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I love travelling with the kids.  Now they are out of nappies, don’t need pushchairs or travel cots traveling is much easier.

Regardless of where we’re going I’ve always made sure I’m prepared for, pretty much, every eventuality. I always pack a bag with cards, pens, books and games that we can whip out at any opportunity to keep the children occupied.  I usually don’t reveal what’s in the bag so that everything is a bit of a surprise.

Netflights have a nifty family summer holidays puzzle pack, which is a downloadable booklet to keep children occupied while travelling.  It has word searches, dot-to-dots, colouring sheets and things to spot.  I’ll be printing this off next time we travel abroad, I think it’ll be perfect for the next time we fly … and I’ll get a little bit of peace and quiet.

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I have a special place in my heart for Tesco.  I am a total slave to their Clubcard points.  When it comes to Christmas I try and get as much as I can there; food, gifts, toys.  We then use our points for meals out and cinema trips as a family.

At the weekend I nipped in to get some things for our ‘curry night’ and I noticed they had a half price sale on all toys … and if you order online you get free delivery over £50.

This train is ideal for families who want sufficient room for their children as well as luggage.

Kids can entertain themselves by watching onboard express TV or just by enjoying the view. The excitement of the train won’t wear off as the journey time is only 15 or 21 minutes.

This half term every child travelling with a paying adult can travel for free!

When we’ve run a half term offer before we have seen customers not only use the train to get to the airport, but for a family trip into London to visit a museum, watch the latest movie or visit the theatre.

The online tool is designed specifically to help mums find fun, learning based activities to entertain their pre-schoolers. Like all Playhouse Disney programming education, humour and fun are an integral part of the tool so learning becomes a more enjoyable experience while also teaching important values such as sharing, manners and friendship.

 The fully interactive tool allows you to choose activities based on the popular TV shows and characters, allowing you to filter down by character, the time you have available, type of activity and location. You can tailor each activity to fit in with your schedule – be it a 5 minute video showing a fun way of exploring primary colours or a half hour outdoor activity that builds reading skills and helps children discover their sense of family. You can try out the ‘What Shall We Do Today?’ tool here or visit www.playhousedisney.co.uk.

The tool builds on the idea of shows such as ‘Jungle Junction’, ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse’ and ‘Handy Manny’ and works alongside them to tackle different areas of child development, from early maths to social interaction, problem solving to teamwork.

My Easter break so far has consisted of eating the excess Easter eggs that the children were given.  Next week I’m supposed to be wearing a swimsuit in Florida.  People won’t be able to tell me apart from the whales. 

As the principal partner of British Swimming, British Gas is offering  free family swims to all customers. Not only providing  the opportunity to encourage your children to swim, get fit and have fun – but also giving you the chance to burn off some of your excess calories, while saving a few pennies at the same time!

All you have to do to claim your voucher is visit http://www.britishgasswimming.co.uk/ and follow a few simple steps to book your free family swim.

What are you waiting for? I’m claiming mine now!

I was, and still am, terrible with money. In a bid to help my problem with saving I have started a spreadsheet with our monthly finances in it so that I can make sure I put some to one side in our savings account.

Recently I’ve decided to give the 5 year old pocket money. She gets £2 a week to spend on whatever she wants. However, rather than spend it on an immediate sweet fix, which is what I would have done at her age, she has chosen to save it which makes me really proud.

She currently saves her money in a money box on her windowsill. Every so often she gets it out to count. At the moment she’s saving for a ‘Sam Doll’ which is, I think, a scary toddler sized doll. She already has a Sally Doll, Sam’s scary, stary eyed sister.

She’s starting to understand the value of money which is good because up until recently she thought she could buy a horse, a REAL horse, for around 40 pence.

If only life were that simple … I’d be rich.

Tesco have a range of savings accounts to suit your needs … be it a Sam Doll, a real horse or an immediate sweet fix!

I have a thing for Tesco, self-service checkouts aside.  When the children were little and I couldn’t go to the supermarket with them for fear of having a nervous breakdown I would meet up with Teacher Friend Mother of 3 under cover of darkness darkness and we would go to the BIG 24 Hour Tesco.  We would walk slowly round chatting without a baby hanging off our boobs and a toddler screaming for snacks.  We had ‘proper’ conversations. That’s just the way we rolled back then.  These days we prefer to do our chatting over a chilled glass of wine, but back then … a leisurely evening stroll around the supermarket was an outing of the highest order.

Our home insurance is up soon.  Let’s face it as a parent of two destructive children I need it; Over recent months there was the time the 4 year old drew on the leather sofa. The time the 5 year old spilt Ribena on the carpet. The time the teenager almost smashed the TV with a Wii remote which wasn’t strapped up properly … or that could have been me … Ahem.  There was also the time that someone left the freezer door slightly ajar, ruining a freshly stocked freezer’s contents.

So, I’ve been looking around for a competitive price.  As an obsessive collector of Tesco Clubcard points I was  pleased to see that if I were to buy Teso home insurance between 7th January and 3rd March 2010 not only would I get 1200 Clubcard points, but I would also get a 35% online discount.

Are You working from home?

With faster broadband connections, and advancements in technology 1,000s of UK workers are opting to give up the rat race and work or set up businesses from home. That means no more spending time on a freezing platform waiting for cancelled trains, that when they do arrive you end up giving up your personal space to be squashed next to your fellow commuters!  More importantly it means that your working hours are more flexible, you can spend more time with the kids, and pay out for less child care!

You are best to set up your home office in a dedicated room away from distractions, and most importantly this will give you the ability to shut the door at the end of the day! Once you have the room, kit out your office the way you have always wanted it and make sure you stock up with all of your favourite office supplies!

Euroffice.co.uk is the UK’s largest online discount supplier of stationery and office supplies. There are over 33,000 products available; in fact everything that you could ever want in an office is there from paper to pens, ink cartridges to envelopes.  They also supply office furniture so get that office looking good!

Next day delivery is free for orders over £30, so no need to leave your desk! Currently new customers get 20% off their first order, but keeping coming back for regular offers and free gifts.

For returning customers Euroffice have teamed up with arewenearlythereyetmummy.com to give you an exclusive 15% discount on any item in the Greener Office range for the whole of January 2010. Click here for the discount code.

So visit www.euroffice.co.uk for the cheapest office supplies in the UK, guaranteed or just come along to check out our office blog, or make your own virtual office!