review

Back To School with Next

I love having my children at home during the holidays but I have to admit, I do miss the routine of getting ready for school in the morning. I’m not saying that it’s easy, with three little ones to get ready in a time slot it’s anything but easy. However, it does mean that everything gets done by a certain time, and then I get a little time to myself. This September will be different because my little man will be going to pre-school two days a week as well. I’m really not sure I’m ready to let go, but I know he’s such a sociable little man that he’s going to love every minute.

Now is the time that parents are putting together their children’s new school uniforms. I know a few mums that have had it sorted since before school ended..wow! I did manage to get the official school sweatshirts before the end of term but that’s about it.

These days you can buy cheap uniforms practically anywhere, pick them up with your weekly shop at the supermarket even. You don’t need to pay a ridiculous amount of money for uniforms these days, there is so much competition, but it’s good to know you are getting good quality as well as value. That is why I’ve picked out my choice of uniforms available at Next.

For the Girls:

Pink Padded Coat £30-£36
black plimsoles, £4.50
Poloshirts, 2 pack, available in white, blue, yellow or red £6-£11
girls white puff sleeve shirt£5-10
school tights in packs of 3, available in grey, light grey, black, red, navy, green
girls black bow shoes in wide or regular fit £26-£34
pleated skirt available in navy, grey or black, £5-10
swimsuit available in navy, pink or black, £8-£11

For The Boys:

Boys short sleeve easy to iron shirt available in white or blue, 2 pack £7-£12
boys flat front trousers, available in black, navy or grey and in slim, standard or plus fit £7-12
black grainy leather strap shoes, availabe in wide or standard fit £30-36
boys parka coat in navy or kahki £30-£36
boys socks, available in grey,black or navy £5 per pack of 5
black plimsoles £4.50
poloshirts 2 pack available in white, blue, yellow or red. £6-£11 per pack

Next Mummy Bloggers Event

by Anne Sweet 1 Comment

I was lucky enough to be invited to the Next Mummy Bloggers Event at Crockwell Farm in Northampton.
We had a glorious sunny day and the setting was just charming.

Crockwell Farm

The day was full of fun and relaxation. There were kid’s entertainers on hand to keep the little ones happy while the mum’s took park in some well deserved pampering sessions. Well, I know mine were well deserved 🙂

On display were a lovely selection from the Next Children’s Autumn/Winter Collection which was very exciting.

I loved this outfit, it would definitely suit my little man.

For my youngest girl I would choose this lovely set;

I love the idea of layering, especially as the weather gets colder. Waistcoats are a trendy touch and I love the matching accessories, the glittery bag and leopard print hat.

For my older girls I would choose this outfit;

Again, layering is the key. I’m particularly found of checks though and loved this shirt. I loved the boots too, will have to check if they do something similar in adult size 😉

I also spotted some gorgeous tu tu skirts which will be lovely for the girl’s Christmas parties, along with some gorgeous sparkly tops. I will blog about them later.

For a more personal view of our day out please see my other blog Baby Number Five

Finally, here is a video of the days events.

Jelly Shoes for Summer

by Anne Sweet 1 Comment

Jelly shoes are made of pvc plastic, which is soft and pliable, easy to wear. They became popular in the early 80s and made comebacks in the late 90s and 2003. Now they are making another comeback as more styles are introduced.
original jelly shoes were cheap and cheerful in an array of colours. Today they are much the same only with much more style. Love them or hate them Jelly Shoes keep bouncing back into our shops (maybe they should be made of rubber next?)
To go back to the 80s, how about these Juju Jellies

For the fashionistas you can purchase a pair of mulberry jelly shoes for £100.

For a wide range of Jellies go to Next

my favourite are these gorgeous silver beaded jelly shoes

My little girl loves these pink heart jellies

and for my little boy, he loves crocodiles

True Brit

by Anne Sweet Leave a Comment

With the Olympics approaching fast and the Queen’s diamond jubilee just a few weeks away it’s time to get patriotic with your red, white and blue.
I’ve been collecting ideas on this theme for our jubilee party and my daughter’s Olympic birthday party.

First up is a gorgeous union jack dress from Next which you could team with these lovely sequined union jack pumps.

Also lovely is this Team GB sequin t-shirt, it’s a must on our shopping list.

My daughter is a big fan of the ribbon twirling gymnasts so we are going to be making some ribbon wands of our own, using red, white and blue ribbon of course.

click image to go to instructions on how to make a ribbon wand

Our medals are likely to be edible, I particularly like the idea of these biscuit medals, so easy to make to.

click image to go to instructions on how to make medals

Such a simple idea is these gorgeous summery red white and blue strawberries. Dip the strawberries half way into melted white chocolate and then dip the ends into blue sugar. (you can buy this in most big supermarkets in the cake decorating isle.)

Finally, for some more ideas on crafts, games, activities and entertaining please visit this fabulous blog, Red Ted Art

Review- Sainsburys Feed Your Family for £50 (plan2)

by Anne Sweet Leave a Comment

We started the Feed Your Family For £50 from Sainsburys at plan 2.
I love that all the ingredients are listed for you to put in your shopping basket, it’s so easy. You do have to remember to read the notes at the top of the page as all ingredients are listed as 1 and sometimes you need to buy more.

Now we are not an average family of four, we are actually a family of seven! That’s four adults, two children and a baby. So a little adapting had to take place, but that was easy enough. The shopping list came in at £75, but that also included tea, coffee, soft drinks, toiletries, cat food and a few little extra’s (like donuts!)

I was surprised when the shopping arrived, it seemed like loads. I’ve easily spent £80 before and not recieved nearly as many bags.

I liked the plan because it included breakfasts and lunches, I get so fed up of the same things day after day and until doing this I never felt motivated to try anything else. However, there are only two adults and baby at home most lunch times so again some adapting had to take place.

Mondays meals were muesli and banana for breakfast, Pate, tomato and cucumber sandwich and carrot batons for lunch and roasted vegetable with chicken and rice for dinner. I wasn’t too keen on the pate, it was a cheap version and you could taste it, but everything else was fine.

Tuesday was muesli and banana for breakfast, ham cream cheese and tomato sandwich for lunch….nb the lunches seem really simple when sandwiches and you don’t think to check the recipe, but this one states to have your sandwich with houmous and carrot sticks on the side and it’s easy to miss this and end up with an unused, and out of date, packet of houmous at the end of the week. Dinner was spaghetti carbonara and was big favourite in our house, there was plenty to go around too.

Wednesday was toast with peanut butter for breakfast, cottage cheese, grated carrot and rocket pittas for lunch (I wasn’t keen on the basic pitta breads and would buy better ones next time) and Sausage, tomato and cannellini pot with mash. (I will confess to not taking the sausages out of their skin for this recipe, but it was still really nice.)

Thursday was muesli and banana (again) (I had a bowl of shreddies instead) Salmon, rocket and red onion sandwich…one of my favourites…for lunch and Tomato, spinach and red onion frittata for dinner. The men complained there was no meat and we decided that sausages would go nice with this.

Friday was toast with peanut butter for breakfast, cream cheese and cucumber sandwich for lunch and tuna, mushroom and mozzarella bake for dinner, very happy with todays meals.

Saturday was sausages, mushrooms and tomatoes with fried bread for breakfast…at last sausages for breakfast, Toasted cheese bagueets and vegetable soup for lunch with a banana and sweet and sour chicken for dinner, not a big favourite but nothing really wrong with it, just a matter of taste.

Sunday was boiled egg and soldiers for breakfast, three-bean mackerel salad for lunch, ok big confession here, I still have the beans and mackerel in the cupboards as we were out at lunch time, but at least they will keep for a while. Dinner was roast pork with roast potatoes, carrots and broccoli for dinner. I had to add a serving of mash too because we are a greedy lot with our Sunday dinners. Then I made a carrot cake with the left over carrots because I’d not been reading the lunch time recipes and not having carrot batons with my sandwiches.

My Verdict.
The meals were nice and they were pretty good portions. We had to make a few adaptions but the little ones joined in too, baby was partial to the mashed up frittata. I found lunch times less boring and it was nice to know in advance what I was cooking each day. I would do most of the recipes again but not the sweet and sour as no-one really liked it.

I’m not really dieting at the moment but I do watch my weight, along with regular exercise I lost 2lb this week.

I did my shop online as I have no transport at this time, but you can also print off your list and take it shopping with you.

We are currently trying out plan 3 so please come back and see how we get on…you can follow this blog with the button on the right 🙂

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