Skip to main content

Toby's Third Birthday

We've moved house!  Just in case you were wondering why I hadn't blogged for over a month.  I can assure you that nothing hugely exciting has happened in the intervening period; we have mostly been putting things into boxes and taking them out again, and wandering vaguely round the new house trying to work out where to put it all.  The new place is substantially bigger than the rented house we were squashed into for 9 months, though, so we are appreciating the space.  Now it's at least halfway towards being a home, and a certain small person has a big birthday tomorrow (do you realise how many toys are marked "Unsuitable for children under 36 months"?  It's like the legal drinking age for toddlers!) we had to... make a cake and throw a party!

When we asked Toby what he wanted for his birthday, his one stipulation was "a birthday chocolate cake".  Further enquiry confirmed that it had to have Smarties on it.  When your mum used to be a professional cake decorator, I'm afraid it gets a little more elaborate than that.


I based it on this Hickory Dickory Dock cake from a book called 50 Children's Party Cakes, because Toby is always asking what the time is.


The design is pretty simple, just a round cake and a square cake.  Cut the two bottom corners off of the square (mmm, offcuts!) and a semi-circle from the top so that it fits snugly onto the round cake.  I substituted chocolate buttercream for the brown fondant, because it just tastes better, and surrounded the clock face and pendulum window with plenty of Smarties.  And of course, it had to say 3 o'clock.

With the food before the party
Opening a birthday card (it sings!)

Opening presents (with assistance)

We made the party a combined housewarming and birthday party, and used it as an excuse to get to know our new neighbours a little better, as well as (mostly) Derby friends and some family.  It turned into a surprisingly large number of people considering we haven't even been here a year yet!  We were really overwhelmed by how many friends came, and brought such generous presents.  Toby very quickly learned that the doorbell ringing meant something else to unwrap, and went running to greet each new arrival!  He's old enough now to get excited about the whole thing, and had a great time.  He loved having lots of people around; enthusiastically sang Happy Birthday to himself along with everyone else; blew out the candles very professionally; and was finally rewarded with a piece of birthday chocolate cake.

Incompetent lighting of matches (it took me three goes to get one to strike!)
Blowing out the candles
I did it!
It tastes as good as it looks!
P.S. The sharp-eyed among you will have noticed the complimentary bump photo in the above selection.  For those that don't know, we are expecting a little brother for Toby in February!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Limestone Way - the end! (for now...)

Bonsall is a pretty little village just up the road from Cromford. It was the centre point for my final Limestone Way walk. First I walked one way, back towards Ible, then I walked the other way to Matlock. I started at the fountain and climbed up to a tree in which a mistle thrush was singing loudly (helpfully identified by the Merlin app). A few fields took me across to the hamlet of Slaley. Then there was a pleasant walk through the woods, which dropped steeply to my left down to the Via Gellia. At Dunsley Springs the stream went right over the edge.  I made my way down more gradually, and then was faced with the long climb up again to the point near Leys Farm where I was rejoining the Limestone Way. Tree down! Rejoining the Limestone Way Once I'd reached the top, it was a very pleasant walk across dry grassy fields. There were signs of old mining activity, which suddenly made the ground feel less solid under my feet - how many holes were hiding under the turf? Back at Bonsall, ...

Limestone Way: Grangemill and Ible

It was getting mistier and mistier. As I drove past Carsington Water, the world around grew dimmer, and when I parked near Brassington, the nearby trees were hazy shadows in the murk. I was glad I was wearing a red coat as I started off along Manystones Lane. At least I had some chance of being visible. Fortunately it was a short road section. I navigated my way across a series of small fields, from one dry stone wall to the next, and crossed the old railway line which is now the High Peak Trail. I could just imagine a steam train emerging out of the fog. The next fields were larger. It was as if the landscape was being sketched around me as I walked across it. A tree or an electricity pylon would appear as a few faint lines, increasing in detail when I got closer, and fading away behind. Up ahead, the land dropped into a huge hole - Longcliffe Quarries. I couldn't see much, but the noise from the machinery dominated the next section of the walk.  I skirted the edge of the quarry a...

Baby Language

For some reason baby equipment is an area in which American English differs markedly from British English. As well as learning how to care for a baby, we had to learn a whole new vocabulary! Fortunately we are now fluently bilingual, and I have compiled a handy US-UK baby dictionary for you. Diaper n. Nappy Mom says if you can read this change my diaper. The first time you change one of these you will be all thumbs and stick the little adhesive tabs to yourself, the baby and probably the changing mat before you get them where they ought to go. A few years later you will be able to lasso a running toddler and change them before they even know what's happened (yes, I have seen it done). You will also get through more diapers than you ever thought possible, creating scary amounts of expense and waste. Hence we are now mostly using: Cloth diaper n. Reusable nappy Cool baby. No longer those terry squares, the main drawback is that there are now so many types it can be qu...