Birthday Party Catch Up ...

Life has been so hectic since December 2015, I have had 2 babies since then and it is just a mad house here.  I was so unwell through my pregnancies that I hardly left the house.

Every month we try and do a proper family outing, Dale does a radio show and we attend our church.  We always seem to be doing something.

I thought I would share with you the birthday parties from last year with you.  I will say that I was still recovering from a c-section with Rose's 1st birthday and was still tender at Jonathan's too.

Rose's birthday was during the Easter holidays last year and we were able to have some of her cousins here to help celebrate with her.  I don't know if you know what a rainbow baby is but Rose is our rainbow after the storm  (A rainbow baby is a baby that is born after the loss of a previous baby)

In the morning we all gathered in the living room to open her presents with her.  She loves Rapunzel so she got a Rapunzel soft doll. Picture me just over a week post horrendous cesarean section galivanting around Belfast to get Rose a Rapunzel doll from the Disney store.   

She absolutely loved her doll and cup and towel which ALL had Rapunzel on them.  She also got a Little Tykes car (thanks to my amazing friend who found this one that was barely used for us to get)

She stayed in it being pushed for such a long time - poor Jonathan was fed up but kept going because it was her birthday.  

Aren't they so cute together here! 

Her outfit?

Well I am a bit of a girly girl and I love a tutu.  I found this wee one on eBay for about £5 and just had to get it for her.  Yes it's ridiculous but oh so adorable! 

The unicorn headband was from her granny who saw it and just knew that Rose had to have it.

I loved the whole ensemble - It was a little chilly so I paired it with a long sleeve vest and spotty tight with her miniscule sparkly jelly sandals - i mean, how cute was she in this photo! 

And with daddy just made it so much sweeter. 

Oh the poofy skirt ....

As I said, I had just had a section 2 weeks before and my friend stepped up to make an amazing tasty cake for me.  By me I really mean Rose as it was her birthday. It was a naked cake, vanilla with vanilla buttercream and then I had bought a little banner and some sweet pink roses for the top.  I loved it.  It was just perfect and very simple.  We had lots of nibbles and Dale even made wee taster bowls of a prawn curry thing which was delicious (unfortunately I can't remember what it even was or I would tell you - and I didn't take pictures of the food either ... lax day with the camera on my part) 

As a rule I hadn't given Rose anything with sugar - so no biscuits, sweets, chocolate etc so when we showed her the cake she was a little confused by it.  She hadn't seen a birthday cake before and probably the fact that everyone was watching her and singing ... I'm guessing she was just a tad intimidated by it all, but she did brilliantly.

She didn't want any of the cake, my friend had also made mini cupcakes too so we gave Rose one but she just stuck her finger in the icing and then wanted it taken off her finger ... she still won't eat a piece of cake or buns.  

We had quite a few kids joining us for the party so we hired a bouncy castle and when everyone was gone we let Rose onto it.  She loved it! We couldn't get her or Jonathan off it.  The giggles that we could here as the two of them bounced about together.  We were very grateful we hired this because we had two very tired children at the end of the day who went straight to sleep for the night.

Did I say 2 tired kids?  make that 3 and a very tired mummy.  Here I am when everyone had gone after feeding Mattias and getting snuggles from Rose and a sleepy baby.  I was exhausted and had done nothing,  I was so grateful for Dale and my friend that day for doing everything for me so I could sit and enjoy the day chatting with family and friends.  

JONATHAN'S SUPER HERO BIRTHDAY PARTY

Jonathan had no idea what we had planned for his birthday ... he had asked for lots of cakes 

It's my fault really as when he turned 7 these were the cakes ... yes I did say cakes ... that he got.  

The first was for our dinner out with grandparents and his aunt and uncle 

He has such fun at this meal, we all did.  It was a great evening.  Rose was well behaved too for a 2 month old little one.  This cake was a very yummy chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing decorated with sprinkles and everyone enjoyed it and some even asked for more to take home - that is a bonus in my books ... would you agree?

Enjoy the video of his reaction to getting sung Happy Birthday to. 

The second cake he had was for his birthday party with friends.  I made this one for him.  This was a vanilla sponge with vanilla buttercream and a little coloured fondant too.  He loved this one, and so did all his friends which was an added bonus.  I did send the parents home with quite a bit because ... there were more cakes to come!!!

On the actual day of his birthday we wanted to have another cake for him but nothing big as .. yes there was another cake to come ... so a simple coconut sponge cake from Tesco was just perfect.  He loved that he was having yet another cake.  He got to choose what his meal was - chilli chicken pasta with garlic bread.  He wanted ice-cream for dessert but I think we topped it with another cake...can you tell that he loved it!!

The last cake Jonathan had was this one.  Designed completely by me.  I would have loved to be able to make some changes to it but I had run out of time.  The topper was one that i had drawn for the cake and was filled with all the things that Jonathan loves and then I sent it off to be made into an icing topper. 

Jonathan couldn't believe that it was a DS cake with all his favourite characters.
The cake was two layer sheet cake.  One layer was chocolate and the other was vanilla with chocolate fudge icing and surrounded by fondant.  All handmade by yours truly.

so of course for his 8th birthday, he wanted to try and top the number of cakes ... unfortunately for him he had to just go with one.  In saying that I think I may have knocked it out of the park with this cake ... and I may have made it hard to top it for his 9th birthday (although i already have plans for this years cake)

So what was Jonathan's 8th birthday like this year?

To start with he woke up to this outside his bedroom window ...

A superhero bouncy castle ... he went straight to Rose's room and the two of them were so excited.  She must have remembered it from her birthday.  Jonathan asked that if they both got dressed could they go out and have a bounce before school ... so of course I said yes, because they were so excited and I was excited for them.

The weather was so beautiful, perfect bouncing weather.

It was so good that he never made it into the house to get changed when he came home from school.  He went straight onto the castle and stayed there till it was time to go get Dale from work.  Rose enjoyed it too - there was a slide that she could get down at the side of the bouncy castle and the two of them were in their element.

All the while I was in the kitchen (with the window overlooking the back garden and the back door open) getting sorted for the party that was happening the next day.  I had managed to find superhero party decorations and got snacks that he loves and made a cake that he absolutely loved.

The cake was a number 8 cake made from a round cake tin and a bundt cake tin.
I had asked Jonathan this year about what flavour of cake he wanted and he was adamant - chocolate cake with chocolate fudge icing - the rest was up to me ... well I didn't give him the option really.

I found the figures on eBay, I managed to get nearly all the superheros from Marvel Avengers and positioned them around the cake and table.  (I used cocktail sticks to help them stand up on the cake)

I wish I had managed to get a picture of his face when he saw the cake because he was so excited about it.  The look when he saw all the figures and realized he could keep them and play with them after the party.  We got some balloons, a banner, a tablecloth, napkins and plates as well as cups all with the superhero theme (from Home Bargains!)

We also got him a costume - the party was a costume party and he was Captain America.  He loved it.  We had left it a little too late to find him a costume so I had bought just a wee cape and a mask but thanks to Home Bargains we found him the costume that he wore.  

His best friend came as Thor.  Jonathan wasn't our only child to dress up ... Rose had a Wonder Woman swim suit and I got her a Wonder Woman cape and she looked so cute.  

Jonathan was so kind, he made sure that Rose was included when there weren't too many there.  The boys (we found) were crazy dangerous on the bouncy castle - wrestling and everything ... but they enjoyed themselves.  

For music we used our Alexa device.  Jonathan had a playlist all to himself just for his birthday and he added all the songs he wanted.  It was an eclectic mix from Captain Underpants, to Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, to The Greatest Showman and many more.  There really was something for everyone!

The one that made us giggle was he had somehow managed to find a song called 'Happy Birthday Jonathan' and it was really freaky but hilarious.

Snack wise we didn't really do much.  We had planned the party after lunch but before dinner (so it took out the worry over what to eat) We had a selection of crisps, popcorn and a few sweets as well as some diluting juice (no fizzy drinks with the bouncy castle) and water and that was followed by a piece of cake ... which was delicious, if I do say so myself.

For the parents that stayed we had tea and coffee and some cupcakes and biscuits - of course they could nibble at the kids snacks but it was a just incase they wanted to be a little more grown up ... 

I didn't manage to get many photos of his birthday as I had a 2 month strapped to me and I was trying to keep my 1 year old safe from the bigger kids on the bouncy castle.  For younger kids we had a small tent with some toys put bedside them and a wee paddling pool because the weather was very warm ... I did have sun tan lotion - incase the parents wanted their kids to have it and they forgot about putting it on (I always do, which is why I carry it with me in the baby bag and in a box in the boot)

Loot bags or party bags - they are all the same thing - from us are never anything amazing.  We wanted to give the kids more 'e' numbers so we put in some sweets, some tattoos and just wee silly things - I can't even remember.  

I wanted to make it special and individual for Jonathan, especially with having had a lot to deal with his two baby siblings and hard pregnancies.  He said that it was the best party ever and would love to do it again.  

We've started planning his 9th birthday and can't wait to see what we end up doing, his isn't the only party that I've started to plan either so just watch this space ... and I will take more pictures this time I promise.