And just like that, Christmas is here! Our tree is And just like that, Christmas is here! Our tree is up, the Santa hats are out and the first doors on our advent calendars are open.

I love this time of year. It is my favourite. And it’s one of the few times still full of magic even as an adult. I’m going to be soaking up every minute of joy the next few weeks bring and I hope December is full of moments of joy for you too.

Happy December! 🎄
AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell AD | Christmas has arrived at @thelexiconbracknell and there’s so much to entertain the whole family whilst you do your Christmas shopping! 

Visit The Lexicon Glow Room for a magical light experience that will dazzle you with 20,000 LEDs. It feels like the room goes on forever! Then, take a dip in the Light Pool, a magical ball pool with golden balls to be found and prizes to be won!

If that wasn’t all, have a photo in the giant Christmas bauble ‘sparkling selfie station’ and follow the Twinkle Trail, spotting baubles in shop windows to collect the clues and enter to win fabulous prizes this Christmas. Plus, share your sparkling selfie station pictures, tagging #thelexiconbracknell or email them to marketing@thelexiconbracknell.com and you will automatically be entered in a competition for the chance to win a restaurant gift card too. 

There are also special performances from local choirs, bands and singers and even the chance to meet Bluey, Hey Duggee and Chase from Paw Patrol! You can be sure that a trip to The Lexicon will have something for everyone over the festive season this year. We loved our visit to The Lexicon last weekend and know we’ll be back again before Christmas!

Find out more on @thelexiconbracknell website.

#TheLexiconBracknell #Merry&Bright
AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! AD - Press Trip | What a lovely evening that was! We had our first Glow Marwell experience tonight - and we loved it. It may even be the best light trail we have been to.

We spent well over two hours at @marwellzoo, enjoying the light installations, indulging in the food stalls and cafe, toasting marshmallows and even meeting Father Christmas! 

Glow Marwell was such a nice way to kick off the festive season - and it’s on all the way through December! If you’re looking for a really nice festive activity the whole family can enjoy, this could definitely be it!
AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparent AD | Are you looking for gifts for the grandparents this year? @famileo_uk is a wonderful gift, giving the recipient a personalised gazette of family news regularly throughout the year - and it costs from just £5.99 a month. 

Multiple family members can use the same subscription, all posting messages to be added to one gazette - and sharing the cost of the subscription too! It’s great for parents, siblings and children to all share their news with grandparents each week, fortnight or month. 

We’ve been sending my dad Family gazettes for a while now and he absolutely loves them. It means we tell him all the little things that are happening and not just the big news you remember to mention in phone calls. The children get to upload their own messages to their grandad and it’s definitely made them feel closer, building a stronger relationship despite living far apart.

Find out more about Family over on the blog - link in bio - and buy a subscription for your nearest and dearest this Christmas. It’s a gift they will definitely love to receive.
Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing the Two weeks of Fred & George! I won’t be doing these updates every week but I like having somewhere to put all these photos!

They’re now three months old, super loving and happy, making biscuits and purring constantly.

They stay in ‘their’ room overnight but explore the house during the day, getting more confident as time passes. They even got to the point of relaxing on the sofa with us last night.

Fred & George are now very much part of our family and I can’t imagine them not being there now - even at 7am when they’re miaowing at the door for breakfast!
AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your AD | Stuck for screen-free entertainment that your kids will love? Claim your FREE Banjo Robinson activity pack today!
 
Reading for pleasure is a key indicator of a child’s future success, but if your child doesn’t love to read, what can you do? We know it’s not always easy keeping kids entertained and away from screens, so we’ve partnered with the award-winning @banjorobinson to gift you a FREE activity pack, worth £9.99.

Here’s a little look at the Banjo Robinson subscription - Troy loves it! Travelling to world with Banjo is so much fun! You can read our full review over on the blog and claim your free activity pack too - link in profile.
A whole week of Fred & George. We weren’t meant A whole week of Fred & George.

We weren’t meant to get more cats just yet but sometimes the universe sends you things when you don’t expect them.

These little guys needed a home and a family to love them. And we had a home and a lot of love to give. We still miss Leia but this pair are definitely helping make me feel whole again.

They are both used to us now, and love us. They’re less nervous, give us cuddles and let us pick them up. They’re still living in our spare room but starting to explore the rest of the house under supervision. 

They play fight constant. Love toys, especially a crinkly feather thing on a string attached to a stick, and love being up high. They are an awesome pair and we are so glad to have them.

Thank you @millbrook_rspca @rspca_official for trusting us with ‘Lonestar and Starfish’. We could not love them more. 

#catsofinstagram #catstagram #catsofig #catsofinsta #catlovers #adoptdontshop #rspcarescuecat #kittensofinstagram #kittens_of_instagram
[AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing abo [AD - Press Trip] I’ve just finished writing about our half term break at @pottersresort and it’s over on the blog if you want to go have a read.

I wanted to put some of my favourite photos on the grid too as the kids did so many fun activities - they had THE best time. 

Giant swing, segways, climbing, archery, laser clays… there was so much to do that we couldn’t fit it all in - we need another trip!
And there ends our October half term - well, apart And there ends our October half term - well, apart from Troy who has a bonus week off!

This half term has been pretty lovely. Troy had his school residential the first weekend and then we had a really lovely few days in Norfolk before heading home and picking up two new members of our family - Fred and George. 11 week old rescue kittens who have pretty much stolen our hearts.

It’s been so nice to have a chunk of quality time with this pair and now I’m looking forward to the Christmas holidays. These two are the best company and I really do live for the school holidays. 

How has your half term been?
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Guest Posts · May 30, 2018

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips and Best Practices | AD

*This is a paid post

There are a million ways to clean everything in your home. The market literally offers countless cleaning solutions and specialised products, suitable for all types of surfaces. Not all of them, however, are proper and good for you. Simply because it is a cleaning product, doesn’t mean that it’s cleaning abilities cannot cause problems. Whether you were aware of that or not, modern cleaning products are filled with chemicals that, even if we don’t use, somehow end up in our homes and can easily harm us.

Where to find eco-friendly cleaning products?

Lately, however, the market chooses eco-friendly options and offers them worldwide. People are beginning to be more conscious about what they purchase and how they use it. Eventually, we learn, step by step, how better it is, to actually use environmentally friendly products, including for cleaning.

Although nature-friendly cleaning products are everywhere by now, there is a good chance you already have them at home. Here are some cleaning elements, that either combined, or not, are more than helpful and useful house cleaning tips on how to fight dirty home surfaces!

Vinegar is sometimes exactly the flavour you want to taste with your meal, but in other cases, it’s the best cleaning tool out there. It is known for its disinfecting powers, it cleans dirt, it fights mould and mildew and it is a great window cleaner. Mixed in a spray bottle with equal part water, it can be the perfect multi-purpose cleaner. Adding some drops of essential oil even dulls vinegars’ harsh smell.

Apart from being great for your health, lemon, precisely – lemon juice, can be even better for your home surfaces as well. Its acidity makes it strong against grease and grime and can easily help you clean perfectly your kitchen appliances. You can use it instead of vinegar if you don’t like the smell and it will be just as effective and efficient.

Baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) is definitely a part of your cooking ingredients, especially if you love baking sweet temptations every now and then. Its use in cleaning, however, is also a good way to get rid of grease and deodorise surfaces. Using it for your mattress and carpets will help you clean thoroughly and say goodbye to the unpleasant smells that might be locked in there. Added to lemon juice or vinegar, baking soda is a great cleaner for toilet, shower areas, kitchen surfaces and many other things you need to deep clean.

Essential oils have many benefits and useful properties. They are widely used in cosmetics, but may be the one thing missing from your homemade cleaner. Adding a few drops of any essential oil (pine, olive, lavender, rosemary, tea tree, etc.) will definitely make your cleaner’s scent more pleasant and will add a nice refreshing finish to your perfectly cleaned surfaces. Some essential oils are also known for their antibacterial, polishing, calming and antiseptic powers, so you will definitely not get hurt if you use them for cleaning.

Castile soap is a great substitute for ordinary soaps. It is a great multi-purpose cleaning ingredient and it works best when used in homemade dish soaps, laundry detergents, dishwasher soap, all-purpose cleaner, glass cleaner and tub scrub. It is also beneficial to your body – hair, skin, teeth, face, feet, etc.

Washing soda (sodium carbonate) – is similar to baking soda and it can be made from it. Sodium carbonate works great as a stain remover and fits perfectly in your homemade laundry detergent. It can be also used as a caustic cleaner.

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips and Best Practices

Remember

You probably have, if not every, many of these ingredients at home and can successfully use them in the cleaning routines you have. But the market offers great eco-friendly cleaning products, which you can safely choose and try on. Remember to carefully read the labels, before you purchase anything and look for key words. Ammonia, sodium hydroxide, triclosan, chlorine, phthalates and many other chemicals are often found in cleaning products on the market. Those have sometimes extremely negative effect on you and your health, so you should make sure they are not a part of any cleaner’s content as said by this site for tenancy cleaning.

From our hearts straight into your homes!

Here are some nature-friendly tips not only for cleaning, but for other problems that might occur in your household:

For polishing wood, olive essential oil gives amazing results. For fixing scratches and little holes in wooden furniture – use walnuts.

Having some troubles with paint odours? Make sure to place little dishes with some vinegar in the corners of the room and it will absorb the unpleasant odours.

Polishing brass and copper items can be easily done with a mixture of salt and vinegar. For silver – use ketchup and for stainless steel – white vinegar and olive oil.

Cleaning hairs, oils and food from drains can be easily done if you pour boiling water right in there. Also, you can use equal parts of baking soda and vinegar and pour them in this order down the drain. If possible cover the drain and let the foaming mixture do its work.

Any unpleasant odours at home? While opening a window is one old-fashioned, but still great working method, baking soda and vinegar come to save the room here as well. But you can always add some flowers or light a scented candle!

Clean wisely, but store with greater attention

The most important thing, however, is to remember that if you choose any of these ingredients for your homemade cleaning solutions, you should still remember that they are for cleaning. They can still cause some damage to you, your children and pets, so they should be stored properly and not that easily accessible. You wouldn’t like it if your kid finds your multi-purpose cleaner and ends up drinking a good amount of vinegar, right? In big quantities, everything can have a negative effect, but while used wisely, you wouldn’t be having any problems with these natural cleaning solutions!

Eco-Friendly Cleaning Tips and Best Practices

In: Guest Posts

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Hi everyone! I'm Donna. Mummy. Blogger. Social Media Manager. Traveller. Lover of stars, rainbows and gin. Firm believer that tea and cake can fix most things.

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