Multiple Mayhem Carnival

Firstly, many apologies for the lateness of this carnival post.   I've been a bit busy with half term entertaining the twins and visitors, Halloween party, back to school and then catching up with the work I couldn't do when the twins were off school.  Anyway excuses over, here we go. 

This is my first time of hosting this wonderful carnival which celebrates everything that is good, bad and downright amazing about being parents to twins or dare I even say it ; Triplets or more !

My little darlings !

Reading through all the contributions below and probably being the mum to the oldest multiples in the group, my boys are seven next month (please accept my apologies if I am wrong) I can certainly relate to all of the posts, having gone through all of the situations at one time or another.

Karen from Tales of a twin mum tells us the classic bath time dance story and the very different reactions her twins have to bath time.  A lovely, funny story.  

Debbie from Johnson babies (love the blog name) has the age old dilemma of the feeding routine.  Still makes me wonder how on earth I coped mostly alone during that time. 

Marianne from Marisworld gives us a round robin of her 3&1/4 yr old twins including the "oh I remember it well" day they started pre-school and the worry of the will they come up to scratch in the assessments.

Rebecca from Here come the girls (another fab name for a blog) has the flashback to discovering she was pregnant with twins and the classic  comment "do twins run in your family? "  .  That moment I personally, will never forget.  We were in for an early scan due to bleeding, 3 months earlier I had miscarried a baby, only to find out that I was now pregnant with twins !  oh how we laughed !

Mich from Mummy from the heart tells us about co-sleeping and has the most adorable photographs of her twins.  We tried and sadly failed with this one.  My twins were kick boxing champions at the age of two weeks, no chance of peaceful co-sleeping for us.

Kerry from Multiple mummy gives us the potty training lowdown.  My view, don't panic, let them go at their own pace, after all very few children attend their first day at school still wearing a nappy. 

Heather from Young and Younger has the forever endearing tale of the special bond between twins.  In our case not always apparent until that is they are apart !  It never fails to touch me, however much my boys fight (and they do, a lot)  when they are apart there is almost puppy like pining for each other.

Finally the wonderfully funny Emily from More than just a mother raises a smile with her embarrassing behaviour Ron Weasley tale.  Please tell us Emily that you will put the poor boy out of his misery.....

So there we have this months Multiple Mayhem Carnival, Please do take a moment to follow the links to the posts for a wonderful read.  A great roundup of the tales of twin parenting.  If you have twins or more multiples we would love you to join in next time.

WowWee Light Strike interactive battle game Review

I was recently contacted and asked if I would like to review the Latest Light Strike interactive battle game from WowWee.  Having had their fair share of guns, lightsabres etc I was not sure that this would be suitable for the twins.  Whilst mulling over the email, my eldest son came into the room and I asked his opinion.  "What about me mum, I never get anything to review"  He had a point.  As it turned out, this game in our opinion is probably best suited to age  10 - 15 years.  It requires a certain amount of skill to understand the operation of the light strikers, the fast pace and the objective of the game. 

We received :

Two complete sets of Light Strike Assult strikers with targets. - £39.99 RRP
Light strike enemy scanner - £9.99 - £12.99 RRP
Light strike machine gun BI Pod - £9.99 - £12.99 RRP
Light Strike refactor Launch  - £9.99 - £12.99 RRP
Light strike scope   -  £9.99 - £12.99 RRP
Light strike ITS -  £24.99 RRP

Jacob's friend Pete was drafted in to "play" and the lads got to work unpacking the boxes.  Their initial thoughts on the strikers were their impressive skins "shiny" (for want of a better word) decals, the good weight and quality feel of the light strikers. 

Designed to look like futuristic weapons, they look and sound really impressive with all the flashing lights and commands when in operation.  

Including :

Instant reload for fast action

weapon selection

Volume

Shield

Team Selection

Health meter

light and sound that puts you in the middle of the battle

ammo meter

fingerprint verification - I kid you not !

single fire/semi automatic

 On the down side each striker requires 3 x AAA and 4 x AA batteries !

Accessories include :

Refrector Launch system   to defeat enemies with one super shot, with real recoil action and enables you to gain a tactical advantage.  This fits underneath the striker. -

Rapid Fire system - rapid fire super ammo provides major blasts, real recoil action and gain a tactical advantage . This also fits underneath the striker.

Scope   LED targeting system, increases gun range upto 100 feet, defeat your opponent with one shot in sniper mode

Enemy Scanner   Detect Enemy movement within 30 feet and gain a tactical advantage

The boys found all of the above accessories added to the enjoyment of the game, were not essential but gave some advantage to the player depending on which add on they chose.

 An added feature of the game is the Intelligent Targeting System which provides three settings, a medic, a bomb and a sentry gun. Whoever controls the ITS gaines an advantage during the game.

Game Objective

You can have upto four teams, each team represented by a different colour and the main objective is to depleat the opposition's health by shooting sensors and lowering life points, whilst running around, jumping over things, hiding behind things and getting as dirty as possible !  All good fun boy stuff. 

Our View

 The lads found that to play the game properly you needed to be outside, when played in a confined space indoors you could "kill" your opponents without them being in sight, due to the lights bouncing off the walls or ceiling.

They loved the voice command effects and really felt that they added to the enjoyment of the game, especially the fingerprint verification . 

Overall the boys really enjoyed playing with the strikers and certainly felt they were up there with the best interactive target games.  There are enough options available to keep the games fresh, you can play alone or have unlimited numbers of players in the four teams.  Certainly one to get the kids running around outside.  I also really like the fact that there are not hundreds and hundreds of "bullets" or discs to pick up or to risk injury with !

On the downside as with many toys is the unfortunate number of batteries required to operate the strikers.

Visit the Official Light Strike website HERE 

This is not a sponsored post but we were sent the strikers to review and keep.  All views expressed and photographs are my own.

Many thanks to WowWee for the opportunity to review this product

Choose a Christmas Charity

Once upon a time (in the 1960s actually), there lived a beautiful, sad and lonely girl.  She spent her days dreaming about the family she never knew, the life she thought she would have had (an American G.I. father was her favourite.  One day he would come back to England and take her home to her family).  The beautiful girl lived in a children's home, no family, no love, no hugs, just the essentials required to bring an unwanted child up. 

The beautiful girl found herself in her sport.  She excelled at running.  She ran and ran everyday.  Running from her pain and towards her future.

One day, like many innocent girls with nobody to guide them, she met "the one" she loved him with all her heart and believed his promises of eternal love, she soon discovered her dreams were dust .  She was carrying a child and was alone again.

Scandal in the children's home, she was 16 years old and pregnant, she was sent away in disgrace to a Salvation Army Mother and Baby home. A christian charity, one of the few in those days who would take unmarried pregnant girls in. She had to work for her keep, cleaning, scrubbing floors, washing.  Long days, no love and all with the knowledge that when her baby came it would be taken away from her and put up for adoption.

She lay awake at night talking to her baby, muffling her cries into her pillow, crying for the life she never had, lonely and alone.

On her hands and knees scrubbing floors, the baby decided it was time.  The beautiful girl was taken to hospital and there her tiny baby daughter was born.   They told the beautiful girl "You must nurse the baby for six weeks and then we will take her away from you " .  Every moment of every day she marvelled at her beautiful child and loved her more and more.  A seed started to grow in her heart, she would fight, she would never give up her tiny child.

When the day came for the baby to be taken away, the beautiful girl refused.  She would not let anybody have her baby "don't be a silly girl, you are only 17 years old, you have no family, you cannot go back to the children's home !  what do you think you will do ?"   She refused to give in, holding tightly to her tiny baby.  "She is mine, she is all I have, I will not let you take her from me".

The beautiful girl won her battle to keep her baby and was moved back to the Salvation Army Mother and Baby home where she worked and worked and worked.  Her baby by her side .

The beautiful girl is my mother and I am the baby .

Please join me this year in the run up to Christmas and actively support a charity on your blog.  If you are unable to raise money for your chosen Charity at least raise awareness for them by blogging, tweeting and facebooking about them.

Virtual Reality Life

From my first ever follower on twitter a couple of years ago, some people in my "real world" have scoffed and exclaimed that they "don't get" twitter or facebook and why would I spend my time typing conversations to strangers. 

I have always responded with comments about how interesting the people I talk to are, they are usually like minded, with similar interests or lifestyles, although not always and this adds to the interest for me.  I have come across such a range of people with all sorts of stories to tell, people I would otherwise never have met.

 "Ah yes, but you can't be real friends with them can you?".   I beg to differ, I went to my first Mumpreneur Conference with the lovely Harriet who I met via twitter.  We got on from the moment I climbed into her car at the services in Somerset, we chatted all the way to Birmingham with no feelings of self consciousness or awkward pauses.  Several of us from the West Country got together and created the Devon Coup, we meet up and go for lunch, attend parties and events and generally have a great time.  We are all different ages, backgrounds, both male and female and we all get on really well together. 

I've gone on to meet lots of the people I regularly chat to at both the Cybermummy conferences, at PR events and days out.  The majority of the people I have met were as lovely in the flesh as they were online and our friendships have flourished.

One friendship  I took to the next level was with the wonderful, inspiring Jen from Mum_TheMadHouse and her family, who came to Devon this weekend and spent three days with us.     Our families met at events in the past and her two boys are similar age to the twins.  Despite the awful weather we had a lovely time taking them to local attractions, we all mucked in together, there was no being on best behaviour and with similar attitudes towards life, husbands and children I can honestly say we had a lovely time.

 
All four boys working on becoming the next generation of Virtual Reality Real Lifers !

Not a great picture.  I may have had a glass or two of wine, hence the camera shudder effect.  They all ate my roast dinner though.

Never let it be said that spending time on twitter is wasting your life, I have had more fun, more laughs, some tears, lots of support and encouragement and best of all made the most amazing friends, had the best opportunities and am even starting to make a living.  All thanks to Twitter, blogging and Facebook.

Today the house is strangely quiet.  Role on December when we all meet up again at the Tots100 Christmas weekend at Butlins.

Boys' Autumn/Winter clothing Trends & John Lewis Giveaway

Many thanks to all who entered.  The winner picked at random by a spooktastic No1 son last night is :

DONNA @littlelillypadco

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED .  More giveaways coming soon ......



Boys’ autumn/winter clothing trends

Dressing your lads in the latest trends doesn’t have to mean spending a packet, using up the money they’d rather you spend on toys, or kitting them out in impractical outfits. Here, guest blogger Jo-ann Fortune highlights three affordable looks that will work with any little boy’s wardrobe.  

I am also really pleased to be able to offer you the chance to win a £50 gift voucher courtesy of John Lewis.   You can spend it online, in store at any John Lewis or Waitrose store !  Fantastic prize just in time for Christmas.

 To be in with a chance of winning please follow this blog and leave a comment in the comments at the bottom of the page telling me what you would spend the voucher on if you won.

Arctic explorer

Fur trims, ski wear and Alpine knits were championed on the catwalks as key design details for boys this winter. Parkas, worn over chunky knit jumpers and cardigans are season staples, and look great paired with checked lumberjack shirts and durable cords. Accessorise with fur-trimmed footwear – Ugg boots are still huge – trapper hats and mittens or cosy woollen toggle hats and scarves, but as with all kids’ accessories, don’t spend a fortune as they’re likely to be the first thing to get left behind on a day out…

Protective padding

Padding or ‘quilting’ is central to two of the biggest boys’ trends this season: heritage and urban. With the fashion focus on the English gentry look filtering down from the men’s clothing catwalks, smart country wear is a big hitter in kids’ clothing ranges: Barbour-style riding jackets adding statement style to any outfit. In the city, padding is just as cool, with bold bomber jackets and colour block quilted gilets clashed with stripes and prints for a fun yet functional look.

Urban layering

Many of the big name kids’ clothing designers have used checked shirts as a base for urban layering this season, creating a wide variety of easily achievable looks. Build up an outfit with a classic denim jacket and jeans, hoodie and Shemagh-style scarf for a cool street vibe, pair a chunky cardigan with knee-patch trousers and over-sized specs for a bit of geek chic or keep him warm with a waistcoat, long scarf, trapper hat and chunky boots for a look that works just as well in the country as it does the city.

What key pieces have you invested in to keep the little ones looking cool while wrapped up warm this season?

All images courtesy of MPDClick.com

This is a sponsored post - I received clothes for my children and the voucher to offer in a giveaway.  

Competition closes on  Monday 31st October at 8pm.  Winner  selected at random.  Open to UK entrants only.