Time to start using night cream!

Because that is a very early birthday picture painted by Chloe with my age on it!

I'm 29:(

Menu Plan Monday and loads of lovely veggies

Just none of them grown by me or at least not yet anyway. Though I did go food shopping today and as I've been feeling a bit rough around the edges lately I stocked up on fruit and veggies and plan to stuff myself with them this week.

Monday - Roasted pork chops and root vegetables. I have onions, carrots, turnip, parsnip and potatoes and I can chop and chuck the whole lot into the oven for an hour and forget about it:)

Tuesday - Chicken and vegetable soup and crusty bread. I've made another batch of the no knead bread tonight and it's pretty good with soups and stews, rubbish for sandwiches but I'll make a small loaf and we'll get through the whole thing at dinner.

Also I need to bake 35 cupcakes today for Chloe to take to school tomorrow for her (early) in school b'day party.

Wednesday - Mum is taking Chloe clothes shopping this afternoon (good luck to her, she's gone right off shopping lately) for new clothes for her birthday, but it means that my mum will sort dinner for Chloe at her house. Robert already knows he'll be late home tonight so I'll have any leftover soup from yesterday or a salad and make him something light like sandwiches when he finally gets home.

And I need to remember to send chocolate chips to school tomorrow with Chloe. They'll be making choc chip cookies and Easter biscuits as it's their last day for two whole weeks!

Thursday- Last day of school and Robert knows he'll be home early tonight so, weather permitting, I'm breaking out the bbq. I'll make burgers and marinated chicken skewers with salad and plenty of tomatoes at least that way if it rains cats and dogs I can just cook indoors instead.

Friday - We're having movie night this Friday with the big screen and projector and all that faff so I'll make nibbly things like nachos and popcorn and dips and whatnot. They'll probably snack on sweets and crisps the whole way through the movie so I'll waste my time making a proper meal.

And I have to make a cake and cover it with chocolate buttercream to be taken to my mum's house tomorrow where she has a monster sized bag of sweets for the girls to decorate the cake.

Saturday - We're having dinner at mum's because it's Chloe's birthday tomorrow and she'll be spending tonight at my mum's house too and having a sleepover with her cousin. Is it just me or is this birthday turning into a week long event?

Sunday - aka Chloe's actual birthday. We'll be going to mum's house in the morning, though not too early and taking her presents with us. Then it's off out for Chloe, Aimee, mum and me to soft play heaven (with it's own coffee shop), and after that we'll meet up with Robert and my dad for a late lunch/early dinner at Zio.

I'll make some toasties or something else simple on Sunday evening before bath time.

And after a week like this on Monday when we're all off together we'll be going to the beach with nothing but a bag of sticks, a box of matches, a packet of sausages and a bottle of ketchup if I get my way:)

Shhh, come closer

Keep it to yourself, but I've finished Chloe's birthday present with a whole two weeks to spare.

I know I'm supposed to be a big girl now, all grown up and what not, but I really just want to sit down and play with it myself:)



And before anybody points it out, I get that there probably shouldn't be an ice cream cone in a picnic basket, it would melt! But I don't care.



I'm particularly chuffed with the 'basket' which doubles as a mini picnic blanket too.



I was even very clever (forethought and everything) when I was making it and used organza ribbon for the corner ties instead of the matching fabric ties I'd originally planned when I thought about it.

I mean, we all know that the navy and other big burly knot tying blokes are secretly trained by five year olds so I figured that ribbon with just enough texture to stay in a bow, but slippery enough for me to be able to work out the knots Chloe will no doubt tie in them was the perfect choice.



The only question now is do I wrap it up and stash it out of the way until her birthday, or do I hide it as is in case I think of anything else to add to it?

As Promised

Here is the latest batch of feltie goodness for Chloe's upcoming birthday.


I'm particularly chuffed with the apple and the banana, if only because the banana peel is completely separate so the 'fruit' is just tucked neatly inside:)



The bacon isn't quite finished yet (for those of you with a keen eye). The front still needs to be stitched to the back, but you at least get the idea.



But please, please, please don't ask me what those little swiss roll looking things are because I haven't the faintest. I had a few strips of different coloured felt, it was late, this is the best I could come up with. I like to think of them as little sandwiches a la Fanny Craddick, but they'll end up being whatever Chloe imagines them to be.



I've had to pack away all the felt food for today, though I'll hopefully get the orange and pear I have sitting here stuffed and finished off this evening. I'm in the middle of trying to cobble together a half term holidays box for Chloe.

I had a big gift box handy from Christmas and so far I've added in a couple of new (to her) books, a couple of colouring books, some new cookie cutters (picked up in the charity shop), finger paints and bingo markers and a zip lock bag filled with scraps of felt, craft paper, feathers, sequins and who knows what else for gluing and sticking.

And I'm making a little purse kit made from craft foam, a button, a plastic needle and some pink cord. I'll basically be a little three fold purse with a button closure and will be sewn together using the pink cord, with more of the cord for a strap. I'm marking it out and will pre-punch all the 'sewing' holes for her to pass the threaded needle through rather than having to force it through the fabric.

So what do you think, do I have enough to occupy an admittedly easily bored child for a week? I'm not quite sure yet, I may have to plunder around the house for more Fun Things To Do This Week:)

Blink and you'll miss it

And there goes yet another week. Poof, gone, ba bye now.

Time has been getting away from me so often lately. I sit down to do a handful of things at about 8pm or so and before I have a chance to blink, it's already past midnight.

On the home front, there is very little news. Though as they say, no news is good news.

Nobody is any sicker than usual, some sniffles and one notable headache on my part but that's about the height of it.

Chloe came home from school last Friday with the Star of the Week award, which she was very pleased with and which, of course, she took mean "I am awesome and I will get away with anything". Kids eh? She hasn't been too bad really, just pushing it a bit, trying to stay up far too late, pushing for more time in front of the tv. That kind of thing.

I've been busy with a small wholesale order for brooches this week as well, but I managed to complete it today and should therefore, in theory, have a little more time to myself.

I'm also plowing ahead with Chloe's birthday present, which will be a picnic basket filled with felt food. I've managed to squeeze in a burger, tomato, apple, orange, banana, two chicken drumsticks, two fried eggs (sunny side up) and a couple of rashers of bacon. Hopefully the sunshine we've been having the last couple of days will last until tomorrow and I can add a photo or two to this post, or an entirely new one.

To me:)

# Photo courtesy of Jek in the Box on Flickr

The long awaited robot

I know I said I would post this yesterday, but I managed to get completely sidetracked (no surprises there) and I do get there in the end. Hopefully you'll forgive me.

Anyway, here's a little photo of the long awaited robot from last week. He was, quite obviously, chucked together in about half an hour but Chloe loves him and so did all of her friends. He spent a long weekend in school and came home again on Tuesday.


He's quite cute, though is it just me, or maybe the way he's standing, but doesn't he look like he's bursting for a wee. Kind of like he's really having to squeeze his legs together for some reason.....

So it is only me then, fair enough.

And the reason for my sidetrack...ed....ness can be blamed on Jenn of Frugal Upstate. She posted a link on twitter a couple of days ago to The Idea Room and a great tutorial on making those glass tile necklaces. Lovely though the necklaces are, they weren't what caught my eye.

What caught my eye was a big felt sandwich, and a plan developed. I now know what to make Chloe for her birthday. She has a play kitchen in her bedroom, though admittedly it mostly goes unused because, and I quote "the food is wick", and it really is wick. The food that came with the kitchen was a handful of miniature empty cardboard food boxes, a plastic chicken drumstick, a plastic egg and a purple plastic aubergine. I'm pretty sure even Cooking by Numbers would have trouble coming up with a recipe to use that lot.

So I've started making felt food.



I know her birthday isn't until the start of April, but I want to get a wiggle on and try and make loads of food for her. Ideally a want to be able to fill a picnic basket, but not a regular boring picnic basket, I want a pic-a-nic basket like Yogi Bear would want and I want a red and white check blanket to go over the top of everything.

Surely that isn't asking too much.



These are the types of things I really enjoy making for Chloe. Most of the templates for making the food are intuitive and more often than not, unnecessary. They're the perfect mindless, half concentrating, half watching tv, type of sewing that fits perfectly into the last half hour of a day.



Plus they're really, really quick and really cheap to make. I mean a square of good quality felt will run you about 50p in the UK and you'll easily get a dozen strawbs from that one piece of felt, probably more like 15 if you're very economical when cutting and they take a grand total of about four minutes to make, the orange slices take more like two!

Now I'm back off to my little corner for some more sewing. I've three tomatoes in need of their tops, another slice of white needs stuffing and I feel a rumbly in my tummy for some bacon and eggs.

I should also mention that felt food is highly addictive and should only be taken in moderation and in conjunction with a healthy and balanced diet.

Happy Birthday Hubs

I won't be around a whole lot today.

It's the husband's birthday and he's taken the day off work to be with us (and not come home in a grump after a stinking day on his b'day), so we'll be making the day all about him.

He's 41 this year folks so wish him a happy birthday please! In saying that though, he doesn't look 41 and he most certainly does NOT act 41.

Still.

Happy Birthday Husband.

The Birthday Party

Unfortunately...

*ducks and runs for cover*

I don't have any photographs.

I know, but they don't allow cameras in the centre and they're very strict about it even going so far as to check handbags.

I only realised once we were in that they didn't check any husbands. Apparently only women are minded to break the rules in their quest for blog fodder great pictures. I should have had the husband smuggle a camera in:)

I really wish I had a camera with me because more than once I found my mum playing in the ball pit. I caught the husband on the third floor of the play frame using the zip line. And when a good friend of mine (and the awesomest man in the whole widest world ever) put money into one of the go carts for his daughter only for her to climb out and run off 15 seconds later, not to waste the money he climbed in himself. All 6ft or so of him. He managed to get one foot in the cart, his backside hanging off the back of the go cart and his other leg draped around the front of the cart.

The staff were less than amused when they caught sight of him and I was convinced they would ask him to leave, but I explained that he really should be taking medication but we were trying to control his condition through diet alone.

Thank god she laughed, but that could have been something to do with the fact that when she turned again to look at him he had his third piece of cake in one hand and a hotdog in the other.

The kids had a blast and were a real credit to all the parents. We had a couple of really little ones there, brothers of Toot's friends and the older kids were brilliant with them, making sure they were well looked after and that they were playing with things for their age group.

I was also happy that one of Toots best friends came with his mum, I hadn't received an RSVP but I still hoped they would arrive. They are Latvian, and his mum came here while she was pregnant. We managed to get something of a conversation going. She isn't completely fluent in English yet, but she speaks 100% more English than I speak Latvian so kudos to the woman. She explained that this was the first party her son was invited to which is a great shame because he's one of the loveliest little boys I've ever met.

By the time the party was over she was getting along really well with all the other mothers and I'm sure this won't be her last invitation.

Giftwise it worked out really well this year.

My mum managed to restrain herself to some extent, opting to buy a few items of clothing and a couple of small toys. She also bought a crayola set and some new lego which I don't mind. My brother bought her two new pairs of converse trainers (which she loves) and a new game for her V smile (which she still isn't fussed on). He also bought her a handful of learning books to help teach her how to tell the time and a Letts handing writing book.

All the parents at the party managed to stick to the budget. I had asked that no more than £5 or £6 was spent on gifts and she received a load of books, a make your own beaded photo frame, a paint your own piggy bank, some new play dough and two huge mega craft boxes filled with googly eyes and pipe cleaners and card stock and glitter and you name its in there.

Only one person couldn't bring herself to stick to the budget and I wasn't surprised. Every year on Toots birthday she has received a large rag doll from a close friend of mine. The dolls are quite expensive as dolls go, but beautifully made and each one is named. So far the first one she received had the same name as her, the second bore my name, the third her Nana and the fourth is named Freda after my Mother-in-Law. I have told my friend that she shouldn't feel obligated to keep buying the dolls. I don't want her to feel like she's started something and now she has to follow through with it every year. Aside from the cost, the dolls stand 3ft tall. I'll have to get Toots a house of her own by the time she's 16.

All in all the day went well. Of course the celebrations spilled over into the surrounding days and the birthday come down was a little harsh but didn't last long.

And on another note, the birthday cake went down so well that I now have seven orders for birthday cakes and one wedding cake of all things to date. The order for the wedding cake is quite specific. She has a cupcake tree. Its a bit difficult to explain but it is very fine with a lot of swirly, curly little silver tendrilly bits around the outside, which means it looks gorgeous completely void of cupcakes. She is having a relatively small ceremony and has asked for fifty french fancies. She wants the cake part of the fancy to contain crushed raspberries, topped with marscapone and covered in chocolate (25 white and 25 dark), so we'll see how that turns out.

Her wedding isn't until September, so please let it rain and be pickling cold here in Ireland the week before her wedding so that I can temper white chocolate. Please, please, please.

Things I learned at my daughter's party.

There will always be one kid who will refuse to play on the (free) huge three storey play frame when there are arcade type games which need to be paid for and for which they will hit up every adult in the building for money.

There will always be an adult willing to make a complete fool of himself while still holding on to his title of "Most Awesomest Man in the Whole Wide World Ever".

My mum is completely incapable of watching my daughter play in a place like that without almost being sick with fear every time the child comes down the three storey slide.

Kids actually eat cake, not just the frosting.

Kids are still rearing to go long after the adults are exhausted.

There are still some parents who will

Receive: an invitation to a birthday party and;

See: an offer of free childcare for the afternoon.

Unfortunately, these parents only told their kids that they were leaving (not the most intelligent couple). We didn't actually notice they had disappeared until a full hour into the party when their son needed to use the bathroom.

Their Punishment: I left out bowls of grapes, chopped strawberries and clementines for the kids to snack on while they played. My mum put out bowls of Princess marshmallows, giant Cadbury's chocolate buttons and gummy bears. A cinema sized bag of each.

It seems that all the kids with a parent present were steered in the direction of the fruit. I was busy setting up the cake and balloons in the birthday room and, I'm told that the two kids were able to work their way through all the junk on the table because everyone thought their parents were still around and just didn't mind them eating that stuff.

Then after the kids meals were served and eaten they each ate two portions of ice cream, a piece of cake, plus the entire contents of their party bags.

If her kids are anything like mine she'll spend at least 12 hours out of the next 48 in the bathroom with them. I sincerely hope the two hours of peace and quiet she had while her kids were at the party were worth it.

Things I overheard at the party

"I need £1 for the go carts and I don't have any money. Can you give me £1 for the go carts?
"Aw sweetie, I'm just here to clear the tables, where's you mummy?" (not my kid)

"I'm batman"

"No I'm batman"
"no you're not, I'm batman"
"Ha you crashed and you're dead. I'm batman" (not my kid)

"Sir the sign clearly says that the go carts are for kids under 8"
"They're not fast enough anyway" (not even a kid)

"Mummy, can I please eat his eyes?" (my kid)

Hey at least she said please.

The calm before the storm

The whole house is very quiet.

The husband is having a well deserved lie in and Toots spent the night at her Nana's house having a sleepover with her little friend.

Yesterday went very well. Toots enjoyed her gifts and even my mum managed to restrain herself this year so all together we only spent about 15 minutes opening presents and half of that was due to the fact my brother wrapped half a roll of sticky tape around a jigsaw puzzle.

Toots really enjoyed her day yesterday, she didn't get tired or frazzled by the attention. When she was asked to blow out the candles on the little cake my mum bought, she happily complied and laughed and cheered when she blew all four out at once.

I've spoken with my mum this morning and by all accounts the girls had a good night too.

They spent some time playing with her V Smile (from my brother, a compromise on the Wii), then they went to McDonalds for something to eat, followed by a run down to the beach as the weather was so beautiful yesterday afternoon, before arriving back at my mum's house for an evening of popcorn and the tinkerbell movie.

Then they went to bed shortly after 9.00pm. I was amazed but my mum said she could see the sleep hanging over them, by that time they simply looked exhausted.

My mum will take the two of them to the park after breakfast before taking her friend home, although they'll see each other later at her birthday party.

So I sit here. The house is quiet and I'm soaking up as much of it as possible before the party. The guest list has grown slightly so now we have ten kids and at least as many adults.

The cake is made (pain in the bum that it was), the gift bags are ready along with a little pass the parcel game. I'll chop some fruit for snacks for the kids later but for the meantime I'm just sitting here doing a bit of this and that, a bit of sewing for a friend, some knitting for Toots and trying to work out how to make a few other bits and pieces I have floating around my head.

I think I'll have another cup of coffee and just enjoy the quiet.

The things we do for our kids

We woke this morning to find this...

Yet another dismal Irish morning.

Weather like that just doesn't fly on my daughter's birthday.




Somebody will be pretty pissed when they go to cash this in and find a queue. Ha.

Still...

And, yes, the pencil did break once I finished writing.

It actually made me go all "oooooh" for a second.

Do you think they have pino noir in hell?

Now back to the birthday cake with me.

Feck, this things taking longer than I thought.

Told you. Famous last words:)

Birthday Shopping Spree

We're just back from Toots' birthday shopping spree.

Her birthday isn't until tomorrow but if Christmas proved anything this year its that she is still a little too young to deal with being bombarded by everything in one day so we're splitting her birthday treats up a little.

She had her birthday shopping spree today (which we did last year and it was a great success). She loves to be in control of her own money for the day. It makes her feel like such a big girl.

We plan on a special breakfast tomorrow morning, then opening the gifts we have for her. She'll receive her Creative Zen and a new outfit from us and our local florist will deliver flowers, then she gets to have a sleepover at Nana's house with a little friend (dodged that bullet).

Sunday will be a quiet morning with her birthday party in the afternoon.

She really enjoyed her little shopping spree this year and did really well, no running off or tantrums. Basically, I gave her £5 and let her hit all the charity, second hand and bric a brac shops in Ards. Ards is a real shoppers town so the majority of things that end up in these shops are practically new or at least in very good condition.

The first stop was ARC bookshop (it has a little bric a brac section through a tiny doorway that nobody seems to know about.

In ARC she managed to get;

A princess wand,

Six books, Beauty and the Beast, The Little red Hen, Alice in Wonderland, Heidi, Monsters Inc and Nutty as a Noodle Stories,

And an Early Learning Centre cashier's till which works perfectly and came complete with a pile of plastic and paper money and two switch cards. The groceries weren't there, but I'll soon sort something out.

And a little set of plastic tools.

All hers for the grand total of £1.

Seriously!

After ARC we went to Oxfam where she picked up;

Three working Power Rangers. They're from different ranges, the blue one speaks and the red and yellow change back and forth between being rangers and being bog standard school kids in spandex but it doesn't seem to bother her.

A wooden snake which happens to be her favourite purchase,

And dear help me if she didn't insist on getting this too...

She declared him to be "beautiful".

Well, I suppose if that's your thing.

She spent another £1 in the second shop.

On the way home she treated herself to an iced lolly and a cream egg.

Of course, she ate the cream egg first.

Still, it was a great way to spend a morning.

When we arrived home I suggested that she could put her change into her purse and take it to Nana's tomorrow for ice cream, but instead she put it into her piggy's bank.

So not only do I have a savvy shopper, I have a savvy saver too.

And yes, she knows full well that Nana will buy her ice cream anyway.

She isn't stupid you know:)

The Birthday Party Plan - Reworked

My original plan was to have Toots' birthday party at my mum's house. She has recently landscaped the back garden and had a huge deck built. It was the ideal place to have a birthday party. We were going to barbecue, have lots of baked treats and a bouncy castle for Toots and her friends.

With the rising cost of everything and after I priced everything for the party, even sticking to the basics, I realised that the party was going to be quite expensive. I phoned around a few places we've been before for her friends' birthday parties and got a great deal with the Play Cafe.

The Play Cafe has a huge soft play area which the kids can play in for 90 minutes (30 minutes longer than anywhere else) and then we have the use of a birthday room for 45 minutes which is plenty of time. The viewing area also has a lovely coffee shop so the parents can all relax with a latte while the kids entertain themselves. The kids can have something to eat in the birthday room (which is fully decorated, apart from balloons), then we'll have time for a quick game or two of pass the parcel before blowing out the birthday candles and clearing up for the day.

I'm really pleased with this set up, partly because it means my mum and I don't have to scrape walked in cake off her new deck but also because the Play Cafe have thought of everything.

A full 90 minutes in that play area will mean that the kids will be starving enough to happily sit down and eat without putting up a fight. Plus because of the limited time in the birthday room, once the kids have finished eating we only need to entertain them for about 25 minutes before the party is over. Just time enough for a quick game, blow out the candles and hand out party bags.

The Play Cafe will provide party bags for an additional charge of £2 per child, but I've made my own up for the kids. They cost less than £2 plus I have more control over what goes in to them. Each kid gets a little pocket sized instrument, a balloon, a small bag of sugar free gummy sweets and a funsize bar of chocolate. I also have some cake boxes in case anyone wants to take their cake home.

Hopefully it will all go as planned.

All I really have to do is bring the birthday cake. I'm going to make a simple round sponge cake with the Pink Panther face above on top of he cake. Its a nice straight forward version of his face so I shouldn't have any trouble (famous last words) transferring it to the top of the cake.

To Wii or Not to Wii

I'll get one thing straight right away. My brother spoils Toots rotten.

He still lives at home, he isn't dating anyone at the minute, he doesn't have any kids of his own and he has a good job, so he has a lot of expendable income.

And he wants to buy Toots a Wii for her birthday.

At least I've managed to get him to ask first. He used to just go and buy whatever took his fancy and give it to her without bothering to check with me.

I'm still in two minds about whether to let him get it for her.

Her birthday is in April and it'll be much warmer at that stage and I would prefer that she played outside, but then I think of all those nasty days when it's raining and freezing cold and I think having a Wii around the house would be a good thing.

Then there's the fact that it's a Wii, for her birthday.

Is it just me or does that seem like far too big a present for a birthday regardless of her age.

I don't think it would bother me as much if it was a Christmas present.

Personally I'd love a Wii, if only for Wii Fit, but that's just me.

If I let him buy it for her birthday am I setting myself up for headaches come Christmas or her birthday next year?

I'm worried that she'll start to expect large expensive gifts all the time.

She remembers her birthday last year and a fair amount of the gifts she received and in some cases who she received them from.

What do you think? Good idea or not? Is it worth the headache?

Would it be better to just let him buy the Wii and then just try and phase it into the house, like it was always there and she just didn't notice it? Maybe that way she wouldn't think of it as a birthday present and it won't set a precedent for future gifts?

If you have a Wii, do you find your kids still want to play outside just as much?

I'm a bit stuck on this one.

Creative Birthday

I know, we're sorting out birthday presents for Toots a bit early but you have to be on top of these things.

The husband was away on business a few weeks ago and while he was in the airport he spotted the new 40Gb Creative Mosaic for a meagre £40 and thought it would make a perfect present for Toots. Seriously who's going to turn down an offer like that.

We're a hardened Creative family in this house, you can keep your naff (designed for 12 yr olds) Ipods. And don't even try to talk me round, others have tried and failed miserably.

I know its only her fourth birthday and an MP3 player seems a bit over the top, but she's really become a music lover in the last year and .... trust me if you knew her you'd agree, music is definitely the way to go.

The thing I love most about this player is the built in speaker. She doesn't have to sit blocking out everything else with a pair of headphones or earbuds. She'll be able to bop around to her hearts content and I'll not have to worry that she's accidentally turned the volume up a it too load for her wee ears.

Ok so present sorted then. Well not quite. We've spent the last week vetoing each others music choices.

Toots likes rock, she's a bit of a wee rock chick, which could be something to do with the fact that she spends her time with a woman who listens almost exclusively to rock but we'll just gloss over that for a minute. Nursery rhymes are the sole domain of the bedroom, a baa baa black sheep and a hickory dickory dock and she's fast asleep. Pop doesn't hold her attention for more than a few seconds, but in all fairness to the child pop isn't exactly designed to hold attention is it? It tends to be innocuous drivel, purpose built to be as inoffensive as possible. That would be why its popular.

One exception to the rule is Footloose, she loves it and so do I. And I'm not apologising for it. We even have matching legwarmers*.

I actually listen to lyrics so I can be pretty confident about which tracks are appropriate and which aren't. Its become very apparent that the hubs doesn't listen to lyrics. At least not carefully.

Exhibit A: He couldn't understand why I told him to take Alice Cooper's Poison off the player.

I can just see me standing in the queue in the corner shop, jug of milk in one hand, preschooler signing about black lace on sweat in the other. Um no thanks.

Exhibit B: He couldn't see a problem with My Sharona either.

Listen harder husband, the reason's in there.

And its went on like this for the last week or so. He'll ask first, or just go ahead and add it to the list and I'll whip it straight back off again.

Actually so far, I've been pretty lenient.

Queen, obviously. I was brought up on Queen and I turned out alright.
Status Quo, because every child should be drip fed pure Quo since birth.
The Who
Lynyrd Skynyrd
Old U2
Boston
Sweet
Journey
Twisted Sister. She will learn the lyrics are "I Wanna Rock" not "I'm a goofy goober" if it kills me (Thanks Spongebob)
Stepping waaaay out on a limb here, Gary Glitter.
She's heard some Soundgarden (when I had music on but wasn't really listening). She liked it, but I'm still not sure.
Certain Aerosmith tracks

She already likes the obviously one, Dude looks like a lady (thank you Robin Williams) so I'll just add a few more mild ones.

The husband tried to veto that one because he thinks we'll have to deal with the whole question of cross dressing too early. I honestly can't see it being a problem and its a bit of a non-issue with a daughter. A girl can wear whatever she likes. There's no such thing as a female transvestite. So suppose if I'm trying to make sure she doesn't have any double standards I'll tell her there's no such thing as a male transvestite either. Just a bloke wearing whatever he wants.

Actually, I'll show her this guy.

Eddie Izzard. In my most humble opinion one of the most beautiful men ever, regardless of what he puts on in the morning.

Everyone knows he does a bit of acting these days, but if you've never seen his stand up you should seriously consider having a look. Some of his bits are The Death Star Canteen, Being Bilingual, Exploding Breasts, and Stonehenge. Seriously, look and wet yourself laughing.

Right so anyway, music! What do you think of the selection so far? Have I missed anything that should be included and isn't?

Brotherly Love

I just had to share with you the lovely birthday card I received from my brother yesterday.

Adorned with little handbags, either he knows me very well or...

mum bought it.

The inscription was also heartwarming and very well thought out. He mus have agonised for hours over the exact words to use. The words which would best describe the love he has for his only sister on her birthday.


Thanks our kid. I'll add it to the card collection and cherish it forever.

Your loving sister.

LEANNE

The Big Birthday Plan - Part Three

This is the third and final part of the The Big Birthday Plan.

Other

I’ll be able to rattle up some invitations on the PC and will just use a folded variety rather than have to worry about envelopes. I’ll provide an email and number to RSVP to try and make it easier for mums to let me know. I may mention it ahead of time and ask the mums for a general consensus on whether a morning or afternoon is better for them.

It may be themed fancy dress, along the lines of an outfit made only from what you can find around the house rather than anything bought, but this may require a lot of involvement from mums and I know everyone is very busy these day, alternatively I will provide dress up outfits, as I’ve toots isn’t a girly girl so there are plenty of capes and masks to go around, plus a few animal dress up items so I should be covered for this. Actually, I would love input on this. If I were to invite you to a party and ask you to make a dress up outfit out of aluminium foil and empty egg cartons would you tell me to go and jump. Honestly now, be brutal, I can take it…sniff.

For decoration I already have a few banners without a specific year printed on them and a ton of balloons which my lovely mother insists on buying at every opportunity.

Also another thing I’d love input on. Would any mums out there be offended if you received an invite with a stated a maximum spend included of say…£5. This would be enough to cover a small token gift and maybe a card. She’ll get plenty from family and close friends and I think sometimes mums will turn down the invite of a party because of the expenditure involved in buying a gift. I would rather she didn’t receive seven huge presents from her friends and I think small things, like a single pot of play doh, even homemade, or some colouring books, even a book itself would be a far better idea for a present rather than the latest craze toy, which I will then be lumbered with keeping up on. Pokemon… no thanks.

I may….MAY make a pinata. She loves Spongebob which requires some seriously heavy programme vetting on mommy’s part but I think he’d be pretty easy to knock up.

Famous last words eh.

The Big Birthday Plan - Part Two

I posted yesterday about planning for Toots' birthday party and this is a continuation of that post.

Entertainment

Primark recently had a sale on all of their bed linen and thinking ahead I grabbed plain white pillowcases. They were reduced to £1 for a pack of two so I nabbed four packs. I think eight kids total for a four year olds party is plenty. I also already have a huge pile of fabric markers and stencils I gathered over the years so these will double as something to occupy the kids for 20 minutes or so, plus I’m covered for the almost obligatory party favour. I’ll pile the markers and stencils in the middle of a large drop cloth I use when toots is painting and let the kids decorate their very own pillowcase.

I’ll inflate the paddling pool and fill it with soft toys and some ballpit balls then hide some small token gifts inside and then let the kids take it in turn two at a time to dive in and find one each. I’ll make a point over the next few month of keeping an eye out for anything suitable, small sticker books or boxes of crayons, I may add in a few specific boy items and girl items, this means if a boy gets some hair clips it should encourage the kids to swap until they’re happy with what they have. I can do this inside or out depending on the weather.

I won’t be including any games which leave anyone feeling left out like musical chairs or pass the parcel, these games are fine for older kids who understand the concept a bit more but I don’t think 4 year olds would “get it.”

We’ll have some music and dancing, before the food to avoid any mishaps. Kids’ with full bellies, jumping around is probably not a good idea.

Weather depending I’ll also be able to borrow a bouncy castle. I have a small one which three, maybe four kids could be on at the same time, but I can imagine this causing some arguments, so I can lay my hands on a slightly bigger one for the day and it has its own little generator which keeps it inflated. This means I won’t need to plan ahead, it inflates in around 15 minutes so if the weather’s good I can throw it up quickly. If not, I can hide it in the garage and just not mention it.

Another idea I’ve had is for a treasure hunt around the house and garden which will eventually lead to the kitchen for the cake towards the end of the party, but I will have to put some more thought into this as it can’t be too difficult or the kids will lose interest. Possibly, using colours, numbers or the alphabet for clues. I don’t know yet.

Little green hair monsters are another way to pass the time indoors on a rainy day. Take one washed egg shell with the top removed, fill with damp paper towel or shredded newspaper, let the kids draw funny faces on them with paint and sprinkle some cress seeds in the top onto the damp paper. These are pretty good because they tend to take them home and forget all about them for a day or two and when they remember it already has a short back and sides, a full week and we’re talking a mop top.

The Big Birthday Plan - Part One

I may be getting a bit ahead of myself with this one as I don’t have toots’ birthday to worry about until next year, but with trying to plan ahead for Christmas and make a lot of the gifts, I know that I’ll end up putting off any planning until the New Year and before I know it April will sneak up on me and that’s when the party will end up costing a fortune.

I’ve been having ideas for a birthday party for a month or so now, but find that sometimes no sooner has a great idea popped into my head than its gone again.

I know, I know…write them down, but I’ve mentioned before about my handbag full of scrappy little bits of paper. My bag tends to be the place where good ideas go to die.

So I’ll add them here, I may add to this post over time if I have any more good ideas or add additional separate posts if I really get into the swing of things.

This will be Toots’ first real birthday party as such. We’ve had a couple of friends over for play dates on her birthday but not a party. This year she turns four and I think she’ll be ready for a full blown party although I’d rather it wasn’t more than two or three hours long max. Kids that age start to burn out after a couple of hours and with it being in April I’ll have to have plenty of indoor backups at the ready. You just can’t guarantee the weather here at any time of the year but April can be especially changeable.

I want to keep the party quite minimal without spending too much money, actually I’d prefer to spend virtually nothing, but we’ll see how that goes.

I’m going to try to separate this up a little to help me spot them again quickly later. I’ll also post over the course of a couple of days as it’s getting quite involved.

Food

I will be making her cake and I’ve been extolling the virtues of a princess cake (not Barbie, we don’t do Barbie in this house…evil freak of nature). Last year she wanted Tom and Jerry and that was time consuming but so worth the look on her face when she finally saw it finished. Here it is part way through.

The photos of the completed cake are buried on the other laptop and I’ll find them eventually, but you get the idea. Toots isn’t what you’d call a girly girl so I’m not sure I’ll get away with a princess cake, plus her bestest friend in the whole wide world is a boy, they are inseparable.

I’ll make ice cream for the party myself as well. The ice cream I usually make at home is fakey banana. Basically, peel and chop bananas into chunks and freeze until solid, then whiz in a food processor with a little milk until it’s the consistency of ice cream, you can add nuts or choc chips. Swirling in a little maple syrup is also very good and I’ll serve this in little plastic bowls I picked up years ago which look like waffle/brandy snap baskets. I just have to stop the kids from trying to eat them.

I’ll also serve some crisps and jelly shapes, preferably sugar free. I will not be the mum who sends the kids home “buzzing” to their mums just in time for bed.

I’ll also make some fruit kabob skewers for a healthier option. I have some plastic skewers about six inches long with a screw on cap at both ends. I picked them up in a car boot sale about a year ago and although I don’t thing this was originally their intended use, they work perfectly and I’ll feel a lot safer with a bunch of kids running around with them when there aren’t any pointy ends.

Then I think a few sandwiches cut with cookie cutters should make enough food, kids sometimes don’t eat a lot when they’re excited and I’ll try not to plan this party over a main meal time.