{Celebrate} Adventures of Motherhood and Byron's 6th Birthday to Adventure Island!

Today l was reminiscing about when my gorgeous baby boy Byron was born and how my life changed forever nearly 9 years ago on the morning he came into this big wide world!  At first l found it hard being a Mum and felt overwhelmed by all of the demands on me and not being in control was a feeling that l had never been accustomed to so l had to learn to change and become more adaptable.  Byron was the best thing that had ever happened to me and sent me on my journey into motherhood!  Motherhood was something l never thought l would have embraced so eagerly and definitely l never thought it would be something that would define who l was but today l am happy to be a Mum and celebrate my achievements in life, my children!

Today l look at my gorgeous boy and l wonder "How did you get so big?" 9 years has just gone by so quickly and in another blink of an eye you will be a grown man and ready to spread your wings and fly away!!  At night l still creep into his room and watch him sleep and give him a little kiss and whisper words of love and thanks for letting me be his mother!  I feel truly blessed that this gentle soul decided to have me as his mum!  Byron has helped me discover so many strengths l never thought l had and has given me the chance to also learn new abilities.  My childhood was not ideal but l hope with my children's help l can be the parent l always wished l had as a child and their guidance will help me be the best person l can be!

So now to the lighter side of things!!  I thought l would share with you my ABSOLUTE Favourite Party that l made for Byron!!  It was his 6th Birthday Party to Adventure Island!  I had so much fun creating this party and l hope you are inspired too!  Firstly l made invitations that looked like old maps which l hand wrote and then tea stained and burned the edges!  On the invitation l gave details of the explorer's itinerary and how to get to adventure island and l so wish l still had an invitation or had a photo but it was before l had even considered or heard of a blog so unfortunately l cannot share this with you!!

My objective was for the children to feel like they were Indiana Jones on a mission to explore uncharted territory and discover Adventure Island!  I then set up the party in an old canvas tent which was a bit tattered but it really added to the feel of the party!  All guests received a safari hat and binoculars upon arrival and were escorted to the tent where a low table was made out of an old door and covered in a jungle type print and the children sat on the grass around the table!

The table was complete with wooden leaf bowls filled with food and a large wooden fork and spoon and a pottery ball with a skull inside it so it looked rather Indiana Jones and there were snakes hanging from the roof and spiders and spider webs and the Children were all a little giddy with delight and then squeals and laughter filled the tent when the children drank the snake punch!  We had many activities such as making a jungle bookmark where by l supplied the card and some jungle foam stickers and glitter paints and the children had fun creating and even had a few children want to make a couple!!

Then we had the "Cross Crocodile River!"  where by my husband had two ropes set up for the kids to have to try and shuffle across without falling off and being eaten by crocodiles and then there was the ooey gooey search for treasure in the pot of spaghetti which l think l said was monkeys brains??  Then there was the Cubby house full of lolly spiders which the children had to be blindfolded and try and grab one in amongst the spider webs! Oh and then the jelly eyeball to eat which l think were a bit too real and put many of the kids off eating them!! ohhh l am sure there was much much more but l can't remember as it seems so long ago but it was my favourite party that l made for Byron but his cake well that was not that FABULOUS as Audrey was still a little baby so l didn't have as much time to create something exotic so it was a tree with bugs and vines all over it!












Hope you have had fun looking at Byron's 6th Birthday Party to Adventure Island and listening to my adventures as a Mum and now l am going to have a caffe latte and enjoy some of this sunshine!

Enjoy and remember to Bake, Create and Celebrate!  (mmmmm this is now my tagline!! hahahaha!)

{Create} Sweet Inspiration from Sweetapolita

Over the weekend l was frantically searching the web for some inspiring ideas for Kaitlyn's 7th Very Merry Unbirthday Party and trying to figure out how l was going to have all the elements of her party cohesively fit together and not become a chaotic mess!!!  However a little chaos would be quite fitting in with her party theme but l can't help but try and make things pretty and co ordinate as it is so deeply ingrained into my psyche so The Alice Party is proving to be more difficult than l ever had imagined!!!

So l was pleasantly relieved when l came across a post from Rosie from Sweetapolita called A Madish Tea Party which took prettiness to a new level for me and inspired some magical ideas!  How can you not fall in love with this beautiful tea party??  And what was even better is that Rosie posts the recipes to go with her lovely photos so you too can recreate her masterpieces!  I have always loved to bake a cake but now l am inspired by her ruffles and layers of deliciousness that l am going to attempt my first ever ruffle cake and try and recreate 7 of them for Kaitlyn's Party as each girl needs to have a cake to celebrate their Unbirthday too!!!  I had already decided that each girl was going to decorate their very own cupcakes to take home as a favour but also thought they could indulge in celebrating their Unbirthday and blow out a candle when it was cake time but now after seeing these amazing cakes l am very tempted to make each girl a mini ruffle cake as they look so scrumptious but maybe that will be a bit OTT??  But seriously when don't l go over the top???  My brother has made a very good point that when people come to my parties they don't bring a plate with them they take one home instead!!  I just can't help but want to bake and create all things pretty and so now l am inspired to master the ruffle as well as the macaron!!





Thank you Rosie for creating such scrumptiousness and for inspiring me to take cake to a new level of deliciousness! You are a Cake Goddess!  So please have a look at Sweetapolita and her wonderful cake and confectionery recipes as they are worth dying and going to heaven for!!! http://sweetapolita.com/blog/  and you can follow her on facebook and be updated with her amazingness!  Or you can see her Madish Tea Party in it's full glory here: http://sweetapolita.com/2011/06/ruffles-roses-a-madish-tea-party/#comment-9084

I will be posting more on Kaitlyn's party preparations and ideas over the coming weeks as l have a lot to prepare and share!

Take Care and remember to Bake, Create and Celebrate!
Larissa

{Bake} Raspberry White Chocolate Cheesecake Pops and My Perfect Vanilla Bean Cookie Recipe!!

Sorry it has been a couple of very busy weeks and l have failed to post anything but life has been rather hectic here with renovation mayhem!!  But finally l have a BEAUTIFUL new kitchen and now l can bake and create even more than l normally do with my double oven!  However l have not had the opportunity to use it to it's full potential as yet as l have been too busy cleaning up my saw dust ridden house but l can deal with the cleaning up knowing l have a wonderful space to work in now and feel very organised and now l just need to do the rest of the house!!