Be a Hero with Lego City

She may be a gold medal winning Olympic athlete, but when it comes to parenting Jessica Ennis-Hill is just like any other mum.

Joined by her mother Alison Powell and presenter Gabby Logan to launch P&G’s #ThankYouMum at London’s Savoy hotel, Jessica revealed her one-year-old son Reggie keeps her going.

She said: “Reggie was my motivation at Beijing and he will definitely be again this year.”

Speaking as the 100 day countdown to Rio 2016 began, the sporting superstar hosted an afternoon tea event to mark the role her own mother has played in her success.

“It’s not until you become a mum that you kind of really understand everything… until you experience it first hand. You want to do everthing you possibly can to make sure your children get the best out of life. Reggie is just my 100 per cent number one focus.”

Jessica, 30, added: “I really don’t believe I would have been able to achieve any of my World, Olympic or European medals without the support and strength of my mum throughout my life.”

As part of the campaign P&G created a video titled ‘Strong’ (which you can watch here: www.supersavvyme.co.uk/tag/rio-2016-olympic-games) and have published ‘The Mum Report’ which details what it’s like to be a modern day mother.

And a massive ‘good luck’ to Jessica as she prepares for Rio. The yummy mummy is still deciding whether she’ll be bringing Reggie along for the ride but if he does sit this one out there’ll be lots of face-timing and photos promises grandma Alison!

MY daughter is going through a major slime phase at the moment, so when we were invited to the Poopsie Slime Surprise VIP event, she could hardly contain her excitement!

Arriving at the brightly decorated London venue, she made a beeline for the slime-making table and proceeded to lose herself in the different varieties of slime being created. Meanwhile, I occupied myself by taking a picture on a giant toilet, lol.                                             

The day was was a chance for fans to try out new additions to the range including Cutie Tooties Surprise and Sparkly Critters – which rather pleasantly spit or ‘poop’ slime.

The mix of toilet humour with sparkles is a winning combination for the brand – my daughter’s favourite is the Cutie Tooties Surprise which is a giant glittery poo complete with different types of slime, for example, water, crunchy, bouncy, marshmallow….! In addition, you also get a mini collectable character inside.

Meanwhile, my toddler is yet to show any interest in the wonderful world of slime and instead spent the day captivated by the balloons!

How long before he joins the tribe of kids fascinated by unboxing toys? The countdown begins….

Have I ever told you how much I love karaoke?

Well, those who know me well enough have long been in on this not-so-secret secret. So, when I got an invitation to the relaunch party for the Smithfield branch of Karaoke Box it was one I couldn’t accept quick enough. Come on cocktails, food AND karaoke – heaven!

Having roped in some colleagues and friends we headed to the venue near Smithfield meat market and took our pick of one of the 16 private karaoke rooms, which range from catering for groups of up to four and 30 people.

The rooms circle a spacious cocktail bar, but if you get too carried away with picking the next Nicki Minaj track you’re going to rap along to, then waitress service is available at the touch of a button.

Trust me, it is so easy to get carried away, with over 9000 tracks to choose from and being among your friends, there’s no big show or fear of making a fool of yourself in front of strangers.

One of my friends who came along is already planning our next visit back, as the great thing about the private rooms is that even people who don’t fancy taking the mike can still join in with the giggles!

 

12 Smithfield Street  City of London, EC1A 9LA

020 7329 9991

www.karaokebox.co.uk

AS a parent in the age of technology, it won’t be long before you’re debating how much ‘screen time’ to allow your child.

For some parents it’s not a real issue, while others prefer to limit the amount of time their little one spends in front of a screen to the bare minimum – each to their own.

But when choosing WHAT they watch it helps that it’s both fun AND educational, which is what the launch of Learning Time with Timmy seems to have achieved.

Created by Aardman – the Oscar-winning animation studio behind classics Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep – in partnership with the British Council, the interactive online series is aimed at making learning English fun.

And while my boy has just turned one, he took an interest to the preview episodes we were shown, in particular trying to join in with the animal noises and the dance at the end of each episode with Timmy the sheep. It also helped that there was popcorn – and a giant-sized Timmy in the auditorium…

The episodes are also short enough to deal with a toddler’s attention span!

You can watch the series on YouTube at www.youtube.com/LearningTimeWithTimmy