Bratz Festival Vibe collection doll giveaway

"Following their return last year, the Bratz girls are back for 2016 with some fresh new styles and super cool accessories.

The 2016 collection includes three ranges- Remix, which we have reviewed here, #SelfieSnaps and a new Music Festival Vibes Perfect for Summer 2016.

Festival Vibes, a brand new Bratz, complete with super cool festival fashions and accessories, along with a second outfit. the Bratz girls are ready to hit this summer’s must-go festivals. Whether it’s a boho bash or a pop party, their independent style and tastes mean there is something for all kinds of music lovers. What’s more, each doll comes with a festival wristband and an additional wristband for the child so everyone can attend the festivals this season!      
                                
Cloe, Jade, Yasmin, Sasha and Raya have been counting down the days to the star-studded, sold-out, annual Bratz Music Festival, each of them dressed in fashions inspired by their favorite music genre. The Bratz Music Festival Vibes Collection features of the girls in outfits inspired by their favorite music genres".

Fancy winning one of the dolls? I have one Bratz Festival Vibe doll to give away to one lucky boy or girl. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below (the competition ends on 20 July 12am):

a Rafflecopter giveaway Good luck!

Review: Confetti balloon from The Feather Balloon Company

Ever since L saw balloons for the first time we were a little uneasy about her playing with them. I was willing to let her play with them for a bit longer but my husband was worried about balloons bursting in L's face.
As the time went by we opted for a safer version to hang balloons on a ceiling lamp, to play with not fully inflate balloons or use large (almost heavy duty) balloons. 
Bus L's birthday is just around the corner I wanted something a little bit more special, confetti balloon  (£24.99) from The Feather Balloon Company was just what I needed. 

                                
"A supplier of 'pretty-damn gorgeous' balloon displays that will be lovingly made and delivered to your venue!" Clear balloons with confetti or perhaps feathers is an easy stylish way to decorate a room or be an amazing centrepiece for a special event. But not only that, planning a photo session? The Feather Balloon company balloons can easily brighten up a photo studio decor or even a white background. Planning a birthday party? You can use these balloons as a party cracker, just pierce balloons and enjoy the colorful rain of small pieces of tissue paper/feather!

Lovely balloons from The Feather Balloon Company are presented in a big box with a cute red ribbon around it with a bow. Once L and I have opened the box, we were "greeted" my a large, clear balloon wrapped in pale pink tissue paper. What an amazing presentation! 

                                           
The balloon itself is much bigger and more durable than usual balloon, filled with coloured tissue paper. For the easy grip The Feather Balloon Company have attached a ribbon with pastel coloured circles which has a weight attached to it and tags wishing Happy Birthday. 

As L is a little bit nosey she decided to check what's inside the weight/box. We have found few white stones, which seems like an interesting alternative to the balloon weight sold in shops but a little bit dangerous, as L was very eager to take all the stones out to play. If your little one as adventurous as my L I would recommend to cellotape the box for extra security. 

We have received the balloon almost a month ago and it's still in relatively good shape. It's doesn't float in the air anymore and stopped doing so on day 5-6 I think, it looks slightly deflated but still has plenty of life left in it. As we take it to play in the garden it bounces up and down if the wind blows and brings lots of happy smiles.
It seems a little bit too pricey for me though but I would certainly consider buying one if it was £14-15.

Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

2nd birthday gift ideas

My darling daughter is celebrating her 2nd birthday next week, we have bought her a lovely wooden kitchen from Aldi's special buys (featured in this gift guide as an example) and orthopedic sandals, my Russian family and friends bought L a sample pot of kinetic sand, Lego Duplo with horses as she is obsessed with them, a plastic doll house with Peppa pig characters.

Please have a look at my 2nd birthday gift guide, you may find something you have never thought about:

1. Toddlebike 2- £23.95
2. The Feather Balloon Company confetti balloon- £24.99
3. Aldi wooden kitchen- £29.99
4. A Zebra toddler trampoline Worlds Apart- £39.99
5. ELC play buttons- £6
6. Chad Valley Sand and Water Table with Accessories- £17.99
7. My First Baby Annabell- £17.99
8. NOTHS Millipede jigsaw- £11.99

Which one would you pick for you little one?

Battle with the weight: update 3

I will be honest with you I was a little bit slacking for the past 3 weeks. I needed time to pack up our bags for our city break and then the holiday itself. 

I made a joke at the beginning of our city break that I was losing weight to look great for the holiday and now the diet is over but when I have noticed that eating normally and no exercises means I can no longer fit in my new tops I pulled myself together. 

I want to eat all the time, I started to crave chocolates but I stop myself as I know that all the hard work will pay off one day. I didn't start running again as my husband's back injury is back and L's napping is on and off but once it's all sorted I will be back on track, I promise! 

One thing to note- my jeans are "falling off" me and my legs seem thinner, which is great!

Have you made any progress this week?

Our holiday in Moscow, Russia

We are finally back from our 2 week trip to Moscow, Russia! We have visited relatives and friends and of course did a bit of sightseeing. I didn't know how L would behave on a plane (4 hour flight), once home at my mothers due to time difference and us wanting to visit places hence didn't expect much from her. It was a little bit different for all of us, for me and my husband because we have never travelled to a big city with a child before, for L new language and seeing lots of new places and faces was a little bit overwhelming, as a result we have a very clingy toddler who wants just me, follows me everywhere and constantly demands boob or dummy. 
Apart from that, I think we all had a good time! See what we've been up to:

Have you ever been or wanted to visit Moscow?

Father's Day gift guide

Father's day is just around the corner and I'm yet to buy something special for my husband and his father. It doesn't mean I'm lazy or not organised but it seems that none of them take it seriously, therefore as always I'm going for practical gifts:

1. United Odd Socks- £13.49 
2. Thorntons Classic Collection- £10
3. Victoria Eggs Airfix London Gift Wrap £1.95 and Father's day greeting card £2.25
4. Qwertee Busted t-shirt £12
5. Personalised bracelet for men £21

______________________
I have recently discovered Victoria Eggs products and was delighted to review some of theor products.

"Premium quality homeware, gifts & cards made in Britain. Award winning designs, proudly saluting all that makes Britain British".
I have received a 1 sheet of Airfix London wrapping paper (it comes in a pack of 20 sheets as far as I remember worth £ 1.95).

                                    

"The Airfix London Gift Wrap features well loved London icons printed on high quality paper... it's almost too good to give away!

The design pays homage to the model-making hobby Airfix kits and celebrates the hustle and bustle of city life. Featuring the Union Jack, Post Box, London Bus, Black Cab, Queens Head and pot of tea".

The design is printed onto thick matt paper and looks very stylish and sturdy when in use. With 1 sheet provided I have wrapped "My Grandpa" book I have reviewed earlier twice, which means that approximately 1 sheet of these lovely wrapping paper can be used for 2 small presents.

Father's day greeting card is a little bit smaller than what I would normally buy (half the size) for an occasion but seems reasonable for a family who do not celebrate an occasion as such. 

"This moustached Daddy egg is being treated by his baby egg with a trophy, mug of tea and balloon.

The Victoria's eggs cards bring a sense of adorable fun to any occasion. You'll want to celebrate every Father's Day with this cute couple! Made in Britain, printed onto 320gsm card. Individually wrapped with a Recycled Fleck Kraft envelope".

The card is blank inside for your message which is something I prefer rather than a pre-writtern text as there is always so much I want to write.

Overall, an interesting set of  "gifts" for lovers of a funky, trendy designs.

Disclaimer: I was sent the item mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

We are on a vacation!

We are taking a little break for 2 weeks :-) Will be back soon, promise! 

Magical "firsts" with #PetitsFilousFirsts

 

This post is an entry for BritMums #PetitsFilousFirsts Linky Challenge, sponsored by Petits Filous.

Since the day L was born I felt unconditional love, I wanted to be there to see her firsts, to take pictures of every single facial expression she makes, new milestone she reaches, I didn't want to miss a thing!

Her first smile (it could have been wind) made me teary, her crawling took me by surprised as I thought L will follow my steps and skip this stage, first "mama", first cuddles and kisses are just a few of the best "firsts" we had. 

When it was time to introduce L to solids, I had a plan in mind, and once we started following it I quickly realised that L's body is not happy with new foods. Lactolose, baby rice and petits filous were a new, better alternative and of course yet another exciting and challenging "firsts"!

L is now almost 2 and until recently I didn't know that My First Petits Filous exists.

"A new low sugar weaning product from the UK’s #1 kid’s yogurt and fromage frais brand*- Petits Filous

My First Petits Filous is a low sugar, vanilla-flavour weaning fromage frais, designed to introduce children to fromage frais from 6 months. The main ingredient is milk and all ingredients are 100% naturally sourced, so parents can rest assured there are no artificial colours, flavours, sweeteners or added preservatives. Not only is My First Petits Filous delicious, it has calcium and protein to help children develop strong bones from an early age and the low sugar content reassures parents that their child will maintain a balanced diet during weaning".
                            
I decided to have a cheeky taste first and I loved it, such a tasty, settle vanilla flavour which works perfectly well! Now, the hardest job was to try and convince a fussy eater that the new, unknown looking pot doesn't mean danger.

I normally offer a pot of petits filous with L's porridge leftovers but this time for her first taster I offered My First Petits Filous on it's own, oh yes, L liked it a lot! Another "first" with a new low in sugar Petits Filous, just perfect for us!

Since L's first taste of My First Petits Filous, we took few pots with us on a little adventure- a family festival which was another first not only for L but for us too!

 I kept them in a cool bag in the shade so that L can enjoy them when feels hungry or thirsty whilst watching the entertainment on the stage, what more can you wish for!

 Another day, another first with My First Petit Filous, I wonder where it will take us next time!

Little L is 23 months

Oh what a month we had with L!  She is such a little, funny character but those tantrums she has are exhausting! We thought that it's troublesome twos, all those "I want this now", "no, I will do it myself", "no, no, no" are a part of our daily life now, but sleepless night or really early wakings were the worst. Eventually we found out that L is teething, you can never tell when she is..

Apart from little tantrums we had lots of cuteness, singing, twerking and talking!

I need to make a list of the words, phrases she says, my favourite by far is "fower" for flower!

During the day when it's just me and L I try to encourage more Russian than English but every single time she visits her grandparents she would say something new in English.

She finally started to recognise colours and fruits and veggies, L wouldn't necessarily name them but would point out. Counting is another activity we do, whilst I prepare porridge for L, I count spoons up to 5 and repeat it over and over again for her, so far L knows how to say "five" in Russian.

Clothing wise L fits into some 9-12, 12-18 and 18-24, few weeks ago I decided to buy new clothes from 2-3 years but I think bought too many dresses even though I'm a fan of more practical items- leggings, trousers and tops.

Potty training is not very successful for now, before bedtime L goes on a potty but nothing happens. I'm hoping that a change of scene might help, we are going to Russia soon and that might encourage her to learn more Russian words and potty training (if my mum helps).

Wish us luck :-) 

Roald Dahl's Stupendous Schools competition and a family pass to Tatton Park giveaway

"This spring, Tatton Park is calling all budding young illustrators to take part in a stupendous writing competition as part of the tremendous activities taking place at Tatton Park this year, to celebrate the centenary year of Roald Dahl, the World’s Number 1 storyteller.
Open to children in the local area aged five to eleven, the competition challenges aspiring young artists to design their own front cover for a Roald Dahl book of their choice in a bid to win a host of marvellous prizes.

The schools competition has been launched to coincide with Penguin’s re-release of a selection of Roald Dahl’s works with 15 new front covers marking 100 years of Roald Dahl’s beloved characters and stories.

The winning entrant will receive a Family Totally Tatton Twit Ticket, giving them and their family access to Tatton Park’s attractions to explore the Phiz-Wizzing Trails. The winner will also receive a VIP experience at the Roald DahlBig Picnic on 11 September, a donation of the 15 Roald Dahl new front cover books to their schools library and a gloriumptious goody bag of Roald Dahl treats. Runners up receive a goody bag.

1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th place will also be displayed in the mansion as part of the exclusive “Cover to Cover: Roald DahlAround the World” exhibition, showcasing a fascinating selection of Roald Dahl book jackets from across the world and throughout time, until 30 October.

Featuring 50 famous Roald Dahl covers and loaned from the collection at the Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre in Buckinghamshire (www.roalddahl.com/museum), the exhibition includes a choice of covers which are visually very different and in a number of languages including French, Arabic, Mandarin and Japanese.

The book covers also feature artwork from famous illustrators across the globe, from the iconic Quentin Blake to Jill Bennett, Nancy Exholm Burkert and Emma Chichester Clark.

Local primary schools are encouraged to submit a maximum of 3 entries per school, which will be judged by representatives of Tatton Park.

Laura Armitage, Learning and Visitor Services Manager at Tatton Park comments: “We’re delighted to be hosting the competition in partnership with Roald Dahl 100. Book covers have so much potential for children to show their interpretation of Dahl’s work and we can’t wait to see all of the entries.

“The activities taking place this year to mark 100 years of Roald Dahl are not only a celebration of his life and achievements but also a reminder of the power of imagination.”

To enter, send your schools designs to: ‘Roald Dahl Competition’, Tatton Park Education Department c/o Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 6QN. Or email to tattoneducation@cheshireeast.gov.uk 

Closing date for entries is 8 July 2016.

I have one family pass (for 2 adults and 3 children)which includes garden, mansion, farm, parkland and parking for one car 

to give away to one lucky family. All you have to do is fill out the Rafflecopter form below (the competition ends on 19 June 12am):

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!