the bird man

Hold your jumping castles, magicians, Cinderellas and face-painters. Cancel the pony, the balloon-shaper and the puppet show.
There's a new kiddie party guy in town and he is ... odd.
Martin Odd, aka The Bird Man.

Because what 6 year old doesn't want a Rock Kestrel sitting on his head at his birthday party?

And who doesn't want their friends to experience the magic ...

... the wonder ...

... and the mind-boggling privilege of an African White Backed Vulture pooping visiting in your living room?

Martin and his team of feathered friends (Macaw Parrot, Hadeda, Owls, Crow and more) do an amazing hour long show, full of facts and information, entertainment and education, guaranteed to leave all the guests (young and old) with lots to think about and remember about the magnificent birds which live amongst us.

Martin shows an affection and respect for his birds which we commonly associate with furry mammals, and speaks candidly of his early days as a budding ornithologist, seeking out nests as a boy around his home in the suburbs.
How wonderful to expose our children to an adult so passionate about what he does. Someone who has followed his childhood dream and now does the work he loves everyday.
Valuable lessons indeed.

And so entertaining!

Rounded off with a chance to hang out with a White Faced Scops Owl. A very special birthday party experience indeed.

More information on Martin's shows (he can also be found at Ratanga Junction in season) and his contact details can be found here, or on his facebook page Birds of Africa Show.

celebrating life

That's all we really can do right? Make a donation to the Kenyan Red Cross, hold the affected families in our hearts, mourn for our continent, all the while acknowledging our Heritage (she still loves chickens) and continuing to celebrate the milestones of those we love.
Celebrate life, it's precious.

Beautiful, radiant, exuberant 6 year olds.

Rainbow cake for a dear friend, because I've been hankering to make another one, and she's special.

Brownie and shortbread stack for another dearest bestie.

It was a long weekend of cake, and love, and sorrow, and celebration. It was a big weekend.

cake of macabre magnificence

On the strength of the fabulous cake we made for Friday's birthday (no apologies for the brag), a good friend asked us to make her a birthday cake this weekend.
She has a taste for the macabre does our Janine, and requested something a little twisted. We were happy to oblige ...

This was our first time making a themed cake for someone outside of our immediate family and I have to admit it was a teeny bit stressful - I don't think I could ever do this for money, or to a strict brief. It's fun to have an idea and then just go with it, never sure quite how it'll work out.

But as with the birthday cakes we've made for our daughters, the best part was thinking fondly of the recipient as we made it, chortling at how much she'd love it. As weird as it may be to imbue a blood-splattered cake with warmth and love, this one was splattered with both.
Happy birthday Janine!

And some notes for those interested ... the 3 tiers were standard Victoria sponge (double mixture), sandwiched in this case with strawberry jam and iced (by my husband the master icer) with white buttercream. The edible blood was a bit of a coup - after researching many recipes online (most of which called for cup of corn syrup - eeeuwww), we made our own by modifying a chocolate glaze recipe which we've used often before, this time using just a little bit of cocoa powder and lots of red and green food colouring.
Artfully applied with a basting brush, the glaze harden beautifully, looked super gory and tasted delicious!

always be a unicorn

Last week Friday turned 6. I think I gloated enough about the wonderful child she is here, so I'll just say this:

She is magnificent.



The awe and wonder on her face here is magnificent.

Also, how could it not be when presented with this?

And playing through our heads the whole time last Friday evening, after a morning in hospital with the grommets, and at the tail end of a super busy week, as Husband flexed his exceptional icing skills and I painted plastic unicorns silver and filled ice cream cones with sweets and hung streamers and packaged the last of those %!&## fizz balls ...

Always be a unicorn my sweet girl!

diy fizz ballz: don't do it!

In preparation for Friday's 6th birthday party in a couple of weeks we've been making fizz balls (bath bombs) to go in the party packs.
'Something I've Wanted To Do for Ages' meet 'Perfect Opportunity'. I'm sure you'll be very happy together.

Or ... not.

Frankly these were a mission, and after 4 batches (mostly unsuccessful) and still a few hearts short of the number we need to fill all the party packs, I'm SO OVER THEM.

Don't be put off by the vast quantity of ingredients - they're all easily obtainable (brandy optional, not actually for the fizz balls you understand) - and the instructions I followed here were very clear and helpful.

And the ones that worked are very cute and pink and rose-smelling. Friday has carefully labelled them all 'bath' due to concerns that her friends may eat them.

But each batch was tryingly hit and miss and I'm not really sure why. Obviously sometimes the mix was too dry, sometimes too wet - but we measured very carefully, honest. Possibly the recent weather was a factor too - rainy days are not very conducive to drying powder.
I'm tempted to say that all in all the project was a bit of a balls up but you know ... cheap joke.

Luckily similarly to baking experiments, there are always those in this household prepared to make the most of the failed attempts - the girls have had some very pink 'n fizzy baths recently.

But still we must make more! Just a few more ... and then NEVER AGAIN I tell you, never again.

dinosaur party

And so, despite it being touch and go there some days, she made it to 3 and specifically requested a Dinosaur Party.
I was happy to oblige.

Dinosaur party hats. Fruit & doughnut skewers. Carrot (cup)cakes. Nikki Werner's (super easy and delicious!) Cheesecake from here.

Cardboard Dinosuits for the win.

Rwoar.

Le Cake!

My first ever 'proper' party packs. I've arrived.

Contemplating new ways to torture her mother ...

It was a great morning, she was immaculately behaved, her friends were lovely, my friends were even lovelier. 

We're one step closer to 4.

And in years to come I'll look back at this last photo and nostalgically mourn the loss of my soft cheeked babachoo.

*crickets*

Some friends were asking me today why I've been so quiet on the blog ... dead blog air, is there anything more deafening?
I know when blogs I read fall silent I always wonder what's going on in their lives. I hope they're just too busy hanging out and being glamourous, and not ailing or unhappy.

My silence hasn't been for any of these reasons, good or bad. My silence has been due to the sheer exhaustion, frustration, and at times despondence, of full time parenting a particularly demanding and forceful little girl. And who wants to read about that, I replied to my friends this morning?

I can't come here exhausted, after a day of toddler dramatics, and muster any enthusiasm for parenting insights, or happy crafts. I've often so little humour left that I can't even crack a smile post bed time, my stores of creativity depleted, my words all used up, the sound of my own voice grating in my head.

And no one's interested in that right?

This thing about 'mommy blogging' (urgh), is that we walk a fine line between making it all sound too perfect, and using the space to moan and complain. I'm equally irritated by bloggers who do either. I don't like to bad mouth my kids on the internets, but I'm as horrified to hear that anyone reading this blog may think I make it all sound too easy, that our lives look too fun and squeaky clean.

Life has, for a lot of the time in the last few weeks, not been much fun at all. Life has in fact been pretty tough. What I learned from my friends today is that I should be writing about that here too. And what I've learned just from writing this post is that writing, as usual, always makes me feel better.

Today was Sunday's 3rd birthday party. It was the hardest kiddies party I've ever organised, not because of its scale or logistical intricacies, but because I found it really hard to muster the good feeling and energy to celebrate this small girl right now.
After a day of battles and tears, demands and tantrums, it was extremely difficult to brainstorm the ultimate dinosaur cake, or think of ways to make her day extra special. Once she was in bed I wanted to stop thinking about her entirely for a while, to replenish myself with ME.

But I did it, we did it, and it was lovely. She was an angel - she wore a dress! she only freaked out once! she loved everything! she didn't call me 'Bad Mummy' or slap me!

She was sweet and delightful and appreciative and funny ... she was deliciously 3 and I must, I must remember that this too shall pass and one day (soon) I'll look back and wonder at how the time has flown.

9 Dec

Eyeball piñata. Best 3rd birthday party ever.

toilet roll crowns

Like a princess in a fairy tale, a cardboard toilet roll rises from its humble beginnings to become a bejeweled and wondrous thing of beauty ...

I loved these teeny-weeny crowns since I first saw them on Pinterest, and now the girls do to. We started off just making a couple for them to play around in, but got into full production mode for a recent family birthday gathering.

I don't have enough decent in-process shots but I can tell you they're super easy to make - cut rolls, paint rolls, bejewel rolls, tie elastic - and give you one helpful tip: clip a laundry peg to the roll to make a handle while painting it.

Ta-dah!

Ridiculously small, ridiculously cute, we're starting to think about themed ones for Christmas Day ...

dinosaur cake

My brother and father both have birthdays this week, and this year their combined age is 100! We begged volunteered to bake them a cake and Friday, completely lacking in irony, declared it would be dinosaur themed.
And then proceeded to art direct the crap out of it.

No cut-out dinosaur shaped cake (as envisioned by me), nope - she very specifically brought home this dinosaur picture from school and declared that we'd use it for the shape 'on top of the cake Mum'. 
And in the bank of buy-by-weight candy in the supermarket she honed in on these chocolate-covered sunflower seeds for being 'just the right dinosaur colours'.

All I was to do was to provide the sheet cake (baked, I must add, almost entirely by Sunday who's become an ace at cracking eggs - although her two year old tactile sensitivity still makes her shriek after every addition 'Clof! Clof Mummy! Egg on haaaaaaand!')

She was even allowed to assist in the decor, while big sister hovered by.

Not bad huh? I shudder with fear that soon I may have to relinquish full control over their own birthday cakes.

With some flaked almond 'spines' and a single candle eye, Dino was ready to face extinction on my Mum's pretty birthday tea table.

Happy hundredth birthday lovely men in my life!

peacock cake!

This year Friday decided she wanted a Peacock Party for her 5th birthday. This is how that came about ...

A few months back -
Her: 'Mum, I want a Hello Kitty party for my birthday.'
Me: Silence

A few weeks later -
'Mum, I want a Fairy party for my birthday.'
Silence.

A few days later -
'Mum, I want a Peacock party for my birthday.'
Me: 'Great idea! We can use the beaded peacock on the patio for inspiration, and have blue, green and gold balloons, and feathers, and glitter and ... and ... and ...'

Manipulative? Me? Never.

We pretty much blew our glitter quota on the invitations, but we had peacock themed party favours ...

scented tea light candles wrapped up with an extra-long match and some chocolates ~ for a little bath time treat

... and peacock coloured decor.

I had SO much fun scouring Pinterest for peacock cake ideas, but the thought of all those colours got a little overwhelming - until I remembered how taken Friday had been with the white (albino) peacock we saw at the World of Birds last December.

And so, tah-daaaaa!

with a little blue surprise inside

'Cos I think I'm incapable of a plain coloured cake after last year's.

Again this was actually pretty easy ... I used the Barbie cake mould from my closest cake-hire store and, I confess, bought the heart-shaped cookies (baking them would've added another stage to the whole production which I didn't have time for). I piped the designs onto the biscuits with royal icing and added edible glitter for a sparkle.
Husband engineered the head - bamboo skewer, polystyrene egg shape, googly-eyes, pearl-headed pins and some feathers.

Success!

why why why wasn't this pic in focus??!

Happy peacock birthday Friday Five!

eyes forward

Shew it's been a rough few weeks!

Sickness, property stress, an intermittent (i.e. never when I need it) internet connection ... the list could go on.

This house selling / buying business has been all-consuming - stressing me out in so many ways. The strain of keeping the house permanently show-house ready, the nagging worry that another (cash) offer will go in on our dream house, trying not to show too much concern in front of the kids, the insomnia! It's been ... all-consuming and actually so very, very boring.

Which is why I love Friday's chosen birthday party theme: peacocks! Symbol of regeneration, hope and renewal - eyes forward to face the future, colour in the darkness etc. It seems very fitting.

I found a printable peacock invite design online and the girls spent a happy afternoon decorating them chucking glitter about.

As the girls get older I love how we're developing family traditions, especially around festivities. Last year was the first time Friday was involved with creating her own birthday party invitations and she especially loved playing postman, walking or driving round to her friends houses and slipping the envelopes into their postboxes.
This year, before we'd even made the invites, she was already excitedly talking about doing that again.

eish what a crappy photo

Check your postboxes over the next few days ... if you're really lucky you'll get one of the invites Sunday painted!

baking brags # 3: rainbow cake

It's nearly June. And as our house buying / selling situation gets no closer to resolution but infinitely more tedious and nerve-wracking and all-consuming by the day, I've decided to direct my energies (yup, all of them) to something far more fun and important: Friday's 5th birthday party.

My greatest concern is how on earth I'm going to top this beauty, the 6 layer rainbow cake I baked for last years party.

 

 pre-outer icing, with the wooden rainbow puzzle which inspired it all

the birthday girl

It was a surprise, lovingly (and with not too many expletives) assembled the night before her party and stashed in the guest bathroom until The Great Reveal.

I was a little concerned that a plain white (albeit very big) cake would seem a little disappointing to her, but I think her face once we cut into it says it all ... later that evening she told me that she wasn't at all concerned when she first saw it as she 'knew it would be special'. My heart.

It was a winner cake, and a fabulous Rainbow Birthday Party ... now what to do this year .... ?

baking brags # 2: cake pops

Sunday turns 2 next month. And naturally my thoughts have turned to birthday cake ...

I've long professed this is one of the main reasons I have children: birthday cakes. Friday got these awesome (yeah, it's called baking brags for a reason see) penguin cupcakes for her 2nd birthday. And last year I made cake pops for the little birthday celebration we had for Sunday's 1st.

As soon as I'd made them I knew they could be improved upon. I think this year I'll have to do just that.

You know cake pops right? Crazy, mad, nut-so concept. You bake a cake, smash it up, mix with frosting (you actually have to go with the American terminology on this one) 'til you get a, uh, cake dough consistency, then roll mix into little balls, poke with a stick and dip in melted chocolate.
Who does that?
Turns out, me.

Of course someone's already brought out a Cake Pop Maker, why wouldn't they? But I prefer a more authentic hand-rolled pop myself.

Now to decide on look and feel ... oh, and of course, taste ...

19 Dec

'Tis the party season gang, and this girlie is getting tired.

A quiet day today methinks.

baking brags # 1: penguin cupcakes

I finally caught up with Charly's Cake Angels, the local reality TV show about Charly's Bakery and the family of astoundingly creative ladies who run it.
I have a special place in my heart for Charly's having once dropped one of their magnificent Lemon Meringue Pies in Kirstenbosch long ago (hey we still ate it!) but I digress ...

Talk about cake porn. But weirdly it's not so much the cake I lust after, but all that cake decorating gear! The colours and fondant and edible glitter and icing paraphenalia ... jeez I could have so much fun with all that. Sigh.

I've long maintained that birthday baking projects are one of the best things about having kids, and in my 4 short years of parenting I've taken full advantage ... (and I'm not shy to show them off).

Friday's 2nd birthday: Penguin Cupcakes!

These were so much fun to make. Chocolate cake, black cupcake papers, black food colouring powder (which we had to darken even further with alternating drops of red and green liquid food colouring). The white dots I made with Royal Icing and the orange beaks & feet and the black wings we cut out from carefully peeled layers off Liquorice Allsorts.
Awesome no?

And did I mention fun? So much fun to make and Friday, who was deeply obsessed with penguins at the time, was suitably wowed.

The only thing we hadn't thought of ... 2 year olds + black icing. They all looked like little ghouls by the end of the party!