Special day

Today is Luke's birthday, the sun is shining and we are spending the day together, just the four of us.

Harry and I made this big happy birthday sign in the week and I photographed the boys holding it. We printed the photo out and used it as a birthday card, with the addition of lots of glitter and glue. We try to always give homemade cards.

The sign was then used to decorate the breakfast table this morning, where we started the day in Luke's favourite way... stacks of thick pancakes and maple syrup.

As Luke is not a fan of traditional cake, I made him a massive pile of cherry and hazelnut chocolate brownies instead.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABY XXX

Cupcakes

Today I was asked to photograph some cupcakes and try out some new cupcake creations, it was a very good day!! Two of my lovely friends, Lisa and Lisa have started a cupcake company, The Travelling Teashop. I really enjoyed taking the photo's for them and of their cakes and when they kindly gave me some cupcakes to take home I took even more pictures. Maybe one day I could become an inanimate object photographer?

The two Lisa's are best friends and you can really see how relaxed they are together, giggling away in between shots. Even though this picture will probably not be used on their blog I was really pleased that I captured this moment. I always have a great time when I am around them both.

Busy, busy, busy!

Things have been a bit hectic around here as we are moving in two weeks! We have found a slightly bigger place in a village only about 10 minutes away, it all seems to have happened really fast and now we are off. So I have been spending any spare moments sorting through all the stuff I have accumulated over the last few years, this is in fact a mammoth task as I am a massive hoarder, I love stuff.


I was really annoyed with myself this weekend as although in between sorting the loft and garage we did manage to get out and have some fun, I forgot my camera. Thank goodness for the iphone, although I find the delay in taking the picture really annoying. We took the boys to ‘mad about machines’ at Wisley, which if any of your children are mad about tractors I would defiantly recommend there must have about 30 tractors to look at and walk around and a few that you can climb on.

To cool off we took the boys to the paddling pool in our local park. This was lots of fun and a bit scary at the same time as Oliver is completely fearless so would just crawl through the water until he couldn’t go any further, but occasionally he would keep going?!

This week is going to be just as busy with the start of packing but there definately will be some crafting and baking involved as it is Luke’s birthday at the end of the week – so I can’t share any of the details until then.

Baking

Ollie doing some cooking, I think he was making pancakes.

As the weather has taken a turn for the worse and we have been stuck in a bit more we did some baking. Banana sponge cakes were what we decided on. I used this recipe for a banana loaf but put the mixture into muffin and fairy cake cases instead of a loaf tin.

3 ripe bananas

3oz butter
7oz caster sugar
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
7oz self raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda

Mash the bananas together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl mix the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time adding flour and bicarbonate of soda with each.
Add the mashed bananas and vanilla extract and mix together.
Put into cases and bake for about 20min, 180c (time will vary depending on the size of your cases, or you could put all the mixture in a loaf tin and bake for about 35mins).
Ice once they have cooled.

Harry couldnt wait for me to take a picture, they were just too tempting!!.

We also made brownies using this take on a Julia child’s recipe, they were yummy but the Nigella brownie recipe (from her domestic goddess book) is still our favourite. That did not stop us from eatting at least 5 brownies each this afternoon in front of Toy story.

The weather is meant to be better this weekend so we can get out a stop baking!

Happy weekend x

3 Reasons

Hello! from my boys at the beach last weekend

I really have been neglecting my blog of late and feel a bit bad about it. There have been a few reason why I have not updated it much:

1. I have been concentrating on my flickr site ‘the little leaf’ as since my photography course finished I have wanted to spend time practicing my new skills and learning more, I think I may have become a flickr addict?!

2. After a trip to my lovely hairdresser (who is a prolific reader) I have become hooked on the Twilight books so have been spending my spare moments reading them. I have just finished the 3rd book, Eclipse so this weekend Luke and I are going on a little date to the cinema to see it; I am really looking forward to that.

3. The last reason is that I heard on the ‘grapevine’ that a friend had made comments about my blog saying that they don’t read it as I make them feel bad? That I am some kind of Super Mummy? I think this is funny. I am no way a super mum, I just like to blog about the things that make me happy. Sure there are days when I get really cross with the boys, when Harry has been on the naughty step for the 10th time that day, when I am counting down to the boys bedtime, when I am sooo looking forward to yoga night as I get to leave Luke to finish bedtime routine, but I choose not to write about those things, well sometimes I do but only a little bit. I like to write about the good things as they are the things I like to read about on other blogs. I was a bit upset by this comment but I am not going to let it bother me as I enjoying blogging! It makes me happy.

I will update my blog a bit more this week, Harry has been really wanting to bake so I will have to think of something to make with him and I am looking for a new brownie recipe so no doubt there will be some baking related blogging going on.

Oliver's big day

Yesterday was Ollie's Christening Day. It was an absolutely fantastic day, could not have been more perfect. The church service was very relaxed and Ollie was really well behaved, only a few tears at the font as he does not like having his hair wet, but was back to his happy self immediately afterwards. We continued the celebrations in my parents beautiful garden which we had decorated beforehand (multi-coloured flowers, lanterns and vintage tablecolths), the weather turned out great, sunny but with a breeze, and everyone enjoyed  bbq food, yummy cupcakes and lots of pimms. It was awesome to see our close friends and family together having such a lovely time and celebrating Ollies big day, it was really special.

Ollie's Godparents and cousin Lilia

Garden party

Happy Birthday Oliver!

The week was Ollie’s first birthday. We had a wonderful day although I had mixed emotions about the day, I was very happy but also a little bit sad as my baby was turning one. No longer can I say he is 10 or 11 months old he is now one year old and is leaving the baby stage very fast. I was of course happy as it was lovely to celebrate his first year. We began the day in our normal family tradition of opening some smaller presents and a few cards all together in our bed before coming down stairs for main presents. This year we got Ollie a cozy coupe car (just like Harrys) and left it ribboned up outside on the patio, so when Ollie came downstairs we opened the curtain and there it was.

 

We spent the day at my parents house, playing in the garden and eating lots of cake. My family brought Ollie a radio flyer wagon, which was a massive hit with both boys.

 

My big boy Ollie, I think he really enjoyed his special day.