Every year it gets more difficult to find gifts for Ethan because he has so many toys already, and he absolutely loves gifts to do with his favourite characters which is great, but I would like a variety of things of under the tree so we've had a real search around and this is what we've found.



To begin with, Ethan has asked Santa Claus for some Paw Patrol toys, so of course I can't argue with what Santa brings!  I am sure that Ethan will be finding these Action Pups under the tree and he will be very excited about them!

He will also be opening these Kozi Kidz CuddleBear Fleece Jacket and CuddleBear Fleece Bottoms, I know that it's hard to get excited about clothes at this age, but this fleece represents fun outside in the winter, and that is something to get excited about!  This set is going to keep Ethan nice and warm while we're going out on our adventures in the woods.



Then for a healthy treat Ethan will be getting this Organix Christmas Selection Box of yummy snacks that includes healthy bars, biscuits and crisps.  It will be the perfect thing for Ethan to munch on to give him energy to get through the rest of his gifts!




Ethan is going to absolutely love this Garage Play Tent from Peach Perfect.  Not only is it a fun tent to play in, it's also got a car mat on the base so it can be used in multiple ways.  I can already see Ethan bringing a load of his little cars in there to zoom around as well as using it for imaginative play and pretending to fix some of his larger cars.  This is the perfect rainy and cold day toy as it can keep him busy indoors for ages.


This Galt Robo Maze Game is definitely going to get Ethan very excited.  It is intended for children from 6 years old and up, but I just know that he is going to love it.  I'm always looking for more science related games and activities for him as he loves his lab set and microscope so much, so this robot game that will teach him about electricity and circuits is the perfect game for him.



These Child Safe Headphones from Go Travel are definitely going to come in handy when we're travelling.  We've been going on quite a few long car drives and other trips lately and we're often handing Ethan a phone or tablet to keep him occupied so these headphones will be perfect as we'll know that he's listening at a safe volume level and with headphones that are comfortable for him.




Another great item from Go Travel that Ethan will be opening is this Night Glow Froggy which will also be perfect for when we travel as it will be a nice light for on the go when he's looking for things in the car or on the plane and just needs a little bit of light.  It will also be great in hotel rooms and unfamiliar places that we stay overnight so that he can easily just reach out for it if he needs to get up for any reason.  And it's just cute and cuddly so I think he'll love playing with it.



Finally Ethan will be getting the ee Robin Tablet for kids.  It is a proper kids tablet and comes loaded with loads of games for kids and Hopster tv so he can watch his favourite shows.  It's a great first tablet for kids as I'll be able to set it up for as long as I would like him to use it and choose which games and educational apps he can use.  I think it will be a great addition to our trips as well as a useful tool for learning.

Image courtesy of ee

* This is a review post and also contains affiliate links, we were sent the fleeces, selection box, play tent, robot game, headphones, glow toy and Robin tablet so that we could review them and write our honest opinions about them.*

It is a firm tradition in our house to do the 12 Books of Christmas each year.  I have seen a lot of people doing a book advent this year, which I think is fantastic, but 24 books always seemed a bit overwhelming for me, so we go for 12 instead (it gives me more time to get it all ready as well!)  And this year is even better, because we've added in more of the spirit of giving to our tradition, which I'm very excited to tell you all about.



So I start by choosing 12 fantastic Christmas books for the children to open up each night starting on the 13th of December.  This year I've gone for reading books and activity books, here's what I've chosen:

• Mog's Christmas Calamity
• Peppa Pig Christmas Activity Books
• Dumbo and Winnie the Pooh Christmas
• Toy Story and Finding Nemo Christmas
• Santa's Busy Christmas
• Jingle, Jingle Little Reindeer
• Twelve Days of Christmas Activity Book
• Can You Find 1001 Christmas Things
• Norman the Slug Who Saved Christmas
• Aliens Love Panta Claus
• Christmas Activity Book
• The Night Before Christmas

The whole Christmas season is magical, but the real magic begins for us on Christmas Eve.  Once we've woken up and opened up the last door on the advent calendar it is time to start the real celebrations.  If we're lucky enough to have nice weather we go out for the day to look for reindeer.  There's a large park with deer nearby and we go there to see the 'reindeer' and wish them luck on their journey that night.  Then we drive home just as it's starting to get dark, taking a special drive around to see as many of the houses with lots of Christmas lights as we possibly can.


At home we watch a Christmas film, one of my favourites is A Muppet Family Christmas we have a nice dinner of Christmassy treats and then open our special gifts.  We open the final book of our 12 Books of Christmas, which is always The Night Before Christmas.  In the past I have then just given the kids a pair of pyjamas to open up, but this year we're going for a little something more, and trying out the Christmas Eve box tradition.

Being a little bit different I'm using cute Santa sacks instead of a box to keep all the little Christmas Eve presents in.  Ivy's is a personalised felt sack from My 1st Years and I've just gone for a quite simple red sack for Ethan that goes well with it.  Of course they each have a pair of pyjamas, these adorable personalised polar bear pyjamas from My 1st Years for Ivy.  Then I found these cute Christmas pyjamas for Ethan at Mothercare, and couldn't resist getting Ivy similar ones as well.


To be extra cosy this year they will each get a pair of slippers as well.  Ethan's got these super cute Moccis with reindeer on them, and Ivy's got a penguin pair as well.  They are going to look adorable in them, and be nice and cosy (as well as not slipping as they run around excitedly on Christmas morning!)

























They each need to have a little toy to cuddle, so Ivy has this sweet Jellycat bunny with a personalised sweater from My 1st Years and Ethan will have this Chase from Paw Patrol soft toy.


And as an extra surprise for them to share, they'll be getting the Christmas Surprise's game from Orchard Toys.  It's a great game for kids to learn about shapes and colours with a fun Christmas theme of helping Santa get the presents in his sack.  It will be the absolutely perfect way to end a day of Christmas excitement and to prepare the kids for the following day and all it has to bring.


Before bed we put out milk and cookies and a mince pie for Santa, not forgetting the carrots for the reindeer.  Then it's off to bed, hoping for a good night's sleep for the energy we'll all need for Christmas Day festivities!

* This is a review post as well as including affiliate links.  We were given the items from My 1st Years, the Moccis and the Kosi Fleece to review and write our honest opinions about.*

I am not a baker, and it doesn't make things any easier when my little helpers are throwing the ingredients around and making the whole process a bit more difficult.  But I have discovered the secret to baking with kids, and it's in these little boxes from Cookie Crumbles.  We tried the Fabulous Gingerbread Biscuit Mix and baked up some cute little gingerbread bears (because I couldn't find a man cookie cutter).


It was so easy to make, which was perfect for us today as it was a day that absolutely everything was going wrong.  If I had been making these from a recipe there is no way that we would have had anything to show for it!  We started by adding some butter to the mix, which Ethan insisted on doing himself, and mixing it in with our fingers.


Then we added some golden syrup and stirred it all up to make a dough.  This is the part when I worried that because we hadn't done it quite right we weren't going to end up with a proper dough that we could roll out.  But after 15 minutes in the fridge I was pleasantly surprised!


I pulled the dough out and rolled it into a ball, then let Ivy roll it out with a rolling pin.  Again letting a 1 1/2 year old do the rolling can be problematic, but the dough held up to the toddler treatment.


Next we cut out the shapes, we made gingerbread teddies and trees, then put them on some greaseproof paper and baked them in the oven.


Once they were cooled it was time to decorate them (which mostly involved the kids eating the toppings!) 



I was really impressed with the Cookie Crumbles mix, I also love that it's made with wholesome ingredients like wholewheat flour and with no additives, so I know that I'm giving them something that's just as good as homemade.  And they taste delicious!

* This is a review post, we were sent the Gingerbread Biscuit mix from Cookie Crumbles to use and to write our honest opinions about.*

The years are simply flying by, and I'm at the dreaded point of having to choose which primary school would be most suitable for Ethan as he is due to start in September.  I can not believe that he is already 4 years old, and while I know that he is more than ready to start school it's still difficult to be making a decision that will have such an impact on his life. And being a teacher in this situation is both negative and positive as I do know a lot about the school system and what I'm looking for, but I'm also very picky!



I'm sure that it works differently all over the country, but I was certainly surprised by how things are done in London as it wasn't as simple as I had assumed.  I always thought that you just went to the school that was closest to your house, and that was it.  However, a lot of these schools are oversubscribed, so there's a good chance that we won't get into the lovely school that's just down the road, and that's why it's so important to be familiar with all of the schools in your area.

In our borough the applications for next September have to be submitted by January (and we find out which school he will be going to in April).  So we have a little bit of time to do our research and learn about the local schools.  So here is our plan of action, hopefully if you're feeling a bit overwhelmed this will give you some guidance to get you started.

Step 1: Go onto your borough's website to look for a map of all of the local schools and find the six (or more) that are closest to your house, as well as reading through the application process to familiarise yourself with it.

Step 2: Make a chart (not vital, but I do love a chart) to keep track of information about your local schools.  Mine looks like this:



Step 3: Look at the schools websites to find out as much information as possible about them.  Take note of their OFSTED rating, and read the reports if you are concerned that they have a low rating.  Sometimes you might find that the reasons for not achieving 'outstanding' are not factors that are vital to your family and therefore not worth focusing on.

Step 4: Contact the schools via email or telephone to enquire about open days or school tours that they offer prospective parents.  I found that they were all very happy to show us around and to welcome us into the school.

Step 5: Visit as many schools as you can, my theory is that I want to see all the schools for myself, even the one with a terrible OFSTED rating that I have only ever heard bad things about, just to make my own mind up.  I'm also thinking that if we don't get into any of our other choices and end up in a school that I don't like and we want to go through the appeal process, then I want to be as informed as possible as to our reasons why we do not want that school.

Step 6: Go to the schools and look around asking any questions that you have.  For the most part I just like to walk around and get a good feeling for the school.  I like when I see happy staff and happy children, I think that's always a sign of a great school.  I want to know a lot about the reception class, how the children are supported when settling in, to see that they are learning through play and that they have access to an outdoor play area as well. Throughout the rest of the school I'm looking for displays of the childrens' work, well laid out classrooms as well as smaller rooms for groups to work with the teachers.  I like to ask about parent involvement, about school trips and about extra activities that the children are involved in.  I also love when there are children (often year 6 kids) giving the tours, so I can ask them what they like about the school and get more of an insider view.

Step 7: Decide which school you like the best and which will be the best fit for your child. I'm looking for a school with lots of space to run around outside and an emphasis on play throughout the early years as Ethan is a very active child and needs to get that energy out to be able to focus on any quiet work.  I'm also really like the idea of going to our closest school as I think it's an important part of the day to be able to walk to school, and that it would be nice to have his school friends living close by for play dates as well.

Step 8: Fill in your application form, make your decisions and try to forget about it until your acceptance letters come through.  Good luck (and wish us luck too, fingers crossed!)

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I find technology and the way that it has changed the way that we play with our children absolutely fascinating.  I am not a parent that is against screen time, but rather using it as a tool for learning and play.  So I was very intrigued when I first heard about the game Pebli Town which is a board game that is played with an app on a tablet.

* This is a review post, we were sent Pebli Town to play and write our honest opinions about.*

For a little bit of winter sparkle and fun we made these Snowflake Magic Wands from Baker Ross.


* This is a review post, we were sent the Snowflake Magic Wand Kits from Baker Ross to make and write our honest opinions about.*