Shoesday Tuesday 24th January 2012

This another pair of old favourites. 

They are great to wear during the day or night and amazingly comfy despite the sharp point which sticks out a good inch further than my toe. They look fab with a pair of jeans.

Cuban heels and long pointed toe ... always a winner!

Black shoe boots by Donald J. Pliner for Russell & Bromley

What's been hanging out with your feet this last week #ShoesdayTuesday

Bumper Cars

I was waiting in the car with RoRo and RaRa whilst eldest was having her recorder lesson. Having read a few book the girls decided that they wanted to play hide and seek in the car which was going well until RaRa crumpled into the passenger seat clutching her forehead and crying. A sheepish RoRo very quickly blurted out sorry whilst stifling a giggle ...

Me: "Good grief RoRo, what have you done to your sister?"

RoRo: "Well she was in my way."

RaRa: (wailing) "She hurt my heeaaad!"

Me: "Why would you poke your sister in the head? That's not very nice."

RoRo: "I didn't poke her!"

Me: " Well what did you do? Did you smack her on the head?"

RoRo: (Rather indignantly) "No, I did not! ... I head butted her!"

It turned out that RoRo and RaRa had both moved forward at the same time and banged heads. The large red mark on RaRa's head and lack of any mark on RoRo's suggest there was a little more premeditated thought than RoRo is willing to admit!

Boys will be boys - or will they?

This post is sponsored  by John Lewis

I am pleased to welcome my first ever guest blogger Tamsin McCahill from brightonhobbyproject.posterous.com has two young boys, and here questions whether gender stereotyping has crept into her parental decision making. Don't forget to enter the fantastic competition at the end of the post to win £100 John Lewis vouchers!

A trip to my brother and sister-in-law’s house is never boring. The parents of a six-year-old girl and three-year-old mixed-sex twins, our visits are mainly spent watching their only boy clip clop around the living room in his sister’s high-heeled dressing up shoes and fairy wings. 

Said nephew is definitely in touch with his feminine side, and has been ‘cross-dressing’ like this since he was barely out of his cot (although he does still love the ‘normal’ boyish pursuits of trains, cars and torturing the dog).  It’s something his parents have never encouraged, but nor have they gone out of their way to get him to stop.

By contrast, their eldest girl is a tomboy. Although her bedroom walls may be pink, what did she ask Santa for this year? Goal-keeping gloves.

“Where did I go wrong?” wails her mum. Well, nowhere, feminists would argue, having been campaigning for years against the gender stereotypes that brand all caring, nurturing or domestic playthings as ‘girls’ toys’ and more sporty, active, adventurous toys as being just for ‘boys’.

Take the recent campaign by feminist blogger Laura Nelson to get London toy shop Hamley’s to remove ‘sexist’ signs that divide toys by gender, a story that hit the headlines just before Christmas.

The store was forced to change its blue and pink signage to more gender neutral red and white. Hamleys now categorises its toys by interest and type, rather than sex, according to the Mirror.
So what is so wrong with dividing toys in this way? After all, it’s something we’ve been doing for years, (and something I’m definitely guilty of myself, as the mother of two boys). Laura explains it as such: “My concern (is that) that gender segregation restricted children's and parents' choices and influenced the development of skills and aspirations of children, contributing to society's inequality.”
Reading that statement really made me think about my attitude to my own boys, the toys I buy them and the activities I choose for us to do. Am I guilty of gender stereotyping?
My eldest loves roleplay games with his monsters and Fireman Sam toys – but is that innate, or something we’ve pushed him into by discarding all the other possibilities? In fact, thinking back to when he was two, he loved putting dolls into toy pushchairs whenever we went to playgroup. I never discouraged it, but never thought to buy him a doll or pram to play with at home. Similarly, we don’t have a toy oven or any ‘home-corner’ type toys, although he does enjoy helping me cook.
So from now on I’m resolving to become more attune to all the different kinds of play we can do together, and not just to discount things I feel he won’t be interested in on gender lines. This year we’ll be adding a dance class to go along with his football lessons, and looking at other things to play with.
Maybe we could add a new element to role-play games with his monsters, where Spiderman has a home and child to look after? It may make the whole experience more enjoyable for me, too.

So what do you think?
Do we inadvertently contribute to the gender stereotyping that are children are brought up with?
As a mother of 3 girls I have actively tried to provide  a broad range of toys and activities for them to play with. I hope this will help develop a healthy attitude to what boys and girls can do and ultimately  help equip them to deal with a world that still feels a need to categorise so many things based on gender.
 I feel a blog post coming on :)
To enter the competition follow the rafflecopter instructions below. Good luck


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It's All To Do With A Blue Box!

Car Conversation

RoRo: "When thieves are doing naughty things how do the policemen know? How does he know 
who to put in jail? How does he know if he doesn't see them ... if he's at home or in an office?"

Eldest: "I know! I know! He has a Blue Box!"

RoRo: "What?"

Eldest: "The policeman has a blue box at home and it rings like a telephone."

RoRo: "Like the Tardis?"

Eldest: "No, it's smaller. It rings and it prints off pieces of paper to tell him what to do."

RoRo: "Oh, OK."


This is part of @actuallymummy #wotsofunee linky

It's All About Pink - Shoesday Tuesday 17th Jan 2012

I absolutely love these patent bright pink shoes (I also have them in red!). They add a fab bit of colour to most outfits and always get comments from bothe men and women when I wear them.

The solid heel and round toe also make them one of the most comfortable pair of high heels I have ever had.

Patent Bright Pink Shoes by KG

What's been hanging out on your feet this week? #ShoesdayTuesday

I've changed it to a blog hop so hopefully you should see all the links on your page as well.

RoRo's New Shoes - Shoesday Tuesday 10th Jan 2012

 RoRo absolutely loves her new sparkly shoes she received as a Christmas present from her cousins. 

They're gold and very very sparkly ... what's there not to like? 

The only down side is the glitter does tend to snag on things and I've already had to change the ribbon once but they look so cute on I can forgive them for that!

Shoes from Monsoon (childrens)

So what shoes have you been hanging out with? #ShoesdayTuesday

What's in a name?

On Saturday we became the proud new owners of two additional cats and have been trying to come up with some names for them. It's not going well.
Suggestions so far include Broccoli, Pumpkin, Cello, Hector, Bounce, Pounce, Zo Za, Okra, Leapy & Sleepy.
Mr Dad trying to generate some fresh ideas did a bit of prompting in the car on the way back from school. 

Mr Dad : 'Think of round things. The cats have got circular markings on their side?'

RoRo: 'Car Light?'

RaRa: 'Pizza?'

Eldest: 'How about Sophia?'

Mr Dad: 'Sophia? That's a girls name.'

Eldest: 'Well we talk about it a lot in maths. It's like an oblong but round!'

Mr Dad: 'Ummm...'

Eldest: ' What about the Earth then? The Earths Round'

RoRo: 'What about Russia and China?

Mr Dad: 'What about Russia and China?'

RoRo: 'Well, I found them on this planet, when I clicked the mouse!'

Mr Dad: 'Err....'

RaRa: 'Door knob!'

I think this could take a while!

This is part of @Actuallymummy's Linky #Funee and @Mummymummymum's linky #FunnyFriday

Hello! ... Is There Anybody There?

The girls all had a 'walkie talkie' each for Christmas. 

RaRa: 'Hello!'

RoRo: 'Hello!'

RaRa: 'Hello! Rowan ... are you there?

RoRo: 'Of course I am. Where else would I be?'

RaRa: 'Daaaaad, how do we turn them off?'

So far I think they are unimpressed!


This is part of 'Wot-So-Funee' and 'Friday Funny'

Organised ... Well Almost!

The girls went back to school today. The house is now quiet.

I was partly organised this time. All their school uniform was hung up and ready for them. Shoes were polished and by the door. Gold star for me I thought. We're ahead of the game! By 8.15am I was feeling smug as I shuffled them towards the door to get in the car.

Silly me ... eldest has a major melt down because she can't find her hat! I find a few alternatives but the stamping of feet and tears suggest they are not appropriate.

'Oh well, you can go to school without a hat. It doesn't matter', I say.

It would seem that that is not the case either! She stamps her feet even more pointing at her sisters who both have hats on their head.

'They've got hats on. I'm not going to school without a hat!', she rants.

So now we're in stand off. Mr Dad tries to intervene but things start to get worse. It's time to stage a sit in!

I place all the hats that fit her on the floor by the door. Then Mr Dad, RoRo, RaRa and myself all sit down and wait.

Eldest does not move.

It's getting late!

RoRo and RaRa start giggling like loonies.

Tick tock! tick tock!

Finally after a few minutes eldest picks a hat and we can get into the car.

The twenty minute drive is uneventful. The girls even ask to do some maths ... 'You go to the shops and buy 7 apples. On the way home a large pink pig eats 3 of them. How many do you have left?' And so it continues with giggles and claps all the way to school.

They skip off happily towards their classes. It's all looking good again ... then I realise I've forgotten three P.E. kits and a violin!


This is part of Tuesday Tea & Sympathy

Shoesday Tuesday 3rd Jan 2012

Happy New Year everyone. I hope everyone had a fun over the holidays and maybe you even had some new shoes or grabbed a bargain pair in the sale?!

This weeks Tuesday Shoesday is another old classic pair from me. 

These lilac 'brogue style'suede shoes are from Dr Martin. I think they came from a Dr Martin store in Covent Garden (I have memories of a warehouse style shop with lots of metal stairs). 

They've lasted well although I admit they are not a pair I wear every week. Part of that is because are ridiculously heavy. It's like walking with bricks attached to my feet. Must be that solid built heel! 

So what shoes have been hanging out with you? #shoesdayTuesday

Getting Fit, Loosing Weight & Having Fun!

This is the year I try and shift the last bit of baby weight and get fit.

Now considering I had 2 pregnancies one after the other (the 2nd being a multiple pregnancy) I don't look bad given the no effort approach I've taken. I put it down to all the Yoga and Pilates that I did before I had children. I'm by no means over weight (mmm, actually that might not be true given the tightness of my jeans at the moment! Christmas was a little naughty) but I am over a stone heavier than I was pre-pregnancy and the twins are now 5!

I also have this wardrobe full of pre-pregnancy clothes that I can't quite comfortably slip into. They've been there for over 5 years now so it's loose the weight or loose the clothes. They're mean clothes. Not only do they take up space but they silently mock me! How rude is that?!

So this is going to be my approach

EXERCISE

• Use my Micro Scooter when ever my girls have their wheels. I was on it to day zooming with the girls and the burn in my thighs was no joke! 

• Bounce on the Space Hopper every day (thank you Santa!). This may sound silly but my legs turned to jelly having bounced on it in the park this morning. I did have a child bouncing with me as well but even so, a couple of minutes was all I could manage. 

• Just Dance 3 (Wii) every other day for half an hour. This is so much fun so any excuse and it hurts my arms and legs and makes me huff puff. It's got to be of some value and no I'm not posting a video of this ... 
• Zumba (Wii) a couple of times a week. I don't think it's as much fun as Just Dance but I haven't got past the practice steps yet!

FOOD

• Eat 3 meals a day and stop snacking
• Limit the sweet stuff
• Replace one meal a day with Ryvita and Cuppa Soup
• Ban crisps (Mr Dad are you listening)

So there it is. 

I am currently 9t 7oz which means I've put on far to much weight over Christmas and have a good stone to go. Operation #funweightloss is a go. What are you going to do?