isabel is 2: a moana birthday party

this adorable little girl had her second birthday party yesterday, a moana birthday party thrown by her very clever mum, my best friend jennifer.

everything looked very island-ish and thanks to our good friends at woolworths, we had an almost life size moana cut out for behind the food table. thank you recent disney tile promotion!

fun fact: you cannot buy brown balloons from party stores. it's just not a colour they make. so, you have to make them yourself, by popping a black balloon inside a burgundy one and blowing them up together. ta-dah!

heart of te fiti cookies ♥

and a hand made tropical number two. she's a clever girl our jen.

but, her specialty is the amazing cakes she churns out! this one was no exception. although she used a edible paper wrap for the bottom layer, the top was completely hand painted! jen, you are amazing!

the birthday girl with her gift from me, a singing heart of te fiti necklace ♥

jen & mat enjoying the party, mat must have been enjoying himself, that shirt says it all!

isabel with her mummy and daddy

and having a laugh with her dad.

happy birthday miss isabel. what a pleasure it was to share your day with you! 

♥

pineappeline is five

today we threw a pineapple party... yes you read that correctly. this year when i asked miss madeline what she wanted for her birthday, she responded very quickly, a pineapple party please mum! well. a pineapple party it was! it was a good challenge for me and i had lots of fun putting it together

we have been lucky until this year, it has never rained on her party day, even though it's in the middle of winter, but this year we were not so lucky. apart from the 10 or so minutes which we spent outside taking these pictures, it was raining, dark as and stormy outside!!

i fell in love with this dress from flamingo tease kids when it was released a few months ago and after watching it for ages, it went on sale and i snapped it up for the party (and a million wears afterwards i hope) we also gave madeline a pineapple necklace to wear with it, she got these cute as boots from her grandma... and we made her a sweet little crown out of green paper to wear for the day, totally appropriate seeing as the invites said: be a pineapple, stand tall, wear a crown and be sweet on the inside

i spent hours cooking and icing these pineapple cookies this week (and i may just be a little proud of them) you can check out the process and the recipe here. (pineapple cookie jar was picked up at target on clearance earlier this year for $5)

drinks were easy... 5l drink dispensers, the one on the left had water with lemon and pineapple pieces... and the one on the right had 4 x 1.25l bottles of the coles brand fizzy pineapple drink. excellent choice at 75c each, the whole thing cost me just $3! (straws from ebay here)

decorations were easy, the tablecloth is one of my doona covers, 3 honeycomb balls from kmart (80c a piece) with a piece of green paper cut to make a crown, bunting from the local cheap store (the green one is left over from joseph's first birthday!) then helium balloons done this morning with the assistance of a helium tank from spotlight, an awesome purchase!

pineapple serving dishes also from target ($3.50 each) i made my usual brownies and glued a pineapple lolly to the top of each one with a dob of icing and a few other yellow and pineappley looking options...

and as usual, my best friend delivered with this gorgeous pineapple cake! madeline was so excited about it and the topper was such a good idea, simply the top cut off a pineapple with a mini gold glitter hooray sign from kmart. forever grateful that i've never had to make a cake yet, love you jen!

i was so pleased with the lolly jars... they were so simple, but looked awesome. empty glass jars saved up for the last few months, with a photo print in each... with a piece of chinese pineapple cake (looked awesome, had a pineapple printed on the packet) allens pineapple lollies, a balloon, bouncy ball, mini slinky, a fruit eraser, coconut lollies (with palm trees on the packaging) and a teeny gold pineapple ring from ebay (14 of them for just $12, can't go wrong!)

  

because of the weather i had to be inventive and ended up having just two games, a colouring contest with a gorgeous pineapple colouring page i found here (i was clever and told the kids it had to be a rainbow pineapple) and pass the parcel. prizes found on ebay here, pineapples of course!

we had such a wonderful day with family and friends and madeline was just beside herself with excitement the whole day

i mean seriously, doesn't this face say it all?

i can't believe that just two days from now our little girl will be five!

happy party day pineappeline! 

making a wish... i wish every day could be as fun as today was little one! ♥

jelly slice

i have always loved the look of this beautiful bright slice and have been wanting to try it for ages, but always left it in the too hard basket, but tried it for josephs birthday and am so glad i did... i've made this twice in two weeks and both times had rave reviews, so i thought i had better hurry up and share the recipe for the best jelly slice, which i found here

i will begin simply saying, make sure you have plenty of time when making the slice, as the way to make sure you get the beautiful clean layers, is by allowing enough time to let them set and for the jelly to cool before you pour it on the top. 

you will need:

200g milk arrowroot biscuits

225g melted butter

395g can condensed milk

2 1/2 tsp gelatine

3/4 cup boiling water

4 1/2 tbsp lemon juice

1 pkt jelly (flavour/colour of your choice)

boiling water as per instructions on jelly packet

extra tsp gelatine - for jelly top

method:

1. line slice tin with baking paper

2. crush biscuits in food processor until fine

3. add crumbs to melted butter and mix until combined. pour the mix into the prepared tin and press down with the back of a spoon until a neat layer is formed. place in the fridge to set

4. whilst base is chilling, add 2 1/2 tsp gelatine to boiling water and stir until dissolved. add to condensed milk and lemon juice. whisk until mixture is combined and smooth

5. remove base from fridge and pour condensed milk layer over the top. place back into the fridge to set.

6. make jelly as per instructions on packet, adding an extra tsp of gelatine. leave jelly to cool until it reaches room temperature.

7. pour jelly over slice and place back in fridge to set, this will take at least 4 hours, leaving it overnight is the best option to ensure the layers all fully set.

8. cut into squares using a hot knife.

it's so yum! hope you enjoy :)

zara is 3

on saturday our friends little girl zara had her third birthday and i was in heaven... it was a fairy party! my favourite. i of course had to get madeline into something gold and glittery with stars and wings. thank you jamie-lee, you completely made my day!

our little fairy girl ♥

there was a face painter and when madeline saw her face in the mirror she said (and this is a direct quote...) "i look beautiful!" yes little one, you do!

maddie and zara's cousin isaac, hanging out after they'd had their faces painted

and the birthday girl with her mummy and cake. such a sweet smiley girl, we love hanging out with her and her parents.

unwrapping her gift from us

miss zara showcasing her face painting, what a cutie ♥

and not to be left out, baby joseph twinning with his daddy

thanks for a lovely afternoon zara, happy birthday to you!

joseph's dinosaur party

yesterday we had a little dinosaur birthday party for our big one year old! it was a lovely afternoon, thankfully not too hot and we all had a really good time.

this year i decided to make the goody bags (jars in fact) and used jars that we had at home, with a plastic dinosaur glued to the top (bargain alert... i got a shopping bag full of dinosaur figurines in all different sizes from gumtree, about 10 minutes from home for just $5) and then spray painted a funky colour and filled with some cute knick knacks:

dinosaur stamp (6 in a pack, available here on ebay)

3 mini dinosaurs (from abovementioned bag)

rubber bouncy ball (6 in a pack from kmart for $2)

mini dinosaur drawing pad (6 in a pack, also from ebay, look here)

a few crayons (i bought a big pack from kmart for $3(ish))

dinosaur tattoos (another awesome ebay find - here)

green polka dot balloons (kmart - 12 for a few dollars)

and half a dozen natural confectionery company dinosaur lollies (from your local supermarket)

all in the dinosaur theme and looked really cute when they were finished

thankfully i had set to work a few days before... because here is what i learned:

you need plastic/ laminate kind of glue to make the dinosaurs stick to the lids... and to let them set for quite some time. spraypaint does not dry on plastic. not at all. the paint was still tacky two days after i sprayed the lids, so i called my husbands friend who is a spray painter. please not for future reference, if you want to make them... you need to glue down the figurine and then start with a coat of spray plastic primer. once that is dry, then you can spray paint as usual. problem was of course, i didn't know about it and had just sprayed straight onto them. solution? thanks to my smart mum... we doused each one in talcum powder, which dried the paint and created a base for the next coat of paint to stick to. they were dry by the end of the day. boom. thanks ma.

we also had a little impromptu photo shoot with our favourite little man before his guests arrived... in his cot filled with balloons. he is just such a happy little thing and was very obliging, smiling away, once we had given him a cookie to munch on.

i just love this face!

and most of all, that dimple!

we also managed to find this funky t-rex skeleton at the guildford markets a few weeks ago... and we snapped it up for a nice little table display. so cute!

and these adorable dinosaur serviettes from coles... just $2 for the packet.

i had the best time making these little "fossil" cookies... with the easiest recipe i could find online... and then stomping each one with the foot of a toy dinosaur, which is now living in my utensils drawer. clearly it will be required for future use haha.

dinosaur sprinkles on the chocolate crackles? we don't do things by halves around here...

and adorable green bunting from kmart (yes, i really love that place!) for just $2

joseph loved the attention and was happy to go to all our friends and have a cuddle, whilst eating away... thank heavens for socialable children!

and as per usual (her 4th for my children so far...) my best friend jennifer delivered with this adorable fat dinosaur on top of a cake for the birthday boy. she is so clever and i am so lucky to have her. 

having a play with nanna. it makes me so happy to know how loved out babies are, by both sets of grandparents...♥

finally it was cake time and daddy helped joseph blow out the candle. he was so excited by the dinosaur and kept wanting to touch it...

so we finally let him have a pat. sweet boy, he just wants to touch everything. no cake smashing here though... i must admit, it is one of my pet peeves... what a waste of good cake! we eat our cake here, not smash it!

we are just too lucky. this boy is all ours :)

bye bye! we'll see you later!