WHAT’S ON OUR WATCH LIST FOR JUNE

If you have followed me for a while then you will know before Nila came along , the girls and I regularly had movie nights and would sit down almost every night after dinner to watch another episode of the latest season that we had chosen for that month.Those days, unfortunately have become far and few between. It’s always the case isn’t it when a new little addition comes along. Before you know it the TV has been invaded by numerous episodes of Peppa pig and Ben and holly!.

CHICCO MYAMAKI CARRIER

If you have followed me since my  pregnancy with Nila then you will know how much I wanted to baby wear this time round . I didn’t baby wear with the other two kiddies and I made a point of wanting to experience baby wearing with this little munchkin.

We used the iswaddle sling when Nila was first born , and absolutely loved it , but now she is a little bigger we decided to invest in something that feels a little sturdier and more durable, so we have  gone for a baby carrier.

We have been using the Myamaki Carrier from Chicco for a few months now and I love it .It is suitable from birth and It is so easy to use and I can put it on by myself ,and put Nila in it , which is an added bonus as I know some carriers are a little tricky.

We have taken the Myamaki to Birmingham with us , On day trips and even when we have done the quick food shop :)  . My favourite is the school run. It takes 5 minutes to get to the school on foot, but because we have the buggy , we have to go the long way round as there are a lot of steps and tricky paths to get down, which I can’t get down with the buggy,so the school run actually takes 25 minutes!.

By using the carrier in the mornings it takes 5 minutes , which definitely adds extra Brownie points :).

There are so many features to this Carrier, these are just a few :

• It is multi- positional : parent facing from 0m+, hip position 6m+ and also back position 6m+
• It has been acknowledged as a ‘hi healthy’ product by the International Hip Dysplasia Institute 
• The shoulder straps are padded and adjustable
• The padded waist and shoulder straps ensure the right distribution of your baby’s weight across your back, which is a life saver, so no backaches for us :)
• Comes with a newborn insert , which is super soft and padded 

We have really enjoyed testing out the Myamaki carrier and if you are on the look out for a carrier or want to treat yourself an invest in a new one , then I would definitely recommend this one. Or if your unsure of which carrier to buy then the lovely Jolene at Mum Knows Best has a great post on How to find the best baby carrier for you, it is definitely worth a read :)

- We were sent the Chico Myamaki Carrier in exchange for an honest review 

FAMILY DAY OUT IN BLACKPOOL

We had been trying to plan a day in Blackpool for the whole half term and the weather has not been on our side Unfortunately . When I checked the weekends forecast it was promising so we decided to take a day trip to Blackpool on Saturday. I work on Sundays so Saturday was our last chance before back to school .

6 TIPS FOR WHEN YOU NEED A HELPING HAND

I am sure we can all agree that there has been a time in your life where you have needed a helping hand. Being an adult is hard work sometimes , especially a parent . We have three beautiful girls and although we love them to pieces , life can get expensive.

Scott works full time and I have recently gone back to work only one day a week due to baby Nila ,so our finances aren’t as good as they were. I thought I would share with you 6 tips for when you need a helping hand.These tips have worked really well for us and They might help you too.

1. EMERGENCY SAVINGS
Now this one is obvious isn’t it. I think everyone I know has tried to save money, and sometimes it is hard, especially if you have a lot of outgoings from your household income. We try and put a side a couple of pounds every week in our Lloyds savings account . We don’t always manage , but it has come to use for when we have needed something doing on the car , or when the phone bill has been a little but higher than expected . A couple of pounds a week is easier to do, and you don’t really notice it.

2. CHARITY SHOP BARGAINS
I love a good charity shop hunt. My mum and I use to love taking an afternoon out to go charity shop hunting. I love a good bargain and we have found some gorgeous pieces of clothing for the children , and also some really good items for the house . Books in the charity shop are as little as 20p and I can remember going into Sainsbury’s and wanting a new book out which was £7.99, a fortnight later I found it in the charity shop for 75p! :)

3. TREAT CUPBOARD
We have a treat cupboard that saves us so much money. If you have children , you will know that they are like bottomless pits when it comes to food and goodies. We have a treat cupboard that they can pick a treat from if they have been good.We buy a big bulk of goodies from poundshop.com, which saves pennies. We also use it for after school treats , so we manage to miss the expensive trip to the sweet shop on the way home .

4. FAMILY & FRIENDS
If you are lucky enough to have close family and friends to help you out in a financial need then that is amazing . Never be ashamed to ask for help . We all need it from time to time , and as long as you pay them back , you will still have that support network there .

5. LEND A LOAN
If you are like us and unfortunately don’t have any family or friends to help out if there is a crisis and your emergency savings has already been used and you haven’t managed to top it up enough yet, then  a quick short loan could help out massively .

6.VOUCHERS & DISCOUNT CODES
Take advantage of any discount codes you can find or savings on birthday presents or anything that is coming up that you need to purchase.Deals queen have some many discount vouchers you could use to save you some extra pennies.

Have you got any top tips for when money is tight or any super saving hacks? I’d love to hear them :)


- Collaborative Post

KADIANN TURNS 15

Yesterday my firstborn turned 15. Where has the time gone?. I can’t believe how fast it has flown by. I can honestly remember having her in the hospital. I was 17 ,and I can remember thinking, as they placed her in my arms, wow, now our journey begins.

SHE WENT UNDER WATER | TURTLE TOTS #BRINGONTHESMILES

Happy Bank Holiday Monday Everyone . I hope you are all ready for a lovely half term if you have children off of school. Friday was our  last swim lesson before the half term , so we have this week off. We are going to take the girls swimming in the holidays as a treat and also to make sure Nila doesn’t lose her confidence in the water as she is loving it so far!.

TICKET TO RIDE | REVIEW

Next game we are testing out is ticket to ride . Ticket to ride is a railway themed German style board game. It looks very old fashioned but I really like that about the board . We got the instructions out and started setting up the board.

Honestly, the instructions are not the best. They don’t explain the game very well st all , and it took us almost half an hour to actually understand and figure out how to play the game , which was very frustrating for Alessia.

We eventually got there in the end and managed to figure out the aim. So the aim of the game is to complete your destinations and collect the most points.

You are given three destination cards and 4 travel cards , which help you move around the board , providing you have the right coloured card to move on to the same coloured train . The grey coloured trains are a free for all, so you can use any colours from your travel cards to move along these trains.

It does sound confusing , but it is pretty straight forward once you get the hang of it .On your turn, you can either try and complete one of your destinations, pick up travel cards if you need some or you can pick up from the 5 travel cards that are laid out at the beginning of the game .

The game as a whole me and a Scott enjoyed. It can take anything from an hour plus, depending on how many people play . It is aimed at 8*, but we both agreed that it is definately not a children’s game and more of an adults game as both the girls got extremely bored and stopped playing half way through .

The girls gave this game a 2/10. Scott and I have it a 6/10. If you are into travelling and have travelled quite a bit then you would probably enjoy this game , and it is definately played better when there is more of you :)

-We were sent this game as part of the asmodee bloggers board club