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With tomorrow heralding the end of term, it has to be one of the first years that the weather has not ruined the annual school sports day. I remember sports day as a child and it seemed like the sun was shining every year (but maybe you just don't notice these things as a child or I am wearing my rose tinted glasses again) but ever since my eldest daughter was at pre-school it has seemed like the weather has conspired against us.

Despite this, I have religiously been there every year, even those times when we were told on arrival that it had been cancelled or it was being held in the hot school hall, because it has always been important to my daughter to be there. She is the kind of child that will look into the audience at a school play and wave when she sees us! I always remember that my mum would be at every school event when I was in Junior school but when you move into Senior school, it is not so cool for your parents to be there cheering you on .... which was kind of a shame as I came into my own in Senior school.

I loved being active, whether it was ballet dancing, swimming or sports, I suppose I have a somewhat competitive streak! My eldest daughter however will happily help everyone else get to the finish line, rather than ruthlessly pass someone that had fallen over. That actually happened one year when her friend stumbled in the running race, she stopped to help her and her friend carried on and won the race!

Mum always told me that it wasn't about coming first but the taking part that counts. Unfortunately for me this year I couldn't go, the first year that her Dad went instead of me and guess what happened? Yes, she came first! 

 

This post was inspired by the Sainsbury’s School Games website www.2013schoolgames.com  

Image courtesy of Freedigitalphotos.net

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It is no secret that, as a family, we love Frankie & Benny's, so when we were asked to go and review their new specials menu we were delighted to go and try it out. Now I generally have a love / hate relationship with dining out with the childen, mainly because alot of restaurants consider that all children just eat chicken nuggets, chips and beans but thankfully my daughters like the F&B's menu (especially the warm dough sticks) and unusually on this occasion my eldest plumped for the pizza.

Some of the new dishes include BBQ Burger, Crab Bruschetta and Pulled Pork Pasta Bake and even though we arrived on the wrong day (the menu is actually only available Sunday - Friday), the staff were super helpful and didn't turn us away! The new Specials Menu is only £10.95 for 2 courses, so it won't break the bank and if you are anything like me, you can top up to 3 delicious courses for an additional £2.25.

As always, the F&B's food came out fresh, hot and well presented .... frankly looking good enough to eat ;-) I think that the original diner style eating experience of Frankie & Benny's is sometimes personal preference, so you either like it or you don't, but as a family we always enjoy our time at F&B's and will be returning. Dessert is usually a top priority for me but I simply didn't have room after the delicious Pulled Pork Pasta Bake so maybe I need to choose something lighter next time if I fancy a pudding.

As I said earlier, I find it increasingly frustrating when we dine out as a family to find the limited choices on the childrens menu, so I was interested to read about the new research from the Out to Lunch campaign from the Soil Association and Organix, which included Frankie and Benny's. Out to Lunch is calling for the restaurant industry to improve standards and make changes to their children’s menus. The investigation shows 66% of parents think the food provision for children in restaurants is not good enough. 21 popular high street restaurants and pubs were surveyed looking at what’s on the menu for children over a three month period, revealing that:

• 12 out of the 21 restaurants and pubs have children’s menus dominated by nuggets, burgers and sausages
• Eight out of 21 chains don’t include vegetables or salad in the majority of their children’s main meals
• 10 don’t include a portion of fruit in any of their children’s puddings
• No restaurants have signage welcoming breastfeeding on their premises
• Only 2 chains offer a children’s drinks menu free from added sugar and sweeteners

In line with the research, Out to Lunch has today issued a league table ranking the 21 restaurants and pubs to show the industry and consumers what chains are offering children.

The Out to Lunch campaign is calling on all high street restaurants and pubs to:

1.       Offer all young diners the choice of a children’s portion of adult meals

2.        Serve freshly prepared food, not ready meals

3.        Offer free water to families on arrival

4.        Offer children’s cutlery as standard

5.       Make breastfeeding mums feel welcome

Anna Rosier, Managing Director at Organix says: “Four out of 10 parents (40%) told us they eat out once a fortnight or more with their families. If restaurants and pubs want to ensure business stays strong and see customers return, they need to start improving what they’re serving to children. “We want families – parents, grandparents, aunties and uncles – to help get behind our campaign to see change. Restaurants will only start improving if we start being more vocal about what we’re seeing and vote with our feet.”

Out to Lunch is asking families to carry out four simple steps to back the campaign:

1. To tell restaurants what they think. The Out to Lunch downloadable Campaign Pack includes a review slip to make is easy for families to leave it behind on the table.
2. To be vocal and share feedback with family and friends.
3. To vote with their feet. If a restaurant is not up to scratch, don’t go back.
4. To support by wearing the ‘I support Out to Lunch’ badge on their Facebook and Twitter profiles.

For a more detailed insight into the Out to Lunch league table visit www.soilassociation.org/outtolunch.

So out of the 21 restaurants, where did F&B's come? They were 8th in the league table .......

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When we were approached by the online retailer K&Co.com to review their children's table and chairs, we jumped at the chance as the littlest member of the family loves to sit and draw, so we thought it would be perfect for her.

Typically, I asked my other half to put it together on the hottest weekend of the year, which I am sure you can imagine how that unfolded, given that flat pack furniture was involved! The box was a little damaged upon arrival but thankfully all the pieces were well packaged, so everything on the inside was fine.

I am told that the instructions were "fairly" simple to follow but well detailed (in comparison to some flat pack instructions). I can't personally vouch for this as I was off entertaining the little one while the construction was in process but I didn't hear any shouts or bangs as it was being put together, so this has to be a positive. There was a little stumbling block with the legs on the table but we shan't mention that reading the instructions fully *may* have been a good idea. For any mums or dads looking to buy this table and chairs, I highly recommend reading the comprehensive instructions supplied to prevent any unecessary fall out :-)

 And Ta Dah .....

Useful info for those needing to fit it into a tight space:

• Table dimensions: H 50, Length 77, D 55 cm
• Chair dimensions: H 63, Length 31, D 31 cm

On the hottest day of the year so far, in just under an hour, we (I mean the royal we, obviously) constructed a well made, sturdy and frankly adorable little table and chairs for our own little princess. It will be great for her to draw, colour, paint (eek) and it will hopefully grow with her as she gets older and has homework from school.

If you like the look of this item, we are thrilled to be working with K&Co.com to give one away to our blog readers. The table and chairs are available in Pink, White or Blue so the winner can choose their colour of choice. Just enter using the easy Rafflecopter options below and Good Luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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We were recently asked if we would like to review the new Little Us dolls and with two girls in our house, how could we say no? The Little Us dolls are a gorgeous range of rag dolls each with different personalities and we have had lots of fun with them creating new adventures for Amelia and Chloe.

My eldest daughter may think she is too cool these days but she loves Amelia because she is a little bit shy, she likes to read my books and look after animals (well that's what we were told). Lots of dolls targeted at young girls are too sexy, too old and frankly too expensive but the Little Us dolls strike a happy balance of affordable and adorable.

My youngest daughter loves blonde haired Chloe. We are told that Chloe likes singing and dancing all the time and when she grows up she wants to be a princess or fairy. (sounds like someone else we know). The Little Us dolls are designed for children aged 2+ and are super soft and perfect for sleepy cuddles.

The Little Us dolls are sure to be high on the Christmas lists this year and when you can get them for less than £10 on Amazon, they would make perfect gifts for little girls. My mum always said that the best things come in little packages and the Little Us dolls stand testament to this!