Done and Dusted. . .

F has the last birthday for the year in our
nuclear family , and he 's now 11.
How could this little guy . . .

now be this one ?

Where does the time go??

He had a great celebration , with a couple of friends sleeping over , eating
 make-your-own pizza for dinner , watching movies , staying up late and
opening gifts with them on Sunday morning .
As per the last couple of years , the Baked Coconut Cheesecake is now
the standing order for the birthday cake .
This year we added strawberries as they are so plentiful
at the moment ( and match the candles! ).

He is still into Lego in a big way , so that's what most of his gifts were -
including this amazing 'Minecraft' set (from the computer game) ,
 the latest production in the CUUSOO range of fan-suggested sets .
You should check it out if you are a Lego lover or have a great idea
 for something that could be made out of Lego !

Personally , I am hanging out for this one -

(pictures from www.lego.com)

it's next to go into production !

He has been shopping with his gift money and has bought
still more Lego , as well as a slushy maker.
( The power of TV advertising, yeesh ! )

Now that the last birthday has been celebrated ,
 we are free to look forward to Christmas .
Yikes !!

P.S. "Let him who would enjoy a good future waste none of his present. " Roger Babson

Birthday Wrap-up . . .

Another family birthday is over for the year.

As promised, some gratuitous cake shots . . .

Our little strawberry lover asked for a strawberry cake, of course. I made a strawberry flavoured (and coloured) batter, baked it and then split it horizontally. I spread the bottom half with strawberry jam, frosting and sliced strawberries. Once the top layer was on, I added some strawberry essence to cream before whipping it and mixing it half and half with vanilla frosting. The whole cake was covered with the cream, then strawberry halves and a dusting of cocoa. It was delicious!

R also took the usual caterpillar cake to school to share with his year 3 class . . .

This year he requested a green, blue and purple caterpillar. (By the way, teachers love this type of cake - no cutting or mess - just hand the cupcakes out to the kids on the way out the door to lunch!)

He received lots of cash gifts (his choice), and yesterday he finally went shopping! This is his haul . . .

so many thanks to all the family.

You'll notice the giant Lego set - hmmm. Luckily R is a bit of a Lego prodigy, and the 'age 14+' label and the 1230 pieces didn't phase him at all! He only needed a little bit of help to get from here . . .

to here.

And that about wraps it up. Hope you had a great 9th birthday celebration R!

P.S.  "How old would you be if didn't know how old you you are? " Satchel Paige