Facebook .... my do's and don'ts!

So i've been thinking about what to blog for a couple of days. Not that life is boring and I don't have anything to rant about, but I like to keep my blogs as amusing and informative as possible. I don't want to write a diary for you to read because some of my life is PRIVATE!
So Today's blog, especially for those of you not on FB (Facebook) is about this wonderful website that has made one young man pretty rich and lots of people rich with information.
So here is my list...
1.  DO - Befriend people you know from childhood but have no intention of ever seeing again!
My hubby says, why go on facebook. If you want to see someone just give them a call and meet up, but the joy of facebook is purely the fact that you don't have to meet anyone you can't be bothered to, or don't really have the time for. You just befriend them and occasionally write them a note or like their photos. They feel loved, you feel popular! Its what its all about.
2.  DON'T- Befriend Ex boyfriends that you still fancy though.
They will have moved on and you'll only be jealous of them
3.  DO - Put lots of lovely photos of your kids, dogs, guinea pigs and days out on there. People are nosy and love looking at your photos, and its a great opportunity to show the world how gorgeous your kids/animals/self is.
4.  DON'T wash your dirty laundry in public, especially if you're not going to actually write what the hell is wrong. Don't put on your post "Oh Shit, can't believe that has happened to me...." You'll get lots of very nosy people asking whats wrong. If you wanted to tell them, you would have posted the full "Oh Shit, can't believe that I've crashed my car, got sacked from work and caught my brother in bed with my husband", and any real friends you would have texted in private!
5. DO Share those funny postcard type pictures that say things like, " If I want to get my children's attention I just have to answer the phone to someone or go to the Loo". It makes us realise that everyone is in the same parent situation, and its not just your own children who don't understand that when you're on the phone you want them to shut up, and when you're on the loo you want the door SHUT!
6. DON'T share those sentimental posts about loving your daughter, or dead people or Autism week (which seems to be every week) etc. We do all appreciate those special to us, but there is no value to "Share if you love your daughter too"
7. DO enter competitions via Facebook. I've won LOADS already, from the likes of RUCOMFY bean bags, to One Stop Convenience Stores hamper of Easter Eggs.
8. DON'T post political opinion if you don't really know what you're talking about. There is nothing worse than reading one side of an argument, shouting about it on FB, only for someone to come back and put you right back in your place.
9. DO use Facebook to criticise large, well-known brands who have pissed you off no end. Talking to customer services on the phone is a private one to one, where you can be fobbed off with any talk, but get public on FB where others can read it, and you tend to get the proper customer service response you deserve. Don't you Tesco Mobile!!? ;)
10. DON'T invite me to play Candy Crush!

My cake this week hasn't actually been baked yet. So you'll have to come back to that, but here is a picture of my brother's birthday cake I made back in November. Thinking I need to make another one like it again!

A 5 year olds take on Passover and Easter... and a buttefly birthday cake

So, its the time for lots of religious festivals, across many different religions. We have celebrated Passover and Easter (in the chocolate Egg sense) in my house, so I thought I would ask my eldest daughter and her friend what they though the meaning of these two festivals were. Lets start with Easter -

So Jesus is a nice guy and he wants to go to Jerusalem. He finds a donkey and heads off with his disciples (good word Amelie). When he gets there, there is a mean king who doesn't like him. (At this point, I am told its a fun festival). Jesus gets put on a cross with a couple of other men and on Good Friday he dies. Then on Easter Sunday some women came to see his tomb and he wakes up.
But why the Easter eggs? I've asked Molly and her friend.
Because everyone likes Chocolate! Good answer.
After Jesus came back to life he died again.
We have Easter Bunnies to give us the Easter eggs.

I think this is a perfect explanation of Easter, lets now move on to Passover.

Moses was in the water and Pharaoh's daughter was going  to the water for a swim.  She found Moses in the water (I think he was a baby) and she called him Moses. He went home to see her daddy and he was treated as a slave when he grew up. Moses said to Pharaoh, let my people go, but Pharaoh still wouldn't listen. Then Pharoah said you can take your people but he was going to kill the first born babies.
Moses put his walking stick up and said "Open Sesame" and the water opened and everyone walked through the water, and they landed in the desert.
They put the bread on their backs because they didn't get time to cook it before they went and the sun baked it and it turned into Matzo, which is why we eat Matzo at Passover.
Pharaoh's army went through too, because Moses saw his army when they all got across, he shut the water.
We dip wine at Passover to welcome Elijah. We eat bitter herbs because that's the medicine.
Passover is fun too, just like Easter.

I think children should become the ministers in our churches, synagogues and mosques. I would go and listen to their sermons any day!!

So today's cake is butterfly hidden surprise cake. Hopefully when little Evie cuts it open, she will see butterflies on the inside... fingers crossed.

End of an era... the Toddler Group.. and a Marvel..ous birthday cake!

They say, all good things must come to an end. And last week was the end of 5 lovely years at Christchurch Toddlers group!

Having started with Molly when she was about 6 months old, and going through the rigmarole of having to get a friend to put a good word in for me, and a massive waiting list (For a Toddler Group for Gods sake), I started attending the Tuesday morning Christchurch Chorleywood Group with my NCT friend Kim, and her little Isaac. A very friendly group and welcoming, unlike a number of others I've come across and heard about in the past, I managed to last it out through Molly turning three and then Lucy being born, so barely a week during term time went by without my Tuesday morning visit to the Church hall.

Toddler groups are a funny old thing. They can be so cliquey, not always friendly and sometimes quite exhausting (depending on the age of the child and their enthusiasm for getting involved). When I first joined, I was lucky to meet some of the loveliest local people I could wish to meet. And most importantly, Pamela was there every week to serve us tea and coffee and biscuits. General rule was that you only had one cup of hot drink, but, if you're really "in" with Pam, you could often get a second cup. 

A great array of toys put out each week for the children to play with, and surprisingly, all in very good condition and all put away (by us parents and carers) in exactly the right place at the end of the session. When Molly was younger, I think things were taken a lot more seriously. We had a rota for reading during snack time (For the kids of course), a rota for organising crafts (all expenses reimbursed) and sometimes even a rota to start off the singing at the end of the group.

From barely being able to remember a single nursery rhyme when I first started with Molly, I now have a full repertoire under my belt, from the likes of  "Wind the bobbin up", "Sleeping bunnies", "Dingle, Dangle scarecrow" and of course the obligatory Jesus and God based songs ( we were in the church hall, and at times the church after all) "Jesus' love is very wonderful" and "Who made the twinkling stars". 

Once a month, instead of sitting in a circle for singing time, we went into the Church with one of the Youth Workers, who would tell the children a bible story. Barely a single child actually listened, but running up and down the pews is so much fun! It was the constant running around the alter that sometimes got them into a bit of trouble, and left a few red faced parents chasing them around, trying not to upset God's place.

When I went back to Toddlers with Lucy, it was a little different. A lot more relaxed, and dare I say, Lazy planning. The toys were still there, and still put away in exactly the right place each week, but the craft ownership was luckily taken on mostly by one lovely lady Jo, and the reading during eating was dropped in favour of the Mums chatting whilst they didn't have to chase the children around. Singing was generally started by the lady who runs the group but everyone had a little shy go and starting something off, or at least putting a recommendation in.

Molly and Lucy have had such a great experience of Toddlers, and I've had some fabulous cups of coffees with some lovely people over the past 5 years. I think, if I were to have another baby, which is definitely not going to happen, I'm not that sure I could do another three years of this though.  I was starting to get a few looks when I would tell people that Lucy, at the ripe age of ONE was perfectly able to join in the craft by herself without my help, because I was too busy sitting on my big behind, chatting to my friends about 3D-Lipo, numerous birthday parties and other lovely gossip. Crafts were becoming an interference, as was sitting on the floor playing train sets or doing puzzles. I can do that with the girls at home when I've got no one else to chat with, but for the past term, Toddlers has been about having a bit of me time!! Its been a wonderful experience, and I'm sure I will miss it, but I won't pine for it, thats for sure!

Thank you again Pamela for all those lovely coffees!

Todays Cake is the MARVEL AGENTS OF SHIELD cake I made my wonderful husband for his birthday. It was a wheat free, light sponge with Almond icing. All eaten by his work mates and none came back for the children. But they eat too much anyway!