Baby Cake

My gorgeous little girl turns one tomorrow. Lissy is the apple of my eye, the song in my heart, the smile on my lips. While pregnant, I sometimes wondered if I would love her as much as I do Ella. I realise that with every baby, a mother's heart stretches to hold even more love than was possible before. Of course, that's not the only thing that stretches with a new baby but we won't go into that here ;-)

To celebrate, tomorrow after Ella and I are back from school I'm having a few girlfriends over with their babies for tea and cake. Mummies will be tucking into pecan and walnut brownies and peanut butter cookies which I made using recipes from my newest cookbook 'Baking Made Easy' by the gorgeous Lorraine Pascale. My baking used to be hit and miss, but thanks to Lorraine now it's a hit every time.

Babies will be tucking into the sugar-free yet oh-so-scrummy Banana and Raisin cake. I adapted a recipe from a library book - 'Superfoods for Super Kids'. It's been such a huge hit with the whole family and it's perfect for taking out on picnics or in lunchboxes. Recipe is below - let me know how you get on with it.

On Saturday we plan to go to Bucklebury Farm Park with some friends. It's in the village where Kate Middleton grew up in. That has no relevance to anything but I thought you might find it interesting. I'm getting quite excited about their new attraction - a Jumping Pillow. It's a curved inflatable, a bit like a giant bouncy castle without the sides. I just hope adults can have a go too!

Baby-Friendly Banana and Raisin Cake

Ingredients
2 beaten eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins
1/3 cup butter or coconut oil - softened (available from health food shops)
1 cup wholemeal or spelt self-raising flour (Spelt has less gluten than normal flour and so is much easier to digest)
(optional) 1 tsp vanilla extract or scraped beans from pod (or Waitrose does a fab vanilla bean paste)

Preheat oven to 180C/250F/Gas Mark 4. Mix eggs and bananas. Stir in rest of ingredients. Transfer to oiled loaf or cake tin, cook for 30-40 mins until skewer inserted in centre comes out clean.

My Girl's Seven!

On 19th July my darling eldest daughter turned seven. It's such a cliche but I can't believe how quickly she has grown up. I guess if cliches weren't so true and relevant they wouldn't be cliches as no one would say them.

She is such a kind, loving, intelligent, funny, beautiful girl. She makes my heart swell with pride.

Els had a birthday treat with me on Sunday (the day before her birthday). - pony riding at a lovely equestrian centre in Checkendon



and then three of her best gal pals over for junk food and birthday cake.



I couldn't face an actual party due to having a newborn to care for plus the fact that J had a lad's night out in London and wouldn't be around to help until noon. Anyhow, she didn't seem to mind that the celebrations were fairly low key this year.

I nearly made a hash of Nigella's Victoria Sponge recipe (oven too hot) but managed to disguise the obverly brown crust with pink buttercream icing and jelly sweets. The cake was a big hit thank god!



She opened her pressies on Monday (her birthday) before school and then her dad took her and a few friends to the Build a Bear shop in the Oracle. There are distinct advantages in having two families (two birthday celebrations, two Christmasses!).

Thank you for Waiting

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Originally uploaded by redcrayon

Camping in the Witterings; having my perceptions changed at Butlins; increasing two cup sizes on my birthday; reviving my natural healing abilities; falling back in love with my husband; being a reflexology case study.

Normal blogging service will resume shortly. We thank you for your patience.

Six and Thirty-Six Celebrations

Photo Credit:Birthday Balloons

That's how old my baby is now. Six!! Such a Big Girl.

In true like-mother-like-daughter form, El's birthday morphed from a one day event to a three day event.

Actually, she has some catching up to do as my upcoming thirty-sixth (yes, yes I know I don't look it) birthday is going to be celebrated in the following ways:

• A three day camping trip with some of my mates and our kiddies
  
  
• Taking myself to Rigby and Pellier for a hands-on bra fitting (they don't use a tape measure I've heard) and subsequent lingerie splurge on my actual birthday followed by a trip with J that evening to see Bill Bailey
  
  
• A Friday night out in Reading with my good-time girls (and boys) shaking what my mama gave me
  
  
• A Sunday garden party chez moi - avec les enfants, natch

Milking it? Moi?!

Anyway, Ella's sixth birthday...

El's dad took her and a friend to Legoland on Saturday. Then on Sunday (her birthday) she went to her Nonna's then to a small family party at my house, and on Monday I took her to the Kenton Theatre to the theatre to see The Town Mouse and The Country Mouse with another friend, Molly, her cousin Sulis and my sis Jules.

We went for a collection of smaller pressies this year, and they went down a storm. Notably, the Teach Me talking alarm clock which I discovered on Find Me a Gift, and fully expect not only to help Ella learn the time (in analogue and digital) but also to buy me precious bed time on weekend mornings - when its face turns green that means you can wake mummy, until then you're playing in your room kiddo (here's hoping...)

Other pressies that hit the spot included the kids' Learn to Knit kit from Hobbycraft and her favourite...wait for it...a Hello Kitty A4 ringbinder that's a bit like this.

Yes, the ringbinder file was her top pressie. Picked up as an afterthought for £2 from WH Smiths. Bless her cotton socks.

My personal favourite is the knitting kit, but more about that later...

I've got Christmas all tied up..

Photo: 3 presents waiting

I'm feeling very smug as I've had Christmas all wrapped up for days. An hour on the Internet and it was all done.

I even managed to buy my sister's birthday present (the poor thing has her birthday two days after Christmas) and a pressie for myself.

Buying myself a Christmas present is a tradition I started a while ago, it's a great insurance against the disappointment of not getting anything you really want. I highly recommend it.

I found some unusual gifts here and did the rest here - books, gadgets, smellies, clothes...it has the lot.

As soon as my postie had delivered the first package, I dashed to Waitrose for some wrapping paper. Big mistake.

WARNING: some of Waitrose's Christmas wrapping paper is actually see-through, although you can't tell until you're actually using it.

Fan-bloody-tastic.

I had to double- (and in some cases triple-)wrap the presents. Subsequently, I went to Tescos for cheaper and far superior wrapping paper.

The only other disappointment I have encountered in my amazingly hassle-free Christmas shopping experience is that things are not always as they seem in their photos. I can't go into that too deeply, as one of the intended recipients reads my blog.

The shoes  I bought for J (who doesn't read this blog), although lovely and almost exactly what he wants, are lace-ups instead of being 'slip on' as I had hoped. This may turn out to be a Big Deal. 

A a few months ago, I accompanied J on his hunt for some new casual shoes and we traipsed around no less than ten shoe shops. Why? Because any design he liked had lace-ups and "I just want something I can put on quickly. I don't want the hassle of laces."

Now, J is by no means a lazy man. In the summer, he put up a large garden shed single-handedly (I made the tea). I have never asked him why laces are a “hassle” and in exactly what situation he would need to save the five seconds required to lace two shoes. I suppose I shall find out on Christmas day…