Scrummies: The healthy snack for school lunch boxes and kids on the go

Sometimes it can be tricky getting the right balance in your child's packed lunch.

If like us, you have a little fuss pot that only seems to want the same lunch over and over again, then these new Scrummies from Clearly Scrumptious might help you out.

These little packs of healthy goodness can get one of your five a day into kids without them realising, thats always a win in my book!

Scrummies are a mix of juicy cranberries and succulent raisins with natural fruit flavours.

There's no artificial flavours, just lovely soft fruits with nothing added and nothing taken away.

With no added sugar, no sulphates, 100% vegan, wheat gluten and dairy free they are a welcome addition to any packed lunch. And you can buy 20 (20g packs) for £10. They are for little ones age 12 months and over.

These little packs are great for snacks on the go. If you have a long car journey or are going on a family day out, these are perfect.

They come in 5 flavours: Blackcurrant, Cherry, Strawberry, Blueberry and Raspberry.

Clearly Scrumptious was developed by founders Rick Wadsworth and James Feddo. While running in the Yorkshire Dales they realised a gap in the market as they were frustrated at the lack of high quality dried fruit snacks available in snack sized portions to carry in their rucksacks for a natural energy source.

The Blueberry, Raspberry and Strawberry fruit snacks, sold in a multipack (5x20g) are available in more than 200 Morrisons stores across the UK. 

And if you parents keep pinching the kids packs, then fear not, they also sell them for adults.

You can order them online direct from Clearly Scrumptious and I have a discount code for my lovely readers which will save you 15% off all items in your cart. Just enter Ourfamily15 at the checkout.

We decided to do a taste test with our son Jacob. He always gives an honest opinion (like kids do), I think you will see they went down very well. See below for the video. 

Disclaimer: We were sent some of each flavour complimentary to try.

A Day in the Life video - Scootering, chocolate cake and Skype

I am kind of getting to grips with my new Canon G7X camera, I love recording footage of our family when we are out and about.

I have uploaded our second Day in the Life video on to Our Family Life YouTube channel.

In this video we go out for some lunch to a lovely place in Folkestone, Kent called Googies Art Cafe. If ever you are in Folkestone, I'd recommend a visit to Googies, it's a great place and the food is yummy!

The kids (and Mark) go scootering on Dover seafront. We enjoy some chocolate cake in the Waterfront cafe where Jacob ends up eating most of the cake!

Then it's back home. While Jacob is tired from all that scootering and decides to have a nap, I get chance to chill out for a bit with a cup of tea and have a read of The Sunday People and Sunday Mirror newspapers.

In the evening on a Sunday we always like to Skype my mum and dad because they live in Yorkshire. It's a great way to keep in touch with them.

Then it's story time for Jacob and time for bed. When the kids are in bed, me and Mark enjoyed a Chinese takeaway and watched a film.

It's great to keep memories of those little days out, when in years to come we will have probably forgotten about it!

I don't think I am quite ready to take the daily vlogging challenge. I'm really impressed by people who vlog everyday. 

I don't think anyone who watch videos on YouTube realise just how long they take to edit. It usually takes me around 5-6 hours to edit one video! But I really enjoy the process.

I'd love you to have a watch and let me know what you think of it.

A Day in the Life video - Mother's Day 26th March 2017

Our Family Life have had a YouTube channel for just over 4 years.

We have a variety of videos on our channel, but I was never quite sure where it was going.

I have recently seen the growth of vlogs, especially parent vloggers. I really like watching A Day in the Life videos so I thought I would record one with our family.

I have just bought a new camera, a Canon Powershot G7X and I love it. The video quality is fantastic and there is a screen that flips up so you can make sure you're in the shot.

I really enjoy editing the videos in iMovie. I am self taught in this, with the help of a couple of 16 year olds on YouTube tutorials!

Have a look at our first Day in the Life vlog and let me know in the comments what you think.

If you would like to subscribe to our channel that would be fab.

My 5 year old cut her hair when I fell asleep and it's taken me 8 years to talk about it

It has taken me 8 years to talk about this! *Takes a big gulp* Here goes...

When I became pregnant with our first child, my husband Mark and I had a big chat about what would happen when I had to return to work after maternity leave.

Without hesitation, Mark said he would be a stay at home dad so that I could continue my career as a newspaper designer.

He worked in various positions since we left college, and at the time I was Art Editor of The Sunday People newspaper, so he said it made sense for him to be the stay at home dad. We always said if we had children, one of us would try and stay at home if possible. He was very nervous, but looked forward to it.

2 weeks before I gave birth, Mark left his job. Honestly, I couldn't have done it without him. He was and still is amazing. I can't praise him enough.

I went back to work when our daughter, Amber was 10 months old. I did feel sometimes I was missing out on the life of our growing daughter. But with the rise of smart phones that could take pictures it helped me stay in touch. Mark would regularly send me photos of what they got up to so I didn't feel left out. But I work 70 miles away from my home, so I couldn't just pop home for lunch.

As I work full time, my days off were spent with Amber. Mark always looks after everything to do with the house, cooking, cleaning, washing, and I mean everything! So I was lucky I could spend all my hours off work with her.

One day Mark had popped out to do some shopping, so I stayed at home with Amber. I had tried (like you do), to trim Amber's fringe whenever it got a bit long. To do this, I invested in some proper hairdressing scissors, you know the super sharp ones.

The scissors were kept out of Amber's reach at all times. Until this one day that I'll never forget. 

Amber was now 5 years old, and we were happily planning our wedding. We had been together 14 years (we didn't want to rush these things) so in about 6 months we would be celebrating our big day, with Amber as our much loved bridesmaid.

Amber was playing nicely, so I sat on the sofa, then I put my feet up. Big mistake! I only went and fell asleep. 

I'm not sure how long I fell asleep for, but the sight that greeted me when I woke up is something I'll never forget or forgive myself for.

Amber had a big chunk of hair in one hand, and the hairdressing scissors in the other. She stood in front of me looking like Dave Hill from Slade.

Everything went in slow motion. I thought I was dreaming, sadly not. She had managed to cut all of her fringe off, and there was just a little tuft left like when you plant grass seeds and they first begin to sprout.

Mark returned to find Amber with her new hairstyle and me looking like a dog that had done something it shouldn't on the carpet!

I was so upset that I had fallen asleep, how could I? I was supposed to be watching Amber. Bad mother!

For the next 6 months she went to school wearing a rather large headband on the front of her head to try and hide what a bad mum I was.

The headband was also clipped on with some cute hair clips, just to make sure I could hide my shame as much as possible. Bless Amber she kept it on the whole time.

I'm sure all her teachers had a sneaky look to see the horror the headband was hiding.

Needless to say my husband has never let me forget it, and photographed the evidence! Every so often it gets brought up and we have a laugh about it. Mine is a nervous laugh obviously and it still makes me shudder to this day.

He says to me, imagine if it was the other way around and Amber had cut her hair while he was looking after her! Well yes, I wouldn't have been too pleased either!

Yes, we do have pictures, of which I have never shown anyone before.

And luckily, Amber's fringe had just about grown back in time for the wedding...phew!

Amber, now she is 13, finds the pictures hilarious, but I told her how I felt like a bad mum for letting it happen. If only I hadn't fallen asleep!

Our son, Jacob is 6 years old, and I still have those scissors, and yes I do cut his fringe from time to time, but they are kept well and truly hidden, I'm not going through that again!

I haven't talked about it for so long for fear of being judged by other parents!

As parents, we are only human after all and we all make mistakes, that's what I keep telling myself anyway. And after 8 years, I can finally talk about it!

Has your child ever cut their own hair? Come on, I can't be the only one! Leave a comment below.

What's the right age gap to have between children?

While driving home the other night I was listening to the Radio 4 programme 'Bringing up Britain' presented by Mariella Frostrup. This one was about sibling rivalry, I listened with great interest.

They mentioned the age gap between children and it got me thinking.

There is a 7 year age gap between my children, and funnily enough there's the same gap between me and my brother, Jordan.

Now from what I can remember, me and my brother got on really well (he may tell you otherwise). I think it was because we never went to the same school because of our age. I am the oldest.

Of course like any brother and sister, we had our moments - like the time I hit my brother with a golf brolly and he had a lump the size of an egg on his forehead (sorry Jordan), or the time I made him watch Michael Jackson's Thriller video and he hid behind the sofa (sorry again). Or the time... ok so we had a few occasions when we didn't get on, doesn't every brother and sister! Overall we got on great, and still do.

Now I have children of my own, and just this morning (and most mornings), my 3 year old son, Jacob, happily goes into my 10 year old daughter's bedroom and says morning.

He gets about 3 steps into Amber's room and I hear a booming voice 'Get out Jacob'. Then he completely ignores her and goes to either play her guitar, or mess up her Monster High dolls, both of which get her more angry (sibling rivalry post to come at a later date)

Our daughter is 10 going on 15 at the moment and is starting to act like a teenager (yikes)!

My husband Mark is the middle child with an older sister and a younger brother. The age gap between them is.. he is 11 months younger than his sister and 21 months older than his brother. That's 3 children under 5! I just can't imagine it. Our son is such a handful on his own! I take off my virtual hat (and real one if I was wearing one) to my mother-in-law Janet and anyone else who has children this close together.

So back to the age gap. What is the right age gap? Is there one?

Well sometimes we don't have a choice. 

It took us 4 years to conceive our daughter, then 2 years with our son. It just happened to be a 7 year age gap. And now I wouldn't have it any other way.

I'm just glad they have each other.

In practical ways it may become tricky when our daughter starts secondary school, because the school she would like to go to is further away than the primary that is in our village which Jacob will be attending from 2015.

But time will tell.

What's the age gap between your children?

The dreaded words.. 'I'm afraid your son has bitten another child today!'

Oh dear!  

Today when I picked up our (soon to be 3 year old) son Jacob from pre-school, I wasn't expecting this...

'I'm really sorry to say but Jacob has bitten another child today. '

My face hit the floor.

As she is telling me this I have my son in my arms after greeting him with a big kiss and a cuddle, and he is constantly kissing my cheek, in a very cute but, I know I've done something wrong mummy, kind of way! 

I can't apologise enough, I say. She adds to my horror when she says it left a bit of a mark on the other child.

I look to Jacob who by this time is running around the class with a big grin on his face. 

Jacob looking like butter wouldn't melt!

'But he doesn't do it at home I protest', and I say I'll have a talk to him and say sorry once more. 

This is the second time he has done this! 

I leave feeling like the entire staff think I'm a bad mum after what my son did. 

As we leave pre-school and head home, he wants to be more independent by not wanting to hold my hand and to walk on his own.

Yeh right, no chance little man, as I tighten my grip on his little slippery like a snake hand. He's wanting to open the car door and climb in himself, all well and good but I have the sneaky feeling if I let go, he's going to make a run for it. Not good when you're near a main road! I let him be as independent as is safe and he's happy with attempting to climb into his car seat by himself.

When I fasten him into his seat, I say 'Did you bite someone at school today?' He looks right at me with his big blue eyes and says 'Yes, sorry mummy'. 

I then look at him and explain it's not very nice to bite other people and it hurts. 

I know he loves school (even though he's only been going since September, and only goes for three morning a week), so I say to him, 'You can't go to school if you bite people'.

I can see him taking the information in, so after my firm telling off, I leave him to think about it and we drive home in silence.

When we arrive home, as soon as I open the door to get him out, he says 'Sorry mummy' again. 

He is so different to our daughter Amber, who is seven years older than him. We never went through this with her. Our children have such different personalities.  Which is great of course, but this is new for my husband and I to cope with our little monkeys behaviour.

I can hear lots of mums and dads now saying 'It's just a phase, he'll grow out of it'. 

Let's hope so, very soon eh!