The Seventh Doctor

When the doctor turned 6 last year, he wanted a dalek cake. I was terrified of the carving job it presented and decided to go with the "easier" tardis. I ended up printing edible images and sticking them to a rectangular tower. It was well received, but I was disappointed.

This year he was still asking for a dalek. But he was also asking for a tablet (so that he could watch Doctor Who whenever he wanted). We couldnt stretch to both a party and a tablet, so he had to make a decision.

Now I don't think I've said before, but the Doctor has found himself a companion. She's been around for a good while now and we've teased him about having a little girlfriend but he's always corrected us and reminded us that they share "playdates", which are not the same as dates....which are romantic and yucky.

We naturally pointed it out as a given that he could invite the companion for birthday dinner and our traditional chocolate fountain, and that I would make a cake for him to take to school...a "proper cake" of his choice (yes, even the doctor is a cake snob). I felt given the situation, I owed it to him to at least attempt the Dalek-and so I set about researching what I needed to know and do. After a very successful playdate at our house with The Companion, her kid brother (around the same age as The Princess) and their mum (mums need playdates too you know), I stepped out and asked if we could change our original birthday celebration from the Thursday (his *actual* birthday) to the Friday and extend it to a sleepover. It turned out that worked well for them too as they could have used a babysitter for her for Saturday so we arranged to keep her as late as we could without infringing on a second days bedtime routine for either family.

It crept up on me so quickly, but at least I knew what I was doing. One PIN that stuck with me was this one titled:  20 ways to fill your childs love tank on their birthday from The House of Hendrix. I dipped into her bag of tricks and took out just a few of the many that looked like such fun. I didn't find the time to decorate as I wanted, but I decided not to beat myself up about it. I sufficed with upside down balloons and supermarket foil banners (Gasp!)

I popped into Lakeland on the Tuesday for some more sugarpaste. I thought we had all his gifts (his tablet, a pack of pontefract cakes, a tardis money box and a "where's the doctor" book), but The Master noticed something on a bottom shelf near where I was looking for a Tomato knife to carve the cake with.

I didn't see what it was at first but he was so excited about finding this thing from which "the doctor has to drink his tea Mummy". He had found a Dalek mug, complete with 3D accents. He was so proud of his find that he insisted on carrying it himself, all the way around the shop, all the home and all the way upstairs to where he planned to hide it. And now every time he sees the doctor with it he reminds him that he bought it for him for his birthday.

I got up slightly earlier in the morning on the day to giftwrap his lunch

When I asked after school if he liked it, he said yes, but had expected to find some "new food" inside it. On further investigation it came out that he has discovered he likes the little packets of mini chocolate chip cookies I get for him in the Asda cafe's new kiddi meal boxes.

The first gift he opened was the mug, so that we could have our morning tea whilst he opened his other gifts.

And reveal his cake

 

I had lots of fun adding "birthday graffiti"  to the car before picking him up from school

And I had some lovely responses. I left it up until Saturday since Lordbob took them bowling and he couldnt work out why they were so determined to use the car when he wanted to do the 5 minute walk. 

We had a lovely week end with the kids and the weather cooperated for the most part....

They loved the chocolate fountain, as always. And were a real bunch of kids come bed time. We didnt insist that they go up to bed until about 10pm, and then we listened to them sneaking around for about an hour before The Companion came down and asked for a drink. After another hour they came down together to ask "weren't they supposed to have a midnight feast at a sleepover, so Lordbob sent them back upstairs with a packet of crisps and some haribo's each.

So thank you to The Companion for joining us, we loved having you and hope to share many more special occasions with you. And Happy Birthday Doctor, we are truly blessed to have you in our lives. We love you lots. 

The Easter post...Home made chocolate becomes Home made memories.

I dont have an excuse. Im useless. But I will get better, I promise. I dont remember if I mentioned surgery before, but that's mostly where Ive been. Most of the rest of the time, you might have found me in the kitchen.

Last year, I had a go at making easter eggs. The result? Epic fail! I used chocolate that contained vegetable fat, and my thermometer was SO not fit for purpose. So this year I decided to try again. I have a Makro card and they do 2.5kg's of Callebaut for around £14. So I picked up a few bags of that. I had heard good things about Lakelands Thermospatula and as it was on offer for around £10, I thought Id give it ago.

The research I did this year put me in mind to use the microwave and the seeding method. It seemed like the best option for me timewise with 6 little legs running about. I could probably do another post to include a step by step of sorts, but I dont want to stray too far tonight.

In my haste to see the kids faces, I must confess I didnt take any really decent photo's...so here is a quicky that I took with my moble. I used a plastic jelly mould for these two:

Now at this point, I must tell you how easter works in our house. The Doctor is the only kid who really "gets" what it is about. And although both The Master and the Princess have experienced Easter, they have not really participated. Because of this, in previous years we were able to get away with a few eggs tucked behind the curtains.

So this year when I started making chocolates, The Doctor asked if they were all for us and how it worked and who is the Easter Bunny...(he was okay with the Easter story on his own...just didnt get the bunny.) I explained that the bunny visits on Saturday night, to create the easter egg hunt. Because he has to think so hard about where to hide them and what clues to leave, we do not hold him responsible for supplying them. So Mum and Dad supply them and the Easter Bunny hides them. Curiousity satisfied.

We had a lovely day on Sunday. They woke up to three little boxes with some little chicks and masks, with some instructions regarding the days activities.They had 3 hunts. The first when they woke up, the bunny had littered the floor in the house and the garden with packets of Haribo's for a start-so off out in the garden they went in their pj's and mismatched slippers.

Later in the morning, when they had tired of counting Haribo's-I started them on the puzzle hunt. I printed two copies of this Easter story from iMom. I cut out the pictures on one and placed them in plastic eggs, which the Easter Bunny hid. It was a hit with The Master, and he impressed me with how quickly he was able to match the pieces. Once he found where it needed to be, I let him stick it down with some blu-tac. Once we had all the pieces, we sat down together and read the story.


After Dinner, we set them off on the "Big" hunt, which involved solving the clues hidden inside the plastic eggs. The Doctor did most of the work with the help of Lordbob. And they were over the moon when they found the basket (One of Mummy's very big plastic mixing bowls) filled with their choccies and wrapped in cellophane. Each one took a turn to drag it around the kitchen in an overenthusiastic attempt to find an implement that would help them break into their treasure box.
The Doctor was especially pleased to discover a Dalek just for him, and The Master was super thrilled with his "Dinohaur", and The Princess's face was a perfect fit into bunnies bum;)