Our Big 30 Weekend!

Last weekend, the Muddles and I went to Butlins to meet up with some of my most favouritist people in the whole world, my friends from college.

As we're all turning...whisper it...30 this year, we thought we should honour the occasion properly. Not to mention I wasn't sure I'd make it to the end of any Big Nights Out in my current state!

Hard to get my head around the fact that I met these lovely folks nearly 14 years ago, and a lot has changed in that time. However, when we're all back together its like nothing has changed. They really are an awesome bunch of people!

The excitement of Butlins took its toll though and not one of us managed a 'Big Night', but we did get some much needed catching up done which was fabulous.

Off this weekend to a family wedding in Essex, so its a very busy half term all in all for us!

9.51am Four Years Ago...

...my life was changed forever as Big Muddle entered the world and took her first breath.

Today she inspires me with her boundless joy, amuses me with her endless wit and makes me amazed at my own capacity to love another person so much.

Happy birthday, my beautiful firstborn girl.

Daddy Muddle's Birthday Bouquet

I'd seen the idea of a 'man bouquet' on pinterest, and thought it looked really fun. I usually get Daddy Muddle a tankard or similar for his birthday because...well he's flipping hard to buy for and his birthday being so close to Christmas its impossible to think of anything particularly original!

Most of the ones I'd seen done though were with whisky miniatures or similar, and given that Daddy Muddle only drinks single malt, well, I was looking for something along a more budget-friendly option! So I decided to go for childhood favourite sweets! Pretending the subject had come up on a forum I frequent I asked him about his favourites a while back and jotted them down. This is the finished item:

As you can see he has a very sweet tooth! I can tell you though, I do NOT want to giftwrap one of those ever again!

The Weekend That Was

Well what an epic weekend! First there was of course Baby Muddle's first birthday! I had decided to keep it relatively low-key and keep the food veeeeery simple, so that I could really enjoy the day too.

She had so much fun opening her presents first thing, and immediately tried to put on the 'Little Sister' top Big Muddle had chosen for her. (Funny how different children are, isn't it? Big Muddle was no way interested in dressing herself at this age...) Then she emptied out the treasure basket we'd bought/made for her and filled it with her cards!

As we'd been up since 5.30am (yawn!) we were pretty ahead of ourselves with the food and party prep, so sat twiddling thumbs until people arrived at 11! We had a lovely lunch of hot dogs with honey mustard onions and potato wedges with cheesy dip.

And, of course, the birthday cake! This was my first time working with fondant icing, so I actually made it on Thursday night for fear I'd have to buy a ready-made fallback from Asda but it was actually a lot easier than I thought and I was pleased with the result.

Baby Muddle was so pleased with her day, especially the Cosy Coupe she got bought (a note of caution though, do not buy one of these if you're of a nervous disposition regarding flatpacks - total nightmare!)

On Sunday, after I escaped to the gym, we took the girls to the park to play on their bikes. It was Baby Muddle's first outing on the trike and I think she really enjoyed herself!

The weather was lovely and bright. I love this time of year, when the leaves turn such vivid reds and yellows, they always look amazing against a blue sky.

Nana Muddle's Big Greek Birthday

Yesterday was my Mum's birthday and I organised a little get together at our house for her. Decided on a Greek menu as it was something a bit different so ploughed Good Food's website for ideas! Ended up with:

Pitta bread with tzatziki and hoummus (both recipes from this book)
Red pepper wrapped halloumi
Greek Salad

Followed by:
Beef Stifado
Moussaka
Prawns with spring onions and garlic (adapted from this recipe)
Lamb traybake
Gigantes Plaki

Then it was on to the decor! Having had a trawl around Pinterest I decided on doilies as place names and lace wrapped jam jars as tealight holders, as I wanted to keep it 'grown up' and leave plenty of table space for the food!

The cake was an easy one. Mum had missed out on a piece of the rainbow cake for Baby Muddle's naming day so that was that, and another Pinterest trawl (addict, moi??) inspired the decoration.

Good time was had by all, and most importantly by Nana Muddle :-)