Name 3 Things.....famous crushes as a teenager?!

I stumbled upon The Mad House of Cats & Babies blog linkup and I couldn't wait to take part! This week they are asking bloggers to link up and talk about 3 of their teenage crushes. I thought I might struggle narrowing it down to just 3 but I'll try ;)

1) Morten Harket from A-Ha
Take on Me is my favourite song and video of all time and I've had a crush on Morten for literally as long as I can remember! I was only a toddler when Take on Me was released but my parents had the album on cassette which I remember listening to lots as a kid. I still love their music now and when they had a bit of a come back in 2006 I dragged my sister along to HMV, Oxford Street where we queued in the freezing cold from 4am to get into a signing!! I met them for all of 3 seconds but it was a childhood dream come true!! And I got a cracking photo!!

2) Jason Donovan
Who didn't love Jason Donovan back in the 80's! I loved Neighbours as a kid but it wasn't until he started his singing career that I became a bit of a fan. I had t-shirts, hideous bright pink sweatshirts featuring his and Kylie's faces, badges, posters, cassettes - and I thought it was amazing that his birthday was the day before mine! I did actually drag my friends to see him at our local Jumpin Jaks nightclub years ago....actually I think we might have seen him twice :-/ Needless to say, the years hadn't been kind to Jason and the blond haired heart throb now looked pretty knackered!

3) Jared Leto
Way way back in the depths of my teenage years (1995!), I started watching a programme called My So Called Life which starred a very young Claire Danes and Jared Leto. It was brilliant and I was gutted that they only made one series but it was all about Jared Leto for me! His character Jordan Catalano was so swoonworthy (yep, thats a word I would have used in 1995!!) and I recorded every episode so I could watch all his scenes over and over again! I didn't know it back then but fast forward 20 years later and I'm still swooning over Jared Leto. I love his band 30 Seconds to Mars and I have been lucky enough to meet him a few times! I literally thought I'd combust with excitement the first time I met him, my poor husband wondered why on earth I was getting in such a flap!

So there's just a small selection of my teenage crushes, there were loads and I'd be here all day if I had to name them all! Who did you fancy back in the day?!

Gruffalo Crazy!

If you're a regular to this blog then you know that we adore the Gruffalo! I began reading the book to Elliot from a very young age and now he loves it and anything to do with it.

One of our local Country Parks, Moors Valley has a large wooden sculpture of the Gruffalo which we visited back in the summer (see here) and we decided to go back at the weekend to see our old friend!


Looking back at the photos I realised that Elliot's outfit is entirely Gruffalo-ed!! Even down to his mittens! I just had to share the pics because he looked so cute but anyone would think we were sponsored by Sainburys ;)

Trendy Tot Thursday

My husband visited Las Vegas on business last week and he managed to pick up lots of lovely tops for Elliot - some of the designer bits were so cheap! As you know from previous #TT_Thursday , we are big fans of the supermarket clothes ranges for kids but sometimes it's nice to have something a bit more special!

Jumper - Ralph Lauren (reduced to $14 in the sale!)

Jeans - TU @ Sainsburys

Stomposaurus shoes - Clarks

My husband wasn't sure about the sizes when he went shopping and the jumper said S but theres ton of room in it and I know he'll get loads of wear out of it next winter too. It's really soft and I love the colours, it makes him look like a little bumble bee! 

The jeans are our favourite ones from Sainsburys, they fit him so well and wash brilliantly! 

Playgroup Etiquette

I'm sure we've all been to a playgroup where there's that one child that regularly hits other children, or steals toys. Should you tell the child off or have a quiet word with the parent?  Or even just remove your child from the situation?

This morning I took Elliot along to our local playgroup. We've been lots before and we enjoy going - there's lots of toys to play with and everyone seems friendly. It's for pre-school children so there are a real mix of ages but Elliot is just over 2 and was one of the bigger ones there today. It is in quite a large room but with chairs all around the outside it's easy to take a seat and keep an eye on your child. Elliot was busy playing with the trains over the other side of room and he was quite happy pushing the trains around the track. I must have taken my eyes off him for a few minutes because the next thing I see is one of the mums march over to Elliot, grab him by the arm and hoist him up!!! I went over and took Elliot from her (she was still holding his arm) and she said Elliot had been hitting her child over the head. Whilst Elliot definitely shouldn't have been hitting someone over the head, I think the way she grabbed his arm was totally over the top and quite frankly made me very angry. I told her not to touch my child's arm and took Elliot back to our seat but in hindsight I'm wondering whether I should have said something else. To be honest I was shocked  at the way she handled it and actually she spent the rest of the playgroup talking to her friend and looking in our direction. My ears were definitely burning!

I would have preferred for her to come over to me and say that Elliot had hit her child and I would have got Elliot to apologise etc. But instead I got home feeling pretty angry and upset about the whole situation. I've lost count of the times Elliot has been pushed or whacked over the head, toddlers are funny little things and these things do happen! I would certainly never grab another child by the arm!

How would you have handled the situation? Is it ever right to grab a child's arm when they've done something wrong?

You Know You're a Mum When.....

• The time you spend having a wee is classed as "me time"...providing you don't get interrupted halfway through!!!

• Your handbag is full of half eaten boxes of raisins (why is it always raisins!!), hot wheels cars and baby wipes

• Your idea of a night out is a trip to Tesco when the kids are in bed and your husband is home

• You can name every single CBeebies presenter......

• .....and your idea of seeing a hot man on the telly is seeing Mr Bloom in his Peter Pan costume ;)

• You never get to eat a whole bar of chocolate by yourself anymore

• You frequently go out with snot or some kind of unidentified stickiness on your trousers..and you're ok with it

• Seeing the bottom of your laundry bin means it's a GOOD DAY!!!!

• You really learn how to multi-task - stirring dinner/checking facebook/entertaining a toddler!

• You realise you've been watching Peppa Pig...even though your child has been asleep for the last half an hour!

• You see an episode of Peppa Pig that you've never seen before and you actually feel excited (please say it isn't just me hah!!)

• Your iPod playlist is now full of Disney songs which you have to have on repeat on car journeys

• 7am is now classed as a really good lie in

• You moo and baa at every sheep and cow you drive past...until you realise you're alone in the car

• You know every softplay venue in a 10 mile radius

• You forget how to walk properly without a buggy

• You realise you've been rocking your trolley at the supermarket as if you're rocking a buggy

• Sniffing your child's bum in public becomes the norm

• you only get control of the remote control at 7pm

• you use baby wipes for everything

• You get really good at spotting the "poo face"

Do any of these apply to you?!

Days Out and Fun Things for 2015!

January might be the gloomiest month of the year but I'm already making plans for some exciting days out - ones that don't rely on good weather obviously! It got me thinking about where else I'd like to visit - wonder how many of these we can tick off our list before 2016!

The Natural History Museum
The most obvious choice for a dinosaur geek like Elliot! He's a massive fan of Andy's Dinosaur Adventures on CBeebies and I keep saying we'll take him there one day. The only problem is, I think he might expect to see Andy racing down the hallway! I know the museum gets very very packed so this is definitely one we'll be doing on a week day.

Drayton Manor - Thomas Land
A few friends have visited here and said how good it was so I definitely want to try and visit. Elliot loves trains so I know this will go down very well with him!! It's a 3 hour drive from where we live so we'd probably make a long weekend out of it - any excuse!

Alton Towers - CBeebies Land
Another theme park but how much fun does CBeebies Land sound for a toddler?! Featuring rides and attractions based around some of the characters including a Something Special Sensory Garden, an In the Night Garden magical boat ride and a Tree Fu Tom Training Camp. I'm not sure who would be more excited, me or Elliot!!

Just For Tots @ Butlins
Last year we enjoyed a little holiday at Butlins Minehead on one of their Just for Tots short breaks. Everything is geared up for under 5's including early starts, repeated shows, early discos and "celebrity" appearances from the likes of Mike the Knight and Bob the Builder and his gang. We LOVED it!! Elliot had so much fun and we can't wait to go again. (We've already booked for May so watch out for a blog post soon after!)

The Cinema!
We were quite excited to hear that Peppa Pig has a brand new episode (The Golden Boots) which is being shown in cinemas along with some other favourite episodes. This will be Elliot's first trip to the cinema and I can't wait!! He goes into a bit of a trance when he watches Peppa so I hope this means he will sit still for the whole hour ;)

Wimborne Minister's Model Town
This might sound like a bit of an odd choice but imagine being 2 years old and running through a little town like you're a giant!! I've also just spotted on their website that they also have a model railway - another plus point for a train mad toddler!

These are just a few things on our to do list but I also hope we get to have lots more fun in and around our local area. We have so much on our doorstep like some amazing beaches and so will definitely making the most of these!

Trendy Tot Thursday

Elliot has a lot of clothes...and I seem to be forever buying new stuff to add to his collection! I went into Morrison's yesterday and picked up lots of lovely items in the Nutmeg kids clothes sale (might do a separate blog post about that soon!) and I'm sure this will be the first of many Trendy Tot Thursdays featuring Morrisons outfits.

Skull & Crossbones jumper - Nutmeg @ Morrisons

Jeans- TU @ Sainsburys

Stomposaurus shoes - Clarks

I've said it before but the supermarket clothes ranges for kids are brilliant - who wants to spend a fortune when they grow so fast!! The jumper was in the sale and I paid £4 which I thought was a bargain, it's really good quality and I love the piratey theme.