Toys - The story in pictures

Dairy Free Goodies (Food) in the UK

I love cows.
I'm not vegetarian but we don't eat a lot of meat in the house, I don't believe we should eat meat at every meal and when we do it should be a third of what is on our plate. I think people eat way too much meat and animals are not treated respectfully most of the time.

But anyway, that is beside the point and that would be a whole full post!

There are 4 people in our household and unfortunately 3 cannot have milk!

Gadget Dad started not having milk after we found out BooBoo was Dairy intolerant and his skin got 99.9% better and his migraines reduced from at least 3 times a week to once every so often.
BooBoo had really bad eczema once she started eating & drinking since about 6 months (she was a very good eater!) and lots of chest infections, a continuously bright green runny nose and asthma. One day we decided to try a week of dairy free diet and amazingly everything disappeared!!
Funny Bunny also had the runny nose, the asthma and hayfever. That week of a dairy free diet made everything better for him too!

So basically I am the only one that can have dairy without dire consequences, but as I am the only one and the kids are very young, now practically everything that enters the house is dairy free!
I am now even more psycho than I originally was about checking labels and it is really frustrating that most of the stuff the kids love has milk in it... even frankfurters!!! Who knew?!

So here it is, a list of foods that Dairy Intolerant people can eat. Please note that some people are just LACTOSE INTOLERANT and some cannot have anything with cows milk in it at all as they are intolerant to milk proteins in general, even the Lactose Free milk products like Lactofree, these people are DAIRY INTOLERANT like my BooBoo.

DAIRY FREE PRODUCT LIST:
Please note this will be added to over time and you can contribute too by leaving us a comment!

• Jammie Dodgers Biscuits
• Choccie Dodgers Biscuits
• Kellog's Coco Pops Choc'n'Roll Cereal
• Weetabix Chocolate Cereal
• Green & Black's Hot Chocolate Drink
• Fox's Party Rings Biscuits (original and chocolate)
• Tesco Everyday Value Jaffa Cakes 
• Soreen Banana Fruit Loaf
• Tesco Value Bourbon Biscuits
• Hellman's Original Mayonnaise
• Pom Bear Salted Potato Snacks (Red Packet)
• Kelloggs Coco Rocks Cereal
• Kellogs Moons & Stars
• Frosted Wheats
• Raisin Wheats
• Mini Max Originals
• Kellog's Cornflakes (normal/chocolate)
• Kellog's Rice Krispies (normal/multigrain)
• Kellog's Fruit Loops
• Nestle Cheerios (normal/honey/chocolate)
• Nestle Shreddies (normal/frosted/honey/chocolate/choco orange)
• Weetabix Original Cereal
• Jus Rol bake at home pastry, croissants, pain au chocolat and garlic bread
• Tesco's Oaties Biscuits
• Asda Smart Price Apple Pies
• Tesco Value Fruit Cake
• Hovis Granary Wholemeal Bread
• Hovis Best of Both Bread (1 slice provides almost the whole RDA of calcium for a child!)
• Mr Kipling Apple & Blackcurrant Pies

So see, you don't have to spend a lot more going to the 'Free From' aisle all the time! :)

Please do check the labels before you buy as we are not responsible for the information above causing harm as manufacturers can change things at any time, etc. This list is to help you save time and find new products you might have otherwise disregarded!

Some of the products say on the label "may contain milk" but don't have any milk products on the ingredients list, please read the label and use your own judgement as some people are severely allergic and in that case should not take a chance on those products.

Enjoy!
M x

PS. A lot of these were provided by the mummies over at CMPA Support Group on Facebook, an awesome group for parents of children with allergies!

Tinyme Free Printable Fun!! Masks, Bookmarks & More...

The good folks over at Tinyme are giving everyone access to their spantafulous printables!

Great for party fun as well as something to do on those rainy days.

All you have to do is Join Club Tiny!

Enjoy,

M x

RIP My Grandad, My Hero, My Bigodes

It's almost been 3 months since my hero passed away, it took a lot of courage, crying, composure, shouting to come to 'terms' that he is gone.... and a lot of time off to deal with all that.

No one tells you how you are supposed to grieve, and now I know why...

Everyone has their own way of dealing with it and mine was having the time to think about him, get most of my crying out and nice long walks by the beach. It was setting up a facebook group so we could all honour him and share good memories between friends & family.

As you see I have been quiet since the end of June and now you know why.

My grandad never made it to my birthday, but he made it to see my son get to 6 and my daughter get to 3... and that makes me very happy.

I believe he is watching out for us and watching us from above... laughing at our silliness and smiling each time my kids do or learn something new. I think he is proud of me now that I am carrying on with my life and not sad any more.

I miss him terribly, and I always will, there is so much I would like to tell him and ask him but I am not sure I believe in mediums and the kind. Do you believe in that sort of stuff?

I think that even if there is such a thing it is very difficult to separate real from fake. I would love to have someone convince me that they are for real though, so I could speak to my grandad once again.

I love my granddad and I always will, he will always be my hero!

It always brings tears to my eyes when I think of him, but I know he is no longer suffering... the cancer was destroying him from the inside out. He was so peaceful when he was gone, I thought I would never do the sort but I told the kids he was having a long sleep and going to heaven and my kids gave him a kiss on the cheek and went back downstairs.

He looked so beautiful and peaceful, I sat on the bed next to him until they took him and that was the last time I ever saw him and I ever stroked his face.

Every day I go to our boutique it reminds me of him, I opened it on his birthday & I do it all for him.

I remember him crying when everything went through for me to get the boutique, he was so pleased and he really wanted everything to go well for us.

So here's a big cheers to my granddad! Our hero...

As I am writing this my 3 year old came over and saw the picture of her and him (the one on top) and said "Look mummy, it's me and Bizivo (great granddad in Portuguese), he's my best friend!", it makes me so happy that she understands that he is gone but always with us in our hearts.

My granddad always played with the kids and they both loved them dearly.

I love you granddad, always and forever, my Bigodes, my hero....

He still got to see my tattoo for him x

Monica xxx

Kids Food Fun!

Some ideas for making the kids lunch fun! M x

We are famous!!! In Basildon that is...

I am very excited to announce that a local newspaper did a story on us and we are in this week's edition which came out today!!

The Basildon Yellow Advertiser wrote about us on page 5, you can check out the digital copy of the newspaper here.

Hopefully lots more people will discover the wonderfulness that is our boutique!

Monica x

BEWARE National Lottery Scam Email!!!

I have just received this email and thought I should warn everyone that this is a scam!
Whatever you do don't reply with your personal information!!

This is what I got on my email from the scammers...