Our Favourite Five [July]

This month I am joining some fellow bloggers who participate in Surburban Mum ‘s link up Our Favourite Five I found out about this last month when my fellow Mummy blogger Mrssavageangel participated. I highly recommend popping over and checking out their blogs and if you like what you see, subscribe.

The Idea is that you pick out the Top Five Things that either you or all your family have enjoyed that month. It’s  a great way to remember the good things about the month and who knows you may even inspire or be inspired. Here are our TOP 5

 

Number One: THE PARK

When it’s the summer holidays and you have three boys to keep happy it can quickly get expensive. When it’s been raining and you’ve  been stuck in the house, sometimes you just have to get out. We love the park, it’s Freeee! The kids get fresh air and a run round. Win. Win. Win.

Oliver (7) normally ends up making friends, Zachary (3.5) just loves the freedom and Darwin (1.5) loves to climb. We like to keep it fresh by going to different parks with different people. Sometimes we will have ice cream, sometimes we will take a ball and other times snacks for a mini picnic. We are certainly making the most of the park whilst it is still summer.

Number Two: SWIMMING

Swimming has normally been something I haven’t been confident enough to do with the boys on my own and pool rules state I can’t as you can only have two under eight. I have three. This month has provided a few opportunities when I have only two of the boys to go swimming and Oh My! They are all well and truly water babies.

Oliver has been having swimming lessons for 12 months+ and is pretty confident in the water. Zachary has absolutely no fear and once he has his arm bands on there is no stopping him. Darwin loves to splash (no surprises there). It’s a lovely activity that allows for some Mummy and son time and it gives us all a bit of exercise and wears the boys out. As Oliver has a leisure card and Zachary and Darwin are free as they are under four, I get a discount as Zachary’s carer it is a grand total of £3.15 per swim session. Not bad at all.

 
Zachary was so excited this is how he went to swimming even though it was raining.

 

Number Three: Prepping for Tenerife 

This has been pretty exciting for me. We have been buying things to make sure we have everything we need from sun screen to shoes <see image above, Darwin’s new lightweight shoes from Clark’s a bargain at £20> I have loved buying the kids clothes from both the High street and smaller online businesses. Hubby has spent a small fortune in H&M their clothes are reasonably priced and practical, we love the leggings in the girls section for Darwin. The only problem is I have let the boys wear most of the pieces over here already, however I guess that just means we are getting more bang for our buck.

I have also bought Zachary an ICE ID bracelet, he has autism and can’t always communicate effectively. God forbid should he get lost this would help minimise any danger. I have also bought a second pair of reins and we have about 9 different hats between all three boys. I want to make sure they are protected and safe in the sun at all times. This is only my second time abroad (My first time was also to Tenerife five years ago for my honeymoon). This is our first family holiday abroad and i am very excited as  my Mum, Mother-in-law, Brother and Sister-in-law are all coming too. It’s going to be a real family affair.

  

Number Four: PEPPA PIG

Peppa pig currently dominates our screens and therefore our lives. Both Zachary and Darwin adore Peppa pig and when my niece came to stay we found out she too adores Peppa pig (seriously, what are her magical addictive powers?). She played with the Peppa pig toys and she sat quietly acting out stories,

Oh, so they are meant to be played with, not smashed and thrown and broken into pieces

-Sean aka Dad

That was Sean’s reaction to seeing the toys being played with appropriately. Peppa has managed to take over in the popularity stakes pushing Thomas and friends into second place, this was no easy feat.

I myself am not particularly keen on Peppa pig, particularly the portrayal of Daddy pig. Who is an Overweight, greedy, incompetent, bumbling male character. This does not sit well with me, but I guess that is my inner feminist** coming out, but that is a discussion for another blog post.

BONG. BING. BOO. BING. BONG .BING. BING. BONG. BINGLY. BUNGLY. BOO

[ ** I believe/ interpret feminism to mean equality and therefore it not about empowering women whilst emasculating men. just a though]

 

Number Five: NATURE

This month, I have particularly liked nosing at people’s gardens. I am in no way green fingered, but I love flowers and plants, although purely for their aestheics. I do not know much about them at all. this month I have taken lots of pictures of flowers, the colours are so striking and the shapes and sizes of the petals are very interesting. the boys and I have been pointing out the different colours we can see and if they are big or small. Zachary has started observing more and communicating what he can see “Owl’ it was a seagull, “white” it was a cloud and “spider” it was an ant, we don’t mind he labelled them wrong we are just glad he is sharing what he sees. Darwin has also learnt to say ‘fower’ too. We think nature is pretty cool and we love going on bug hunts and nature walks. Its great because you can do it all year round.

Zachary and I had a trip to Weston Supermare, if you would like to have a look at what we did, please check out our Stellar Story we also made one about a nature walk we went on, please feel free to look at that one also Look Mummy.

So, what have you enjoyed this month? Do you want to play along next month? I hope so

Thanks for reading

Mynamesnotcherry

Iceid: Kids ID bracelet review

PLEASE NOTE: All opinions in this post are those of myself only and intended to give an honest description of the product and the experience of using said product. All images are either mine or are screenshots from the companies website. I therefore do not own all of the images contained within this post.

My Previous post explains why I felt I needed to order one of these items, however there are many reasons that I feel people may wish to purchase this or other items from this site these include but are not limited to

• Identifying children in large groups
• Adults/children with allergies
• Adults/children with medical conditions
• Adults/children with limited/no speech
• Adults/children who are considered flight risks
• Adults/children with conditions such as Autism or ADHD
• Long distance runners and other athletes

THE ORDERING PROCESS

I ordered my product using my iPhone6. I used the website iceidco.uk which is a very mobile friendly site. I located the site via a google search. When the website loads you can see the simple yet bold logo

 

There is a menu which shows all the sub menus and in turn the different categories you can search in.  There is an option to see all products as well as the current top sellers.

Once you  have selected  the category (I chose Kids) you are then taken to a screen which shows you different products which fit within that specific category. here you will see images, with a small description below including the price and also a star rating and the option to check a tick box to enable to compare product specifications, if you are having difficulties choosing between multiply products.

Once you have selected the item you wish to purchase you are taken to a screen where you can input your specific data.

You can input whatever information you would like like over 6 lines with each line being able to hold 22 characters. This process is extremely simple.

Once you have decided on the information you want to input you go through to the payment section. This is also very simple to use.

PRESENTATION

Date ordered: Tuesday 21st July 2015

Date received:  Saturday 25th July 2015

Price: £18.00

Discount applied: N/A

Postage: £2.00 Standard delivery

I opted for the standard delivery via Royal Mail, there is a second option for a faster delivery which costs £4.00.

PRODUCT

Items received

• 1 black rubber bracelet
•  1 silver panel with your details on it
• 1 business card
• 1 mini postcard
• 1 sticker

All of these were received in a small transparent sealable bag, which was then sealed safely in a polyethene envelope (please see the pictures above). On the back of the envelope was a  sticker, which gave me some very important information.

The bracelet is made of a durable plastic that is also water proof. Perfect for my little boy who likes to bite and mouth objects. It has a small amount of give and has button holes along the whole length which means you can adjust it accordingly. The metal panel can be moved along the length of the band allowing you to place it where best suited.

The font is clear and precise. All details where printed as I requested. It is inconspicuous enough that people will not notice it unless looking for something in an emergency. However there are options for in pink or blue which would be more noticeable. I was able to get this onto my son easily and it was easy to remove too. The adjustability meant I was able to keep adjusting it until we got it to the perfect fit for Zachary’s small wrists. Zachary is able to remove this himself which in all honesty is not idea, however I can order a different type of band that has a different fastening (maybe like one on a watch) and I can just transfer the panel over.

CONCLUSION

 

This product is fantastic value for money, it allows you to add the information that you require and you are not limited by predefined headings.

The price of this item is very reasonable, especially when compared to other items available.

The postage and presentation is fast and secure.

The product is great quality and the website is easily navigated.

The website has many other features such as a frequently asked questions section, which does answer a lot of questions and also confirms the panel is covered and should it become worn you can get it replaced for FREE.

– Cherie Author of Cherrysnotmyname

Overall I would rate this product
5/5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I would certainly recommend this product and this site to family and friends.

Please feel free to share this review to people via social media. Any comments on this post would be gratefully received.

Thanks for reading

Mynamesnotcherry 🍒