The weather in the past month has been like a roller coaster: one minute, you relax and enjoy the sunshine by the paddling pool, sipping on a smoothie; the next, you find yourself in your worst nightmare, rain falling from the sky like the monsoon season has started, knee deep in mud (slight exaggeration), thunder scaring the children as they come home from school. Is it just me or has the weather gone completely mad?
Despite the mood swings of Mother Nature (she is one hormonal Lady!), I cannot emphasize enough how elated I feel now our winter coats and sheepskin-lined boots are locked away until November. That moment when the flip flops have their first outing of the season is such a mood lifter! In my books, not many things beat feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin. Happy days!
The warmer weather and longer days also mean the children have had lots of friends coming round for playdates and our new treat of choice is… drum roll… Kinder Bueno Milkshake.
I know, it just sounds wrong. The first time I heard someone mention the bizarre drink with a chocolate snack in, I might have gagged. How wrong was I? We were at an American diner for a birthday party and Crevette opted for it. Oh. My. Goodness…
Ever since February, I have been playing around to reproduce the divine milkshake (seriously, it is like Catnip for kids!) and I finally cracked it a month or so ago.
If you are a teeny bit curious, try it: it takes a minute to put together and it is a big winner with all of us, a dozen of the children’s friends, their cousins and even my Nan, who would never go for anything like that! My trusty Vitamix has been put to good use once again!
Kinder Bueno Milkshake
Ingredients
- 1 glass full fat milk 250ml
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream 100g
- 2 bars kinder Bueno 43g
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients together and enjoy straight away with a straw.
Whilst I am on the topic of playdates, one toy in particular has been entertaining every single child who has set foot in our house in the past month: King Pig’s Castle by LEGO®. I have absolutely no idea what draws children to Angry Birds. To me, they just look like rabid creatures doing the weirdest things (is it just me?)…
My oldest two are really into them, so when LEGO® offered to send us the latest Angry Birds Movie play set, I could not refuse.
We received the set (chosen by Crevette, of course) on the day one of his classmates was at home after school. My ecstatic 7 year old could not wait to open the box and his friend was equally excited to start building.
She was determined to build at least one tower with my little man and there was a lot of pleading and moaning when it was time for her to go home .They did have time to make this catapult, though, and to have fun projecting the bird to the other side of the decking!
The following day, I had seven children at home after school: my four and three lovely girls coming for a play. The older two spent a couple of hours getting to grips with the instruction manual and patiently sorting tiny LEGO® pieces.
Looking back, all I was doing with LEGO® when I was little was build walls, sometimes managing a house at a push, but these days, LEGO® looks more like engineering than brick laying and the designs of the sets are rather ambitious.
The following day was even warmer, woop woop! After picking up Beanie and Crevette, we walked to Jumpy’s pre-school and met friends in their local park for a chat, a play and a picnic. I had brought Beanie’s roller skates, the new LEGO® kit, my camera and plenty of sweets, so everyone was happy!
My little man is a voracious reader and it takes a lot to whisk him away from David Walliams’ books or characters in the likes of Matilda, Jack Stalwart or Tom Gates, but it seems that putting together the Angry Birds castle has been as addictive as reading in the past few weeks.
From an Angry Bird virgin’s perspective, I have to admit the castle is an impressive ‘building,’ with its gates that open, spinning tower, fun spiral egg chute and catapult.
Crevette has been happily working on it in his bedroom, at the dining room table, in the garden, at the park. The set has been coming with us everywhere!
I even got sucked in after a couple of weeks and started helping him, digging out the pieces needed for the next page on his manual. I would be surprised if my boy did not become an expert at building IKEA furniture when he grows up!
Disclosure: We received the play set (King Pig’s Castle) free of charge from LEGO® but I was not compensated further for writing this post.
The new LEGO Angry Birds collection is suitable for children aged 6+ and is available from retailers nationwide from 1st April 2016. For more information, click here.
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That milkshake looks amazing, although it doesn’t look diet friendly! My kids are also huge fans of Lego, I will have to tell them about the new Angry Birds sets! 🙂
You’re right; that one is definitely not a light option when it comes to calories or sugar I guess, but it’s quite an unusual treat for playdates, he he!
The milkshake sounds lovely! Can’t believe you had such a house full of kids though, thankfully the sun was shining so they could play outside x
I quite like having a house full of children actually!
A Kinder Bueno Milkshake intrigues me. I think it’s a recipe I will have to share with my family and watch on in jealousy as they try it (I’m allergic to milk so can’t try myself).
You know you have a good toy when it coaxes a voracious reader away from a book!
Oh that milkshake looks heavenly – my teens would LOVE it! The Lego is awesome – Pickle is obsessed with Lego! Kaz x
We all love LEGO here. It’s such a nice, calming activity to do all together, when our toddler doesn’t throw the little pieces around, that is.
Kinder Bueno milkshakes sound like the perfect treat for me right now and when I need to de-stress chocolate is often the first thing I turn to!
Me too! These milkshakes are seriously moreish!
Oh my gosh that kinder Bueno milkshake sounds delicious! Kinder buenos are my favourite! I definitely need to try that!
You’d love it!
What a perfect blend! Milkshakes with lego playing. Kids will definitely like it!
It’s a winner. Every. Single. Time.
The concentration on those faces with the lego is pricesless x