Sharing experiences from my life, places I have visited, crafts I have created, and hoping to inspire other people in this journey we call life.
Tag: Birthday
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I thought it would be great to show you the process I used to make G5’s 4th birthday cake.
I decided to make her a vanilla cake. It is nice and plain and yet moist and tastes yummy. I doubled the mixture and it cooked nicely in 50 minutes.
Next was to even the cake, make it level and cover with butter cream icing.
Once covered with the buttercream icing, I put the whole cake into the fridge to harden the butter so I could smooth the icing ready for the fondant.
I was a little worried here as the cake was very cold and the fondant once rolled and placed on the cake, sweated and went quite shiny. It actually worked well for adding the next layer of fondant.
White fondant placed on top of the pink, so that the Minnie mouse face will eventually stand out. I just cut it with a wavy edge.
The next step was to print out an outline of Minnie mouse a few times and then cut out the layers on the paper. These layers were placed on the coloured and rolled out fondant and cut out with a sharp tipped knife. I was pretty pleased with how easy it was to do, and how it all fitted back together.
This was going to be my finished product, but I just wasn’t happy with the bow. It should be white spots not green!
I was suppose to put a lot of white dots in various sizes around the sides of the cake, but decided that little flowers would be prettier.
G5 is pretty happy with her first look at her cake.I brought the correct ribbon and made my own hair clip bow for the top of the cake. Bonus was that G5 has now got two bow clips to wear 🙂
The new pink bow with white spots looked great! I added white lettering to say Happy Birthday and a pretty pink number 4 candle. Around the bottom edge of the cake I rolled little balls of pink and white fondant and placed them all around.
Ella’s pink Minnie mouse cake
It turned out great, and G5 was very happy with her cake. You don’t even have to have lots of cake decorating products. I have a mat that I purchased from Ikea to roll the fondant on. This mat can roll up with the fondant on it, and then I unroll the fondant over the top of the cake. I guess that mat is my one purchase that I can’t do without. The playdoh letter cutters have been used many times, and they aren’t even sold as cake decorating things. The rest can be cut out with a paper pattern and a sharp tipped knife.
I hope that you are encouraged to give this cake a try. Let me know how yours turns out. Maybe you can add a photo of yours in the comments 🙂
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Since late 2015, I have had three of my grand children living here at home. Our third son, their Dad is living here too. The empty nest didn’t stay empty for long! So I am back to having a pre-school child back in the house, and two primary aged kiddies, and I love it. Just when we were slowing down, and getting a little selfish with our time, we now have these wonderful children to help us to think young again, and give us plenty to do 😉
And I have had the opportunity to once again create some children’s birthday cakes. The first grandchild’s cake I made was actually for G7, who lives in London. Her daddy and her came for a months holiday and she was turning one just after she arrived back in London. I wanted to give her a New Zealand birthday as well. I found a very cute birthday party set of cups, plates, napkins and table cloth of a pink ladybug. I copied the picture of the bug and made that the design for the cake.
The table decorations and the cakeI made some cupcakes as well, and we needed balloons, of courseThe birthday cake banner
The first of the three who live here was the oldest of the three, G2. He turned 10 late January, 2016. He is really into minecraft! He watches you tube videos of people playing the game, plays it on the PS3 and talks about minecraft all the time!
Here is his cake.
Cake number 1.
This was such an easy cake to make. Just a simple round cake, green fondant with little fondant squares cut out in various shades of green, fondant letters cut with playdoh cutters, and minecraft ‘lego like’ blocks. Jayden also liked creeper and wanted a minecraft creeper cake, so I made him an extra cake as well. This was a pretty simple cake to make as well.
Minecraft cake number 2
Next birthday was just one week later and that was G5. I had decided on making her a Barbie cake with the doll in the cake and the cake as a dress. Daughter C5 brought the Barbie doll while I made the cake. Once putting them together I realized that to get to doll to fit the cake, I would need to cut her legs off, or make an extra cake to make the dress part bigger. It was getting late into the night and I had a bright idea to use doilys instead. G5 was turning two, and I didn’t think that she would be too fussy, she just wanted a cake. He is how it turned out 😉
With a bit of imagination, I extended the dress for Barbie 😉
And with the added cupcakes for the party.
Ella’s cake and cupcakes
G5 was a very happy little girl and I was quite happy with the finished product.
The next birthday was in the May, when G4 was turning 7. Look at his cake! It was a big one!
Super Hero Theme
I had so much fun making this cake. I had brought the party supplies from Spotlight so decided to make the cake to go with the table decorations. G4 loved it. He is a very active little boy and it suited his personality totally. We even went to a indoor trampoline park for his party. He and his friends jumped around like superheros the whole party!
We started off G2’s birthday with a Pokeball hunt. Each Pokeball had a little character inside.The Pokemon party table and decorationsG2’s Pokemon cake
So, I am now getting lots of practice making Birthday cakes again. The week after G2’s birthday is G5’s birthday. This time (after searching Pinterest) I decided in making her a princess themed birthday, making her cake out of lots of cupcakes. It was lots of fun, and I had to stop myself from putting too many decorations on the cake!
Princess G5’s pretty princess cupcake dress cakeThe Princess party table and decorations
For G5’s birthday celebration, we went to the movie Ballerina with some friends. G5 had party bags to give her friends at the movie.
Party bags for Ella’s princess party. We even went to the movie Ballerina, and the girls were able to eat the goodies during the movie.
After G5’s birthday in the February, I travelled to Sydney for G6’s 3rd birthday. Now, I didn’t make this cake, but his Mummy did, and she did a great job. G6 loved his cake and he had a wonderful birthday party.
Happy G6 with his Cars cake!
In May 2017, came G4’s 8th birthday. By now I’m loving Pinterest! And as I was looking for easy boys cakes, I found this one! It became the theme for his birthday, and presents!
The Incredible Hulk Cake. And a very happy G4 🙂Incredible Hulk hands around the cake!
2018 came along pretty quickly, and I have now made another two birthday cakes. First is G2 again late January. He turned 12 this year, and decided that he was quite happy with having a plain cake rather than a themed and decorated cake. Phew! He still had to have a cake though. And this is what I came up with. He was happy 🙂
A nice simply iced cake
His cake had two layers. A Vanilla cake for one layer and a chocolate cake for the other. I put the layers together, and iced all over, with vanilla buttercream icing. Broken flake chocolate for the top, number 12 candles, Jaffas (chocolate/orange lollies) around the bottom edge and it was finished! It lasted all of two days!
While shopping in Spotlight one day, I came across a pink Minnie Mouse party pack and decided that as G5 has a Minnie Mouse that she cuddles and plays with a lot. Pink Minnie Mouse should be her birthday theme! I also brought some Pink Minnie Mouse Curtains and decided that I could definitely make something out of them to fit the theme of the party.
G5’s pink Minnie mouse cakePink minnie mouse themeDecorated for G5 to wake up to on her birthday morningBefore the food and cake was brought in. Cute pink minnie mouse plates etc. Look at our cute G5 minnie mouse!The pretty pink minnie mouse skirts. I made 5 of them. One for each of the little girls that came to her party.
After her party and an all afternoon play at Rumpus Room indoor playground in New Plymouth, G5 thanked her little friends with her own little gift. In their gift bags were lots of Minnie mouse games and girly things, like bangles and ear rings and hair ribbons. Then they each got their skirts. We had 5 little pink Minnie mouse girls running around the playground, and 3 boys. They had a great time. I did too. All the preparation of food, serving the food, party games and clean up was provided by Rumpus room! So good 🙂
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Our family has just had a huge celebration! My Dad had his birthday and it certainly was one to celebrate. He turned 90 years old! That’s right 90! Not only was the age worth celebrating, but my Dad as a person needed celebrating as well. He is an amazing person! Always has been! I have been very blessed having him as my Dad. He is the best Dad a person could have (I’m not biased at all)
My Wonderful Dad!
Of course I had to make him a cake for the occasion 🙂
My second attempt at making a cake using fondant. The first was for my youngest daughters 21st.
We had the party at my eldest sisters place, and us four girls and my sister in law made all the food for afternoon tea. People arrived from 1pm and stayed until approximately 6pm. At one point there were 80 people wandering around the gardens or sitting and chatting! Â Dad had a great time catching up to old friends and family.
Cheers Dad! You are worth celebrating!
Mum felt just as special as Dad did, after all they are ‘one’ really, after 67 years of marriage 🙂
Ohhhh that’s cute 🙂
Only two of my adult children and their family were able to come to the party. My eldest sisters daughter came, along with her family as well. And, my brothers son came too.
Mum and Dad with all the grandchildren and great grandchildren that came to his party.
It was so good to be able to have all our immediately family together again. A great opportunity to get a group photo!
From Left to right – Myself (the baby of the family), Kerry (2 years older than me), Dad, Mum, Judy the eldest, Lynda (two years younger than Judy), and Rodney (the middle child and only boy of the family)
So I titled this post ‘The seasons of life’, because of the fact that my Dad and Mum are in the ‘Winter’ season of their lives. Thankfully they are well and still having a great time of ‘living’, although Mum is a little slower nowadays. I really can’t imagine life without my precious Mum and Dad to chat to, have our weekly family dinner time together, and have their continued input into my life. I have been blessed to have them both as my parents, and I am so very thankful.
Both Robin and myself (and all my siblings) are now in the ‘Autumn’ season. The times of our lives have gone so fast. When I was younger and surrounded with lots of children, each demanding my time and energy in some way or another, and I was frequently tired; people used to say to me that these years would pass before you knew it, and your children would be all grown up and left home. In fact, sadly, because of the busyness of life, I often wished that those years of freedom would come sooner. Now, I would love to go back in time and live through those years again. It was a wonderful life and I loved being a Mum to my young children. I loved the feeling of being vitally important in their lives. Now they are individuals, adults that are making their own way in life. Each unique personality doing it their own way, and I am so proud of them all. I am still important to them, but in a completely different way. And that is healthy. That is the way it should be!
Celebrate the seasons of life people. They move along so fast, they really do! Memorise as many moments as you can along the way. Take heaps of photos, and journal your life. It will all be great to look back on, especially as you enter the less energetic seasons of life.
Yet in this Autumn season, there is still so much to look forward to. Robin and I now have the ability to make decisions about our lives, that no longer impact our ‘children’ like they used to. We can make plans for holidays together, have evenings out regularly, and generally do as we please. Does this sound selfish? I see it as a reward for selflessly parenting our children first and foremost during their formative years, and into adulthood. We can now become a ‘couple’ again, and enjoy the wonders of discovering life together as a couple.
Yes! This season of life is great!
PS…. As part of my celebrating ‘who I am’ in my Autumn years, I have decided to let my grey show! It has been a great topic of discussion, I can tell you. But I am happy with who I am. I don’t feel the need to impress anyone, or feel I need to try to keep young looking. I am actually loving my hair, and wish it was actually white all over. And you know what…. it is very freeing 🙂
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The first half of our year is full of celebrations starting with Robin’s birthday on the 2nd of January. This year was his 60th and we celebrated his day with a lovely wine tour in the north of Sydney!
My 60 year old man 🙂Celebrating Robin! All the family together minus C3, Stacie and their three children!
C5’s birthday was on the 15th of January and G2 turned 9 on the 29th. Within that week we had G5 turn 1 on the 4th and then on the very next day G3 turned 9! Phew! But that doesn’t end the February birthdays. G1 and C6 both had milestone birthdays, with G1 turning 18 and C6 21 on the 24th! Yes they share the same birthday. G1 is now at University, and we are very proud of the beautiful young woman she has become 🙂
C6’s 21st was a biggie! And I decided to do most of the decorating myself! And did I have fun!
Let’s start with the cake…
So first of all I made two Caramel Cakes for the bottom of the whole birthday cakeI joined the two with butter cream icingAnd I covered them as best as I could with butter cream icing 🙂Once the icing had hardened a bit I smoothed it out by putting baking paper on the cake and rubbing over it with the flat of my handNow this is the fondant I used. Approx $6 per packet. I thought that was a bargain compared to other brandsAnd here is the cake with the fondant on top of the butter cream. I rolled it out flat and then with the use of my Ikea mat, I rolled both the mat and icing together, and then unrolled onto the cake. Gently rubbing with my hands to get the icing to mould around the bottom edge of the cakeI did exactly the same with the top of the cake only this cake was a vanilla cake. Separating some of the fondant, I coloured it with red food colouring. I then rolled the red out flat and cut circles and stripes and also stars for the lettering to go on.I let the stars harden overnight onto the skewers and then put the lettering onto themAnd here is beautiful C6 with her 21st cake!I also made a welcoming blackboard to celebrate C6. I actually copied this from a board I found on Pinterest!And with the help of my cricut, some vinyl and a white board, I made another celebration board 🙂Instead of a birthday key, I purchased a blank black canvas, and along with a white Gel pen, C6’s friends could write messages to her. This is now wall art for C6 🙂I asked Robin to get a sheet of chipboard and I drew a huge number two and one on it. He cut them out with a jigsaw and I painted them black.Both the two and one were covered with photos of C6 growing up 🙂And here is my gorgeous girl with her ’21’ photo board <3
We hired out a local club and had a wonderful evening together. C6 is my baby and to think she is now 21 is unbelievable. Where have those years gone? C6 is very talented, and a beautiful young lady. I am very proud of her 🙂
The birthdays haven’t finished yet! On the 18th of March we celebrated G6’s 1st birthday with an amazing Star Wars themed party, which I have written about approximately three blogs down! Go have a look. It was the best themed birthday EVER!
The whole house was set up in a Star Wars theme to celebrate G6 turning 1 🙂
In early April C2 came to New Zealand with daughter G7, and while they were staying here, I decided to put on an early 1st birthday for her. Her actual birthday is the 21st of April, but she would be back home in London by then. It was fantastic having them both to stay so it really was a double celebration! I purchased ladybug table napkins and decided to make her cake to match them. Here’s what it turned out like…
The ladybug theme! Copied from the table napkins and plates 🙂The table set up for her party. We had family here to help celebrate and brought pizzas as well….yum!Here’s Daddy C2 cutting G7’s cakeAnd beautiful little G7 with her cake 🙂
C3’s birthday was next on the 17th of April, and coming up next week is mine!
I think I may have a party???
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Grandson 6 turned one year old on the 18th, and because his Dad (my eldest son Matthew) is a Star Wars addict, the theme for G6’s birthday had to be Star Wars! You must know the conversation from the movie between father and son! This pillow is one of four Star Wars themed ones that are on Matthew and Rebecca’s sofa!
Luckily C1 has a very accommodating wife who not only wanted to make G6’s birthday special, she also wanted it to be a celebration for C1 as well. After all, G6 is the treasured son after two beautiful daughters!
Here is the birthday invitation.
So the party planning began!
With the help of ‘Pinterest’ Rebecca began creating. One of the first things was a converted flip lid rubbish bin!
Isn’t it amazing! A perfect R2D2!
And who would have thought that swimming pool ‘noodles’ and a little tape would make great light sabers? Look at this container full just waiting for all the little Jedis to have a training session during the party.
And when ‘Luke’ the children’s party entertainer arrived, they all had a great time learning to ‘use the force’.
The best purchase I felt that D1 had made in planning for the party was a long roll of black plastic. Originally designed for cutting into lengths as table clothes, D1 also splattered white paint on lengths cut for the walls to create Galaxy scenes.
The main lounge became the dessert and Cake table and also the children’s dining area.
The dining room became ‘Hutt Dog Station’ where we had yummy Hutt Dogs, cute little Han Burgers and delicious Pizza the Hutts to eat!
The outside deck area became ‘Fueling Station Ergo’
And D1 purchased Star Wars accessories and labels to compliment the rooms that were set up for the party. Just look at the amazing entrance and backdrop for the photo booth. The Fabulous backdrop was created by ‘Little Dimple Designs’.
In this photo party boy G6 is in his mums arms (Princess Leia), with G1 dressed as a storm trooper, and G3 dressed in style as well.
And here is Dad, Darth Vader with his three children! (I told you it was the best Star Wars themed party ever!)
Now no party is complete without take home bags for the children. Just have a look at what these children got!
And that wasn’t all…
Very cute shaped cookies! Four different designs in each bag! And those cookies and even bigger ones were available for adults too, along with other theme based food 🙂
These were all on the sweets table or dessert table 🙂
There’s those cookies again and some with coloured fondant on top!
Leia’s buns were yummy cinnamon buns. Isn’t it amazing what you can create with a bit of imagination!
And now the masterpiece…
That is the most amazing cake! Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker on the top just make it! And it was the most yummy chocolate mud cake, rich and very moist! So delicious 🙂 Many thanks to ‘Cakes by Koo and Cupcakes too’
The table setting for the cake was perfect! The labels were from a purchase D1 made from ‘Hello My Sweet’ via Etsy.
Singing Happy Birthday to G6. I am sure he knew the day was all about him 🙂
The adults drinks were well catered for, but look at these very cute drinks for the children.
No kids party is complete nowadays without a Piñata. Rebecca made her own one to fit the Star Wars theme. Nothing better than a Death Star to destroy and free the goodies from inside!
Friends and family were invited to G6’s first birthday and each family group made the effort to dress appropriately with the Star Wars theme. They all helped to make the party extra special 🙂
How cute are these two little girls! And Mum and Dad look pretty great too 🙂
We had a few Princess Leia’s at the party but all the outfits were slightly different. This little Chewbucca was fabulous at nine months old 🙂
Yes, I think grown men like to dress up too 😉
We all had a fabulous time. And I am sure that G6 knew he was the main ‘little man’ of the day. He loved it! Not a tear all day but a very happy little boy who thrived on all the attention.
Happy Star Wars first birthday to my very special grandson G6 xoxoxo
Mummy D1 is a very clever lady and she can now have a well deserved time of rest and relaxation. Three children’s parties in two months are over and each one very successful!
Until next year D1!
May the Force be with you 🙂
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After two train trips we arrive at Prague. One train from Wroclaw to Dresden, and then from Dresden to Prague. Arriving we were met by our tour driver/taxi driver. What an interesting fellow. Could hardly speak English, and conversing with him was quite an undertaking. But he got us to our apartment okay and that was our main concern. The apartment is fabulous, with two bathrooms and two separate bedrooms. Judy and Len are sleeping on the sofa bed in the lounge.
Our first full day was spent doing our own walking tour….and it was great. We saw some awesome sights.
A monument of Communist timesWe climbed this towerStanding at the door at the exit from the tower. We did it!A magnificent view of PragueLooking down!At the top with an open window for taking photosA zoomed in view
After climbing the tower we walked down the hill through very picturesque streets, visited the Lennon wall, and then crossed the popular Charles bridge into the Old Town, and the square. That is one fabulous town square!
Inside with the amazing circular stained glass window above and behind meInside the Cathedral on the hillAnother viewLook at that Cathedral!Entering into the squareCrossing one bridge with the famous Charles bridge behind meOn the Charles bridgeWandering the streetsLooking over the castle wallThe castle gates
We also met Ben and Chloe for tea in ‘New Town’ Prague. They visited Berlin after the wedding then travelled down to Prague to see us once more. It was a great opportunity to celebrate Chloe’s belated birthday 🙂
Judy, Teresa and myselfBen, Chloe, Robin and Len
I could say so much more about Prague and have heaps more photos, but a sample of the wonderful city is all that is needed for you to get an idea of how wonderful it really is.
Go visit Prague! I highly recommend it 🙂
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This year has been a huge year for our eldest daughter C5. On January the 15th she turned 21. We celebrated with a big family dinner on her actual birthday and then on the following Saturday night we had a combined dinner with her special friends at a local nightclub ‘Crowded House’. We had a lovely meal together and talked into the late evening and left C5 and her friends to continue celebrating into the early hours of Sunday morning. She is a very friendly and well loved young lady and her many friends helped to make her evening special and celebrate her and her very special birthday. C6 and I had fun purchasing 21 gifts and wrapping them up. It was a delight to watch C5 see all the presents and then watch her open each present up. She is so beautiful and photogenic. Her face is a delight to watch 🙂
Then on the 24th of May…C5 had her graduation ceremony. What a fantastic celebration of her three years of study and the end with her capping! She is now a qualified nurse and is working at ‘Carefirst’ in New Plymouth. Even better she loves her job!
We are very proud parents. C5 is a delightful person. She is so loving and caring and giving. She has brought us so much joy and happiness. We can’t wait to see where her nursing takes her in life, and we also look forward to everything she does in the future. She is also an amazing photographer and has suprised many people with her most fabulous talent at just managing to ‘snap’ that photo at just the right time. An ability many of us would love to have. God certainly has gifted her with many wonderful qualities. We love her as she is…she is just perfect!
C6 wrapping the 21 presentsLook at that beautiful face! How can you NOT love her!HappyAnother presentBirthday cake. Isn’t she beautiful!Blowing out the candles!Our two beautiful girls! We are so proud of both of them 🙂C5! Your tongue!…we do have some fun as well!Yes they’re my girls alright!Mum, Dad and daughter xC5 and her good friend EdCelebrating you C5!Here’s the proof!An amazing beautiful and talented young lady!Yes C5…we are very proud of youCelebrating YOU young lady!C5 and her study buddiesThe CappingAnd she can officially wear the cap! Congratulations C5. Well done! It is a great achievement.
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So here it is 9am and I am still in bed! I could blame it on the fact that it is a cold morning, I have a cough, and I have had about 4 nights of broken sleep because of that cough (mainly a tickly throat) but really I am just being lazy! Not normally one of my character traits but today it is the main one! And…I actually have a lot to do!
Yesterday I spent the day sewing. It was a cold, wet and thundery day so a good day to sew. I was determined to finish the quilts that I had started, and I did!
Today I start my new job. Yes…I have a new job. What an amazing answer to prayer! I had a phone call from a friend wondering if I would like some work. Like!!!! I would love it! So I am now a receptionist at Phoenix Emergency Doctors on Vivian Street, New Plymouth. I don’t officially start until the middle of June, but this afternoon I am going to learn what I will be expected to do. I am feeling really happy and can’t wait to use my skills again. Don’t get me wrong, I love being at home, but I kinda feel like I aren’t using my brain to the same extent…and I don’t want to lose the ability to work intellectually. I hope that makes sense! I want to be stretched mentally!
So today I have new job orientation, tomorrow I have friends coming over for the afternoon, Friday Joanna graduates so it is celebration time, and Saturday we travel to Palmerston North for Christians 4th Birthday.
