She made me tea

On Tuesday  Emily's Brownies group hosted a Mothers day tea party. The girls were asked to bring in some cakes or biscuits so me and Emily did some baking together. We decided on triple chocolate chip cookies and they were amazing. Luckily we had made loads so we had some left over to nibble on later in the evening. The tea party itself was really sweet. As I walked into the room Emily had the biggest smile on her face, she took me by the hand and guided me to a chair, which she then pulled out for me to sit on. She then asked me in her sweetest voice if I would like tea or coffee and then skipped off to go and get it, but not before pointing out the various cakes, cookies and sandwiches on the table. A couple of minutes later she returned with a cup of tea. You should have seen the look on her face, she was so proud! Never mind the fact that the tea was cold and weak, to me it was the best cup ever!

Hotel Chocolat Review - You Crack Me Up Easter Egg

Back in December I did a review for Hotel Chocolat, which you can read here, so I was over the moon when they asked me if I wanted to do another review for one of their Easter chocolates. Having the kids in mind I choose the You Crack Me Up extra thick Easter egg. I just loved all the adorable figures and knew they would be delighted as well.
One of the first things I noticed was the careful wrapping and packing. Having broken eggs is not a lot of fun and Hotel Chocolat does keep that in mind! The egg itself came in a gorgeous and sturdy box, which Emily has already laid claim to, no doubt to store some of her many treasures. 
The main star here is of course the chocolate which is just so delicious. I would recommend everyone who reads this to head over to their nearest Hotel Chocolat shop or go to their website and have a look at their egg-citing (see what I did there, haha) Easter range. You won't regret whatever you add to your basket and you certainly won't regret eating it.
So, back to the You Crack me Up Easter egg. Both shells are made from their delicious blend of 40% milk chocolate and high cocoa white chocolate. It makes for the creamiest and smoothest chocolate ever. Me and my camera were to slow to capture them, before I could blink they were gone. Blame it on this munchkin and her dad!

I really wish you could have been here to hear the exciting squeals as my kids saw the adorable figures. Both of them immediately pointed out which ones they wanted to try and continued on to read the menu to find out what was inside these delightful pralines.

Chocolate brownie, milk praline fried egg, smooth caramel bow tie bunny white soldiers, milk chocolate chick, crunchy praline
I can tell you right now, each and every one of them was delicious! Full of flavour, creamy and chocalicious. The kids and husband were of course more than happy to help me sample them and we each had a different favourite.

Simon's favourite was the chocolate brownie, which had crispy chocolate butter cream encased in milk chocolate. Emily's was the white soldiers, a creamy white chocolate soldier pre-dipped with a dollop of creamy chocolate yolk. Dylan's was the smooth caramel bow tie bunny, a dapper Easter bunny cast in smooth and sensual caramel milk chocolate. Mine was the crunchy praline, crunchy biscuit pieces and praline encased in mocha chocolate. I could have easily eaten a whole box of these!
As a family we really enjoyed this Easter egg. Its so much more tastier and a lot more fun than the Easter eggs found in the supermarket. If you want to make someones Easter extra special this year then I would seriously recommend this egg. Fun for adults and children and oh so tasty. It retails at £28 and you can buy it here or at your local Hotel Chocolat store.
I was sent this Easter egg by Hotel Chocolat for reviewing purposes and would hereby like to thank them for this opportunity! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Easy Easter cupcakes recipe

On Saturday Emily had a friend over and we decided to do some baking. I don't know about you but I have always loved baking with my kids, I think it stems back from when I was a little girl, sitting on the counter top and helping my mum stirring and adding ingredients whenever she was baking something delicious. Emily decided on making some cupcakes and that's exactly what we did. The girls favourite part was decorating them of course, all while munching on mini eggs and giant buttons.

These cupcakes are so quick and easy to make, the girls did most of it themselves! To make these at your house all you need is
110g softened butter 110g caster sugar 110g self raising flour 2 eggs tsp of vanilla extract  salt
Preheat your oven to 180C Add the sugar and butter to a bowl and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the flour, eggs, salt and vanilla and beat together. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and bake for about 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before decorating.
For the butter icing
100g softened butter 225g icing sugar a spoon of water drop of yellow food colouring Cadbury's mini eggs chocolate buttons
Beat the butter until creamy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, water and food colouring. Use a piping bag to pipe the butter cream onto the cupcakes and decorate with mini eggs and chocolate buttons. Enjoy!
P.S. Only ONE more day to enter my giveaway! You can do so HERE. Good luck.

A little Monday wish list

It's Monday afternoon.  I'm home from work, kids are at school, Simon is at work and it's a beautiful sunny day. Perfect time to go out into the garden and pick up that book up I started reading just after Christmas! But yet, here I am with the iPad on my lap multitasking between Blogger, Instagram, Twitter, eBay and a million other web pages. Seems like the perfect opportunity to share some of my current wish list items with you. Who knows, you might feel inspired for a last minute Mothers day present or just find something to add to your very own fabulous wishlist!   Number ONE I'm in desperate need for a new wallet. My current one has a rip in the coin section and I'm not particularly enjoying having to empty out my bag contents when paying at the supermarket just to find some coins I may or may not have. I absolutely love this Cath Kidston little birds wallet and have had my eye on it for a while. Enough space for cards, cash and coins plus it looks super cute! Definitely my number one wish list item at the moment!

here
Number TWO Whenever I walk into Boots I just can not resist paying a visit to the perfume counter and trying out a few testers. About a month ago I sprayed Dot by Marc Jacobs and ever since it's the one I keep going back to. Really really loving it. Also, how cute is that bottle!!

here

Number THREE I love pretty storage boxes to hide clutter that would normally lie around the house. While browsing eBay I came across these pretty boxes. Definitely a worthy wish list item. They would look really pretty on my bookshelf (I am planning on painting my bookshelf white, anyone else done something similar before, if so please let me know how it went)

here
Number FOUR A new coat. I walked into a painted wall and have a permanent paint stain on my arm. I can't say I'm particularly impressed with that and I'm not too happy whenever I have to wear it out. A new coat would definitely make me happy. I have YET to find one, but I'm definitely thinking spring colours. Mint green maybe?
Number FIVE Last week I picked up a new Yankee Candle. I absolutely loveeeeeee these candles and the most recent one I picked up is Bunny Cake. So far I have resisted burning it as I want to keep it for nearer to Easter. Needless to say I think these bunny ears would look beyond adorable on top of my candle jar!

here
Well ok, time for me to go and enjoy some sunshine out in the garden and catch up on that book! Don't forget to enter my giveaway HERE. Good luck if you do!

Giveaway: Simple skin care gift set

With Mothers day just around the corner I decided to throw a little giveaway. I came across this lovely Simple skin care gift set and thought it was perfect. This gift set includes the Simple hydrating light moisturiser and the Simple cleansing facial wipes and the great thing is that it comes with a very pretty bag. In my books anything that comes with a bag is just amazing! I know any mum would be delighted to get this...or you could just keep it for yourself...tempting.

This giveaway will end Wednesday 26th March. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Spring cleaning anyone?!

image source
We have been so lucky with the weather this past week and all of a sudden it's turned into spring. Flowers and blossoms are everywhere and I'm loving it! It's a great time to feel motivated, especially around the home, and organising and spring cleaning has been on my mind. We have a basic weekly cleaning schedule and do keep on top of most chores. There are however always little things that get neglected and could do with a little extra attention now that the weather is getting better. The garden for instance, or the patio, garden furniture, outside windows or the front door area. When spring comes around I love having flowers by our front door, oh and the hanging flower baskets need some attention too. It's also the season to refresh and declutter, put those winter coats and boots away and swap them for some lighter jackets and shoes, root through wardrobes and really decide whether or not we want to keep, sell or donate some of the items.
Some jobs can be a bit of a drag sometimes but play some music and find some cute cleaning essentials and you can turn something boring into something really fun.

Caddy found here, sponges found here, gloves found here
Well, I'm definitely feeling inspired! Here's to a cleaner and fresher home.

Welcome to Emily's room

Our kids rooms seem to be constantly changing. Part of this is because they are growing up and toys that were once loved are now stored away, the other part is my constant wish to move things around and chance little bits and pieces. As I am writing this post I already have loads of these little bits in mind, oh yes...changes are coming this way!

Dylan's room is the one that need most work. He's ten now so changing from little boy to pre-teen (eeeeek) and I feel he is starting to outgrow his room big time.

So yes, I have big plans.

But for now let's have a look in Emily's room.

She's seven and really likes her room. During the day her favourite teddies wait  for her on top of her bed, she's had that pink little teddy ever since she was a few weeks old and it's her absolute favourite!

Her bookcase doubles as a bedside table and on top is her bunny light and the bunny that hold her earrings, as well as some snow globes (and at nighttime a cup of water).

Above is a goodbye card her old school friends made for her when we moved. She was in reception year back then (year 2 now) but she loves that card and often opens it to read all the names inside, trying to remember who was who.

She used to have a flower light above her bed. I need to put that back up urgently and I also need to buy a pretty valance to hide the spare mattress under her bed.

The other side of her room is dedicated to her toy boxes and chest of drawers.

I labelled those boxes to make tidy up time easier, especially when she has friends over who don't always know where toys go. Does it work? Sometimes.

The bigger pieces go on top. I'm planning on buying some pretty boxes to hide some of them.

She has some of her artworks on the wall. These need to be changed so badly. I think they are from when she was still in preschool! I am planning on buying different frames and completely updating this!

In the corner is her fairy mobile, Possibly one of my favourite things in her room.

On top of her dresser is a calendar which gets played with all the time and her owl money box which for some reason seems impossible to open. She's also got a basket with some favourite soft toys and you can also see her tooth fairy pillow peeking out from the front.

Emily is a real collector, anything small and mostly animal related will find a home on her window sill!

Dusting is a real chore in this room, hahaha.

I adore those two frames. Loads of people ask if I made them, and even though I'd like to take credit I didn't. This little corner in her room is one of the things that will undergo a big change. The Disney princess dressing table will have to go. She never uses it apart for dumping things on top and it always looks so messy. I'm planning on turning this space into a reading corner which I think she will love and use all the time!

Can't wait to show her room when it's all finished.