Noahs Ark

We are over birthday season finally! Well, mostly. Its taken me this long to recover and to be honest I'm still all birthdayed out. But now that I feel like writing again (very much a mood thing over here) I thought I'd share with you the great creation.

Cake going into the oven

Because I didn't have the right size tin according to the instructions I kinda had to make it up a bit. I screwed up on one spot but improvised and it still turned out ok.

Iced! I made far too much icing. Did a whole nother cake and there was still some left over *gasp*

With animals in place. Just missing the roof that was one whole block of cadbury's dairy milk. The photo is still on my camera. I'll upload it and edit this post shortly

It was great fun, I do love to create but I hate cleaning up the mess afterwards. I got so many compliments when it was brought out and I am rather proud of my efforts lol. Speaking of messes, I have one in the kitchen calling my name. Best sort that out and dinner.

I'm terribly slack but

The lovely Kelly over at Reclaiming me has recently reached her 100th post and so to celebrate is doing a giveaway. This is a complete and shameless plug to say go check her out! Kelly is one very talented crafty lady. Makes me wish I had a sewing machine lol and maybe some motivation. but since I don't right now I shall continue browsing the lovely works of others :)

Birthday season is upon us!

All our antenatal babies are turning Two! The first birthday was at the start of April and there are 10 in the group, all scattered through until about the middle of June. We've gotten smart and instead of buying everyone a small, cheap present we are all pitching in and buying a quality gift from the group. We are lucky enough to have the brains behind chocolate+chilli as a member of the group so have easy access to some absolutely gorgeous gift ideas (we've agreed mums can choose/suggest what the kids need/want). I totally confess to have fallen in love with several items including the toddler bags and the "me + you = happy" tee :D

Ok so that wasn't meant to be a total plug lol but thats the way it turned out. Don't worry I have a deliberate and shameless plug coming up in the next post!

Back to birthdays, my wonderful mother in law (MIL) has offered to cook me/us dinner for my birthday (May 5th). I asked her if she'd mind looking after the boys so hubby and I can have a night out so she's going to have Morgan the whole night and Jack for a few hours (I won't inflict Jack upon her overnight he wakes at least twice still between 12-6am! and I know she doesn't cope too well with disturbed nights) and has offered to shout us to the movies as a present :D How lovely is that - I get a date! A night out!

Morgan turns Two on May 10th. I'm already planning how to get my cake on and have learned a lot from last year, ie bake the cake a week before hand and freeze it if you need to - DON'T try to ice a sponge cake with butter icing it flakes and crumbles right through the icing lol. In saying that, heres a couple of pics from last year and overall I don't think I did to badly (improvisations included)

Side view (in the pantry lol)

Front view (in the pantry lol)

Thats me in the black dress. In the grey is Aunty Haley.

This year I'm going to attempt an Ark (as in Noahs Ark). My mum has the fisher price little peoples toy and Morgan just loves it, the first thing he grabs when we go visit so I thought I'd give it my best shot. I'm going to use the basic boat pattern from the womens weekly cake book and the animals will be toys lol. *fingers crossed* I promise photos!! You can see how well I do (or not lol).

Sleep Deprivation

I'm sure my boys have worked out its a form of torture. I've been doing pretty much nothing for the last couple of days as they have been conspiring and preventing me from sleeping. It doesn't help of course that I tend not to go to bed until after 10pm. Tonight however I am going to bed straight after House at 9.30. For now I will comfort myself with pictures of my sleeping angels (yes Morgan is in a tent, was the only way he'd go to sleep last week).

Kindy

Morgan is coming up Two in a couple of weeks and its occurred to me I need to start thinking about enrolling him in Kindegarten. This is a new and scary experience I have absolutely NO idea where or how to start!

I mean I know theres the obvious making a list of what is local and available to me but what after that? Do I do just call them up? Might have to get in touch with a friend who knows these things so at least I know where to start. *sigh* I'll keep you updated.

Just because I can

My two beautiful little boys. Morgan is showing Jack the toy typewriter at Grandma's on Easter Sunday. Its so lovely to see and Morgan just adores his little brother. I'm enjoying it while it lasts...

Procrastination

Time to tackle a serious topic now. It can become a crippling state of mind if you allow it. Yes I'm talking about the art of procrastination. I should know, I was voted Most Procrastinating Female of my year in 7th form.

So what is procrastination? The online Cambridge Dictionary defines it as "to keep delaying something that must be done, often because it is unpleasant or boring". I've done it for years. I hated homework and didn't see the point, I wouldn't do my assignments simply because they didn't interest me. I'd rather curl up with a fat juicy book, so much more interesting and hey, by the time I was 8 I had the vocabulary and comprehension of a 16 year old according to those wee tests they do in school.

So what do I procrastinate about these days?

• Housework! I hate it. Stupid thing is I love being in a tidy (and clean) house. Having a cleaner helps funnily enough, I have to tidy up before she gets here. My mother has drilled in to me that cleaners clean and do not tidy and it works :D

• Going to the dentist (I'm not going to tell you when I last went, you'll think I'm feral

• And something else that I'm not going to confess to because I know its serious and that it needs to be done now. I'm in the process of doing it though - rest assured its not just hanging there

I'm not sure what else there is off the top of my head. My memory is playing up on me (I blame it on baby/nappy brain) but I'm sure theres plenty of other things, it just so happens those are the two major ones.

I find though that you feel so much better when you aren't trying to avoid doing something. Procrastination is a kind of coping method but not a very good one. Its actually quite stressful and has been known to make me sick in the past as I was sooo worried/scared about doing something. Funny thing is as soon as I've done whatever it is I'm trying not to do I feel a shitload better. The weight of the shoulders can be quite a relief.

The key is to tackle the big issues and get them out the way - the ones that really need to be done. For example I got my learners license when I was 18, did nothing about it kept putting it off. Then I fell pregnant and it was rather important to learn to drive and at least get my restricted - I got it a month before Morgan was born lol. I went for my full about halfway through my pregnancy with Jack - having kids forced me to actually get my driver license lol - but I did it.