Sarah – Page 32

Sarah August 16, 2013

Safari Style #Countrykids

This week its less about country and more safari. The kids won a voucher at the school fayre for a local safari park and so on a pretty grey and overcast day we decided to head off and go for a little tour round. I used to go to the safari park A LOT when my oldest two were little. We had got a season pass and it was one of the most perfect ways to burn some energy and a couple of hours in those sometimes very long pre-school days!

The kids really got into spotting the animals and when we entered the lions enclosure we were in for a bit of a treat as the lions were playing across the road and so we got to see them all very close. It is still a bit unnerving when they are so close to the car. They look so huge up close.!

lion

I talked my husband into going through the monkey enclosure and not going the safe route..he wasn’t happy and there was much grumbling about the holiday and needing to keep the car in as best possible condition for our long drive. But he agreed but was very ready to flick the wipers on and squirt any curious monkey that got near the car. We had a few little hitchhikers but they seemed to struggle with the angle of our bonnet and kept slipping off. I was more worried we were going to squash one!

The most scary thing for me was not the lions or the monkeys but a Rhino, who we drove past and stopped to look at her and her calf. She stopped chewing her grass and just stared at us. Freaked me out.

We enjoyed the drive although towards the end a camel put its head in the car and totally freaked out our youngest. So we made a somewhat hasty retreat to the car park!!

Things had changed a little since we were last there but the majority of the big animals were still the same. They had changed a lot of their exhibits to see at the end of the drive. There was a new falconary (with some particularly mean looking birds!) and plenty of new playground areas.

We are on holiday for the next couple of weeks so apologies as I won’t be able to comment loads but will make up for it when I get back! We are off to chase the sun!
Family Farm Holidays Cornwall

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Sarah August 14, 2013

I am completely not ready for school #wotsofunee

I posted a review a little while back of some back to school products that we had been given for our little girl who is starting school next month. She has met all of these new things with much enthusiasm and seemed to be really embracing the new season in her life. She was wearing the school summer dresses for days and days to do the school run in and would write down stories and words and pictures all ready for her new teacher at school.

We have been busy over the last couple of days with work and getting ready to go camping and so havent chatted much about school.

This evening I was talking to her before she went to bed.

“are you still really excited about school?’

her: ‘ well no not really?’

me: “oh! i thought you were very excited about it?’

her: ‘no, not any more’

me: ‘oh dear? whats happened, why dont you want to go to school?’

her: ‘i dont need to anymore!’

me: ‘really?’

her: “yes. you see I have done lunch and playtime, ive read books and sat on the carpet and i know ALL the nursery rhymes. Ive done some writing and some reading and listening’

a pause..

“so i am totally full of learning and i have no room left for any more!”

Guess thats it then!!

🙂

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Sarah August 13, 2013

New Sprouts Play Food Set. A Review #learningresources

Who doesn’t love a good pretend lunch or dinner? Through the years that we have been parents all the kids have loved playing restaurants, waiters and just serving up lunch and dinner on little tiny plates with little plastic vegetables and fruit. We have always generally got little play sets from supermarkets or other toy stores and they are great for the purpose but inevitably in the craziness of pretend play, a little one gets over excited and bits into a banana. Which then becomes a slightly misshapen banana for ever more. This has happened to a lot of our sets and inevitably they become victims of the bi-annual dustbin liner sort out of the playroom! 🙂

So i was really happy to be asked to review this The New Sprouts Play Food Set from Learning Resources. The company is an award winning supplier of play and educational products. It does supply teachers and those who work with special educational needs but also has an area on the website devoted to parents. Having looked through there myself I can see some really useful games for all my kids, they have products from babies to pre-teens.

So there was much excitement when the big tub of play food arrived. My two littlest girls are at the perfect age for imaginary play. They are really learning how to play together and I can see this set getting an awful lot of use in the future. But the initial excitement of it arriving bought all the kids out into the garden to have a good look through the set. It really is a HUGE set. 100 pieces representing all the food groups. I was quite impressed that there are no chips!! It is made from soft, rubberised PVC and plastic pieces are easy to hold and guess what? they pass the munch test, even if someone chows down on the T bone steak then it bounces back into shape. 😉

So the older kids set up a cafe and started serving out some dinner portions. We were getting some strange combinations that were giving us all a giggle. I played a little game with the older kids to see if they could ‘tell’ what each bit of food actually was. I was quietly impressed that they recognised some veg that maybe we havent had all that often as a family. Although the asparagus (which is one of my favourite bits) did stump them all. Must remember to try and cook that at some point?!!

Setting up the kitchen!

The old kitchen that we have had since my son was a baby got dragged out of the play house and some cooking commenced. My youngest thought the pretzels were little cakes and starting singing happy birthday to whoever she was presenting them to. 🙂

I’ll have a butty and a glass of milk please with some yoghurt for pudding!

Thinking carrying a bowl of soup like that can only be a bad idea! 🙂 The happy customers await their delights!

What? a t bone steak and yoghurt in a sandwich!? NO!!!

The set comes in a sturdy box with clip handles and there are plenty of the ‘staples’…lots of little slices of bread so that more than one child can make a sandwich. Which in my house is really really handy and prevents possible arguments. They particularly liked the bowl of cereal and the bowl of spaghetti!

The set retails for just over £100.00 which initially i thought seemed quite expensive but seeing the detail in the pieces and the quality of the material they are made of. I think that if you were after investing in a set for your home that will really last well or maybe a set for a nursery or childminder then this set is a good choice. How many of those play food sets do you pick some strange shaped object up and wonder to yourself ‘what is this supposed to be?’. 😉

Thats one thing that won’t happen with this set. I can see it getting a lot of use in our house and who knows maybe even my kids will start eating Asparagus?!!

Also Learning Resources are running a special offer at the moment for bloggers and readers of blogs of free shipping on orders up till the 31st December this year. Just add BLOGGER13 at the checkout!!

The challenge was to see who could open their mouth the widest! The tallest hamburger ever!

I was sent this set by Learning resources for review. All opinions are my own

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Sarah August 11, 2013

Where they are. Right now. #motivationalmonday #themondayclub #whatsthestory #magicmoments

This months theme on motivational monday is children. Hey..guess what…

I have a few of those

So i thought i would give a little run down of each of the little folk who dwell here in this dwelling.

This week it is the turn of my sweet little girl. Well she isnt so little anymore. Fast approaching 9. As in, in less than a month nearly! Hard to believe she was such an incredibly cute little baby. She arrived 6 minutes past her due date.

She is totally gorgeous ( even if we do say so ourselves) and right now..she is:

Very much into animals. ALL animals. Mostly dogs and horses would feature highest but she loves them all. She wants to be a Vet. We think that is a GREAT idea 😉
She has probably one hundred soft toys that share her bed…and other stuff to! I say to her that i will throw them out secretly one by one but she tells me she will notice straight away. i think she does roll call every day!
She tells me that she ‘believes in toys’ that is often when im telling her off for pinching a toy that has been discarded by a sibling in a less than caring manner and she has snaffled it up and taken it to bed. She says it is because she thinks it will get lonely and upset being on its own. I blame Toy Story! 😉
She is actually pretty ‘young’ for a nearly 9 year old. She still likes to play with babies and dollies. She still watches a fair amount of kids only TV and she still would choose ‘comfy’ over ‘fashionable’ clothing. I like that she is still like that. 🙂
Having said what i have just said, she did get a valentines card this year and it spent a month on the kitchen shelf! Longer than a birthday card for goodness sake!!
She likes ‘pop’ as in One direction, Carly Rae whatserface etc. This is partly influenced by me ( hangs head) as i do have pop radio on in the car most of the time. As i said before her brother does NOT like that style and it often leads to conflict.
Finished year 3 this year. She loved her teacher and she got the best behaviour award in the year! It was a tough year for her as her best friend left the school.
She is another one after a phone..apparently EVERYONE at school has one. She is resolutely met with a stone wall which often gets a flouncing off, followed by a slammed door. 😉
She is the one of my kids who will always pose for me when im setting up shots. Always. They are all getting much better at this now but she was the first to just ‘get it’ and i often ask her because she is the happiest to do it
When she was three she had pneumonia and was admitted to our local children’s hospital for 4 days. Then followed check ups to be sure that there was no scarring on her lungs, there isn’t. She didnt’ eat anything the entire time we were in except smarties!! Something she will brag about now!!
She is a sweet, kind hearted kid. Her friends at school are often the kids that others are being unkind to for shallow, silly, nonsense reasons. She sticks up for them and is a really good friend to them. This makes us incredibly proud of her.
I would say her best friend is her sister (im totally sure she wouldnt!!) but they are good mates and get along most of the time. We often have a little bit of an issue when one of the older girls has a friend over as the girls are so used to being buddies to each other at home that working that out with another person can be tough! I’m hoping in the future that the sister-bond is going to be really strong for them.
She has done ballet and played piano since she was 4. I can’t tell you how proud i am of her stickability to it. There has been ups and downs but she is still going strong!
She loves to read, her favourite books are Horrid Henry. She has written to the author and is awaiting a reply! *stares hard at author!* 😉