3!

We had a birthday! Actually, it was last week. Somehow the days pass without me hardly noticing and I get so far behind in reporting on our happenings...


My baby is 3! Yikes, can you believe it? And the excitement... I think she has the idea that she is catching up with her brothers in age :-) Certainly, she thinks that she can do whatever they can. Especially now that she has a bike!

She still hasn't got the hang of peddling, but clever bike has a handle on the back (which can control the steering) for me to push her along. Not so easy to keep under control when heading down a hill, I've found.


And the cake. Ah yes, the cake. The Anpanman (Japanese kiddie cartoon character) that she requested daily in the run-up to her birthday...


Well, she was happy with it in the end. But the conversation when she first saw it went something like this:

Me: M, wake up! Come and see your cake!
M: Anpanman cake!
Me: Tadaaa!
M: ...
Me: What's wrong?
M: Don't like it.
Me: What?!
M: I want Baikinman (Anpanman's foe)...

Nearly 40

There's a lot sitting in my camera waiting to be shared here, but the for last couple of weeks I have been dealing with poorly children and a severe lack of sleep and so whether you will get to see those photos or not remains to be seen.

Yesterday, according to my husband, I turned 'Nearly 40'. I take issue with this, as I still have another two years to go! But in spite of his comment, I did have a lovely day. Actually, it started a couple of weeks ago when my present fron K was delivered - a bread maker, and you wouldn't believe how happy this appliance has made me! There is absolutely nothing in this world nicer to wake up to than freshly baked bread (spread with butter, of course)... I fear for my waistline! Although I had nothing special planned, it was a day full of little surprises and treats (actually, the first surprise turned up on my doorstep the evening before), and although I would have given anything to be enjoying an Indian take-away with my friends back in the UK, I went to bed very happy!



A blogger friend caused me to rush out to the shops to buy the ingredients for a recipe I'd seen recently on NQN's blog (http://www.notquitenigella.com/2010/02/23/tim-tam-cookie-pops/), and while we were out I was enticed by a cream puff from Beard Papa (premium chocolate, mmmmmmmmmmmmm)... I this is allowed on occasions such as nearly 40 birthdays :-)

The Tim Tam Cookie Pops were a doddle to make, and the kids could barely contain their excitement when I brought them to the table after dinner.



I must say, though, that I will not be sharing any more with M as she is far too wasteful:



Honestly, I felt so loved yesterday - I had so many cards, messages, phone calls, and beautiful and thoughtful presents.... it really was a special day!

Oh, and I thought I'd share with you the card my sister sent me (cheeky!):



Very nice, you might think...inside it reads, "Hallucinating and loss of reality are early signs of brain cell loss in women your age."

Time flies, my little flutterby...

Gosh, M's two! How did that happen? She was still a baby last time I looked... now she's a proper little madam! I decided to invite the rellies over for an English style party tea, it was all very girly - can you guess the theme?

Yes, I know they're fairy cakes (and not just fairy cakes, I'll have you know, they are made with murasaki imo (purple potato?) and cream cheese frosting) but we also call them butterfly cakes. M loves butterflies. There's a TV programme on in the mornings that sometimes features a butterfly dance...



You must have worked it out by now, but just in case...

Really, I should have coloured the icing pink, but I thought it was a bit much given the colour of the actual cake underneath all that frosting. It was a Red Velvet cake and was, indeed, very, very red. Not very cakey though, kinda dense and chewy... wooops, I'll blame my oven! I'd read a lot about red velvet cake on other blogs lately, it's something I'd never heard of let alone eaten. Certainly, mine did not turn out how it was supposed to but I will attempt to make it again (it tasted rather good in spite of the texture, there were no complaints, everyone had seconds and there's only a small slice left!). And it's bound to turn out better next time as I have a new best friend to help me out! Yes, allow me to introduce you to...

I haven't stopped grinning since she was delivered! I recently sent an SOS out asking if anyone had an old mixer hanging around that they weren't using, and within seconds of me clicking send I had a reply from my lovely AFWJ friend Betty! Betty, if you're reading this, thank you, thank you, thank you for making my wish come true! There's no stopping me now, oh I can't wait to get creative again!

PS Just in case you are wondering, we did eat lots of stuff other than cakes - we had little sandwiches with the crusts cut off, sausages made into rabbits, lots of healthy, bite-size finger foods such as cheese, Nigella's kiddie meatballs, mini-onigiri (rice balls), but yes, copious amounts of e-numbers and sugar did get wolfed down and barely a crumb was left. Maybe that's why M is still awake 2 hours after her bed time. Ah well, it's only once a year.