Galt Toys - Giveaway

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

Many thanks to all who took part in this fab giveaway.

The two winners picked by the twins are :

CAROLE 
AND
LISA

I will email or Tweet the winners.

More lovely giveaways soon xx

We were recently contacted by Galt Toys to se if we would be interested in reviewing some of their lovely products and of course I accepted, and asked if I could  have some items to giveaway.  The twins have been very lucky indeed since I started blogging.

Within days we received several sets of Paintastics painting by numbers but with no messy paints ! Woop, my kind of paint. 

Suitable for either boys or girls, the twins found these really easy to use, you just match up the number on the pen to the number on the picture and colour in with the "paint pen".  There are two nice quality pictures to paint complete with hooks on the back to hang if you wish.  It kept them occupied for about an hour or so.  Milo completed his picture (below) sadly, as is often the case, Jarvis lost interest and has yet to complete his.

At £4.99 each I think they are great value for money and would make lovely value presents for the endless stream of birthday parties that children of this age seem to get invited to.

 or maybe as a lovely personal present for Mummy for Mothers day !

GIVEAWAY ENTRY

To qualify for entry please just follow this blog either in google or by RSS Feed and  leave a comment below telling me what you buy your children's friends when they attend birthday parties.

If you tweet or facebook about this giveaway you will get an additional entry

Competition closes on Sunday 20th March 8pm

Sorry but open ony to UK Residents

TWO WINNERS PICKED AT RANDOM

Thank you and good luck xx

Its all about ME ! ME!

I was intrigued by the subject of  a tweet today from Mich of Mummy from the Heart   where I was tagged in  " a positive and uplifting MEME ", the subject of which was to ask people to leave a comment with one positive word that they though described me. 

I have never had problem seeing the good  in other people but to ask for positive comments about myself ?  How very un - Me ! 

Michelle's reason for choosing me was a  revelation in itself -  "because it always appears to me as if Karen is as hard on herself as I am on me and frankly she needs a break from it and to hear how great she is"

I would hate to think that people think I am always putting myself down, how boring is that !  It is not a conscious thing.  It is though, certainly a confidence thing.  That  saying of "put yourself down before somebody else does "  I have never been good at accepting a compliment and nearly always reply to one with a negative about myself.  I have learnt to recognise this as I have got older and have made a big effort to accept compliments when they are given.  At the root of it all is certainly low self esteem.
 
I remember vividly an incident when I first joined the Army, we were being taught how to use identification kits, where you have to select parts of the face from images in a book and make up an identikit.  I was sat next to a boy (we were both about 17 at the time)  after selecting our images, eyes, nose, ears etc that we felt best described the person next to us we had to explain our choices to the class.  The lad, my partner, set about describing me and when he got to the nose he said I had a bulbous nose, the whole class sniggered .  I was devastated, never forgot that and spent the rest of my life hating my face and my nose and being totally self conscious.  This I know resulted in people saying I was "stuck up, and stand offish"  but I was in fact paralysed with shyness and constantly wondering if  everyone who looked at me saw my "bulbous" nose. 
 
I have never been able to "see" what other people see, except for in recent years when looking back at photographs of myself as a younger woman and seeing how fab I actually looked.  I spend a great deal of time trying to make my children be "kind" "caring" "to think about others" Its the best gift you can give to your children kindness and a good word costs nothing.
 
As my mother says " If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"

So go on ..... Knock me out with your great one word comments about how fab I am !  (OMG, What if nobody comments..... )
 
I would like to tag these great people in Michelle's fab MEME :
 
Helen from icklebabe_com   -  Because she has a lot to deal with an doesn't show it.
 
Harriett from @Seasparkle_x  -  Because she needs to know she's a pretty cool lady, even though she thinks people ignore her.
 
Emma from Adventuresofanenglishmum   Because I remember only too well, how hard it can be to be a single mum and how you constantly doubt yourself when bringing up your child.
 
Lisa from babynotincluded - Because she has a new(ish) baby girl after a 10 yr gap (same as my children) and I KNOW how hard that can be.
 
Katheryn from Crystaljigsaw  because she is a fab lady, with a very special daughter and she received a bit of a blog bashing recently (and her blog Marvellous Mable will scare the pants off you )
 
 
 

Muku

When I want to browse and not think too much, to look and find beauty at almost every click, I take a trip to Etsy.  Always guaranteed not to disappoint, I find wonderful, clever designers, often undiscovered.  Just look at Muku !

It's always there in the back of my mind

Yesterday I wrote a post, published it and then deleted it 10 minutes later for fear of appearing too morbid.    I have been giving it some though today and wondering why it was I didn't want the world to see my words, know my deepest fear, so decided to go with a slightly different version.  I am really interested to know if other older mums (or actually, any parents) have the same fears.

Friday was a pretty good day all in all. I had two of my three boys home sick, but they sat in a rare moment of brotherly love, snuggled up together on the sofa, one 15 yrs and one 6 yrs old.  Watching the discovery channel together and discussing the merits of dinosaurs, meteorites and the evolution of the planet.  It was wonderful to listen to them really talking to each other.  With twins its a rare moment you get to talk without one or the other interrupting or wanting something.  Special time together for these two brothers.

On my way to collect the other twin from school, I pooped into my local charity shop and found one of my most stunning bargain's to date. I was thrilled and so pleased .  A good day.

Onto school to collect 2nd twin, a chestful of stickers for good behaviour, work well done etc, another good day for him too. Special time together on our walk home, just the two of us, special sweets just for him .

Simple things, a rare retreat from money worries and a million other mundane things that occupy my mind, so why do I always have that horrible fear pop into my head. 

I have more life behind me than in front , its a fact. I was a mature mum, 33 with No 1 son and 43 with the twins.  I can't stop wondering how much more of their lives will I see ?  How much time to correct all my mistakes, to do all the things I want to do, to show them how much I love them.

Topps Football Cards & Book Giveaway

MANY THANKS TO THOSE WHO ENTERED (Not too many this time ) The winner picked at random from a bowl by JARVIS was :

WINNER :    OVERTHEHILLMUM



How pleased was I when an email offering us Topps Football cards dropped into my in box, we received  a selection of the New 3D cards and books for the boys. 

The twins go crazy for these everytime they come out, they love collecting and sticking them into the books and talking about the different football players.  The only problem is finding all the sneaky stashes that they try to smuggle into school to swop with their friends!

The new 3D cards are available in packets of stickers (50p for a pack of 6) to be stuck in a sticker album (rrp £1.99) that comes with a set of 3D glasses. Really shows the incoming 3D ‘generation’ of kids (and products) who are growing up surrounded by this phenomenon! as you can see Milo looks very 'fetching' in his.

Also newly launched are the Find Ferdinand:  England Captain Rio Ferdinand has joined up with Topps to sign 101 special edition Match Attax cards which have been distributed worldwide. 100 of these are in a silver foil and offer the finder the opportunity to attend a special event at the end of the season to meet Rio. The other 1 card is wrapped in a Gold foil and offers the one lucky winner the opportunity for a one on one meet with Rio and get to play him at a game of Match Attax.

Standard Match Attax: The Premier League card trading & battling game selling on average 144,000 packs a day (random fact: 27 packs sold to every Mars Bar Worldwide). Cards are traded but Attack & Defence stats allow collectors to ‘battle’ each other on a specially designed ‘pitch’

Starter Pack – RRPs at £4.99, offers the perfect foundation for collectors – consists of a collection binder, a pitch to battle opponents & 25 cards (including a special edition card)

Collectors Tin – RRPs at £10 & offers collectors 60 cards (including on Limited Edition)

Standard Packets – RRP 50p – includes standard cards as well as showboat, limited edition, referee & 101 Wayne Rooney special cards.

We were sent a third set for No1 son but as he is now 15 and his interests lie elsewhere !  I thought I would offer them as a giveaway.  One 3D book and 4 packets of cards.

TO ENTER :

1. Follow this blog via RSS or google and leave a comment on this blog telling me which football team your son or daughter supports.

2.       One additional entry for each of the following :

Tweet and/or Facebook the following :

I've entered the Topps Football card giveaway on @allaboutheboys blog

Giveaway closes 8pm  Monday 7th March

Winner picked at random by number selection.

Sorry but open only to UK Residents

Many thanks and good luck xx