This Saturday I'm grateful for... Birthday Cakes and Patrick Swayze

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So I'm sitting here on my own after a very busy birthday week for this certain someone. This is only one of the 3 cakes Isaac has had this week, and while it was only made from playdough it was just as good as a real one. We also had a dinosaur cake on his actual birthday at home and for his party today I attempted a Buzz Lightyear cake. Come back next week for a picture of that one!

I have been attempting to load all my photos from his party today on my computer which for some reason has almost come to a dead stop - I think I have too many pictures and videos of my smalls on here. Thank goodness Ghost is on so I have a just a bit of Patrick Swayze to keep me company. That man was quite the spunk rat, even with that crazy flippy little fringe he had.

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Unfortunately this was not the bathroom that I was forced to spend some quality time in over the last 24 hours! The dreaded lurgy has hit out house and has made its way around all of us - except my husband! I swear he must have an iron stomach given what we had to deal with last night. Our big boy was sick for most of our little boys birthday, I got sick not long after my stint on kinder duty, and our poor baby girl came down with it last night and spent most of the night throwing up in our bed! 13 towels later and at 3am we were all done. I have spent most of today washing masses of bed linen and towels and madly disinfecting everyting I could get my hands on. I did come to the realisation that when you are sick, with your head over the toilet bowl, even at 35, you still just want your mum.

At my house: Isaac Thomas

Apparently this young man is turning four tomorrow! As we are having his Buzz party on the weekend, we needed a whole other cake for his birthday day - hence our dinosaur that I have been slaving over this morning with directions I might add on m&m placement!

Where does the time go?

*Some things you might need to know:

• Isaac was 11 pound 3 at birth - hence those cheeks and squished up eyes. And yes, it was a c-section!
• The cake is from a Donna Hay Kids issue.
• Join in with Lou for 'at my house'.
• I'm posting this birthday pic today cause tomorrow we'll be far too busy opening presents, going to swimming lessons, kinder, handing out birthday treats to everyone we come across and having afternoon tea with some friends so we can munch our way through that dinosaur!!!

This Saturday I'm grateful for... ebay and sisters.

Seriously what cant you buy on ebay!? We have Isaac's fourth birthday and a party coming up this week and since we are being completely commercial with our Buzz Lightyear theme, I have been able to find loads of party goods in fabulously cheap ebay stores! Much better than going to party shops, even when you do factor delivery in. A couple of people even added freebie bonus's in for ordering through them - yay, cause you gotta love freebies. Isaac and I have just finished filling up these Buzz Lightyear Treat Rocketships with goodies for his friends. Dont they look just like the ones from the movie - all waiting in hyperspace ready to be opened!

We've also had my sister here for a very short but sweet visit - on her way home from Cambodia. She gave me the most gorgeous quilt made by lovely Cambodian women and while she was here, bought me the new Maeve Binchy book, helped me make two yummy Christmas puddings, went out late at night for an ice-cream run and came home with drumsticks, gaytimes AND magnums, and even looked after my small people a few times! What a treasure. Thanks Bells - we hope you are having a very happy birthday today.

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And so this is Christmas...

Ok, so not a fantastic shot but still.

I have one of my lovely sisters here at the moment for a short visit after her whirlwind trip to Cambodia and she has helped me make this lovely Christmas pudding. Doesn't it look great?! I follow her easy recipe which I have popped below for your benefit. I tend to soak my fruit in kahlua and for an added bonus we also add a handful ( a large handful!) of choc chips in for good measure. Yum. I'll be serving this up after Christmas lunch with a bunches of fresh raspberries, icing sugar, brandy sauce and ice-cream! So, best start that diet now right?!

Christmas Pudding

1 cup currants

2 cups of sultanas

1/2 cup of raisins

small packet of mixed peel

small packet of silvered almonds

1 cup of alcohol - like brandy, whisky or kahlua

2 cups brown sugar

2 cups of suet

1 cup of milk (mix 1 tsp of bicarb soda with this)

1 cup SR flour

2 eggs

2 cups of breadcrumbs

You will also need a pudding cloth that you can get from Lincraft of Spotlight. They are only a couple of $$'s and it needs to be largish.

Put all the red list in a big bowl with a lid and let is soak for at least 24hours (a week is better)before you mix in all of the other ingredients. Pop it into the centre of your pudding cloth (after you have dunked this in the boiled water to sterilise and wet it) and then wrap it up nice and tight. Make sure you pull the fabric up and together keeping your other hand wrapped around the top of the pudding so there is no air left once it's tied up. Secure tightly with some string and pop into a big pot of continuously boiling water for 3 and half hours. Once you have done this hang it from a big hook to dry it out. It will go all dimply like cellulite, and you may need to seperate any folds as it dries. Then on Christmas Day boil it up for another hour and enjoy!

Hello lover....

Seriously.... is there anything better than a fresh new mazagine and three hours of kiddie free time in which to gently flick lovingly through it's precious pages?

Clearly Frankie is out today.

At my house...

At my house this week:

We are in full party prep mode for a young man's 4th birthday next week! Eeek!

I am attempting to return to work! Double Eeeek!

And I am getting sucked in by cute photos of the smalls!

Isaac's kinder recently had those Vision portrait people in where you pay $12 for a family photo in a frame and then when you go to pick it up you get suckered in to buy the rest because there are some dreadfully cute pictures of your poppets and they all happen to be looking normal, with smiles on their faces and in the direction of the camera! And you know how hard that is to do yourself! Could you have left this sweet picture behind?

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