Baby Serena

the precious gift .........................

Serena still kicking away at 6 months

In my last few posts i have mentioned how life has changed but i have not really introduced you to the main reason why my life has changed so much. In 2 short words i can sum up what this change really is "Gods gift". On the 24 October 2011 my daughter Serena Esme Van Niekerk was born. She was a little 3.2 kg, 52cm bundle of joy.

Little Serena at 4 months (pregnant)

It is not something anyone can ever explain to you, believe me many have tried. The way you feel when you first hold that little angel in your arms, is one you will remember so vividly for the rest of your life. This is because nothing in life will ever feel the same. Everything seems to shift and the things we believed were important, no longer seem to have any relevance. Suddenly life seems to have real meaning, you have a purpose, a reason for being alive. There is this little person who looks at you with so much love, trust and admiration, your heart just melts and you will find yourself saying "why did i wait this long" (trust me your gonna say it!)

Serena 8 weeks photo by Candice Rodrigues Photography.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.472393432370.251191.617532370&type=3#!/CandiceRodriguesPhotography

But the sad truth is that before your very eyes they grow faster than weeds. My little one turns 6 months today and i feel like i have missed out on so much. I guess as a mom your doomed to feel guilty for the rest of your life. Did i spend enough time with her, did i tell her i love her enough............ i think you get the idea. But that is no way to live so instead of thinking about what i might not have done i just.....................DO !!!

I am lucky enough to have a husband who works really hard, so that i can stay at home and be a mom. Because there is nothing i would rather do, i want to be with Serena every moment of everyday. So thank babes for being such an amazing man. I love you so much



A new little hand for us to hold

her love is grand, precious as gold.

A wonderful gift, so precious and sweet.

Our hearts are full, our lives complete.



So no matter how many sleepless night you have. No matter how much your sitting room resembles a kids play pen and even though every item of clothing you owe has a stain from milk or ..................... ;). I can tell you that there is nothing better in the world than having children. If i get my way ill be having tons more and might not sleep for the next 10 year, but i am the happiest mom alive.



She's a little bit of sunshine,

She's a smile to light your days,

She will steal your heart and

keep it with her warm endearing ways,

She's your precious little daughter,

With a sweetness from above

Who will fill your years with laughter

and your lives with lots of love

Please feel free to leave a comment, i would love to hear stories about how your little angels changed your lives.

Thanks for reading

Hugs

Me xxxxxx



Cake, cake and cakes gallore

Since  i am no longer "working" or should i say while i am waiting for my baking equipment to arrive. Think that ship has gotten lost somewhere, sure is taking a long time. I thought i would update my blog and show you some pictures of the lovely little things i have been making. I guess i am hoping to build a new name for myself. I had a good business in Cape Town, now that i am in Townsville i have to start over and i am not really sure where to start.

Butterfly Cake

So i decided to start sharing my passion with you guys. I might not be able to bake but i can share my pictures and recipes with you guys and maybe during that time i will get an order or 2. Or i could learn some new things along the way.

Hello Kitty birthday cake

Ok so a bit about what i do, all my cake toppers, cupcake decorations are handmade using plastic icing. I am self taught, but am hoping to take a course (if i can find one in Townsville ) so i can learn to make the roses, and more intricate things. My dream is to open my own bakery with a coffee shop. In my bakery i would like to teach little kids how to bake, while mom sits back and enjoys a cuppa joe and slice of my yummy cake.

Dora the explorer birthday cake

 Thats all from me for now, i will keep posting and let you know how my new adventure is going. Lets hope things get going soon. But till then i hope that you enjoy the photos of my cakes as much as i do. If you have any questions or just want to leave a comment please feel free.

Hugs

The party planner

Hubby's birthday Cupcakes

As i mentioned in my other posts, my life has done a compete turnaround, in the past year. I have gotten Married, given birth to a beautiful little girl and moved to Australia. Well i cannot really say i have moved yet. With my stuff somewhere in the middle of the ocean on a little boat, life does not yet resemble anything normal.

So this post is about my gorgeous husbands birthday (today), with all my baking equipment floating around between SA and here i am currently unable to make the lovely little creations that i enjoy so much. But its my Love's birthday and he needs something to take to work. I do not believe in going to a store and buying a cake or treat for the people i love, if i can make it myself.

I also have to add that since i have moved here i have not made or sold a single cake, cupcake or treat (stuff floating around and all) , so i saw this as an opportunity to introduce myself and my little labours of love. Since i had no equipment for decorating i decided to go for BIG taste.

Most adults don't really like cake (or most men) so i had to create something that both men and woman would enjoy. Thus i made orange and dark chocolate cupcakes with butter cream icing, smothered in real dark chocolate.

To do this i used my normal chocolate chip cupcake recipe. (Please contact me if you would like a copy of it ).
Instead of using milk, i  squeezed the juice from 1 and a half oranges into a jug, then filled it with water to make up the 250ml liquid required. I also added 2 table spoons of orange zest (grated Orange peel)  into the mixture, i recommend using the fine side of the grater, this makes the pieces nice and small, so you don't end up chewing on them .

Once they had baked and cooled, i added a dollop of butter cream icing and drizzled it with melted chocolate.
I add a tsp of olive oil to the melting chocolate so that it does not go rock hard on the cupcake.
Then i decorated it with some of the orange zest just for colour.
I used bitter chocolate in my recipe, with the sweet icing, i feel that sweet milk chocolate would just be too much. But you can always use which ever you like.

Well my hubby just left for work and i told him he better have 3 orders for me when he gets home LOL. Lets hope they love them and that the orders start coming in. I am getting rather bored doing nothing all day.

Hope you have a fantastic day and a stunning weekend.

Lots of hugs

Bokka gone wild.

My evil twin, partner i crime or whatever you wished to call the person you always got into trouble with, recently moved to East London. This is one of my many amazing sisters, yes i have many. 3 are my real sisters and then i have 4 step sisters, its a huge family. But this sister and i have always been each others +1. We were even pregnant at the same time. But enough about that and more about the party. She has a stunning little boy who recently turned 8, who wanted a springbok party.

Because we have such a huge family she decided to have her sons birthday in Cape Town, with her only arriving the day before the party i jumped in to help her. Keep in mind that i was going in to have my daughter on the Monday after the party. So this was a huge thing for me (my tummy was HUGE).

But Daniel was the first of the many children born and has a very special place in all our hearts. This meant he needed the perfect bokka party. In true fashion we all dressed up in our bokka shirts and made the little man very happy. As you can see he is just the most adorable little man and you would never want to disappointed him.

We made lovely bokka party packs and even found really cool stick on tattoos to put in every pack for our little sports fans. The cake was the interesting part for me. Trying to lean over a table and decorate this Rugby ball with little Serena in my tummy was NOT FUN.

If any of you have ever had a baby, you will know that they are soooooo heavy and kick all the time, making it impossible to do much more than go to the bathroom (all the time). I finally finished his cake the morning of his party (which was the same day as my baby shower ill let you know).

South African Rugby Ball Cake

The party went down very well, and while my sisters had their hands full with my baby shower the sure did managed to keep my busy with this party. I sure had no idea and was so pleased with the amazing party they had planned for me.

I am also please to introduce my beautiful little girl Serena to you. (she is now nearly 6 months but this is a picture of the day she was born)

Its a bugs life

Its amazing how busy life can get, and before you know it 6 months has passed and you have a lot of catching up to do. We have had tons of parties and made many little kids happy. At the same time we were nearing our last few months of baby Serena.

With her kicking around inside of mom, working became a challenge. But we are always up for a challenge and when my little sister asked me to do her daughters 4th birthday, i had no way of saying no. She is my baby sister, and Xara is the cutest little girl.

Our little angel wanted an enchanted forest party, she wanted trees and butterflies, bugs, toadstools and leaves. This was a tall order for a 7 month pregnant me. But i could not let her down, she believes i can do anything and it would not be a good time to prove i cannot. She is only 4 and believes in the tooth fairy too LOL.

I had to get my sister to help me, as you can see we had loads of hand made goodies. I even put my sewing skills to some good use (i cannot sew to save my life), but lucky for me 4 year old are not that picky. And to see the look on her little face when she saw her enchanted forest was well worth all the work. I also like to think that all the work i do while Serena is in my tummy, will somehow influence her to be creative too.

Enchanted forest Cupcakes





Fairy Cake



Now this little girl has spent many hours helping her aunt with her cakes and cupcakes. This meant that she knew exactly what she wanted and once again forgets her aunt is not a super hero. I has to make enough cupcakes for 30 kids and they all had to have hand crafted little creatures on them. It was also nearly impossible to find party packs that looked like they belonged at this party, so i decided to make them myself. I got the whole family drinking coke cause i needed 13 coke bottles for the party packs. We then painted the lids stuck some butterflies on and stuck shiny sequence all over.

Serena and i, in our Ladybug outfit heee heeee

But i think things worked out well and she loved her party. I obviously had to have a part of the party that she did not have a hand in choosing. So we arranged that everyone who attended dressed like an enchanted forest creature. Serena and i went as a ladybug.