what's for lunch?

Here's what I've been having for lunch at my house!

I've been testing out the new Vita Wheat Lunch Slices thanks to Soup, and I have to say they are YUM! I always struggle to come up with quick and easy lunch options. I'm usually really hungry by that time, but don't have the energy to put together anything that will take too long to make so these are just perfect. I just pop a few out of the pack, put on my favourite topping (at the moment it's cottage cheese, tomato slices and a bit of salt!) and munch away!

There are a few different varieties of the lunch slices, including lots of grains and seeds, lovely and healthy! Each pack also has two lots of the slices packed and sealed, so once you use one pack (which doesn't take long!) the other stays nice and fresh for the next lunch time.

Soup don't want just me to try the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices. They have put together a lovely hamper for one of my readers to enjoy too. All you have to do is share with me in a comment below what your favourite topping would be on a lunch slice? I'll pick a winner at the end of next week (4 November) and the lovely people at Soup will send out your hamper which includes the Vita Wheat Lunch Slices and a variety of toppings for you to try on them!

Good luck, and get commenting!

ahhhhhhmazing! {giveaway too!}

See those little rectangular things up there with the red ball in the middle? Yes, dishwasher tablets. Now, I don't tend to get excited about anything that revolves around cleaning dishes. All those powders are they same aren't they? Well, that's what I always thought. I would kind of just gravitate towards whatever was on special that looked like it would basically get the job done. I'm also one of those people that doesn't think they can really notice the difference between products either.

Towards the end of last year, I received an invitation from Soup to trial some new dishwasher tablets. The new Finish Quantum ones. I was pretty keen since we do give our dishwasher quite the work out so jumped on board to give them a go. I received a huge stash of tablets to try out myself as well as some sample packs to hand out to friends to try. Every one I have spoken to so far has been impressed. And I also have to say I have been totally amazed too. I've certainly been able to tell that these have significantly washed my dishes better than anything I've used before, including Finish powder, and it also seems to wash your dishwasher too. I'd never seen my machine looking that sparkling before! My cutlery was also less streaky that what I was used to seeing at the end of a wash cycle. Ahhhhhhmazing, truly.

I love it when you get the chance to trial something and it well and truly surpasses your expectations. I normally expect to love something but not this much!! Without a doubt I've been truly blown away by the way these tablets do their thing, and I will definitely be adding these to my supermarket trolley in future.

Now not only do I get to benefit in trialling out this new product along with friends, Soup and Finish are also providing an opportunity for you guys to experience something truly amazing too.

All you have to do is leave a comment below answering the question 'what is amazing, every time?' in  100 words or less. This giveaway will be judged on the creativity of your answers by the lovely people at Soup, so get creative and interesting with your answers.

And what will you win? There are two prizes up for grabs: 

• 1 x $150 Coles/Myer voucher and 
• 1 x $100 Coles/Myer voucher. 

How amazing is that?!

Giveaway runs until next Thursday 3 February 8pm and the winners notified within the week following.

Good luck!!

yum yum yum cooking with kids

I love getting goodies, and not so long ago I was the recipient of this wonderful bundle of goodies!

It was the Braun Multiquick 7 cordless hand processor and a some lovely fresh ingredients and place setting for dinner courtesy of Braun. I have had one of the older models of the Braun hand processor for a few years now but I was very keen to try the new cordless version, especially since I usually have a very keen three year old helper around. Not having the cord to get in the way was certainly a very appealing thought to me. And as it turned out it was brilliant for this. It was great not having to worry about it myself, I just picked it up off the charger and used it without having to plug in and make sure the cord wasn't caught around anything, and even for Josh, it was super easy for him to use without the hassle of the cord.

All in all I loved it. It lets you use the blender as is to mix things in a bowl, or you can attach it to the blender bit with the blade to chop/blend without making a mess. 

The afternoon our goodies arrived we got to work making some delicious burgers which we had all the fresh ingredients for. Josh was a great help with blending the veges and tomatoes and the kids were great with heating their healthy dinner that night! Here's the result of our efforts...

Here's the recipe if you'd like to give it a go. Super easy and quick to prepare, especially with the Braun cordless blender!

Grilled Beef Burgers with Tomato Salsa

Makes 8 x 150gm burgers

Ingredients
750g minced beef chuck steak, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped rosemary
1 tbsp chopped thyme
1 whole egg
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp grated parmesan
10 g chopped parsley
30g fresh bread crumbs
100g chopped carrot
100g chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
50g chopped celery

Method
Chop the vegetables using the Braun Multiquick Cordless chopper
Combine all the ingredients for the burger together and gently slap together to form a
cohesive mixture. Shape into 200g discs and chill for at least 30 minutes for them to firm up
and cool down.
Preheat a heavy pan or BBQ and lightly oil the surface. Cook the patties for about 10
minutes turning twice and allow to rest for three minutes before serving.

Tomato sauce

Ingredients
750g fresh tomatoes, blanched and peeled
1 sprig of fresh thyme leaves removed from the stalk
1 clove of garlic, peeled and crushed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
Chop the tomatoes using the Braun Multiquick Cordless chopper.
Warm the olive oil in a frypan and add the garlic and thyme. Now add the tomatoes and
cook gently until they have broken down and their excess water has evaporated.
Season with salt and pepper and add a little sugar to taste if required.
Blend to a smooth consistency using the Braun Multiquick Cordless hand attachment.

Recipe serves family of four

Review: Laugh & Learn Sing With Me CD Player

This post is sponsored by Nuffnang.

This week we've Zoe has been the lucky recipient of the Laugh & Learn Sing With Me CD Player to test out. Poor old Zoe doesn't get many new toys these days as we have so many already from Josh! So as soon as I took it out of the box and showed her the buttons to press and the disc compartment to open and close her eyes lit up! She really loves this toy. I was cooking dinner yesterday and she happily played away for half an hour, opening and closing the door and putting the discs in the top of the player. It plays songs as well, including her fave Row Row Row Your Boat and it also has lots of phrases it says such as 'open' and 'close' when you you use the door, and teaches ABCs and numbers, shapes and colours depending on which buttons you press. Thankfully it has two volume settings and the blessed off switch for when you've had enough of all the noise!

All in all this has been a great toy so far. Zoe is getting lots of fine motor skill practice with loading and unloading the discs as well as learning songs and lots of words. Thanks Nuffnang and Mattel!

mess mess mess

We get very messy around here everyday. Whether it's messy eating, messy craft, messy playing in the garden, messy toileting from the under fours in this house! We're forever washing our hands. Josh loves it most of all because he gets to play with the taps and the water at the same time and loves to do the soap by himself. Since he has started his own hand washing routine we go through so much soap as he pumps so much out each time!

Over the last few weeks we've been very lucky to have been sent lots of goodies. One lot of goodies has been from Dettol who delivered us their new No-Touch Hand Wash System to try out. Along with it came a lovely finger painting kit for Josh and Zoe to try and get really messy so we could give the new hand wash system a real good workout!

Josh loved every moment of it. Since he's started preschool he has been enjoying painting and crafting at home a whole lot more so he had great fun painting and getting his fingers dirty. Then I got to explain to him about how the new soap dispenser worked. He was totally fascinated and then wanted to put his hand under all the time just to watch the soap come out.

It's quite cool as it means you literally don't have to touch it to use it. There is a little sensor at the back that can tell when your hand is under and then a little blob of soap comes and off you go washing! Thankfully there is also a switch at the back that lets you turn it off. Very handy when you want to curb your preschoolers fascination once he's washed his hands thoroughly!

We received the cucumber splash scented soap and I loved it! It made me want to wash my hands more too. Give it a go if you haven't! I had seen it in the shops a few times and was tempted, so I really appreciate Dettol sending one over! I think we'll get lots of use out of it and it certainly helps entice the kids to keep clean.

Review: Ford Mondeo Titanium wagon

Thanks to Kidspot and Ford Australia, I was given the amazing opportunity to be a Ford Mondeo Mama and to test drive and review the new Ford Mondeo Titanium wagon. It has been really exciting and lots of fun. I also won a brand new iPod Touch and iTunes voucher, as well as a fuel voucher to keep my test car fuelled up and ready to take anywhere!

Want to know what I think of this beauty? Head over here and read my review. Feel free to ask me any questions too.

image: Ford Australia

friday loveliness from germany

The Germans really do know how to make beautiful toys, do they not?

Here is a little treasury of toys from LOUyLOU that I loved. All of their products are carefully designed to improve nearness and balance between family needs, design principles, eco-friendly materials and affordable costs. All the toys have emerged as an alternative to game consoles, plastic and aggressive, nonsustainable products. Great thinking!

You can check out their website here for more lovely products.

little chairs for little people

Just wanted to share this great find. I can't remember how I came across this site originally now, but I'm glad I did, as these chairs are so cute!  Lelbys make contemporary style bean chairs and throw rugs for children. They are designed by Lesley Gordon who was having a lot of trouble finding a chair for her then one year old that fit in with the colour tones of her living area. I think a lot of mums have had this dilemma! So Lesley came up with her own chair and thus Lelbys was born!

There are a few ranges of the Lelbys chairs, but my favourite is the Damask Blue chair in the picture above. Lelbys chairs even come in a faux fur which might be like getting a great big cuddle from a teddy bear!

You can buy these chairs directly from the Lelbys website or the Australian online store The Little Haven. Go and have a look!

what does a baby smell like?

Before I had children, I always used to think that all babies smelled like Johnson & Johnson's baby products. It's such a familiar, nice, cute smell. Well, I think so anyway. Then I had my own children, and my favourite baby wipes turned out to be the J&J ones too, especially the fragranced ones that had that familiar smell. Thankfully, my babies bottoms agreed with the fragrance as well, and we've always been able to use them.

I've been a very lucky lady, and recently was sent a very generous Johnson & Johnson hamper by Kidspot Baby Club, to try out a whole range of lovely baby products. This included some baby wipes which I was very pleased about, but also some creams and bathing products. I've been using it all over the last few weeks, and have to say I'm a bit of a fan of the Naturals range. It smells wonderful (yes, I'm a bit partial to things that smell good!) and is really creamy and delicious on my little people's skin. My two have had their fair share of eczema and dry skin, particularly now it's winter, and the creams have proven perfect for restoring moisture back. There is even one with SPF15+ which is brilliant during the day while moisturising at the same time!

Thanks Kidspot Baby Club for the opportunity to use all these great products.

This blog post was sponsored by Kidspot's Baby Club. It's a lovely space for mums and mums-to-be to get together, chat, share, relate and even win some goodies. The best thing is that you can visit at any time of day or night, and if you haven't had time to shower or do your hair, no one will notice (and there's a pretty good chance no one else has either). Pop over now and register. Connect with other mums today.

alvin & the chipmunks

Remember these little guys? Alvin & the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel is being released in Australia on June 2 and to celebrate every Toys R Us store is having an activity day for all Alvin fans.

Kids and their families are invited to join in the games and activities this Saturday 5 June - you can exercise your lungs in the 'Allllviiiiin Scream Off' or pin the A on Alvin's jumper. There is even going to be a 'Munk to the Beat' dance off competition. There will also be prizes and giveaways galore instore.

If you have a little Alvin fan on your hands and would like to attend, you will need to log on here and ensure you make a booking for your preferred session.

If you are lucky enough to have either Chadstone or Doncaster as your nearest store, you will get to see Alvin himself who will be visiting these two stores.

Giveaway!

In celebration, I also have 3 x Simon & Theodore mini plush toys (official merchandise) to send out. If you would love to win, all you have to do is leave me a comment below telling me who your favourite chipmunk is. First three to comment will win!

If you'd like a free Alvin colouring in page for your little one, drop me an email at mumtoddlerbabe[at]yahoo[dot]com[au] and I'll email it over to you!

a little luxury for little ladies

For a little luxury for your little lady, how about the MiniStyle Chandelier ($189.95) or the little Louis chair from French Boutique ($399.00)?

Or for a whole lot less, you can grab the t-shirt! A Billy Mac t-shirt, that is. A lover of all things beautiful, witty or inspiring, Billy Mac's core is in art, design and popular culture and is aimed at the coolest kids in town ... or the adults who can still remember being that cool or dream of being that cool.

I'd love a Louis shirt myself, or my other fave, the mon cherie eiffel tower shirt.

our latest pots and pans

{This post is sponsored by Nuffnang}

I was fortunate enough recently to receive, for Zoe, the Mattel Stack and Nest Pots and Pans. It was nice to receive something that was more specifically for her for once! Poor old Zoe mostly plays with whatever was, or is, Josh's. She does have things that are hers, but inevitably her big brother gets his hot little hands all over them first.....survival of the oldest and biggest I think. Other things I have to hide away for when she is bigger and able to shove her big brother away!

I loved watching the delight on her little face as she played with them. She loved picking up the different pots,  discovering what each of them did and stacking them together, all the while developing her fine motor skills and building up great hand eye coordination. Her daddy would be proud! 

She particularly liked the green pot as it has a little mirror inside where she could catch glimpses of her cheeky little face! Each of the pots makes a noise too, and they quickly became little maracas. Zoe loves a bit of a dance. 

The bright colours, mirror and fun sounds these make are great for stimulating a little one's visual and auditory skills. And also a bigger kids too it seems. Josh ended up getting just as much enjoyment out of these as his little sister. He kept asking me what was in each pan and he wanted to 'cook' me something with them. Josh is only just outside the age group these are aimed at (6-36 months) and they certainly did have a wide appeal in this house.

tres chic {chic mother and baby online store & blog}

I love the online community sometimes! Just when you think you've seen all the greatest little blogs and stores, you hear about yet another and another.....

Here's another that I have just heard about. I'm not quite sure how I didn't stumble across it sooner. Chic Mother and Baby is the creation of Kristy and Mina who were wanting to help other busy mothers and mothers to-be, have easy access to good quality fashionable maternity, baby & toddler clothing and accessories. Hurrah! They read my mind.

They stock lots of gorgeous brands for mamas like HotMilk and Seraphine, as well as for babies and children like Baobab, Alex & Ant, Fresh Baked and Monstar Kids.

And right now until the 26 March, it's Eco Week at Chic Mother and Baby. You can get 10% off all eco-friendly products!

While you are at it, check out the Chic Mother and Baby blog too. It's full of great tips, product features and lovely imagery. It's definitely worth subscribing or bookmarking.

these are a few of my favourite things....

 

Automoblox

 

 Bumkins Dr Seuss water proof superbibs

  

Mokapuna baby wear

Pediped shoes (available from Tiny Steps) 

 

Peepo available at Fishpond

 

 

Love Mae wall decals

 I couldn't live without the above items at our house. {Well most of them anyway!}

What are your favourite baby and children items at home?

don't you just love....

...an all-in-one sleepsuit?

I must admit I love these, even on my toddler. There is something just so cute about seeing a little one all snuggly and cosy from neck to foot. Josh is a pretty fidgety sleeper too, so I like him to be covered well in his pjs at night in winter as he is very likely to end up with the covers off.

I like a good pair of pjs too. Last year I went on the hunt and all I could come up with was a cotton Sprout all-in-one, which was VERY cute. I actually really liked these but there was only one left. I also ended up getting a fleecy all-in-one from Target. I have to say, though, I much prefer my children to not sleep with synthetic fibres against their skin. Not a fan.

I've always been a fan of Snugglebums pjs - everytime I've seen them either online or in a shop I've wanted to buy them. But they are on the pricey side at full retail price for a set of pjs (about $40) so I've never bought them. I went hunting online yesterday for some and found a whole heap for sale on their website. The all-in-one sleepsuits are $25 each! I thought that was a great buy and bought three like the one in the photo above. They arrived today (so quick!) and I've removed them from their packaging ready to wash. They are so cute and I can't wait to put them on Josh......wish they came in adult sizes too. Teehee!

{new find} evie the elephant

 

I discovered this gorgeous site today, evie the elephant. 

I'm a big lover of nursery art, and especially like the look of clean, crisp, fresh images that aren't too fussy, so their prints really caught my eye. There is only a small range of designs currently at evie the elephant, however they can be customised through colour and font type to suit your nursery decor. The other fantastic thing is that you can choose to order and receive your print fully framed, ready to hang on the wall. If you are anything like me, this option, though maybe a little more expensive then DIY, is so worth it if you don't want prints leaning up against walls and bookshelves for a long time!

Have a look at more great designs here.

{product feature} mums card

 

The Mums Card. These are such a brilliant idea. Motherhood often involves making many new connections on a regular basis and with the amount of brain overload that happens as well, these cards are the perfect way to exchange information with others quickly and without having to rummage around for paper and pen at the most inconvenient times (and there are plenty of those when you have kids in tow)!

 

I recently received my own cards from Tanya at Mums Card and I have to say I was so impressed with them. They came all beautifully wrapped in the little tin you can see above. It's a great way to store them in your nappy or hand bag. The cards themselves are GREAT quality and are fully customisable so that you can have exactly the information you need to share. You can use them to communicate emergency contact details, any allergies your children may have - you can even put one in your child's back pocket in case they get separated from you! The uses for these cards are endless. For more ideas, see here.

There are lots of fabulous designs to choose from including photo cards so your new friends can put a face to the name. They are also really affordable and great value for money with 50 cards starting at $19.95.

I now keep a few of these all over the place so I always have a few with me to hand out. Go and check Mums Card out now. Once you've got them you'll wonder how you ever did without them!


Mums Card website
Mums Card blog

Mums Card on Facebook  

Mums Card on Twitter

{product feature} old soles

  

Here's another great product I wanted to share with you! Old Soles baby and toddler shoes. I have been on the hunt for a little while now for a great baby shoe for Zoe. I've always loved a lot of the purchases I've made but not like with these ones. I recently saw a friend's child with a pair of the silver ballet flats on and was impressed with the look of them but more with the beautiful fit. I asked her what they were and she told me.....Old Soles! So I hunted around and found an online store to purchase them from and now Miss Z has her own pair of silver ballet flats too.

I'm extremely impressed with the fit of these as I said. I've bought a few other pairs of ballet flats for Z and some of them cut in too tight from the elastic around them, others have elastic bows that she ends up pulling and fiddling with. The Old Soles shoes are not only a beautiful soft leather but aren't too tight around baby's little foot and just 'fit' perfectly. They look like they were made to be on her foot.

Old Soles is relatively new. As stated on the website, it was formed in January 2008 by Australian mum Vicke Lever who was struggling to find fashionable shoes for babies and so started designing her own range which led to Old Soles being born.

Be sure to checkout the website for the fabulous range and styles of footwear. I want to buy them all!!