McVitie's Breakfast Porridge Oats Biscuits (Sponsored Post)

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If there is one meal of the day that I will always make time for, it is breakfast. I'm one of those people who can't wait around for an hour or two, nonchalantly getting on with a few chores before leisurely chowing down on a carefully crafted feast; I need to eat breakfast pretty soon after I've woken up or I feel grotty.

Therefore I've never really understood people who don't eat breakfast at all. "It's the most important meal of the day!" is the old adage, and while some people may roll their eyes at this, I do believe it to be the case. If the previous night's evening meal was consumed at 6.30pm (the case in most families) then it's more than likely to be twelve hours, possibly longer, since eating. Making the metabolism work in peaks and troughs is no good for the general workings of the body, something I've recently been learning a lot about.

However, modern day family living (where more often than not both parents are working) means that there's not a huge amount of time in the morning to prepare a breakfast, at the minimum to even eat cereal. With almost four billion breakfasts eaten on the go, McVitie's have recognised that time is of the essence in the morning and have created breakfast biscuits which provide a delicious and balanced meal on the go.

The new McVitie's Breakfast Biscuits come in three different flavours (Red Berries, Oat & Honey and Apple, Sultana & Cinnamon) and in each box there are six packets of four biscuits each. They are fortified with vitamins D, B, Iron and fibre, each pack (of the Red Berries, the flavour I tried) contains 229 calories and 1.9g of saturated fat. They are a great alternative to cereal and toast, and I've tried them one morning this week with a banana and a yoghurt; I was certainly full well into the morning, past mid-morning break in school. As filling as my conventional breakfast.

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For more information on McVitie's Breakfast Porride Oats biscuits, visit their Facebook page here, or follow them on twitter.

McVitie's Breakfast Biscuits

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Sponsored Post: Sharing Photographs Made Easy With The Sony – NEX-5R

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As I come to the end of my second year of the 'Photo A Day, Every Day' challenge I'm beginning to reflect on the shots that I've taken. This year they've been centred more around The Boy and have featured very few still life or landscape photographs. I've also used a variety of photographic equipment while snapping away; sometimes it's the iPad, more often than not it's my phone (I started the year with a HTC Desire and have ended it with a Samsung Galaxy S3) and I try to use my DSLR where possible because the quality of the photograph 99.9% of the time will be significantly superior to any other device.

Here's the thing though; my eight year old DSLR has a 6.3 megapixel lens and my three month old S3 has an 8 megapixel lens. In theory, the photographs from my phone should be better, but they're not because it's all to do with the size and quality of the lens; how much light it can sense and adjust to, the speed of autofocus for those unexpected shots, and plenty of other complicated things that I don't understand. All I know is that it is nigh on impossible to get the same quality from a mobile device as it is from a DSLR.

This, quite frankly, is a shame. Because in this day and age of social media and the use of the Internet to share lives with far-flung friends and family, it is a real pain having to upload photographs from a 'proper' camera to a laptop and then share them onto a social media site like Facebook. It's the reason why I seem to take so many photos on my phone; I can either use Dropbox to access them elsewhere, or I can upload them to my blog or Facebook directly. Something my DSLR is not capable of unfortunately.

However, the new NEX-5R compact system cameras are capable of taking a photograph and uploading it directly onto social media platforms as they contain inbuilt Wi-Fi.

A camera with Wi-Fi? A 16.1 megapixel camera with inbuilt Wi-Fi?!

It's a seriously brilliant idea, and for the photographer in me who enjoys thinking about the composition and the technicalities of a still image, then having a camera which can autofocus as quickly as a DSLR, has a range of ten lenses to ensure each photograph has the best perspective, has a Sony guarantee of quality on the machinery, can upload photographs (which has been edited directly on the camera!) to the Internet, and is capable of shooting full HD videos, it has got to be worth seriously investigating. Why wouldn't you when it would make photography so much easier.

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Which Tablet? (Sponsored Post)

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Anyone who reads this blog regularly (or knows us in 'real life') will know that we're a technological family: my husband is a software developer and I'm an ICT co-ordinator. As for The Boy? His geek skills are coming along nicely, culminating in him hacking some security features on a tablet in the house recently…

In all seriousness, it's never been intentional that we use technology intrinsically in our lives but it is a marvellous tool to help modern day living that little bit easier. I would never have imagined thirteen years ago when I was travelling back and for from university on the train, playing Snake on my 'flippy phone', that I would now be able to reach into my handbag and pull out a device capable of taking higher quality photographs than my digital SLR, editing them and then sharing them on twitter, Facebook, Instagram and my blog within seconds of snapping the image. I certainly wouldn't have thought it possible to set my Sky+ box to record the latest episode of Gossip Girl, Grey's Anatomy, Panorama from school on my lunchbreak or in the supermarket.

It became apparent that technology had infiltrated all aspects of our lives when my mum (who can't turn on a laptop) asked if we'd help her buy a tablet so that she could find out information herself. And so she sits there in bed checking the pages she's liked on her Facebook account.

I'm having issues adjusting to be honest.

However, technology is becoming more a part of our lives and the market is flooded lately with the latest tablet PCs to wow us with their functionality. There's an awful lot of similar models and brands out there, and staying abreast of the competition is hard. The latest models have to have something extra that makes them stand out from the rest of them while not costing the Earth for the average family who may have it as their only computer.

 

For me, the ideal tablet for a young family has to: have user accounts and personalised profiles enabling safe usage for young children; be water resistant because I use it in the kitchen when I'm cooking, husband watches iPlayer whilst doing the washing up, and it comes into the bathroom so I can listen to music while showering; be lightweight for The Boy to use; and make everyday living easier.

The Sony Xperia™ Tablet seems to fit the bill perfectly! It has all of the above features and so much more, plus the funkiest bit is the remote control functions it has which allows the user to switch on the TV, cable box and home entertainment system, select inputs, and adjust the volume.

How cool is that?

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Testing The Teaching Territory (Sponsored Post)

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I met my husband at a house party near Swansea. Turned out he wasn't from around there but lived in the heart of Hampshire, which caused great fun for our developing romance as every weekend we took it in turns to travel to see each other. I was in the second year of university at the time and halfway through my final year, we had to start thinking about what would happen when I graduated.

Where would we live and work?

We decided on a halfway point, meeting in the middle metaphorically and literally right from the word go. Reading was a good place for him because of the proximity to London and the dotcom boom, and it was only just under two hours back home again for me to see my family who I'd lived with for the previous 23 years.

And so in the March before I finished my degree, I started looking for jobs in Reading. The very first job I applied for I received an invitation to interview for, and consequently got the job. I was the first person on my degree course to get a job and I happily started in the following September.

Right, now for the ridiculousness of the situation. Prior to having the interview, my (then) boyfriend had been living in Reading for three months and during that time I had visited it half a dozen times. Before he moved there, I'd never been to Reading. I applied for the job not knowing where the school was. In fact, I called a taxi to take me to the school and it drove across the main road, turned left and left again and we were there. The fare cost £2.70. That's how close it was to his flat and I had no idea. I moved to a city I didn't know, to work in a school I didn't know, and completely changed everything in my life.

For the three years we lived there I was beyond homesick and couldn't wait to come home. I hadn't done my research you see? And despite loving the school I worked in, I knew nothing of the town or the area, it was as far removed from my home town as it could be. I should have visited it properly first and researched the way of life there, and the schools in the area. I did like living there, the proximity to London and easy access to most major cities was a bonus, but it lacked the seaside and lush landscapes that I was used to, the hustle and bustle was extreme.

I do recommend that teachers branch out and explore working in different areas of the country; it gave me the best experience and working in areas closer to London really opened up a range of cultural experiences. The key is to researching the area first though.

Kent County Council Schools have realised that before teachers make life-altering decisions like I did, that it's wise to test out the area first and see which lifestyle opportunity suits. They have launched a competition on Facebook to provide teachers with the opportunity to see what it would be like living and teaching in Kent.

Kent is often referred to as Garden of England with beautiful countryside and coastline, but at the same time provides easy access to London and the Continent. That close to the capital city of the U.K. provides a wealth of career opportunities to choose from one of the largest local authorities in the country. Kent County Council Schools are committed to attracting new, experienced and talented teachers and the competition on Facebook allows for teachers interested in living and working there to find out about the county by potentially experiencing an all expenses weekend away in the county.


Entrants are invited to submit a story on My Perfect Kent Day, for a chance to win a weekend with all expenses paid in Kent. The stories will be shortlisted and introduced to a public to vote for the favourite one. The story that receives the most votes will win.

I wish I'd had that opportunity before I moved to another county!

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Sponsored Video: My Own Grand Design

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I live in a three-bedroom ex-council semi-detached house in a reasonably suburban street.

Only I don't. Well not in my head anyway.

In my head I live in a purpose built detached house in several acres of land. As you go in through the front door, there's a large open hallway with a staircase slap-bang in the middle. Behind the staircase is the doorway into the kitchen and diner which spans across most of the back of the house. On the right, it leads into a large playroom and sitting room: the family room. In this room is a circular staircase up to the hallway outside the children's bedroom (Yes I know I only have one at the moment, but it's my dream so I have two ok?). Only this spiral staircase is one of those that has a slide around the outside of it; how cool would that be?

Further off to the right is a cinema room. Not snazzy and modern, but old fashioned with red velvet seats and gilt edging everywhere. Think the Hollywood golden era. Off the back of this room is an indoor swimming pool with bi-folding doors all along the one side into a courtyard area which the kitchen and playroom also overlook.

Back to the hallway and on the left of the staircase is a door into the living room. Although to be honest it's probably more of a formal sitting room because we'd spend all of our time in the playroom! Behind that and leading into the kitchen is the dining room with doors off onto the courtyard which flows into lush green lawn.

I haven't thought about upstairs yet, I've been too busy working out where the spiral staircase goes.

Anyway, I've spent many years covetting the perfect home and immerse myself into the like of Britain's Best Home or Grand Designs (have you noticed they're not very 'grand' anymore?) storing away ideas to be used for when I finally win the lottery and can have my dream home built. There's nothing massively quirky about my house, it's not out there with the people who have aquariums in their basements or discos in their garages, but I do think that the spiral slide staircase is an inspired move.

Aviva want to know all about your quirky homes and are offering a prize of £5000 to the most unusual. Check out their Facebook page for more information.

 

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Sponsored Video: 'What's That?'

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That question right there:

'What's that?'

and:

'Why?'

Are there any other words uttered by your toddler that can drive you to distraction at least eleventy billion times a day?

The Boy's personal favourite is:

'Are you (insert action here)?'

The reason those words drive me bananas is because they usually follow me saying I'm going to do (the action) or him witnessing me doing it. It's like he's double-checking that he's not imagining it. Mr. TheBoyandMe and I have actually tried to psycho-analysis this query from him to no avail. It's just one of his little quirks.

When these questions are driving you mad and you've answered the 'why?' or 'what's that?' for the seventy-fifth time in a row, turn it around on them and ask them the 'why?' Chances are they already know the answer but just want confirmation from you.

As for the 'what's that?' mantra? Bear with them, every single thing that they come across on a daily basis is completely and utterly new to them. These tiny little beings that we created have no idea what that jumpy thing is in the grass, or what happens when you drop a cup of water on the floor.

The only time that The Boy seems to stop asking me questions is when he's eating, and even then there is some curiosity as to the substances on his plate. Maybe he's trying to tell me something?

This is a sponsored post. My ramblings are genuine as is the amount my son asks me if I've just done something that he's seen me do. 

Sponsored Post: Win With Volvo

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My first car was a Volvo 440 and I adored it. I bought it with my own money when I was 23, paid for everything on it myself and had it for four years before I changed it. I put my beloved K-reg Volvo into the car auctions and luckily no-one had bought it, when a week later my husband blew up his engine due to a lack of oil. He inherited my 440 and drove it for a further two years before selling it on to a work colleague. Our Volvo did the rounds but I loved it, and one of those reasons is because it was so reliable.

My last three cars have been a different make and model, and I have to say that I'm fed up of that company now. I crave the security, stability, quality and style of my old Volvo.

And this is why they are so great, this is the Volvo V60:

Nice isn't it?

With it's innovative safety measures including pedestrian detection technology, and driver support package to help avoid collisions, the Volvo V60 is a reasuringly safe, family car while retaining its sleek lines and attractive exterior.

I'm not able to say I've reviewed one, although I'd love to. And I'm not going to say you can win one either on here or through Volvo directly.

However, on May 27th you could win a whole heap of other prizes as @VolvoCarUK are giving away prizes every hour throughout the day on twitter, including cinema tickets and family adventure weekends. @VolvoCarUK will be interacting with their followers to find out a little about them and asking questions in order to choose winners for the prizes, questions like ‘Where was your best family holiday?’. If I was to answer that I'd have to say (in 140 characters only), 'When we stayed in a log cabin in the woods, explored the woodlands around us, played family games & enjoyed each other's company.'

To make sure you don't miss out on winning the prizes from Volvo, make sure you're following them on @VolvoCarUK and use the hashtag #V60getaway to follow the competition interactions. I'd love to hear that one of you won a prize.

Good luck!

—

I am a member of the Netmums Parent Bloggers Network, a unique community of parent bloggers from around the UK who have been handpicked by the Netmums team from our database to review products and brands on their behalf. I am paid an expenses fee to cover my time (and childcare if the fee is big enough!) but Netmums have no editorial control whatsoever about what I blog about. Being a member of the Netmums Blogging Network means that I get to try out products and brands and get my expenses covered but that I retain full editorial integrity.

Sponsored Video: Baking With Rice Krispies

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One of the activities that The Boy and I like doing the most is cooking. A few months ago we were sent a box of one of the best cereals on this planet: Rice Krispies.

Mr. TheBoyandMe was incredibly amused when he found out we'd been sent a box of the snap, crackle and pop stuff, but he was of course more than happy to chow down on the delictable puffs of rice and what we did with them.

Snow Mountain Krispie Cakes

We mixed them together with golden syrup, white chocolate and melted marshmallows, then sprayed them with silver spray and finally drizzled melted white chocolate all over. Absolutely scrummilicious!

And they were gorgeous!

Now, did you know that the cereal that's been providing countless children and adults with a cheerful breakfast since 1928 is getting a little makeover? As with most other Kellogg's cereals vitamin D is being added to them. I can hear two questions whirring through your brains right at this point in time: 'why?' and 'surely we get that from sunlight?'

Vitamin D can be derived in our bodies from sunlight. However, as we all know, children aren't playing outside in the sunlight as much as they used to, and of course when they do they slather on the sunscreen to protect themselves from skin cancer. And without vitamin D? Well that would be why there has been an increase in Rickets. It's a little bit of a catch 22 situation isn't it?

Rickets. That disease that we all thought had died out in the 1930s, is on the increase again due to deficiencies in vitamin D. Vitamin D deficiency impairs the absorption of dietary calcium and phosphorus, which increase the chance of bone deformities in children, and bone pain and tenderness as a result of osteomalacia in adults. And that is why, by the end of 2012, the marvellous folk at Kellogg's are adding vitamin D to most of their cereals, particularly those aimed at children.

As we come up to the warmer (ha!) months with (theoretically) more sunshine, we need to be more aware of the need to ensure we are keeping ourselves safe from the harmful sun rays and getting enough vitamin D. As we are pale and pasty in this household, and burn too easily, I'm going to be supplementing our diets to ensure we're getting enough of this important vitamin throughout the year. The most fun way for us?

Baking with Rice Krispies and I'm going to be adapting some of these recipes:

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Sponsored Video: Goodies Galore

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Our weeks are busy. I work part-time and am home on a Monday and a Tuesday, work Wednesday to Friday. Then weekends are filled with us trying to spend time as a family and enjoying each other. It means that we seem to be constantly on the go here, there and everywhere.

Taking part in activities and playgroups is easier now that The Boy is getting older because he's slightly less dependant on a routine with food and naps, there is always leeway with meal times now as long as I don't push it.

One of the things that I always have now in my significantly reduced changebag handbag (along with wetwipes and pants, no nappies anymore) is  several snack bars and a couple of boxes of raisins. He rarely asks for the raisins because he always wants to top up on the snack bars. And who can blame him because Organix Goodie bars are delicious. He prefers the raspberry and apple soft oaty bars, and I'm a little partial too. With no salt, processed sugars, colourings or flavourings, you can be assured that they aren't pumping our precious little ones full of nasties.

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Sponsored Video: The Most Important Woman In My Life

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I've posted before about my mum and why I love her and how much of an impact she has on our daily life. Without her, I wouldn't be able to work part-time; she is one of the few people that I trust to care for The Boy and she does so brilliantly and without asking for anything other than our time and love in return. My mum is the one who taught him how to draw a kiss, so that now he can write that on my Mother's Day card, she's the one who teaches him rhymes that he sings to me when I get home. Most recently she is the one who takes him to playgroup and has to walk away from him when he's crying (I'd like to add he's fine within two minutes).

I normally put these videos at the end of the post; try and hook you in with the content of the words, then suggest you watch the video at the end. Not this time, this time the video has actually made me smile, chuckle out loud and have a lump in my throat.

I still do that! I still call for my mum in the same way as I did when I was six and had fallen over. Most recently it was when I was so poorly from the gastric bug that The Boy had shared with me. She was downstairs looking after him and I had to pathetically call her for a glass of water. But that's a different type of muuuum to the one that happens when I can't find something, or when I want to ask her something, or when she's playing deaf.

And that's why this Sunday she'll be coming around for dinner. She'll tell me not to because it's my Mother's Day, but it's also hers, and because of the way she raised me, I'm able to be the mum that I am to my child.

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