The gift of time

Like most families what matters to us most is quality time together. So often it can feel like the general admin of life gets in the way of actually enjoying spending our days together. It's something I'm so very conscious of when I'm with the kids and I'm sure one of my most used phase is 'hold on a sec I just need to do...' (insert house chore/making dinner/planning kids social calendar...) you know how it goes!

Philips challenged us to try out their new PerfectCare Compact Steam Generator Iron in a bid to cut down on our ironing time and in turn spend more time together as a family. The Philips PerfectCare Compact boasts an impressive two times more steam than a regular iron, saving you on average 30 minutes a week. Time that could be so much better spent!

To ensure we really put it to test we divided our family into 'team mum' and 'team dad', divided our laundry pile and tasked the kids to get each other teams pile as crumply and full of creases as possible! Tom and I then set about ironing! We timed each other to find out first off if this iron really did cut down our usual ironing time and secondly, who would be the winner.

You'll have to watch our video to see who won! The winner got to choose our family activity which ended up being crazy golf. It was such a fun morning and we were genuinely so impressed with the iron. What’s great about it is that it has a 1.5 litre transparent tank attached to the base which gives you an hour and a half of continuous use. The actually iron is noticeably compact and really light to use and the continuous steam allows you to iron quicker. What I also loved about it is that with OptimalTEMP technology you can iron on a variety of fabrics (from denim to silk with no risk of fabric burns!) without having to fiddle with settings or change the temperature.


Do have a watch of the video we made testing it out, the kids had SUCH fun making sure the clothes were well and truly creased by jumping up and down and rolling around in them!



Philips are also offering one of my readers the opportunity to win a PerfectCare Compact Steam Generator Iron (RRP £200) all you need to do is enter the Rafflecopter widget below.

Here's to more quality time with the family and less time on chores!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


This is a sponsored post on behalf of Philips. I received compensation in exchange for my post; however, all opinions stated are my own.

No Added Sugar - The kids taste test Heinz Hoops

Since Wilf has been able to eat Heinz Hoops have been a kitchen cupboard firm favourite. An addition to an 'easy' tea or for lunch with toast. They have been our go-to many times over so when we were asked to see what the kids thought of their new 'no added sugar hoops' I was keen to see if they would pass the test with my kids.

Click below to read on

Vlogust: So Far

If you don't follow me elsewhere online, then I'd forgive you for thinking that maybe I'd been taking a little break this month. Although things have been a little quiet on the blog I've actually been very busy over on my YouTube channel taking part in Vlogust. Vlogust is a month long challenge to vlog and publish a new video every day throughout August!

I must admit that I'm pretty proud that two weeks in I've succeeded in sharing a new vlog (almost) every single day! 

Obviously filming every day with the family means that, depending on what we've been up to, some videos are less eventful than others. The holidays have brought some fun activities and trips but also some quieter stay-at-home days too. I personally really enjoy watching those type of 'Mum-Day' vlogs from other YouTubers and getting a glimpse into their normal daily lives. I also think it's nice to document our days and the moments I might not have if I wasn't talking part in Vlogust.

As I'm now halfway through I thought I'd share a few of my favourites...

Vlogust day five - Pimms and PANDORA

Me and my pal the lovely Lucy from Oh Hello Face hopped on the train to London to attend the PANDORA #dosummer event which was such a lovely day out, especially for two tired mums!

Vlogust Day Six - The Mummy Tag!

For day six I joined in with The Mummy Tag to answer some motherhood related questions. Chatting about, amongst other things, being a working mum, pregnancy and co-sleeping!

Vlogust day eight Squirrels and Picnics! 

In this video, we headed to the park for a picnic and to work on some Instagram campaigns.

Vlogust day 11 AND 12 - Reminiscing at the beach a year on - plus guinea pig fishing!!

We took a trip to Burton Bradstock Beach where we try and visit almost every year. I did a video there last year so thought it would be cute to compare in a little flashback.

Vlogust day 14 - Chatting with Mabli!

A bit of a chatty video, with extra-cute babbling from Mabli!

Subscribe to my channel to see a new video uploaded every day at 5 pm and see if I can make it the whole month!

http://youtube.com/tigerlillyquinn

A pink coat and a yearly tradition

For the past five years now we've visited this beach with Tom's mum during the summer. I always grew up not visiting the same place twice as my parents never saw the point of repeating trips but I'm starting to see the benefit of doing so with places like this. There's a definite nostalgia about comparing pictures year on year. Tom's mum even had some video footage of Tom there as a child the same age as Wilf is now!

We spent the weekend with 'granny' which was so lovely for the kids who totally adore her. Mabli was especially taken with her having not spend a huge amount of time together yet as a toddler. She was passed down some of her aunties clothes from the seventies which I'm thrilled about. One of them being this amazing coat, it suits her so much and she LOVES it. I even had a battle trying to convince her to not wear it today when it was boiling outside and we were all in T Shirts.

I mean come on, how cute?!

I've been trying to get into video more (I'm actually vlogging every single day this month) so I made a little video of our time on the beach. Funny enough I actually did one last year too so it was nice to watch back and include the footage in this one. I think I'll try and do one every year!

Incase you're wondering my trousers are from here (and are made from organic cotton, you can get 15% off with TLQ15 if you fancy it)
Top and sunnies are from here

This boy of mine, so effortlessly cool!

If you want to watch the video of this day I'll just pop it below!