A pink cake for Miss Emily

Thursday was Miss Em's birthday and I believe you can't have a birthday without a cake. As Em and Mr M are new to our little town, like us, they too don't have the usual special people to spend days like birthdays with.  

SO....
I had a plan. A lovely BBQ dinner and a PINK (Em's favourite colour) birthday cake for dessert.

BUT .....
The BBQ was a little delayed to throw a spanner in the works, literally, thanks to the mechanic husband having to work late. Our house also has very poor air conditioning and I'm sure we managed to cook poor Mr M's brains while he had children climbing all over him and trying to entertaining him, as he was a man down; thanks to the stuck-at-work husband. Mr M ended up with a headache and looking rather pale.
In comes said delayed husband to save the BBQ day and Mr M from the crazed children who wanted to play with him like a new Christmas toy!!!

On to the BEST PARTS Miss Em came prepared with Plum pudding made by her super talented Nana. It was amazing! And custard.....
And THEN.....
The pink cake. I had a few helpers with the cake.

It is a Marble cake recipe by Women's Weekly {with a few extra special touches I have added}.

250g Butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (275g) caster sugar
3 eggs
21/4 cups (335g) self-raising flour
3/4 cup (180ml) milk
pink food colouring
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 tablespoons milk, extra

BUTTER FROSTING
90g butter, softened
1 cup (160g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan-assisted. Grease and line deep 22cm-round cake tin.
2. Beat butter, extract and sugar in medium bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Stir in sifted flour and milk, in two batches.
3. Divide mixture among three bowls; tint one mixture pink. Blend cocoa and extra milk in cup; stir into second mixture.
4. Drop alternate spoonfuls of mixture into tin.

     5. Pull skewer backwards and forwards through cake mixture {I used a toothpick...}

   
     6. Bake the cake about 1 hour. Stand in tine 5 minute; turn top-side up, onto wire rack to cool
     7. Top with frosting once completely cool.
Butter Frosting
Beat butter in small bowl with electric beaters until light and fluffy; beat in sifted icing sugar and milk, in two batches. Tint pink with colouring.

Jess Tips:
1. Omit vanilla extract and add coconut essence to the WHITE bowl and Strawberry essence + pink food colouring to the PINK bowl.
2. When making the icing put all ingredients in bowl together and beat until light and fluffy BUT also add strawberry essence.

NB: Cake can be stored for two days at room temp, in air tight container {if you can resist this long...} or frozen for two months.

Cake was enjoyed by all with two sets of candle lighting so that Jaybug and Squeak could both assist Miss Emily in blowing out the candles. Of which the only candle in the house was a great big number 5. 

HAPPY 5th BIRTHDAY EM!!!

Thanks for sharing your special day with us Emily xxxx

Happy Anniversary Baby

Yesterday we celebrated twelve months since Bubba stepped off the plane in the this wonderful Country. He caught the train and arrived to Quirindi, NSW in a mix of heat, nerves, anxiety, frustration, wonder, bewilderment and excitement. Bubba blogged about his arrival here all those long twelve months ago here

So much we had planned and thought would happen has changed or fallen over but at the same time things we never dreamed of, or ever saw possible for our family, have become a reality. There have been lots of doors closed that we didn't see needed to be, and others that we knew needed to be weren't sure how to do it. There have been doors opened that we have been trying to open for years but couldn't quite reach and other doors that have only been able to open once others were finally nailed shut.

It has been a long road but we are thankful for EVERY minute of it, for EVERY person who has made it possible, for EVERY bit of help we have received NO matter how big or small it was it ALL helped. We are thankful for ALL the PRAYERS and THOUGHTS that everyone has given us over the last twelve months. For every new ADVENTURE and STRUGGLE we have been through.

What a twelve months it has been and here's just a few memories....

So here is a toast from Bubba's Facebook last night:

'Well i have survived 12 months in aussie today. Its been an awesome time one of the best jobs i've done seen my kids grow alot whilst here and of course my rock of a wife who has been so strong and has held this family up. Love to you Jess. And cant forget all the great friends we have met. Roll on another 12 months.'

When I asked for the champers I was told I hadn't been here twelve months yet and I had to wait my turn. Men. Huh! 

Introducing.... Jagger

We welcome Jagger to his forever home in the country.

He was born 13th May 2012 (mothers day and Jaybugs birthday!) so he is only 7 weeks on Sunday.

He is a pure breed Miniature Fox Terrier.

 

Jagger is our first animal for the farm.

I'm sure there will be many to follow in his steps.

We will have lots to learn

 and are looking forward to lots of energetic moments with our little man.

Squeak is smitten after only mere hours and is calling him "my puppy".

I'm sure you will see a lot more of these two to come.

We can't wait for the other two to get off the school bus to meet Jagger,

 so you're lucky if you get to meet him before they do!

A new way of life - Buses

So its Saturday night and you've let the kids stay up late to watch Babe on 7. It's a great little movie, I remember it from my own childhood. And its over. BEDTIME.

Tucking in Miss Jaybug with a gentle reminded that tonight you have stayed up later than usual so it would be a brilliant idea to have a sleep in in the morning. I am met with a "Yep Mum, I will."

Next is Squeak. Okay so he is two but I still remind him and hope it sinks into his little growing mind. "No getting up early, you need some extra sleep". Hmmmm well hopefully he got it.

Quack is now sharing bunks in our new house (another post, another time) and goes to bed around 15 - 30 minutes after Squeak. So I get to be entertained with 17 Again. Its so wrong that Zac Efron's eyes are so mesmerizing.... Quack heads off to bed and receives the biggest encouragement of all. "ou have exceeded your bedtime by almost two hours. In the morning it would be a wonderful help to Mum if you would have some extra time in bed and not get up at the crack of dawn".

So its Sunday morning and it's 7am and..... the kids are all up fighting and screaming! Yep another failed lie in.

So roll around Monday morning. Bubba has to leave for work at 6am and that hideous 5.30am alarm goes off. Although I have been awake off and on for the last hour with the presence of a small person in the bed too. I drift in and out of sleep. I hear Bubba in his truck and hear the truck heading down the road.

Squeak rolls over and ARGGHHH!! "You're all wet!" "Did you wee my bed or your bed!"
Upon further inspection it turns out it is indeed my bed that is wet. Strip the bed, towel down for now - I'm not getting up at 6am when other children are sleeping. Duvet and sheets back on. Squeak striped and changed and back into bed.

All this activity must have invited the warmth of sleep again. Next thing I know Quack is racing down the hall and bursting into my room, ripping me from the comfort of soft, warm, pleasant sleep.
"Mum it's 8 O'clock!!!"
ARRRGGGHHH

The children now catch a 8.20am bus 2.8km from the house. So usually we would be up around 7am and all ready and chores done by 8am. But today it seems the sleep in advice of Saturday night has finally sunk in except it is now with consequence.
I am racing around throwing uniforms at children, cereal into bowls and lunch into lunchboxes. I look over at the mircowave and discover our dodgy clock from The Reject shop is once again losing time! Its 8.22am!! Not 8.12am as the big red clock shows. (Note to self BUY NEW CLOCK)

So everyone runs screaming to the car - whilst I attempt to run a brush through Jaybugs mop. We are fling down the driveway and along the road when I see the first of the cars. The ones that belong to the other bus kids. I had been trying to convince myself with this lovely morning frost and fog that the bus would be driving slower and therefore we would make it.

Then the second car - fudge.

We arrive at the bus stop and no children or bus. Its okay Mum can still save the day! We will make it to the next stop. Off down the road again and we find the bus pulled over and we wiz in front, jump out making huge gestures to the drive to wait. Thank God for a good humoured bus driver. He is laughing as the kids make it to the bus door. I begin on my journey back home waving thankfully to the bus driver only to pass a second car with a DPS student also heading towards the bus!

So what, I hear you all asking, does sleeping in on a Monday morning and missing our bus look like!

Please note in my defence there is a load of washing pegged to the line and another currently washing...

A big two year old and his Cookie Monster Cupcakes

Yesterday our wee man turned TWO! - oh no two's are terrible aren't they? I have already done it twice so I am hoping third time is a charm. Also with two at school it means more one-on-one time with Mr Squeak so hopefully this all helps with TERRIFIC TWOS instead - I'm fooling myself aren't I...

Happy birthday Mr Squeak.

The blackboard is thanks to Quack who is just about to turn seven. He is Mr Cool at the moment and have a few "too cool" attitude missions, so it was nice to see him think of someone other than himself. He worked on it the night before Squeaks birthday so that it could be ready and waiting for him in the morning.

With the whole moving to another country thing and being the newbies - loners - in town, everything about birthdays is making me cringe. I love to plan a good party and stretch myself preparing, planning and mostly of all - making the cake! But I just couldn't seem to find anything in me to become motivated to do so.

Squeak is obsessed with trains right now and Bubba suggested a train cake from the ever fabulous Women's Weekly Cake Book - Vintage edition.

I just wasn't feeling it. My Mama made me the same cake for my second birthday but even that couldn't muster up the excitement to want to do it. So I decided to leave the whole cake thing and maybe whip one up on the weekend - when I had more time I told myself.

Adding to the guilt was the fact that I hadn't even been out to buy Squeak a present yet. Not. One. We finally got a vehicle last weekend so this wasn't the problem anymore. I just can't bring myself to get in the car and go into Muswellbrook at the moment. And yes I know I could have bought something online but I just wasn't sure on what to get him. I wanted to see it, to touch it and know, and yet I don't want to go to the stores..... more on that some other time.

So I told myself it would be fine. Squeak and I would just spend the day together and for dinner we were having some cute dino shaped fish bites and crumbed chicken chunks that we found during the groceries. The big people got herbed fish and salad - which was super tasty and cheaper than what we have found fish and chips to be over here.

But my guilt got me thinking about cake. Ok so I didn't want to go through the whole process of making a big cake, plus who would we share it with. So it got me thinking I might do cupcakes and just ice them different colours. It was better than nothing. Well turns out google images for cupcakes is pretty inspiring too. I ended up finding quite a few that I like and decided to tackle Squeak's best bedtime friend Cookie Monster.

These were HEAPS of fun and even better they were EASY!

 

So how did we (yep even so easy Squeak helped) do it??

1. Bake cupcakes - We used vanilla sponge cupcakes but it can be any flavour, homemade or box. Leave the muffins to cool after cooking.

Wow my oven door is filthy - must clean after blog writing.

2. While muffins cook and/or cool prepare fur and eyes. 

• FUR is simply coconut with blue food colouring rubbed through it ( either pop in plastic zip bag and rub colour in or stir it in in a small container making sure all colour is absorbed.) Pop aside for fur to dry.
• For EYES I used white chocolate melts, dotted them with icing and then added chocolate chips/drops for middle. Pop aside to set ( as it is quite warm here I popped them in the fridge).

 

3. Once everything is Cool, Dry and Set mix up some blue icing. Either homemade icing, butter cream or store bought icing (I used store brought vanilla frosting as I don't have a mixer or electric beaters yet).

 

 4. Take a cupcake and cut a small slice out where the cookie will sit.

 5. Swirl, paste, plop or spoon on your blue icing....

I had to make sure I remembered the placement of the cut to my hand so I knew where it was later as it gets lost under the icing.

6. Gently roll top through coconut to cover the iced top.

  7. Push eyes into place - you want to gently push into the cupcake so the stay put.

8. Pop chocolate chip biscuit in place ( I used whole ones to start but looked better with them broken in half or in pieces in Cookies mouth).

9. Repeat until Cupcake batch is complete - Volia!

10. Eat and have fun!
N.b. the blue colour may leave you looking a little like our Blue Tongue Lizard Tom - more on him later!

Scary I know!

And then it was bedtime. Although it seems Squeak didn't want to spend it alone on his birthday. When we went up to check on the kids we found Squeak having a sleepover in Jaybugs room!

Happy birthday little dude. You are growing into such an independent young man. You surprise us everyday with new things you can do and say. Like counting to 10 for us on your birthday and asking for more kiwifruit. We are proud to be your Dad and Mama and know you do us proud by being you. We love your cheek grin and your red curls. Love you little man, we look forward to watching you grow.

Mama and Daddy xxx