Blueberry and oat muffin men

After a rough nights sleep, due to the nightmare that is teething,  and upon looking out of the window at the cold, blustery day ahead, a cosy day inside was the only answer today.  After a lazy morning playing with puzzles and singing along to our story and rhyme CD, Sofia and I got our hands ( very) dirty and made these cute afternoon treats. A simple and very quick recipe will entertain your little ones for 20 minutes and provide a small pick me up in this miserable weather.

Ingredients ( makes 12 men/muffins)

200g self raising flour

50g melted butter

20ml olive oil

150ml semi-skimmed milk

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

100g fresh blueberries

50g porridge oats

Method

1. Heat oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4. Melt your 50g butter and allow to cool
2. In one bowl sift the flour then mix in oats and sugar
3. In a second bowl beat the eggs and add in the milk, oil and melted butter and stir
4. Make a well in the dry mixture and add stir in the wet mixture until combined. Now add in your blueberries and mix together, until you get a thick lumpy mixture
5. Line a muffin tray with muffin cases and top each case 2/3 the way, to allow room for a high rise. Cook for 20 minutes. Allow muffins to cool in the tray for 5 minutes then move to a wire cooling rack until ready to serve

UK Baby and Toddler show

The Uk Baby and Toddler show will be taking place a the Echo Arena in Liverpool on the 2nd and 3rd February. I will be going along to bring Barefoot Books to all the mums, dads and carers who will popping along to visit over 200 local, regional and national exhibitors. The show features over the two days will include demonstrations , competitions, chances for parents, expectant mothers and families to get involved and try products whilst gaining valuable advice and support. Alongside this, there will be lots for all to see and do, with great activities and lots of great shopping to be done. I will be brining along lots of our Barefoot Favourites for babies and toddlers, with great offers and discounts available. I will also be able to answer any questions for those of you who may be thinking of joining barefoot as an ambassador, so that you can have the flexibility of working from home and earning extra cash. I will also be able to arrange baby shower gift sets and book in home parties. If you are thinking of coming along and have not bought a ticket yet, drop me an email as I have a limited number of discounted tickets available. I look forward to seeing you there. If you are coming along and want me to bring along a certain book then have a browse and let me know

Competition

If you fancy winning a pair of tickets leave a comment on here, telling me what you are looking forward to most about the babyshow and I will pick a winner, at random, on Sunday. Good luck 

Barefoot Winter Sale; week 2

Friday seen phase two of the fantastic Barefoot Books winter sale.  With up to 45% off  lots of our Barefoot favourites hardback titles, this is a great time to stock up on birthday and christening gifts or to simply treat your little one to a new bedtime story. The sale is on until 3rd Feb, with the last week of the sale seeing a 20% discount off everything on the site. Don't miss your chance to get great quality hardbacks for the same price as paperbacks. Here are a few of my favourites, to help with your browsing

For newborns and babies

Mrs Moon

Cosy up for bedtime and hum along to lullabies both old and new. The twenty-two selections in this richly textured book are meant for dreamtime sharing. Book with CD edition includes songs sung by Dana Kletter.

For toddler and young children

Storytime

Share a traditional tale and provide a stepping stone into the land of art and story. The seven folk tales in this colourful collection are well known and well loved, and each imparts an important lesson using humour, action, adventure and classic characters. Book with CD edition includes stories read by actor Jim Broadbent.

For older children

The Kite Princess

Princess Cinnamon Stitch is a tomboy who has no interest in courtly life. She'd rather cartwheel through puddles and dance with alley cats. Can she show the king and queen that there's more to life than being pretty and good? Includes instructions for making your own kite.

The Adventures of Odysseus

As Odysseus fights his way back home after the Trojan War, he has to endure harrowing ordeals and adventures, and even when he returns to Ithaca, his troubles are far from over. Acclaimed storytellers Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden bring the poetry of Homer to life, and illustrator Christina Balit’s stylised paintings give life to mortals and immortals alike. Includes two full-length CDs of the story read by the authors.

Don't forget, if this is you are making your first Barefoot Purchase, get an extra 20% off here 

Barefoot Winter sale

Thursday marked the beginning of the fantastic Barefoot Books winter sale.  With 30%  lots of our Barefoot favourites titles, this is a great time to stock up on birthday and christening gifts or to simply treat your little one to a new bedtime story. The sale is on until 3rd Feb, with new offers appearing each week. The first round of the sale ends on 18th January. Here are a few of my favourites, to help with your browsing

Birthday Gifts

Bear's Birthday 
2-6 years

Join Bear as he celebrates his birthday in this latest addition to the bestselling Bear series. Help Bear count backwards from 10 to 0 and find out who is making his balloons disappear. I bought this book for my daughter to read on her fist birthday and she loved it.

Children of the world memory game
4-7 years

Inspired by the popular sing along title If You’re Happy and You Know It!, this memory game utilizes one of the greatest attributes of the book—the adorable children from all over the world—to encourage memory and matching skills. The object of the game is to match the boy and girl pairs according to the traditional dress, country name and colour featured on each card.

A healthy start to the new year

Yoga Pretzels

All ages

Stretch your way to a fun and healthy lifestyle with each of the fifty yoga poses in this colourful deck. Written by Yoga Ed., these cards include forward bends, back bends, partner poses, and balance poses.
Founded by Tara Guber, Yoga Ed. develops and produces health and wellness courses, trainings and products for teachers, parents, children and health professionals. To find out more about Yoga Ed., please visit www.yogaed.com

Kids Kitchen

8 and up 

Step into the kitchen for some child-friendly fun with food. The forty recipes in this colourful deck are based around the five main food groups, and offer a healthy and exciting way to learn about cooking.

For independent readers

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

8 and up

Every night, the king wishes his twelve beautiful daughters good night and locks the doors to their bedroom tight. But every morning, the princesses' shoes are worn through. Where do they go every night? The twelve famous sisters shimmer across the pages of this gorgeous retelling of the classic tale.

Robin Hood

8 and up

The champion of the destitute and downtrodden rides again. Meet young Robin Hood before he becomes the hero of Sherwood Forest, and follow along with his band of merry men as his adventures become the stuff of legend. This lavishly illustrated picture book makes a wonderful gift title to complement Arthur of Albion and The Arabian Nights, and features nine tales including: ‘Robin Becomes an Outlaw’, ‘Robin Meets Little John’, ‘Robin and the Widow’, and ‘Robin’s Last Battle’.

There are lots more titles to choose from here, simply enter SKATING when you checkout.

Big Scribbles joins the Classics Club

Little Scribbles is all about everything baby and toddler, with a big emphasis on books and reading. However, Big Scribbles is taking moving in for a while ( approximately 5 years!)  to share an indulgence of classic books. As parents and carers, we all need a little motivation and inspiration when it comes to teaching, so with a love of adult literature we can hopefully pass on wonderful tales to our little ones ( as long as the Lady Chatterley stuff is post 16, of course! ). I have always been a bit of a geek and some of my best childhood memories involve just me sitting on my bed, getting lost in great books. I have read many great books but there are so many more that I have just not got around to picking up yet, so in the tradition of new year, I have joined the Classic Club and set myself the challenge of reading 66 books within 5 years. I chose 66 so that I can aim for one book per month plus a few extra to keep me on my toes. I will read more than one book a month, of course, but I want to make sure I tick of some of those on my very long ' I must read that' list.

Once I have read each book, I will post my thoughts on here so that I can share with other classic club members and hopefully inspire a few people to pick up an extra book or two. If you fancy joining the club then take a look and I hope to see your list.

Here is my list;

     1.James Joyce – Ulysses

     2.Toni Morrison- Beloved

     3.Toni Morrison- Tar Baby

     4.Louisa May Alcott- Little Women

     5.Toltsoy – Anna Keranina

     6.George Orwell- Animal Farm

     7.Oscar Wilde- The picture of Dorian Grey

8. Emily Bronte Wuthering heights
9. Mary Shelley – Frankenstein
10. DH Lawrence- lady chatterly
11. Dostoyevsky – Crime and punishment
12. William Goulding – Lord of the flies
13. Francis Hodgsen Burnett- The scecret garden
14. Jane Austen – Emma
15. Nathaniel Hawthorne- The scarlet letter
16. Ray Bradbury – Farenheit 451
17. Daphne Du Maurier- Rebecca
18. Betty Smith – A tree frows in Brooklyn
19. Richard Adams- Watership down
20. Gabriel Garcia Marquez- One hundred years of solitude
21. Anthony Burgess- A clockwork orange
22. Hermane Hesse – Siddhartha
23. Henry James- Portrait of a lady
24. Nabakov- Ada or Ardor
25. F Scott Fitzgerald- Tender is the night
26. Arthur Miller- Focus
27. George Orwell- down and out in paris and london
28. George Orwell- 1984
29. Charles Dickens- david copperfield
30. Thomas Hardy- a pair of blue eyes
31. Herman Mellville- moby dick
32. DH Lawrence- sons and lovers
33. Virginia woolf- the waves
34. Virginia Woolf – orlando
35. Joseph Conrad- nostramo
36. E.M Forster- where angels fear to thread
37. Zadie Smith- White teeth
38. Virginia Woolf- Night and Day
39. Evelyn Waugh- A handful of dust
40. Rudyard Kipling- Kim
41. Kingsley Amis- Lucky Jim
42. Ernest Hemingway- For Whom the bell tolls
43. Ernist Hemingway- A farewell to arms
44. Salman rushdie – The satanic verses
45. T S Eliot- The wasteland
46. John Steinbeck – East of eden
47. Chaucer- The Canterbury Tales
48. Arthur Millar- The crucible
49. Albert Camus- The stranger
50. Victor Hugo- The hunchback of notre dame
51. Madelaine L'Engle- A wrinkle in time
52. William Makepeace Thakeray- Vanity Fair
53. Upton Sinclair- The Jungle
54. Mararet Atwood- The handmaids tale
55. Shel Silverstein- The giving tree
56. William Faulkener- As I lay dying
57. Tennesse Williams- A streetcare named desire
58. Margaret Williams- The velvatine Rabbit
59. Henry Fielding- Tom Jones
60. Daniel Defoe- Robinson Crusoe
61. Jerome K Jerome- Three men in a boat
62. DH Lawrence- The Rainbow
63. Salman Rushdie- Haroun and the sea of stories
64. Graham Greene- The quiet American
65. Marilyn Robinson- Housekeeping
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

This week's scribbles

Join the Barefoot Team

Does your new years resolution involve looking for a new job? Perhaps you are planning on earning extra cash so that you can indulge in extra treats for you and the family. If you are looking for something that allows you to stay at home, whilst still getting out and about in your community then maybe Barefoot Books is for you.  I have been a Barefoot ambassador for around 9 months now, and I have loved very minute of it. I was simply looking at ways to keep my mind active whilst on maternity leave with something that could potentially earn me a little bit of money as redundancy was looming.  It was by chance that I stumbled across Barefoot, when looking for new books for the little one, and I am so glad I did. As a lover of all books, I was quickly drawn in to the wonderful world of Barefoot; the books are just beautiful. Ranging from nursery rhyme books for newborns to interesting chapter books for independent readers, there are so many great books for children aged 0-12. There are books with stories from all around the world, to help children celebrate the diverse world we live in. If, like me, you are passionate about books then you will find it a pleasure introducing Barefoot to your community.

Make your new year's resolution, become a Barefoot Books Ambassador, receive a starter kit filled with out bestselling products and lots of great sales tools, AND the opportunity to earn back your entire cost! Consider joining my team ( although it is not compulsory) and I can help you with all you need to get started. You will have the opportunity to do so in the sign up process or afterwards if you wish. Sign up today and become part of a wonderful , creative Barefoot Books family sharing beautiful children's books in your local community and beyond.

If you have any questions or would like more information about joining my team, drop me an email and I will be happy to help deborahgiannasi@virginmedia.com

January Barefoot Book of the Month

As regular readers know, I am an ambassador for Barefoot Books . Barefoot have lots of amazing books for children and I will be highlighting one as book of the month, that I think you and your little ones would love. To prepare your little one with knowledge of Chinese new year, in preparation for February's celebrations, I have chosen ' The Great Race ' for my January book of the month. The book is retold by Dawn Casey, with great illustrations by Anne Wilson. Aimed at 4- 9 year old, The Great Race explores the story of the Chinese zodiac, helping children to learn a little about Chinese culture and traditions.

Race with the animals of the Zodiac as they compete to have the years of the Chinese calendar named after them. The excitement-filled story is followed by educational notes on the Chinese calendar, important Chinese holidays, and a chart outlining the animal signs based on birth years.

For every copy of this book bought throughout January and February I will be donating £1 to The Teenage Cancer Trust to help support a local fundraiser, find out more here 

Like the look of this ? Take a further look at Barefoot Books and get 20% off your first order using the code TWENTY13 at checkout, including all our weekly dazzling deals and sale items.