These are a few of my favourite things

A recent visit to marvellous mum and dads took in a trip to Bekonscot Model Village.  A place of my childhood, and such fun.  It was as sweet and enchanting as I remember, and as luck would have it, Darling boy and Little brother were enraptured by it too.  The model village is so lovely, stuck in a time warp and featuring the excellent naff puns that always raise a grin.  You can also pretend to be a giant, which is a great past-time.

Spooky bat cookies and gingerbread cupcakes

Holy bat biscuits robin! I made these iced bat cookies, and dotty star cookies for Little brothers preschool halloween party.

Darling boy and little brother were very sweetly dressed for the fancy dress parade in matching bat costumes with wings,  and our newest addition wore a cute pumpkin teeshirt, as at just 10 weeks, she is a bit little for dressing up just yet (however come christmas it will be a different story!) I opted for Vegas witch in a long hot pink wig and pointy hat.

I also bought along gingerbread cupcakes, topped with a lemony cream cheese frosting for the grownups and they went down a storm.  Perfect with a hot cuppa, gingerbread seems a great flavour for halloween, spicy and warming, perfect for braving a gaggle of goulish preschoolers.

Easter = chocolate

Here we are Easter egg hunting on the farm with Little brother and the bump.  The walk up the (tiny) hill to the orchard justifies the unbelievable amounts of chocolate we put away that day.  Little brother is very much a 'now' kinda man.  When he finds a chocolate egg, he eats it straight away, seeing little point in the basket that silly mummy keeps going on about.

The day before, Darling boy had drawn a map for the Easter bunny (so the easter bunny would know where to come of course) and we left it outside the kitchen.  We then walked around the house ringing the school bell and when we got back to the front door, the map had gone! Eye witness reports feature seeing a flash of white running across the fields- which must surely have been the Easter bunny.  Darling boy was totally caught up in the excitement and magic of the Easter bunny, Little brother remained focussed, like an olympic athlete on the consumption of chocolate. Clever boy.

photo by Dancing Steve

Gingerbread men wearing Y-fronts.

Darling boy, Little brother and I went to a friend's house for tea recently and what would be better suited than a team of cheeky gingerbread men and ladies to take along with us.  I haven't ever iced like this before, it's tricky but good fun.

A pink and girly cake, for the new girly in our family (that's extended family folks, don't get excited)

As well as the new chicks which arrived recently, a much more exciting and important family member has been welcomed to the clan.  Handsome husband's uncle and his wife have adopted a 3 year old little girl after years and years of longing for children.  It's such wonderful news and it was a real treat to finally meet her.  They live in Germany which means a recent visit over was our first opportunity to meet the loveliness that is Darling boy and Little brother's new cousin.

In honour of our new cousin's first visit to Devon, I baked her a 'Welcome to the Family' cake.  Since I have two boys, I got pretty excited about the chance to 'go girly'.  I was feeling in a novelty mood, so shaped the cake in the silhouette of our new cousin's initial (making good use of my new bundt tin too)  The glittery pink buttercream icing went down a storm, as did the sweeties all over it and the chocolate sponge inside.

You must be quackers

The in-laws asked if we fancied going along to the village Duck Race.  There would be money on it to make it a more 'sporting' event, and then scones and jam after.  Well, who could resist such an invitation?

I don't know what I was expecting, I had never been to a Duck Race before, but this being the countryside, I had imagined there would be actual, live ducks, somehow persuaded or bribed to run from one end of a course to another, with the winner being the first duck across the line, with hilarious results.

Elements of this were right, there were ducks that had to make it across the line, and there was betting.  But one crucial difference leapt out when we arrived.  The ducks were of the bright yellow plastic variety and came tumbling out of black bin bags into the stream.  Each duck had a number on its bottom and locals were invited to back a duck in hope of successfully pairing with the winning quacker.   Proceeds- as ever- were going to the church hall roof.

We followed our rubber beauties down the stream, helping them along with a little boot when the stream was shallow.  Little brother insisted on being at the heart of the action and walking in the very cold and very wet stream for the length of the course.  At the end when the winner was declared, we finally persuaded Little brother out of the stream and had to pour most of it back from his wellies.

Darling boy and little brother did themselves proud at the tea afterwards and ate their own body weight in scones, jam and cream.  Pretty impressive since they both weigh around 2 stone each.  It was a lovely, and weird afternoon.  More please!

Adventures in Cake goes POP

I have never made CakePops before, and this year, as my news years resolution was to do something new each month, and was on my way to visit friends with Darling boy and little brother, a flash of genius sparked in the little grey cells.  Ah ha, I thought, CakePops!

For those of you who aren't familiar with this fun cakey things, they are basically a crumbed cupcake, bound together with butter icing, then moulded into a ball, dipped in chocolate and decorated.  They are sugar on a stick and totally yummy.  They are also definitely for children and they went down a storm.  I would probably make them again, as they are a fun way to use up cake that is surplus to requirements (if there is ever such a thing?)

My top tip for making them is to either have some handy playdoh to hand (mouldable clay stuff that kids play with) or, even better, some oasis (the stuff that florists use to make displays)

So, i took some photos thinking the CakePops looked a big like funny little trees. Then i got silly and added one of the boy's toy dinosaurs, just for a giggle.

Vintage finds at the village fete

On my list of favourite things, featuring highly is the village fete.  All those traditional stalls  from your childhood are still going strong, the tombola (where you win back the tins you donated 2 years ago) splat-the-rat, the raffle, the farmyard derby (my personal favourite), skittles, guess the weight of the cake / baby / chicken.  And of course the cake stall.  Turn up late and the cake stall is always totally empty, as it gets raided first, like a tuck shop at midnight.

Well, here in our corner of the world we pride ourselves on a good village fete and ours most usually has entertainment.  Last year it was Morris Dancing men, fearsome fellows with handkerchiefs who bashed the hell out of some sticks and then waved bells at each other.  They were brilliant.  This year we had a chap playing a squeeze box, with his dear lady wife accompanying him on the spoons (I kid you not) and the guitar and a lovely warbly voice.  They were charm itself.

On the jumble stall, I managed to find these totally lovely plates, which I think I got for a quid.  Amazing.  I love them.  And of course we bought millionaire shortbread from the cake stall, and geraniums from the plant stall.  Darling boy and little brother had a marvellous time, winning mini mars bars on the hoopla and larking about with their chums. 

Marble cake with chocolate frosting

For Grandads birthday, a cake was called for that fitted the bill exactly.  Grandad shares with Handsome husband a distrust of puddings containing fruit, as well as a preference for the plainer things in cake.  However, he also has a very very very very very very very sweet tooth.  This is the man who I have seen sink a tablespoon full of sugar in a jug of double cream and transfer the lot to his waiting mouth several times.  Now that's dedication to the sweeter side of life.

So, for his birthday I went for a traditional chocolate and vanilla marble cake, but coated with a thick gooey layer of chocolate frosting.  The perfect mix.  It went down well with everyone after tea, perfect with a nice hot cuppa.   Little brother wasted no time in efficiently scoffing the lot, calling for more and more cake when he had finished his.  I wonder where he could possibly get this trait from?...

Blue sparkly cupcakes for the boys

A trip to a friends farm for a cuppa and a play called for cupcakes, and since both of us have two boys, blue cupcakes were called for.  Four boys and sugar meant shortly after they were consumed, we were all outside in our wellies for a romp around the farm to see the cows, tractor and hounds.  All good fun.

Darling boy had a marvellous time with his buddy, and Little brother was delightful and delighted as ever.  He loves dogs and my friend's pup was keeping Little brother very amused.  Meanwhile me and my friend had a good old natter and got our boys happy, ready for their tea and tired for bedtime.

Little boys are basically like puppies themselves.  They need tummies full of food and then to romp around with each other in the fresh air.  Being in Devon, there is plenty of that, and it doesn't matter if its drizzling like it was.  The boys don't care and it's what rain covers were invented for.  Now I just need to get myself a stylish outdoorsy hat like my friend has and I will be all set.

Little brother turns 1 year old!

 We can hardly believe it, but Little brother is 1 year old already. To celebrate we had a lovely party, full of family, friends, kids, sugar, sunshine, musical bumps and more sugar.  It was perfect.  I have made a promise to myself that every kids party I host will always have cake and fizz. I think its a good promise.

The cupcakes were chocolate and lemon.  The lemon ones had a secret centre of homemade lemon curd which went down very well.  I even managed to bag one myself before they all went, and I can vouch for its tastiness too. Just the right balance of sweet and zesty. Yum.

The cake is a two tiered vanilla sponge.  It is about 10 inches across, and shaped like ducks as this is one of Little Brothers most favourite things and I think the 3rd word he said (after dadda and mamma)  We talk about 'ducks' a lot, me and Little Brother (and 'doors' too, as he can also say 'door')   So when it came to deciding what to do for Little Brother's cake, what else could it be?  I must confess this sort of cake it not normally my thing, but for my bambinos, anything goes.  And iced in buttercream and covered in glitter, its just a hop, skip and jump away from my more usual style.

The embroidered tablecloth you can see under the cake was handed down to me by my mother in law.  I think it was either made by her mother in law, or great mother in law.  Anyway, it is beautiful and so perfect it is incredible.  I know childrens parties aren't normally an occasion for getting out your 'best' but I have decided this lovely handmade craft work should see the light of day.  And what better occasion, that celebrating Little brothers first birthday.

It's twins...

More new arrivals.  This time it's twins...Jimmy and Max are teeny, tiny twin Red Devons who were destined to go 'up the road' because of their diminutive size.  But instead they were offered to Handsome husband for the boys to have instead as (can I believe I'm saying this?) pets.  Max is the larger of the two, but is still only waist height, with Jimmy being around mid-thigh.  They are both fully grown and not set to get any bigger.  Apparently.

The idea is the boys get to grow up with cows about their own size and can practise handling these beauties.  They have sweet natures and seem very chilled and happy.  Darling boy is loving them and have been saying 'I'm a farmer now'  Little brother is pretty keen too and has been busy pointing at them with gusto.

Little Brothers birthday

It was Little Brothers 1st birthday this weekend.  We can hardly believe he is now one year old. Amazing.  He is such a cool little man, very smiley and he had a brilliant time at his party.  He managed to squeeze in a record 2 sausages, 2 strawberries, 1 crisp and a piece of bread all into his mouth at the same time, like a hamster.

We had the usual party fare, and as usual, all the cake and biscuits were gobbled, and naturally most of the sandwiches remained.  After all, under fives definitely have their priorities right.  Sugar first, vitamins second.  

I was pleased to have sourced everything from local shops and managed to continue my going local campaign.

Little brother had chocolate cupcakes, and lemon cupcakes, with a secret home-made lemon curd filling. And centre place was Little Brothers very first birthday cake, a two tiered duck cake, iced in yellow buttercream icing and complete with eyelashes and a baby duck.

A brilliant time was had by all, prosecco for the grown ups and running around outside for the kids.  Perfect.

Darts Farm and chocolate cake

Marvellous mum and I treated ourselves to a trip to local foodie shopping mecca, Darts Farm with the boys recently.   We oohed and ahhed over the lovely things, we mooched and meandered around the food hall and, most importantly, we stopped for lunch.

I was able to take advantage of the lovely food hall and stock up on a few essentials (bacon, cream, and a very tasty local blue cheese)  And Darling boy was able to take advantage of the Darts Farm cafe comprehensive cake counter.  As with all battles between cake and toddler, the chocolate cake was a worthy adversary, but it was a child's devotion to chocolate that won through.

Little brother looked on in wonder, but is still too little for cake (though ask again next weekend, at his 1st birthday party and it will be game on)

More delicious vintage cake accessories

Our trip to the racecourse car boot on Sunday was surprisingly successful.  Mostly I'm impressed that I managed to not lose Darling boy in the crowds and not bring back a boot full of rubbish. A solo parent trip to an exciting place full of brightly coloured plastic toys lying invitingly on blankets on the ground is some kind of 'Its a knockout' style parenting challenge.  Fantastic behaviour meant one toy each for Darling boy and Little brother were purchased, and after a luxurious bath in fairy liquid they are the new favs in our household.

But for me, I managed to seek out these very pretty cake tongs.  I love them and can't wait to use them.  

I would have included photos of the boys new toys, but its a simple fact that they just aren't as lovely...

Christmas party cupcakes

It was Darling boy's pre-school christmas party at the local village hall and the guest of honor was to be Father Christmas himself, resplendent in his twinkly grotto, with presents for all.

Christmas parties are a source of undeniable joy and excitement and the kids could barely cram enough sausage rolls and crisps (toddler party food of choice) in their faces, before much chasing around was to be done.  Called back to the table by the promise of cake, I have never seen a group of kids respond so quickly- but thats the magic of sugar.

For the grown- ups, yours truly had baked a batch of chocolate cupcakes.  Too rich (and delicious) for toddlers. These sparkly cupcakes disappeared pretty quickly.

Oh, and for the record, Little brother was dressed as a christmas elf, complete with stripy leggings and a droopy christmas hat.  Beyond cute.  Happy days.