Tinknbubb

Over the Christmas holidays from school I love to keep lils entertained with a lot of baking,  we usually share our makes with family and friends.  This time we have added a very yummy recipe to the list which is Peppermint creams, these were one of my Mums favourite sweets so will now be a tradition to make them in memory of her. This recipe only has 4 ingredients and is so easy to make and requires no baking.  Recipe 400g Icing sugar 1 egg White Juice of half a lemon 1/2 tsp Peppermint extract  Method 1. Beat egg until a foam appears on top.  2. Add a small amount of lemon and mix.  3. Add the icing sugar and stir to form a dough.  4. Add the peppermint extract and stir into the dough 5. Roll the dough out on an icing sugared surface to about the thickness of £1 6. Cut out shapes and place on a tray.  7. Put in the fridge to set.  8. Serve These are so good, though very sweet. I hope you e...

Something I haven't managed to do for a couple of years was taking Lilly to see Santa, and to be honest I feel awful about it. But the is year I was determined to make that trip and make Lilly's Christmas time special and magical.  I didn't managed to get around to booking but luckily on the day that we went to town the queue was only short so we decided to join it. Whilst in the queue there was a friendly elf who was talking to the children and keeping them amused.  When we went into see Santa, Lilly went all silly and wouldn't look at him in the eye. The grotto was set out nice with little chairs for the children and the decor was very cosy feeling.  He was your typical friendly Santa, willing to listen and make the children happy and even looked the part with his 'Little round belly, that shock when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly'  Lilly ended up singing one of her nativity songs to him before having a photo (which we all adorabl...

I started the currently reading posts a while back and then just stopped, I completely lost my mojo with blogging for a long time but I am now ready to sort it out and hopefully post regularly. This book that I am reading is a classic festive story which I am sure most of you are aware of, I have never actually read this book even though I have owned it for 18 years. It is a little bit more of a harder read as the language is the classic Victorian style. Title: A Christmas Carol Author: Charles Dickens Publication Date: 1905 Genre: Fairytale/Fiction  http://amzn.eu/d/2Yd5MmV I would highly recommend reading this around Christmas time at least one in your life as it is such a well known story which even children can enjoy. My 6 year old loves the story. 

This little girl is the apple of my eye, she is one truly amazing little girl who makes me smile, laugh, and is one of my best friends.  She is now 6 years old and I cannot see where that time has gone? You blink and they are no longer the babies they once were. She is now into things, likes to help with chores (most of the time), is reading everything she can get her hands on andhas the attitude of a teenager. I dread to think how she is actually going to be as a teenager. But right now, I am going to enjoy this time of year with her, watch Christmas films, play with her presents with her (on Christmas day) and share some tasty hot chocolate and marshmallows.

Tonight we took a trip to a local village that celebrates Christmas in a 'bright' way and raises money for an amazing charity which is close to my heart. The little village of Westfield transforms the main road through the village into a spectacular light display, with almost every house decorate with so many lights. The charity is St Michael's Hospice, this charity has been there for Dad with the loss of My Mum, he had made some life long friends with people there who have been through the same thing that he has.  We haven't visited in the last couple of years so was lovely to see how Lilly reacted to them, she made friends with a Rudolph covered in lights, sang with Santa and sat in a sleigh too. It is such a lovely event to support and certainly makes you feel festive. We absolutely loved our visit tonight and its so nice to see how the houses change over the years. If you wish to find out more, visit there Facebook page:  Westfield Christmas ...

Here we are, half way through December, I wanted to share a few recipes with you that we are going to be recreating over the next couple of week! These recipes have been on my blog before but I thought that I would combine them in one post for ease. I will go from top left and along then down to the next row. Cinnamon and sultana flapjacks Melted snowman biscuits Candy cane lollies Gingerbread Christmas cake Malteaser tray bake I hope you enjoy these recipes, if you make them I would love to know. 

Our Christmas tree is up and our house is officially like Santa's grotto. And this is our 2018 family photo with the tree. This is a new tradition that I would like to recreate every year and see how much we have changed.  I think that it is a significant part of the year that is a constant. I hope you like the picture as much as I do. 

With the Christmas holidays just around the corner I am always looking for ways to keep Lilly's brain working. A dd some cool learning tools into your wintry mix of fun with this worksheet. Find  more engaging math learning activities  at Education.com Mittens addition worksheet Lilly seems to have really enjoyed trying out this worksheet, especially with it being themed for winter/Christmas and I will certainly be taking a look for some more to do with Lilly. If you want to take a look at the mittens addition worksheet or more then check them out.

Back in August we decided that we wanted to get a family pet for the family and after very little deliberation we came to the decision to get a kitten. I have luckily grown up with cats in the family so know quite a bit about them BUT I was only young and it has been a bit of a learning curve. So meet Jack, out now 5 month old kitten, he is so mischievous and has such a funny character, and has certainly made himself at home with us.  He loves a belly rub, loves climbing on every bit of furniture and is constantly lying around our neck like a scarf.  I wanted to write this post to introduce him but also to let people know what to look for and think about before bringing your furry pet home. Vaccines Every cat needs vaccines, from the age of 8 weeks they should receive there primary vaccines. Jack has had two sets with the primary vaccines which should be followed up by yearly boosters. Vaccines are also usually required for pet insurance. Microchi...

I was recently asked to become part of MyBump2Baby's favourite blogger which is such a privilege.  MyBump2Baby is a platform in which you can get advice, read reviews and recipes in which your child is in mind. They have recently launched an app which includes events which are taking place near you, reviews you may wish to check on while shopping for your little on and lots of parenting support articles to let you know that you are not alone.  I hope that you all look into this app to as being a parent isn't always easy and having that little bit of support never a bad thing. Check out the website below for any information and to join in the community.  https://www.mybump2baby.com/

I have finally got the homemade pizza down to a tee and wanted to share the recipe for both the pizza dough and the pizza sauce we now use. Both are simple and the sauce makes enough for four pizza's (we freeze three of them). Firstly the dough, you can't use the sauce without a base ready for you, this needs to be made at least 1 hour in advance You will need: 250 ml of Luke Warm Water 7 g of Dried Active Yeast (can get weighed packets from most stores) 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Sugar 2 tbsp Oil 350 g Strong Bread Flour Stir in the yeast to the warm water, it will normally go quite cloudy. Add the salt, sugar and oil and give it a good stir. Add the flour and mix until it forms a dough. Pout out onto a flour covered worktop and knead for around 7 - 10 minutes. Place in a large bowl and cover with cling film. Place in the fridge for at least an hour,you should see it rise. When you need the dough, pour onto a flour covered surface, knead and then roll out ...

Back in August we were lucky enough to take a trip up to Chessington World of Adventures with the three of us. We were luckily enough to get seats on a community funded project for a coach trip up there. We had such a lovely day so here is our story. Our coach left our town at 9:30 in the morning and we arrives at about 11 am,we first entered the park through the coach end, which is located near the sea life centre and animals, so this is what we first ventured to, there are so many animals there which Lilly had never seen before, she especially loved the giraffes and the penguins. The zoo and sea life centre added more excitement to Lilly's trip as she got to experience so much in one day. We sadly miss some of the animals as the signage wasn't amazing and I am terrible at reading maps, but hopefully next time we will managed to visit those ones too. After we finally managed to find our way to the rides the real adventure began, we had downloaded the a...

We have been busy today today creating some spooky Halloween inspired secret stones to hide during half term. We were lucky enough to be gifted some paint marker pens by BOJECHER to try out. These are perfect for many different materials such as pebbles, wood, glass, fabric, ceramic and more.  These are perfect for so many crafts all year round, they're weather proof so will last a long time. The pen has two tips to choose from, a 3mm diagonal one and a 5mm round on, the round one being better for painting bolder lines. We have had lots of fun creating some scary designs using all 12 colours in the pack, the pack includes 10 normal colours and two metalic ones too. The colours are bright and do not fade when drying, they are quick drying and no need to bake.  I have many more plans for these from personalised mugs to scrap booking. if you want to check these out I will leave the link below. https://www.amazon.co.uk/BOJECHER-Permanent-Painting-...

Well that's another summer holidays over, and what a summer holidays it has been. We have made more memories than I could have even hoped for. Below is just a snippet of our 6 1/2 weeks of fun.  Week 1  (23/07-29/07) Week one was quite a quiet with a trip to the main park with my Dad to Play in the Park, an event run yearly with loads for children of all ages to take part in. other than that we hid a bit from the heatwave. We also went to watch both the Red Arrows and the Battle of Britain Memorial flight in aid of 100 years of RAF. Week 2  (30/07-04/08) This week we joined the summer reading challenge,m which we actually need to finish....opps, its a little harder this year as sadly our local library closed and the nearest one is a 30 minute bus ride away. We also went to play in the park again, just me and Lil's this time. We met Elsa, Anna and some storm troopers too. Lastly we had a lovely meet up with some of the school mummies, it was still so h...

Two posts in a week, I am on a roll. I really want to work hard on this from now on, it's my little corner of the internet which means a lot and has memories (good and bad) of Lilly growing up. Back to the Tag. I have decided to take part in this months Mummy and me tag, we have had an amazing month with lots of trips out and about and lots of fresh air and family time. We started off with the first May bank holiday, a beautiful sunny weekend where we took full advantage of it. We walked around our local country park together, finding trails we had never walked before on the Saturday. The Sunday was a family walk through some beautiful (but hilly) woods not too far from us and the Monday was mad, me and Lilly took a trip to our local town where we watched the Jack in the Green parade, a pagan event that happens every may day, and then took a look about some of the 40,000 bikes that descend to our town for the annual May day bike run. We have since been on more walks, trying ...

Welcome back, it's been a whole since I've taken care of my blog, but I feel like I need to share my latest success with you all. The giant sage and onion Yorkshire pudding. In the past we have tried a branded version of these and I wanted to try and create my own, they worked out perfectly and I don't think we will ever go back to the original Yorkshire pudding recipe after trying these. Recipe ( Makes 8 large puddings) 100ml of Milk 2 Large Eggs 100g Plain Flour 1 tsp Dried Sage 1 tps Onion Salt Oil for cooking Method 1. In a large jug mix the milk and egg together well, using a whisk. 2. Slowly add the flour and mix in well until the mixture is completely smooth, it can take a couple of minutes. 3. Add both the onion salt and dried sage to your batter and mix well. 4. Heat a Yorkshire pudding tin with a tablespoon of oil per pudding in the oven 220oC/Gas Mark 7 for about 10-15 minutes. 5. PLEASE BE CAREFUL  Pour the mixture evenly...

Today is a bitter sweet one for me but I think it would have been sour if it wasn't for Lilly and me being a Mum myself.  As everyone has meals, sends flowers or leaves a meaningful messages for ther Mothers, but I can't do that this year, I feel slightly robbed, like it's not fair. I want to celebrate my Mum because she was a truly wonderful women who made my world turn, she was my best friend, my agony aunt, my inspiration. I miss her, not just her as a person but her snigger, her wisdom, her smell and her attention. She was always there when I needed her, if me and Liam had argued, when Lilly was born, when our first baby was not meant to be. She was such a kind hearted women who didn't care what anyone thought of her. So Happy Mothers Day to all the Mum's who aren't with us anymore, you are never forgotten and you will always be in our hearts.  Happy Mothers day Mum Love Tick Tock x