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All Change and the Blog may be down for a couple of days

Hello my lovely readers, You will be seeing some changes over here in the mad house over the next week or so, but as part of this the blog will be down for a couple of days - possibly.

So please don't be concerned and can you all please do me a big favor and change your subscriptions and any blog links you have to

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See you on the other side!

Making our own spotty shirts for Children in Need

Like lots of mums, I packed my children off to school this morning wearing something spotty in aid of children in need.  Now like lots of mums, I couldn't find anything spotty at all, so I decided that we should make some ourselves.

The boys had so much fun armed with my permanent markers and a shirt each, they made their own spotty t-shirts.

Don't they look grand?

We popped some card inside the t-shirts to stop the pen going through to the  back and then I left the boys to it.  Maxi was amazing in helping Mini.  He drew a lot of his circles for him and then the drew a line in the middle and coloured in half each/

It was a joy to watch them work so well together and whilst they did it we talked about all the children less fortunate than them in the world and decided to give away 4 toys each to the charity shop, which I dropped off on the way home from taking them to school this morning.

The great Christmas cupcake decorating competition

Tesco Real Food are running a competition to find the best cupcake decorator in the nation.

 2 lucky winners will be able to cook alongside a celebrity chef for an afternoon. There are also 10 runners up prizes of a cupcake decorating kit.

To take part all you need to do is take a picture of your own Christmas cupcake creation then upload to the great Christmas cupcake decorating competition.

Now cupcakes are not my thing, but we did bake some festive fairy cakes this week.

Good luck!

Duvet Days with Disney

We had a duvet day on Thursday last week, the first day off school sick for both the boys ever.  Guess how we spent the day, yes you would be right, we spend it on the sofa in the sitting room snuggled under a blanket in our pj's watching Disney Blue Rays and cuddling.

 Beauty and the Beast is one of the few Disney Movies that I didn't see first time round (in 1991) and now I have the boys it gives met he excuse to enjoy it now.  This movie kept me nad both the minimads engrossed.  We loved it, it was just scary enough to make the boys feel brave for watching it.  The beast was just ugly enough for you to believe that Belle could never fall in love with him and  the music was just captivating enough, that it left us all singing it too.

In contrast to Beauty and the Beasts we also watched Disney's latest movie The Princess and the Frog.  Although in many ways you would never guess there was 25 years between them and for me that is the magic of The Princess and the Frog.  It goes back to Disney's routes and traditions and is a magical musical tale, which had us all entranced.

So even though we were feeling pretty under the weather, we had a lovely day cuddling, singing (well croaking) along to the movies and spent some quality time recuperating together.

Review based on a Free Sample

The Gallery - Before and After

I love cooking and baking, there is something magical in putting together a list of ingrediants and turning them into something delicious.  So for this weeks gallery I give you:

 Before

 After

Come and join me on Frugalicious Food, as I am taking you step by step through the soaking, making and baking of Christmas cakes and puddings, as Sunday is stir it up sunday.

Self Promotion - You can buy Christmas Gifts from Me

I have been busy making and have lots of new and lovely makes available, so I though I would have a little self promotion, as I can not see me getting these all on the Folksy shop before Christmas, so here they are.  If you are interested in purchasing anything, then please e-mail me or tweet me.  I except payment by paypal.

Tea Cup Candles (please click on the image for more details of the scent) large ones are £8.00 plus £3.00 postage and the small ones are £3.25 to £3.20 each.  Each candle is lovingly crafted by myself with 10% fragrance oil added.   They are made with 100% Eco soy wax, which has numerous benefits including being longer and cleaner burning (Soy wax is non-toxic and burns cleaner than paraffin, with no petrol-carbon soot which can blacken walls).  You can wash the used tea cup in hot soapy water and reuse the tea cup.

Washable learn to set the table mats.  These are again made my myself and are backed with towelling and make the placement of cutlery child play. £6.00 each, plus £1.90 postage.

 

Crayon (£4.00) and Pencil (£6.00) rolls complete with the pencils and crayons, postage is £1.90.

Mini bunting, the pennants on the bunting are 4 inches to tip and there are 12 on each length of bunting.  £5.00plus £1.90 postage.

Feel free to contact me with any questions.

Orchard Toys - Post the Most Review and Giveaway

Before I start I will say that we love Orchard Toys and have since we were introduced to them when the boys were small.  They are an English company that made games and jigsaws with an educational twist.

Maxi and Mini have a trundle full of Orchard games, including Shopping List, Tell The Time, Tummy Ache and many many more.

Post the Most is one of the range of games for age 5 to 12 and is a longer than any of the other games we had played, which requires some initial building (of the houses, which Maxi managed very well) and an increased level of concentration too.

The aim of the game is to post your parcels and letters through the relevant doors, but as there are twists and turns in the  rules to do with special delivery and needed to have someone at home to receive a parcel it becomes a tactical game.  In fact in many ways it is a strategy game, but the boys never gathered that, but it was great to watch them think as they played.

Post the Most costs £15 and has made a great addition to our games cupboard and is a wonderful, playable, family game.  A real big hit in The Mad House.

Competition closed

I had 41 entries over the blog and twitter and the winner is number 36, which is Michelle Twin Mum.  Congratulations and please do get in touch with me for your prize.

Orchard Toys have been kind enough to give me another copy of Post the Most to giveaway to one reader.

To Enter:

Follow this blog (via google friend connect on the right or RSS feed)
Leave a comment below in the ‘comments’ section with your name and a way to contact you
For an extra entry please tweet this competition on twitter using @mum_themadhouse in the description so I can record your entry.

Terms and Conditions:

• This competition will run from the 15th of November to noon on the 19th November 2010
• The winners will be chosen at random and announced on this page on Friday 19th November 2010
• Competition is open to residents of the UK only
• Prize is non-refundable and no cash alternative is available

Spiritual Sunday - For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

As a mother I can imagine nothing worse than sending my children to battle, knowing the chance was they would never return. 

Whilst we are thinking about the dead, I would also like to point you to a very moving, but amazing post by an inspirational lady over at Brighton Mum Teenage Angst.  Karen's beloved husband and partner died in October and this post is all about quality of death.  She is so, so right, how can you have a quality of life without a quality of death.  Please do you and read it, but have your hanky at the ready.

Me and the boys had no luck with paper poppies this year, they kept losing them, so I decided to make a couple of felt ones with them.  They cut the felt out and then I sewed on a button and a broach fitting on the back, which made them much more secure.  We still donated for more poppies too.  I was also amazed at Maxi telling me why we did the 2 minutes silence on Thursday (both boys were home ill).

 

Possibly the Best Fireworks in the World Ever

We were lucky enough to tag along as guests of the wonderful Rosie Scribble and Sally to Drayton Manors firework spectacular on 30 October.

Now I have to say it wasn't just a Fireworks Spectacular, but an amazing laser, light and sound show too, which had the boys and I mesmerised.  It was simply the best fireworks I have ever seen in the world ever, but don't take my world for it.  I have popped two small videos of the day below.

Win a Maileg Pixie in The Great Toy Guide's Guide to the Best Reuasable Advent Calendars 2010

As you might be aware I am Deputy Editor of The Great Toy Guide, which is a fantastic site where we take toys and give them to our own children. Our children are really lovely, but they DO like to do things like dunk toys in orange juice. They send action figures on missions that involve being thrown down the stairs. They pull, prod and shake things just to see what happens. And when they’re done, they leave their toys on the floor for passing adults to stand on.

I know we’re barely past Halloween, but at the Great Toy Guide, the team have been hard at work testing out the best alternatives to chocolate advent calendars. We’ve brought together some of our favourite cardboard, fabric and wooden advent calendars.

This year we are also offering one of our readers the chance to win a magnificant Maileg Christmas Pixie advent calendar. Designed in Denmark, this festive pixie stands at more than 1.5 metres tall and will make a fantastic addition to your Christmas decorations. To be in with a chance of winning, simply leave a comment on this post at The Great Toy Guide telling us your favourite Christmas tradition. A winner will be picked at random on November 25th, and the calendar shipped to you in time for December 1st. UK entrants only. Good luck!

Roary the Racing car, Roary My Number One Star

Both my boys at some point have been fixated on Roary the Racing Car, Maxi not so much now, but Mini definitely is, so when we received a Roary Load a Raceday Truck Mini was at in in a flash.

The Truck is a good size and not only does it come with its own Roary, it also makes truck noises too, which went down very well with Mini and he joined in making the noises too (both truck sounds and phrases from the show).  I have to say that the noises did get on my nerves a little bit, especially as they made them all the time even when I was picking it up to pop it away!

We already have some die cast Roray cars and figures, so this was a welcome addition to our collection and the boys both spent time racing all the car's to the Silver Hatch Racetrack in the truck.

The truck and Roary are very well made and not only withstood Maxi and Mini, but they also managed to withstand a very very excited 2 and half year old too, who is besoted with Roary and ended up taking the truck home with him, where it is played with everyday.

The truck's RRP is £24.95, but it is currently on sale at Toys R Us for £19.99

Giveaway

I have been lucky enough to be given two copies of Roary The Racing Car Winter Breeze DVD, where you can join Roary and all his racing car friends at Silver Hatch with the new Christmas DVD featuring six fantastic episodes such as Winter Breeze, Car Boot Sale, Let’s Hear it For Big Chris, Mr Carburettor’s Birthday Suit, Crash Landing and Save Our Tree to giveaway.

To Enter:

Follow this blog (via google friend connect on the right or RSS feed)
Leave a comment below in the ‘comments’ section with your name and a way to contact you
For an extra entry please tweet this competition on twitter using @mum_themadhouse in the description so I can record your entry.

Terms and Conditions:

• This competition will run from the 11th of November to noon on the 18th Novemver 2010
• The winners will be chosen at random and announced on this page onThursday 18th November 2010
• Competition is open to residents of the UK only
• Prize is non-refundable and no cash alternative is available

Competition is now closed.

There was 41 entries and the winners are:  Wendy McDonald and MommaFi

Review based on a Free Sample

The Gallery - Four Seasons in one Day

I have commented before how much I love the fact that in the UK we have pretty clearly defined seasons.  As a mum, sometimes I feel as though I am stuck in a time warp and nothing chances, the same old things day in and day out, but it is the changing seasons that let me know that time is passing and that life is ever changing.

For The Gallery this week the prompt is seasons.  I wish I had a photo of the same place each season, but I don't, although I AM going to do that now!

Spring - The wonders of new life everywhere you look.

Summer - Days out at wonderful places like Whitby Abbey

Autumn always means fireworks to me

Winter - Snow

Finally so I can leave you singing it all day, I give you Crowded House.

;;;

Poo, Mummy you a a stinky Poo from a Poo hole

Oh yes, the poo words have started and will not stop here in The Mad House.  You are a stinky poo face mummy.  Daddy has a poo hole.  Ner ner na ner ner, poo, poo,  POO and more POO.  My boys may look angelic, but I can assure you the noises that are coming from those mouths are not in anyway of the saintly variety.

What is it with boys and the words poo, botty burp, parp, fart, plump, pump, plop, poot. boff, trump and lots of other words that are all in the same vane.

Yes I am living in a house full of toilet humour, where Mini thinks he is the height of sophistication for farting in the bath and creating his own jacuzzi!

And it seems that I am not the only one experience this, oh no.  I took the boys to a 6th birthday party yesterday and all the boys are at it.  They think it is hilarious.  Who can burp the loudest, say their name in a burp, make the best trumping sound using their armpit and hand and who can make the loudest raspberry.  They are constantly engaging in battles of this nature, in between the dancing and the food that is!

So to all mothers of boys over 5, please do let me know how long this is going to last, or is this it and I am just going to have to join in too?

A Cracking Fireworks Party!

I am fortunate to have a brilliant Brother and Sister in Law who run a sports and social club (like a workingman's club) for the local steel works and every year, they put on a wonderful childrens party and fireworks display for bonfire night.

This years Party was wonderful and I want to say a great big thank you to them (My SIL's mum has been in hospital for the last 9 weeks and is very unwell). 

Maxi and my Niece dancing together

Edible Child Safe Sparklers

Last year I made Edible Sparklers with Mini and we made just a few, but this year it was like a production line and we have made enough for both Mini and Maxi's class at school!

Ingredients

Bread sticks

Chocolate

Cake Sprinkles

Hundreds and thousands

We melted the chocolate in the microwave and added some honey to make sure it didn't set too fast on us. 

 

We then used a silicone brush to cover the bread stick with some chocolate and covered the coated part in decorations.

 Leave them to set and voila, child safe edible sparklers.