into pieces
    • hundreds and thousands
  1. Lightly oil an 18cm/7inch square cake tin (at least 5cm/2in deep). Line the base and two sides wih baking paper, then lightly oil the paper.
  2. To make the coating, sift together the cornflour and icing sugar into a bowl. Use a little of this mixture to dust the lined tin, tapping it firmly so the mixture coats the base and sides completely.
  3. Put the cold water and granulated sugar into a small deep saucepan. Heat gently, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the sugar has dissolved.
  4. Bring the syrup to the boil and boil, without stirring, for about 5 minutes until the mixture reaches around 120°C/248°F on a sugar thermometer.
  5. Meanwhile, put the hot water into a small bowl, sprinkle over the gelatine and stir until dissolved and the liquid is clear. Put the egg whites into the bowl of a free-standing electric mixer and whisk until they hold stiff peaks.
  6. When the syrup has reached the correct temperature, remove the pan from the heat and add the gelatine mixture – it will fizz and bubble. Leave to stand for a few seconds, then slowly pour the syrup into a large, heatproof jug (take care because the mixture will be extremely hot).
  7. Switch on the mixer on low speed and gradually add the hot syrup to the egg whites in a slow, thin stream, whisking constantly. This must be done very slowly and carefully, otherwise the egg whites could end up slightly scrambled! When all the syrup has been added increase the speed to high and whisk for 10 minutes until the mixture is thick and glossy and leaves a thick trail on the surface when the whisk is lifted.
  8. Whisk in the vanilla extract.
  9. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and use a spatula to gently level the surface.
  10. Lightly dust the top with a little of the coating mixture. Leave to set, uncovered, in a cool, dry place for 4-5 hours.
  11. Run the tip of a lightly greased knife along the unlined sides of the tin to release the marshmallow. Using the lining paper, gently lift out the marshmallow and place on a chopping board. Cut into 25 squares with a lightly greased knife. Lightly dust each square with the remaining coating mixture.
  12. To decorate, put the chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of gently simmering water and heat until melted. Remove from the heat and stir until smooth. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
  13. Gently push a lollipop stick into each marshmallow, or place onto a spoon. Pour over the melted chocolate and sprinkle on hundreds and thousands to coat. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and leave in a cool place to set. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Chocolate Marshmallow Stirrers

This recipe is one of many scrumptious marshmallow concoctions which can be found in the Parragon book 'Marshmallows Made Marvellous'. With an RRP of £6.00, it's available from a variety of online stores, including Waterstones.

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Linking to Recipe Of The Week, Share Your Stuff Tuesdays and Tasty Tuesdays

Teaching Children The Value Of Money (Featured Post)

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Recently I've started to say 'no' to The Boy about certain things. In the past if his ask was realistic then I'd automatically say 'yes' and pay for the trip to bowling or a new little toy, however I've started to realise that he is expecting these to come as normal. And while I don't want him to think we're living on the poverty line, or for him to worry about finances (as I did as a child), I do want him to realise that we need to save up for things.

We've started giving him 50p a week pocket money for helping out around the house, and in order to save for a toy he'd really like. He's actually mentioned a few times recently that he'll be able to buy x, y or z with his pocket money (although I'm not sure he'll be able to afford the trip to Legoland as he hopes!).

Read on to find out more sage advice. 

You’re never too young to receive valuable financial advice – at least, that’s according to people in the UK.

Saving and being careful when choosing purchases is the most popular financial advice for people to bestow, recent research from budgeting account provider www.thinkmoney.co.uk has revealed.

If you can’t afford it, don’t buy it

More than a third of Brits advise the spenders of the future to be savvy when it comes to purchases, with 37% citing ‘if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it’ as the most important financial lesson to teach children.

And if you thought that it would be the older generation urging children to save money, you’d be wrong. More than three times as many people aged 18 to 24 (25%) as over-65s (just 7%) said that ‘try to save something each month’ is the most valuable wisdom to impart to children.

What do the children think?

However, a video produced by thinkmoney shows that children have other ideas. Watch ‘Kids and Money’ here to find out what they think.

As you can see, leaving financial decisions in the hands of children perhaps isn’t the wisest idea, with some youngsters estimating the cost of a house at just £1! Guesses as to what their parents earn range from 1p to £5. And it’s clear that the old adage ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ is unlikely to appeal to a child, as if they had all the money in the world they’d choose to buy sweets, chocolate, water pistols and Transformers!

Money lessons for children

As well as ‘if you can’t afford it, don’t buy it’, adults rate ‘always live within your means’ as important advice (23%). Meanwhile, saving every month was cited by 16%, ‘looking after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves’ by 9%, ‘money can’t buy you happiness’ by 8%, and ‘always try to avoid borrowing money’ by 7%.

All this advice is sound, but when the world is full of endless possibilities and the most important thing you have to worry about is what you’re getting for Christmas, it’s easy to see why children don’t have the same money concerns as adults!

Advice varies according to age group

Interestingly, the advice given out by young people is different to that of older generations. For example, a quarter of those aged 18 to 24 think it’s important that children ‘try and save something each month’, while only 7% of those aged over 65 agree with this. Perhaps this is because they’re already enjoying their pensions and have a different attitude towards the future.

Or perhaps they’ve realised that all the saving they did in their younger days wasn’t as important as living in the moment. The older generation instead favour ‘always live within your means’ as important financial wisdom. This suggests that older people are less likely to borrow money.

Ian Williams of thinkmoney said: "It's funny to see all the ideas that kids come up with about money. It's important to try and show them the value and importance of money from an early age, though, for example by giving them a money box and a small amount of pocket money each week. How you encourage them to use that money is up to you."

In collaboration with thinkmoney

Cheese & Vegetable Puffs

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These little crackers are a perfect treat as a canape at a party or as a light snack.

Cheese & Vegetable Puffs

  • Makes: 1 roll of puff pastry makes 6
  • Preparation time: 10 minutes
  • Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:

  • ready-made puff pastry
  • halloumi, diced
  • mixed vegetables to own taste: I used asparagus, carrots, baby sweetcorn, broccoli, red pepper
  • 2 tbsp of crème fraîche
  • a knob of butter
  • grated cheese
  1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
  2. Cut the puff pastry into six rectangles and lay them on a baking tray.
  3. Prick the pastry over with a fork in the area where the filling will be placed.
  4. Lightly stir-fry the vegetables and diced halloumi for five minutes in the knob of butter.
  5. Stir in the crème fraîche to the mix and place a large spoonful onto the centre of the pastry rectangles.
  6. Sprinkle some grated cheese on top of the vegetable mix.
  7. Place in the over for 15-20 minutes until risen and golden.

Cheese & Vegetable Puff

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Linking to Recipe Of The Week and Tasty Tuesdays

Stress Free Party Planning (Guest Post)

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Let’s face it, it’s a great feeling when the party is finally over. All those last minute adrenalin-fuelled moments of panic meant it all fell into place and you can finally sit back, feet up and not think about whether, little Tommy's mum has replied, and if not, will they still turn up at the very last minute like they did last year smiling and expectant. This is when you have to raid your carefully organised party bags for bits and pieces to give him so he doesn’t go home empty handed.

When organising children’s parties, the thought of next year is unlikely to go away completely, despite all the distractions of daily life.  Not least because most children like to mull over the many and varied possibilities for their next birthday, changing their minds on a regular basis.  Swimming party, anyone?  Soft play?

So what are the best ways to make it as smooth, easy, and stress-free as possible when planning a party for thirty five year old boys?

Let’s assume most of us won’t be employing a Party Planner a la Jennifer Lopez, but will be doing it all with the help of friends and family, and, of course, the birthday boy or girl themselves.  Lucy Sheridan, Life Coach and CEO of Proof Coaching www.proofcoaching.com suggests you ‘start with the end in mind – but not with your guests leaving!’  So give some thought about the kind of party you wish to create. ‘Measure your preparations against that and you’re not working blind,’ Lucy says.  That’s great advice.  Basically, it’s all in the planning.

Here are some more hot tips from us www.partysupplies4you.co.uk to make it as stress-free process as possible:

  • Keep a list: In other words, be organised.  Sounds simple, doesn’t it?  But, let’s face it, we’ve all done it from time to time, left things until the last minute.  It’s so easily done, we all have busy lives.  But, if you have a list you know exactly what there is to do, and if you are super-organised, when you should do it too. So, you might have a ‘to do’ list – send out invitations, book venue and entertainer.  And a shopping list – party bags, party bag fillers, food, drinks, tablecloths, balloons, all those party essentials.
  • Choose a theme (and stick to it): Well, encourage your child to do so.  Who hasn’t groaned at the decision to switch from the Very Hungry Caterpillar to The Gurffalo theme at the 11th hour?  So, just as you are about to ‘proceed to checkout’ with your pre-filled party bags and other supplies (link to party things) you have to empty your basket and start all over again.  So have all those discussions early on.
  • Get your invitations out early: Chase those who haven’t RSVP-ed – in the nicest possible way, of course.  Try and be sensitive about invitations; if you’re not inviting the whole class, but just a select few of your child’s close friends, maybe try not to hand invitations out at school. It’s never too early to learn the essentials of party etiquette!
  • Keep it simple: Especially where party food is concerned.  You know what it’s like – you put on a veritable feast of homemade goodies and the children eat a giant bowlful of crisps and nothing else.  Buy food boxes (link to party things website), one per child and fill them with a sandwich, a drink, a piece of fruit, some veggies and a sweet and savoury treat. Check with your guests that there aren’t any allergies, and if there are, the ‘box per child’ will enable you to tailor the food accordingly.
  • Try to enjoy the planning process Easier said than done, maybe, but you can have fun involving the children, unless of course the party is a complete surprise.  So, if your son is pirate mad, it can be great fun doing stuff together – creating a treasure map, burying trinkets of treasure in the garden, and creating a sheet of coded clues for each guest, with carefully singed edges (done with adult supervision, obviously!).
  • Accept help: You call up your child’s entertainer of choice, and they’re fully booked until 2016.  Typical.  And then you remember Maisie’s dad’s turn as Coco the Clown at a party last summer, and he did a grand job – there’s nothing he likes more than to don his water-squirting bow-tie, out-sized boots and make balloon animals for hours.  So, go on, give him a call!
  • Set yourself a budget: Keep a record of what you’ve spent as you go along.  It’s so easy to get carried away when party planning, buying little things here and there.  If you set yourself an upper cost limit, and stick to it, it will help throughout the planning process.  It will determine, for a children’s party, the number of guests your child can invite – work out a cost per head, for say, 15 children, and work within that.

And enjoy!

After all, you won’t need to go through the process again for almost another year…

Share your stress-free party tips and experiences with us below

Fran is the Managing Director of Party Supplies 4 You and has provided an insight into ways that parents can plan a stress free party.

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Grandpa In My Pocket Series 4 (Preview)

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The BBC is well known for producing good television programmes, children's entertainment is one such area where the quality is superior to competitors. I have often said that CBeebies is worth the license fee alone, and I know that The Boy is a big fan of 95% of the shows that are aired on the channel.

He is however, a funny little bean about certain programmes. Rastamouse is one for example, says he doesn't like it and yet is captivated by the antics of Da Easy Crew. Another show which he is enthralled by, yet maintains that he doesn't want to watch is Grandpa In My Pocket.

It may seem now an odd thing to be admitting to, when this is clearly a post written to promote the programme, however I know full well that what he's referring to is the moment when Grandpa shrinks (he reacts in exactly the same way when Tree Fu Tom 'miniaturises', yet can explain intricate details about the plotlines), and this is purely because he doesn't understand the process of the shrinking.

What better way to cure that apprehension than witnessing it first hand?

And if you were invited to a studio in the heart of Tiger Bay to see the latest series being filmed, wouldn't you jump at the chance?

We certainly did!

During the Summer holidays, we visited the set of 'The Mill on the Marsh' (the new home for the Mason family) and met the cast and crew, watched an episode being filmed (with my hand firmly clamped over The Boy's mouth), tried on the shrinking cap (me, not The Boy; he was too worried that he'd shrink), played with Wulfy, discovered the editing process, and were sworn to secrecy.

For five months!

For five months I've said NOT ONE WORD. Not a word about meeting James Bolam, nothing about the two new children who have been welcomed into the family, not a smidgen of information about the amazing set has escaped these lips.

And I am rubbish at keeping secrets. This has damn-well nearly killed me.

Here are some of the wonderful secrets behind Grandpa In My Pocket series four:

Grandpa In My Pocket

We were greeted on set by the absolutely wonderful Mellie Buse, producer, writer and creator of the phenomenal series. Mellie has very kindly answered a few questions for us about the new series.

  • What is new in this series of Grandpa In My Pocket?

The Mason Family has moved to a beautiful Windmill on the marshes just outside Sunnysands called The Mill on the Marsh. They run it as a little hotel. This Summer Grandpa's other grandchildren, whom we haven't previously met, have come to stay. They are Elsie and Josh and they both get let into the secret of the magic shrinking cap. Jason and Jemima are still there but they're all grown up now, and Great Aunt Loretta has moved into a converted pigsty next door. We also have three news Sunnysands residents; Mr Yomper Stomper (an obsessive rambler), a young Australian called Bob the Boat (who has a beautiful boat in the harbour called The Boomerang), and Miss Smiley's delightful niece, Jasmine.

  • What is your role on the show? What does this involve?

My colleague, Jan Page and I have written and produced all five series of Grandpa. After coming up with the original concept we've developed and written 118 stories. We have cast it, supervised all areas of the show – design, music, costume etc. We have also done all the business and legal side involved in running a television show including finding the money and sorting out all the contracts. We're a "boutique" company and we're "writer led" which is fairly unusual in the UK. We operate a show-running system which means that we are on set all the time ready to make changes to the script to help the shoot and to make quick decisions. This means that you get a consistency in the whole vision of the project and it also means that you can shoot it faster if the writer/creator is on tap to make any quick edits if the day is going slowly. It is widely used in the U.S., less so in the UK but quite often it is a system embraced by children's programming.

  • Are there any little secrets about life on the show that you can reveal to us?

Well there was an incredible sense of camaraderie on this shoot. We were blessed with the most amazing crew who all shared the same sense of humour. The two directors, Martin Franks and Iain McLean set the tone and there were a lot of jokes between the two of them. This rubbed off on the rest of the team. When they were both shooting in separate studios they could see one another's monitors and would occasionally write messages to one another and hold them up to the camera. Martin had a reputation of always shooting through a window (spot the shots!) and Iain seemed to get the lion's share of all the animals to shoot until Martin got the donkey. Oh yes! We had a day with a donkey on set. The donkey, in the scripts, was called Prudence but when the animal wrangler turned up it was clear to all that this was NOT a Prudence.  It was Geronimo and it had to be quite a big donkey in order for James Bolam to be able to ride it. Yes, there's a treat in store there! So we had a whopping great donkey in a very small studio. There was a lot of rewriting and reworking in order to get the show "in the can" and for days we all smelt of donkey. This is what we do for our art!

  • What is the process of producing a series of Grandpa In My Pocket? (I mean the recording order, blue-screening, editing etc.).

First we shoot all the location footage. We did this in June last year during one of the rare weeks where there was no rain. This time we went to the north Norfolk coast because the Mill on the Marsh is the Mill at Cley, near Blakeney. We shot exteriors of the Mill, the Marsh, the river and shots of Campo and Mr Whoops' car, which is a new addition. The studio shoot began in July after two weeks of "get in." We shot from 8.00 a.m – 7.00 pm every day for nine full weeks.

Then we did three weeks of blue screen shooting with James Bolam to capture all the footage we needed for Grandpa when he's small. The edit was underway as soon as we began filming with a guide voice-over track and the Visual Effects department started on the compositing  and animating straight away. Once the edit is assembled, the programme goes to the Visual Effects team for them to put all their bits in: the animated Grandpa, the extended meadow and beach sets, the skies (which all needed changing because the weather in Blakeney was very grey on the location shoot).

Following this the shows come back to us for a final edit and we rewrite all the voice-overs to fit the pictures perfectly. Then the episodes go for approval to the BBC and once approved, they go to our musical arranger for him to work his magic.  I then direct the voice-overs with the two children and all the sound goes to our Dubbing Editor who adds effects, music and mixes the programme. Finally it goes to the On-Line Studio where the pictures are "graded" to make them look really zingy and any small technical problems are sorted. That's the process. It will continue until April this year when we deliver the last of the 52 to the BBC.

  • Did Grandpa share his adventures with his own children when younger, or is it just a recent thing?

His Grandpa left him the shrinking cap which only works once you're a Grandpa yourself.  He will do the same we guess.  But we don't talk about that!!!

So, is The Boy still frightened of the shrinking man? Having watched the magic behind the shrinking? After seeing mummy wear the cap? Witnessing the visual effects in the studio and on the computer in the editing suite?

Not a jot!

The new series of 'Grandpa In My Pocket' starts on Monday 27th January 2014 at 5.25pm on CBeebies.

Many thanks to Mellie and all the cast and crew of Grandpa In My Pocket for making us all feel so welcome!

Butlin's Term-Time Breaks: 'Just For Tots'

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I hate January.

And February.

Although that last one isn't completely true, once we get to half-term then I can see a light at the end of the tunnel, with the approach of Spring and the warmer and brighter weather. However until then, everything is that bit more gloomy and grey. The bright lights of Christmas seem months ago instead of only a matter of days, and the promise of Summer is too far in the distance to even contemplate.

Obviously I am not the only one who thinks this as there are a plethora of holidays being booked at the moment; many families looking abroad to book some sunshine, etc.

However, as far as I'm concerned, you'd be hard pushed to find a better resort-style holiday than the Butlin's resort in Bognor Regis. I don't just say this because I am an ambassador for them, I genuinely feel that they are an excellent provision for good family fun. And the resort in Bognor Regis is set in the sunniest place in Britain, why go abroad and struggle with flights when you don't need to?!

We first started going two years ago and experienced the wonders of the Winter Wonderland, we were fortunate to return twice last year, once on our review break and once for an ambassadors' weekend. We actually weren't intending to go to the ambassadors' weekend, but had such a great time that we booked it on the way home in the car!

Butlin's has a wonderful mix of self-catering accommodation and hotels, entertainment for all ages of the family, and restaurants to suit all tastes. They are also very clever to offer breaks for specific types of groups, for example you won't find stag or hen parties on a dedicated family weekend, likewise families can't book on adult-only weekends. Every effort is made to ensure that both types of parties can relax in the appropriate environment.

New to the Butlin's packages this year are the 'Just for Tots’ little breaks. These are breaks held during term-time, to ensure families of pre-schoolers can escape the holiday rush, without older children dominating the facilities. These breaks provide little ones the perfect environment to show Mum and Dad just what they can do; everything from the accommodation and food right through to the entertainment and activities have been designed solely with younger children in mind. Stars such as Thomas & Friends™ and Angelina Ballerina™ will be part of a ‘free-to-play’ entertainment schedule where shows are repeated throughout your break with timings to suit early-risers and early bedtimes.

Some of the facilities available are standard during Butlin's breaks anyway, particularly the bespoke meals by Annabel Karmel which are available in the restaurant. However added to that are 'Pushchair Porters' to help parents transport their toddlers and belongings from the car to the room with minimum fuss, and nap-time buggy walks (customised quiet route maps to help little ones drift off through the landscaped gardens and out along the beautiful beaches that neighbour the resorts).

Additional features of the 'Just for Tots' breaks are:

  • Drop-in style activity sessions and shows that are repeated throughout the break – so it doesn’t matter how long your little ones take to get their shoes on or finish their breakfast.
  • Butlins will be offering “learn-to sessions” so everyone can see their little ones achieve big things like learning to swim and ride a bike.
  • Wake-up activities every morning for early risers and bedtime stories with favourite characters to end the day.
  • A pool party for pre-schoolers in Splash Waterworld with the big rides switched off and replaced with water toys to create a calmer atmosphere for your ‘water babies’.
  • All their favourite TV heroes under one roof to cuddle and watch in specially designed shows that are shorter in length (perfect for easily distracted toddlers)

The first ‘Just for Tots’ short breaks will take place from April 28th at Butlins Bognor Regis and Skegness, with 4-night Monday to Friday breaks running across all resorts (Bognor Regis, Minehead and Skegness) until September this year.

For more information visit www.butlins.com.

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