XX Turns 4!

After being haunted by "Is it my birthday yet?" questions every other day for the last 3 weeks, the day finally arrived when I can say, "YES, it's your birthday today!" Happy Birthday to my dearest XX!



The pirates landed on Marshmellows
Chocolate island



We had a little party yesterday for the little boy. I wanted to have it at the coastal park nearby, where I envisaged the kids running around, playing at the playgrounds and we adults have a beer and BBQ chicken wings in the midst of nature. Unfortunately, Mother Nature wasn't very cooperative yesterday. After a whole week of monitoring weather reports, I still couldn't really tell if it was going to be a fine day. On the day itself, I gazed at the sky and couldn't find any blue amidst the thick clouds. Well, it'll probably be cold, but maybe it won't rain. I was still holding hope one hour before the party is supposed to start. Then it started to rain. We decided to hold it at our house instead.

So it was a mad rush as we unpacked the things that we had already packed from the car and set up the BBQ at home. All the guests were informed and luckily it wasn't a problem as our home not much further. Despite the last minute decision, it turned out to be a wise one. The weather was freaky that day. At times it was cold and windy, then it poured, then sunshine for about 10 mins, then it poured for 5 mins and stopped. It stayed like that for the whole day. What kind of summer is that? Then again, 2 years ago, when we celebrated XX's 2nd birthday, it was also pouring cats and dogs. That was the wettest day of December 08.

Regardless, XX had a great time. Compared to 2 years ago, he is now much more aware of what's going on. He knows it's his party and he looks forward to it. He has also associated "birthday = presents". He knows he's getting a birthday cake and he knows to blow the candles right after the birthday song. He even knows how to make a "V" sign when posing in front of the cake. And it didn't take him too long to tear open the gift wrappers (with help from a few friends) and start playing his presents.

I managed to keep the tradition of making a birthday cake for him for the 3rd year. It wasn't by choice though :p. Because of the anticipated summer heat and outdoor venue initially planned, I suggested having a pyramid of donuts instead to substitute a birthday cake. We even bought a half dozen of Krispy Kreme donuts to sample. In the end, due to a lack of planning, we were delayed in ordering so dear o'mummy became the back up plan. And I'm happy I did it. XX gave me the idea for the decoration as I was grocery shopping. He loves marshmellows. As I eyed a pack of disposable decorating nozzles and piping bags, he haggled me into buying him a packet of multi-coloured marshmellows. A bright idea came to my head and I put the nozzles back to the shelf.



XX playing with one of his birthday gifts.

 The chocolate frosted butter cake recipe came from a baking book I bought recently called "Easy Home Baking". One of the cake turned out a little burnt at the bottom and sides and I wished they were taller. But after I cut off the brown parts, the inside was buttery and soft. The cake also 'grew' taller after I combined the two layers and sandwiched some marshmellows inside. Coupled with the chocolate frosting and the colourful marshmellows on top, I think I scrapped through this time in terms of presentation and taste. There wasn't any cake left overnight.

Mini-golf set from us

My only apologies were to the little guests who may have been pretty bored at my house. Besides a big green backyard, which they cannot use because of the on-off rain, there was little space inside the house for them to play. There was only 1 television and on that day, the Wii handsets decided be low on batteries. Especially the girls. One of them asked me if I have Barbie dolls.... err...I have Transformers, Bionicles and Bakugans though. The older girls entertained themselves watching movies and the boys were happy chasing each other and gate crashing the girls' pretend tea party. Yet, somehow, none of them asked their parents to go home early. The party started at 11am and ended around 5.30pm. 

KK and XX's favourite gift - the Nerf gun from Bradley

To all our friends who came, hope you all had a good time. XX and us certainly enjoyed the company. Thanks for your presence and presents!