Party for a Princess: Happy Birthday Rebecca

The lovely Lozada Family

I had a really special day a few weeks ago helping to celebrate the birthday of one of our members. We've known Rebecca since she was 8 weeks old and first started coming to Gymboree with her lovely mummy Emma. To start with Rebecca couldn't stay awake for the whole 45 minute Baby Play class and they used to have to come back later in the week to do the other half of the session!








Shake shake shake!

One of the most wonderful things about my job is watching the children who come to our classes grow up and change. So much happens in that first year and it was truly a privilege to be part of Rebecca's first birthday celebration. It's such a milestone for new parents and I loved being able to share such a proud day with them.


Dancing Queen!


My job for a party is to make sure we deliver something really personal and tailored to the birthday child. Rebecca loves music and instruments so we included all her favourite activities and had lots of fun with maracas, dancing, parachute and bubbles. Emma wanted music to get everyone up and dancing as there were a lot of adult guests, so we included ABBA, The Beatles, The Bee Gees and lots more!

It's been wonderful over the last year to watch Rebecca changing from a tiny baby into such a lovely little girl. There's been so many changes it's hard to believe she's now almost walking on her own. I'll be looking forward, as always, to seeing her little concentrating face in Music on Monday. :)


Birthday Bubbles

Thank you to Emma to letting me write about Rebecca's special day, and to SM Studio Photography for use of their beautiful photographs.

Venue: Cupcake, www.cupcakemum.com
Photographer: Sigitas Matulis Photography, www.smstudio.co.uk

Want us to write about your special day? Just let us know!

Come Fly With Me: Gymbo's Holiday Essentials

With the summer approaching I thought I'd write a quick post about the holiday essentials we'd recommend to get you through long flights with toddlers and help you out keeping them entertained away from home!

So here's my shortlist:

1. At least 2 Putumayo CD's including one from the Dreamland range

The Dreamland range is great for promoting sleep and a calm atmosphere when routines get disrupted away from home. The Playground range are more upbeat and perfect for playing on long car journeys or on personal CD players during a flight (this worked perfectly for my friend's twins on a flight to New Zealand). Stories on CD are also good for this.

2. A Gymbo Beach Ball!

It packs down to almost nothing and it's perfect for beach fun.






3. Bubble Ooodles

They don' t take up much room in your suitcase and you can bring bubble fun to beaches, bath time and lots more....






4. Finger or Hand Puppets

These can provide hours of fun for children on their own or with parents. The finger puppet sets from The Puppet Company also feature an insert with songs or story to match the puppets.




5. Gymbo Rucksack or TrolleyBag

It's great to let kids have their own bag of toys for journeys and holidays: they can help you pack or make it a surprise. We love these two.

6. Putumayo Colouring and Sticker Books

These are a great surprise for in-flight or siesta-time entertainment. Choose from African, European or Latin for both options. The A3 size colouring book has lots of great pictures, while the sticker book folds out into a flat board with a big pack of reusable stickers for children to make their own scenes again and again. Match with your destination if you can!

7. Gymboree DVD's

For the 2+ age group these DVD's are like bringing a Gymboree class to your own home! I had an email from a mum this week desperate to track down The Very Brave Elephant in time for their holiday as her daughter has nearly worn the other one out with so much viewing! Good as a backup in case of rainy days or a bit of time out of the sun.

8. Your Joining Pack Gymbo!

Post your holiday snaps with Gymbo to our Facebook page and let us know where he's been travelling with you!


We're confident that with one of all of these additions, your summer travelling will be smoother than ever.

Do you have your own holiday favourites? Let us know below!

Stockists:

All available from your local Gymboree or via http://www.inspiremetoys.co.uk/
To explore Putumayos's full Kids range visit http://www.putumayo.com/kids/home
To see the huge range from The Puppet Company http://www.puppetsbypost.com/

SPECIAL OFFER: Buy the whole list from Gymboree Chiswick before 31 August 2013 and receive a 10% discount!

Soup, Soup, Beautiful Soup

I love soup, both cooking and eating. It's so easy to make and freezes really well, so ideal for last-minute suppers and feeding the whole family. Also perfect for taking to work.

If like my sister all your previous attempts at homemade soup have resulted in browny-green sludge then give my basic soup recipe a try. It's foolproof!


Emily's Basic Vegetable & Yellow Split Pea Soup

Ingredients

1 large onion
4 large carrots
3 leeks
1 bunch of celery
3 cloves garlic
500g bag dried yellow split peas
1.5 litres chick or vegetable stock
1.5 litres water
dried mixed herbs or any leftover fresh
salt and pepper
olive oil/fry light for cooking
your biggest saucepan




1. Trim vegetables and cut into small dice.
2. Put a dash of olive oil (or at least 6 sprays Fry Light which I'm addicted to) into the pan on a low heat. Add the onions and soften for five minutes or so.
3. Add all the other veg, herbs and garlic, stir together, them cook with the lid on for a few minutes.
4. Add the split peas and all the stock, plus some of the water (see notes below for how much). Cook with the lid on for 45-60 minutes until the split peas are cooked.
5. Blend all or part of the soup to achieve your desired consistency.
6. Season to taste - it will need more than you think!


Notes

* The amount of water you add will depend on how you want your finished soup to turn out and you will probably need to add more as you go along. If serving toddlers put less and keep a thicker, more stew-like consistency.

* Any root vegetables can be used for this, just be careful they're not all very sweet ones.

* The quantities are flexible so use whatever you have in the fridge, this is just a good base for any soup.

* You can also use any dried lentils in place of the split peas, I just love the taste these give and the nice yellow colour of the finished soup.

* This makes a big quantity (probably enough to feed 8 adults) but I think it's worth making in bulk and then freezing some.

* I usually blend about two thirds and leave some pieces of veg whole but it's good which ever way you do it! (for vegetable-phobic children - blend the whole thing super smooth!)

* Don't be shy with the seasoning, this quantity needs a lot. However if you're cooking for young children bear in mind that stock is already quite salty so you might prefer not to add any more.

* You will probably need to add a bit of extra water after freezing as it tends to thicken. Keeps for about 3 days in the fridge.

If you give this a try please comment below and let me know how it went! I've got all sorts of other great recipes just waiting to be shared. Happy Cooking!

May Fayre at Chiswick House

Lots of fun with my friend Claire and her gorgeous kids Teyah and Chael at the Chiswick House May Fayre on Sunday - plus catching up with some of our Gymboree families too.

We managed to spend quite a while wandering around unable to find the fayre (more signage needed?) but definitely worth arriving early before it got too busy. The queue for the (amazing smelling) barbecue when we left at 1pm was more than 30 people long.

 
 
 I loved the more unusual activities like the scent bag making - a great sensory experience for children selecting their own dried ingredients to make their own recipe. Freely admit having 'helped' Teyah to choose rose, lavender and rosemary but it smelt amazing! She liked being able to bash up all the leaves and petals in her own pestle and mortar.

Sadly we had to sacrifice the face painting - with a long queue and just one lady (and costing another £4 after having paid £5 each to get in), resulting in an unhappy toddler and a promise from me to paint her face myself next time. Better get some practise in....

The circus show was a big hit with kids of all ages, both watching and having a go at their own juggling and stilt-walking. Lots of ideas for me as well as we're hoping to help at the St Peters School Fete next month which has a circus theme.

The very kind lady on the coconut shy also gave Teyah a coconut for her efforts!

Highlight had to be Teyah trying to ride a spacehopper - a 2 year olds legs are far too short but it was very funny and she loved it!

Really beautiful morning and it reminded me how beautiful the grounds are down at Chiswick House. Time to start planning some picnics for when the sun comes out again.


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Sprinkled with Magic for Keji's Birthday!

Just a quick post today about a wonderful Chiswick-based business I've just discovered. The lovely Sarah from Sprinkled with Magic makes the most fabulous cakes and cupcakes to order, and even delivers locally!

What could be more perfect to wish Keji a Happy Birthday than one of Sarah's bespoke Rose Cupcake Bouquets. Totally gorgeous in it's own little flowerpot - a very happy start to our week!

There were all sort of designs but I'm totally in love with the rose cupcakes (which come in every possible colour) and am resolved to give them a try at home. I fear my cake icing skills are far from up to the job but worth a try!



 It's amazing how many more local businesses I'm connecting with since joining Twitter, of which Sprinkled is one. I'm hoping Sarah will be able to work with us providing cake-catering for our Gymboree birthday parties.









And the proof of the pudding? Totally delicious and highly recommended. Now trying to think of the next occasion I can use as a reason for ordering some more.....



You can contact Sarah via her website http://sprinkledcupcakes.webs.com/

Our Little Sporting Heroes

I'm really excited at the moment about the new classes we've started this year. We now have three drop-off class options for the 3-5 year age group: Theatre Arts, Sport and Arts.

Sports has been running since January and has so far covered Gymnastics, Basketball and Track & Field, with Football's first session last Friday! A week ago saw the first Skills Showcase with parents invited to come and see what all the kids had been learning the last four weeks in Track & Field 1.

It was a huge success and I'm so proud of them all. They really enjoyed being able to demonstrate their new skills - very impressive hurdling and long jumps and a truly hilarious relay. As a new idea, each child who'd attended all the sessions also got a certificate of achievement and it was lovely to see how proud they were.

I'm really happy with the showcase idea as I could see how surprised the parents were at how much their children had achieved. With drop-off classes it's hard to know what your child is doing (particularly since if you ask they invariably tell you 'nothing'!) and I think introducing this slot every four weeks at the end of each unit makes it hugely rewarding for the adults as well. A lot of very proud mummies!

I'm really looking forward to teaching the class myself next week and I've been amazed at how far the kids in this group have progressed over the last few months.

If you'd like to try the Sports class just get in touch!
chiswick@gymboree-uk.com