Torrential Rain + Saturday Afternoon = Play at Home

Mealtimes can be a nightmare, sometimes, for both kids and parents. So, you have to give credit where credit is due to those brave souls trying to make things a little easier for when lunchtime rolls around. Being a parent, I understand the frustration when my little girl has one of her “refusing to eat days”. Nothing, no matter what I put down to her, including her favourite, “Circle Bread”, which she makes herself from plain bread, a circle cookie cutter and some yougurt filling ( I know, but hey, she’s eating and that’s a bonus ) can satisfy Little Miss Fussy sometimes.

So, when I hear of guys like Funky Lunch and Hello Hanna who are trying to put the fun back into lunchtimes, plus earn an honest buck or two in the process, then I take my hat off to them.

We hope you like these concepts as much as ourselves and I’m sure you’ll agree that they are most definitely stress busters when it comes to kids’ lunchtime, and probably a welcome break for them too, instead of having anxious parents trying to lovingly force food down their wee throats… go check them out for yourselves…

Funky Lunch Pack Characters

Hello Hanna Interactive Dinnermats

Have you been poked yet? Do you wonder how your farm is coming along while doing the school run in the morning? Write ‘LOL’ a lot and ‘Like’ everything and join about 10 new groups a day?

Chances are, if you have said ‘yes’ to any of the above questions then your into facebook in a big way.

And guess what! So, are we

You can now connect with Mash N Gravy on Facebook by clicking on the following link :

www.facebook.com/mashngravy

C’mon join us – it’ll be a blast. LOL.

We have had many new arrivals here at Mash n Gravy this season in the form of new brands to the store.

However, there is one more new arrival which we’d like to share with you…

After loosing dear Noah, our home bred Weimaraner and last of the line last summer we decided to look around for something a little smaller to accommodate the fact that we have a young family and therefore a large breed may result in the boys being knocked over by a dog who’s body grows very much faster than it’s brain for the first couple of years.

We settled on an old fashioned Scottish breed and one in desperate need of preserving – the Dandie Dinmont.

The Dandie Dinmont Terrier took it’s name from a character in a novel written by Sir Walter Scott in 1814, but the dogs were around long before that. Known as Mustard and Pepper Terriers, describing their two colour varieties, they were highly prized as working terriers in the Scottish borders, where they were sent to ground after rabbits, rats, foxes, otters and badgers among others. They were often owned by gypsies and poachers – and in fact all the Dandies around today are descended from a poacher’s dog found in a trap on the Duke of Buccleuch’s estate – in 1839!

In the modern age, the Dandie Dinmont is rarely used as a working terrier, but still makes an exceptional companion dog. They are hardy, intelligent, friendly, gentle with children and a good watchdog. They are not too excitable – like some breeds of terrier – but they have very much a mind of their own.

This is how Edward should look when fully grown

However, we are paying him up in installments, and this is how he looks at the moment… Don’t worry, the legs and body will be arriving shortly.

We’ve had a significant birthday here at Mash n Gravy HQ recently. My eldest son turned five and as if this wasn’t a big enough deal the first wobbly tooth was discovered!

We couldn’t let the occasion pass by unmarked therefore organised a party – for the birthday, not the tooth – and a special cake, which must be shared pictorially, not literally, (sorry, none left) with you, our blog readers.

The creation was the idea from the girls at Cupcake in Glasgow (www.cupcakeglasgow.com) was a work of genius which I, sadly do not possess. But it illicited the desired “ooh’s and ah’s” from the little people and tasted like a slice of heaven.

See for yourselves.
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I don’t know about you but I’m finding all this wind and rain more than a little tedious and last week when the snow came to the west coast yet again it was the straw which broke the camels back. I booked our summer holiday.

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Here at Mash n Gravy we’re all about little ones, primarily those with two legs but just lately, as the weather has begun to change for the better, my thoughts have turned to babies of the four legged variety.

Since our Weimaraner Noah died suddenly last June our house has been lacking a certain presence. The crazy welcome even if we’d only been to put the rubbish out, the wet nose in the face if we dared to lie in for even a moment longer than we should, the perpetual draught from a constantly wagging tail. There is also the fact that the children learn how to respect and care for animals and not to be afraid. There’s no denying it, every house hold needs some hairy loving from mans best friend!
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We have a birthday party organised next month for a bunch of 5 year olds and have yet to decide on a theme, so in the mean time I have set about tracking down some food related items to make the sandwiches and cupcakes a little more appealing.

I found a terrific store www.spoonsisters.com who have loads of unusual items for sale including these which I am just about to purchase. Sandwiches always seem to be bypassed in favour of the sweet treats and therefore could do with a helping hand. I think that these cutters might just do the trick.

A new report produced by researchers at Leeds University on behalf of the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) suggests that just one per cent of packed lunches for children meets the government’s nutritional standards for school meals.

The researchers looked at the packed lunches of 1294 children from 89 schools in the UK, mostly England. Just 14 (1.1%) of the lunch boxes contained a mix of foods that would meet the same standards that are now applied to school meals. These standards, at least in England, were introduced in response to TV chef Jamie Oliver’s high-profile crusade for healthy dinners. The reasoning behind the contents of our children’s packed lunches are many and varied, time constraints, fussy eaters. Excuses one and all. Which ever way you slice it, it’s still a cheese sandwich.

MUMS & DADS OF THE UK – HANG YOUR HEADS IN SHAME!

If you were a quasi stay at home dad in Omaha, USA, your son would be devouring a lunch meat work of art each and every day. Spending up to an hour on each creation Kai Wilken is one cool dad.

If your house is like mine come Christmas day then you’ll understand when I talk about kids in a state of galvanised play. Pretty much DEFCON 4 as excitement levels go. Mum or Dad are being asked, constantly, to come and look at this; build this; and try that. While, all the time, Mum or Dad is trying to prepare the big dinner for the day. It can all get a bit much as tolerance levels melt away and the kitchen becomes a NO-GO zone.

As dinner time approaches, the little voices come through the door “is it ready yet, is it ready yet”, “how long will it be”, telling them to go and sit down and behave is useless.

One way to occupy their little minds is to let them think their helping you out. Get them at the dinner table and hand them a Hello Me Placemat from Hello Hanna. This ingenious kit will ensure that your kids are occupied and have plenty to do as you get some precious time to carry-on making dinner.