Friday 23 November 2012

Birthday season!

I love birthdays.  Especially my kids birthdays.  Its the one day a year that you can really celebrate who they are as people.  So often as a mum I am focusing on how I can help my child grow and improve upon the things that they may not be doing well (listening, sharing, etc).  Birthdays are the one time I put aside all of that stuff and just celebrate them for who they are and who they are becoming.  They are a wonderful reminder and to be honest I should be doing it all of the time.  It is so easy to criticize your own kids when you see things that you don't like in them and not just let them figure it out on their own sometimes.  I so often have to stop and remind myself to just "be" and just enjoy watching them and enjoy them.   I also think that sometimes I am so worried about sounding like I am boasting about my child that I forget to lift them up and talk about what they do so well at.

My daughter turned four this week and I will stop and tell you what I love most about her.  Maybe as a reminder for myself and also for her to know as well. She is my bright spark, incredibly enthusiastic and encouraging with an incredibly thankful spirit.  Just on her birthday morning she looked at me and said "thank you for my birthday mum".  It melted my heart.  She is one of the boys most of the time, loving to run around and get dirty and willing to give most things a go.  She is a little artist and loves building with blocks, especially LEGO.  I love watching her concentration when she undertakes what she loves to do. She shares so well because she just wants people to be with her and have fun with her.  My dear girl is an incredible older sister.  She adores her younger brother and they are the best of mates.  She loves to teach and to help other kids.  She fills my heart with so much joy just being with her.  Happy Birthday to my little buddy!  Mummy loves you dearly. xx  

What do you love most about your kids??  Stop for a minute and think about it and maybe write it down.  They love to hear it and will love to read it one day. 

Here are some photos of the birthday party (a joint one for her brother and her) as well as the cake made for kindy!  Enjoy. :)










Friday 2 November 2012

Homesick blues

Homesickness has a way of sneaking up on you out of no where.  For me it always happens in a public place which makes it somewhat worse.  Years ago it was the supermarket.  All I wanted was a specific ingredient to make a special recipe my mum always makes for Christmas and when I found New Zealand didn't carry it I was a mess.  A couple years later it was the post office when I was told I couldn't mail peanut slabs to my mum for her birthday.  Yesterday, it happened to be the post office again.  I wonder if the post office has many cases of the homesick blues but somehow I think I'm probably the only one that's broken down over not being able to send cookies.  I am pretty sure the lady thought I was crazy.  I mean cookies?  But these were very special cookies.  Time and love went into these cookies and I was SURE I was able to send them.  I had done my research and was sure it was OK    A lesson very much learnt as next time I will phone before I get so excited.  What I have figured out is that its OK to bring baked goods into the country but not to send them.  Next time I will have to hop on a plane to personally deliver them.

After my breakdown I decided I had to give these cookies away.  They were making me too sad.  I was almost very tempted to give them to the ladies in the post office to show them the love that went into them, BUT they delivered me my very bad news so decided it wasn't in me to make their day.  In the end I decided to deliver them to one of my aunties (the next best thing, or third best thing after Grandma).  This particular auntie had had a birthday in the weekend and was burgled twice in the last two weeks so thought she could use some extra love in her day.   It made me feel much better visiting her and I am now only tearing up mildly as I write this (I might have been a blubbering mess).

Anyway, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Mum.  I was sending you these cookies but some mean people at the post office said I couldn't.  Something else is on its way but no where near as exciting. Love you heaps!


Tuesday 16 October 2012

Parties with Mrs Woolleys Cakes!

My daughter enjoyed cupcake decorating so much with the kids in the street that I had another group of people over to decorate.  What fun we had!  I love sharing tips of cake decorating because I find it so much fun myself and a cupcake class is where it all started for me.  Even more so, I am passionate about sharing my skills with the younger generation.  When you find something that you know you want to do for the rest of your life you want to be able to share that "aha" moment with everyone.  Part of me would have loved to have learned this skill at a young age.  I might have gone to pastry school and have taken art classes.

In light of all of this, Mrs Woolley has decided to start doing cupcake decorating birthday parties! One day I will have a studio for this, but for now, I will come to your house, bring all of the supplies and take the mess with me!  The kids will spend anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half depending on their age decorating cupcakes to fit in with the theme of the party.  They get an incredible amount of pride decorating their own cake and whats even better is they make their own birthday cake which saves you a job!

Parties are for kids ages 6-14 (I am happy to do younger but if younger, children will each need a helper to decorate).  I charge $60 for up to 6 kids for a 45 minute session.  For every additional child the price is $10.  For older children, you may wish to increase the time of decorating to an hour and a half as they may not wish to stop after 45 minutes.  The price for this is $85.  If you are interested in more information regarding these parties you can contact me on 0211613072 or email me at mrswoolleyscakes@gmail.com.

Here is a sample of the cake decorating done in the weekend and what the kids may come away with.

















Friday 5 October 2012

Baby Sativa

Today thousands of people around the world paid tribute by letting off balloons to precious little Sativa who lost her 20 month battle to Leukemia this week.  Sativa won the hearts of nearly 6000 people around the world on facebook with her gorgeous smile and heartbreaking story.
http://www.facebook.com/HelpSativa

Diagnosed with cancer at just four months old she was in the hospital much of her small life.  Her story is a reminder to us of how fragile life can be and to make the most of every moment, especially with our dear children.  Today when you are with your children, cuddle them as much as you can, laugh with them, spend time with them.  All over the world there are mums like Sheree who are longing to do just that and cannot.  Don't worry about the mess or their cheeky behavior.  Just stop what you are doing and LOVE your babies and remember Sativa.



These cake pops were made for the family for the funeral to celebrate the life of Sativa.

Thursday 4 October 2012

Cupcake decorating with kids

Today was one of those fabulously memorable days.  A day I will look back on with fond memories.  Six of the neighborhood kids came over and we decorated cupcakes.

It all started a few weeks ago when I suggested to my seven year old neighbor girl that we should have a cupcake decorating afternoon during the school holidays.  She promptly sat down with my 3 year old and they constructed invitations and brought them to all of the kids in the street.  My daughter was incredibly excited and has talked about this coming event ever since.

Last night I was still slightly unclear about what to have the kids make as I had a range of ages from 3 to 11 and half boys and girls.  In the end I decided on monsters(cute ones of course) and butterflies.

The afternoon went far better than I imagined! When the kids arrived I had the older ones decorate their cupcakes first so that they could help the younger ones.  The girls got right into it, surprising me by coming up with their own monster designs.  They then went on to create their own cupcakes without my supervision. I loved to see this creativity flourish!  How I wish I had this as a kid.  All of the kids stayed well until the afternoon, a few of them I had to kick out when it was dinner time (nicely of course).  The sound of the kids playing in my yard and in my house brought fond memories as a kid playing late in the street with all of the kids, in and out of each others houses.  A few of them sat and chatted to me for awhile.  My house was always an open house to kids growing up and I loved that and want the same for my kids.

Have a look at the kids creations and see what you think!







Wednesday 12 September 2012

Time for a catch up

Its been awhile since I have posted anything.  Things have been a little bit crazy as of late.  Between having a ton of family visiting, sick kiddies, a broken dishwasher(I have been doing alot of dishes!) and starting part time work for the first time in nearly four years, cakes have been put on the back burner.

I have loved the new challenge of work and will guiltily admit that the 12 hours away from my children a week is somewhat bliss.  It could have something to do with the fact that I have the sexiest boss ever or the 12 hours of order I feel when most of the time I am terribly disordered. Sometimes I don't think that its the kids I need a break from, but me to get my head into gear a bit better.

Last week I did get to make some cake pops for a friend which I loved making and to top it off the party was in the country with lots of animals! My kids loved it.  My daughter said it was the best party ever.



I will admit that I have tried a few other hobbies to fulfill my need to be creative while cakes have been missing.  My husband thinks that I am turning into a little old lady and laughs at me while I am sitting on the couch crocheting little booties.  Personally I think I am just practicing to be a nana so that by the time I am one I will be the BEST nana ever. Sadly my own Grandma jokingly asked me to teach her to crochet.  I really do enjoy it though and was pretty happy with my first attempts.



Nothing quite beats cakes though.  I was feeling particularly out of sorts this week and sat down last night to work on a cupcake project for my daughters kindy.  While I worked, everything just fell off my shoulders and I felt refreshed again.  Sometimes a girl just needs to get her cake on.  For my daughters kindy I helped 24 2-4 year olds decorate these cupcakes.  They are learning about flowers at the moment so it was perfect!   They did such a great job!  Happy spring!


Saturday 11 August 2012

60th birthday cake

This cake was a special cake for a a friends father of mine.  There are specific elements in this cake that represent him. I was very pleased with how it all came together.



Sunday 5 August 2012

70th birthday cake

This is a cake I made a few weeks back for a special ladies 70th birthday.  It was chocolate cake iced in chocolate butter cream and covered in fondant.





Under Construction

Its been a few weeks since I have done any cake making so my friends sons 3 year old birthday party was a welcome chance to get my creative juices going again.  We had a fabulous day spending it with special friends, at long last outside and out of the rain!  This winter has been a rough one and I know my friends and I are looking forward to warm days, sunshine and bug free kids!


Friday 20 July 2012

Skiier cake topper

More and more I realize how much I love the sculpting side of cakes.  This weeks skiier cake topper I enjoyed immensely.  I tend to go into a zone and everything slows down around me as I lose myself in my work.  



  


Friday 22 June 2012

Stilettos

Last night I contributed a spot prize for a girls evening at our church.  Initially I was going to make cupcake bouquets but several months ago a friend of mine sent me a link to cupcakes that looked like shoes.  I thought it would be a great opportunity to make them!

If I was crazy rich I would probably own a lot of shoes.  I love my feet and how they look in shoes!  I think as women we have to have one favorite part of ourselves because we are certainly hard on ourselves on so many other levels.  Because I love shoes, I loved making these cupcakes!

I ended up doing two separate spot prizes because of how I presented the cupcakes.  Each cupcake is completely edible.  I did a cupcake for the toe, a biscuit for the sole and a licorice log for the heel.  For the little bags I made them out of two cupcakes.  Cupcakes are a chocolate mud.





Sunday 17 June 2012

Mainly Music Birthday

Each week I take my son to a music session that is put on by a group called Mainly Music.  It is a fantastic effort put on by several volunteers who each week put together songs for mums and their children as well as a great morning tea and play time. Mainly Music runs all over the country so visit this website if you wish to find one locally near you:  http://www.mainlymusic.org.nz/

The particular Mainly Music I go to was hosting its 15th year running this week so to celebrate they held a birthday party for the two sessions.  I was asked to make the cakes and was more than honored to do so.  I made a cake for each session but was able to re-use most of the decorations.  It was a great time singing all our favorite songs and catching up with familiar faces. 


Wednesday 13 June 2012

Baby blue sneakers

This week has been a little bit crazy.  Somehow, I managed to wind up doing 4 cakes this week all due before Thursday which is strange because most cakes are required for a Saturday.  Call it lack of planning maybe.  Surprisingly I haven't had any late nights which is not really normal either.  My brother is here visiting so I plan to take a little break after this week.  One of the cakes for yesterday was a baby shower cake for one of my daughters kindy teachers.  It was a surprise baby shower at her school so I did not tell my daughter because I know she would have told the teacher who the surprise was for.

When I arrived at school with the cake my daughters face was one of pure delight.  When her teacher walked out and all of the kids yelled surprise she stood up very proudly and pointed to me, saying "My mummy made your cake."  When the cake had been cut up and the kids were all starting to dig in, she stood up and launched herself at me giving me a huge hug saying "Thank you for making the cake Mummy."  I nearly cried.  I had been feeling guilty being so busy but this moment of seeing my daughter proud of me, although so little, is something worth far more than money or approval from others.  I will never forget that moment.






Saturday 2 June 2012

Wild West Saloon

What a night.  Last night was my husbands 30th birthday party with a wild west theme.  Talk about a boys dream to dress up as a cowboy!  Five hours before the party started my husband and brother were running around the house practicing shoot outs and were dreaming up their outfits weeks before the party.  I was really impressed with the turnout of cowboys, saloon girls and Native Americans.   Everyone got really into it.  The food was yummy, the music was great, the people were fun and the cake was a hit. I have included recipe links of the food I made for the party (sorry there are no photos of the food, I tend to not take photos at a party and I just enjoy myself).  On the menu was chili, beer bread and wings - a cowboys feed.  All went down really well.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-ultimate-chili/detail.aspx
This is the link for the chili recipe.  It was a huge hit! I used one less tablespoon of chili and I also added  two tablespoons of garlic powder, one tablespoon of salt, three tablespoons of brown sugar and two tablespoons of honey.  I forgot the red wine in the end which I think it probably didn't need and I also thickened it up with some cornflour.  Normally I would have used the full amount of chili powder but was a bit concerned about my guests not liking spicy so I stuck with using less.  I served it with corn chips and grated cheese.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-buffalo-wings/detail.aspx
This is the recipe I used for the buffalo wings.  They turned out super yummy and went incredibly fast.  I highly recommend this.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/sticky-honey-soy-chicken-wings-recipe/index.html
This is the recipe for the honey and soy wings I used.  I didn't have cilantro so I left it out.  Also, I didn't fry them I just baked them with the above buffalo wings (200 degree C for 40 min - or until juices run clear, turning once) and then melted butter and honey together and brushed them with it at the end.  These were also a hit!

http://www.food.com/recipe/beer-bread-73440
This is the super easy recipe for the beer bread.  Anyone can make this, it is so easy.  I use self rising flour as you only have four ingredients to use then.  Make sure you do sift the flour as it does make a difference.

As for the cake, I was pretty excited to make this cake once I decided I knew what I was doing.  My favourite part is definitely the saloon girl in the window and the passed out cowboy on the side of the saloon.   It is a Mississippi mud cake and went much faster then it took to make.  Someone asked if I was sad to cut into my cakes but I am just as proud of the taste of my cakes as I am in how they look so I love people to eat them!






Friday 25 May 2012

Just for the girls

I am not the most girly girl you have ever met.  In fact far from it.  I actually went out of my way not to put my daughter in pink when she was first born.  So I was really surprised with myself that I LOVED doing this weeks cakes. I think there might be some femininity hiding deep down that I was not aware of.  These cakes are for all the girls that dreamed of being ballerinas and princesses as kids or maybe still dream of that.