Jan 2009 - these boots are made for walking... lets just hope they stay in sight!

[120]

had to do a new thread as the old one just wasn't pleasing my computer!

Tea That last pig cake is great!

Moose We watch The Wiggles during lunch unfortunately. I reckon the one in blue, by the way he dances, was a stripper-o-gram. lol (Or whatever it is they are called)

Run this morning was nice. There was no one on the trail on the lake and it was actually, finally, warm! I even left the IPod at home. When I got back to the car, there was a group of old boys and their motorized boats. One guy had a full on battle ship at least 6 feet long and all the accoutrements. Retirement.

I totally flog the Madeira cake now Moose to anyone who asks about the best cake to use.

See, this is why I run; I just 5 of DH's two bite butter pecan tarts after having two slices of toast with peanut butter and nutella. But ohhhh, it was so good and worth it. I have to walk to the shop today anyhow...

I am so wasted after all that walking in the tropical heat.

Forgot to say earlier, but the best bit of today was going in the charity shop in the village and buying 8 books for £3.00.

Bought ds1 a vintage Beano Annual (he is mad for the Beano), ds2 The Dog Who Could Dig, which is funny and rhyming - two things he loves in books and the first Elmer the Elephant Story - complete with unopened CD for dd, plus the Velveteen Rabbit between all three of them (hard back, beautiful copy, again just 50p!). Also got a couple of paperbacks for me to read on holiday they were 70p each but buy one get one free! Was very pleased with that indeed. Although I actually went in there to see if they had any summer dresses or long summer skirts in my size, as I have absolutely none and was melting in my jeans. Unfortunately the clothes seemed to cater for the er .. more mature ladies in the area (think 80 plus ) lots of crimplene and pleated trousers!

Chef, its the one in yellow that gives me the heebee geebies. I don't know what it is about him, but I have even had nightmares about him in the past.

hello folks

Thanks chef. I'm going to do that! Had chiro today, so might try tomorrow.

Just had the most delish M$S ready meal beef burritos with a carrot saled and their cheese triple layer salad. Oh so so so nice. Have NewYork cheesecake too.

Girls got a cheats meal. Tin of M&S [can you tell I went to town today?] beef mince with a carton of toms with olive oil. Turned into quite a tasty spag bol to be honest, but clearly nothing to be proud of
Well, it isort of proper food, and costs peanuts.....and dd1 had a banana and yogurt smoothis for pud. So not too bad a disaster.

DD2 is up again she's charging about downstairs and pinching dh's burrito

Tired tired tired. I nearly fell asleep at 7.15 with dd1!

Madera cake. I fell out with it when I made a barbie doll cake thing for dd1. The cake looked bloody fab. It cost £18 in icing and decorations, and was totally raw in the middle. Still, looked good

Felt tired and reminded of my own day, reading yours Moose. I spent an hour cleaning the downstairs - looks no different. The muck on the window sills was baaaaad. Then town for 3 hours, which is a wonder when you consider it has about 10 shops. Got the argos cheapie sandpit, and 60kgs of sand. So that was a challenge to get to the car! My Jane 3 wheeler is a tank of a pushchair
Then hit the pound shop and bought piles of buckets, spades and sand shapes etc. They were at least £5 in mothercare etc online, where as I got loads fro £3. Yay.

Then slogged it all home, and carried it all in. Quickly stuffed a few noodles into dd2 then scooted to chiro and got beaten up by her, then school run then home. Girls spent 3.30 till 5 out in new garden with sand put so am pleased.
It has a lid, they suggest for water, which I filled. Poor dd2 fell 3 times, it's like an ice rink! She went full onto her back and there were some serious head cracks - so will have to get some cheap shower mats. Not good really is it?

Am frankly overjoyed to be heading to bed shortly!

Oh sorry Moose this one.

Oh that is rally pretty tea. The other one is fab too.
You could even get a plain bought cake and decorate it like that 2nd one - which takes the fun out of it, but also a good few of the hours

Apologies for the cake heresy amongst so many great cooks . We didi it for our Christening cake. It looked fab, considering it cost £25. We had dd1's sugar flowers from her Baptism, so that was nice.

This is the cake I did for her 2nd birthday, but I want something better this time.

I'd need to take my time about it, but what else do I have to do as a single mum every night once my kiddies are in bed?

Really want to make the entire thing myself too That sense of achievement. Would you do a proper party with magician for a 3rd birthday? Or just a few mum friends and LO's and nibbles etc?

Yeah not my cup of tea Roman. I thought others had replied about it?

But it's your bubba

If this is your last baby, is there any names you long to use and haven't yet, list them and we can do a survey?

erm, tea, I could provide you with a list of things to do in the evening if you like? I don't have a tv and am permanently frustrated for getting about 20% of what I want done!

I must say I really love that first peppa from Moose (my DD loves a big pink cake, and then it being peppa on top of the pink would be toddler meltdown for her!)

I think you should rise to the challenge and get moosey to talk you through it with blow by blow explanations. Would be a good skill to learn for the next 32 birthday cakes you'll be making (and we'll be taking notes too)! Once I was 10, mine used to come from Betty's in York, which is posh, but not 'Mummy Lovely', which is worth far more to a child!

We did a picnic in the park for DD's third birthday and they just ran around with their friends and ate cake. We had some medals and did silly races, with a lucky dip box full of prizes instead of party bags. A couple of good things that I saw (at other picnics) were necklace making sets to sit and thread together, individual picnics for each child, helicopter balloons, tug of war and frisbee. Anything that knackers them out and gives the parents a chance to sit down, drink and chat.

Florence, Susannah, Xavier and Matthew are my favs on that list, but I admit I play fairly safe on names.

Oi - cheeky Dog! I am an old lady you know. You whippersnappers just don't understand how all this walking around stuff is so tough for us grannies.

Yes it was just a walk, but it was ridiculously hot, uphill with an overloaded pushchair and about two and half miles, plus walking around the village and doing a Tesco shop, so not just a delicate ramble.

Do you want a buggy for now or for after bubs arrives? Best quality lightweight has to be the Maclaren Volo for me, although the wheels do look tiny compared to the Techno so not sure how good they are to push. I have a BabyJogger City Mini, which is light, folds with one pull of a strap in the middle of the seat and is a dream to push - its just not that great on buses, as there is always a flippin' pole in the way.

Roman doesn't really appeal to me either I'm afraid. But as Tea said, if you love it use it. I am hopeless with boys' names, couldn't think of one for ds2 at all and dh ended up naming him when the mw asked what he was going to be called when he was born. I was at the time as I didn't think the name suited him, but now I love the name and think it really suits him. Couldn't every imagine him being called anything else now.

Tea, that is a lovely cake. Do you want to do all the piping, including the flowers? Or would you apply some ready made flowers instead? I'm sure you could do it, no problem. Especially if you take your time, but remember you will only have a maximum of two evenings to decorate it as your cake will be past its best if you leave it any longer than that before serving.

Its sugarpaste with a sugarpaste Peppa and royal iced features and flowers. The name and 'happy birthday' are sugarpaste as well - cut out using special alphabet cutters.

I would invest in a cheap icing smoother if you want to get a professional looking finish, that's smooth enough to ice onto. They don't cost much, but make a huge difference to the ease of application and the final effect. here They help to smooth out the icing, create either sharp or rounded edges (depending what you want) and get a neat line between the cake and cakeboard. You will also need a basic piping set these are cheap but I prefer stainless steel nozzles and they last a lifetime as well. Some disposble icing bags might be useful so you don't have to keep cleaning your icing bag out when you change colour. Not sure what other advice I can give, other than please don't hesitate to ask me any questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

Tree sounds like a full-on but very productive day.

Re your cake. If you are doing a very deep or 3d cake, you either have to cook it in two halves and then join it back up, or you need to buy a baking core to insert into the middle of the batter, to make sure the whole thing is cooked through.

Oh yes, Tea for third birthdays we did a small party with just friends' children and family - for ds1 it was Easter, as his birthday is nearly always on Easter weekend and for ds2 it was Thomas the Tank. For both I bought some craft stuff relevant to the theme for them to do. Some from Baker Ross, some from ebay. I remember we did, make your own paper windmills and decorate your own wind up jumping egg - they went down well. We only had five children at each party though, including my two boys. Basically I did food boxes for the children, a buffet for everyone else, they did craft, ate, then ran around like loons chasing balloons and generally having a riotous time. I'm not one for organised party games as in my experience there's always at least one child that gets upset. Both parties were well received and the boys loved them.

Dog, Matthew is ds2's middle name - we did agree on that part as its also dh's middle name and we both like it.

120 - what on earth do you do each night that never gets done? Apart from picking up toys and washing up/ clearing kitchen I can't quite work out what you're doing?

I was a PA for many years before children, I used to be a voluntary editor for a parish magazine, that was fun and kept me busy. Need something like that again I think.

I think I need to start taking notes, as you guys are giving me a lot of info. Her birthday is 28th July so I have a little time to gear up yet. Where do you buy invites being my first child I'm a bit lost on this birthday shenanigans and rarely go shopping other than Sainsbury's.

Moosey how can I give you my e-mail without it being broadcast on mumsnet? Will need much more advice on cake and don't want to clog up musnet too much.

See that comes from being old as well Dog. Totally missed your point there.

We used to use the word in the context you describe back in our uni days, but these days with our decrepid peer group - it just means knackered! (Unless that is you count a couple of ibuprofen with breakfast this morning? )

All the same - I am still a wimp and feel particularly wimpy this evening.

Sorry 120 I think my first comment sounds rude, it's not meant to be, I'm just intrigued

Dh has just reminded me of a friend's brother who is called Oren. I like it, its unusual, but not out there. Just looked it up. Apparently its Hebrew in origin and means 'pine tree'.

Tea, Have you got CAT? I have, so you can just CAT me via Mumsnet and they will pass on your message to me so that I get your email address.

Not sure other than that as I'm not on facebook (couldn't see your Teletubby cake, sorry). We could start our own thread I suppose?

I can receive CAT messages but haven't paid to CAT people myself. IYSWIM?

I was hoping you were still logged into your sisters fb account Moose for the picture. But that was a while ago now