I Miss My Coffee Table

I miss my coffee table! Why? Well, it started about 5 years when my son was starting to pull himself up on the furniture and crawl around.

All the breakables in the house were moved out of reach, the TV was attached to the wall, nick-nacks moved to the mantel piece and the coffee table was relegated to the corner of the room, no longer a place to keep hot drinks and remote controls, with the addition of a small chair, it became a desk/lunch table for our son.

But now with my both my son and daughter being old enough it would be good to reclaim some space, somewhere to put our drinks of an evening, somewhere to be home to the remote controls and some of the wonderful vintage books I have.

There are so many styles and types of coffee table to choose from, I particularly like this scandi-style coffee table, the shelf offers a great place to store magazines and the lines are beautiful and contemporary.

I also really like this glass top table, I am always aware of drinks being put down on tables and marking them, this would get away from this as well as not worrying when the children lean on it to draw. Again plenty of storage underneath, although we would need to keep it clear with it being glass.

And it is with that I also wonder are we the only ones who haven't got a coffee table anymore? Is this something a lot of parents give up when children arrive?

NB This is a sponsored post, however all words and thoughts are my own.

The Magic of Life Butterfly House in Aberystwyth

Whilst in Wales we visited several places, but one place that has stayed in our hearts was The Magic Of Life Butterfly House.

We were lucky enough to arrive just after some art students who were being shown some of the fabulous bugs that resided in the reception area.

This amazing millipede, started out all curled up and unfurled to show his many, many little legs, my son was in complete awe.

Giant Millepede

Next we got to see this fabulous Goliath beetle, it is fair to say had this taken off I would have been out of there like a shot. According to Neil the owner of The Magic of Life it flies and sounds somewhat like a drunk motorcycle.

Goliath Beetle

You can't really tell how beautiful this is but the horse head grasshopper, really wonderful creature and well worth a google to see what the face actually looks like.

Horse Head Grasshopper

The many butterflies that flew around really wowed us, we got to see the caterpillars, pupa and then the butterflies they transform into, it was amazing to learn that after about 3 months of growing into a beautiful butterfly they only live for a few weeks.

Glasswing

This owl butterfly seemed to become attached to my husband and spent a good half an hour clinging to his hand.

Owl Butterfly

Finally as we walked out we got to see these beautiful little, well actually huge silk moth caterpillars.

Reading some of the reviews on Trip Advisor you may be put off, a few people mention how 'expensive' it is. However, I think this is subjective, we spent about an hour and half in there and my son got to do some brilliant drawings using pencils and paper the very kind students lent him as well as talking to Neil the owner who was knowledgeable and took the time to listen to him.

Bath Time Fun with Matey

We always try to make bath times fun in our house, when my son was tiny it was a nightmare and he hated baths but my with daughter it has always been a pleasure and with two of them being in the bath together it has always been more fun for them.

Now days I don't struggle to get them in to bath, especially with the aid of a mountain of toys which usually take up half the bath. But I know that isn't the case for many parents and at one point would have caused much screaming in our house.

So to help parents across the country and to make bath time a fun and enjoyable experience for children bubble bath brand Matey have produced a limited edition waterproof bath time book. The book was written by mum of two Emma Greaves from Surrey who beat off competition from hundreds of other mums to become a published author.

We were sent one of the limited edition bath books from Matey which has been a hit with the children, 'can we take it in the bath' they asked.

It was nice to be able to read to them in the bath especially with Peg Leg one of the Matey characters we already use watching over them in the bubbles.

The story is itself is brilliant and certainly had the children captivated, it will now become part of our bath time routine when we have bubbles.

NB We were sent the waterproof  book to review, all words are my own.

Autumn Beach Fun

This weekend saw us visit Wales for the weekend, I was all geared up for torrential rain evey day but it actually turned out to be lovely with us only getting rained on at night and a bit in the morning first thing.

The beaches in Wales are lovely anyway and so the fun didn't need to stop just because it wasn't 25 degrees with no wind.

Instead as the wind wipped around us we got to run and splash in our wellies, spot the leaves as they washed up on the beach and generally enjoy the fresh air.

Running down the very windy beach opposite the very gorgeous Barmouth.

I do love the sand dunes round here, bring back memories of when I was little and we used to walk from the caravan to the beach through them.

 Lots of leaves washing up on the beach, very pretty.

Checking out the sea weed, super squigdy.

My daughter loves splashing, she is a lot like her favourite TV piggy in that respect.

Making an 'invention' in the sand, really lovely to watch them digging, this was in the very gorgeous Borth.

It was weird to be splashing in the sea with wellies on, but I think it went down very well.

I am linking up this week with Country Kids from Coombe Mill.

Halloween Draw With Me

I saw the Draw With Me Linky Halloween Edition over on the Mummy Loves blog and my son who is 5 loves Halloween and drawing so this was perfect for him.

First he got to drawing a few bats and a witch with a cat on a broom stick along with some rather colourful pumpkins or punkins as he calls them ;)

Next up and I love this, a werewolf shouting awooot.

Overall I am very impressed with his drawing, all his own ideas and the rather wiggly ghost is my favourite.

By M aged 5

This is a really lovely linky which my son thoroughly enjoyed, he has even gone on to draw lots more halloween pictures so thank you for the inpiration Maisie and Sonia :)

Big Cup Little Cup Review and Discount Code

I was recently approached by Big Cup Little Cup to see if I would like to review their coffee.

The Big Cup Little Cup capsules are Nespresso compatible and are a slightly cheaper alternative to the Nespresso range. Offering a wide range of coffee's for those that love small cups of coffee or big cups with several different strengths.

The coffee itself was good quality and enjoyable, had a good crema and other than a few bits of coffee dust in the cups you couldn't really tell they were any different.

I mention the dust only because I don't recall really noticing this with the Nespresso capsules, however the way in which the capsules are made and stored is probably the reason for this but it doesn't really affect the coffee itself.

The capsules come in separate foil bags so there is a a bit of wastage, the boxes are a little bigger and so they aren't as easy to store.

Recycling the capsules is also a little more difficult, with the Nespresso capsules you just put them in a bag and coffee and capsule are collected, with the Big Cup Little Cup capsules although the plastic is recyclable it does require you to empty and rinse out first.

Not really something I want to be doing but I do hate waste and this was one of the only reasons I was happy to go with the capsule system in the first place, that they were easy get rid of and be recycled.

Both my husband and I really like the range Big Cup Little Cup have to offer, so much so we ordered the Coffee Lovers Discovery Pack, 300 capsules for £75 ordered and delivered within 24 hours so a great service.

Better still you can get 15% off with code MUMMYDIARY0810 until the 1st November 2013 so that makes them even better value.

NB We were sent 2 free boxes of coffee by Big Cup Little Cup for review, all words are my own and after trying the samples, we chose to buy some more.

A Big Thank You

This week saw me cut off my hair for Cancer Research and The Little Princess Trust, but it wouldn’t have been possible without the help and support of so many people and businesses.

I wanted to thank these companies and people on my blog and tell you to go and check them out.

First of all a huge thank you to the person who made it all possible, Andrew at Sutherland and Barnett, without his support and honesty I don’t think I would have gone through with it. I knew he had his reservations but I love my hair and without his skill and nerves we wouldn’t have made it.

Secondly to the wonderful and talented Jenni from Make Up By Jenni, without her I wouldn’t have had the confidence I needed to face the cameras and the lights of the salon. I felt as good as I did on my wedding day and her support and generosity was more than I ever could have asked for.

Sam from Inphase Media/Sam Rushmer Photography, not only did you capture the day but you were a great support and kept me focussed on what I was doing. The pictures are amazing and I cannot thank you enough for capturing both mine and my family's journey through this experience.

A huge thanks to my family and friends, especially my husband whose support was unwavering and my beautiful children whose response couldn't have been better.

And finally to everyone who sponsored me and helped me raise over £700 for Cancer Research, I can only hope that it goes someway to helping the fight against this awful disease.

There is still time to donate via my justgiving page.