Who likes cupcakes? Meeeeeeeeee!

This is not a sponsored post and I have not been paid to write it other than in baking equipment to make delicious cakes.Yum.


When I was on maternity leave with Monty a gorgeous little cakery cafe opened selling the most beautiful cupcakes you have ever seen. I spent many an afternoon there, eating cupcakes and cooing over my gorgeous boy.

This is what their cakes look like. Amazing aren't they?

It was then that my cupcake obsession began. I try to bake and ice them as beautifully as they do at Parklife but usually fail. The last chocolate batch I did looked like curly dog turds but there you go.

And so with my adoration  for all things cuppity cake, I'd like to tell you about a competition over on the tescos website which opens today.

All you have to do is add a photo of your cupcake creations onto the Tesco website

There will be two winners and they will be judged on the beauty of their cupcake.

So what do you win? Well I am glad you ask because it is quite a treat if you like baking.  The lucky winners will be able to bring a friend and enjoy an afternoon of cupcake creating with a chef on Friday 10th December in London. Ten runner ups will win a cupcake kit (which I myself have sampled as  a thanks from Tescos for writing this post. I will be blogging my next attempt at creating the cupcake of dreams of course!)

The last day that you can enter is Monday 29th November.
Get baking and good luck!

And that's how Mo sees it (vol 3)

My boy is growing up so fast it makes me want to throw myself on the floor with annoyance and shake my fist at the sky.

Which is slightly ridiculous but there you have it.

His language and ability to throw a sentence together has me floored daily. He's like a little old man.

Some recent gems have been:

Mummy that is just i-dick-u-lous (storms off.) I have to laugh at the early stages of Victor Meldrew appearing in my toddler.

Then we have the Toystory obsession much like a lot of three year old boys. Normal yes? Yes. Do most three year olds shout 'To infinity and beyoooooooond?' Of course they do. Mine doesn't. Recently he was jumping up and down on my bed while stark naked shouting 'IN-FANNY- AND - BEYOOOOND'
a strange porny homage to the pixar classic I'm sure you'll agree?

Then we had the 'fark we got to make the bed' incident. This was coupled with the gorgeous husband stomping down the stairs and relaying to me that lil legs had just used afore mentioned phrase. After about 6 repeats it was obvious he was saying first not *ahem* the other word but I did snort at the immediate assumption that Mo had turned into the offensive Nan from the Catherine Tate show.

We are also dealing with a lot of indignance. Is that a word? Anyway, that is what he is. Indignant. A lot. I find it hilarious how I have managed to produce a two foot know all, apparently 'sea water does taste nice Mummy h'actuallally, yes, I sink it does.'
Oh really kid? We live about five minutes from the sea hows about we find out huh? The saddest thing in this scenario is that I actually want to prove to my three year old that sea water tastes of donkey piss by marching him down to the water. I know!

Don't call social services.

Please?

Photobox review

When the lovely people at Photobox contacted me and asked if I would trial a product of theirs of my choosing (for free) in exchange for  a post on my thoughts it was a bit of a no brainer for me. I got to choose some thank you photocards free of charge and it had just been Monty's birthday so these were very much in order- perfect timing!

So I went about uploading my image, playing about with it until I was one hundred percent happy with it. I then placed my order and within about five days I had my postcards in my hands.Great.

I am a bit of a thank you card addict.At twenty seven years of age I am still sending them. And I get a bit miffed when people cannot be faffed to say 'ta for the gift.' I know it is old fashioned but I am just a  bit like that, I like to put a bit of effort in so people realise that their kindness has been noticed. So I am an old hand at the upload your photo and choose a thank you card malarky. I have used all the big websites on offer. Photobox has been by far the easiest and the quickest and I would definitely use them again.

What I loved about the experience

• Ease of use
• Ability to really play with the image and make changes (I changed my from colour to black and white Without losing quality)
• Speed of delivery
• Price- if I had paid for this item it would have been just over £20 for the 40 cards. I think this is reasonable for personal cards and I have paid a lot more when doing Christmas cards!Hence I'll be back.
• The quality of the product was brilliant and I really could not fault it.

#Twineup Venue and details

I have booked a table for a quick dinner HERE at 7.30, before moving on to the main event (which handily is just opposite Carluccios where we are eating)  where we have a reserved area booked HERE for 8.30pm Saturday October 23rd.

The venue is Merkaba cocktail bar which is in MyHotel  (17 Jubilee Street Brighton BN1 1GE)

 Brighton train station is just a 5 minute walk away so plenty close enough for those on the last train home.

Full map and details HERE

So far there is 10 of us but there is still time to let me know if you are coming just leave me a comment, tweet me (@becaboop) or drop me an email (rebecca dot metcalf1 at ntlworld dot com)

Oh and by the way the drinks list? Thats HERE I for one can't wait to do cocktails and chats with you all!

sleepytot review

The lovely Hello Baby Direct sent Blossom  her very own sleepytot to review.

When I was a newborn I was given a yellow rabbit which as I got older became known as 'Rab.'  He is present in many a baby picture of me, came with me on my first day at school and then when I was 22 and the gorgeous husband and I got Lenny (who was then a tiny puppy) he had his face chewed off by said puppy. Hmmmm. He now has a new face provided by my Nan, who is a very talented stuffed toy surgeon. While she was at it she gave him some furry leg warmers as his legs were looking a bit threadbare and worn. Well bald actually.

What I'm trying to say is, sometimes a toy just stays with you and I'm hoping that the sleepytot will be to Blossom what Rab is  to me. I still have him. I still love him.

It is described on the site as ''a baby comforter whose cuddly paws fold over to secure baby’s soother so it's always close at hand.'' well Blossom doesn't have a soother, she has her thumb in her mouth and her sleepytot in the other hand and it is the cutest thing to see them snuggled up together. I hope she still has hers aged 27 just like her Mummy! I wonder what she'll name him?Maybe Rab 2? Shall I force  encourage her to call him that?

I apologise for the lack of images in this post. Is anyone else having problems with getting pictures uploaded onto blogger. Actually want to rip my arm off and throw it. To show my distaste obviously.

Anyone else have a shitty smile?

As Blossom sat wedged into her bumbo shovelling food into her little gob with her little fingers I watched as she paused and the expression that crept across her face was all too familiar. One I had seen many times before on her brother.

You see, they share the same poo face.

Yes that gurney smiley face they both do when they are doing a farty party in their pants.

Which leads  me to wondering, do we all have the same number two face? Is it the family resemblance of many a generation that we all share the same appearance when we are dropping the kids off at the pool of the white porcelain variety?

I am considering jumping in on the gorgeous husband when he is taking a dump to see if he is sporting that all too familiar face that my kids do, that beetroot faced, blood vessel popping, feint poopy grin. Is it him they get it from or me? I rather think it is him, and definitely not me as obviously I never do them, and if I did I would look serene and somewhat like the mona lisa or someone equally as fab.

What about you? Do your kids share similar traits or expressions? Is it a trait shared by the whole family?Obviously not poo face. Think that's just us.

#TWINEUP! Calling all South Coast Mummy/Daddy bloggers/tweeters

We've been talking about it for months and now we have a date!

On Saturday 23rd October the lovely Cheshire Mum who I adore is arriving down south and it would be rather rude of us not to show her a good time (snigger) so, Brighton is the venue and I'm making arrangements as we speak but basically the evening will involve a lot of lovely people, cocktails, karaoke and of course the obligatory dance in a gay bar. It has to be done.

So if you want to come along,  can you leave me a comment so I can arrange numbers and drop me an email (rebecca(DOT)metcalf1(AT)ntlworld(DOT)com so that I can give you all the finalised details. Or you can tweet me HERE

Also Queen Hannah will be staying at mine,  I have done my front garden in preparation for her visit. Oh that sounds kinky. Not like that.  But anyway, if you want to be educated on the crapest TV ever, she's your gal! Reason enough to come out and play I think?