Support your country at the Olympics and you could win a fantastic Lumix!

This competition has now closed.

Random.org selected number 1 which means Gemma Mills you are the lucky winner, congratulations I'll be in touch!

Has anyone noticed quite a big and very exciting sporting event going on at the moment??!! My family (like most of us) are completely gripped, it's such an exciting time and so inspiring to see all our athletes doing so well!

So if like me you are feeling all over excited, why not head over to facebook and have a go at the great fun Panasonic Flag Tag app. You can take a photo or select a fun one from your archives and then chose which flag you want to use to decorate your face.... and no mess! My girl loved seeing her picture decorated with the Union Jack. It's great fun for all the family to have a go, what do you think of ours?!

And what's even more exciting? If you have a go and come back and share your creation you'll be in with a chance to win a fantastic Olympic themed Panasonic Lumix camera here on my blog.

If you would like to enter just head over to the app, create you flag tag image, then simply come back and leave a link to your image in the comments below. You can find the app here:
http://www.facebook.com/
PanasonicUK/app_316244828451255

I'll pick a winner at random from all the valid comments after the closing date, please remember to leave a way for me to contact you (twitter handle, email etc.).

If you'd like to follow my blog or follow me on twitter you'll be the first to hear about the winner and any new competitions. It won't get you any extra entries but it will put a smile on my patriotic face!

Good luck and have fun, I can't wait to see the photos!

The details:
Competition closes 9th of September 2012 (just after the Paralympics).

Winner chosen at random and details passed on to promoting company.

The promoting company will send out the prize to the winner in the next 2 weeks following the closing date.

Non-UK entrants may enter but for postage reasons will receive a same value Amazon voucher instead. UK residents will receive the camera.

One entry per person.

The pictures will appear on the giant screen next to the Olympic stadium in Stratford

Organix 'Veg & Oat Bars' review

We are huge fans of Organix snacks in our house, my daughter's favourites have to be the fruit bars, so I was really interested to find out what their new savoury versions were like.

It's a great idea, I never leave the house unless armed with some kind of snack (bribe) but I don't always want to be giving S something sweet - the savoury options are a lot more limited! Organix very kindly sent us two boxes of their Veg & Oat bars to sample and here is what we thought...

First up was tomato and carrot:

Squiggle recognised the packaging straight away and was very excited, I explained to her what flavour they were and she said "yum I like carrots"... Her review was... "They taste nice, they taste like tomatoes, the smell like tomatoes, I like tomatoes..."

And that pretty much sums it up! She did like them but she also said I could have the other half. She does quite like sharing food with mummy, but she would NEVER share her fruit bars!! I had some too and they do have quite a strong tomato flavour. I think she would have liked them even more when she was younger and was a real fan if those strong flavours, she is almost 3 now and knows what she likes!

Our second box were sweetcorn and red pepper flavour:

Again these are both flavours that she loves so she was excited and these went down even better. The texture and quality of the bars is up to the Organix brand's usual high standards and of course they have the no junk promise to put your mind at ease!! I think the bars are well worth a try, some kids will love them. I remember being at the earlier stages with squiggle when I was trying to avoid sweet treats, I would have stocked up on these. In bribery terms I have to confess I'll probably still reach for the Organix carrot cake bars instead. She really enjoyed the savoury bars but she begs and pleas for the fruit ones!

Has anyone else tried them? I'd love to hear what your little ones thought? Well worth a try I'd say!

Please not we were sent these to review but my thoughts are my own.

Very very tiny planes, trains and automobiles

This is my post for this weeks The Gallery theme 'planes, trains, and automobiles'. This photo is of an wonderful place where we had a fantastic family day out – Bekonscot Model Village & Railway in Buckinghamshire. Here we found the tiniest railway where the trains stopped at the stations, boats that sailed round the harbour, and it's very on teeny tiny airfield. It has it all so just seemed perfect for the theme. I could barley drag Squiggle away from the station, I think she could have stood and watch the trains all day!! It's a lovely day out, and a good one to take Grandparents along to. There are lots of lovely details to look at with little jokes thrown in to keep easily amused adults like me happy!

Things I wish I'd never started

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The adult way of doing things just doesn't really apply to toddlers does it? You do something silly, you laugh, you move on. Oh this is not the way of a little person, do it once, like it, do it over and over and over again. You learn fast as a parent and there are a lot of ideas you know you just don't want put into kid's heads. For example a friend suggested to S while playing hide and seek that her toy might be hiding in the toilet. "Nooooo" was the cry from me, I knew that could well be the start of everything I own being flushed away. I never learn though and have still have done many a thing I wish I'd never started. Here are but a few...


1. Puting a blob of Sudocrem on my nose. This happened a good way back as a clever way of turning nappy tears into giggles, I was pleased with myself. Then every nappy time came "mummy put the cream on your nose please please please!!!" I've refused but I now can't leave the stuff in reaching distance. She'll stick her whole hand in and wipe it on my face / her face / anyone in reach. It is the hardest thing in the world to just wash off by the way, has some kind of inbuilt magic water resistance!


2. Fantastical bedtime tales 

I made up a nice little story about some mice one bedtime and S loved it. It would send her to sleep nicely and myself sometimes. Then one night she begged for 'the mouse and the blue banana'. I wanted to encourage her imagination so ok I said and off I went. Ever since then she has invented wilder and sillier story titles for me to tell. My mind is boggling trying to come up with them and she is laughing and getting very over excited rather than sleepy...doh! 

3. The magic cup
She's not a great drinker so in desperation one meal time I tool a sip from her cup and pretended it turned me onto a duck. She took a sip and turned into a mouse, yes it worked I thought!!! Was it worth it? Now every mealtime I am forced to pretend to be a duck and she still only has a minuscule sip. :(

4. Laughing
This applies to a lot of things when you know it's so wrong but it's so funny. At the weekend, for example, she was scribbling on her doodle book with her wipe clean pen (thankfully) when she decided to turn her face onto that of a zebras. Oh how I tried not to laugh but I couldn't help it. And it got such a good reception the minute i had got her clean, she did it again. Bad mummy, I asked for it!

Do you have any? I bet you do! I'd love to hear them, gone on give me a laugh :) xx


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