Special K Cracker Crisps-Review

Well, having just received a sample of the Sweet Chilli, and the Sea Salt and Balsamic Vinegar flavours, we opened them both up straight away...Unanimous verdict of "Delicious".
If you're wanting a crisp that’s deliciously moreish but won’t leave you racked with guilt, then these are definately for you.

The new Special K Cracker Crisps are a tasty new savoury snack that at 95 calories and three percent fat for a serving of 21 crisps, you can enjoy without the worry.

Made from potato and wheat, Special K Cracker Crisps come in three tasty flavours: sea salt and balsamic vinegar, sweet chilli and sour cream and chive. Each is completely packed with flavour, and really are irresistible.

Not only am I now totally addicted, but so are Eva(4), Jack(2), Daz, and also my parents. My mum's comment was "well there's no chance that these would be left to go stale, they are too nice, they wouldn't last long"

Available in an individual bag to slip in your handbag or lunchbox or in a box of crisps which are ideal for a night in.

These are now on offer in my local Morrison's, and i will be stocking up. I'm trying to lose a few lb's, but can never resist snacking, now armed with my Special K cereal for breakfast, and Special K Cracker Crisps I'm more than certain I will soon see the lb's dropping off.

Find Special K Cracker Crisps in the Crisps aisle in all major supermarkets and convenience stores from the end of September 2012, priced at £1.99 for a 100g box or 60p for individual bags.

Try them today, you will not be disappointed :-)

Loren xx

Special K Cracker Crisps- GIVEAWAY

AT LAST! GUILT FREE CRISPS THAT DON’T COMPROMISE ON TASTE

-       INTRODUCING SPECIAL K CRACKER CRISPS

Want a crisp that’s deliciously moreish but won’t leave you racked with guilt?

Say hello to new Special K Cracker Crisps – a tasty new savoury snack that at 95 calories and three percent fat for a serving of 21 crisps, you can enjoy without the worry.

Made from potato and wheat, Special K Cracker Crisps come in three tasty flavours: sea salt and balsamic vinegar, sweet chilli and sour cream and chive.

They’re available in two ways: an individual bag to slip in your handbag or a box of crisps which are ideal for a night in.

Find Special K Cracker Crisps in the Crisps aisle in all major supermarkets and convenience stores now, priced at £1.99 for a 100g box or 60p for individual bags.

We have 3 chances to win, all you have to do is comment below with your best diet tip by midnight tomorrow(wednesday 24th October), and you can be in with a 1 in 3 chance of winning all 3 delicious new flavours (full review to follow).

Winners will be chosen at random.

Pillow Pets

Forget cheap imitations, Mookie Toys have brought the original Pillow Pets to the UK.

Pillow pets are fantastic plush toys made from super soft and cuddly Chenille, but they have a clever twist, when a hidden strap is released from underneath your very cute cuddly toys turns into an extremely comfy pillow.

When our pillow pet arrived, Eva was so excited. We were sent the Monkey Pillow Pet and as soon as we opened it you could tell that these are really well made, high quality toys.

I can't get over how soft and cuddly our monkey is, and we've seen been and bought Eva the Unicorn Pillow pet.
If Eva's feeling tired or just in a cuddly mood shes goes and gets her unicorn and snuggles up on the settee with it, in turn making Jack go and fetch his, but he doesn't snuggle up for long before he wants it turning into a monkey for him to play with.
Just yesterday they were both 'riding' round the garden on their pillow pets, having so much fun using their imaginations, as only children can. It was a joy to watch.
Jack takes his to bed at night, and has it on top of his normal pillow, and it's fantastic that they are machine washable, as after being dragged all round the garden it often needs a good clean before going back into bed with him.
Eva even uses it to carry her pj's when she goes for a sleepover at nanny's house. She puts them on the pillow pet and then fastens it up herself, and her pj's were kept snug inside, with no chance of them falling out.
I've also been known to snuggle up with one of an evening once the little monkeys are fast asleep in bed.

So the pillow pet has been a huge hit all round in our house, we definately recommend them. As i've said we even went out and bought a second one.

"Pillow Pets will become a must-have for all ages; from toddlers to teens and expectant mothers to grandmothers. Snuggle up with your very own Pillow Pet, catching forty winks has never been more fun!"Pillow pets are now available to buy from Pillowpets.co.uk and Amazon."

Don't miss out, pick up your pillow pet today!!!!

Kiddicare need you're help.

Kiddicare will be opening ten new stores across england, and want your vote as to which should be the first store to open.
The choices for the first store are:
Birmingham-Merry Hill Retail Park (that ones got my vote :-D)
Liverpool-Aintree Retail Park
Nottingham-Castle Marina Retail Park
Rotherham-Parkgate Shopping Park
Southhampton-Hedge End Retail Park
Thurrock-West Thurrock Retail Park.

Just head over to Kiddicare's Facebook page and cast your vote. Once you have voted you can also enter a fantastic competition for the chance to win a £1500 shopping spree.

Why not enter today, I have.
Loren x

The disasterous haircut...

Well, today we went to the barbers to get Daz and Jacks haircut.I came back home and cried for an hour solid....and why??!??! Because this is the haircut Jack came home with.

So not only do we come away with the haircut from hell, we had no apology from the barber that did it, but said barber then tried to blame both me and Jack....Yes thats right, he said the 1 year old that sat like a complete angel and didn't cry or wriggle once, should of sat still, and that I should of held him better. I didn't see him pick up the clippers or i would of told him not to use them, but I didn't realise until the clippers were at jacks head, with no "grade" on, as he was doing what they do with adults to do the very edges. Now at 1 years old Jack has never had clippers used on him, so what does a 1 year old with clippers buzzing and tickling the back of his neck....throws it back. To me it's obvious that would happen.
So I absolutely fuming, and also completely gutted.
My fantastic friend Selina is a hairdresser(note to self, never ever ever let anyone but Selina cut Jack's hair ever again) so we're paying her a visit tomorrow to see if she can limit the damage, but it doesn't look hopeful.
So it'll take a good few weeks before jacks hair grows back, and unfortunately i am wishing those weeks away, as everytime i looked at him this evening i wanted to start crying all over again. :-(

Not little for long

Over christmas Eva and Jack have both reached new milestones.

Eva has gone up into the next stage carseat, a high back booster with the normal 3 point car seatbelt.
She absolutely loves sitting in her "big girl's carseat", but to me, it was scary, as my baby is growing up, day by day she gets more and more grown up, turning into such a clever, independant, if somewhat stubborn little girl.

Jack now refuses to go in the pushchair on the school runs, which is fine by me, as I want to encourage walking, as i think exercise is paramount to children, and by walking to and from school everyday both Eva and Jack will be getting that bit more exercise that they wouldn't if we did the school run in the car(we're lucky enough to live close enough to the school to be able to walk). I also think by walking everyday that walking will become such a normal part of our lives, that hopefully we won't get moaning and whinging when we go on longer walks at the weekends/holidays.
The only problem is, after watching his big sister doing it, he now has to walk on EVERY wall on the way there and back, but kids will be kids, and they enjoy it, so I let them, even if it is a little bit naughty(I always have visions of the homeowners coming out and shouting at me).
So although it's lovely that Jack wants to walk everywhere, it is also another step towards being a big boy.

We all know they aren't babies for long, but to watch them grow and blossom is just so overwhelming and fills me with such a sense of pride. Even though Jack has discovered tantrums, but i'll save that story for another day.

I cherish every moment with my children, as it is time that I will never get back, and I want all of us to be able to look back on memories full of fun and laughter.

Loren xx

Growing our own.

Last year I decided that I would love to start growing something with Eva, fruit or veg as both her and Jack are huge fans of both, but living in a flat we only had a balcony. I spoke to a friend that works at a garden centre, and decided on cherry tomatoes, potatoes in a grow bag, and strawberries. Because we were new to it and lacking in space we bought plants instead of growing from seed.
This is where it all started.

Then on the 28th may 2011 we got the keys to our new house(that is still currently being renovated) with this...

...for our back garden.
Well having caught the growing bug i was just soooooooooo excited...I had a greenhouse that was left for us(aswel as gardening tools and a lawnmower) and what will be my amazing vegetable(and fruit) patch.
Just as we got the keys, Focus DIY went into liquidation and were selling everything off cheap, so we got some cabbages and some broad bean plants, that I could put in straight away.

The bottom shed will be the chicken shed and they will also have the space across to the right from the shed. The greenhouse will be moved to the right, just infront of where the chicken run will be, and the rest will be yummy food.

So this is where it all will be. It was much much worse then this, and now has had a bit more work done, but we still have a long way to go. This is where i had cleared space, just enough to get the cabages in(on the left behind the composter that we were lucky enough to also have left for us, although it was empty) and the broad beans at the front. We also got some broccoli in behind the broad beans, that my auntie kindly gave us that she had grown from seed.

In the greenhouse there was already a grape vine, although when the grapes were ready they were bitter and not very nice, and i soon got planting some things of my own.

We had peppers, chilli peppers, tomatoes that we grew from seed, and in the box was lettuce seeds.

We also did some herbs from seed, some sunflowers, more tomatoes from seed, and some courgettes.

Some of what we planted wasn't successful, although that was more down to planting some things too later in the season(me and Eva were just so eager to grow we thought we would try and hope for the best). There is a whole row of rhubarb along the left hand side that we had some lovely crumbles from(I had never tried rhubarb before, and was planning on digging most of the plants out, oh how i'm glad i didn't), and also a pear tree.

Our tomatoes did fantastically, much to Evas delight, aswel as the strawberries, the broad beans did enough to go with one sunday dinner, the broccoli is still sprouting now, which the kids have been having regularly with their tea, we also planted some carrots, which were nice, even if they were small and only a few, the lettuce was delicious, along with the herbs which i used in cooking,

What didn't do so well was the cabbage, that got attacked by cabbage flies, the courgettes got eaten by slugs, snails and caterpillars, we had one chilli pepper and one pepper although we would have had more, but i was a bit slapdash with the watering.

This year being able to start growing things from the right times, and doing sucessional sewings, and having already done lots of planning, I'm really hoping we get some good crops, and I am just so looking forward to getting my hands dirty. I'm still toying with what to grow, but will definately be trying courgettes again (hoping to keep the creepy crawlies at bay), tomatoes and plenty of strawberry plants. Sprouts are a firm favourite in our house so we will also be growing those.

I will carry on blogging about our growing our own journey, and post pictures as we progress, along with what we are planting and when.

Loren xx