Visiting Poppy

Dad's back in hospital, mum had to call an ambulance for him early Saturday morning as he was having difficulty breathing, and due to the chemo his immune system is pretty weak at the moment, and he has come down with pneumonia as a result.  He is on IV antibiotics and getting a bit of oxygen therapy.  He is is in Joondalup Private hospital, which is all brand new and rather nice a change from the old part of he hospital.  Bella and I decided to go and have a visit this afternoon and stayed and watched 1/2 the footy game with him, we had a good time and was great to spend some time with him.

Even though we are swans fans was great to see Freo do so well and into their first grand final next week.

Art Class Week 5

The focus this week was sculpture, Bella completed her handiwork and then had some spare time and painted this cute picture.

Playtime at Amberton Park

Bella had her friend Abbie stay over on Friday night, took the girls for a trip up to the new park in Amberton for a bit of fun after all the rain this past week was good for them to get out and have a run in the sun.  I may or may not have had a go today as well.  There wasn't many kids here today so they got to have plenty of turns.

 

Princess Ruby

Ruby on the throne that Bella made wearing her 1D headband, what a lucky dog haha!!

Perth Heat Members Day

Today we went and picked up our membership packs for the 2013/2014 Alcohol Think Again Perth Heat Season.  We love baseball and can't wait for the season to begin, was great to catch up with some of our old friends from the club today, and we look forward to many more catch ups during the season.  Lets GO HEAT!!!

Merit Certificate

Well done Bella on your merit certificate awarded at assembly this morning, sorry I wasn't there to see you win it, but as you said your teacher doesn't like to hand out notes and that she wants it to be a surprise, anyway you were not worried about it.  We are very proud of you, love you baby girl!

 

Baby Shower for a Little Fish

Sunday saw us travelling down the coast to Steve and Tracey's place down in Barragup (close to Mandurah) for a Baby Shower for their new son who is due to arrive in the next 5 weeks.  We had a lovely afternoon, met some nice new people, caught up with old friends and ate way too much.

     

I love the idea of this Pinata cake and want to give it a go sometime.

 

Three lovely pregnant ladies all at varying stages of pregnancy.

 Now with a daddy that is the Coach/Manager of the Alcohol Think Again Perth Heat what little man wouldn't love a baseball themed nursery, it is gorgeous all the fine details that Tracey has put into it is just amazing.  

 

Adrian's Birthday

Saturday was such a busy day, to finish off such a great day Bella and I headed to the Whale and Ale to catch up with the family to celebrate Adrian's Birthday.

 I had a really nice Peri Peri Chicken with Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans and Bella enjoyed a good old traditional bangers and mash, must have been good as there was none left.

Was great to catch up with everyone and enjoy our local.

Jo made the cake which was awesome and so so rich, it was a malteser cake as you can see and boy was it good, you definitely only need to enjoy a small piece of this.

The Recipe for the Malteser Cake was from Taste.com.au and the links below.

Malteser Cake

Ingredients
200g (1 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar
185ml (3/4 cup) milk
125g butter, chopped
115g (3/4 cup) self-raising flour
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
50g (1/2 cup) cocoa powder
3 eggs, lightly whisked
185g butter, extra, at room temperature
345g (2 1/4 cups) icing sugar mixture
95g (3/4 cup) malted milk powder
1 tbs milk, extra
465g Maltesers

Ganache
300g dark cooking chocolate, finely chopped
125ml (1/2 cup) thickened cream
30g butter

Method:
Step 1
Preheat oven to 160C. Grease a 20cm round cake pan with butter. Line base and side with baking paper.

Step 2
Place the brown sugar, milk and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in microwave on high, stirring every minute, for 4-5 minutes or until the butter melts and the mixture is smooth.

Step 3
Use a balloon whisk to whisk the combined flour and cocoa powder into the butter mixture. Whisk in the egg. Pour into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside in the pan for 5 minutes to cool before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Step 4
To make the ganache, place the chocolate, cream and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Cook in microwave on high, stirring every minute, for 2-3 minutes or until the chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Step 5
Use an electric beater to beat the extra butter in a bowl until pale and creamy. Beat in the icing sugar, malted milk powder and extra milk until fluffy. Beat in 1 1/2 tbs ganache.

Step 6
Set the remaining ganache aside for 1 hour 30 minutes or until thick, glossy and spreadable.

Step 7
Meanwhile, use a large serrated knife to cut the cake horizontally into four layers. Place the cake base on a platter. Spread with one-third of the icing. Continue layering with the remaining cake and icing, finishing with cake. Cover and place in the fridge for 1 hour 30 minutes to chill.

Step 8
Spread the ganache evenly over the top and side of the cake. Decorate with Maltesers.

Alice in Wonderland

After this morning's art class Bella and I headed off to QBPS to see the drama classes production of Alice in Wonderland.  This was the first year we had been able to attend and we were very impressed, the kids did a great job, and was nice to see a couple of Bella's friends performing.  Wild weather aside, we had a great time and was worth the mad run across the school oval to avoid the rain and wild wind.

There were 4 Alice's and it was a different takes on it, very enjoyable and ran very well.

Bella even got called onto the stage to play a part in the croquet game played by the queen and Alice, wasn't expected And she was very brave going up on stage like she did, she made an excellent croquet pin as seen below.  

Art Class Week 4

Bella had her fourth lesson today with Anne, yet again I am blown away with what she has done, I need to buy another frame to put this one up in.  Andrew needs to get busy and hang them too Haha. Well done munchkin we are so very proud of you, and what you are achieving, you certainly don't get your talents from your mother.