Tales From the Box

I’ve written previously about the amazing gingerbread cookies that we had at the Widg’s birthday party. And I promised to give more details about them, so here it is.

PassionCookie is the wonderful creation of my good friend Bryer. She has always been an absolute genius baker, so when she started up her own business, it was a no-brainer that she could do great things.

PassionCookie creates delicious handmade gingerbread cookies for special occasions and events, as well as selling direct to the public through the Eltham Valley Pantry, Macadamia Castle and local markets. They can also create special occasion and novelty cakes, as well as the great photo cookies, by special order, through their website. And they can deliver Australia wide.

And because their cakes and cookies are made to order, they can cater to just about anything you could possibly want. They are especially good at catering to particular dietary needs (Bryer and her clan are the actual stereotype of an allergy-blessed family, so they know all about that).

Basically, they’re really yummy cakes and cookies, and you should check them out.

Note: We’re not being paid to write nice things about PassionCookie. Although Bryer is our dear friend, we genuinely love her stuff, and we wouldn’t say nice things about her if we didn’t truly believe them. Just ask her, she’ll tell you.

 

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Our beautiful, sweet, hilarious little boy celebrated his first birthday last weekend. Unfortunately, he was a little under the weather for the festivities (stupid teeth) and slept through most of it. But he did manage to participate in the most important parts, and the grown-ups had fun.

I put up some decorations (which I was asked to leave up for the State of Origin match).

This is his sweet little face when he spied the cake coming out:

His lovely Gran made the cake. Yes, it is the Number 1 cake from the Woman’s Weekly birthday cake book. It was chocolate cake with an awesome bright blue/aqua icing, smarties and sprinkles. We are still eating it for dessert every night. (Thanks Gran!)

I should mention that we have been very intentional in teaching the Widg to eat neatly. He isn’t allowed to touch food with his own hands, unless we put it in his hands for him. Sounds very strict, I know, but otherwise he would stick his hands in his mouth with every mouthful, and then smear them all over anything within arms reach. We do, of course, let him eat certain less-messy foods with his own hands, so that he develops good dexterity. Don’t worry, the boy has mad fine motor skills.

So this is him, being very cautious when we gave him some birthday cake. It took him a while to believe us when we said it was ok for him to pick it up and eat it himself. He enjoyed himself quite thoroughly, and dropped only a few crumbs on the floor. Brilliant child.

One of the Widg’s favourite toys at the moment is a balloon on a stick that Grandma and Pop scored for him when out shopping one day. So you can imagine his joy when presented with a room full of balloons.

Yes, this is him rubbing his face on a balloon. Crazy kid.

Finally it was time to open all of his wonderful presents. Although he normally loves to rip paper (catalogues, napkins, tissues, mama’s fancy magazines), he had a touch of stage fright in front of all of his family, so we gave him some help with the wrapping paper.

He was very excited about the big green ball (he has been chasing it around the kitchen ever since).

He needed a little help learning how the trumpet worked. He kept trying to eat it. We’re still working on that one.

The tambourine, however, was a no brainer. Anything that makes noise is a hit.

He also got a great activity table (it’s been helping him learn to pull up to stand), a walker trolley, a very cool horse-on-a-stick (you know those old fashioned ones that you ride like a broomstick?), a tiny little basketball hoop (thanks Uncle Boo and Aunty Nat – he’s getting quite good!), some awesome stacking blocks (they are actually the same ones that Gran bought for her boys many moons ago), a lovely little outfit, and the most awesome Noah’s Ark toy set in the world (it’s so cute: he pulls each animal out, holds it up to show me, then when he gets to the little Noah, he just chews on him).

We had lots of yummy food (sausage rolls, party pies, lollies and chips), and the coolest cookies ever. Our lovely friend B made them and sent them to us in time for the big day. They are gingerbread, and yes, the photo is done in icing and is edible. It’s weird eating your son’s face, but very tasty. I’ll do another post about them soon, I promise.

All in all it was a lovely day, and we know each birthday is going to be better and better as the Widg becomes more aware of what’s going on, and is able to really get into it.

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We have a new chair! Well, it’s an old chair, but it’s new to us. Our lovely friends, the Fox’s, were cleaning out some furniture that they no longer needed and graciously gave us this beauty.

I had joked to them previously that if they were ever thinking of getting rid of it, I would be more than thrilled to take it off their hands. I didn’t actually think they were going to do it.

At first I assumed I would want to recover it in a fabric that more closely matches our current home decor. But several people have commented that they quite like it’s current state. I think we will live with it for a while and see how we feel.

It’s in amazing condition, and very comfortable to sit in. And I think it’s very pretty. Still working out where it’s going to live, but we think it will go where the big black and white rocker currently is (the rocker might go upstairs).

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