This day I love.......

The items mentioned in this post have been received for purpose of review. All words are my own personal opinion.

Little Man is now three years old and just started at nursery. Like most three year olds he absolutely loves Peppa Pig. He was in for a real treat when he came home from nursery and discovered a box just for him. It had two of the new Learn with Peppa toys inside. The Peppa Pig Laugh and Learn laptop and the Peppa Pig Smart tablet. His little hands were so excited to open the boxes to begin playing with them. Luckily both items were really easy to remove from the packages and I was also impressed that the packaging could also be recycled.

Peppa Pig Laugh and Learn Laptop

Little Man often sees me working on my laptop. Working from home for his entire life, he knows no different than watching me work on a laptop. He therefore was rather delighted to receive his very own laptop and a Peppa Pig one too. His laptop has a rather smart handle, meaning he can carry it with ease wherever he goes. The laptop screen then lifts up, just like a real laptop and fits perfectly on his three year old legs so he can work just like Mummy.

His work however is lots of Peppa fun. Peppa has four fun games to play which help introduce letters, numbers, colours, objects and musical instruments. The games are interactive and the laptop lights up and plays sounds as he plays the games. There is also the option to play one of 6 tunes, play piano tunes and there are even some funny sounds too.

The Peppa Pig laugh and learn laptop is bright coloured and very eye catching to Little Man at three years old. He loves that the screen looks like Peppa things. The numbers are how Peppa would show them and the whole design is true to the show. The main buttons are big and chunky and I love the use of colour and different shapes. Little Man rather likes the slider, which is used for selecting the different game, and will slide it quickly up and down.

Batteries were included and there is a main on and off switch on the base of the laptop.

Peppa Pig Smart tablet

The Peppa Pig smart tablet is incredibly light weight meaning Little Man carries it everywhere he can. I do mean everywhere. One of the things he loves is how it is touch screen. In the same way a tablet would work you make selections by touching the front of the smart tablet.

Upon switching on Peppa asks you which game you want to play. You make a selection using the buttons on the side and Peppa will then ask you a question. For example if you select colours, Peppa will ask something like ‘Find the Purple Puddle’ Pressing the purple puddle plays a well done style noise but pressing the wrong colour plays an error noise. Little Man loves the colour game, I think because he is pretty clued up on his colours, whereas he tends not to play the letter game as he finds it harder to get the answer right as he is not as confident with letter recognition.

The Peppa Pig Smart tablet will grow with him as he does start to recognise letters and numbers and the interactive games with Peppa means he keeps coming back to aid his learning and understanding. The size is just perfect for him and his little toddler hands, at three years old he can carry it with ease. There is a clear volume control and an off and on button making it another good toy to use to entertain him for longer car journeys. The tablet takes AAA batteries which are not included.

You can also Learn with Peppa as I am giving away either a Peppa Smart Tablet or Peppa Pig Laugh and Learn Laptop to one lucky winner drawn at random. Full terms are on the widget below. Prize may vary on the ones stated depending on availability.

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We have been gifted tickets to watch a performance of The Snowman in exchange for this post. All words are my own opinion.

There are certain things that signify Christmas to me or if you like certain traditions that need to happen. For example, we put up our Christmas tree the weekend after my Mums birthday. It doesn’t feel like Christmas until Mariah Carey has played on the radio [you know which song I mean] and we have to watch The Snowman on Christmas day. One of my favourite traditions is taking the children to a pantomime or a Christmas show and this year we are really looking forward to watching The Snowman accompanied by a live orchestra.

In fact something magical is happening this December across the UK.

Raymond Briggs classic The Snowman will be shown across some stunning venues and some of the country's finest Cathedrals and will be accompanied by musicians from the UKs top orchestras. This magical performance sounds perfect for our live Christmas performance this year.

The venues look just as magical as the classic animation is. Accompanied with a world class orchestra I think we are in for a real Christmas treat. This will be the first time we have watched a live orchestra accompany an animation and I am really looking forward to it. Not knowing what to expect I think the anticipation adds to the magic.

The magic of live music, the feel of the music vibrating through the stunning buildings will, I am sure, give the snowman a completely new magical feeling to it. The Snowman itself brings the feeling of Christmas magic to many of us at Christmas time. This really will be the perfect Christmas treat.

Carrot productions have staged over 200 productions of the Snowman across the UK and the 2019 tour dates can be found here . In previous years the dates have sold out very quickly which shows how fantastic it must be, and with the tour staying in one location for a limited amount of time it is advisable to book early so you don’t miss out!

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Last week we were kindly invited to Gamezstation 6th birthday party. For transparency purposes I haven’t been asked or paid to write anything but we had such a good time I wanted to share our experience.

Gamezstation was started in 2013 by Scott and Kirsty Deighton and is a mobile gaming party. They have two vans, named Mario and Vinnie, and each are kitted out with 12 gaming seats and 6 consoles. Gamezstation takes their gaming vans to locations within a 65 mile radius of Leeds and are perfect for a range of events, including birthday parties, summer fairs and corporate event days. You can hire either one or both vans.

During the birthday party the girls and Little Man got to experience the vans. Little Man loved playing Mario Kart, my youngest daughter played Marvel and my eldest daughter Minecraft. We had other people playing a variety of other games too, which was great that they could all play something different whilst sitting on the same van.

In fact, I struggled to get them out of the van. They loved the choice of games, the comfy gaming seats and the lighting in the van too. All the three of them were enjoying themselves.I decided we should see the rest of the celebrations and so we headed inside. We were greeted with retro consoles, the girls did not seem impressed but I had childhood flashbacks as I played Mario Kart on the SNES.

At the back of the room we met the charity TheRockinR. They are an absolutely fantastic charity. Founded by the father of late games- lover 10 year old Reece who sadly passed away from a brain tumour. The charity bring mobile gaming units to those children and young people who are in hospital or hospices or those who may be immobile or have limited access to activities. It helps to provide some normality in an otherwise difficult situation.

We took part in the balloon pop raffle which raised over £1000 for TheRockinR and managed to win a controller and some branded clothing. The girls were a little disappointed they didn’t win the signed Leeds Utd shirt, who happen to have a GamesPod in their family stand, but over the moon with the controller win.

It was time for pizza from the catering van and to listen to the speeches with birthday cake. Well you can’t have a party without the cake. No one wanted to leave, they wanted to play some more games and so that’s exactly what we did staying right until the end of the evening.

Gamezstation could not have been more welcoming and put on a great party. The girls loved the gaming vans and have both now decided that is exactly what they want for their parties next year. I have to agree it was a rather fun evening!

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The summer holidays meant I had to get a little creative with my training. Juggling three children and fitting training in wasn’t easy but for the most part I managed it. One day a week all three children would go to holiday club and it was on these days I would fit in my long runs. One evening a week I would do a speed session. Anything else I tried to fit in as and when. Sometimes it would be buggy running and others it would be running alongside the girls on their bikes. Often though it would be late at night once the kids were asleep but on the whole I managed between 4 and 5 runs a week.

The high of Endure 24 but the high distance meant I had to start the month of steady. Luckily for me my body seems to be adapting to the high mileage and it wasn’t long before I could be back at distance. I struggled a lot mentally with my running in July and in August. Having lost J in June I was running places where I ran with him often and I would instinctively look for him. I broke down in tears on a number of my runs, even now in September I find certain routes mentally tough.

The heat was relentless throughout the summer months, even if it wasn’t always sunny the heat was always there and it made several of the training runs tougher than perhaps they should have been. I don’t think my mental health was in the right place either and I think that added to the issues I was experiencing.

Beat the street finished and our team won, which also meant I could start running normal routes again without stopping to tap loads of boxes on the way. Although there is a part of me that misses them. Whilst I hope it is not the case I may have also had my last buggy run with Little Man, fingers crossed we do manage to go out again as I have loved running with him but I cannot foresee it happening.

I only had the one race in July and August, Round Donny Run. I ran it last year with my friend, who is known as my ultra hubby as we spend a lot of time together training and running ultras. Round Donny Run is a 35km staged event. Each segment is of a differing length some are short and only a few hundred meters, the longest is just over 10km.

Last year when I did this I had no idea how long each stage was and therefore found it hard to pace it. Running 100m for example is a different pace to running 10km. This year I knew how long each stage was and could therefore work out what pace to run at. It seemed to work and went really well. The last stage however the heat got to me and I was feeling really poorly. A little disappointed with myself and my time, as I know without the heat I could have done much better, but still pleased to have been significantly faster than the previous year which shows progression.

With the kids on school holidays we also made the most of the ability to travel and went to tick off some of the parkruns further away. Our alphabet challenge is almost complete and over summer managed obtain most letters with the letters I, J, Q, U, Z left to complete.

July and August were certainly tricky months to fit training in but overall I am pleased with the amount I did. I couldn’t have physically done any more. Not long now until Loch Ness!

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