Nephew's 5th birthday party

We went to my nephew's 5th birthday party this weekend. I had no idea what to get for the little boy so I asked my sister-in-law on Facebook messenger. She said that he has got plenty of Duplo, but would love to get some more Lego. I also asked her if he'd like some Lego men as these now come in separate sets. All of us went to the Warehouse since it has the largest selection of Lego to choose from. We settled with a box that has all the different colour bricks and also some wheels so my nephew can create his own Lego cars. He already has some Lego men from Ninjago and another set so he doesn't really need more men. We ended up getting this one. I've decided to blog a bit more in the future. I took my son on the bus today since my car keys are still missing. It was an adventure! I also had the chance to wait at the bus stop and look at some trees and flowers on the way to daycare. I was lucky that I saw my husband taking my daughter home. I was actually prepared this time, holding my daughter's small blue umbrella and waiting for her to come out. I hope the weather will clear up in the next few days, although there are still quite a lot of grey clouds in the sky at the moment. I guess it will not clear up until all the moisture are gone. The ground isn't saturated yet, but there are some surface flooding because the gutters are blocked by autumn leaves. I also managed to take some photos of the Three Sisters and the seashore on the way home. It was fun to be a tourist in one's own country some time. I managed to colour some pages during the weekend as well at my mother-in-law's place. We went to my husband's grandmother's grave and put some fresh flowers there. We lost her on 28 June 2017 and it is almost a year since she past. She has missed all the great grandchildren's birthdays, and all her grandchildren's birthdays, and her children's birthdays. We looked at some other gravestones in the graveyard as my husband has other relatives who were also buried in the same cemetery. It was interesting to look at these old gravestones. Some of them really need a clean up as moss have covered the names of the deceased. Some gravestones probably need to be fixed or another erected since they are so old. I also saw my new nephew who is only two weeks old. He's very cute, very milk drunk, and haven't opened his eyes while we visited. We will have other chances to see him in the future. I am really happy for my sister-in-law because they have been trying for a baby for so long and finally got a baby. I am happy that I've taken some nice photos on the trip so I can paint these scenes when I go to Arts for Health this week. I am always on the lookout for new inspirations. In fact, I have always wanted to paint the trip down to Taranaki but never got around to taking any photos on the trip before this one.

Kids' birthday party at the pool

I've been busy this week for today's birthday party at the Gallagher Aquatic Centre. My plan was to make a Moana cake with two tiers, and since my daughter is allergic to egg, milk and peanuts, it has to be specially made beforehand. Pinterest is a great party-planning tool. I've looked at numerous Youtube videos about how to make a Moana cake and decided to do this one. Here is the Youtube video from the original cake decorator, and I have modified their method to make the waves in the ocean for the bottom tier. The cakes I baked is a butter cake from Edmonds cookbook, an essential kitchen guide for a Kiwi kitchen. I've substituted butter from the recipe with Olivani, two eggs with Orgran No Egg and water and milk with soy milk. The icing I used for both tiers is buttercream icing from Edmonds cookbook as well with butter again substituted by Olivani. Here is a link to the cake recipe and this is the buttercream icing recipe from the same book. Mum used the same recipe to make the top tier. However, it was difficult to see the ocean waves because the cake is not high enough. I made some white icing to put on top of the waves like foams and bubbles. For the top tier, I made light green icing and cover the top tier first. Then, I used a toothpick to tease the icing, making some negative spaces and dip the toothpick into a dark green icing to "paint" the grass all around the top tier. I've put both tiers in the fridge overnight so the icing will not melt in this weather. It has been so hot and it's not easy to keep the icing intack. I would have to make a taller cake so I can have more prominent waves around it. I planned to make chicken kebab and cocktail sausages, but ended up making Hawaiian pulled pork burger. It was really easy, but I didn't have ready-made BBQ sauce so I had to make my own. Mum gave me some fresh tomatoes so I just cut two up for the two cups of ketchup in the recipe. The secret ingredient is pineapple chunks and pineapple juice from the can. It's done within four hours in the slow cooker. I thought I would have enough time to make chicken kebabs this morning, but I only had half and hour left. I've marinated the chicken and prawns for the kebabs and left that in the fridge. I asked my husband to crush the milk arrowroot biscuits and dust it on top of the green tier as edible sand. I've used acrylic paint to draw red Moana symbols on brown triangular sail shapes and put toothpicks through them. Mum made blue jelly and put crushed biscuits on top as edible sand, and Oreo cookies as boats on top of the set jelly. After that, you just pop the sails on top of the Oreo and Ocean jelly is made. I had to get Blueberry Fanta and pineapple juice from the supermarket to make Ocean Paradise Water. I've poured the pineapple juice into ice trays to make ice cubes so the drink won't be too warm on the day. I think there wasn't enough fizz in the drink so next time if I make this again, I will add more Fanta or lemonade to the mix. The weather held and we were eating food under a big tree and sitting on picnic blankets. The seating area was occupied by another family for their kids' birthday party, and they got a bouncy castle to play on. My husband took the children to the pool and I just said and relaxed with the adults. It was fun to catch up with friends, one of them went to India recently and he showed the photos he took while he was there. He went to three weddings and visited his friends from work there. My daughter invited her new friend from her new class. His mum said he just joined the school last term last year so he's still a bit shy. He was kind and told my daughter not to go to the deep end in the pool. I am glad that she's already made new friends. My son was so happy that he got the Paw Patrol stamps and he showed everybody at the party what he got. He also couldn't wait to play with his Lego Minifigures. We wanted to get them, but hubby reckoned that for six dollars one minifigure it was too dear so he got two boxes of Lego with 7 figures. Now the children are asleep, I might have some time to rest for the rest of the weekend and perhaps play some World of Warcraft later. I've been leveling my Highmountain Tauren last night, and have been leveling my Void Elf Warlock as well. I guess I can make Lightforged Paladin next, and make Nightborn (mage?) last. I am enjoying leveling my low level Horde character because I am a bit over the starting area in Eastern Kingdom.