fairy bread jelly slice

i have seen this recipe appear in my news feed over and over and i felt like it was finally time to make it so i did for millie's birthday over the weekend. it is probably the prettiest thing i have ever made in my life - but i did not like the taste. it was sooooo strong. even me with my really sweet tooth was feeling a little ugh at the sweetness of it. it wasn't the worst thing i've ever had, but i would definitely not be making it again... i'd be using the best jelly slice recipe from create, bake, make and adding sprinkles to the middle and the top thank you very much. at least i know that one's a winner!

however, i did love the way it looked. 10/10 for presentation, 4/10 for taste.

but just in case anyone here wants to try it or peel themself off the ceiling tonight, here is the recipe, courtesy of taste.com.au

FAIRY BREAD JELLY SLICE

Base

2 x 165g packets white chocolate Tim Tams

1/3 cup desiccated coconut

100g butter, melted, cooled

395g can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup lemon juice

2 tsp gelatine powder

2/3 cup boiling water

1/4 cup bright sprinkles, plus extra, to decorate

Jelly topping

85g packet Aeroplane Jelly Creaming Soda

1 cup boiling water

1/2 cup cold water

Step 1

Grease an 18cm x 28cm slice pan. Line base and sides with baking paper, extending paper 2cm above edges of pan.

Step 2

Place biscuits and coconut in a food processor. Process until fine crumbs. Add butter. Process until combined. Press mixture evenly over base of prepared pan. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

Step 3

Whisk condensed milk and lemon juice together in a bowl. Sprinkle gelatine over boiling water. Whisk with a fork to dissolve. Stand for 2 minutes. Gradually whisk into milk mixture until combined. Stand for 3 to 4 minutes to cool. Fold in sprinkles. Pour over prepared base. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.

Step 4

Meanwhile, place jelly crystals into a heatproof jug. Add boiling water. Stir until crystals have dissolved. Stir in cold water. Set aside for 1 hour to cool to room temperature.

Step 5

Gently pour jelly over slice. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours or until set.

Step 6

Carefully remove slice from pan and cut into pieces. Decorate with extra sprinkles. Serve.

millie turns 1

the cutest baby i know has finally turned one and we had a birthday bash in clackers to celebrate. she has the most adorable face and it is so easy to love on her.

jen blew us all away as always with this amazing swan cake, complete with white chocolate feathers, and a raspberry filling. it was absolutely divine.

i got to chill with my favourite child for the day. funny story - my children insisted that i choose a favourite child a few weeks ago. to their disgust i chose isabel without any hesistation. they were enraged, but i carefully pointed out that they hadn't specified that it had to be one of my own. they were outraged! hahaha

alex had the time of his life on the bouncy castle they had set up...

and madeline enjoyed every moment lounging like a model on the giant inflatable swan aunty jenny had bought to decorate.

the macqueen siblings even behaved long enough for me to snap this cute shot of them!

but all the attention was a little too much for miss millie and she snuck off to have a nap on nanna ❤

before being the life of the party again

before too long it was time for cake

and this baby model smiled sweetly for aunty to get some good shots of her. she is seriously the most beautiful child you'll ever lay eyes on.

with the best mummy in the world. i am indeed one lucky best friend. ❤

i am so thankful for beautiful people in my life...

and the swag of kids that come with them! ❤

last but not least - i just needed to show this gorgeous picture we got millie for her birthday. the girl that owns the dance studio maddie goes to, paints custom animal watercolours. she did this beautiful swan for us and i love it! it's so pretty.

 

sports carnival 2020

it's sports carnival time again - and my kids aren't mad at all about being in the faction that's won 4 out of the 5 years we've been at ellen stirling. it's the best. i actually love that they are in red, it's such an easy colour as there isn't all different shades, red is red. on with the red hairspray, on with the zinc and it's go time.

and these kids were raring to go!

joseph amazed every single one of us when he took out first place in his sprint. i'll be honest, i never thought this day would happen, he is not a runner. but when the races were set and he was in the last division, he smashed the others by quite a bit.

i swear it was the proudest day of his life and you could not wipe the smile off of his face for the rest of the day. i'm so happy he got that. maddie was a little sad as she stumbled a little in her race as she took off and it cost her a placing, but she was also thrilled for joseph to have his first place.

another awesome carnival day, with giles taking out the shield again.

we love esps. ❤

 

a visit from kelly canby

we looooooove kelly canby. two years ago, we had the absolute joy of being able to do an art workshop with her in the school holidays and it was an absolute blast. she was so fun, so friendly and just all round amazing. we followed her on instagram and during the beginning of the covid lockdown, we did art classes with her and her son will via instagram live... she's just the best. 

so imagine my delight to find out she was visiting ellen stirling for a session with the children in joseph's grade, which allowed the children to purchase a book and have it signed. we chose the book she has said is her favourite for his age group - called littlelight. he was so stoked to know they would have her there again.

but, because life is the way it is, joseph came home with no book - and i had to ask the school the next morning about it. turns out it was a huge session with sooooo man kids and kelly hadn't had a chance to see him personally even though she told us later via messenger, i kept telling them, "someone find me joseph kendall!!" what a riot. the book was signed, but she didn't know which was his - leaving it to be a generic message, but he was not phased in the slightest. he loved their session, he loves his book and and we will continue to stalk kelly on instagram for another chance to meet her down the track.

she really is a lovely human! my favourite part was sending her a message afterwards with a photo from the newsletter, where i had circled joseph in the big group shot - so we could see they had a photo together. hilarious. ❤

 

a hospital birthday

my beautiful mother-in-law oliveta is in hospital for her birthday this year. she has stomach cancer and has really been struggling of late. after being unwell for quite sometime and being brave as she always is and saying she was fine, she was unable to eat properly and the dr's admitted her to do tests and see how she really is. i know she feels really lonely in the hospital and misses the kids a lot, so i made her a cake and we all went in to sit with her and enjoy some time together.

she looked so much happier when we left and i know that although she is tired, she loved having the kids around her making noise and cheering her up. we are so lucky to have her close and are enjoying every minute we can with her.

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the recipe for this cake is an epic one from our close friend keryn and because this is her favourite cake and i know it will always be one we keep in the family, here's the recipe for future reference:

keryn's banana cake

125g butter

1 cup white sugar

3 ripe bananas

1 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups self raising flour

2 eggs

directions:

preheat oven to 160 degrees fan forced

cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy

add in eggs one by one and beat until well combined

mash bananas and vanilla essence and add to butter mixture

mix baking soda into milk then add to mixture

add sifted self raising flour

pour into cake tin

bake for 45 mins until cake tester comes out clean or cake bounces back

ice with cream cheese icing

goodbye fountain

when we moved into our house in september 2015, there was only two things that i didn't like. one: the bathrooms (which we will get around to ripping out and updating sometime in the future) and this bloody awful fountain. i have always thought it was an eyesore and wanted it gone from the beginning.

but...the kids loved it and spent hours playing on it and in it as pictured. hahaha, this is one of my favourite summer memories, joseph still being small enough to swim in it and get cool that summer. but of late, alex has been climbing it and rocking back and forward on the top circle and my poor heart couldn't take it, so i decided enough was enough and that it had to go.

step one: pull the thousands of rocks out from around the pieces

then sell them off on facebook marketplace.

step two, list the wretched thing on marketplace for free (because we wanted it gone - and gone now) and deal with the 564872 (okay probably 42) enquiries for people who wanted to collect it. organise a time with the one who sounded the easiest to deal with and then help lift it and carry it out to his van to be taken away

step three: remove the rest of the pavers and flatten it down

step four: buy enough pavers to fill the rest of the space from midland brick. so grateful that the pavers were still available and easily attainable. we even got tradie discount on them because the guy at  reception made me wait half an hour before he served me and i made a point of saying something.

step five: wash down the pavers and mix the old ones with the new ready to pave.

step six: watch my husband do an amazing job of paving the area

i was super impressed, he did such a good job and checked over and over to make sure they were all flat and sitting well

step seven: water the paving haha

voila!

i am so stoked with the results. it's made our tiny backyard look much bigger and i am so happy. another item off the to-do list.

 

alexander james: twenty-four months

oh my gosh. my baby is two! i am not at all ready for this!

but look at that little face. it's so lucky he is cute or i would have killed him a long time ago, because he is just such, hard, work.

during the last month he has:

- complained loudly if the song playing in the car isn't something he likes until you change it

- sings, yells and mumbles along with mana (moana)

calls nanna nan!

- says apple, happy!

- sings along with the song i'm so happy

- when you lay him on the change table to change him, he's always yelled and pointed for a book. but now he just says, book!

- loves the word kick!

- cutting his two year old molars

alexander is 2

i cannot believe it, but somehow we have managed to keep this adorable little human alive for two whole years! "baby" alexander turned two today! 

we got him some cute little gifts - as well as a try bike, which is a bike that grows with you... starting as a three wheeler run along trike, which can be upgraded to a two wheeler as time goes on.

he was all about the hey duggee show bag though and pulled each piece out lovingly to show them off. he was also a huge fan of the ball tower and put the balls through over and over and over.

he especially loved the little backpack that came in it!

doting big sister madeline was on hand to assist with the gift unwrapping, she is never far from his side.

my favourite gift was a little pamela allen book called "alexander's outing" about a little duckling. i bought it when was just small, ready for when he would be old enough to enjoy it.

alex spent the day being loved on by everyone, playing with bubbles and being cuddled...

the absolute perfect birthday!

but my favourite part of the day was watching his little eyes light up when i brought out a cake i had made for him. a real birthday cake. the kind our mums used to make for us as kids. baked from scratch, with yummy icing and lots of sprinkles.

he looooved it and proudly blew out his candles with maddie and joseph on hand to help.

saving yet another recipe here for future reference - i am baker white cake recipe. 

it was so fluffy and delicious.

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INGREDIENTS

113g butter, softened

1 cup white sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. almond extract, optional

1 1/2 cups plain flour

2 tsp. baking powder

4 egg whites, room temperature 

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 160deg celcius (fan forced). Prepare 8x8 square pan.

Beat butter at medium speed until creamy, roughly 3-4 minutes.

Gradually add sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Stir together milk and vanilla. (If you are adding almond extract, add it here)

Sift together flour and baking powder; add to butter mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed just until blended after each addition.

Beat egg whites at medium speed until stiff peaks form; gently fold into batter. Pour batter into prepared pans.

Bake at 350° for 35-38 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes.

Optional: Cover with white frosting.

(I used my favourite cream cheese icing from here)

frosting:

2 tbsp softened butter

55g softened cream cheese

1 cup icing sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

beat until well combined then spread on cake. delish!

 

 

alex's pirate party

today this lucky little dude had a birthday bash with family and friends in our little backyard - all pirate themed! i love, love, looove working with a little theme for the kids parties and i am not getting bored yet! this one was super fun to do!

we hired a mini kids castle for the backyard, which fit perfectly! honestly, couldn't have worked better in our space and i am so stoked that 1) there are mini options available and 2) my friend hayley just happens to have a business with her sister that hires them out. they even had little ride on animals and vehicles which she happily sent along with the castle. the kids were so happy! 

madeline and joseph were just at the top of the weight range that was acceptable so it was perfect for them to be able to play with alex and the other small kids on the castle and they had so much fun with it.

as usual, i had to go all out with the fine touches - like the cups haha

i spent ages last week with blue watercolour paint and a kitchen sponge wiping around each one for this pretty blue coloured effect. they looked so cute! worth the time and and effort? absolutely!

our tablecloth for the day mum picked up at the opshop ages ago and it was just perfect... maps and oceans and ships all over it. completed with other decorations like the mini wooden pirates i found - and themed cookies from baked on benrua. so cute!

having a ball with millie in the backyard - when he finally woke up from a decent nap. he was so tired that we put him to bed around the time everyone arrived. you gotta do what you gotta do when it comes to toddlers! this is something i have finally learned on child number 3.

look at his little face! he was so happy with his cake! thank goodness cause it took me ages fidgeting about with it. it's the first time i have made something shaped and fiddly and cute like that and it was totally worth it cause it was so fun!

the cutest little almost 2 year old i know in his little pirate stripes and deck shoes! ❤

we had lots of fun ocean themed treats, including these orange pirate ships floating on their blue jelly ocean...

an anchor of vegetables 

to eat with the capsicum octopus dip... okay i was actually obsessed with this one! how freaking cute was he? pinterest is the atual best thing ever for party ideas!

a little pirate bunting and some flags to decorate...

some other food with boats built in...

and my cake! i found this idea on pinterest too, and copied the cut out pattern and shapes to make a traditional style pirate ship! it actually worked so well and i was really happy with it

decorated with lots of chocolate "wood" - planks, beams, portholes etc... and even a plank with the mini pirates i managed to find on facebook marketplace. loved it!

maybe i'll eventually really get the hang of this cake thing haha.

pirate striped goody bags on the way out the door

with all of the fun inside - cause everyone needs a pirate tattoo and an eye patch haha.

our little pirate had the best day and we loved every minute of it with him! ❤