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You are here: Home / Archives for birthday

Turning 40

March 24, 2023 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

I turn 40 in less than two months. 40. That age that when I was a child seemed like old age yet now feels like I blinked after turning 25 and here I am. I’m not worried about turning 40, it doesn’t feel like a huge change yet it is. 40 is very different to being IN your 30’s. It feels like a different statement is made when you say I’m 40 as to when you say you are late 30’s especially as a woman.

Women of my generation are lucky in that in most cases women are now getting celebrated at all ages. We see stories every day of women who started careers at 40 or 50, female actors winning awards and sometimes even not choosing to start families until they are my age. 40 is not over the hill by any means but it just feels different.

I think for me the biggest issue I have with it is that I don’t feel healthy or well and the older I get the more that seems like it may be something I can’t change. I am doing everything I can to better myself and get well but a lot of it is out of my control. I imagined having big parties and weeks of celebrations for my 40th but I can’t think of many things right now which wouldn’t cost me too much physically to do. I know my family, my friends and my partner will want to make it a big deal for me and I appreciate that in so many ways yet the thought of it alone is tiring.

In lockdown I had a few things I knew I wanted to achieve before my 40th, then I caught covid in October 2020 and quite honestly nothing has been the same since. I wasn’t hospitalised, thankfully I didn’t die ( obviously) but my life has been significantly impacted by a virus which honestly when I caught it I thought oh great I can get this out of the way now and thank goodness I am at the best fitness I’ve been in for a long time so I can beat it. Um no covid doesn’t work like that and long covid sufferers are more than likely to be women of my age who were previously fit. I’ve had to adapt my life and there are some goals which I’ve had to put on the back burner maybe forever.

I am determined that this next year will see an improvement in some way in my health. I am determined to make my life better for my girls and my partner and my family. It will not be easy but I will do it. Not sure how exactly but I will. For now I am going to look to my 40th and find a way to share that time and celebrate it with the ones I love.

I bet you missed my rambles? More to come I’m sure…

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Filed Under: Life, long covid, Uncategorized · Tagged: 40th, birthday, health, long Covid

Happy Birthday Chloe

November 19, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 1 Comment

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Filed Under: Cakes, bread and all things baking, Parenting/baby · Tagged: birthday, Iggle Piggle cake, night garden cake, Upsy daisy

Dear Izzy

September 17, 2014 · by munchiesandmunchkins · Leave a Comment

Yesterday you turned 3. I swore I wouldn’t be like everyone else. Getting teary just because you are getting older. Spending far too much of the day reminiscing on your first few days. Looking at newborn pics of you and already dreading that day in January when you start school. But I did all of those things. You are the twinkle in our eyes. The surge of love in our hearts. Last year you were our world. Now you share that with your sister. It was your first birthday where you had to share our attentions as we also looked after your sister but like everything else you took it in your stride. Cuddling your sister when you woke up and telling everyone that your presents were from mammy, daddy AND Chloe. What a day we had.

You are funny and daring
You laugh all day long
You say the craziest things
And sing the best songs

You squeeze us
And kiss us with a smile in your eyes
You are brave
Independent
But still hate goodbyes

You eat so much food
But burn it all off
You are tall
And so beautiful
You make everyone laugh

This year has seen changes
Big ones at that
No nappies
No dummies
And no more cot.

You are a big girl now
I say it almost daily
But deep down inside
You are always our baby

You changed our worlds
In every which way
When you came along
That September day.

I will always be thankful
For that big surprise
You have no idea
What you bring to our lives.

We love you Isabelle. Izzy. Iz. Izzy Whizzy.Busy Izzy. Big sister. Best buddy. Daughter. Granddaughter.

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Filed Under: Family, Parenting/baby · Tagged: 3 year old, birthday, izzy, poem

The Hungry Caterpillar 1st birthday cake

October 18, 2012 · by munchiesandmunchkins · 2 Comments

Firstly apologies, I’ve been meaning to write this post for weeks and Izzy is now 13 months old!

Anyway here it is! I had wanted to make Izzy a Hungry Caterpillar cake for her first birthday since spotting one on Pinterest when she was only 3 months old, when she was a little older her aunty & uncle bought her The Hungry Caterpillar pop up book and she LOVES it so it was definitely a go.

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The cake I saw on Pinterest is here and that’s more or less what I was planning to do. I made a batch of cupcakes and then my piping bag broke and well I got really annoyed and frustrated as it was the night before her party and ended up rethinking the whole idea and what I ended up with was this:

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And I actually preferred it this way in the end although as someone who is far more into the taste of food than the look of food I did find it harder than it needed to be but I enjoyed it.

Heres how I did it:

You will need :

The ingredients for one Mary Berry traybake ( recipe can be found here ) I added green colouring to my traybake to make a vibrant green flesh for my caterpillar.
500g of fondant icing sugar
Icing colour ( I bought red red and kelly green from Hobbycraft)
Basic buttercream using icing sugar and butter with vanilla extract (Nielsen Massey is best) – I used leftovers from cupcakes I was making for the party so unsure of quantity.
1 cake board or piece of cardboard covered in white paper.
Cadburys chocolate fingers
Chocolate sprinkles

Follow instructions for traybake and when cooked leave until completely cooled.
I cut out a basic caterpillar body and head from my traybake – reserve the leftover sponge in case of errors or just to munch on later.
Mix up 1/2 of your fondant icing following instructions on packet and split into two, using a cocktail stick put green colouring into one 1/2 of the icing and knead to mix the colour through making one a dark green and the other 1/2 paler. Roll out and cut into strips. Spread a little buttercream over your cut out caterpillar body and then wrap in your green icing alternating between the darker and lighter colours. Reserve any leftover icing for extra decorations such as fruit for your board.
Mix up the rest of your fondant icing and split into two, use your red colouring to make a very vibrant red icing for your caterpillar head and leave the rest white.
Spread some butter cream and wrap your caterpillar head in red icing and attach to body using more buttercream if necessary. Use cadburys fingers to make legs and antenna as well as the body for your butterfly. Use leftover icing to make fruit, leaves and a butterfly as well as to make name or message for cake. I used chocolate sprinkles to make the seeds on my strawberries and my apple stork. Use dark green icing to make eyes and a chocolate chip for the nose.

To make your cake have a little sheen brush on some lemon extract or juice with a pastry brush.

I used some leftover sponge and buttercream to make a patch of grass but I don’t think it’s necessary.

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She did like the cake although looked a little shocked at first, and kept wandering over to look at it every chance she got:

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All in all it was a success although far from perfect which you will notice if you look closely but I loved the fact that I made her a special first birthday cake. I’m guessing as the years go on I will have to become more elaborate!

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Filed Under: Cakes, bread and all things baking, Parenting/baby · Tagged: 1, birthday, book, cake, first, food colouring, Hobbycraft, homemade, Mary Berry traybake, one, recipe, The hungry caterpillar cake

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