Earlier this year as well as (finally!) getting offered a place at a local school, POD secured a spot at her old gymnastics club. She’d been there weekly until she started school and we’ve had to wait almost two years for a weekend slot to become available. She continued with gymnastics elsewhere in the interim but the sessions were very much floor based. She missed a lot of the apparatus especially the trampoline which was conveniently located next to a foam pit. It’s great watching her now, bouncing on the trampoline before doing a forward roll into the pit, it always makes her giggle.
Last summer we went to the screening of Kazoops and POD loved the episodes we saw that day. She continued to watch Kazoops on CBeebies daily from then on and thoroughly enjoyed it. She’s delighted this heartwarming animation is back on CBeebies daily from Easter Monday. If you’ve not seen the programme yet, it tells the story of Monty Kazoops – a six year old boy with a vivid imagination whose best friend is a pig called Jimmy Jones. He lives with his parents (Stan and Violet), sister Jeanie and his Gran.
We’ve tried various sleep solutions in the past and they’ve made no difference to the POD Father’s snoring. Added to which its become much louder over recent years. We’re not talking a little snort every now and again either, we’re talking that shake the house kind of snoring. Suffice to say there have been many nights when all three of us just don’t get enough sleep. Even the POD Father as he regularly wakes himself up with the sound of his own snoring! When we heard about the Good Night Anti-Snoring Ring, expectations were very low although the POD Father was willing to give it a go.
Last summer we reviewed the brilliant Horse Club Riding Stable from Schleich. It came with two horses, a jockey, window boxes and a whole host of extras. POD has only ridden herself a handful of times but she loves this set and the attention to detail is spot on. The Schleich Showjumper with Horse is from the same range so it can integrate with the Horse Club Riding Stable set or be played with on its own. We’ve come to expect great quality products from Schleich and this showjumper with horse certainly met those expectations.
The Cadbury Great British Egg Hunt celebrates the Easter season with a series of events at National Trust sites up to and over the Easter weekend. You can join in with the Cadbury Great British Egg Hunt at home too by creating your own family hunt. It really is eggsellent fun and you can make it as easy or as challenging as you like thanks to Cadbury.
We all want our children to flourish at school and the Premier League has launched a FREE national curriculum-linked initiative to help do exactly that. Premier League Primary Stars is an education based programme designed to inspire children (aged 5-11) across PE and Sport, English, Maths and PSHE (personal, social & health education).
We had the pleasure of talking to Annabel Croft recently. She’s one of the coaches, along with Leon Smith OBE and Greg Ruzetski, involved in delivering the #TennisForKids programme for the LTA. Annabel started playing tennis at nine, late by today’s standards, but went on to become the Wimbledon Girls Champion and the Australian Open Girls Champion at 18. Watching players like her certainly inspired me to take up tennis, much as Murray does today’s generation. Our daughter POD first picked up a tennis racket when she was four while on a Mark Warner holiday. She enjoyed it so much, last year we signed her up for the LTA’s #TennisForKids initiative.
Six year old POD has always been a fairly good drinker. She drinks water most of the time with a 150ml serving of pure orange juice daily. Drinking will never be the same in the Dove household again though thanks to these interactive Sip n Sound straws. They’re a brilliant way to encourage kids to drink more as each features an animal which makes a noise when liquid passes through it.
Hotel Chocolat have some ‘eggstremely’ great gifts on offer for Easter. From classics like hampers, boxed chocolates and selectors through to the most incredible selection of eggs. There are Extra Thick Eggs, still with a satisfying crack but filled to the brim with ‘eggsellent’ treats suitable for lovers of milk, dark and white chocolate. Giant Ostrich Eggs remain a favourite although the All Our Eggs In One Basket selection looks superb.
Peppa Pig toys always resemble the TV show as you may have seen with the Peppa Pig Classic Toys Range, the Peppa Pig Holiday Collection and Princess Peppa’s Enchanting Tower. This Peppa Pig Campervan Playset is no different and POD is delighted with it especially as she’s a little adventurer herself.