Tweet

We have lots of adventures on the Lilypad and today our adventures took us to the Red House Barn and the Little Fun Fest.

It was our first ever festival (yes mine included) and I totally embraced the whole thing by ensuring we ALL had wellies. The weather forecast wasn't brilliant but a few rain showers weren't going to dampen our spirits and once as we saw the Big Red Top as we came closer to Red House Barn, we couldn't contain the girls excitement. They grabbed their wellington boots and off they went through the mud.

 

With varying ages, there is usually a debate over what activites we were going to do and amazingly the girls were generally happy to take turns in choosing an activity, with the little one only getting a bit upset over there being water on the bouncy castle. It was a little "bounce, splash" .... which added to the fun in the end!

The venue wasn't huge, which was perfect for us (and the little legs) as we could happily choose activities from either side and get there quickly. There was an amazing array of things to do and see from Baby Ballet, Dr Ranj's travelling surgery, Mr Yipadee to cBeebies very own Alex Winters, without all the extra's like the fair ground rides, stalls and play area. Mr Yipadee was a particular favourite, with the little one getting right in front of the stage and dancing and singing along. 

We had to take cover from the rain showers but the craft corner came to the rescue .....

And don't forget the parachute .....

As soon as the rain stopped, we were outside again and this time learning circus tricks from tight rope walking to stilts!

Little Fun Fest is all about providing top class family fun! It is marketed as the under 10′s first family festival and I was worried that it maybe a little too young for the "almost" 9 year old but she loved it and wants to come back next year already!

We didn't get a chance to meet and greet the stars of Little Fun Fest as the little one was beyond exhausted from all the excitement and she was asleep within 2 minutes of us leaving the car park but it wasn't about the characters for us, as it was just a fabulous event although we were able to watch the princesses from Frozen sing "Let it Go" before we left .....

 

The girls just didn't want to "let it go" and want to come back again tomorrow!!

 

We received a family pass for our entrance to Little Fun Fest but all opinions and adventures are our own.

Tweet

I cannot believe it is April. How did that happen?

March is always so busy for us, there are countless birthdays, anniversaries and of course Mothers Day. 

March was the time to say goodbye to this term of our swimming lessons and wonder what we are going to do for the next two weeks without our weekly splash sessions.

March was a time to start preparing for Easter with our Easter bonnets. (enter competitive mom).

The end of March saw the "smog" cloud descend ond make everything more than a little foggy.

 

So bye bye March, its been fun but April has Easter in store, half term holidays with the children, more birthdays to celebrate ..... oh and with six months to go to our wedding, I think I can start an official wedding countdown now, can't I?

Tweet

Before anyone jumps up and down on me about Scotland, the title is a little bit of a joke. I am engaged to a Scotsman and I can reassure you that they are very friendly!

However, the nice folk over at Scottish Friendly have also put together a helpful guide and video to help answer questions about the new ISA's that the government have recently announced. Saving for our children's future has always been important to us and with the Chancellor announcing in his budget that from 1 July 2014, ISAs will be reformed into a much simpler product, the New ISA (NISA), we thought it was time to look at it again. 

Apparently, all existing ISAs will automatically convert to a New ISA. Meaning those already saving and investing into an ISA will benefit from the changes. So it really is "nicer".

I know that there are lots of families consciously save for the future, whereas others believe in living for today by spending what they earn and I suppose I fall somewhere in the middle. My love of shopping for myself and the girls (and the Scotsman too), is no secret but I am always aware of that rainy day or "college" fund in the distance and an ISA gives me the freedom of saving but with easy access in case I need it!

Scottish Friendly

 also have a handy video that tells you more:

 

 

So what about you? Do you save for the future or live for the now?

 

This is a collaborative post but we thought that as money saving is so much of a focus for parents, that we wanted to share!

Tweet

It is no secret that there is a love of shoes by the girls on the Lilypad, so when we got the opportunity to review the Skribbies shoes, we jumped at the chance! Skribbies is a UK based company founded by Jennifer Duthie. The idea behind Skribbies came when Jennifer was reminiscing about the sweeter days of childhood. Jennifer wanted to develop a product for kids that was more versatile and would allow kids to keep on customising and as a result, Skribbies was born.

So what is in a Skribbies box? The 8 year old takes her first leap into (a very shy attempt at) vlogging. 

I have to admit I *may* have teased her with the box until the weekend and I purposefully didn't look inside either, so we were both thrilled with the contents. The Skribbies come with 6 pens in varying colours, monster stickers and a wristband.

 We made sure that there were no distractions (i.e 2 year old sister) to encroach on her artistic talents and she got to work straight away.

She couldn't decide between the stickers or the pens so ended up using a little bit of both. The Skribbies come with a handy wipe clean cloth (that doubles up as a funky wristband for art on the go) so if you don't like what you have done, you can simply wipe away.

Uh oh ... then the peace was shattered as the 2 year woke from her nap and insisted on getting involved! The chunky pens were the perfect size for her, much to her sisters dismay.

 Et Voila!

 You can just imagine how delighted the 8 year old was when the 2 year old found the cleaning cloth ...... (action shot to follow)

I am told by the ever critical 8 year old, that the trainers are really comfortable to wear and she loves showing them off when we go out.

She is a bit of a creature of habit, so once she has a design she tends to stick with it ..... until her sister gets hold of them of course.

My mum was a little worried at encouraging the children to draw on their shoes but they both understand that they are a special design and you can only draw on the Skribbies. At £39.99 they are not the cheapest shoes you are going to buy for your child but certainly not the most expensive either and with the ability to change the look whenever you want, it is a great way to encourage their individuality too.

We love them ..... what do you think?