a whirlwind year
On the 22nd March of this year, we celebrated a milestone birthday in our home. Mattias turned ONE!!!!!
I have to say that the year just flew in. I know it is said all the time that the time just passes so quickly, but I think when you are watching children grow (especially in the first year) that there is no truer statement that can be made about time.
How do I feel about it? Mixed emotions here from me. I have loved every little first with Mattias and learning who he is as a little person but I am sad that he is no longer that little tiny baby that was dependant on me for everything including food. My overall feeling is just JOY, joy that I get to be his mummy and joy that God gave him to us when we thought our family was complete.
I wanted to really celebrate our little monkey to the FULL and I really did just that.
For Christmas, my parents got me a sewing machine and I have loved having it. It really helped me with all the preparations for the birthday, as you will see. I spent hours hunched over the material, ironing, pinning and then sewing. I have to say I was pretty impressed with my makes once they were done. They did take time to organize and to make, I know that the ones that I made for my kids will be kept and put in little memory boxes for them. I mean come on - it's not every day that you turn one is it!?!
The question now is - what did I plan?
We wanted to have a small party for Mattias and by small I mean... I invited 15 little kids (Rose was the oldest - I know it was crazy!) and I wanted it to be a fun and slightly messy event. I went on Pinterest, I wracked my own brain and eventually, I came up with an idea - PAINT!!!
Now, normally people would shy away from paint at a birthday party wouldn't they? The answer to that question should be met with an emphatic YES! but oh no, muggins here is all sorts of crazy. You can laugh at my silliness because I know I do ... or cringe, whatever you feel would be applicable here!
BUT I did have a plan. It wasn't going to be an aimless painting and mess having session ... I enlisted the help of others to collect toilet roll holders. These things are brilliant for little kids, you can make so many shapes out of them. In this instance, I made bunnies for them. Lots and lots of bunnies so that all the kids could make a picture. I know that kids love a bit of mess so I provided a few items for them.
Firstly an apron. These were homemade and I slightly personalized them for the kids too - their initial was placed in a balloon shape on the lower left-hand side. These were put on and then they were given a piece of thick card to have a go at the printing and then when the mummy's thought that they were ready they were given a small deep canvas so that they could make their 'official' picture, and then they could bring that home with them.
I have to say it was a fun chaotic situation that enfolded and from the looks on the kids' faces, they all enjoyed it. I was shocked at Rose who was really patient and did her picture so well. When she was given her canvas she only wanted to put on a few prints. Mattias, on the other hand, was eating the paint and covering everything in the paint - but he was enjoying the mess that he was making. He had his own wee apron which was the only one in that particular colour and, as he was the special birthday boy, he had 3 balloons and his initial on his apron. He looked so cute in it.
While I cleaned up the mess that was in the kitchen the kids went back into the living room where the ball pit was, books and every toy that you could think imaginable. The mummys got to talk and I got to set up for the food.
Each child had their own seat (we have 3 of the seats that attach to the chairs at the table and my parents had 2 as well, and then for the babies we had high chairs too - sometimes it pays to have kids so close in age because you have an abundance of things) Each of the kids had a homemade crown in their place and then mummies were able to get them their food.
I really enjoyed doing the food. I made pancakes and scones. But they weren't normal ones. I made miniature scones and pancakes for the kids and slightly bigger ones for the mums. They worked perfectly (well in my opinion) so that the kids got a taste. I didn't butter and jam anything because I wasn't sure what the mums would like on their kids' food so I left out butter and jam along with some knives.
The kids also had packets of mini party rings, little boxes of raisins, pom bear crisps, mini breadsticks, little packets of butter biscuits in case kids weren't allowed iced party rings and cheerios too, plus pieces of orange and sliced apple. For the adults there was the same pancakes and scones (just slightly bigger) my friend made some wheaten for me (it is THEE best wheaten ever!!!) there were chocolates too and of course big pots of tea and coffee - because us mums need our fuel.
And the highlight for me (even though it was not the cake I had intended on making) the BIRTHDAY CAKE.
Mattias loves the Twirly Woo's so of course, the cake had to be that. I did take an easy way around it by buying the plastic figures for it so that he could play with them afterwards (genius tip people because he loves playing with them and it means that you don't have to spend hours trying to shape these weird blob characters!)
Another tip I will give you ... for free ... don't attempt to put fondant on a cake at four in the morning because your lack of sleep will cause you to lose all of the will to live. I tried and tried to put it on the cake - I know how to do it, I've done it loads of times before but this time DISASTER - I won't even show you what the cake looked like. It was atrocious!!!
This is a picture of the pile of icing that was thrown (gleefully at this point) into the bin because I just gave up. In saying that though I was very happy with how it turned out.
wait till you see the inside. I was very happy with how it turned out.
The food dye colours I used for this cake were the Sugarflair gel paste (click here for the link to it on ebay) they are perfect.
I had at one stage used the liquid colours but I found that they also change the taste of your icing or cake - the red one was disgusting - but these do not leave any taste at all and produce the most amazing colours that you could imagine. There are so many colours - I want to get all the colours so that I have them in my baking cupboard ... yes people, they are THAT good! They are more expensive but a little goes a long way.
Want to see the end result?
- silly question right? ok here goes ...
I have to say that the year just flew in. I know it is said all the time that the time just passes so quickly, but I think when you are watching children grow (especially in the first year) that there is no truer statement that can be made about time.
How do I feel about it? Mixed emotions here from me. I have loved every little first with Mattias and learning who he is as a little person but I am sad that he is no longer that little tiny baby that was dependant on me for everything including food. My overall feeling is just JOY, joy that I get to be his mummy and joy that God gave him to us when we thought our family was complete.
I wanted to really celebrate our little monkey to the FULL and I really did just that.
For Christmas, my parents got me a sewing machine and I have loved having it. It really helped me with all the preparations for the birthday, as you will see. I spent hours hunched over the material, ironing, pinning and then sewing. I have to say I was pretty impressed with my makes once they were done. They did take time to organize and to make, I know that the ones that I made for my kids will be kept and put in little memory boxes for them. I mean come on - it's not every day that you turn one is it!?!
The question now is - what did I plan?
We wanted to have a small party for Mattias and by small I mean... I invited 15 little kids (Rose was the oldest - I know it was crazy!) and I wanted it to be a fun and slightly messy event. I went on Pinterest, I wracked my own brain and eventually, I came up with an idea - PAINT!!!
Now, normally people would shy away from paint at a birthday party wouldn't they? The answer to that question should be met with an emphatic YES! but oh no, muggins here is all sorts of crazy. You can laugh at my silliness because I know I do ... or cringe, whatever you feel would be applicable here!
BUT I did have a plan. It wasn't going to be an aimless painting and mess having session ... I enlisted the help of others to collect toilet roll holders. These things are brilliant for little kids, you can make so many shapes out of them. In this instance, I made bunnies for them. Lots and lots of bunnies so that all the kids could make a picture. I know that kids love a bit of mess so I provided a few items for them.
Firstly an apron. These were homemade and I slightly personalized them for the kids too - their initial was placed in a balloon shape on the lower left-hand side. These were put on and then they were given a piece of thick card to have a go at the printing and then when the mummy's thought that they were ready they were given a small deep canvas so that they could make their 'official' picture, and then they could bring that home with them.
I have to say it was a fun chaotic situation that enfolded and from the looks on the kids' faces, they all enjoyed it. I was shocked at Rose who was really patient and did her picture so well. When she was given her canvas she only wanted to put on a few prints. Mattias, on the other hand, was eating the paint and covering everything in the paint - but he was enjoying the mess that he was making. He had his own wee apron which was the only one in that particular colour and, as he was the special birthday boy, he had 3 balloons and his initial on his apron. He looked so cute in it.
While I cleaned up the mess that was in the kitchen the kids went back into the living room where the ball pit was, books and every toy that you could think imaginable. The mummys got to talk and I got to set up for the food.
Each child had their own seat (we have 3 of the seats that attach to the chairs at the table and my parents had 2 as well, and then for the babies we had high chairs too - sometimes it pays to have kids so close in age because you have an abundance of things) Each of the kids had a homemade crown in their place and then mummies were able to get them their food.
I really enjoyed doing the food. I made pancakes and scones. But they weren't normal ones. I made miniature scones and pancakes for the kids and slightly bigger ones for the mums. They worked perfectly (well in my opinion) so that the kids got a taste. I didn't butter and jam anything because I wasn't sure what the mums would like on their kids' food so I left out butter and jam along with some knives.
The kids also had packets of mini party rings, little boxes of raisins, pom bear crisps, mini breadsticks, little packets of butter biscuits in case kids weren't allowed iced party rings and cheerios too, plus pieces of orange and sliced apple. For the adults there was the same pancakes and scones (just slightly bigger) my friend made some wheaten for me (it is THEE best wheaten ever!!!) there were chocolates too and of course big pots of tea and coffee - because us mums need our fuel.
And the highlight for me (even though it was not the cake I had intended on making) the BIRTHDAY CAKE.
Mattias loves the Twirly Woo's so of course, the cake had to be that. I did take an easy way around it by buying the plastic figures for it so that he could play with them afterwards (genius tip people because he loves playing with them and it means that you don't have to spend hours trying to shape these weird blob characters!)
Another tip I will give you ... for free ... don't attempt to put fondant on a cake at four in the morning because your lack of sleep will cause you to lose all of the will to live. I tried and tried to put it on the cake - I know how to do it, I've done it loads of times before but this time DISASTER - I won't even show you what the cake looked like. It was atrocious!!!
This is a picture of the pile of icing that was thrown (gleefully at this point) into the bin because I just gave up. In saying that though I was very happy with how it turned out.
wait till you see the inside. I was very happy with how it turned out.
The food dye colours I used for this cake were the Sugarflair gel paste (click here for the link to it on ebay) they are perfect.
Want to see the end result?
- silly question right? ok here goes ...
my Twirly Woo cake for our gorgeous boy.
(the sand is just crushed digestives) there were supposed to be waves made out of fondant but yea - that clearly didnt happen (shakes head in shame)
As you can see it was a hectic, and funfilled day.
The preparation for this day started after christmas, everything that was done took time. If you want to plan something similar with all the sewing bits to be done too then give yourself a couple of months to get your fabric, buttons ( I had a debacle getting my buttons) bias, felt etc you need to give yourself that bit of cushioning to get it all ready and cut and then sewn. Enjoy doing it though because these are memories that you will have for ever. If you're like me you will have memory boxes for your kids too and you'll pop those special memories into those boxes for them to look at when they are older.
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