LuLu Teaching Wall Clock - Review

LuLu Teaching Wall Clock

Review

I was recently sent a lovely childrens wall clock to review from Roomtogrow.co.uk who specialise in everything you could possibly need to kit your childrens bedrooms out.

Our eldest son, Adam, is getting on quite well with learning how to correctly read a clock and tell us what time it is and Wyatt has just started school so this is perfect for them.

The LuLu Teaching Wall Clock is a nifty wall clock that has big numbers on its face as well as markers for "half past", "1/4 past" and various others to help children tell the time correctly. The face covering is glass and the frame is a thick plastic which comes in either red or green. We chose red.

I think it's really important to teach our children how to tell time properly and that's not always easy when most childrens clocks are digital these days. This clock is a brilliant teaching resource that you will always have out on display to help your children and isn't "too babyish" as the children grow older. The relatively simple design also means that will go well with any theme you might have decorated the bedrooms in.

How old was your child when they started learning to tell the time? What teaching techniques do you use? Let me know in the comments below :)

Recipe - Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

Recipes

Simple Vanilla Cupcakes

This recipe makes 12 large vanilla cupcakes that are moist and have a generous amount of frosting on top!

Ingredients

For the cupcakes:

• 175g butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 175g self-raising flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the buttercream:

• 100g butter or margarine
• 500g icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 50ml milk 

Method

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 160oc and line a cupcake baking tray with 12 cases.
2. Cream the butter and caster sugar together until smooth.
3. Add each egg one at a time, beating well as you do.
4. Add the vanilla extract and mix again.
5. Gradually add the self-raising flour until all completely combined.
6. Spoon the mixture equally into the cupcakes cases and cook in the oven for 22 minutes or until golden in colour.
7. Whilst the cupcakes are cooling cream the butter/margarine until soft and spreadable.
8. Gradually add the icing sugar and mix with the butter. As this gets harder to do, add a small drop of milk until you have a smooth buttercream that is thick enough to keep its shape but also soft enough to pipe.
9. Add the vanilla extract and give it on last mix.
10. Spoon the buttercream into a piping bag that has a large star nozzle. I've used a Wilton 2D but any open star nozzle will do.

Next I am going to shop you how to pipe a simple classic swirl with the buttercream.

To begin with pipe a small amount onto the very centre of the cupcake. This gives the swirl something to hold up with so you can get better height.

Start to pipe around the edge of the cupcake.

As you reach where you began piping continue on the next level and so forth until you reach the very top. Release pressure from the piping bag and pull it away from the cupcake to create a tip.

You should finish with something like this. 

You can now either leave them as they are or add some sprinkles or toppers to make them look extra special. We used  Dr Oekter Banoffe and Popping Candy sprinkles to top our cupcakes with.

I hope you enjoyed reading my little how-to and if you decide to make some vanilla cupcakes of your own I would love to see how you did in the comments below!

Thanks for reading :)

Halloween 2014

Halloween has been and gone so I thought I would share some pictures of my little monkeys in their costumes.

The cutest pirate ever <3

Can you guess who Adam and Wyatt dressed up as? ;)

What did you little ones dress up as this year? Let me know in the comments below x

Happy 5th Birthday Wyatt!

This week saw our little Wyatt turn 5! That came around fast and I guess he's not so little any more. I've had mixed feelings about him turning 5. Befor Isaac, he was my baby boy and now he's growing up quicker than my motherly side would like to admit.

As his birthday fell on a Monday this year we decided to celebrate it over the week-end so he could spend it with his friends and family. Hubby works nights so we've had to factor that in too.

He's been a very lucky little boy this year as he's had not one but TWO birthday celebrations! We originally planned just bowling on the Sunday but then I won the chance to host a Mega Bloks First Builders party through www.houseparty.com/ so we decided to incorporate that into a birthday party for him on the Saturday.

For the Mega Bloks party we were selected to receive all these fab goodies to keep. They included a Big Building Bag, Fast track Racing Team play set, Fast Tracks Rescue Squad play set and 11 assorted Fast Track Buildable Vehicles to give as favors for his guests.

All the play sets were very easy to build and included clear instructions or you can build whatever track you can think of. Needless to say these went down very well with all the kiddies at the party but didn't stay built up for very long!

Wyatts birthday cake...not made by me this year unfortunately :(

Giveaway - Pebble Grey Leto LED Battery Mirror

Giveaway

Leto LED Battery Mirror

by Pebble Grey

For my wonderful readers I have been given the chance to give away this stunning LED battery mirror from www.pebblegrey.co.uk/.

Pebble Grey are a fab company who specialise in mirrors, cabinets and bathroom accessories. They have a huge range of high quality, modern and contemporary products to help make your bathroom (or dressing room!) look amazing.

The Leto LED Battery Mirror is of everyone woman's (or mans!) dreams, providing the perfect lighting for even the smallest of bathrooms. It is easy to install and being battery operated it requires no wiring at all. It instantly gives your bathroom the wow factor.

Also for a limited time only you can get 20% off their battery powered mirrors range by entering the code BT20 at the checkout on their website.

For your chance to get your hands on this amazing product simply enter using the Rafflecopter below. Please note that this is only open to those in mainland UK.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Silent Sunday 12/10/2014

Review - Flip Case for Kindle Keyboard with LED Light

Review

Flip case for Kindle Keyboard with LED Light

Reading books is one of my favourite past times when the kiddies have gone to bed and having a Kindle suits me well. Wandering little hands are always finding their way on to my Kindle Keyboard so a good case to store it in is an absolute must.

Finding a decent enough case which is both of a good quality and a reasonable price isn't an easy task. Luckily I was given the opportunity by CaseHappy.co.uk to review a case from their massive online collection of cases. They sell everything from Kindle cases to iPad cases to laptop cases and all at very reasonable prices.

I chose the Flip Case with LED Light in black for my Kindle Keyboard.

It's a simple but attractive case that doesn't obscure any of my screen or keyboard whilst holding the Kindle snuggly in place so it isn't moving around whilst I'm using it.

At the back is a handy little built in stand that gives you multiple viewing heights. The only problem I found with this if I'm honest is that the stand will occasionally slip out of the little nooks which can be a bit pesky.

However a highlight which really attracted me to this case was the removable LED light which is great if you like reading in low light. The bulb is super bright! The whole body of the light is bendable which allows you to angle the light to however you like it.

Overall I'm quite happy with my case and would definitely recommend checking out CaseHappy.co.uk next time you need a case ;)