Wednesday 14 January 2009

It's been a while since my last post - in a nutshell, life just got too busy for me in December. Now that is is middle of January I feel I can post again.

December was full of birthdays for our family. My baby boy turned 8! Definitely not a baby anymore but, I guess, he will always be mine!
Lachie



Easy birthday party - Ten Pin Bowling for 10 of his friends. Simple I thought!!!!!! Should have been simple - I forgot what 10 little 8 year old boys can be like - very very hyper!Loot Bags


I felt a little guilty about having it so easy by having the party organised by the Bowling Alley, so I thought, yep, I would do my bit for the environment and make a 'Loot Bag' for all of the lovely little boys!!!! A simple drawstring bag, with the boy's initial on the front! Simple! All very simple but a lot more time consuming than I thought it would be. The response, though, to the bags was well worth all the effort that was put in. Instead of lollies and sweet things, we had a whole lot of fun 'gag' toys for the boys. I got them from this Aussie site, and I found them to be really quick, cheap and top quality (for what you pay).

Pinata Cake

That only left the cake - I had a big think about it and remembered a fellow blogger who I think was Hoppo Bumpo (please forgive me if I am wrong) , used the recipe from a recent Better Homes and Garden magazine to make a Pinata Cake. Definitely a big hit (literally) with me, the birthday boy and all the little cherubs that couldn't wait to get their grubby little paws into the chocolate money lurking beneath the shell.
Happy Birthday!Happy BirthdayBirthday Cake Time

Very very simple and easy to make! Highly recommend and will be doing this one over and over again!!! And of course, all the parents of the little cherubs were suitably impressed too!!!!

So that was part of my December - it was also a month for big decisions about our 15 year old son's future in mainstream schooling - we had many sleepless nights over this and I could rant and rave for a long time about the state of the school system here in Victoria Australia but I will spare you all of that , and give you the condensed version. We decided to haul him out of mainstream schooling and instead put him in a small school which truly meets his needs. It seems most schools cater for the brilliant ones, the academic ones and all they seem to want is to get high ENTER scores!! But what if your kid is arty and very creative! Our school system, unfortunately, doesn't suit our very intelligent but 'arty' son! Thankfully we stumbled upon this small school who cater for kids that main stream schooling forgot!!! We are so looking forward to our happy boy coming back to us. I will keep you posted.

On another note, my father had a warning two days before xmas, a mild heart attack. Thankfully he is okay, and is recovering well, but it sure did make me think how quickly you can lose someone very close.

So there are some of my excuses for neglecting my little blog for so long, and of course two gorgeous weeks at the beach was another one good excuse, and I haven't even mentioned that we had a graduation and all the other goings on in December.

A big thanks to Mandy for your email urging me to post again.

Today I was back at work at Amitie. Louise and I had 11 young ladies who wanted to learn to sew in one of Audrey & Maude's classes. What fabulous girls they were too and very talented - you can check out the whole post over at Audrey & Maude with pics!
Sewing Class

I promise I will post again soon.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good to have you back Cathy I missed you. Looks like a very busy time indeed, love the cake and the party bags. Glad your Dad's ok and all is going well again in your world.

Lesley

Anonymous said...

belated wishes to your son,well done on all those bags !! glad your dad is ok. Good to hear from you again
lisa x

Thimbleanna said...

Yay! I've missed you! Happy Belated Birthday to your new 8 year old -- what a perfect age. If I could go back to any childhood year, 8 would be it. Glad your dad is fine -- we had a pre-Christmas heart attack scare too -- life is so fragile, isn't it?

Andi said...

Cathy! Cathy!!
So much in one post.
Welcome back.
Happy birthday to your son. The loot bags look great and the cake is awesome.
I admire you for being brave and choosing a school that fits your son (rather than trying to make your child fit the school, as so often happens). I'd love to know which school he has ended up at.
Glad your Dad is OK.
I'm off now to look at your kids class snaps.
Andi :-)

Corrie said...

phew cathy that is one busy holiday period!!! what decisions but what fun has been had. hope your son loves his new school and I love that pinata cake...how cool is that!

all looks lovely and I love the photos of the little ladies in the class....they all look so adorable but too shy to smile for the camera!

I hope you'll still be doing classes when my keira is big enough as she would love them!

Corrie:)

Vera Jean said...

Great to hear from you , You certainly have had a overflowing plate.. Happy sewing..Love the cake, great idea..

Bronwyn said...

Hi Cathy! I am super impressed with your pinata cake - how did you get the choccy on the outside so smooth? My turned out very 'rough' due to either the plastic wrap wrinkling up (on one cake) or the foil doing the same on the other. What chocolate did you use - good stuff or el cheapo?

babalisme said...

The cake is phenomenal! My nephew is turning 4 this April and I think he'll be thrilled with the idea!

It's so much fun! THank you!

Happy belated birthday to the handsome guy.

Anonymous said...

it's lovely to hear from you again Cathy! wow you have been busy though! The new school sounds wonderful and I can relate to you about the schooling system it really sucks here too!!

Stacey said...

What a fantastic cake. I will definitely remember this one for the next party.
I hope your Dad's okay. I had parental health issues over Christmas too. It really puts a dampener.
Welcome back to blogland!

Anonymous said...

Great to have you back Cathy and it seems you have been really busy. I love the bags you made for the birthday party.
Mandy.

Anonymous said...

What a month Cathy! The party looks fantastic. What a super mum! Sounds like you've made a terrific and appropriate schooling decision too.

fi said...

welcome back love:)Glad your pa is on the mend.Happy birthday to your wee man, the cake looks amazing what a fabo idea:)

A Spoonful Of Sugar said...

Birthday wishes to Mr 8 - his party looked like a big success - love the cake and the loot bags! Glad to hear you dad is doing well.

Louise said...

I love this cake and I definitely think Lucinda would like it for her Birthday - especially the smashing bit!! I don't think you are showing up on my bloglines as I didn't realise you had posted. Good that you have though!!

Handmade in Israel said...

Good to see you again! I've been checking to see when you came back! Can you share a link for the pinata cake recipe please? My kids would love it to!! Thanks so much!