Schleich Bayala review

Schleich is a brand of figures well known to us as my children have a variety of their farm animals and dinosaurs so when I was asked if we'd like to review some figures from the Bayala range I knew we'd be getting a great quality product.

Bayala is a mystical world of enchanting animals, elves, unicorns and the new additions, elf children. There's a huge range of figures to fire your child's imagination and take them on a magical journey into a world of fantasy.

We were sent the Harp Elf and bride and groom figures Sireel and Solfur.

Girl really enjoyed playing with these and set up a wedding scene complete with flower petals, expanding on the the theme of nature used throughout the range. She now wants me to plant a fairy garden for these to reside in and to create a whole Bayala community!

Unicorn is from Girl's own collection

Each Bayala figure is exquisitely detailed and Girl loved the touches of glitter on them. You can't have a magical world without glitter!

As you'd expect from Schleich, these plastic moulded figures are well made and very durable. I'd have no worries about Tidgy getting his hands on these and breaking them.

*We were not paid for this review. We were sent the 3 Bayala figures to test and keep. All opinion is honest and based upon our own experiences.

A Year In Photos-Days 242-244

Wednesday

We went to Colchester Castle today and the children's favourite activities were dressing up. Middle makes a great Anglo Saxon soldier don't you think?

Thursday
The children finally got round to sticking stuff in their summer scrapbook. It wasn't until we went through everything we'd saved over the last few weeks that I realised just how much we'd done!

Friday
We have been sent some Schleich animal figures to review and the children decided that all of them belonged in the water..including the hedgehog!

Poundland Back To School Challenge

We've been having such a great time this summer that I kept putting off the inevitable: back to school preparations. I'm rarely a last minute person but I'm really not looking forward to the children returning to school and neither are they but Poundland gave us a little incentive to start ticking off some items on our shopping list.

The Poundland Story (in their words)

Everything for £1 was the idea of our founders in 1990 and we’re still true to that great vision today.

Yes, Everything for £1

We work hard to bring you amazing value products everyday, over half of which are sourced from the UK.

Sometimes the products we sell are just so popular that we may run out of stock, but we always try to replace them as soon as possible – except perhaps, for some of our unrepeatable WOW offers!

From real deal top brands and daily essential items, to fantastic new lines and stunning WOW products, we hope our quality, variety and inflation busting style gives you irresistible value on each visit.

Every week, millions of savvy customers enjoy the fun and exciting shopping experience of Poundland in hundreds of stores nationwide. We are very proud to offer you a single £1 price, that hasn’t changed since we opened our first store.

SAME AMAZING PRICE SINCE 1990!

We were sent a £10 voucher and challenged to see how much stationery we could get the children set for school.

I told them they would be able to have five items each and I thought they'd be done within 2 minutes but they were overwhelmed with the choice and spent over 30 minutes deliberating on what to spend their £5 on! They have taken after me with their love of stationery.

Girl chose a Peppa Pig pencil case, A4 drawing pad with pastel coloured sheets, Disney Minnie Nerds Colouring Pencils, Barbie Stationery Set and Pk 3 Plastic Folders.

Middle picked an A4 Ringbinder and matching lined notebook, Spiderman Pencil Case, Pk 16 colouring pencils and a Mixed Stationery Set which included 4 HB pencils with eraser tops, mini sticky pad, eraser, mini highlighter, ruler, ballpoint pen and pencil sharpener.

There was an incredible choice and a great range of branded products (Disney, Barbie, Spiderman, Spongebob Squarepants etc). I was really impressed with the range available.

For £1 per item you really can't quibble about the prices and the quality of the items was fantastic. My two can't wait to take their bundle of goodies into school.

Take a look at the Poundland website to get an idea of what may be available in your local store.




*We were not paid for this review. We were sent a £10 Poundland voucher with which we had to purchase £10 worth of stationery from Poundland to review. All opinions are honest and based upon our experiences. 

A Year In Photos-Day 241

We took a trip to Lowestoft today to spend some long overdue time with my Dad. We had a wonderful day there walking along the seafront, enjoying lunch and an ice cream together and the children spent a short while on the sand. Tidgy went straight onto the beach with no shoes on and stuck his hands into the sand. Success! 

A Year In Photos-Day 240

Another country park was our destination today (Clare Country Park). The children had lots of fun running around but I'm doubting whether letting them play on the rail line, albeit disused, was a sensible idea. I just hope they've got the common sense to realise that when we're at the rail station tomorrow that they shouldn't be jumping on the track!

Great Notley Country Park

We love discovering new places to have fun so on the recommendation of another tweeter we went to Great Notley Country Park today. It's close to Braintree so not too far for us to travel to. Parking was just £3 for the day.

We took a picnic and a couple of footballs, but forgot the picnic rug  (there were plenty of picnic tables dotted around the park though.)

First stop was the Discovery Centre for a toilet stop. It was very clean and there was a good-sized cafe within the building offering drinks, sandwiches, ice creams and hot food.

Then we headed off on the Play Trail. There were loads of activities for the children to take part in (and us adults too!) around the park, so many that we didn't get round to visiting them all. The children's favourite was the water play.

I was very impressed when I managed to not only get Tidgy onto the sandy play area but he took his shoes off and played in the sand without making a fuss! A trip to the beach has been way down our list of places to visit this summer as he hated the sand so much....until today. I was SO excited!

There are a few large green spaces and after an hour or so of football we all just chilled out on the grass for a while. It was a great day, and inexpensive too which is always a bonus.

If you're feeling energetic you could walk or cycle the Flitch Way which passes through 15 miles of the former Braintree to Bishops Stortford railway. We're considering hiring some bikes from the centre next time we go.

If you're in Suffolk or Essex I can't recommend it enough as a great place for all the family.

A Year In Photos-Days 237-239

Friday
Middle was most excited about the latest toy for him to review. He has been sent a Doctor Who Dalek Spaceship to make and play with. The daleks are all we've had time to make so far but as you can see he is very happy with them!

Saturday

I went to bed early as I had a migraine so Girl offered to read me a story-Matilda by Roald Dahl. I'm afraid that I didn't stay awake long enough to hear much but it was a lovely idea of hers.

Sunday
This was the view as I lay on the ground at Great Notley Country Park this afternoon. I could have laid there for hours. It was wonderful.

A Year In Photos-Day 236

Thursday
We had a great day at Sacrewell Farm and I wish I'd had time to take more photos of the children enjoying our day out. This was taken while we were on the really bumpy tractor ride around the farm. (We were stationary at the time of taking the photo!)

A Year In Photos-Day 235

Wednesday
We went to Hamerton Zoo today and it was so disappointing. The children had more fun on the (rather poor) play area!  

A Year In Photos-Day 234

My latest competition win :-)

Review:Scatter Brainz

The deranged darts with a seriously sticky twist!

Scatter Brainz from Jakks Pacific are 64 collectable sticky darts. The detailed characters have sticky 'brains'  and when you throw them at the targets or shoot them with the bazooka they stick to the target making a fun, and safe dart game.

For your collection there is the Scatter Brainz Mental Case which holds up to 60 pieces and includes 4 exclusive pieces. As well as being a store case there is an interchangeable mechanical spinning dartboard for target practise.

We were sent the Scatter Brainz Brain Bazooka which holds 5 darts in the rotating chamber and can shoot darts up to 15 feet. Middle was excited to receive this, but not as much as his Dad!!! The Bazooka is recommended for ages 5-10 years.

Two darts come with the Bazooka so to get the full effect of the rotating chamber we went out and bought a pack of 8 Scatter Brainz from Argos (currently in the 2 for £15 toys offer).

On the back of the pack was a list of characters to collect so Middle and Girl ticked off what they had and were rather happy when they came across a rare or exclusive dart!   

A target comes with the Bazooka and we received a different one with the 8pk of darts.

Middle and Girl had great fun playing with the Bazooka and preferred using that to just throwing the darts at the target. Middle can't wait to show all his friends once he gets back to school and hopes that he & his mates can collect the Scatter Brainz and take part in 'swapsies'. I had a few goes and have to admit that it's rather addictive, especially when you're trying to beat the childrens' scores!

Pros
I thought that the Bazooka was very reasonable at rrp £14.99 especially as it has had many hours of play in such a short time. The darts can be 'regenerated' if they lose stickiness by simply washing with water, rubbing clean and then air drying.

Cons
You are supposed to load the darts into the barrel with the lids on then they will pop off when the dart has correctly clicked into place but we found it much easier (although stickier!) to do it without the lids. For the first few times Middle & Girl really struggled with pushing the barrel out and loading it but with use it is now much easier for them to load. These were just minor inconveniences at the start but now we've overcome them there are no problems.



*We were not paid for this review. We received the Scatter Brainz Bazooka to review and keep. All opinion is based upon our own experiences of this product and is truthful

A Year In Photos-Day 233

My cheeky little chap enjoying a spur of the moment trip to the beach this afternoon.

Why I won't be hurrying back to Southend....

The other day we went to Southend. It was one of the best days of the summer holiday so far but also without a doubt the most revolting.

We were there mainly for the children to spend the day at Adventure Island and we all had a great time, despite it being too hot for us but it turned out to be a day to remember for all the wrong reasons.

Firstly, we took Tidgy to the baby change and on one of the changing mats in the room was a pile of poo. Not a smear, accidentally put on the mat as can happen when wiping dirty bums, but a big stinking PILE of shit. Who would leave a baby's changing mat in that state?!

Towards the end of our time at Adventure Island the children were told they could have one last ride each so Middle and I queued up for his choice. As we were waiting a girl who was about 12 yelled to the girl in charge of the ride "I need to get off, I feel sick". She shouted this 3 times and her friend was yelling it too. Everyone could hear and could see that she wasn't well but the operator didn't stop the ride until the girl had vomited...a lot. Cue a quick exit from the queue as I told Middle in no uncertain terms that I didn't want to wait for them to clean the ride up!

In defence of the staff at Adventure Island I was impressed with them all (apart from the girl on the last ride!) as they were very friendly and helpful,  great with the children encouraging yells and screams of 'go faster!", and they were exceptionally safety conscious.

On the way home we stopped at a McDonald's on the outskirts. As we sat in the car park hubby said "There's a rat over there". I didn't believe him but a few seconds later a rat came scuttling out, in broad daylight, going through the rubbish on the floor. It's no wonder as all 5 bins in the car park were overflowing and clearly hadn't been emptied for hours, if at all that day. The rat went off with a chip packet and then ran out again and I was astounded to see another come out of the bushes. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I quickly wound the window up and I even made hubby drive elsewhere for us to put our rubbish in a bin!

What a thoroughly disgusting day.

A Year In Photos-Day 232

The children bought hubby a Segway experience at Thetford Forest for his 40th birthday earlier this year. We went yesterday and he loved it, so much so that he wants to buy a Segway! He fell off once but dusted himself off, got back on again and was soon zipping around the forest.

Ravensburger Puzzle Club: BRAVE 100pce puzzle

The latest puzzle to be sent to us for the Ravensburger Puzzle Club was of the film Brave, a Disney Pixar film currently showing in cinemas.

The eldest two have been nagging me to take them to the cinema to see Brave since they first heard about it so having this puzzle arrive has stopped the nagging.....for now!

The puzzle has 100 good-sized high quality pieces and is aimed at 6 years+.

Girl and Middle loved doing this puzzle and were able to do the majority of it with minimal assistance. They just needed a little help when doing Princess Merida's cloak and dress as they're quite dark and similar but they enjoyed the challenge.

This was a big hit with both of them and they said they really liked the picture and the fact it had lots of characters in it and it will be one they make over and over again.

Review: Hotter shoes~Shake

Shoes. I love them but I hate shopping for them and hate wearing them.

I look longingly at dainty heeled shoes every time I go shopping but I know they would cause me so much pain. I have hip dysplasia and cannot drive so I walk a lot of miles each week therefore I have to have flat, ultra-comfortable shoes which ultimately meant terribly frumpy shoes, usually in black.

Then along came Hotter Shoes.

Hotter have a great range of shoes and I was sent a pair of 'Shake' shoes to review.

Shake Indigo

'Secretly built-in to every pair of Hotter’s women’s shoes is the innovative Comfort Concept, cleverly designed to offer a luxurious pamper experience for your feet. Hotter’s indulgent women's comfort shoes, which come in a range of wide fittings, feature lightweight soles filled with millions of air bubbles, super soft cushioning and the finest leathers, guaranteeing supreme comfort with every step.'

I can't agree more with the statement above from Hotter's website. They were unbelievably comfortable and I literally felt like I was walking on air. There was no pinching or rubbing and no need to wear them in as is often needed with new shoes.

The velcro strap made them easy to put on and take off. My hip dysplasia means that I can't bend down or lift my foot easily so I need shoes that are simple to slip on.

Pros

The comfort is the biggest positive for me. Walking so far means I need shoes that fit well and won't cause me pain. Half sizes and wider fitting shoes are available to help you get that perfect fit.

Cons

They are a little more expensive than I would usually pay (Shake are currently £54) but I can never put a price on comfort and with a thick sole I'll be getting many miles out of them. They are worth every penny and I will be buying shoes from Hotter in future.

Adriana Cherry

Darcey Chocolate

Valetta Chocolate/Bronze

You can imagine my devastation when I got home from my holiday with only one shoe! We have hunted in the car, we have turned the house upside down. I have checked the suitcases I don't know how many times. We have called the owners of the cottage where we stayed. No joy. We now can only assume that when hubby got the pushchair out of the car at the motorway services near to Birmingham he knocked the bag that the shoes were in and knocked my shoe out.

If you're ever Birmingham way and you see a lost and lonely Indigo Shake shoe please contact me so we can reunite it with its mate!!

EDIT:
My daughter found the other shoe.....in her wardrobe! So much for turning the house upside down. I blame Tidgy as he has a shoe obsession and is always hiding shoes in odd places. Heaven knows how or when it took it upstairs and put it in her wardrobe. 


*I was not paid for this review. I received a pair of shoes free of charge to review. My opinions here are honest and based upon my own experience.

A Year In Photos-Day 231

Being cheeky...as always! 

A Year In Photos-Day 230

Yes, it is highly likely that Tidgy will learn to drive before I do!

Fun in Felixstowe

We had a wonderful trip to Felixstowe today. It's somewhere the five of us visit on a regular basis but I've never taken the children on my own as I can't drive and it's such a pain to get there by bus. I invested in a railcard for this summer so it's given us the incentive to get out and about.

We went into Ipswich early with hubby (7am early!), had breakfast in Mcdonald's and then went to the rail station. I had the pleasure of a very brief hello and hug with @symatt before we ran off to get our train.

As soon as the train pulled out of the station Tidgy became upset and clingy and I noticed he had a high temperature so I half expected us to need to return home early but we bought some calpol and a blanket for him (yes, he was THAT cold on his legs, despite a raging temperature!) and while he slept for most of the day the eldest two were still able to have some fun. He perked up around lunchtime and had half an hour of running around with his siblings and a couple of rides in the pier and then slept for the rest of the day. Poor little man :(

We wandered through town browsing the charity shops for Roald Dahl books for Girl and then made our way to the seafront. We walked along the prom, stopping for some chips and then headed towards the other end of the seafront and enjoyed an ice cream while sitting on the beach. The children asked if they could paddle in the sea and of course Middle got absolutely soaked as usual!

The weather was perfect, the children had great fun (well, Girl and Middle did) and they behaved fantastically.

This is how all summer days should be! I will be so sad when the children go back to school.

A Year In Photos-Day 229

I is for....Immaturity

We always considered Girl mature for her age and I had recently been giving her a lot more responsibility now that she's getting older but we had a shock just before the end of the school summer term.

Classes for the 2012/2013 school year were announced and I was stunned and puzzled to find out that out of nearly 30 children in Girl's class she was one of only 5 not moving up to the next class. There were children I considered less able than she was who were moving up so I couldn't understand why she was being held back. Nothing had been said that made us think she had fallen so far behind that it was deemed necessary for her to spend another year in that class. We know that she's a daydreamer but didn't think her work was that poor. 

Hubby went to the school Open Evening a few days later to find out what was happening.

As regular readers and followers on twitter know Girl is having a terrible time at school. She hates it, for many reasons, and would rather not be there. It does appear to be affecting her work as she's not concentrating or focusing at all. She's not enjoying it or putting any effort into her work. I'm annoyed that it hadn't been brought to our attention so that we could try to deal with it. I'm always telling her to concentrate but clearly that's not enough. Clearly I had a rose-tinted view of her performance at school.

The biggest surprise for me is that she is considered very immature for her age. She was one of the youngest in the class but she was still seen as immature. At every given opportunity she's with her 5 year old brother and his classmates. Is it any wonder that she's more comfortable with younger children when she struggles so much with her peers? I struggled to control my emotions when hubby was telling me this, especially as I'm constantly hearing about her hatred of school, even now, in the summer break.

The teachers do hope that being one of the eldest in the class will encourage her to have more confidence but I just don't know. I can't see it.

I don't know what to deal with first. How do I help her mature? Is it something that can be 'forced'? I hate my children growing up so quickly as it is so do I really want her to mature at an unnatural rate? How do I get her over this dread and hatred of somewhere she has to attend 190 days of the year and for many more years to come?

Celebrating the Olympics with Yellow Moon

Our latest bundle of crafting goodies from Yellow Moon arrived just before we went on holiday and the children were disappointed that they had to wait so long before doing the activities.

We were sent a selection of sporty and Olympic themed craft activities and they were so eager to get stuck in!

We received;
Union Jack Keyring Sewing Kits (PK3)
Giant Foam Hands (PK3)
Self Adhesive Felt Letters (550)
Make Your Own Foam Medal Kits (PK 6)
Sports Foam Bookmark Kits (PK 6)
Glitter Foam Star Stickers (180)

Neither Middle nor Girl have sewn anything before so I was a little apprehensive about them making the keyrings but they did really well. The instructions were simple to follow and a plastic sewing needle was included in the kit so they couldn't go wrong. All they needed me to do was guide them so that they didn't get the thread tangled up but for a first attempt they looked really good. Middle has had his attached to his belt loops ever since!

Next up were the sporty bookmarks. The were 5 different designs to make. Again, the instructions were easy to follow and the majority of pieces were self-adhesive. The only gluing needed was for the main character on the bookmark. Both children managed to follow the instructions without any help from me. Middle suggested that these would be great for a sports themed birthday party as either an activity or as a party bag filler and I have to agree with him. They've been reading a lot of books for the library summer reading challenge so these will come in really handy!

Middle then went on to foam medals. He whizzed through the activity as it was so easy. All the stickers were self-adhesive and the only help he needed was when he needed to thread the ribbon through and tie a knot. These also would make great party activity or reward at a Sport's Day although I would have liked to have seen silver and bronze medals in the pack rather than just winner's and 1sts as I'm trying to teach the children all about competition and that not everyone is first in all events and sports.

The foam hands were very popular with the children and they set about customising them for Team GB and in honour of Girl's favourite Olympian Hannah Miley. These can be customised with anything you fancy. We used the glitter stars and felt letters. The children struggled to get the letters off the sheets at times so they needed assistance with that but everything else was done themselves. Middle wants to get some more so he can decorate one for ITFC and take it to his next football match.

We loved all of the activities that we were sent and they couldn't have been more appropriate for the children with all of their Olympic-themed role play at the moment. Sport is very much a part of their lives and this extends their interest.

Craft activities like these get the three of us sitting together and enjoying some much-needed quality time. What we really like about the Yellow Moon kits is that they are easy to make and usually contain everything you need. Occasionally a little glue may be needed but who doesn't have glue in their house?!  The kits are very reasonably priced too, which is a big positive. Take a look at their website to see what else is available. You'll be amazed at the range!



*We were not paid for this review. We were sent the craft kits as part of the Yellow Moon Blogging Network and this review is based upon our opinions of the products.