3 weeks, 3 cakes

So I failed to share with you Archie's birthday a couple of weeks ago.  My first-born is now 14, a proper teenager who, while apparently not growing much in height, is starting to look very different physically.  My 14th birthday always sticks out in my memory as my worst birthday ever and I wanted to make sure that his wasn't.  Mine was that way all due to my own teenage, hormonal grumpiness but all my main memories and influences came from that time.  My early teens are when I became 'me' and so I want so much for these to be happy, positive, exciting and challenging times for him.  So far he's doing great.  There was a moment on the Sunday before his birthday when I suggested that if the nonsense continued I'd be happy to 'postpone' his birthday, but it was all over and done with pretty quickly!

The child loves comic books, has just acted as a research assistant (acknowledged in the footnotes) for John in a paper on The Avengers that will be published in a book on Joss Whedon and Religion in 2013, and is Batman obsessed.  Recently John and his PhD students were having a lively debate about the recent Batman movies, when John recounted to Archie what they had said, he replied "You're all wrong" and proceeded to point out something very inciteful that they had all missed!  Anyway, the cake had to be Batman themed.

I used my old faithful vanilla cake recipe, and decided to try and make it a bit grey.  I added a few drops of paste to achieve this

 It was only when I was trimming the finished cakes that I realised how intense the colour was!  I bought some black fondant from Cupids and trawled google for inspiration.  I wanted to keep it simple so just went for a black bat then used a lustre and a damp brush to paint the edges.  I also used my finger to smudge the lustre across the silhouette.  I managed to spill some if it and tried to blow it off which gave a rather nice effect, so spilt some more!

He was very pleased with it.

6 days later we had a bit of a party with some of John's students and their familes to celebrate a significant birthday, and to say goodbye to one of "the boys" who is off back to Canada to complete writing up his PhD thesis.  It was lovely to have him and his wife here for a while but it's now back to supervisions and chats via skype.

Such a celebration would not be complete without cake.  Hanlie had ordered cake for Ashley but I was fairly confident she wouldn't have got one for herself!  Lisa and I decided on a rainbow cake which turned out just right, although next time I think I will only tint 3 layers and leave one as is.

I was glad that after the disaster of the butter icing on Archie's rainbow cake last year, it worked perfectly this time!

Then on Saturday some good friends came for dinner.  They had just moved house on Tuesday, Rachel is 7 1/2 months pregnant, and in the middle she had had her birthday!  We thought they might be glad to have a break from unpacking and unfamiliar ovens, so I had great intentions.  As it happened I got as far as baking the cake, then we spent so much time chatting that the cake ended up being very simple.  

Pale pink buttercream with sprinkles and candles did the trick!  Enough cake for 11 of us and leftovers for breakfast!!

I think that's it for cakes for a while now.  I don't bother with Christmas cakes here as it's too hot to have the oven on for ages and no one except me eats it anyway!

Teenager

My first baby is 13 today.

I can still remember his birthday very clearly.  I spent most of the day before on my hands and knees cleaning the cupboards of the tiny cottage that we were in the process of moving into.  That night I went home to finish packing the old house and went in to labour about 2am.  4 days later I came out of hospital to the new house where John had made my bed, and arranged an arm chair and coffee table in the tiny lounge in the middle of all the boxes.  I spent 4 months ignoring advice to 'put him down' and cuddled him, fed him, played with him.  Then I went back to work part-time, and then after 18 months there was another baby in that tiny house.

I've always been sorry that I didn't get more time with him before I had to go back to work.  Now I struggle with the thought of going back and Smallest is 3 and a half!   I can honestly say that despite the usual dramas and issues, he is proving to be a thoroughly likeable young man, with a good sense of humour and an inquiring mind.  I am certain that one day he will be a very good catch for some young lady.

His birthday has been better than he was anticipating - long story involving wifi, phone bills, and staying up too late - so he was delighted when we gave him the book he had asked for rather than the promised phone bill, tied with a ribbon.  I managed to fool him for a wee while and then gave him the iPod Touch that he had been asking for for over a year!  He was so surprised and delighted!  "Mum, you rock!".    I do.

I had previously said that 12 would be the last birthday for homemade cakes, but started to feel guilty as they really are so easy.  So I had a think about what might be suitable for a teenage boy.  He had no particular idea so I googled.  I came up with Rainbow cakes but thought they might be a bit too girly and decided to use shades of blue instead.

No 2 boy helped to divvy up the mixture into 4 bowls and then add increasing amounts of blue food colouring.  We did 2 cakes at at time, cooled them, trimmed them flat so as to avoid the old 'Leaning Tower of Pisa' effect and stuck them in the freezer over night.  All good so far...  Today was a whole other story!  It has been very warm so when I was making my buttercream, the butter melted, separated and would not cooperate.  It has been in the freezer since 4pm and is still runny!  This meant I had to race to Woolies and buy some of that revolting tinned frosting (apoplogies to those of you that like it...!).  I slapped it in between the layers and all over the outside, crossing my fingers tightly that it would work and not just be some lame-looking white cake!  Thankfully all turned out well in the end and he was suitable impressed.

After a very laid back day of playing with his new iPod, reading his book and a (very) small amount of housework, we headed out for dinner.  One of the wee ones happened to mention it was Archie's birthday so when the drinks came, his was in one of those fancy flashing cocktail glasses, and at the end they brought sparklers in his dessert!  We were really delighted for him as being the oldest has a lot of downsides with so many younger sibs vying for, what should be, your attention.   And mostly getting it.

Anyway, he had a great day and is off to the football with his Dad WITHOUT brothers tomorrow, I hope he feels special.  I am feeling a whole lot older that I did with my tiny baby 13 years ago.  I hadn't a clue but was deliriously happy.  I still haven't a clue and am now just mostly fairly delirious!

Happy Birthday to my lovely Archie.  xx

Another Birthday!

This is our last family birthday (in our house anyway) for a wee while.   Miss M turned 7 today and we were so glad the forecast rain didn't come after all.  It has been so cold in the last couple of days that we all made the most of the sunshine and had breakfast outside.

Her main present was a ticket to see Mary Poppins in Sydney, but, due to a thoroughly disorganised Mother, we won't be going until the 1st October!  I really struggled to find presents for her this year.  She has never been a particularly girly girl but I often wonder if that's by choice or out of necessity.  When I thought about the things she enjoys, it hit me that she spends hours drawing, sometimes reads, likes listening to and playing music, and plays with Lego.   Hopefully she will enjoy the last day of the holidays painting and creating!

I loved that she sat and read every word of every card she was sent.

As is our tradition, we went out to lunch and picked Blue Water Pizza in Warners Bay, mainly because kids eat free!  Obviously when you are taking 5 kids out this is an appealing offer!  The pizzas were good, she got a candle in her ice-cream, they have colouring in sheets for the wee ones and play stations for the bigger ones, so everyone was happy!

The sun was shining so despite the cold wind we had a quick muck about at the lake.

Why do Small Children feel the need to chase seagulls?  All the time?

I had been struggling with my Cake Mojo.   Unlike her brothers she didn't have a specific request and I had no inspiration this time.  I had baked a cake and ganached it but when we got home at 3.30pm I was still no nearer to a clear idea, Google Images are always great but I was very aware of the time.  I finally iced it and cut out some shapes to stick on it, the colours were wrong and that irritated me, however, there was cake and they always look good when the candles are lit!

A Boy did point out that it wasn't one of my better ones, but was wise enough to not make eye contact and moved swiftly away!

I think they all enjoyed eating it anyway!

Happy Birthday Miss Munch!

No 9

No3 Boy was 9 today.  We were due to be leaving the house at 7.30am for football matches in various places around the countryside, but due to the recent rain and flooding in the Hunter all the matches were called off - yay!  We got a lie-in, Boy got to open his presents, play games, build Lego and we generally chilled out together.

Biggest Boy had a piano exam after lunch which he passed.  I have never seen him quite so shaken afterwards!  I don't think even he realized how nervous he'd been.  He has been learning some hard lessons of late to do with working hard and getting out of things what you put in.  I hope for his sake he learns them sooner rather than later.

Back to No3 Boy, we got home and finished decorating his cake.  I had a little assistance from No2 Boy who considers himself an expert in the fields of Lego and modeling.

For those of you unfamiliar with the latest Lego craze, this is Zane from the Ninjago sets.

(Edited to add that I have written up a tutorial for this cake here)

After cake we got (relatively) spruced up (they're a scruffy lot)  and went into Honeysuckle for dinner and the Winter Heat events put on by LiveSites.  These events include fire installations, live music, activities for children and this evening fire-eaters, fire-twirlers and beds of nails!

This one taken by No2 Boy with my phone - I love it!

It's been quite a revealing day for me today, actually.  No3 Boy is always a very sweet, loving, kind boy with a fairly mental side.  While many kids would be possessive of their presents, he has spent all day sharing, giving and thinking about his siblings.  No2 Boy is not known for these qualities but when I told the 3 of them that their sister had gone to the front of the crowd on her own because she couldn't climb up to their vantage point, without being told, or telling me, he went and found her and stayed with her until the end.  And No1 told me in the car after his exam that he was grateful to God for helping him to be calm while he was playing his pieces.
It's so lovely to have a wee glimpse, every now and then, of the decent human beings that they will become.  Bit more of it would be nice...

Birthday Boy

No2 Boy was 11 yesterday.  He has been reminding us of it's immanence for about 11 months, so we were sure to remember!  You will recall that I treked almost all the way to Sydney to get the right size shorts for his tennis ensemble, there is dedication for you! 

I also had to head out to the shops when everyone had gone to bed on Thursday as the shopping centre I trailed to had no Ninjago Lego sets to be found. 

Thankfully my local Westfield had a great variety, in 4 different stores!  If only they'd had the shorts...

Due to the weather we missed our Skype call from Grandma and Grandpa as I had decreed that no one would be cycling or walking/busing to school in torrential rain and took them all in the car.  I'm not quite as mean as I sometimes like to make out!  Proceedings later in the day were also a little rushed as I was very keen to have everyone in bed before the Royal Wedding!  If it wasn't for having to be at Football by 8am they could have stayed up to watch, but I was proved right when No3 Boy scored 4 goals, one incredible one, curved in from the line, and No2 Boy also scored.  He's not a Striker, but a Central Mid-Fielder.  I don't really know what that means, but apparently you run around a lot.   Husband has just headed off to his match and I'm sure will be feeling the need to keep at least one goal ahead of the boys! 

We had a disastrous dinner out, I refused to pay for the boys' meals as they were so awful, but got back and had some Birthday Cake.  After the Big Red Car last month, I had lots of red icing left over so No2  Boy was told to think of something red.  He chose a Pokeball, I have no idea what that is/does, but it was nice and simple - Good Boy!

So the Boys are now building Lego, using their new Pokemon cheat book (again, I have no idea)  with their Pokemon DS games, the 2 wee ones are working on Smallest Boy's Alphabet - he scares me - and I'm going to do a little bit of hooky.  My first batch of scarves and cowls went to MakeSpace today and I'm feeling like I have just sent my babies away!



Oh, and I LOVED watching The Wedding!  I really enjoyed hearing Huw Edwards and getting all the BBC coverage via ABC, Husband left the room in disgust so I was able to get all choked up without any embarrassment!   I wish them all the very best in their married life.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever you might be doing!  x