... Haircuts, Dinosaurs and Hoppy Easter ...

I haven't really done a personal update in a while, so I thought now would be a good time to a little update on what we have been up to recently.

I've been having a non-planned social media break.

I've found that I haven't really posted much in the last few weeks and it has been quite nice just enjoying life without a phone in my hand.

I have been pretty busy with coursework and writing my first TMA.

The boys have mainly been busy with school and sports clubs.

A couple of weeks ago it was World Book Day and the boys all dressed up,

Ru went as Roo the Roaring Dinosaur,

Alex went as a Monster who loves Underpants... I did take a picture, but I can't find it on my phone :(

Oscar went as a Star Wars Storm Trooper as he didn't want to dress as a proper book character and Noah went as Harry Potter.

Link was neutered, and it was a trickier operation than expected as they had to take out all his intestines to find his hidden testical.

He had a cone on for 10 days, and we had to make sure he didn't suffer from internal bleeding and we had to keep him in the lounge to stop him going up the stairs or jumping around too much.

After the 10 days, he was desperate to get out of the lounge and have his collar taken off!

new house plant we found in Tesco's for £2.50

I got this awesome shirt to wow the kids in reception but unfortunately, it isn't long enough in the arms and my tattoos are on the show. So I need to find a thin long sleeved top to wear underneath. I have however worn it out and about and it has received lots of good comments!

 

My first proper TMA was marked and I was over the moon with the score...

84%!!

I just hope I can beat that on my next one.

I also finally got round to getting my hair sorted, my greys are all gone, my very old graduated bob is now evened out and I have highlights!!

The boys all had haircuts yesterday and they are all very pleased with them and I keep catching them looking in the mirror and touching their heads!

This morning we took the boys to a local church hall to join in with some Easter Crafts and hear the Easter Story. The boys all really enjoy joining in with the Church community and it's nice to see them doing something other than playing on the Xbox!

We are spending Easter Sunday at Jon's parents and Helen has planned a special egg hunt for all the boys.

Last year they had a great time running around their garden looking for the clues, so they can't wait for this year's hunt. 

Our Easter fireplace.

Easter Bonnet Parade Ready.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter

x

Dinosaur shirt - www.shein.co.uk

Pink and White Plant Pot  - www.thetrianglehouse.co.uk 

... Ru's Private Screening Party Of The Brand New PJ Masks Series 2 ...

The action-packed adventures of Catboy, Owlette and Gekko, the superhero trio from Entertainment One’s (eOne) hit animated TV series, PJ Masks, are set to continue as brand new episodes from series two premiere on Disney Junior from Wednesday 28th March. 

To celebrate the brand new series we were sent a preview party bundle to help the boys enjoy a private home viewing of the very first two episodes! 

Ru was amazed at all the amazing PJ Masks goodies he was sent for the preview party and I'm certain ive never seen his smile so wide as when he saw his CatBoy duvet set on his bed!

Before the party, we sat down and wrote out some invites for the twins, so they knew when and where the party was going to be held and then I set them all out of the kitchen, so I could set up the party table and get the preview episodes up on the laptop.

I did a small selection of party food and some juice for them all to enjoy whilst watching the first two episodes ...

o Moonfizzle Balls-Catboy works a bit too fast to kick back Luna Girl’s moonfizzle balls,

and Gekko and Owlette can’t keep up.

o Soccer Ninjalinos-Owlette learns that being part of the team means coaching Catboy

and Gekko to defeat Night Ninja, who has trained his Ninjalinos in kung-Fu football. 

The boys all danced along to the theme tune and then settled right down to enjoy the episodes, I'm not sure I've ever seen them so quiet whilst all sitting together.

They all really enjoyed both episodes and Ru demanded we watch them again and by this point, I thought the twins would get up and go and do something different, but they happily watched them both again! 

After watching the episodes twice they decided they'd do a bit of art using the PJ Mask art box and Oscar wanted to do the puzzle.

Both those activities lasted a good half hour and once they were done with that, they all put on a mask and ran around the house playing PJ Masks!

Our party bundle had everything we could possibly dream of to host the perfect PJ Mask party!

The most important bit for a party...

Partywear 

RRP £29.99 

Available from Argos 

Includes Mask & Banner Pack, Paper Plates, Banners, Cups, Loot bags, Balloons, Invites, Table Cover, Napkins. 

60 pc Glow in the Dark Puzzle

RRP £7.99

Available from Amazon and Smyths.

This glow in the dark puzzle shows your favourite characters from the hit series PJ masks. Puzzle together Gekko, Catboy and Owlette as well as the villains Romeo, Luna Girl and Night Ninja. When the lights are off, watch as the characters light up and glow in the dark. 

Blind Bag Figure

RRP £3.99

Available from Amazon and Argos.

Join the action with the PJ Masks Blind Bags. Which character will you unwrap? Includes one highly detailed character from the hit animated series, PJ Masks! Look out for the ultra-rare figure! Collect all the characters in the PJ Masks world! 

Inflatable Chair

RRP £9.99

Available from Amazon and Shop Direct.

Cute, cosy and the perfect size for little ones; this inflatable chair has quick comfort covered. Little ones will love this comfy inflatable chair, featuring their favourite characters and with flocked seat, for extra comfort and easy to wipe clean surface, it's practical for mum too. Light-weight and great for taking with you wherever you go, this chair is also easy to deflate and store away when needed. 

Carry Along Art Case

RRP £7.99

Available from Wilko and WHSmith.

Kids will have endless creative fun with this PJ Mask Carry Along Art Case. This is ideal for young PJ Mask fans and provides hours of colouring fun to entertain your little one! It also has the benefit of keeping their colouring and stationery set nice and tidy. It's the perfect set for school holidays or staying in on a rainy day.

Stamp and Sticker Playset

RRP £4.99

Available from B&M and Sainsburys.

Includes: 3x Stampers, 6x Stackable Markers, 3x Stencils, 3x Sticker Scenes, 3x Foam 3D Stickers with Scenes

142x Stickers, 420x Alphabet Stickers and 1x Sketch Pad.

3D Mask Assortment

RRP £9.99

Available from Amazon and Argos.

Transform into your favourite PJ Masks hero with the PJ Masks Character Masks! These high-quality masks are made of durable plastic in Catboy, Gekko and Owlette's signature colours! Each mask has a soft insert and an adjustable strap for the perfect fit. Assortment includes Catboy, Owlette, and Gekko. Each sold separately. 

Catboy Cat-Car Single Duvet 

RRP £29.99

Available from Amazon and Tesco.

This cool PJ Masks Cat-Car single duvet cover set is bound to be a hit with fans of the popular animated series. The innovative duvet cover is designed so that it contains your usual duvet but with the added extra of wheel shapes on the sides which turn your bed into your very own Catboy Cat-Car. 

After a long day of fighting crime Ru was very keen to jump into his brand new CatBoy Car bed, he even promised me he would sleep in it all night ..... I was a little hopeful but unfortunately, he didn't quite make all night but was definitely in it for longer than usual.

The party was a great success, Ru even thought it was his birthday!

DONT FORGET...

Series 2 will soar onto on Disney Junior at 4.30pm on Wednesday 28th March and then new episodes will air every following Wednesday at 4.45pm 

... Thomas & Friends TrackMaster Twisting Tornado Set ...

If you are followers of the blog you will know Ru is a massive fan of the Thomas Tracks and is always over the moon when we are asked to review a new one.

When we were asked to review the new Twisting Tornado Set I was more than keen to say yes.

Ru has been doing really well at nursery and it was nice for him to receive a surprise in the post.

Key Features

·       Motorised track set

·       Includes unique Thomas TrackMaster engine

·       Connects to other TrackMaster playsets

·       RRP £24.99

Suitable for age 3 years+

The track was really simple to build, it all clicked together nicely and the track layout was really easy to follow.

Ru sat patiently and watched as I built, once it was ready to go he popped Thomas down and giggled away as he sped off.

It took a few goes before he realised he had to move the tornado back before Thomas reached it, but once he got the hang of it there was no stopping him.

The race was on to get it back into place before Thomas had zoomed around the track.

Thomas takes shelter inside the old shed but only to find the Tornado takes him into a whirlwind and spins him across the field knocking down all the powerline poles on its way to the other side of the track.

Fast-paced and full of fun, this is definitely one of his favourite Thomas Track Master sets!

After playing you can unclick the track and place it back in the box.

This track can also connect to other TrackMaster™ playsets for non-stop adventures!

I'd highly recommend this set to any parent with a Thomas fan, it's reasonably priced and will last well and bring endless hours of fun.

  

You can catch Thomas & Friends over on their YouTube Channel.

... Booms, Bangs! Fizzes ....

Last week was British Science Week and to celebrate the last day of it, we brought Science into the home with the help of John Adams Booms, Bangs! Fizzes explosive messy science set!

 'Booms Bangs and Fizzes, a totally cool science set that allows you to create a whole heap of noisy, messy, bubbling, fizzing, explosive experiments in your home.  

Have loads of fun whilst learning about the science of why things explode, froth and make loud noises.'

The set has 12 fun experiments to try, there's an experiment to suit everyone.

1. Film Canister Rocket,
2. Jet Engine Balloon Screamer,
3. Bike Pump Rocket Ship,
4. Erupting Underwater Volcano,
5. Confetti Shower Explosion,
6. Exploding Lunch Bag,
7. Paper Banger,
8. Water Bomb,
9. Indoor Lightning,
10. Rock Salt Depth Charge,
11. Mad Fizzing Potion 1,
12. Mad Fizzing Potion 2.

The set includes all the important bits you need for those experiments with just a handful needing a few extras that you'll be able to find around the house.

I had planned to get the boys in the garden and let them loose on some of the messy experiments but unfortunately, it snowed again and was ridiculously chilly, so we stayed inside and picked a few of the non-messy ones.

Our first one was Indoor Lightning.

For this, we just needed a pen lid and some sticky tape.

The lid is to make a handle for the aluminium tray.

You have to rub the Lightning Styrene Sheet on your hair really fast then drop it on to the carpet, then from about 30cm, you drop the tray onto it.

Then you place your finger on the tray, without touching the Styrene sheet and you should hear a crackle and feel a slight shock.

We did this a few times and found that it only really worked on Oscar's hair. So he turned into our rubber!

Once we had all felt the mini shock we tried the next step trying to see the lightning...

To do this you are meant to repeat the rubbing of the Styrene sheet and dropping it on the carpet then picking up the tray by the pen lid handly then very slowly bringing your other finger towards the sheet.

You should then see a lightning spark and hear a crack.

Unfortunately, we didnt see any lightning but we did hear the crack.

The boys were all really impressed with this, and still very desperate to make their own lightning.

So this will be an experiment we'll be trying again!

Our next experiment was Jet Engine Balloon Screamer.

Everything needed for this experiment was included in the pack, we just had to make up the rocket!

The boys all helped with the making of the rocket and setting up the chairs.

I was only going to do a short distance between the two chairs, but they decided it would be better if we did it the whole length of the kitchen.

We enlisted Daddy to lend a hand so I could get the picture of the rocket in action.

Our first attempt didn't actually manage to do anything but make a noise.

So after a little pep talk from the boys, Daddy blew the rocket balloon even bigger and then picked up one chair, so that it was at a slight angle to the other.

And whooooooooosh the Rocket was zooming across the kitchen.

The boys all giggled with delight.

Our last experiment was the Paper Banger.

Again this was included in the set and all you have to do is some fancy folding and then BANG!

I discovered I have pretty weak arm strength, so I couldn't actually get the thing to bang, so Daddy was called back into the kitchen and he showed the boys what it really could do. Their faces were priceless.

It made a pretty awesome Bang!

Jon did it a few times but in the end got a bit carried away and did it too hard, it actually ripped the paper.

We all really enjoyed our mini science morning in the kitchen and can't wait for the weather to warm up so we can get in the garden to do some messy experiments.

Boom, Bangs! Fizzes is recommended for ages 7 upwards.

RRP £19.95 

You can buy it on Amazon