Save Syria's Children - Please Help the Refugee Crisis Today

It's been a while since I have blogged over here about our life as a family. Life has seemed to get in the way of parent blogging in recent months. However, having enjoyed the summer with the kids, I'm back today with an important post about the refugee crisis in Syria.

Thank goodness we have been able to enjoy a lovely summer together. My kids have loved being able to play outside with their friends and roam free in safety. Thank goodness that the biggest decisions we have had to make are things like whether to do visit the park or the swimming pool, play on a scooter or a bike, or to eat Pizza or Pasta for tea. Those small choices pale into insignificance when we contemplate that some children in the world are currently faced with much more mind blowing decisions to make and situations to face.

We don't realise how lucky we are to live in a safe country, with all of the things we take for granted. We don't realise how lucky we are that our kids are able to go to school, play outside freely in many places and enjoy their childhood free of War or Poverty.

For many children in the world at the moment, this is not the case. Imagine normal daily life changing in a heartbeat and finding yourself in the middle of the war zone, having to flee your home. This is what has happened to many children in Iraq and Syria. I'm sure that many of you have seen pictures and footage of the refugee crisis on TV or read about it int he media. The current refugee crisis is the worse it has been since the second world war and so many children are affected.

Here are some quick facts you need to know about the refugee crisis

I can't imagine something like this happening to my kids but it could so easily be them. It could so easily be any of us. These people haven't asked to leave their homes. They have been forced to. Just look at this before and after of a tree lined street in Syria. If this was your town what would you do? Would you stay, or would you seek asylum elsewhere?

These people trying to reach Europe are like us. They have families like us. They have feelings like us. Their situation is desperate. So desperate that many of them are willing to risk their lives and pay gangs to smuggle them into Europe often with devastating consequences.

They need our help.

So what can you do? 

How can you help from behind your computer screen? 

Well there are things that you can do to help.You can sign a petition to accept more asylum seekers and support for refugee migrants in the UK

You could also help support displaced refugees with practical donations. Many churches, groups and individuals are organising collections, so look out for them in your local area.

Finally you could consider donating funds to Save The Children. Save The Children are on the ground in the Middle East and throughout the world directly helping refugees and positively impacting their lives.

To Donate, please TEXT 70008 and the word SYRIA to donate £5.

Or Donate Online via the Save The Children Website.

You can find out more about Syria's Children by following #SaveSyriasChildren on social media.

Please don't turn a blind eye. Do Something to help. Anything. Whatever you decide, don't choose apathy.

A visit to Audley End House and Gardens: Kids Review

It was a busy Easter holidays for us and we were fortunate to be able to take some day trips to places like Willows Farm, and Stockwood Park with friends.

We rounded off the Easter Holidays with a wonderful visit to Audley End House in Saffron Walden, which is one of the properties included in our English Heritage membership. There is lots to do there including the house to look around, gardens to enjoy, working stables with horses to visit and a childrens playground and cafe facilities.

We went last Summer for a visit but it was a very busy weekend day and so although we had a lovely time enjoying the grounds and facilities, it did feel like a bit of an impersonal visit, and I wouldn't say the kids learnt a lot about the history of the house from it.

Our visit this week was a completely different experience as we picked an inset day and so it was a beautiful day, but also very quiet at the property with not many visitors. However, the quietness played to our advantage because the members of staff and volunteers were all so fantastic and we were able to ask lots of questions and learn about the property.

Our visit to the stables meant that we caught the groom telling an intimate crowd about "Bob" the horse and the girls were able to quiz the Groom and learn lots about Bob. Apparently he is 16 hands high and a cross between a shire horse and a french horse!

The staff and volunteers inside the house spent lots of time explaining the history of the house and grounds to the children, pointing out paintings of note in the rooms including a rather impressive original painting of King George the second and some beautiful paintings of Venice in Italy, as well as the watercolours painted by the children of the family who owned the house.

They were also challenged to find the fairies on the fireplace and ceiling in the library, and to read the very old manuscript in there too. Eldest was able to play some of the old music on the piano, and they were able to learn all about how the children of the house were pretty much seen and not heard and not even allowed to dine in the grand dining hall!

The highlight of their visit for the children was the nursery where they were able to try on outfits which the children of the family would have worn, and they had free reign to play with all of the toys in the nursery including the lovely dolls house, Noah's Ark and Rocking Horse.

They were then put to work in the coal gallery where a wonderful volunteer told them about how the servants would have to do all the fetching and carrying, keep the house heated using coal from the coal stores, hoisted up three floors to the top of the house for safekeeping and scrub the floor with large bars of caustic soap. They also learnt the difference between a nobleman's candle (beeswax) and a servants candle (animal fat!).

A final visit to the kitchens and laundry, where the girls cooked up a storm rounded off our lovely day.

The girls had an absolutely fantastic time and I was so impressed with how the staff and volunteers really made the property come alive for the kids and were so knowledgeable and helpful too. I really liked that the children were able to be so hands on and pick up and touch stuff, and really immerse themselves in history. We would definitely recommend a visit to Audley End as we think that it is fab for adults and kids alike!

Review: Beets Blu Heart Rate Monitor and Pager Tag

Recently I was sent a couple of products from the Beets Blu range to review. Beets Blu are specialists in the fields of mobile apps, fitness technologies and electronics. Now I love using devices which pair with my smartphone, so I was excited to review the products and see how they worked.


The Beets Blu Heart Rate Monitor is a portable device which pairs with your smartphone or computer to measure your heart rate during workouts. The monitor helps you to control your heart rate, which enables you to achieve training tasks such as working on strengthening the cardiovascular system, and stamina. It also helps avoid your heart from working too hard and over training. The heart rate monitor is suitable for both men and women and has a range of up to ten metres.

Now I have to confess, I am not an athlete in any way, shape or form, but I have started exercising again more regularly again recently and so I found the heart rate monitor really useful to measure how I was doing. You do have to ensure that it is in the right place, and it is tight enough to avoid moving whilst exercising. I did find that it stayed in place whilst I exercised and afterwards, I was able to look at the associated app I downloaded on my smart phone and get a report of my heart rate performance during the workout. I would definitely recommend buying it and trying it out!

I also received a Beets Blu Pager Tag Bluetooth key finder to review. I was so glad that I received this as I am forever losing my car keys! The Pager Tag attaches to your bunch of car keys very easily and acts as a location monitor and alarm to help you find them.

The BeetsBlu Pager Tag allows you to track it via an app on your mobile phone. It can help you to track your valuables and detect where lost or forgotten items are. The Pager Tag will also alert you when your item is outside of a certain range, via sound and LED lights. It can track location, and it also has an alarm which can be triggered to sound from the Beets Blu app.

I was very impressed with the Beets Blu Pager Tag, and it is definitely something I can see myself using. You can also set it via your phone to trigger every time you enter and leave a location, and every time the pager tag is taken out of range. I have to say that the PagerTag is quite sensitive, so you do have to be careful what settings you use, or you may find that when the connection with devices is lost (i.e phone upstairs keys downstairs), the Pager Tag is sending notifications to your phone more often than needs be.  However, I found the Pager Tag really easy to install and pair with the app, which I downloaded, The app is also very intuitive to use.

Although you can only pair your key finder with one device, you can actually pair more than one key finder per device. I recently had my handbag stolen from the supermarket and I kicked myself for not having a tracking device in there. Now that we have this sort of technology available, I am definitely going to get another Pager Tag to keep in my handbag as the disruption was huge when my handbag went missing and a tracking device would have helped me to locate it.

I would definitely recommend both of these devices to others as they definitely help to monitor heart rate and also to keep track of your belongings.

Beets Blu products are available via Amazon as per the links above.

Disclosure: Product offered in consideration for review. 

WWE at the Roald Dahl Museum

Last weekend we were invited to the Roald Dahl Museum, one of the kids favourite places to an event which linked WWE and Roald Dahl together - an unlikely combination you might think! Celebrating World Book Day, We were there to meet WWE's very own "BFG" Jack Swagger and learn more about the Wrestle mania - WWE's reading challenge which aims to inspire children through reading.

During the event Jack told us why he loves Roald Dahl so much, citing how he loves that Dahl's words jump off the page and create a wonderful story. For a willing and ready audience, Jack read an excerpt from The Twits with good expression and characterised the characters very well. He really engaged the children in the story and also shared one of his quotes from Roald Dahl:

“If a person has ugly thoughts, it begins to show on the face. And when that person has ugly thoughts every day, every week, every year, the face gets uglier and uglier until you can hardly bear to look at it.

A person who has good thoughts cannot ever be ugly. You can have a wonky nose and a crooked mouth and a double chin and stick-out teeth, but if you have good thoughts it will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.”

After story time was a chance for the kids and adults to ask questions. Through a group interview, we found out that:

• Jacks favourite book is the Twits.
• He takes Inspiration from Sophie in the BFG - you may be tiny but you can be the whole world to somebody. No matter how down you are, you can always be successful.
• Jack chose to become a wrestler from age of five as he loved wrestling and particular wrestlers before him like Kurt Engel, Chris Jericho and the Undertaker.
• He grew up and was inspired watching the movies Matilda and James and Giant Peach.
• He has an English bulldog named beefcake. 
• We also found out that Jack had to write lots of Book reports at school and he advised the kids to stay in school because the smarter you are, the better sports person you will be. Whilst some children may think that literacy doesn't apply to them because they want to be a sportsman (perhaps a famous footballer or rugby player), actually sports is always evolving, so some children may not see the point, but the smarter you are, the more it will help you learn how to take care of your body. However you take care of your body, you must also take care of your mind. 
• As Jack is really tall, he was actually directed towards basketball at school but he really wanted to do wrestling. 
• Jack's final piece of advice was that can do everything - you just have to believe!

My girls definitely enjoyed the event and found it very inspiring meeting Jack and learning more about Roald Dahl.

The event was followed by a visit around the museum. Where the children had lots of fun enjoying all of the different activities and exhibits that the Museum offers.

Thanks to the Roald Dahl museum and WW E for inviting us.

Disclosure: we were invited to the event and received a free goodie bag.

A Celebratory Weekend away

We've been busy again recently!! Last week we took a trip to see Matilda the Musical which was fantastic. It is hands down one of the best musicals we have ever seen.

This was followed by a weekend in a hotel to celebrate the in-laws fifty years of marriage which is quite something isn't it!

The girls of course had a wonderful time - too many late nights in bed, but hey, it's only once every so often!

We ended up with a suite after a small bone of contention with our sardine-like family room and so the kids ended up with their own bedroom and a TV of their own - which was heaven for them - we had to prise them away.. but then, that's half the fun of staying in Hotels!

We also had our first trip to the beach of the year, when we left the mainland briefly and drove to Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey. It was a very cold and windy visit but a beautiful day!

Here are some pictures from our weekend:

Featured Post: All-In-Kitchen Restaurant

The worlds first pay-by-poker restaurant, has been created which seeks to combine poker with gourmet food. PokerStars and Jones & Sons have teamed up to create the "All-In Kitchen", a new innovative pop-up restaurant  which celebrates the new season of the UK and Ireland Poker Tour. 

The concept of the restaurant is that how much you pay for your meal is decided by the hand of poker you play. After a successful first pop-up, the experience will now be rolled out nationwide across all UKIPT stops during the tour. 

The idea is that you pay three hands of poker, then the amount of chips you have left at the end of the three hands determines how much you pay for your meal - whether it's £10, £5 or nothing at all!  The meal consists of three courses plus a cocktail - so an absolute bargain however you look at it!

The All-In Kitchen is an opportunity for customers to have fun. Customers can either pay the full price for their meal, or play poker to win their meal for less or free - the poker is optional!!  

The Stolen Handbag is Returned!

On Friday I had my handbag stolen from the front seat of my car in my local Tesco's car park whilst I was loading my shopping into the car. It was a split second occurrence which I didn't even register until I saw my phone laying on the floor near my car and was confused as to how it got there, which was then coupled with the sudden realisation of what had happened as it dawned on me that my handbag had been stolen.

Thank the lord, my mobile phone fell out of the bag as the thief was running away as ironically, that was probably the most valuable thing that was in there in terms of monetary value. I never carry cash around me, apart from the odd five pound note and some change, but my bag was very big and heavy thanks to the huge diary, purse full of cards, countless receipts, and various notebooks I carry around with me and so I am guessing they possibly thought they would find some valuables in there - perhaps a laptop of tablet or too or a fairly significant wad of cash.

A witness saw it happen and said that the thief had been watching me from their car - quite a scary thought. I consider myself to be quite a street-savvy person with my wits about me, so I am most annoyed that they managed to catch me at one of the times I was most preoccupied, worrying about whether I had everything for eldest's impending birthday. They obviously intended to target someone, so on the plus side, one could say that it least it was me, with not much of financial value in my bag, and not some poor old lady with her weekly stash of cash in the bag who may have lost more and been affected more. I also think I would have been completely lost without my phone, much more upset, and I know I wouldn't have got it back, so I am so grateful that the universe intervened and it fell out of the bag as they ran.

Although there was nothing of much monetary value in there, to me my filofax, and the work notebooks I carry along with a special birth announcements book I was carrying for work were actually very valuable to me and I was so upset I had lost stuff which was so personal to me, along with a couple of hundred business cards in various boxes which again had no monetary value to the thieves but were worth a lot to me in terms of the cost to replace them and the amoun of personal information accessible in my bag,

The ex-cops in my family suspected that this was a classic run and grab case and that the bag would be dumped, as the thief didn't have the brain cells to steal the blue tooth handset on the seat, or the change sitting on the top of the dashboard so they were purely chancers rather than organised criminals. Nethertheless, the weekend has been spent cancelling all of my cards and trying to rework my diary through various phone calls and various facebook pleas, and also trying to make a list of what was lost.

Today, three days later, my handbag was found in a ditch, around ten miles away from where I live. by two lovely lady dog walkers. Most of the contents of the handbag were still there - along with my filofax and all my notebooks etc with my priceless information in, Unfortunately, the thieves left everything strewn all over the place. They must have basically emptied out my bag, taken what they thought had any value (hardly anything - a bit of change, a purse spray, lipstick and perhaps a couple of other bits) and just left everything else strewn out over the muddy ditch, exposed to the elements. Ironically, I am pretty sure that the only thing they were looking for was cash which I never carry, or tech equipment which there was none in there. What upsets me most was that as they left everything out, everything is absolutely ruined. So not only did they steal my stuff, they then couldn't even be bothered to put it back in the bag in the vague hope that some of it wouldn't be ruined for it's original owner. I will have to buy a new filofax and notebooks, and new business cards, and try to salvage and dry out some of the receipts, so it is costing me a bit of money to replace it all - although at least the information is not lost.

I suppose I am giving the thieves too much credit as why would I not expect these low lives to have a complete lack of respect for peoples stuff or empathy for the people they steal from. All I can say is that I'm a firm believer in what goes around comes around and so I am hoping that karma will come and bite them firmly on the backside and soon, so if by chance the thieves are reading this as you now have all of my personal info - I sincerely hope that it really does!

The lessons I have learnt from this are:

1) Never carry huge amounts of cash with you.
2) Try to limit the amount of stuff you carry around, and take stuff out of your handbag regularly.
3) Be on guard especially in public places such as car parks and supermarkets and town centres which thieves seem to target.
4) Always open the boot and lock your car if you can, or check your surroundings when loading stuff into the car, and make sure you lock it as you return the trollley.
5) Alternatively, keep your bag with you at all times.
6) Don't think you won't be targeted and be blase.
7) Back up your diary online - Although I did have some appointments in my online diary. I will definitely be putting everything in there from now on!!
8) Don't carry all of the business cards you own in one place!
9) Perhaps invest in a smaller shoulder bag for shopping if you can.
10)There are some lovely people in the world who try to make wrongs right! I have also had some lovely messages of support from friends and family and I valued everything single one.

The ditch my bag was dumped in

Happy Birthday Eldest

Eight years ago, I had a brand new newborn, which is pretty hard to believe!  So much has happened since then, but I still remember like it was yesterday, the day we took her home after two days of being in special care, which was eight years ago today.

Since then she has grown and flourished in so many ways and now we have a brand new shiny eight year old to look after and each year brings with it fresh parenting lessons. She is growing so fast!!

Stop Calling Me Swintons

This week I have been hounded by Swintons Insurance and so here is my little message to them!

And so that was Christmas 2014!!

Funny how life gets in the way of blogging so quickly isn't it! We have had such a busy December that it's been hard to keep track of it! What with all of the lovely things we have done, plus work, and school Christmas activities, it was definitely a busy old month. Here is what we got up to:

The Christmas Season started with a visit for Eldest and I to see The Vienna Ballet performing The Nutcracker. She loves Ballet as do I so it was a real treat! The Vienna Ballet were absolutely fantastic and the icing on the cake was that eldest got to meet them all afterwards - very exciting for her!

On December the first the elves came to visit and stayed with us until Christmas Eve. The girls love their #Elfontheshelf and the antics they get up to during our stay. We also decorated the house in early December. I love decorating for Christmas, although it's not always as fun taking it down once January arrives!

The girls sang and eldest played violin and recorder in their Music School Christmas Recital during mid December. The girls love going to Music School each Saturday and so it was brilliant to see what they have been doing behind closed doors all term! We also went to see Singalong Frozen at the newly opened Odyssey Cinema in St Albans with friends which was a real treat. The film was the first showing there and so it was really special. We also went back to the Odyssey during Christmas and New Year to see "Alexander and the terrible, no good, very bad day, which was absolutely fantastic.

Hubby and I celebrated a rare night out and went to a Carol Concert at Wrest Park which was a lovely night. (although I think I did fall asleep at one point as it was so relaxing!!) Our English Heritage Membership has definitely paid off this year as we love visiting their properties!

Both girls took part in their Christmas School Concert. Youngest was an angel and eldest had a speaking part. They also finished the term with a beautiful Christingle service.

We were lucky to book a spot for Breakfast with Santa at Notcutts in St Albans which was a brilliant experience - and one which we intend to book far earlier next Christmas! The girls got to meet Santa and he spent quite a while chatting with them at their table, followed by a story and presents! A very festive experience.

On Christmas Eve we attended our Church Crib Service which was lovely as always. The kids and their friends sang a very rousing version of "We Three Kings" far louder than everyone else which had the back rows in hysterics. On Christmas Eve night we had our annual Family Buffet, followed by Reindeer Food sprinkling and tracking Santa on Norad.

Christmas Day bought a new onesie for hubby and new tablets for the girls, (thankfully with parental controls which hubby is overseeing!). We spent Christmas Day with family with me cooking for dinner and tea. Daddy got a rather fetching new "Daddy Pig" (who ate all the mince pies) T-shirt emphatically chosen by youngest. On Boxing Day we went to Dunstable to see "Robin Hood and the Babes in the Wood" which was lots of fun. We do love a bit of Panto on Boxing Day (Oh yes we do!).

The rest of Christmas consisted of more visits to family and friends and another two Christmas gatherings, with lots of delicious food! On New Years Eve the girls had a treat as they stayed up until midnight. Both made it! We played Scrabble, ate lots and saw the Fireworks at Midnight, followed by two little ones off to bed very soon after!

We had a fantastic family Christmas and New Year and although it was busy before Christmas, it was great to spend time chilling out between Christmas and New Year.

Back to work and Back to School next week - Boo!!