So we took my new camera bag for a spin to our local park where the boys enjoyed the first really springy day around here. Sunshine, wide open spaces and sweet smelling flowers are just what we needed. Nate was especially animated, looking for lorries and racing all the other boys in the park.
On Alex’s actual birthday Nate made him a cake. He is slightly obsessed with cake and loves reading my cook books. While flipping through BBC’s Good Food 100 Cakes & Bakes he found this gem. A perfect dish for a toddler to assist with. In fact, he did almost all the work. By the way, he can also count to cake: “2, 3, 4, cake!” Math is tasty!
It’s actually very easy and great if you get a punet of not-so-sweet, out of season strawberries. Cooking will bring out the sugar to make a lovely, sweet centre for your torte.
Ingredients:
Plop everything into a food processor and give it a whir until a thick dough forms. It’s much more like cookie dough than cake batter. Take half the batter and press into your lined spring form tin. Go ahead, get your fingers dirty. Spread all the strawberries out on top of the dough. Take the rest of the dough and spread evenly on top of the berry layer. The easiest way to do this is to spoon out tablespoon size dollops around the tin, then press together to ‘hide the strawberries’. This was Nate’s favourite step.
Place in oven at 180C for 40 minutes. Loosely cover with foil to keep from over-browning and cook for a further 20-25 minutes. It will rise slightly and be a lovely golden brown. Cool until you can safely remove the spring form. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm with fresh whipped cream.
It doesn’t keep for very long, not that you’ll have that much left over anyway! Nom, nom, nom. The light, frothy whipped cream really brings out the torte and is not to be missed.
Alex loved it. He’s a very happy birthday boy. And a cheeky little devil too. Someone gave him attitude for his birthday and it looks like he’s going to be trouble. Adorable trouble!
(Adapted from BBC Good Food Strawberry Cinnamon Torte recipe)
In case you haven’t noticed, Alex turned 1 last week and we’re super excited. On Saturday we had a great little Go, Dog. Go! themed party. If you don’t know PD Eastman, you should check out his books. They were some of my favourite growing up. Alex likes them too and we all love a good party. Here’s our recipe for success.
The Décor
It was 100% chance of rain on Saturday, so I knew I had to bring spring indoors with lots of bright colours and fresh flowers. I proudly put our favourite photos of Alex on display and did a quick de-cluttering of toys, making sure that all his favourites were out. With one pack of multi-coloured tissue paper, I made a super festive ‘A’ and loads of poms to jazz up the boring light fixture. We have a cute dotty garland from Nate’s 1st birthday, so I printed out pictures from his invite (adopted from the book) and attached with blue tac.
I think cupcakes are the best for parties with little kids because it’s portion controlled and it makes it easy if someone has to leave early or arrives late. These were carrot cake with sugar free cream cheese icing. Delicious. I also make cheese crackers and meringue with sprinkles. We also served lots of fresh fruit because its delicious, pretty and kid friendly. We always end up with a lot of soda we don’t want after parties, so this time we decided to serve water infused with fresh fruit (citrus fruits & raspberry-lime). It was so delicious and a nice change. Nate drank a litre easily because it was pink water.
The Gifts
Alex has pretty much everything he could ever want and more, so we decided to get him a collection of Alex-based gifts: a name puzzle, Baby Alexander (he’s Peppa’s cousin) and Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (I loved this book so much as a kid). His uncle brought him a giant balloon that was quickly adopted by Nate and we gave all our little guests copies of the book we based the party on.
The Attire
Bow-ties are not optional.
The Cake
Everyone else may get cupcakes, but Alex got his own two-tiered cake to destroy. You only get one first birthday and I love a good ole cake-face photo. This is what being a parent is all about: cutting grapes in half and keeping all salt, sugar, chemicals away from them for 365 days and then going nuts on their birthday. Live it up little man.
The Aftermath
Toys everywhere and an exhausted baby boy (and parents). Time to put on the kettle and put our feet up until a certain little boy turns 3 in August!
Alex’s first year has been an exciting one. He travelled to England by ferry and got to hang out in The Cotswolds while testing out his lungs screaming at us every mile of the car journey. He went to his uncle’s wedding and met loads of relatives. He spent a week in hospital, but pulled through like a champ. He dressed up as soy sauce to his brother’s sushi for Halloween. He went to the theatre. He met Santa. He learned to swim, crawl and clap (in that order). He had an Easter egg hunt and saw his first snow. We fell in love with him and I think after watching this video, you’ll know why.
Here’s to many more adventurous, numerous and Alex-filled years!
Over the long weekend we had a brilliant time checking out some of the great family friendly places around Dublin. A highlight had to be Imaginosity , the Dublin Children’s Museum. All four of us had fun playing in the interactive play areas, especially the American-style diner (home sweet home) and the construction area. Alex loved the special baby areas on each floor. It was packed on Good Friday, but not too crazy that we couldn’t enjoy everything. I can’t wait to go again as the boys get older and can appreciate more of the exhibits and play in new ways. I can definitely see us going regularly to focus on specific areas (like the hospital to learn about the human body or the shop to learn about money) Fingers crossed, one day it will be nice enough to follow the Eco Badger up to the roof garden.
My second week of MinCamp tasks were all activities to make mommy happy. This is definitely an area that gets neglected because I often feel guilty about taking time for myself. I know I’m not alone in this. I also know that it is completely ridiculous. Intellectually I understand that it is important for me to take care of myself (physically and emotionally) so that I can be a better caretaker. But I can’t shake the feeling that our time and money is precious and should be spent on the family, rather than just me. These exercises helped me prioritise things a little better and helped push me to see that if I took a few extra minutes to brush my hair in the morning, the children would not self destruct. Continue reading
We love bath time at granny and granddad’s house (many because it has a bathtub). Here are some cute pics of the boys playing with bubbles in the bath. It has to be done!
At home we have a Flexibath in the shower, which is a bit cramped…but just as fun! We can actually fit both kids in it right now, but our days are probably numbered with their long legs. They really love splashing each other. Nate even helps wash Ally’s hair. So cute! After bath time, it folds up nicely behind the sink. It’s not ideal (I’d love a bathtub!), but I definitely recommend it for space-starved families.
I signed up for MinCamp last month because the timing fit perfectly with ‘officially’ starting my tenure as a Stay at Home Mom. For the past 10 months I was on maternity leave so I cut myself a little slack, but now it is time to get things in shape make everyone in this house as happy and healthy as possible. The daily prompts have been fantastic exercises to either take stock of what I am doing right* or nudge me in the right direction to relieve some of the (mostly self-imposed) stress from my day. Plus, you get cute little merit badges when you’ve completed the task. I have done some of the tasks out of order, so here goes a review of my first week at MinCamp! (You can follow everyone else on Twitter #mincamp) Continue reading
Nate had a minor tumble down a slide last year and has been terrified of all slides since then. He wouldn’t go near them. So after a bit of coaxing and working through all the steps, (and possibly after seeing his baby brother giggle down the slide) Nate finally conquered his fear! We’re wicked proud of this kid and luckily captured all the magical moments on film.
You know what they say about March - in like a lion, out like a lamb - well I hope that’s true because I could really use a break from the cold (and kids getting colds). Today we made lions out of paper plates and roared our loudest roars to try to scare the winter away.
Have you ever wondered what’s in that pot o’gold at the end of the rainbow? Turns out, Leprechauns love to count. Nate is really into numbers lately, so what better way to celebrate St. Pats than with a pot of real Leprechaun counting coins. I’m rushing this a bit to make it in time for Molly Moo’s linky, but will update with posts of the boys adoring their awesome gift.
It’s a really simple project. First, cut out 5cm discs from felt (I cut out 18 for the numbers 1-9, plus backing discs). Hand stitch the numbers. I free-formed it to make it look more Leprechauny. Sew the discs together. (I can’t do circles on the machine, so I hand stitched them) Done!
For the pouch, get a piece of fabric approximately 10cm x 25cm. Press 2cm in from the short side and press fabric in half. Sew closed the folded edge. With the right side of the fabric facing, sew along the edges from your first seam (leaving the 2cm gap at the top open). Turn pouch right-side out. Take ribbon or cord and thread through the opening, winding it around twice. Cut to desired length and tie ends together. This will allow your to draw closed by pulling from either side. Stick coins inside and enjoy!
The weather outside is frightful, but inside it’s so delightful…because we’re having a beach day! We’ve had enough of the cold, rainy, sometimes snowy winter so the boys and I decked out the house in beach décor, popped on some beachy tunes (Beach Boys Pet Sounds is a Nate favourite) and wore our best Hawaiian shirts. It was a blast and even made the sun come out! (Hence the weirdly exposed photos!)
The best part of beach day was definitely all the arts and crafts. Nate really got into the game and pretended the blue blanket was real water or “wa wa”. He and Alex got some good swim practice in!
I always took school assignments a bit too literally, so when I got the call for the Virtual Baby Shower Blog March, I thought “Hey, why not plan the perfect baby shower!” This is a bit of an amped-up version of our baby shower for Nate. We asked all our friends to bring their favourite children’s book instead of a traditional gift. It’s a wonderful way to build a little library (just ask everyone to bring a gift receipt in case there are duplicates).
While you’re revisiting your favourite books, why not go all out with a children’s book themed party. Invite people to the party on old library check out cards and create a bright tea party atmosphere (that can definitely be gender neutral). You could serve lashings of ginger beer, toasty soldiers, marmalade and cookies that say “Eat Me” (a la Alice in Wonderland). Decorate with useful items for a new nursery like mobiles, book ends and Paddington’s red wellies. Lovely gifts for the new momma could include personalised book plates, framed prints from vintage children’s books and bright coloured melamine tableware that can be used as the kid grows up.
Whether you’re throwing a baby shower or not, every new baby needs these books in their library: the entire Roald Dahl collection, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Giving Tree, Winnie the Pooh, Goodnight Moon and Peepo. That’s a fact.
1. Umbrella Garland (GFetti, Etsy); 2. Eat Me Cookie Stamp (Amazon); 3. Roald Dahl Collection (Book Depository); 4. Winnie the Pooh (Book Depository); 5. Neon Tea Cups (Laurel Begley Designs, Etsy); 6. The Giving Tree (Book Depository); 7. Noah’s Arc Book Ends (LittleOnes.ie); 8. Breakfast Marmalade (Avoca); 9. Kids First Welly Boots (Hunter); 10. Foosy Cake Stand (Avoca); 11. Red Bird Dream Ring (Belle & Rollo)This post is one stop in the Irish Parenting Blogs Virtual Baby Shower for two members bringing new little ones into the world this year. Isn’t that exciting! You bet it is, because this post is brought to you by the letter E! We keep marching on tomorrow to The Clothesline.
In case you missed it, here are the previous posts from Mind the Baby, Wonderful Wagon, That Curious Love of Green, Debalicious, My Internal World, Awfully Chipper, and Go Dad Go.
Congratulations to Aine (on a blogging break from AndMyBaby) and Lisa (Mama.ie)!
Nate made up a little song for us after dinner.
They lyrics are:
Baby and me (repeat); Dada and me (repeat); Nate and me (repeat); Baby and me (repeat)
You may notice I was not mentioned. He refused because it was funnier that way.
Nate’s showing Alex wild world outside.
