My Battle With Sugar And Fizzy Drinks

My Battle With Sugar And Fizzy Drinks

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

Growing up I only ever really remember drinking blackcurrant squash. I was never a fan of plain water or milk and I might have had the odd drink of orange squash but I never had anything else. I definitely wasn’t a fan of hot drinks either. I’d always take made up bottles to school or college with me and then when I started working I did the same thing there as well. I first went to Toronto, Canada in the summer of 2006 and I spent a whole month there. At the time, I didn’t really think too much of

The Countdown To Starting School

The Countdown To Starting School

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

In 10 short days applications open for children starting school in 2020 and that means that we have to apply for Erin. It feels like only yesterday that Erin was a (very) tiny baby and being so small that I thought I would break her. I can’t quite believe that this is her last year at nursery and next August we’ll be getting her school uniform ready for her very first day of school. As a lot of children have just started school this month I have seen a lot of posts, both on blogs and social media, about the

Unisex Sunglasses From Zippo

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

AD | Gifted Summer might have come to an end but there are some things I’m not willing to give up just yet. One of those things are my sunglasses! There are still some days where it’s quite warm and the sun gets really bright, especially when I’m walking across the park on the way to taking Erin to and from nursery. I hate having to squint so I always have a pair of sunglasses in my bag or in the pocket of the pushchair. John and I both needed new sunglasses this year and we found some wonderful designs

Film Ideas For Children That Don't Like Animation

Film Ideas For Children That Don’t Like Animation

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

For the longest time I have been trying to get Erin interested in watching films. I would love to be able to sit on the couch with her on a rainy day, with our duvet, and cuddle up to watch something fun. Unfortunately, it really hasn’t gone in my favour. Erin has always quite liked cartoons and is happy to sit and watch random videos on YouTube for a while but a film she just will not bother with. We have tried all sorts and up until recently, the most we could get out of her was 40 minutes of

How To Plan Your Child's Birthday Party Without Going Crazy

How To Plan Your Child’s Birthday Party Without Going Crazy

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

Over the past couple of weeks Erin has been to two of her friend’s birthday parties and she had an invitation for another a few days ago. I knew that as soon as Erin started going to other birthday parties she would want one of her own. With Erin’s birthday being on New Year’s Day I always feel the pressure to make sure everything is organised in advance. The last thing I want to do is to be organising her birthday right on top of Christmas and this year, I kind of feel like I’m really ahead of things. Thanks to

Nuts! by Lou Peacock and Yasmeen Ismail

Children’s Book Review: Nuts!

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

AD | Gifted  Nuts! by Lou Peacock and Yasmeen Ismail was published by Nosy Crow on 1st August 2019. It can be purchased on Amazon. When a little squirrel finds a big pile of nuts, he is VERY excited! But soon he is joined by another squirrel . . . and this squirrel thinks the nuts belong to HER. And when Mouse, Bear, Badger and Rabbit get involved, well, things get VERY confusing indeed! They won’t even listen to wise Rabbit. Will the quarrelsome squirrels ever learn to share? Ever since Erin was really little she has been fantastic at

5 Things I Learned From The Summer Holidays

5 Things I Learned From The Summer Holidays

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

This was our first real summer holiday as last year Erin was still going to nursery all year round. I was thankful at the time that nothing changed even over the summer and I could get on with things like normal. Then, Erin had to change nursery and she now only goes term time so we’ve had to deal with the holidays this year. At the beginning of the holidays I was quietly confident that it will all be okay and we wouldn’t struggle with anything. Of course, nothing ever seems to go the way that you think it will

Cromer beach

How We Spent The Summer Holidays

By : Lyndsey OHalloran

AD | Includes gifted experiences Even though Erin started nursery just a few days after she turned 2, she attended all year round for a while. It was only because we had to change which nursery she went to that it turned into just term time attendance. So, this summer was our first real summer holidays and I honestly didn’t really know what to expect. I had a bit of money saved up before the summer holidays started and I carefully budgeted for certain days out. We had some plans in place and I wanted to make sure we could