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Sofia The First party! Bee’s 4th birthday celebration

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What, 4 already?!?! How’s that possible?

Time really flies and yes, my darling Bee turned 4 last week! We obviously threw a big theme party to celebrate it!

At the beginning it was a bit of a struggle deciding which theme choose for her birthday party as she kept changing her mind…one day was Peppa Pig, the next was Belle, then Snowhite, at some point she even mentioned Shrek (oh dear!). At the end I decided to stick to her favourite cartoon of the moment which is the Princess Sofia the First.

To get some inspiration I obviously spent incredible amounts of time on Pinterest and at then end I created a 3 tier vanilla sponge cake filled with strawberry jam, creme patissiere and ganache! The top cake was covered in fondant frills, the second layer had a geometrical decoration and white edible pearl, the bottom tier had oval fondant decorations to recreate Sofia the First skirt. It didn’t take me long to make the cake so overall I have to say this time I was almost stress free!

Browsing online, I found many Sofia the First free printables which I used to decorate the glass bottles, the sandwiches and the yoghurt pots. Regarding the yoghurt pots, I came very close to divorce my husband when I found out that, after all my efforts to have every single detail personalised “Sofia the First”, HE FORGOT TO TAKE A PICTURE OF THE CHILDREN’S TABLE! AAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!

I was so mad!

In fact, a part from the small dessert table, there was a lovely table set for the children and each girl had a Sofia the First balloon filled with helium attached to the little chair. Plates, cups, napkins and yoghurt pots were Sofia the First. The children’s table was sprinkled with Sofia the First confetti and attached to the throne where my daughter sat, there was a giant ballon Sofia the first size (the picture below was taken in our house and I posted it just to show you how huge the balloon was :)).

So I DON’T have a picture of that table! My husband only took few random pictures of the children’s table and they are not even worth it to post here as the light is awful booooo!!

These cupcakes were topped with silver tiaras I made out of sugar and then painted with some silver lustre dust to make them sparkle. For these cupcakes I was glad to finally have found a recipe for the perfect frosting. The result was a very light, not too sweet frosting made with soft cream cheese, icing sugar and whipped cream YUUUM!

As a party venue we chose “Tigerlilys” Cafe which is an amazing jungle theme play centre in Edinburgh which has just recently opened. The place has 2 big soft play areas where children can play with many colourful soft toys while parents can relax on the comfortable sofas in the Cafe area. The toddlers room where all Bee’s friends spent one hour playing, only opened the week before the party so it was such an amazing discover for all the children invited to the birthday!

The room where we had the food was created to look like a strawberry (ceiling is red) hence the green backdrop which wasn’t ideal to match my purple party but we made it work 🙂

Ham and cheese Sofia the first sandwiches wrapped in Sofia the First paper.

These popcorn boxes were so easy to assemble, I found the free printable online here.

Vanilla cupcakes baked in my favourite paper cases!

Vanilla butter cookies covered in fondant.

The children had so much fun playing in the big soft play area and then enjoying the food in the “Berry Sweet” room. Before leaving each girl received a goody bag full of treats, a cupcake and a balloon. The party was a success!

 BUON COMPLEANNO PICCOLA MIA!

PS – Please note the photobomb in this pic…lol!

 

 

 

 

 

A year of pure love

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I cannot believe in less than a month my little precious baby is going to be one!

Sometimes it’s been hard but being a mom is the most amazing experience someone can live and although I promised myself that this time I’d have cherished even more every single moment, it just went too fast! In the last 2 months Leo has developed so many new skills and doesn’t behave like a baby anymore.. he’s more indipendent (ouch!) and he’s become a little man showing strong signs of his own personality…

For the past year being Leo’s mum meant:

– kissing, more kissing and kissing again his precious soft skin most of the day

– feeling so much love in my heart every time he smiled at me, he fell asleep in my arms, he looked for me, he felt secure while feeding to my breast

– crying and feeling helpless when he had colics

– cuddling him, especially when he first fell or got upset

– feeling emotional when he first said mamma, when he started crawling and now when he took his first steps

– pulling faces to make him smile and then listening to his incredible funny laugh

– watching him bonding with his sister and getting so attached to her

– making him discover that there is other yummy food a part from breastmilk

– experiencing with him the feeling of water and seeing his passion for swimming growing

– watching him discover new things like music, nature

– teaching him to be kind to our kitties (not really working yet!)

– noticing his eyes sparkle every time I say “Daddy’s home! Daddy’s home!”

– watching him  play with a new toy

– protecting him, always

– falling in love again and again every day

I feel blessed, I really do… and every time I’m sad for any other reason, I need to remember that this was my dream, and my dream came true so nothing else matters.

 

Happy Mother’s day!

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Happy mother’s day beautiful mummies!

For Mother’s day I HAD to bake a pretty cake for myself because a celebration without cake is not 100% complete! Plus I’m trying to find the perfect, light, not too sweet frosting and I think I found it!

Tulips and cake, perfect combination!

Beautiful spring colours!

What is missing now is… a card!! Dadddyyyy!!!!

Well, while I’m waiting for a handmade card I’m going to try this moist sponge cake, yum!

 

 Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Busy preparation week

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In a few weeks it’ll be hectic here! Not only because it’s Bee’s birthday and I’m organising her Sofia The First theme party but also because all my family from Italy is coming over for Leo’s baptism PLUS we are going to celebrate Leo’s first birthday too!!

So many cakes to prepare and cookies and cupcakes and decorations!! The good thing is I finally got a new oven which so far (a part from a chewy pizza but that was my fault, I think I used the wrong yeast to make the dough) works very well so I’ve been testing it all week!!!

These are few pictures of what I’ve been doing…

I baked around 100 different shape cookies (crowns and magic wands for Bee’s party, horses for Leo’s birthday). And before we ate them all, I started decorating them..

 

To “test” my new paper cupcake cases, I baked a big batch of cupcake and I was pleased that, thanks to the new oven, my cupcakes didn’t have pointing domes.

 

More cookies!

I’ve been filling many party bags for Bee’s friend and cutting out food tags for the birthday table… To be honest it’s all stuff that I love doing it and I’m looking forward to the party and to see all Bee’s little friends enjoying the food and the decorations!

Wish me luck as the most challenging part will be making the very articulated cake I chose to make… I cannot wait to share it with you!