|FUN|mad science day

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Last week I had to swap one of T's nursery days as I had to work on Friday, unfortunately I had to swap his jeans for genes science day which meant that he missed out on the experiments he was so looking forward to. Spurred on even more after watching an alvin and the chipmunk episode wherethey conduct experiments he asked for a 'mad science day'. As I'd changed his plans due to my job, I couldn't resist.

I came up with a few simple 'experiments' as we had made bicarbonate of soda eruptions at our valentines play date I avoided anything with bicarb.

WARNING! This post is photo heavy!

First T insisted on putting on his 'science coat' which a basically a white shirt which is a little too big! He also found his 3D cinema glasses in his dressing up box and put them on.

I set everything out on the table for 4 experiments.

First we used Cola to clean some copper coins. I set out the 3 things T would need for this experiment and asked T what he thought we were doing.

We talked about how dirty the coins were and how clean we thought they'd get after being soaked in the cola.

T poured the cola into the glass and dropped in the coins. We set the timer to check them in 4 hours.

When we checked on them, they were so much cleaner.

Our second experiment was the dancing raisin experiment.

T poured in the lemonade and then added the raisins.

We watched them dance up and down and talked about why the raisins were lifting up and then going down, T correctly identified the cause as the bubbles making them rise and when they pop the raisins falling, I was really proud he actually lptook the time to observe long enough to understand what was happening.

Our next experiment was colour mixing, we first mixed food colouring in some old plastic test tubes I had sprinkles in. We mixed red, blue and yellow.

T then mixed the colours in the large glasses red and blue, red and yellow and blue and yellow.

T couldn't resist swirling round the glasses like a real scientist! We discussed what colour we thought would be created and T came up with the idea to pour all the colours in one glass which he called 'his cola' because it was the same colour as the cola that we used for the penny experiment.

Our last experiment was the swirling colours experiment with milk, food colouring and washing up liquid.

The pictures just don't do it justice, after adding the food colouring, T added a tiny drop of washing up liquid and the coloured swirled around in lovely patterns, he really loved this one!

I hope you enjoyed our impromptu mad scientist day as much as we did.

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 48 - 22 September

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 22 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Hello! Welcome to another week of #toddlerapprovedtuesday, we had a super busy week last week with practically everyone linking up straight away so thanks so much for that, we had some great posts too! And saw some new linkers, welcome everyone! This week we have a very exciting new newletter for all linkers! Look out in your inbox for that.

Remember you can post your weekly post to the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Facebook page too, I like every one which will mean you continue to show up in my feed when you post new posts!

If you are not yet in the Facebook group send us a request and we'll add you. Feel free to post anything in there all through the week if it's relevant.

This week we have some simple science experiments for toddlers and preschoolers from our mad science day, we had so much fun we hope you enjoy reading about it.

Becky has a really interesting post about process art over at 3princessesand1dude this week, do pop over if you haven't seen it, it's really worth a read.

My showcase this week

One of my all time favourite blog posts was linked up to #toddlerapprovedtuesday this week, I adored this Autumn in the meadows post from Domesstique it reminded me so much of weekends spent with my grandparents as a child. And the photos are just stunning.

I'm a sucker for a tuff tray/spot activity, I guess because it contains mess to be honest but I think the possibilities are amazing. I was really inspired by this fantastic Harvest tuff spot sensory activity from Adventures of adam such a great idea to use real veg!

Here are the rules:-
1. Link as many posts as you like (well with in reason!) BUT please remember to paste the #ToddlerApprovedTuesday badge on each post you would like to link up. No badge, no comment, no share, and your posts will be deleted sorry if this seems harsh but it's just not fair on others who do make the effort. We've yet to delete a post but you may have noticed that we have started to not comment if we see no badge!

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://larabee-uk.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/toddler%20approved%20tuesday" title="LarabeeUK"></a></div><br />

OPTIONAL: Share your post and the linky party (using the hashtag #ToddlerApprovedTuesday) on your social media, Becky and I will retweet all your posts via Twitter (make sure you mention us in your tweets @3princess_1dude/@larabeeuk). Even if you don't have a blog, please do join in by using the hashtag for your toddler approved tweets and Instagram posts, they will still be counted for the showcase! We have changed the way we share your posts, it takes so much time to pin and tweet and comment etc, so heres what is going to happen: We are opening up the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Pinterest board to you guys too. Just send myself or Becky an email with your Pinterest name and we will add you, there is no limit on how many you add, it doesn't just have to be the post you link up with.

4. We will retweet posts tweeted to us, and our showcased posts will also be retweeting too. We also have a fab new Facebook group for the #Toddlerapprovedtuesday community. Pop over and join us, share your posts, share any photos from inspiration you have had from a #toddlerapprovedtuesday link up, share anything you like ;)

An InLinkz Link-up

|HOTEL REVIEW|travelodge Clacton-on-sea

(Leandra Bramham) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 04:49:00 +0000

We spent a lovely few days in Clacton-on-Sea a few weeks ago visiting friends, you can read about what we got up to here.

We stayed in the Travelodge hotel which is a stones throw from the beach and pier.

It had been a while since I'd stayed in a Travelodge hotel, back in my ghosthunting days I regularly booked them as they were cheap and cheerful and I could generally always get a room in one. I thought that Travelodge were bottom end and basically you got what you pay for.

You may have seen from the 'That's Travelodgical' adverts they have been giving their hotels a bit of a makeover too!

We arrived early evening to be greeted by an incredibly cheerful receptionist, Lorraine who checked us in nice and quickly and gave us some advice about places to visit if it rained which was super helpful, she also told us a few family friendly places to eat. When she realised that we only had one child Lorraine said that she had set up 2 childrens beds and that she would pop down and take one down for us, we did say that we didn't want her to go to any trouble and it was ok to leave it.

We ordered our breakfast boxes and went to have a look at our room.

Our family room was a very good size, with a lovely comfortable king sized bed just as we were settling in Lorraine knocked at the door and came to take down the extra bed which was really kind of her. The room was exceptionally clean, we did our usual dust and grime check around and it really was spotless!

(Chief bathroom inspector!)

The bathroom was a decent size and had clearly been newly decorated and was fresh and clean.

The hospitality tray was well filled and contained everything you would expect, tea, coffee, decaf coffee.

Wifi was free for 30 minutes then £3 for 24 hours so not badly priced.

The hotel entry is open 24 hours a day, accessible by key card, the reception is manned 24 hours a day too. There is no hotel car park, but a 'ringo' public car park opposite.

The door could be locked from inside which was great for us having a small child.

Breakfast was delivered exactly when we ordered it and was really good, personally we like to have a cooked breakfast when away, but this was certainly adequate and was enough to keep us full til lunchtime. At £4.95 they are a little pricey considering you could have purchased all items individually for less, but they are extremely convenient and make a good breakfast choice.

T loved his breakfast in a box a really great optional extra especially if you have children would get up earlier than you!

My opinion of Travelodge has really changed, the hotels are family friendly, very reasonably priced and certainly value for money. We'll definitely be booking again.

The good

There is parking right across the road

Very clean

Breakfast can be ordered

Wifi
Newly refurbished

The bad

You do have to pay for parking

A massive thumbs up for Travelodge for their fabulous refurb and for being a top family friendly hotel!

Disclaimer: we were given a complimentary stay by Travelodge in return for this honest review.

|FAMILY|team bramham on the road - Clacton-on-Sea

(Leandra Bramham) — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 04:47:00 +0000

At the end of July we had a little road trip south to visit some friends in Great Clacton, we stayed in the Travelodge in Clacton-on-sea which you can read all about here.

Great Clacton is a lovely little seaside town that we are very fond of, a very different, more laid back sibling of Clacton-on-sea, the weather is usually really good when we've been and we've always had a great time. Clacton is going through a major rejuvenation at the moment and we noticed a huge difference since the last time we visited about 3 years ago.

We set out at lunchtime and despite it being over 25oC and promises for a lovely warm weekend, T insisted on having his 'car blanket' over him as he was cold from the AC. We packed up the car with our bags, supplies (wine and crisps!) wellies and lots for T to do on the way! Our journey was very smooth, but travelling Thursday morning, we expected it to be. We arrived at our friends around 3pm to glorious sunshine and sat out in the garden until the early evening when we decided we'd better go and check into our hotel!

After checking in and unpacking we went back to Danny and Pat's and had fish and chips in their conservatory, when we'd fishised we threw the remains out for the seagulls who we watched swooping down in the garden to pick up their scraps! T delighted in watching them and it was lovely to see them up close!

Friday morning was warm but risk of rain, after breakfast we risked it and went down to the beach, we spent a good hour and a half playing on the beach before the light drizzle started so we made our way onto the pier where we met our friends. If you like buzzing machines, flashing lights and slot machines then piers are for you! Personally I'm not that fond but I do love walking along a pier, soaking up the atmosphere and people watching. We popped to the end of the pier for a cup of tea, T went on a motorbike ride and wanted his photo taken as Buzz Lightyear!

The rain was falling harder by this time so we thought we'd go into the bowling alley, it was Danny and Pat's first time bowling so T had great delight in 'showing them how to do it!' At £3 each for a game we were astonished how reasonable this was, last time we went at home it was £7 per person!

(Photo from trip advisor)

The bowling alley was recommended to us by our hotel receptionist Lorraine, who told us a few places we could go if it rained.

After bowling, we strolled down to Danny and Pat's car, we walked with umbarellas along the prom and through the pretty little gardens along the way, of course T had to sit down in each of the shelters which were beautifully maintained and litter free.

(Photo from trip advisor)

We drove along to The Martello, Toby carvery for lunch, lunch was delicious! T had a massive plate which no-one expected him to eat, he demolished it and still had room for brownie and ice-cream I really enjoyed my plate of vegetables and veggie Yorkshire pudding and stuffing. Within half and hour we were all stuffed and needed an afternoon nap! By this time it was pouring, Danny and Pat dropped us off at our hotel and we made arrangements to visit them that evening for cheese and biscuits and a drink. Because we'd paid for the wifi at the hotel the 3 of us settled down on the bed to watch a film on the iPad (through sky-go) it wasn't long before we were all sleeping off our mammoth carvery lunch!

After a nap, T had a bath, I took a phone call from work and K watched a bit of tv. It was nice just relaxing with no agenda.

We made our way to our friends for our last night in Clacton, it was my turn to drive, next time we think we'll book a cab for the short difference so we can enjoy a drink with Danny and Pat together. We had a lovely evening chatting, watching T interact with our friends and generally having a lovely relaxing evening. The rain was still pouring but it was quite nice sitting out in the conservatory with the doors open as it was still incredibly warm.

(Photo from things to do in Clacton)

We ended our stay with a trip to the century cinema, our lovely turn of the century cinema was replaced years ago with bit flashy multi screen complexes so it was lovely to go to a more traditional cinema like those from our childhoods.

The cinema cost £3 each for The Hubs and I and T was free despite it being a Thomas and friends film! Including popcorn our mornings entertainment was under £10! We are used to paying almost that per person!

We ended our trip by visiting Danny and Pat on the way home to say goodbye, the weather was starting to pick up again but we had such a lovely few days we didn't mind.

As you can see, he's not so enthusiastic for going back home! He sulked and wanted to stay!

The drive home was smooth and event free and by late afternoon we were in a local restaurant tucking into a late lunch/early dinner.

We had a lovely time in Clacton which is such a contrast from where we live, it's nice for T to enjoy all the fun of a traditional seaside town, like we used to as children.

|#wotw|READY

(Leandra Bramham) — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 05:51:00 +0000

After many weeks of soul searching, I think I'm finally ready to move forward with my blogging, it's been hard. Would I continue? Would I give up? Would I be able to free myself from this constant need to compare myself as inadequate against other bloggers? The answer is yes, I am ready to commit to blogging at whatever level I can at a time, I've realised that for me this might be an evolving process. Although my new job is exhausting and takes up far more time and energy, it has given me a new lease of life.

I'll never be happy that I can't spend more time and effort on my blog, I'll never be content that it's not even close to being anywhere as professional looking as my perfectionist self wishes it to be, but I am ready to let go of this and accept it for what it is. I love blogging, I love my blog and I'm now right back where I started, writing posts for me and my family. Projects, activities and recipes that are our lives, striving to get as much out of every weekend as possible, and enjoying every minute.

I've missed you, 'word of the week'

|FUN|10 reasons to welcome Autumn

(Leandra Bramham) — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Hooray! Autumn is on the way! Cuddle up, fill up on luxurious yummy food and drinks and enjoy!

I do love Autumn, it's my time for reflection, to have a jolly good clear out before Christmas and to beging Christmas and winter preparations. Autumn, I'm ready for you!

1. You don't have to shave your legs

2. You can wear boots without getting funny looks

3. Having a bad hair day? Wear a bobble hat!

4. Opaque tights (unless you are like me and didn't put them away this year!)

5. Slow cooking, especially stew & dumplings

6. Strictly starts

7. Warm bathroom in the morning!

8. Excuse to cuddle up on the sofa

9. Toffee apples and mulled cider

10. You can put your onesie on as soon as you get home!

If you haven't had enough of Autumn, have a look at our Autumn bucket list.

|FOOD|pepperoni & pesto pasta

(Leandra Bramham) — Thu, 17 Sep 2015 12:40:00 +0000

Here's a lovely 'convertible' recipe which can be made either for meat eaters or cooked before the meat is added for vegetarians, making it a perfect meal if you are cooking for a vegetarian.

This is great for us as I can serve my meal and then add the cooked meat for the rest of the family.

Ingredients - serves 4

2 tins chopped tomatoes

2 tbsp vegetarian green pesto

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 tbsp tomato purée

50g pepperoni, chopped

Vegetarian Parmesan to serve

Method

1. In a large pan gently fry the onions and garlic until onion is soft.

2. Add chopped tomatoes, pesto & tomato purée, fill one of the tomato tins with water and add that to the pan.

3. Bring to the boil. Then simmer for 45 minutes to reduce, this make the sauce nice and rich.

4. Gently fry the pepperoni in a pan, keep the oil for later.

5. Cook pasta and serve the pesto sauce as it is for vegetarians.

6. Mix in the pepperoni and oil then serve the pepperoni and pesto pasta with some Parmesan shavings on the top!

|REVIEW & GIVEAWAY|Baker Ross rugby shirt coasters

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

We are fortunate enough to be Baker Ross Bloggers and in our pack this time were these Rugby coaster kits, this was a super quick and easy activity for T to do, almost independently. Just in time for the rugby world cup!

Each kit comes with clear instructions and everything you need to complete the project (except for a pen!) and are priced at £3.96 for the pack of 6, great for a party bag if you are having a world cup party!

T was able to remove the durable foam stickers and stick them onto the coaster all by himself which kept him very happy! There are outlines on the coaster to show where to put the stickers which made this activity really simple for a 3 year old whilst allowing him to feel as though he didn't require any help.

As you can see, T even wanted to write his name without copying, which does sometimes lead to some unusual character forms (especially if he's rushing!) but this was a great little craft which T enjoyed very much.

We thought we'd giveaway the 5 remaining coaster kits from our pack and so we are running a small giveaway to our readers, this will run for one week from today, you are entering to win 1 individual coaster kit, not a pack of 6, I have 5 to giveaway. I will draw the winners on Thursday 24 September and will post on Friday 25 September.

Good Luck!!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 47 15 September

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 05:00:00 +0000

Phew what a week! This week has just flown by for us, lots of friends have gone back to school or even started school this year for the first time. The nights and mornings are getting darker but the weather seems to still be warm and sunny, it's a funny time of year! We've been doing lots of crafting this week, I love how much T enjoys it, even if he's a little whirlwind and onto something else in a flash! Thanks so much for linking up this week.

Remember you can post your weekly post to the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Facebook page too, I like every one which will mean you continue to show up in my feed when you post new posts!

If you are not yet in the Facebook group send us a request and we'll add you. Feel free to post anything in there all through the week if it's relevant.

This week we have a lovely craft from baker ross for you, we've been making rugby coasters for the rugby world cup which starts on Friday, I've even got some to giveaway if you'd like to enter!

Becky has a fab recipe for you this week, the monsters cooked dinner again at cookery club and Becky has shared the recipe, their vegetable, butterbean and sausage crumble looks delicious!

My showcase this week

I do like a good book related activity so I couldn't resist this 'Sam and Dave dig a hole' book review and very cute digging pack accessories from Monkey and Mouse it also reminded me that I need to do a book bag as I've not done one for far too long, so thanks Jenny x

My second showcase is for these awesome dragon and dinosaur cornflake nests, they look great and I know a little boy who would love to make them, so I just had to choose them. Thanks to new linker Dancing Dandelions, we hope to see you this week too!

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2. Pop by and comment on two or three other posts, more would be great if you can.

3. OPTIONAL: Share your post and the linky party (using the hashtag #ToddlerApprovedTuesday) on your social media, Becky and I will retweet all your posts via Twitter (make sure you mention us in your tweets @3princess_1dude/@larabeeuk). Even if you don't have a blog, please do join in by using the hashtag for your toddler approved tweets and Instagram posts, they will still be counted for the showcase! We have changed the way we share your posts, it takes so much time to pin and tweet and comment etc, so heres what is going to happen: We are opening up the Toddler Approved Tuesday Pinterest board to you guys too. Just send myself or Becky an email with your Pinterest name and we will add you, there is no limit on how many you add, it doesn't just have to be the post you link up with.

4. We will now only be retweeting posts Tweeted to us, and our showcased posts will also be retweeting too. We also have a fab new Facebook group for the Toddler Approved Tuesday community. Pop over and join us, share your posts, share any photos from inspiration you have had from a Toddler Approved Tuesday link up, share anything you like ;)

An InLinkz Link-up

|FOOD|Savvy Shoppers - Leandra from LarabeeUK

(Leandra Bramham) — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 12:05:00 +0000

Welcome to a new series of mine where I'll be 'interviewing' various savvy shoppers and sharing some of their best tips, hints, recipes, pinterest boards etc. If you'd like to be one of our savvy shoppers please email me :)

I hope you enjoy it. I thought I'd start things of by answering the questions myself to give you more of an insight to our shopping and meal planning process.

1. Do you have a weekly budget for groceries?

I don't really have a budget. Sometimes as little as £45 other weeks as much as £100, there are 3 of us during the week and every other weekend we have the teens who now eat adult portions. I need to get more consistent so I can have a better budget.

2. What your meal plan this week?

M - caesar salad

T - fajitas and Mexican rice

W - minty lamb, tzatiki & wedges

T - fish fingers & chips

F - sausage hotpot

S - perpperoni pasta

S - pizza

3. Where do you shop?

I shop around really, I do a 'freezer' shop at Iceland every few weeks, usually Aldi & Tesco for the weekly shop and top up fresh salad, milk etc at sainsburys during the week. I get snacks and storecupboard bits at the pound shop and B&M.

4. Do you have any tips for spreading the cost of your weekly shop?

A few months ago I was really good, I'd check out all the coupons, use the shopping apps to get money off, shop my cupboard's first and base my meal plan around what was on offer, but that does take time and I'm afraid I've let that slip. So my biggest tip is to make time to do the ground work and print off vouchers, search for bargains and the obvious one, don't go shopping without a shopping list.

5. Do you have a Pinterest board for family friendly meals? (If so share)
This is my veggie family meals board.
This is my family meals board.

6. What would you say is your biggest shopping weakness?

Fresh fruit and veg, I buy too much in one go and then some gets wasted.

7. Does everyone in your family eat the same meals?

I'm vegetarian but try to eat 2 vegan meals a day and my husband and son both eat meat, the teens also eat meat. My husband eats very few vegetables so that can be a bit of a challenge, although all 3 kids eat pretty much everything except mushrooms.

8. Do you coupon or use any of the shopping apps? Any advice, hints or preferences?

I used to coupon and now I really only use the tescos ones through the post. I would love to get back into it, I just need to make the time as it is time consuming. I quite like the facebook groups for coupons but I also use shopitize and checkout smart apps.

9. What's the most important factor in deciding your family meals?

I'm in a massive rut at the moment and keep making the same old meals. The Hubs and I want to try and be healthier, but with us both having diets at the opposite ends of the spectrum it takes a lot of effort and I struggle to make that a priority.

10. What's your go to storecupboard pudding.

Bananas and packet custard with sprinkles!

11. Do you stockpile? Any advice or tips?

We used to have quite a stockpile, but now with the pound shops and offers always on I don't tend to bother quite so much. I do always have at least 1 of every cleaning product. A tip? Watch out for price per unit, particularly in the pound shops, sometimes it's cheaper to get a 2 for 1 offer in the supermarket, as the sizes are generally a little bigger. Don't overlook supermarket home brands.

12. Would you please share a favourite family recipe with us (can be a link to your blog, someone else's, a website or just type it here)
This sausage plait is a current favourite at the moment, they can't get enough of it's super cheap and can be made out of the freezer.

13. Do you do any meal prep to save time/money during the week.

Yes, I grate cheese and store in a food saver jar. Once a month I also dice a load of onions and peel lots of garlic for the freezer, both save so much time when cooking during the week. A cup is about the size of a large onion.

14. Does you family have any dietary considerations?

Just me being veggie.

15. Do you batch cook and freeze meals?

I don't really anymore, I'd love to but we only have a tiny freezer, it's something I'd love to do more of again when I've cleaned out the freezer or have a new chest freezer. I find it a godsend.

16. Finally, what's your favourite time saving kitchen gadget?

I need 2! Definitely the slow cooker, I love them. I really love being able to throw everything in and forget about it until dinner time. And the food saver, mine is ancient now but still works as good as new, fab for food storage.

|FUN|10 nursery rhymes I won't sing with my son

(Leandra Bramham) — Fri, 11 Sep 2015 06:54:00 +0000

Why on earth are some nursery rhymes so ruddy horrible?

Yes those sweet sounding rhymes which sound so cute sung by your little one, but have you ever listened to the words? Some of them are pretty awful, and if that's not bad enough most nursery rhymes and historical or political meanings behind them which are really unpleasant. Have a look at this article for more about that.

I'm a big wuss when it comes to animals and do not think any form of animal cruelty is acceptable and do not want my son singing about it, same goes for any type of abuse, however most of these comments are somewhat tongue in cheek even if it is true that they are not sung in our house!

Oh and sexist comments against men, they are a joke by the way...

1. Three blind mice - a farmers wife cutting off the tails of mice for no apparent reason, bizarre!

2. Tom Tom the farmers son - his pig was eaten and he got a good hiding, well I'm all for a bit of punishment where needed, but do we need to sing about the poor kid getting a pasting for trying to liberate a pig?

3. Jack sprat could eat no fat - portraying that all women are fat, must have been written by a man!

4. 5 little Ducks went swimming one day - about a family who's children run off, yeah entertaining!

5. This little piggy went to market - nuff said.

6. Rock a bye baby - about cute little babies falling from trees :(

7. Old mother Hubbard - her poor little pup couldn't eat because the cupboard was bare.

8. There was an old woman who lived in a shoe - 'she whipped them all soundly and sent them to bed', need I say more?

9. Ladybird, ladybird fly away home - the poor ladybirds house is on fire and she's lost her children, so sad.

10. Peter, Peter pumpkin eater - yes gents, if you can't afford your woman any more, lock her up, problem solved (I'm sure lots of men think this would be a good option when their credit card bills come in!)

So instead of songs like these we sing 'nice' songs like:

Mary, Mary quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells and pretty maids all in a row.

Much nicer to hear your bewt singing sweetly about pretty flowers... or are they?? This couldn't possibly be a song about Mary I and instruments of torture, could it?

|FOOD|sausage plait

(Leandra Bramham) — Thu, 10 Sep 2015 05:01:00 +0000

Here's a really simple and cheap recipe for you to serve on a summers day with salad or turn it into comfort food with a nice pile of mash and veg! This recipe was given to me by a good friend, I've adapted it a little by adding in some stuffing, I used sage and onion because my lot are a bit traditional but you can go wild with the flavours and create many different variations.

Fundamentally, it's a big sausage roll but it's a great family meal and storecupboard (well fridge/freezer) favourite.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1 pack ready made puff pastry

1 pack frozen sausage meat (defrosted)

100g packet stuffing mix

1 chopped onion

1 egg whisked

Method

1. Make up stuffing according to packet instructions.

2. In a bowl combine the made up stuffing, sausage meat and onion and give it a good squish together to mix the stuffing through the meat.

3. Prepare the pastry buy laying/rolling out place the sausage meat in the middle and make slices along each edge, remove the corners. Fold the top flap down and then alternately 'plait' the pastry. I hope you can see from the pictures better than I'm explaining!

4. Brush with beaten egg.

5. Bake at 140oC for about 25 mins.

This went down a treat with my family, I hope it does with yours too!

|GIVEAWAY|partylite candles & giveaway

(Leandra Bramham) — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 19:22:00 +0000

Ok, hands up if you like candles? Yep I expected a lot of hands ;) I don't think I know anyone who doesn't. As you know if you're a regular reader I've been changing up all my candles to soy candles which do not contain animal fat so when I was recently asked if I'd like to review some candles from Partylite from the new autumn range I was very happy to oblige.

Partylite candles are made from pure soy wax which means they are cruelty free and don't give off the black smoke you get from candles containing animal fats.

The natures light jar candle is mulberry scented and comes in a beatiful wood effect glass jar, this candle has a wooden wick and is priced at £20.95, the beautiful maroon colour is perfect for autumn. The burn time on this candle is 40-60 hours so that works out at about 50p per hour (max) not bad when you put it like that. The fragrance is really strong yet not overpowering and smells natural rather than manufactured, this was my first wood wicked candle and it burnt well and evenly, without making a big dip in the middle and lots of unused wax around the edge, a more subtle flame than a traditional wick they give a slight crackling natural wood burn with a glow rather than strong light, just perfect for cosy evenings as the nights draw in.

The iced snowberry scented essential jar priced at £11.95 giving a burn time of 40-60 hours too, these work out at super value for money. A traditional wick candle in a gorgeous shaped glass jar, make these candles stylish yet practical. The fragrance is crisp and fresh, just like a snowy morning, with white wax. Another great candle for cosy evenings or for a bright glow on a dark winters day. In my opinion these offer great value for money.

The market fresh scented mini jar trio priced at £24.95 with a 20-30 hour burn time between them offer scents and colours designed just for autumn, these candles feature the favourite smells of the season, harvest spice features apples, pumpkins and spices and is a beautiful deep orange colour. Caramel pear is a gorgeous gold colour and is scented with sweet caramel and apple. Berry bramble is a mix of woodland berries with woody notes in a similar rich maroon colour as the mulberry candle.

You can find more details about Partylite on their website, you can order direct or host a party, where where special host gifts are offered.

I am excited to be able to offer one of my lucky readers a chance to win the market fresh mini jar trio, enter using rafflecopter below.

*giveaway open at midnight 9 September 2015 and will close at midnight on 9 October 2015*

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Disclaimer: we were sent these candles for the purposes of our honest review all opinions are our own.

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 46 - 8 September

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 08 Sep 2015 05:19:00 +0000

I expect some of you have been a little ready eyed in the past week, with lots of babies starting school or pre-school. Thanks so much for linking up, we really appreciate the support.

Remember you can post your weekly post to the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Facebook page too, I like every one which will mean you continue to show up in my feed when you post new posts!

If you are not yet in the Facebook group send us a request and we'll add you. Feel free to post anything in there all through the week if it's relevant.

This week I have another golden oldie for you. It's an art project, using paint, sequins and tin foil to create our very own goldfish!

This week Becky has a great 'read with me' video from her YouTube channel. Here's her red car, blue car clip

My showcase this week

One of my favourite links ever came this week with this awesome minion craft from Clares Tots they are fab, I showed T and he wants to make them for his minion birthday party, they had to be in my showcase this week!

My second showcase this week are these basil and banana muffins from Handy Herbs I'm really drawn to the unusual flavour combination and can't wait to see if T likes them.

Here are the rules:-

1. Link as many posts as you like (well with in reason!) BUT please remember to paste the #ToddlerApprovedTuesday badge on each post you would like to link up. No badge, no comment, no share, and your posts will be deleted sorry if this seems harsh but it's just not fair on others who do make the effort. We've yet to delete a post but you may have noticed that we have started to not comment if we see no badge!

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://larabee-uk.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/toddler%20approved%20tuesday" title="LarabeeUK"></a></div><br />

An InLinkz Link-up

|LBUK CHRISTMAS 365|getting started

(Leandra Bramham) — Sun, 06 Sep 2015 05:24:00 +0000

I totally appreciate the some people think CHRISTMAS? its only just September but the reality is that if you start planning and buying now, you could have 4 pay days before the big day! Even small things make a tremendous difference, stocking fillers, bargains on eBay, groceries for your stockpile, cards and paper etc

I love Christmas and one of the reasons I love it, is because I get lots done up front so I can enjoy all the things I want to do with my family without feeling stressed and under pressure. I also really enjoy getting caught up in the buzz of Christmas too, walking down the high street in the snow in our nearest town to buy some mistletoe or having a sneaky little drop of mulled wine during a lunchtime date or even just nipping in with the crowds for a bargain on Christmas Eve.

For this reason I started a little group on facebook called LBUK Christmas 365, where the idea is to share crafts & recipes, make plans, bounce ideas, talk bargains and generally have fun getting ready for the season and having a jolly good natter. As there is Halloween beforehand, we'll also be talking and sharing ideas for that too.

I'm also sharing my LBUK Christmas 365 planner along the way, by Christmas you'll have over 50 planning pages which you can print off year after year and help you better plan your holiday season.

So anyone want to join in our little gang? We'd love to have you, whether you are a planning expert whose Christmas is planned with military precision or if you genuinely don't know where to start but want to get more prepared, we'd love to have you. Even pop over to share your homemade gift and decoration ideas and blog posts.

And just as a warning, it's called Christmas 365, because I do intend to keep up the group after Christmas and into next year, although I'm guessing posting will have less momentum then.

Just in case you missed it, here's the link to facebook again xx LBUK Christmas 365

|REVIEW|beets blu Bluetooth scales

(Leandra Bramham) — Sat, 05 Sep 2015 14:00:00 +0000

Hands up who needs new scales? Brutally accurate ones? Well I have just the review for you today.

We were recently asked if we wanted to review the beets blu Bluetooth scales of course we said yes, we're both on a bit of a health kick at the moment, not just for weight loss but that is a very nice side effect of eating more healthily so this will help us see how we're doing.

The Hubs is very keen to keep an eye on his BMI and body fat % after his TIA and so these app interactive scales were perfect for helping to monitor this.

I reviewed the Beets Blu Bluetooth heart rate monitor earlier in the year and it was fab, so I already had great expectations of these scales, when they arrived they didn't disappoint. Super sleek and shiny in black glass and chrome they are very stylish looking which means that we won't try and hide them away, we're happy to have them on show in our shower room :) in fact the hubs now wants to give the shower room a bit of a facelift to match, he likes the look so much!!

With most scales they cannot be used on soft surfaces so you will need to find a nice hard surface to put them on if you have carpet.

Within literally minutes we had the scales working (batteries included!) and were both gasping in horror at the results! The app always easy to find and easy to set up. Obviously we all know about consistency when weighing but these really do demonstrate that fact well. We are now into a good routine of weighing on a Monday morning after our morning showers so it shouldn't be too difficult to remember to switch on the app before we weigh to make sure that the results are synced back to our phones. One thing we have found is that because there is no concept of 'users' if you have the app open the results will download, I inadvertently got one of The Hubs readings which told me I'd put on a huge amount and The Hubs forgot when he let T have a go and he shot down to 2 1/2 stone!

The app gives you the ability to set a target weight and shows you if you are on target, basically the only thing it doesn't do is bleep when you try and put food in your mouth... Was I expecting too much? ;)

At £55.95 I thought they were not particularly cheap, shows how long it's been since I bought scales, but having done a little research this is certainly a very reasonable price for Bluetooth scales, with some very similar products topping £100 they are certainly not the cheapest either though.

Ours came from Amazon, who's service as usual was second to none. I had no hesitation in giving this product 5 stars and highly recommend to anyone.

Pros

Attractive

Easy to set up

Accurate (this could be a con!)

Reasonably priced for the market

Cons

Just remember to switch off your app when done, otherwise you'll have some skewed results if someone uses them!

Disclaimer: we were sent this product in exchange for our honest review.

#savesyriaschildren

(Leandra Bramham) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 23:05:00 +0000

There’s lots that you could do from the comfort of your own home.

Please don’t turn a blind eye. Do Something to help, anything.

Whatever you decide, don’t choose apathy.

#SaveSyriasChildren To donate £5 please text SYRIA to 70008

Web donations can be made at

Save The Children’s terms and conditions can be found here

|BLOG|my ten blogging commandments

(Leandra Bramham) — Fri, 04 Sep 2015 04:57:00 +0000

During my recent blogging hiatus, I spent some time thinking about the pro's and con's of why I blog which lead me to question some of the things I was doing. I found that there were some ridiculous things that were stressing me out unnecessarily.

After turning these into a list I thought I'd put a bit of a light hearted spin on them so I can look back from time to time to remind myself not to get into funk again.

1. Thou shall not get engrossed by awards ceremonies, thou will never be nominated for, let alone win!

2. Thou shall not pay any attention to bloggers 'popularity' ranking tables

3. Thou shall not get jealous over other bloggers bragging about their page views

4. Thou not commit to every linky under the sun

5. Thou shall not commit (to thou self) to a blog post every day

6. Thou shall not compare thou self to other bloggers

7. Thou shall blog about what thou likes and not for an audience or to fit in with linkys

8. Thou shall interact more in social media

9. Thou shall not give a shiz that most ops are now insisting on a DA

10. Thou shall remember that this is a hobby and that family and work come before it!

|FOOD|energy balls

(Leandra Bramham) — Thu, 03 Sep 2015 04:25:00 +0000

When I was asked by tesco orchard to review the new biolan range I jumped at the chance, I'm trying to eat more vegan meals, more 'raw' food and generally cut out the cr*p I'm putting in my body.

I decided to create my own version of energy balls in the hope that the whole family would enjoy them and we'd all turn super healthy, in reality both The Hubs and T thought they were disgusting but I thought they were really nice and certainly satiated any sweet desire I had. But then, I'm not a huge chocolate eater in the first place.

Ingredients

1 cup dried dates & figs

2 tbsp chopped mixed nuts plus more for rolling

2 tbsp raw cacao (any brand) plus more for dusting

2 tbsp chia seeds

These are soooooo simple!

1. Throw everything into a blender and keep pulsing until everything has mixed together. Yes I'm with you, it looks absolutely disgusting at this stage!

2. Roll into balls and duet with more cacao or roll in nuts.

Keeps fresh in a container for up to a month.

And that's it, they do have an acquired fudgy texture but really lovely, great for any sweet cravings and super healthy for you too!

|CREATE|soy wax candle tutorial

(Leandra Bramham) — Wed, 02 Sep 2015 04:58:00 +0000

I really have caught the candle making bug since making my confetti candle and since the hubs and I made some for our wedding anniversary table setting.

This weekend I thought I'd practice making some tiny ones in baby food jars which I intend to package up nicely for T's nursery keyworkers gifts. You know I like to recycle where I can so this was a great use for a pile of baby food jars I had in the shed. I'll be presenting them with a baby powder bath bomb which T will make in a future tutorial.

In my confetti post I said I wouldn't do a tutorial because all wax is different, however, I've now learned that all soy wax is the same! So, first a little bit about soy wax, most cheaper candles contain animal fat, you can tell if you're candle contains animal products by the fact that when they burn they let off black smoke. I recently made the decision to eat more vegan meals (2 out of 3 a day) and so this has exposed me to far more vegan practices and has made me re-look at the way I've been living as a vegetarian, I won't go into too much detail now, but suffice to say I'm now making sure that any candles I burn are actually soy and don't contain animal fat (warning - soy candles do cost a lot more!)

Back to the tutorial

You will need

A jar

Soy wax (just search on eBay or hobbycraft do starter kits)

Wicks

Candle fragrance

A wax crayon or candle wax colouring

A flat back button or sticker

Glue dots

Grater

Knife

Syringe

Method

1. To work out how much wax you'll need, you need to know the volume of your jar (teacup, glass, mould etc) an easy way to work this out is to place on scales, zero the scales and fill with water.

2. Measure out the same volume of wax into a microwaveable container and melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts, keep checking and stirring every 30 seconds, it doesn't take long at all. Make sure you use oven gloves if your melting pot has no handle.

3. Make sure your jar is clean and dry.

4. If you are adding colour, how's the time to grate it into your melted wax, grating is better than chopping as it disperses into the wax more evenly, also add your fragrance, I'm sure that I'll fragrances differ slightly but I've found that 1ml of oil for every 100ml melted wax works well for me. I used an old children's medicine syringe to measure my oil and I used 1/8 of a children's wax crayon for 100ml melted wax to achieve this colour.

5. You need to attach the wick to the jar, the best way I've found to do this is using a glue dot.

6. You are now ready to pour the wax into your jar.

7. Whilst you wax is drying (it will take a couple of hours) cut the back off of your button, if you're using a button, I really love flamingoes at the moment and have seen some designer candles using flamingo decals so thought this would be a nice touch, it's really simple to remove the back with a craft or other small sharp knife.

8. Attach your button and cut down the wick when your candle has set and has turned opaque.

Now all I have to decide is whether to add ribbon and/or maybe a lid. Oooh I do love the presentation bit and can't wait to work on that nearer Christmas.

I'm so pleased that within a an hour I can have a stack of high quality looking candles ready for giving.

Look out for more candle ideas in the coming weeks and I'll be sharing some 'handmade with love' stickers that would be perfect for the bottom of this project.

|FAMILY|autumn bucket list

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 07:01:00 +0000

It only seem a few weeks since I was posting our summer bucket list. We managed to knock a few things off this summer but with The Teens on holiday and Us having no concept of school holidays yet, we didn't get everything achieved since it was rather over ambitious!

I'm actually quite pleased that the summer is coming to and end now, around here there are signs of Autumn on the way, the combines are in the fields, the nights are drawing in and the mornings are certainly darker and chillier!

So here's our autumn bucket list. You can follow how we do by checking out #lbukautumnbucketlist on social media. If you're putting your own list together you may find our autumn bucket list inspiration Pinterest board useful, you can see that here.

We've also got a Halloween specific bucket list which I'll be posting in October so keep a look out for that.

What's on your autumn bucket list this year?

1. Watch bats

2. Make pumpkin truffles

3. Plant broad beans

4. Make a bat box

5. Plant autumn pansies

6. Film a murmuration

7. Read by candlelight

8. Wear brown

9. Snuggle up outdoors with blankets

10. Look at the stars

|REVIEW|zombie blast game

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:58:00 +0000

Well, what can I say, what nearly 4 year old wouldn't love this game. Quite simply zombie blast is a walking zombie who's arms fall off if you shoot it enough times!

T loves it, from a parents perspective yes I can see it may not appeal to all, I was a firm 'no guns' mum until recently when he played with one at a friends. I'm really emphasising to him that this is a game and not something anyone would do really.

Being a keen Scoody-Doo fan the fact that this is a zombie is really appealing to him.

One thing that I thought was fantastic was the packaging, easy to remove clips hold everything together and with about 95% of the packaging being cardboard, nice and easy to recycle. I personally like to have games like this in a proper box for easy storage so that's a slight downside for me.

The laser gun is really easy to use so even lite hands can pull the trigger, it does take a bit of skill to manage to shoot the zombie and I do like a toy that's a bit of a challenge rather than being easy to do from the get-go. I'd say zombie blast would appeal to all ages I know T would have loved it just as much when he was nearer 3 and his 45 year old Dad really enjoyed it too!

With a retail price of £24.99 it does seem a little expensive, but it's made from high quality durable plastic but I guess as electronic toys go it's not bad value for money as I can see many fun hours spent shooting!

The game is suitable from 3+ and I suspect we'll have a 14 year old dying for a go when he next visits ;)

In summary

Pros

1. There's a zombie

2. It's a shooting game

3. The price is not extortionate

4. It's easy to get out of the packaging!

Cons

1. It is a shoot 'em up after all
2. Batteries not included

That's it really, if you gave this to any 3-7 year old I'm absolutely sure you'd be their favourite person just watch out for scowls from parents ;)

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 45 - 1 September

(Leandra Bramham) — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 04:58:00 +0000

Thanks so much for linking up last week, it's great to see so many links each week.

Remember you can post your weekly post to the #toddlerapprovedtuesday Facebook page too, I like every one which will mean you continue to show up in my feed when you post new posts!

If you are not yet in the Facebook group send us a request and we'll add you. Feel free to post anything in there all through the week if it's relevant.

This week I have a toy review for you! Definitely suited for older toddlers and preschoolers, and not really appealing to everyone, but T loved it so I thought I'd share in case you've already started looking for Chrismas gifts!

My showcase this week

First, I just have to include the fab farmyard animals that Becky made last week, they are sooo cute and I loved how she put them with their toy farm.

I also really love the look of these mozzarella rolls from budget food mummy we'll definitely be giving these a go!

Here are the rules:-

1. Link as many posts as you like (well with in reason!) BUT please remember to paste the #ToddlerApprovedTuesday badge on each post you would like to link up. No badge, no comment, no share, and your posts will be deleted sorry if this seems harsh but it's just not fair on others who do make the effort. We've yet to delete a post but you may have noticed that we have started to not comment if we see no badge!

<div align="center"><br /><a href="http://larabee-uk.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/toddler%20approved%20tuesday" title="LarabeeUK"></a></div><br />

An InLinkz Link-up

|FAMILY|our September...

(Leandra Bramham) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 17:14:00 +0000

This month is our dinosaur month.

National bald head month (yay for daddy!)

National mushroom month

World Alzheimer's month

National pet memorial month

ADHD month

20-26 deaf awareness week

4. National wildlife day

5. Pet rock day

11. Banana day

13. International chocolate day

13. Scooby-Doo day

13. National pet Memorial day

16. Playdough day
18. Start of rugby World Cup

19. Talk like a pirate day
22. Elephant appreciation day

25. Hug a vegetarian day

26. International rabbit day

29. Teenage mutant ninja turtle day

6. Auntie Angela's birthday

12-13 Scarecrow festival

24. Mummy's hosting forever party with friends

25-27. Liverpool trip (?)

30. Uncle Ian's birthday

For more holidays and observances check out these links:

Brownie locks

Wikipedia

LarabeeUK

|CREATE|pillow case laundry bag

|FUN|mad science day

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 48 - 22 September

|HOTEL REVIEW|travelodge Clacton-on-sea

|FAMILY|team bramham on the road - Clacton-on-Sea

|#wotw|READY

|FUN|10 reasons to welcome Autumn

|FOOD|pepperoni & pesto pasta

|REVIEW & GIVEAWAY|Baker Ross rugby shirt coasters

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 47 15 September

|FOOD|Savvy Shoppers - Leandra from LarabeeUK

|FUN|10 nursery rhymes I won't sing with my son

|FOOD|sausage plait

|GIVEAWAY|partylite candles & giveaway

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 46 - 8 September

|LBUK CHRISTMAS 365|getting started

|REVIEW|beets blu Bluetooth scales

#savesyriaschildren

|BLOG|my ten blogging commandments

|FOOD|energy balls

|CREATE|soy wax candle tutorial

|FAMILY|autumn bucket list

|REVIEW|zombie blast game

|#toddlerapprovedtuesday|week 45 - 1 September

|FAMILY|our September...