At The Hop

Paige turned 3 recently and even though Mia wont be 5 for a couple of months we'll be moving house then so I decided she could celebrate early and we had a combined birthday sock hop. 

To be honest Paige wanted a fairy party {which I told her would be so lovely} meanwhile I talked up twirly skirts and glitter balls then wooed her with promises of strawberry milk and fries, not to mention my wild demonstrations of the jive all around the kitchen until finally she was converted to a rock and roll theme. I only feel a tinsy bit guilty since she has never mentioned fairies in her life until we started talking about her party. {Of course she hasn't mentioned sock hops either, but that's neither here nor there.} 

Before the party I spent an hour washing, dusting, sweeping and generally de-wintering the outdoor area before realising it was way too cold and windy to have it outside. What a waste of time! So even though there was a bunch of little {screaming} girls on their way we had to have it inside. Which meant a quick re-arange of the decorations. I think it turned out well.

These records were $5 for a box of eight at the op shop. That's very glittery cardboard in the centre though it doesn't show in the photos. Obviously the juke box pinata was meant to be hanging from my outside hook but it turned out to be a great table decoration instead. Lolly bags from the dollar store and florescent pink tulle, which cost about $1 a meter. 

The girls looking so cute in their cheapo outfits. Mia's tutu skirt is from the dollar store and was falling apart by the end of the party, Paige's was on sale at Spotlight for $14 and the tops are $3 from Kmart. {I love the new Kmart!}

Fifi the poodle was the rock and roll clincher for Paige, marshmallows are her favourite. Which I kept telling myself around 11pm when I was still putting them on Fifi individually! She looks so smug about it too. Your supposed to put the marshmallows all around her body but my icing was too dry and they wouldn't stick thank goodness because I don't know if I could've been bothered. {Don't mention her stubby legs, she's really self conscious.}

The kids got a pink tray {plastic plate} of diner style food. These burger cupcakes were very tasty and so easy to make, way faster and simpler than Fifi the {flippin} poodle. Instructions below. And making an appearance at every party we do, wobbles jelly cups. This time chocolate with a musk stick, canned whipped cream and a jaffa on top to look like a sundae. Other food served, wedges, curly fries, hotdogs, fairy bread, fruit and flavoured milk. You could also do spiders {floats} if you had older kids, ice cream sundaes, pizza, milk shakes or banana splits. I forgot to put out my Oreos. 

We played lots of fab 50s tunes and the girls had a really good time.

And I had the last laugh Fifi!

Hamburger Cupcakes

So easy. Packet cake mix, packet brownie mix and packet icing. Bake mixes, slice cupcakes, cut brownies into circles {I used my 1/4 cup measure} use finger to slightly wet the top of the cupcakes and sprinkle sesame seeds on top. Tint the icing red {tomato sauce} yellow {mustard} and green {lettuce} place in snap-lock bags and snip the ends off to pipe on top of the brownies. Use a powder rather than a liquid to get a true red colour and snip your piping bag small, mine was slightly too big. 

Amazing idea from Bakerella. 

Bamping

Hello blog, still clean and pretty despite neglect. Unlike my 'on school holidays' house now full of sick people. 

Just wanted to post our Bamping adventures. 

What's Bamping you say? 

Well first there was the very Aussie tradition of camping. Then the 'too fancy for dirt' lot created Glamping {glamourous camping} and now making a comeback from my childhood is back yard camping, or Bamping as my sister so fashionably termed it. Perfect for mums with small kids and/or dads who love to buy camping gear but not actually use it. You know who you are. 

I promised I would take the kids camping last holidays and it didn't happen so now in the dead of winter I've been forced to follow through {darn my peppy camp talk} and the thought of porta-cots, toilet blocks and road trips mixed with the cold was too much for this mama. So we Bamped it up out the back!

So this is the fire pit I picked up at Bunnings a really good buy we will be using this a lot! You can get small ones for only $29! That means toasted marshmallows when ever you want! Everyone should have one. 

A civilised camp dinner, hotdogs and salad with s'mores for desert {of course!} I used these disposable foil trays so the kids could make their s'mores around the fire a bit easier also great for serving a single hot dog. I have been using them for years they are perfect as party take home containers because they come with lids and look great with big ribbons and tags attached also great for christmas gifts full of homemade treats that you or the kids have made and they are really cheap. Also furry friends are the perfect chocolates for s'mores and on another s'mores related note, Fyn had a camping party one year and the kids got little bags with their own s'mores ingredients. As soon as this tray went beside the fire I thought of those individual bags ... probably a better idea than a tray full of goodies,  I think you can guess why! 

The kids collecting marshmallow toasting sticks.

And that there is why I love bamping!

Easter

May as well say this is an 'annual Easter catch up' since I technically did the same thing last year {about 10 posts ago} 

My beautiful little nieces are moving away interstate and my kids wanted to do a movie night and sleepover with them so we {I} set the playroom up with all the mattresses and a little treat station. We stayed up late, watched the movie HOP and I fed them a huge amount of sugar, you know typical auntie stuff.  

I have a small kids table in the corner of the playroom that I covered with fabric and hung a strand of lights over. If you look up when your in my house you can see quite a few clear 3M hooks, I use them for everything {but rarely take them down}. The kids thought it looked a bit special. 

Fyn and I made these little cookie pops, but other than that it was just popcorn and store bought treats in pretty bowls. We did try to make ice-cream pops {small balls of ice-cream frozen hard and then dipped in chocolate} Total disaster. Ice-cream melting all over the place, so I found a few things in my pantry and threw them in the food processor {milk arrowroot biscuits, pre made frosting, cocoa} rolled them up and dipped them in chocolate and sprinkles. I was in a bit of a rush so they could have looked better but very delicious and a big hit. 

This year we {I} had to make 2 little easter hats for the girls kindy parade. They were my first 'girl' hats, so I got a bit carried away with the flowers and the glue gun.

The girls were very happy with the hats and thought they were absolutely beautiful. Until they saw the other kids and realised they were the only ones with meadows on their heads. After that they were a bit um ... apprehensive. 

This is the table set for Easter dinner. The flowers are in ramekins and are from a neighbouring tree, can't be sure but they may be weeds. Each person got a little chocolate chicken, $3 for a whole bag and surprisingly yum. 

Now I'm just showing off my view.

The Big Sleep

When it comes to sleeping my children range from 'Perfect' all the way down to 'Paige'. For years I've had it easy, babies in bed by 7pm big kids by 7.30 followed by hours of peace and quiet. {Generally speaking} But a few weeks ago I finally had to move Paige from her cell cot to the big girls room.

I planned the room around this fabric I found online.
Aloha by Alexander Henry

When I designed it I imagined the girls whispering in the dark and sleeping with their dolls. Ha, the naive dreams of the inexperienced! Instead she has disrupted the entire system so that by the time everyone is asleep it's more like 9pm. I even have enough rooms that I have threatened to move her away from the other kids.

One of the problems was that both girls were scared of the dark and I was leaving lights on everywhere until I finally decided to make a night light. I had this lantern in the room already as well as a small set of fairy lights. I tried to put the lights in evenly but in the end it was too hard so they're all just shoved in there. Luckily they are white so you can't even really see them in the day time. It's the perfect amount of light and the lattice shape casts lovely patterns, the girls think it's so pretty.

Now I just have to solve all the other problems. Soft music, warm milk? If you have ever had a spunky toddler with bedtime issues then please help!

First Birthday

Falling pregnant with Lochie was a total surprise, so when he was born I was relieved that he was healthy and gorgeous a good sleeper and a good feeder. {Better than the girls, thank goodness} As an added bonus it turns out he has a sweet disposition an endlessly happy nature and a smile that can light up the world. He beams at everyone he sees and people coo over him constantly. He is a complete ray of sunshine.

So fittingly when I found this cake I knew it was the one.

jessicakesblog.blogspot.com

Isn't it adorable. Boyish, babyish and very sunny! Unfortunately I have a strict policy about fondant icing. {I'm too chicken to use it!} Add to that the fact that I only started to make it at 8pm the night before and well ... lets just say the whole thing turned out incredibly average! The weather was cool and overcast and the birthday boy had a cold so it wasn't the perfectly sunny affair I had in mind but true to form Lochie was still incredibly happy about the whole thing.

Here is my half finished version. I ran out of yellow icing, couldn't find my little toy aeroplane and the orange chocolate rays didn't even make it to the cake they're still in the fridge!

But Lochie loved it.