The #Chokeables, How to save a child from choking

As you all probably know by now, my job is as a registered nurse, however I am only trained in general nursing although when it comes to choking there isn't really that much difference in the skills you need, I do think its really important that as many people as possible know how to give treatment in an emergency situation like choking and St johns ambulance are trying to help spread the word of just that.

Everyone should have the skills and confidence to know what to do in an emergency. Knowing basic first aid can be the difference between life and death – and every week they hear of new people whose lives have been saved because someone nearby knew what to do. 40% of parents asked by SJA have witnessed their own baby choke and when almost four-fifths don’t know what to do in this situation so they have made a short memorable video, The Chokeables – featuring the voices of David Walliams, David Mitchell, Johnny Vegas and Sir John Hurt – that shows people how to help a choking baby.

In The Chokeables, the celebrities take on the characters of animated objects that could potentially choke babies: a small princess toy, a pen lid, a jelly baby and a peanut. They've joined together because they've had enough and want to show how easy it is to save a choking baby's life. In just 40 seconds you can learn how to give first aid to a choking baby. 

You may well have already seen this video and you might know what to do if someone starts to choke but other people might not so its well worth sharing it with friends and family spread the word, you never know it might help you to save a life one day.

To find out more about the #Chokeables campaign and St Johns Ambulance you can visit there page here

St Johns Ambulance are also giving you the chance to win a first aid kit.

This compact and handy first aid kit is great for use in the home or travelling. Filled with the essentials you will need for common accidents, it ensures that you are prepared for any minor emergency. Always a great and handy thing to have around.

Just enter via the Rafflecopter below and good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

The first entry on the rafflecopter form to leave a comment on the post is mandatory

All other steps on the rafflecopter form are optional.

Only one entry form per person is allowed (however, you can tweet with the bonus click entry daily or use the free entry to increase your chances).

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

Once the Rafflecopter picks a winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within 28 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.

The giveaway will begin on the 05/10/15 and will close on 19/10/15 at midnight.

My Perfect Pastry set from Annabel Karmel #Review

We were asked if we would like to review The My Perfect pastry set I knew the boys would be thrilled to try a Casdon Annabel Karmel My Perfect Pastry Set. Toy company Casdon has created a range of cooking tools for young chefs as inspired and approved by Annabel Karmel. These are perfectly normal kitchen utensils, only suitable for little hands. This set is aimed at children aged 5-11.

Annabel Karmel has written special recipes to go with the range (which also includes a Mini Pizza Set and an Ultimate Baker's Set).

Annable Karmel doesn't need any introductions. She is a leading expert on children's nutrition and kitchen gadgets, weaning products, and has inspired a range of baking kits for want to be little chefs.

The set comes with a lovely little book of recipe ideas so if you are short of ideas for what to make, it is all there in the little booklet and they are really simple things perfect for those that like to create and bake.

This set includes:

• 1 round baking tin
• 1 mini tart pan
• 10 cookie cutters
• 6 measuring spoons
• 1 silicone spatula
• 1 measuring jug
• 1 mixing bowl with anti-slip base
• 1 silicone handle whisk
• 10 recipes 

This pastry set is fab its eye catching bright and colourful, the majority of the items are made from plastic apart from the tins which are lightweight metal, making them perfect for children to get baking with. The yellow bowl has an anti slip base so it does help to limit the mess to an extent, if that is possible when young children are baking.

We made the lemon cookies from Annabel Karmel's recipe as printed in the leaflet.

You need; 

100g of cubed soft butter, 

50g caster sugar, 

150g plain flour  

zest of 1 lemon. 

however the dough was not the right consistency somehow, it was too crumbly and dry, there was no way I'd be able to roll it out. I added a drop of milk and water to make the dough stick together it did help with the consistency I split the dough in to two separate pieces so each of the boys had there own piece to roll out the rolling pin has a really nice feel to it as you can hold the handles and the body of the rolling pin rotates around great for little hands.

The boys loved the cookie cutters and choosing there shapes although Liam being his usual self picked out two that he liked the house and the fish and refused to use any others, but Adam was excited by the choice he had to choose from they loved cutting and putting them on the tray once they had finished making them I popped them in the oven they had to be cooked for 10 minutes at 180'C, I must admit I left them a little bit too long and the edges were a bit overly brown.  Now the idea was that they were going to decorate them with icing once they had done however the boys ad a very much different idea of just eating them all whilst they were warm, so this time they didn't get decorated - but by the enjoyment the boys got from this set I can see it is going to be very loved and used a lot in this house.

Overall myself and the boys loved this set, the set does state that it is for children of ages 5 - 11 but Adam who is three got on perfectly well using it as well as Liam did. This amazing pastry set is packed full of bits and I certainly think you get your moneys worth from it RRP £20 from Amazon , my only small gripe is that I think the cookie cutters could do with being slightly bigger, however I can see the makers way of thinking that they are for small hands - we loved this set though!

   

We were sent this fabulous Perfect Pastry set for the purpose of this review all opinions remain honest and my own.

Keep calm and colour in! #Win Zen Art Therapy for adults

Colouring books have become increasingly popular over recent years, they are relaxing can help keep stress levels minimal and if it is someone elderly it can help to regain the use of their fine motor skills - colouring is becoming an upcoming craze amongst adults.





Children have known for years that settling down to tackle a nice bit of colouring-in is a relaxing way to unwind and it looks like us grown-ups have finally caught on! Cool, Calm, Create is pre-school specialists, Redan Publishing’s first magazine to target adults and will hit the newsstands on 30th July, providing a monthly shot of art therapy to frazzled parents up and down the country.

The new magazine offers 68 pages of intricate colouring and doodling spreads designed to help focus the mind and aid relaxation. Using a bespoke blend of patterns, mandalas and tangles, issue one has a marine and ocean theme and comes with a free cover-mounted gift of 5 colouring pencils, making it the perfect gift to pick up and go and an ideal travel companion for summer holidays.

Calm, Colour, Create Magazine will retail at £4.99 and is aimed at anyone with an interest in colouring. It will be available on selected newsstands from 30th July, 2015.

I have three copies to give away. To win yourself a copy of the lovely book simply enter via the rafflecopter below. Good Luck

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions:

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

all steps on the rafflecopter form are optional however you must complete at least one to be entered . Only one entry form per person is allowed (however, you can tweet with the bonus click entry daily as well to increase your chances).

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

Once the Rafflecopter picks a winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within 28 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.

The giveaway will close on 4th August 2015 at midnight.

Cheer up a friend send a gift through text, with Parcelgenie

How nice is it to spread happiness in peoples lives? How nice is it to send people a little gift to let them know how much you are missing them, thinking about them, or just want to put a smile on there face?



Well the new Parcelgenie/textgenie App lets you do just that!

"Parcelgenie! The Worlds first Instant gift messaging app lets you send real, little gifts to friends and family, No address needed!"

Parcelgenie is an instant gift service that you download as an app on your phone, available on Android or IPhone, however if you don't have either you can also order online. They have a range of gifts, all really reasonably priced. They start at £1.99 & go up to around £8.00, There are ten gifts to choose from including a good luck charm, some pretty ladybird lovebugs and their eat your blues away (a blue sweet selection). The gifts are mainly food / sweet based, It will be interesting to see if they will add a wider selection to suit more people, but for now I think they’ve a really nice little range to start off with. Plus you can also add a personalised note card!

Once You have chosen the gift you want to send the app automatically connects to your contacts in your phone, so you simply connect and choose who to send it to. You don't need the person's address as once you've arranged for it to be sent, the Parcelgenie texting app sends a text to the recipient saying you have sent them a gift & asks them for their address details. Then you get a message saying it has been dispatched. Simple as that.

When Parcelgenie contacted me to ask me to try out their new service, I bought my mum, the horse shoe good luck charm, as she hasn't been very lucky lately so fingers crossed it brings her more luck, the charm came all wrapped up in a cute little box and came the very next day after ordering. which is a great service.




I also bought a few other gifts for friends as the gifts are all lovely little things and I wanted to see what they thought, they all loved there little gifts the only negative to the service is that when they received the text all but one of my friends sent me a message asking if the gift was from me or if it was a spam message.

With the app payment is really simple, you can pay by card or by Paypal, the app links straight to your Paypal making payment quick easy and simple!

Other little gems to the app include a shake the parcel game - this gives you one shake a day to receive a gift or discount code, there is also an electronic reward card for each gift you send you get a stamp once you have six stamps Parcelgenie sends you a surprise little gift to say thank you which i think is a lovely idea!

Not only that all first time users get 50% discount off there first text order!

Go check out their range of gifts for your favourite people and let me know what you think. I really love this idea and love the gifts I will definitely be continuing to use the app.


You can find out more by visiting them here at Parcelgenie or Txtgenie  or by following them on Twitter .

Disclosure, I was sent two gift codes to review the above app, all opinions remain honest and my own.

#Review Fireman Sam Diecast Vehicle set

This week we were sent a lovely three piece set of Diecast vehicles from the fireman Sam range, both Liam and Adam have been huge fans of fireman Sam for a long time, they sing along to the theme tune, they often rein-act scenes from the TV program usually ending up in one of them pretending to be naughty Norman and doing something naughty.

When the set arrived I knew it would be very popular and they haven't quite got the hang of sharing with each other so luckily there are three vehicles included in the set and both Liam and Adam choose there favorite each and have put the other one to one side for when Jack gets older, but not before having a play with all three first.

As you can see from the box above you get three vehicles, Jupiter the fire engine which is a hot favorite in my house! then there is Venus usually driven by penny the boys like this one because in the series it carries rescue equipment, and last but not least there is Neptune the rescue boat.

This is a fantastic set, great to keep you little ones, aged three plus, entertained for hours using there imaginations to re-create the rescue scenes from Fireman Sam. this little set gets a big thumbs up from my boys, they absolutely loved them and they haven't put them down since I gave them the Fireman Sam Vehicles!

These products were sent to me for the purpose of this review all opinions remain honest and my own          

First friends magazine review and #giveaway

As of late the boys have gone crazy for children's magazines, every time we go to the shops they will ask for one. When we were asked to review First Friends magazine I jumped at the chance knowing that the boys would love looking at something new.

When the magazine arrived, First thoughts on the cover were its brightly coloured, eye catching and has a cute little free gift of a plate and cup set in theme with the hungry Caterpillar. The magazine is very much unisex and both boys and girls alike will love it, The magazine is aimed at children aged 2-4 years old however Liam is five and loved it just the same, the first edition of the monthly First Friends magazine is published on the 8th July and it is priced at £2.99

The magazine focuses on lots of different children's characters, so if your child has a preference for one over the other there really is something to suit all. My boys automatically recognised Wolley and Tigg on the front and were excited that they were featured as they love that programme.

The magazine consists of 27 pages packed with activities, stickers and learning stories all of which will help with a child's development, my boys particularly like the stickers they loved hunting through the magazine finding which stickers went on which page.

The magazine also features a height chart to record your little ones growth, and a pull out poster with spot the dog featured on it, a competition to win a gruffello Trunki, and the magazine also features some creative making ideas for keeping your little ones entertained.

Over all the boys loved the magazine, there was plenty of variety to keep them occupied and stimulated and plenty of activities to keep them busy when we have an afternoon at home

For your chance to win a fantastic first copy the First Friends Magazine (three to giveaway) just enter through the rafflecopter widget below.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions:

(Please note that all entries will be checked against comments for validation).

all steps on the rafflecopter form are optional however you must complete at least one to be entered . Only one entry form per person is allowed (however, you can tweet with the bonus click entry daily as well to increase your chances).

This giveaway is for UK residents only.

Once the Rafflecopter picks a winner, I will check if the winner has done what was requested and I will contact them, if they do not reply within 28 days, the prize will be allocated to another person.

The giveaway will close on 17th July 2015 at midnight.

Memories of the past and modern day Delight #AngelDelightMoments

Memories of the past

Picture the scene, my mum has spent the afternoon on a Sunday Ironing in the kitchen and cooking up a home roast and my Dad is out fishing for the day a long term hobbie of his, myself and my younger brother and sister have been watching one of the films that have been aired on only the four channels we had back then but by around 4.30 we are are all eagerly awaiting the return of my Dad with the distinct smell of a beautifully cooked home made Sunday roast floating in from the kitchen, our tummy's are growling. The sight of my Dad pulling up outside in his car, sends the three of us into an excited frenzy, happy to see my dad ....... he always has the same joke, carry my kit in the house for me of course we would all try and lift the bags and poles but we never could, my mum would be shouting from the kitchen hurrying him up, dinner was nearly ready, gathering at the table with laughter and stories from the day we would sit down to my mums lovely cooking. Once we had finished eating, one of us would speak up, "whats for pudding?"
Often it would be a bowl of Angel Delight, any flavour would do, Strawberry, butterscotch, banana or Chocolate we loved them all, quick easy to make and delicious in flavour we never complained in fact most of the time we got told off for running our fingers round the bowl making sure that every last inch of it had been safely deposited in our tummy's.

Angel Delight

Angel Delight has actually been around for a long time, since 1967 By the Birds company. I had no idea it had been on the shelves for that long, initially Angel delight only had one flavour available and that was Strawberries and cream but the company has since gone on to produce several different flavours in standard packs and sugar free. The flavours include, strawberry, raspberry, Chocolate, Butterscotch, Banana as well as their brand new flavour Bubble gum, which hit the shelves in Tesco stores up and down the country last September.

We were lucky enough to to receive a couple of packets of the great new Bubble gum flavour or Gubble bum as Adam is referring to it! which I have to say is delicious even for a hungry mummy, when I first heard that it was bubble gum flavour, I really thought that it would be sickly sweet but it wasn't sickly at all on taste, it was not to overpowering and sat just right after a big dinner, not to heavy on the stomach, the boys absolutely loved it not just the taste but the smell Adam was practically climbing up me to smell the contents of the packet.

A modern day Angel delight. 

With all the flavours that are available, there is a lot of ideas for how to jazz the desert up a bit after all this really is a desert that is versatile for any occasion, Ice lollies for the summer, you could add it into a trifle for Christmas, pop some sparklers in the top of them for bonfire night an evening of posh food with friends and this could make the perfect after dinner desert just by adding a couple of strawberries or bananas to the top depending on your preferred flavour of course!

However, our house is more inclined to excitable children than posh dinner parties. So a few weeks ago it was Adams third birthday and after a buffet tea, Bubble gum Angel Delight was the perfect way to finish the party Adam loves peppa pig and has a love for pink so he loved desert in this form, as did all the children, they loved the marshmallows and the fact that they could all have there own little personal pot I also made some frozen flower shaped Angel delight which were a great accompaniment, needless to say they didn't last very long at all.

I think my favourite thing about Angel delight apart from the flavour of course is the fact that it is really quick and easy to make, you simply put the contents of the packet into a bowl, add milk and pop it in the fridge and there you have the perfect desert fit for children and adults alike. 

Angel Delight a fantastic memory of the past and with a great new flavour I'm sure this is just a hint of memories for what the future holds.

This post is an entry for #AngelDelightMoments Linky Challenge.

Cbeebies Abney and Teal Magazine #Review

The popular show Abney and Teal which is aired on the Cbeebies channel week days at 17.50 is set to release a magazine this October 23rd so that children can not only enjoy watching Abney and teal on the screen they can use there imaginations and join in with lots of fun within.

The magazine itself has been published by children's specialists DJ Murphy, and is 36 colourful pages of stories, puzzles and fun.

We were sent the magazine ahead of the release date, so we can give you a sneaky peak inside of what to expect. I don't know about your children but my boys both love this program especially Adam of whom is two nearly three, so this Magazine is a great accompaniment alongside the programme.

Their is a free musical gift on the front of the first issue. Included in the magazine is spaces to get creative and draw your own characters. plus pictures to colour, definitely lots to keep your little one entertained.

If your child doesn't already know the characters names the magazine introduces you to each one of them, backed up with some stories to carry on enjoying the characters adventures.

I think our favourite part of the magazine was the centre piece, which has stickers which you can use throughout - Adam loves stickers, plus an Abney and teal reward chart - this is a great incentive for any child to try and be just that little bit more independent, it also has some fun learning ideas on their and to keep your child focused and Adam loves asking what it says and whats next! 

Overall we loved the magazine I am not going to spoil the contents too much for you!
The Magazine is priced at just £2.99 and is released on a monthly basis so it isn't going to cost lots of money and I think it works great as a treat for a child. Adam loved it!, watch out for the magazine from the 23rd October as it will be hitting the shelves in all good newsagents and supermarkets.

Chuggington StackTrack #Review

Chuggington is a children's British animated show aired daily on Cbeebies, you can join Wilson, Brewster, Koko, Hoot, Toot and Piper, as they learn to ride the rails, learn valuable lessons about friendship and working together. The trains are set in the fictional town of Chuggington where they are given individual tasks to complete, if they successfully complete their mission they are rewarded with a badge. 

At Christmas Liam received a Chuggington stack and track expansion pack, for those of you that don't know what the expansion pack it, its the track that is expanded onto the main play sets but the expansion pack alone cant really be played with without any trains which at that point Liam had none so at Easter he decided with his money he would buy one of the main playsets and some trains.

When we were asked to review some more of the Chuggington range of toys you can imagine we were delighted and excited to do so, as the pack would just add to the ever growing collection Liam already has. We received the Chuggington Stacktrack play set an extension pack and two trains too play with.

The Stacktrack comes with well put together instructions detailing exactly how to put the track together and which bits go where - but to be honest you really don't need them as this toy is all about using your imagination and creating the tracks as you want them you can make it so you have one huge track that runs along the floor or you can buy more of the tracks and build them upwards in height there is no limits to this track except of course the size of your room or the ceiling!

The track all fits together really easily and once put together seems to be very sturdy the sets are aimed at children 3+ however even Adam who is two found it very easy to put the track together and really enjoyed the set - the boys also loved the added extras such as the traffic lights change colour when the train goes through them and at each side of the bridge/tunnel there is a barrier that you can leave down to stop the trains or lift up to watch them speed down the little hill.

The trains really resemble the characters almost exactly as you see them on the television series, they are very light weight, bright in colour and are very well made so they are not going to be broken easily the only part that I would say is a bit flimsy would be the plastic part on the back that you use to attach them to the other trains - if you have a child that tends to put things in there mouth still like Liam does these can be easily chewed and misshaped.

Other wise this set, in fact the whole selection of toys from this Chuggington range I love and the boys love they don't seem to get bored, if the track does start to get boring we simply take it apart and build it up a different way and in a different shape - A great toy with hours of fun to be had!

 

Delicious Easter Chocolate nests

last week we have been busy baking up some great Easter nest cakes. Of course the boys wanted to be involved especially Adam who loves to eat he was so excited, so with the inspiration and tips of Center Parcs, We got to work making some delicious Easter delights. The top tip I loved the most from Center Parcs was this.

• "Mix some cereal, such as bran or broken up wheat, together with some melted chocolate and form the mixture in to nest-like shapes, leaving to cool for a finished nest".

Liam and Adams favourite thing, like most children is chocolate so this was a fitting treat and great idea for them to get stuck in and make some fabulous chocolate cereal nests in the simplest way possible for a two and a four year old.

First I put the shredded wheat into a sandwich bag and got them to crush them all up they loved doing this bit!  

next we tipped all the crushed up shredded Wheat into a big mixing bowl ready to be covered in melted chocolate.

Once we had poured the two bags of crushed up shredded wheat into a big mixing bowl, I got the boys to help me to break up the chocolate and I popped it into the microwave for 30 seconds at a time stirring intermittently until all the chocolate had melted, whilst the boys waited patiently.

The chocolate was all melted but really hot so I poured it onto the mixture and stirred it up - I didn't realise it was so tough to stir once the chocolate has been poured in.

In the meantime I got Liam and Adam to put the cake cases into the cake tray ready for the mixture.

  
Next was the fun and messy part filling each individual case with the cereal mixture, the boys loved this bit I am sure there would have been more Easter Nests but it was one spoon for the case and one for their mouths they loved it though!

Last but not least we added the chocolate mini eggs as the final touches. I even made some more myself later in the week because Liam and Adam loved them so much I must admit the chocolate Easter nests were delicious, simple and great fun to make!

Did you make anything over Easter? I would know what baking delights you have been doing with your children.

‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 April challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Sherwood forest.