Magical Dreams #Silent Sunday / #Project 52

Little Charley Bear on DVD

Little Charley Bear Goes on Safari

On May 7th, Little Charley Bear comes to DVD, and what's more, it comes complete with a free Charley toy!  The 50 minute DVD features eight exciting episodes which will delight fans of the CBeebies pre-school series that is narrated by James Corden (star of Gavin & Stacey).

Charley and his friends embark on a voyage of discovery as they set off on a series of magical adventures.  In these latest imaginative journeys, Charley pretends to be different animals but doesn't know what noises they make.  To find out, he sets off on a safari expedition with his friends.  Charley ends up acting like a crazy monkey, gets chased by a snappy shark, tries not to wake up a grumpy tiger and discovers a Charleysaurus dinosaur in the jungle!

Episodes

• Charley on Safari
• The Charleysaurus
• Monkeying With Midge
• Charley Snaps
• Castaway Charley
• Sandcastle For Caramel 
• Bear At Sea
• Under Water Explorer Charley

Little Charley Bear unleashes a child's imagination as they join Charley in his adventures.  After all it does tell us:  "It's amazing what you can do with your imagination!"

Pre-schoolers will love exploring their own imagination, inspiring discovery and creativity.  Just as Charley uses his imagination to go on exciting make believe adventures, so can his fans, engaging in active role play.

Corden's narration provides guidance and advice to Charley, while he keeps a watchful eye over his friend.  Although Charley doesn't speak, he conveys his feelings and thoughts through his actions and little ones will enjoy the gentle comedy and understand his emotions.

We love Little Charley Bear!  Add this title to your toddlers' DVD collection...available in store and online on May 7th, priced at £12.99 which includes the little toddler size plastic Charley Bear toy!

For more information visit www.littlecharleybear.com

How To Help Teenagers With Revision and Exams

Revision, Exams and Staying Sane!

My daughter Ella is in revision mode for her GCSEs.  This involves lots of printed off A4 sheets, highlighter pens, folders and note making.  Across the country thousands of teenagers like her are embarking on their own preparations for the exams which are the culmination of their secondary school life.  Each will have their own approach to revision, and we as parents will need to keep calm and help them through this tricky time.

How as parents can we help our teens to prepare for these exams?

• Time management is key and it is important that our children dedicate time to each subject accordingly, thinking about their areas of strength and weakness.  Helping them to make a revision plan is a good way of overseeing just how much work they need to do and an opportunity to connect and communicate about the task ahead.  It allows them to share the load with you.  
• Sticking an exam timetable on the fridge makes sure you are all fully aware of what's coming up...plus crossing out the exams that have been done helps mark off the days until freedom! Very therapeutic and rewarding!
• Make sure that your child has a quiet place to revise and keep younger siblings away. Toddlers will love to have a go with a highlighter all over pages of diligently made exam notes, but it is not helpful! Unwanted distractions should be kept to a minimum.
• Ella regularly keeps a tab on her laptop connected to Facebook.  It allows her to keep in touch with her friends who are all in the same situation, and stops her feeling isolated in a sea of equations, quotes and facts.  As long is it doesn't become a major procrastination device and your teen can resist the urge to go off on a technological tangent, I think it can help minimize stress.  I personally won't be nagging her to carry out a social media blackout at this time...I know how much support it gives me!
• Make sure to supply an endless assortment of highlighters, post-it notes, notebooks and printer ink.   Constant supplies of drinks and healthy snacks will also be well received.  Bananas are great performance boosters!
• Don't let your teen work too hard.  Staying up all night cramming, energized by caffiene laden energy drinks does not help prepare for exams.  Regular breaks to watch a favourite TV show or just to take a breath of fresh air reward them for their efforts.
• Help out with a bit of testing!  Get involved and make it fun.  Quiz them on the periodic table or German vocabulary or reasons for population growth in the UK.  Facts are more likely to stick if they remember mum's feeble attempts at pronouncing conjugated German verbs over the dinner table. You never know, you could learn something that might stand you in good stead should you ever find yourself in a pub quiz!! 
• Keep calm and remember that it will all be over soon!

Good Luck Ella

Ella, like many teenagers, really doesn't like the actual examination process.  The soulless rows of desks and chairs, the silence and the humourless  invigilators do not make the best environment for her to perform with confidence, but with good preparation, good rest and lots of encouragement, I'm sure she will be OK.  I'll definitely not be putting her under any exam pressure, because being instrumental in an exam induced panic attack is not conducive to seeing your child achieve an A*.  I am also at this time reminded of great geniuses who did not achieve well within the confines of the education system: Richard Branson,  Lord Sugar, Einstein, Churchill and Walt Disney spring to mind!  As long as they achieve good enough results to go into the next phase of their desired future, then they have done a good job!!

Good luck to all GCSE students and their parents...here's hoping it is all as stress free as possible, and if times do get rough, just remind your teenager that Prom is just around the corner to reward them for all their efforts!!

School Dinners!

I posted earlier about my memories of school dinners as I was due to enjoy lunch with my 9 year old at her school.  Well, I can now report back on how things have changed since my school dinner experience of the 70s!

Kizzy's Junior School cooks all its meals on the premises in well equipped kitchens that are attached to the multi-purpose hall.  Many of the ingredients used are locally sourced and include free range eggs, local farm vegetables and locally produced cheese.  It also focuses on seasonal foods and often uses organic ingredients.  In fact our school meal service here in Shropshire has been recognised as a 'Beacon of Excellence' in this area. They also cater for vegetarians, with a different option available everyday.  It all sounds really impressive, but how did my experience hold up against their reputation?

On the menu today was roast dinner, and I was delighted to see Quorn fillets as an option for those who didn't eat meat.  It came with all the trimmings; gravy, mash, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, fresh carrots, broccoli and cauliflower cheese.  The presentation was from the 'pile-it-high' school of serving, but it was a good size meal.  Pudding was an old-school cornflake cake with custard...I was a bit excited by that! Other choices today included freshly made wraps with salad, fish fingers or quiche.  I was so tempted by the quiche, I remember loving school cheese flan as a child, but I wanted to do the whole school roast dinner experience.  Fruit salad and apple crumble were alternative pudding options.  Spoilt for choice!

Kizzy had the same as me and I was impressed to see the portion size and the fact that she had three of her five-a-day right there!  I liked that they had their meals on real (albeit melamine) plates and bowls rather than on those horrible all-in-one plastic monstrosities with separate spaces for dinner and pudding on the same plate.  Sloshing gravy into your custard is just not on!

The dinner really got a big thumbs up from us.  It was 'real' food, not processed rubbish.  The vegetables were not overcooked and the mash wasn't lumpy!  How things have moved on in the last 35 years!!  The traditional school pud was exactly how I wanted it to be, a bowlful of pure nostalgia!  (I did notice that the pastry base was wholemeal...nice to see them sneaking some extra fibre into the kids' diets!)  We also got a cup of cold water (from a rather surly Year 4 water monitor!) served at the table.

I was really impressed by the quality, quantity and choice available.  I will definitely let Kizzy have school dinners now and again as £1.95 is really good value.  I'd go as far as to say that the vegetarian roast dinner surpassed some of the pitiful veggie options I've eaten out at restaurants!

It's nice to see that school dinners are at last providing wholesome, freshly cooked food for our kids and are no longer relying on cheap processed food.  Is Jamie Oliver to thank for this??  If he is, good on him!

I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch date with my daughter today and can confirm that school dinners are no longer objects of revulsion or the butt of jokes!  I look forward to the next open lunch so I can be cooked for again with a two course meal for under three quid!

Hojiblanca Olive Oil...Now You're Cooking!

Single Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil

I recently took part in a blind Olive Oil Taste Challenge.  I was sent two small bottles of oil labelled A & B,  one a high quality single blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil, the other a blended oil.  I was surprised by just how different they were.  One bottle A had a rich green colour, a fresh fragrance and a fruity taste.  The other, B, was pale and smelt and tasted of absolutely nothing!  By my powers of deduction (!!) I worked out that A was the high quality oil and as a reward have been sent a full bottle to try out!

Hojiblanca Olive Oil

The oil I tested was Hojiblanca, made using a single variety of olive from carefully managed groves in Andalusia Spain, ensuring exceptional quality and taste.  The sign of the highest quality Extra Virgin Olive oil is low acidity, and at just 0.3% acidity, Hojiblanca is amongst the best quality oils you could find.

Now available in the UK, Hojiblanca promises to revolutionize how we cook with olive oil.  It is not just an oil it is an ingredient!  It is stable up to 210 degrees so it can be used for cooking without losing any taste or goodness.  This adds flavour to what you roast or pan fry, improving its taste with a luxurious twist.  It is equally good for drizzling, making marinades or dipping with its green, ripe olive flavour with hints of fruit and a subtle sweet  finish.  It can even be used as an ingredient for baking adding a unique texture and taste.

Health Benefits of Olive Oil

Rich in nutrients, Hojiblanca offers a wide range of health benefits as part of a balanced diet.  It can help lower cholesterol and protect your heart from disease associated with consuming saturated fats. It also contains vitamin E, carotenoids, polyphenols and anti-inflammatory agents.

Hojiblanca costs £3.49 for a 500ml bottle which makes it an affordable luxury, and similarly priced to inferior refined oils.  It is available in Tesco stores nationwide.

So it is time to say 'Adios' to your ordinary blended oils and 'Hola' to Hojiblanca!

Back To School For Me!

School Dinners Remembered!

Today I'm off to Kizzy's school for an Open Lunch, where the parents are invited to join their child for a school dinner, all for the princely sum of £2.93!  Kizzy is very excited about this and assures me that there will be a veggie option available (fingers crossed!) Knowing that in a couple of hours I will be stood in the queue of a school cafeteria with my plate in my hand has brought back a flood of school dinner memories!

When I was in Infant's School I was a very shy little thing.  My over-riding memory is of getting my school dinner of a sausage, a scooped ball of mash and a spoonful of peas and walking back to my table, when horror of horrors, my sausage rolled off my plate and across the floor. I helplessly watched the runaway sausage roll underneath one of the tables.  I remember the feeling of embarrassment as I froze to the spot praying that no-one noticed my mishap, but at the same time wishing a kindly lunch lady would come to my rescue offering a replacement sausage and a friendly word.  Sadly it was not so.  Poor little six year old me was far too timid to tell anyone that I had lost the bulk of my school dinner under someone else's table, so I went hungry that day.

A little later on in my school career, I remember queuing for my pudding.  I was disappointed to discover that the sweet offering was some kind of fruit cake.  I have always disliked currants, raisins and sultanas so plucked up the courage to ask for a bowl of custard only...after all, these were the days when you were forced to eat up your food before being allowed back out onto the playground.  I didn't want to have to sit there nursing a bowl of my worst nightmare in cake form!  My newfound bravery was however destroyed when the dinner lady said "So don't you like chocolate chip sponge, love?"  Noooo!!  I had got it wrong...I loved choc chip cake.  But the shame of changing my mind and admitting that I had it wrong was too much to bear.  So I shrugged and said "Nah!" in my best nonchalant manner, whilst crying inside at the prospect of losing my fave pud.  

My mum did a stint as one of our school dinner cooks when I was about eleven.  My overriding memory of this era was that she got to bring home leftovers.  We'd get big trays of coconut sponge topped with jam, chocolate cake and my personal favourite Manchester Tart (remember the pastry case with jam and solid cold custard!!)  this kind of made up for my traumatic choc chip sponge incident!!

I always had a fondness for school dinners.  I was the weird kid who actually liked soggy semolina and tapioca pudding.  I had no problem with the overcooked vegetables, lumpy mash or thick gravy.  I actively enjoyed the strange chicken pie and spam fritters that were served up.  As long as it wasn't the gruesome mincemeat tart or fruit cake I was happy!!

So today, I will be looking forward to sampling school dinner again 2012 style.  Things have changed dramatically in the school kitchens since the seventies. They get things like pizza wraps, Cajun potatoes and Korma.  It all sounds very exotic compared to my school dinner memories.  But I will continue to look back with sheer nostalgia at the memory of my school day lunches!

A New Month...Time For Reflection

My life has become a mixed bag of emotions at the moment.  Last month saw our family receive two life changing pieces of news...one good, one not so good.  So I am juggling my feelings and trying to find a balance between the two to keep everything on an even keel to avoid the roller coaster ride that is threatening to turn our lives into a metaphorical version of Alton Towers!

When something bad happens, it is easy to roll over and give up.  I used to let bad news get me down and tumble into depression.  But as I've got older I have become so much more philosophical and positive.  When one door closes it is an opportunity to find a new door to open and begin a new chapter in your life, older and wiser from the experience.  I won't let negative influences cloud my life and intend to put all my energy into the things that make me happy.  As long as we have our health and each other, any challenge is surmountable.

A wonderful old friend recently shared a quote with me:

From The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel;  "Things will be all right in the end, and if it's not all right, it isn't the end yet."


I think that is a great way to look at things!

Life is a Rollercoaster

Graco Is Looking For A New Ambassador!!!

Your Chance To Test A Graco Nautilus Elite Car Seat And Become a Graco Ambassador for 2012!

We have an original Nautilus Car Seat and we love it!  If you want any inspiration, check out my Graco Ambassador Page!  Good luck to everyone who enters...I look forward to seeing who the latest addition to the Graco Ambassador team will be!

For full details check out the tab on the Graco Facebook Page!

The Joy Of Swimming....Memories!

The Joy of Swimming 

As a child, we would always spend the second week of August on our annual family holiday. Back in the seventies, holiday camps were all the rage and the prospect of the hi-de-hi atmosphere would have me counting down the minutes until our week away.  One of the things that made my parents particularly excited was the prospect of unlimited use of the swimming pool.

My dad was in his day an amazing swimmer.  I think he modeled his technique on the legendary Olympian and Tarzan movie actor Johnny Weissmuller!  Dad would dive in at the deep end and swim silently under the water without making a ripple, before bursting to the surface of the shallow end where I would be stood waiting.  I remember the anticipation and the excitement, wondering when my dad would emerge.  Watching the bubbles as he squeezed the last of his breath from his lungs.  Trying to spot the silhouette of my dad as he made his way like a merman across the bottom of the pool dodging around the other swimmers.  I remember the pride that it was my dad who could swim an effortless length on one single breath.  He was my hero!

Swimming at the Seaside

After he broke the surface of the waves he would fling me on his back and give me a ride through the swimming pool.  I would pretend I was riding on the back of a dolphin as he swam with me clinging around his neck.  I felt safe with my dad.   Although I was never a strong swimmer myself and was nervous of being out of my depth in the water, I still remember my dad pushing me through the water like a torpedo as I reached for the side of the pool, stretching my fingers and holding my breath.  I loved the feeling of speed as I whizzed across the surface, leaving a wave in my wake.

Ready for the Pool.

My mum is one of those women who can breaststroke tirelessly for hours and never even get her hair wet!  She would elegantly and effortlessly clock up length after length, with her immaculately made-up face and styled hair daring the other swimmers to splash her.  As she bobbed through the water, rising and dipping, she personified both power and grace. My dad would never dare 'mess' with her swimming chi.  I can only imagine the wrath he would have met had he decided to swim underneath her and hoist her out of the water on his strong shoulders before tossing her into the water!

My childhood memories of swimming are vivid. I hope that my own children will be able to look back and remember the games that we play in the pool with them.  I am still not a strong swimmer as I totally lack the co-ordination to get to grips with an effective technique, but I do enjoy taking the children to the beach or to water parks.  Alton Towers and Centre Parcs have provided us with hours of watery family fun. Our Summer holiday this year is at a French resort with a Tropical Water Park. I have promised the children that we can go swimming everyday.  Kizzy is keen to practice her newly acquired swimming techniques.  I taught her to swim on holiday at Christmas and she's been doing well in her school swimming lessons ever since.  Freddy loves donning a little buoyancy jacket and is fearless when it comes to splashing around, going down slides and chutes and gaining the confidence needed for learning to swim.  Unlike my own parents, I may not be able to execute a perfect dive before negotiating 25m on one lungful of air, nor can I swim an effortless ten lengths without wetting my hair, but I can definitely help nurture a love of water in my own little ones through fun and play that will hopefully lead to a lifelong  joy of swimming.

My Little Mermaids in 2005

Poppy Cat Comes to CITV and ITV1

Joanna Page's Purr-Fect Role As The Voice Of Poppy Cat in New ITV1 and CITV Series

Gavin and Stacey star Joanna Page has taken on an animation role to win the hearts and minds of pre-schoolers across the UK, voicing Poppy Cat in the new CITV and ITV1 pre-school series.  Poppy Cat will air every Saturday and Sunday on both channels from 5th May at 7am.

Poppy Cat is based on the award-winning book series created by Lara Jones that has sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide since first being published in 2003.  The series features 26 eleven minute episodes involving stories of friendship and fantasy play as seen through the eyes of Poppy's owner, a little girl called Lara.  Each story is a celebration of adventure as Poppy Cat and her friends embark on fanciful journeys through fantastical lands.

Joanna Page says:

"... everybody loves Poppy Cat; the books have been such a success. So to actually play Poppy Cat is such an honour – I’m over the moon.  I love Poppy Cat because she's strong, she's determined, she's not scared of anything, she's very brave, she's lovely and kind, she looks after her friends and she doesn't back down from anything - and I think I have some of those qualities!  It's just really exciting to play a cat who is so strong and really up for it."

Freddy is almost three and loves Poppy Cat.  He  is totally engaged with the colourful characters and the gentle animation.  The adventures are very imaginative and he loves the way Poppy and her friends work together to sort things out.  The attention to detail makes it visually appealing and Freddy giggles at the funny antics of Poppy, Alma, Zuzu and the gang. The episodes are just the right length of time to hold a toddler's attention.  The focus on friendship, social and emotional themes are familiar and relevant to pre-schoolers who are encouraged to use their imaginations to solve problems and pursue their goals.

So be sure to tune in at weekend mornings from May 5th and share the joy of Poppy Cat with your little ones.  The first episode to air is "Tricky Cricket", a hot air ballooning adventure that sees Poppy and her friends trying to find a place where Zuzu's new cricket will like to sing! 

Visit poppycat.com for more information.