Today has been all about making memories.

Elizabeth has not had a good year but the one place guaranteed to put a smile on her face in Butlins.

From pulling in favours from friends and the amazing staff and redcoats at Butlins Elizabeth has had "The best Birthday ever!!!" She couldn't decide what was the best bit.

Whether it was cooking on stage with Katy Ashworth in the I Can Cook show.

Having Billy, Bonnie and two redcoats come to our apartment bringing cake and presents and having cuddles with them.

It has been a day of highs with no lows and I am so glad that Elizabeth has been off her meds for the past few weeks as it has really enabled her to enjoy her birthday and this break.

I have loads to write about and some fabulous video footage but it will have to wait for another day. For now we are enjoying our time at Butlins and look forward to tomorrow.

You may have seen me tweeting in my excitement earlier today about Lollibop Festivals announcement that Justin Fletcher will be taking to the stage on the Saturday and Sunday of Lollibop.

The announcement means that not only will we be seeing Alex Winters on stage but Justin Fletcher too. This will make for a fantastic line up and that is without any of the other fantastic things going on each day.

With not many dates left in the schedule I was very happy when I received the email offering us review tickets to Dora the Explorer Live.

Today is Elizabeth's birthday so I told her the news and she is very excited to be going to see Dora and Boots on an adventure to the city of lost toys. We have to head over to Liverpool to see the show but we have booked the 4 o'clock show so we can make a day of it.

The tour continues until 19th August so why not see if there is one coming by checking out the tour dates here.

I will be letting you know more about the show next month and I will tell you if it lives up to expectations.

Seven weeks ago we left Butlins are a fabulous ambassador weekend and today we drove back under that arch and its almost like coming home.

My four year old niece told me this weekend that we live at Butlins. We certainly love it.

When we arrive it is like going back to family. The two redcoats on duty to welcome us recognised us at once and welcomed us back. The redcoat who checked me in remembered me and we were chatting like old friends. In fact all we have down today is talk to all the different redcoats who recognised us and came to ask how we are.

Unfortunately we were given accommodation on the first floor and Elizabeth still really struggles with stairs but as the resort is not that busy I popped to Guest Services to see if they can change us to a ground floor apartment. What they did was so much better.

Thank you to a very helpful person we find ourselves relaxing in the space and luxury of a Wave Hotel Reef apartment. It is fantastic, so colourful and with so much space.

We have loads of exciting things coming up over the next four days including some fabulous new shows and Elizabeth's birthday surprise. I already have some fabulous footage from the Big Red Gameshow and King meets Queen two fantastic shows we watched in centre stage this evening.

8:30am Saturday morning and the Tesco delivery man was knocking at my door.

He bought me breakfast courtesy of McCain Hash Browns.

It was supposed to be breakfast in bed and it was supposed to be cooked by my darling Hubby and my kids but seen as Hubby was still snoring and the kids just wanted to play in the garden it seemed that it was my turn to make the breakfast.

The sun was shining so rather than waste it we set up in the garden to enjoy eating our breakfast in peace and quiet.

The girls ate their sausages, beans and toast in the house and we enjoyed an adult breakfast in the garden. It almost felt like we were on holiday.

I received the shopping for free so I can experience McCain Hash Browns in their full glory of a proper breakfast.

Just look at those parcels!! Now if they were inbound parcels that would be great but they are not. These are parcels that I have to post. In fact they are parcels I should have posted about a week ago and I keep putting it off. Why I hear you ask. Well I hate the post office.

I don't use the word hate very often but I really do hate going to the post office. You go in and there is a huge queue and then you stand there and realise that actually only one of the twenty people in front of you have a parcel to send. ONE! The others are collecting benefits, paying bills or withdrawing money. Now don't get me wrong I don't want to stop them doing that but I shouldn't have to stand behind them and wait. If i wanted to wait for someone to do that i will go and stand in line in a bank.

My post office has a short cut queue for people wanting foreign money. Yep you can skip the queue if you want foreign money but not if you actually want to use the post office for what it was designed for and actually send a letter or a parcel.

Anyway I digress, I have these parcels and the owners really want them so I need to find another way of getting them there. They bought them in my charity sale for Macmillan Cancer care over two weeks ago. I looked at Rapid Parcel and actually the amount it costs is easy covered by the payment I got for this post. To make things even better they can come and collect them tomorrow so I don't even have to worry about leaving the house and I can rest assured that they will be with their rightful owners by the end of the week.

Atleast that is one less thing to worry about now all I have to do is pack from 10 days away as a family including fathers day, Elizabeths 5th birthday and Britmums Live. Now where is my list.

My children watch TV. They love watching TV and to be fair so many of the childrens programs have educational benefits now that I dont really mind. I do however stipulate that they are only able to watch childrens tv and not grown up programs. There are no soaps on in our house and the news isn't allowed to be on either. Hubby only argues with me when it comes to football but as long as the kids are occupied elsewhere I will let him off.

I don't want my children to have to be forced to watch adult themed programs, whether something horrible in the news or one of the storylines in another soap. They are too young for that and they would be happier if they didnt have to think about it.

So why when I ensure my children only watch Childrens TV channels do they continuously get bombarded with payday loans and other forms of credit? To begin with surely daytime tv is not a time to advertise a payday loan as if I had a payday I would be more than likely be at work! And finally my four year old won't be taking out any loans if I can help it so why are you offering them to her?

You can't honestly believe us parents pay enough attention to the shows that are on to actually see your adverts? If was only after I glanced at the TV this morning that I even noticed what you were doing.

In one advert break on Nick Jr at two thirty this afternoon you were trying to convince me to use an Injury lawyer, get a new contract mobile phone, go on a cruise, compare my car insurance, get a catalogue so I can get the kids some more clothes and get a job as an avon representative.

So obviously those of us sat watching a childrens tv channel are unemployed who may have had an injury but should get lots of credit on contracts and catalogues and more than likely use a credit card to go on a cruise!

Come on people it is children's tv. As much as I hate my kids pointing at the TV and saying they want the latest toy I would much rather they did that than be made to believe that credit is the way to live.

Why not follow in the footsteps of channels like Cbeebies where there is no advertising or the Disney channels that only advertise there own shows? I know you have to make money but there are enough toy manufacturers out there to fill the slots.

Lets get our kids started in the right way by not introducing them to thinsg that have already caused so many problems to so many people. Credit is not cool and personally I dont think it shoudl be allowed to be advertised anywhere but definitely not somewhere that my ch

Saturday night should have seen me sat at home blogging about the day we had at the National Football Museum with Blogs Up North.

It didn't. It saw me dancing along to Bon Jovi at the Etihad stadium with fellow blogger Grumpish Mum. She had let slip earlier in the day the fact that she had tickets and she was going with a friend who wasn't that interested in Bon Jovi.

Now don't get me wrong I haven't really listened to any of his stuff in years but they are on the list of Bands to see before they die and so I begged her to ask her friend to sell the ticket to me.

So there you have it last minute change of plans and one more life event ticked off.

I had a fantastic time and my hangover on Sunday proved it. So I wanted to leave you with a bit of Bon Jovi to see you through a good day.

15 sleeps to go!

I can't believe it has come around so quickly. It feels like only a few weeks ago that I bought a super early bird ticket but in fact it was 11 months ago. Where has this year gone?

I know a lot of people are feeling really shy about Britmums and they don't really know what to expect so I thought I would give you a few tips that I have learned from last years expedition.

1) A liquid lunch in the pub with Northernmum on the Friday might seem like a good idea at the time but make sure you have something a bit more substantial too. There is not much food on the Friday night and the tiny morsels of food and teh free booze will soon have you feeling more than tipsy. Also hangovers on the Saturday are not fun and it will mean you miss out on a fantastic day of sessions.

2) Do not pack as though you are moving house. Last year I had a huge holdall with lots of different outfits and makeup and laptop and goodness knows what else. This meant I had no room to store my freebies. This year I will be on bare minimum of clothes, pj's (sharing a room naked is not a good idea) and toiletries. I am however putting this all in a very large mostly empty suitcase. Which will come in very handy by the end of the weekend.

3) What to carry in your bag. You do not want to carry everything with you and there is a cloakroom for placing your coats and luggage so take advantage of this. Have a smaller bag with a few immediate essentials. Include in these your camera, phone, charger, mints (if like me you panic about your breathe when in social situations), makeup to refresh yourself for the evening and most importantly some deodorant and perfume. You will not regret packing those as the day is long and the rooms get hot. You could take your tablet, you could take your laptop and you could end up feeling like a pack mule after a long day climbing a mountain. There is so much going on you wont have much chance to get online and do that much anyway so use your phone where you can.

4) There will be people there you recognise but you don't know their name, there will be people you do not have a clue who they are and there will be people who will talk to you as if they have known you for years. Remember these people read your life day in and day out they more than likely know more about you that that friend you have known for years. Wear your badge with pride, stare at everyone's boobs to learn theirs and don't be afraid to politely ask who someone is. No-one will be offended and you might just find that person next to you is someone you have been chatting to for ages on twitter but has a silly duck as an avatar so you have no idea who they are.

5) Relax enjoy yourself, speak to the brands that interest you, attend the sesions that grab your attention but most of all enjoy socialising and mingling with your peers because we are all bloggers and 99% of us are absolutely bloody amazing!

Make sure you come and say hi to me too because I would love to talk to you.

Tuesday 4th June saw four members of the public do just that. They were not just walking alone though, they went in a procession with ticker tape, brass band and Gabby Logan.

It looked pretty awesome to me and I wish guts to have joined in rather than just gone along to see it. The parade was all about body confidence and basically saying "I look good and feel good in the body I am in". I think it is a great positive message to send out to people and one I hope the younger generation will pick up on too.

Elizabeth is very aware of the fact that I am on a diet and I always wonder what sort of effect that is having on her. Knowing that I am not happy in the body I am in. I never say that I hate the way I look or that I don't like myself but the fact she knows not to give me cakes and chocolate and that I go to slimming world must be enough to put those thoughts in her mind.

I am happy with the way I look. I mean it doesn't depress me or worry me, I am not concerned about it but I would like to be thinner to ensure my future health. I would like to be running around after the kids in ten years time and winning all the parent races on sports day. I would like to be able to shop the sales and not have to go to the plus size section and miss out on all the best looking clothes. Most of all I would love to be able to wear leggings in the summer, large ladies shouldn't wear leggings.

I told Speedo Sculpture how much I would have enjoyed taking part in this event but unfortunately it didn't come to pass. However they did offer me one of their swim suits and so I promise to you that I will have a photo on my blog in one of their swimsuits as soon as it arrives. I want to be able to show it to Elizabeth and say how proud of myself I am. After all I am two stone lighter than I was at the start of the year. The thing I like about the swimsuits is that they give support and sculpt the body making it more curvy. Now that is something I like the sound off.

I love this photo from the day where all of the ladies in their speedo sculpture swimsuits jump into the pool at the end of the parade. It is my favourite one of the day.

The four members of the public were each given personal coaching from a psychologist to tackle their body issues before they under took the parade and I couldnt think of more extreme therapy that doing that in public. The main issues that came up was how negative they are towards their own bodies and it is not just them. So many women complain about how they look and are constantly putting themselves down.

Top psychologist Anjula Mutanda comments, “Negative talk amongst women about our bodies and looks is so common and well practiced it seems to happen almost without thinking. It can be contagious and its easy to spread and reinforce negative messages amongst ourselves; resulting in avoidance behavior around exposing our bodies. The good news is that we can take control and shift our mindset from negative to positive thinking. When you change how you think it will change the way you feel, and the way you behave.”

Talking positively about our bodies has a positive effect on our wellbeing, self-confidence and self-esteem.

Here are some Tips to fight ‘fat talk’ and get you parading to the pool include:

· Stay fit with exercise like swimming.  You’ll stop seeing your body as purely aesthetic and more about performance and movement

· Don’t overthink things! When you overthink you’re more likely to stop yourself doing something. Throw off your towel and parade to the pool instead!

· Fake it until you make it. Focus on confident body language; keep your shoulders back, make eye contact, that’s what people will remember

· Surround yourself with positive friends and people with good self-image. Make each other feel good

· Enhance what’s great about you. Stop looking at what you hate and start focusing on what you like

· Don’t see your body as separate from you, it’s part of you and not your enemy

· Manage your expectations of being judged. Most people aren’t looking anyway!

· Build self-esteem around what you’re good at, rather than what you look like

· Talk positively about your body in front of your children. Just as they can learn your positive habits they can learn your bad habits if you don’t

· Keep a diary as a way to spot your negative talk

Help and advice from Anjula Mutanda to stop ‘fat talk’ and be more positive about body image will be available through the Speedo YouTube and Facebook channels.