The belated birthday party

It was a week ago that Miss Moo Moo turned five. Unfortunately Poppy had to work last weekend, so we had a party for her yesterday instead.



Just family: grandparents, aunts, uncles and the cousins. It was perfect.

In the months leading up to her birthday, Miss Moo Moo had alternately requested either a wedding cake (she drew me a picture, it looked like this) or a barbie cake.

We went for the barbie cake.



The day was casual and relaxed. The three boys playing in the sandpit for hours and the three girls inside playing tea parties and babies. We brought out our little pool and had some water fun (it was 30 degrees) and then their was cake.

After everyone had gone, the kids continued their fun day of play in the street with the neighbours kids. Miss Moo Moo took her new bike out to show everyone. Just as I went inside I heard her yelling out to her friends:



"Look at me! I'm riding my bike all by myself. My Daddy isn't even helping me"







I quickly went back outside and yes, she was! Finally. All she needed was a bigger bike and she was away.



The day was perfect, but leading up to the day, everything that could go wrong - did go wrong.

• Firstly the cake: the butter layer cake was from the latest kids issue of Donna Hay Magazine. It looked amazing but it didn't taste so great. On the day I blamed Donna, but I know that it is because I was short on time and put all four cake tins into my oven at once. This gave the cakes an almost steamed texture that I have eaten in chinese sponge cakes in Chinatown. If I was to do it again I would make sure I had more time.

• We couldn't decorate the cake until the morning of the party because it wouldn't fit in the fridge. This left things a little stressed, especially when I ran out of icing and had to make more at the last minute. We finished decorating the cake one minute before the first guests arrived.

• Any pre-cooking plans went out the window as I spent the whole week with my son home very sick. I couldn't even start the cake and freeze it. I had no eggs, no milk, no butter, no sugar (who ever runs out of eggs and sugar?! or butter and milk for that matter)

• I had made a batch of zucchini slice, five minutes after I put it into the oven I realised a band-aid from my finger was missing. It ended up NOT being in the slice (Mr Moo and I have eaten it), but I made another one just in case. Not before rushing off to the corner store for more eggs.

• Instead of party bags, we were to give out a hand drawn picture and a gingerbread person. When making the gingerbread I did not let me hot mixture cool enough (again rushing) before adding it to the flour and egg. The whole thing was curdled mess. It went in the bin. I went to make another batch and I had run out of golden syrup - back to the corner store.

• We ran out of time to decorate the gingerbread people because I had to make the gingerbread late at night before the party. We only gave out some of the drawings.

• I didn't get time (because of said sick child) to make the pretty party bunting I had wanted to make. I completely forgot to hang up the paper lanterns I had in the cupboard and opened the party box on the morning of the party to see that the kids had been into the balloons there was 3 white balloons and 1 brown one. We did not have balloons.

I guess in the end ...... none of that mattered. Miss Moo Moo went to bed happy and exhausted, her eyes blinking shut as I kissed her goodnight.