Lewi's 11th Birthday cont...

The evening before Lewi's birthday we proceeded to make the birthday icecream cake. First of all though we had to tackle the dreaded freezer.

It's been a point of concern, this darn freezer, every single time I need to use it for something other than the normal freezing of food, you know like having to have a really clear space to keep something tall or wide. Every time this happens I curse Mark for making the decision 15 plus years ago to get a fridge that doesn't defrost itself. Argh! This freezer has a build up like an Everestic peak and none of us want to ever be the cleaner of the freezer, hence the Everestic peak!

So, with knife in hand {I know, you're not meant to use a knife BUT do you know how hard it is to clean our freezer?} we tackle the snow and frost in order to fit the mighty echidna in.

After a LONG time the mission is complete and we have room. Phew!

The icecream echidna begins...

 Worry begins... Lewi's last dinner as a 10 year old. Lamb shank pie with old fashioned vegies.

The birthday date arrives. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEWI!

  Some paper boats we made to add some rustic sparkle.

Lewi's card from us.

Some more rustic decorations - newspaper bunting and chains.

Lewi had some of his homeschooling friends over for lunch during the day ~ Luca and Anise, Ptolemy and Perdi and Taj.

This is a fantastic birthday card made from biscuits and iced to perfection. By Mer,  Luca and Anise xx

Dona taking over the We Sing singing Monster! Go, Dona!

Everyone singing to Wii Sing.

Look at the cool fish Ptol and Perdi gave Lewi! So cool. It looks fantastic in Lewi's specimen cabinet.

Having some pizza and nibblies.

   Dodge ball fun.  Melinda, Mer and Nell xx  The echidna! Some more lovely people arrived in the later afternoon ~ our family plus the Raczkowski's xx        The girls watching a Barbie movie {Georgie, Dulc and Meily}.  Rosie xx  Lynda and I xx   Dadsy xx   

  I hope you had a wonderful day, matey. Happy being 11 xxx

Happy 11th Birthday, Lewi xx

Happy Birthday, Lewi xxx

We've had a hugely full day of love and friends and family and food and great, great memory making.

You're a beautiful, beautiful 11 year old and I'm absolutely blessed and privileged to be called your mum.

May your year of being 11 be a wonderful one. Can't wait to share it with you.

Love you forever

Mum xxxxx

PS I will post properly tomorrow with photos of your special day. Night for now xx

About A Boy

The cake's virtually complete. The presents are wrapped. The food for tomorrow is organised. Some decorations have been made. A yummy lamb shank pie has just been polished off.

Now I can think about a boy ~ my boy,  on the eve of his 11th birthday. It's drizzling rain and the weather has cooled. Perfect evening. Perfect last day of being 10. 

So what about my boy? Apart from all of the normal gushings that every mother does over their kidlets {he's gorgeous, he's beautiful, he's...perfect!!! bla bla blas}, my boy is so many things. He is:

*  Gentle yet he has a volatility that, when harnessed well { and it is so well harnessed these days} is channelled into loyalty and passion and 'standing up for a cause.' He loves nature and the environment and animals. He is  passionate about the Green movement and he's a loyal, loyal friend.

* Funny! He's so funny. He has his Dad's sense of humour and he can make me laugh alot. Every day we laugh together. I love it when he gets that hysterical laugh. He sounds just like my brother, Josh. I almost think Josh ,as a 10 year old, is in the room.

* Artistic. He loves to draw and create and I love that he thinks outside the square and won't be pushed {especially by me!} to do something a certain way.

* Strong yet modest and a little shy yet confident with people he knows well.

* Expressive. I love this quality so much. I was worried, when I first found out that I was pregnant with a bubba boy, that he wouldn't be a talker. Oh how wrong I was! He's a talker and he loves to share his feelings.

* He's social yet he loves spending time alone. He loves hanging out with his friends and going to homeschool groups and doing fun stuff out and about but he also loves to have quiet time at home to think and draw and read and dream. I love that he's comfortable with his own company.

He so many, many things. All of which make him who is.

What a blessing to be able to talk about a boy ~ my boy. My 10 year old boy. I love you, matey xxx

Today

 

{delish}

Hot. Finished Lewi's birthday shopping. Visited Mer & Myoung and kidlets. had a lovely afternoon out on the deck, while the kidos played and jumped on the trampoline. Gas bagged alot. Always lovely. Raked the grass. Blogged with Lewi. Checked out Moshi Monsters with him. Watching Prince Caspian again. Thank God for air conditioners.

PS That picture makes me feel cooler and more tranquil and less like biting someone's head off because it's so darn hot!

A Lovely Day With Friends

 

Today we had a lovely day with Melinda, Ptolemy and Perdie. We had apple and almond cake and cups of tea, quiche, salad and bread and we did lots of chatting and playing and hanging out together. {close up of my Pierre de Ronsards ~ I just love them!}Perdie and Melinda Ptol and Lewi playing Moshi Monsters.

The boys had fun on the computer and played the Wii, drawing and looking for lizards. They found a poor dead magpie lark and decided to bury it in the garden ~ complete with wooden headstone thingy {what's the name of a wooden one but it's not a cross????} and flowers sprinkled on the grave.  They jumped on the trampoline and poured over the new Moshi Monsters book.

Perdie joined in now and then but mostly hung out with us girls while playing lego and doing puzzles and hanging out with her gorgeous girly dolls.

Melinda and I got to talk parenting and unschooling and all of those other things we girls talk about.

It's always great catching up with friends xx

While We're Talkin' Birthday Cakes

Have you seen this site: Cake Wrecks? It's hilarious. My friend, Mer put me onto it awhile back and I had tears streaming down my face then as I poured over the messes and mis-spellings. Right now though, I feel all nervous and empathetic. Lewi's birthday cake could end up here, at Cake Wrecks, if I dare to post a photo of it.

Remember though, these cakes are made by PROFESSIONALS! Can you believe it?

Have a little geeze at some of them.

This is an ice cream cake. Mm..mmmmm.

I know this looks VERY creepy and you may laugh at it [as I did}  but how hard would it be to make a naked mole rat? I'm so thankful Lewi hasn't seen this one. He loves naked mole rats!

Creepy little baby feet!

Yum, yum. Cockroach cake!

What the heck is this? I could not eat that if you paid me.

I love these poor spelling ones. Funny!

Remember, professional cake decorators were paid for those spelling mistakes and the lack of neatness. Go figure.

Again, please wish me well...

Birthday Cake Study

Our study this week, the week before Lewi turns 11, has had a birthday theme. Our resources: The good old Women's Weekly Cake books!

Every year Lewi dusts these  books off and studies them, painfully trying to decide which one he'd like me to make for his birthday. I used to do this too. So did my brother, Josh. Then my little brother and sister did it. It's such a tradition in our lives. I even have the original copy that we grew up with, complete with oil stains from dribbling chocolate and creamed butter and sugar from a bygone era.

Most times though, in this new and modern era of me creating a childhood for my own, we've ended up doing something completely different to the books. Lewi often seems to have some other creative idea up his sleeve, something to cause me pain and heart ache and much, much stress.

Take his 2nd birthday for example. A fan cake that could actually spin {thank you to the lovely person who leant us their lazy Susan for the day}. His first birthday was a number 1, straight out of the original Women's Weekly cake book.Then there was the fire truck for his 3rd birthday and a monster truck for his 4th {both with bright red icing!}. His 5th birthday was a whale shark. His 6th a weird dragon scene with blue icing {big failure!}. 7th was a piñata cake  {I had to call in help as it was not going to happen ~ thank you for that, Lynda!}. 8th was an aquarium, another one from the original Women's Weekly book - we converted the swimming pool  into an aquarium complete with sharks and rays!. His 9th was a number 9 in cupcakes topped with chocolate aniseed rings {Lewi's favourite lolly} and the big 10, last year, was a Mario Kart racing scene.

So, on looking through the years, all the study Lewi has done on these cake books has not really produced many replica cakes. His creative flair has led him on a tangent and given me many  pre-birthday cake making nightmares. This year, however, it looks like I am in luck. Phew! {I so hope I'm not kidding myself}. Lewi has chosen the echidna icecream cake in book no# 2. It looks easy. {Have you ever muttered those words to find yourself regretting you ever said them? I so hope this is not one of those times}. And he's happy for it to look exactly like the one in the book. YAH!!!!!!!

Here it is...  It's just icecream put into a metal bowl and re-frozen. Then it's taken out and it's head is covered with ice magic. Then you plonk those TV biscuits into it's back and sprinkle shaved chocolate over the top. The nose is a jam roll covered in more Ice Magic and the eyes are good old smarties. The biggest problem is going to be making room in my overly crammed  freezer for this little fella to sit patiently waiting for the big cut.

I'm so happy! An icecream cake at last. I never had one as a kid. I always wanted one though. I have been to some kidlets parties at McDonald's where they have icecream birthday cakes. They are truly disgusting little things ~ the cake that is.

Please wish me well!

 

Did you study these books when you were a kid? Which cakes did you have?

Biscuiteers Announcements

Remember my post regarding the Biscuiteers competition that Mer and Myoung were running at Candelo Books? Well, the announcement was made today! Unfortunately we couldn't make it  {I've been feeling a bit under the weather all day} but we heard on the grape vine that the winners were:

Adults People's Choice Award {a copy of the Biscuiteers book} ~ The gorgeous Easter bonnets {no# 6}

 Adult's Section Award {$250 worth of beautiful cook books} ~ Intricate flowers {no# 4}.

Children's People's Choice Award {$30 book voucher} ~ Save The Koalas!

Children's Section Award {$50 book voucher} ~ Boy with The Soccer Ball & Book With a Cookie

Congratulations to all of the winners. You so deserve it. What a fantastic effort from the lovely Bega Valley baking community:)

There's still one more prize up for grabs ~ the Voter's Prize. All of those people who voted in the Biscuiteers competition will go in to the draw and one lucky person will win a ....woops, I've forgotten what this prize is BUT I know I want it!!!! It's cooking related. It's good!

Such a fun competition. We had a blast and I'm sure everyone else who entered did too.

Here's how it all looked in the shop ~

Not only did the winners get some fantastic prizes but every child who entered received a gorgeous participation certificate {thank you, Myoung x}AND a $5.00 book voucher. So lovely and so very generous. Lewi was stoked. Thank you so much, Candelo Books. We hope to do this all again sometime really soon xx

Here are our biscuits after 2 weeks of sitting on a plate in cling wrap. Not bad. Lewi wanted to hoe into them when Sarah dropped them into us. Yum...not!

 

PS Up and coming blog post on the Biscuiteers fun day that Sarah and I and the kids had Part 2...

{Photos, other than the last 3, courtesy of Candelo Books on Facebook }