bear’s 5th birthday :: the chirp cake

February 16, 2013 by mama lola

my son is very particular about his birthday cakes. he chooses and plans what he wants and then DH and i are in charge of making these wishes come into fruition. luckily for us, bear’s wishes are not outrageous or complicated. in fact, they’re adorably simple. for his third birthday he wanted a car cake. for his fourth birthday, he wanted a triangle cake.

and, this year for his 5th birthday he wanted a chirp cake, as in chirp the wee yellow bird from chirp magazine.

this recipe is directly from the joy of cooking. any modifications we made are marked with an asterisk.

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

2/3 vegetable oil

3 large eggs *we used boxed egg substitute

1 1/2 cups shredded carrot

1 cup chopped walnuts *DH has a srious walnut allergy, so we use sunflower seeds instead

1 cup golden raisins

(1/2 cup canned crushed pineapple)this is optional and we never include the pineapple

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. preheat oven to 350F, grease and flour you pan.

2. whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl.

3. whisk together the wet ingredients in a bowl, then with a rubber spatula, stir into the flour mixture until just combined.

4. stir in the rest of the ingredients.

5. scrape batter into your pan, ensuring it has spread evenly.

6. baking time depends on your pan size/ dimensions. we used a 9 inch round cake pan and the cake baked for about 35 minutes.

7. let cool before applying icing, if so desired.

each month the magazine is complied together with a theme. one month it was BIRTHDAYS and there was a recipe for a chirp cake. bear saw it and immediately came running to me excitedly saying that that was the cake he wanted. we tweaked it a little; instead of donuts for eyes we used a puddle of icing and plopped blueberries for the pupils. we used dried pear slices for the beak. and the inside was yummy, egg free carrot cake. delish!!!

the kid was so happy, delighted and proud. he and lion actually worked hard with dear hubby with the mixing of all of those ingredients. i love that the kids are so eager to be involved!

this moment.

February 15, 2013 by mama lola

as inspired by souleMama; one photo from our week, no words, only an image to sum up our time as a family. one that captures a moment in time and is a visual reminder of where we were at this moment. feel free to leave a link from your moment this week.

to my bear :: happy 5th birthday

February 14, 2013 by mama lola

BIRTHDAY WEEK!
* * * * * * * * * * * *

dear bear,

happy birthday, my sweet boy.
today you turn five years old. that’s one whole handful of fingers!

what a wonderful year this is going to be for you.
you will become a stronger swimmer and turn into a fish at the cottage this summer. you will become a better bike rider. you will finish your first year of school. and, school has proven itself to be a wonderful place for you. there, you have lots good friends
your independence has soared and i am sure it will reach even mightier heights, now that you are 5.

i remember the day you were born very well. it was a day full of anticipation, excitement and love. your daddy and i had been waiting for you for a long time.
i remember being in the hospital and riding through the contractions. feeling the waves come over me, helping me push you into this world. finally, my midwife told me to reach down and i felt you there and i pulled you out of me and into my arms.
there you were. our beautiful bear. daddy had the biggest and silliest smile on his face; you could see the pride he felt for his little family shining from his heart. i was so overcome and overwhelmed with your arrival, that i just stared at you.
i did this a lot.

i am still often overwhelmed by you.
your kindness and gentle demeanour towards other people warms me.
your curiosity of the world in which we live, is awe-inspiring and surprising to me.
your ability to move your body with such strength and limberness, is always mind blowing to me. i love to watch you climb things, as i stand back and admire your courage and trust in your body.

i am proud to be your mama.
i am excited to see where this new year will take you, what you will learn and what will be a struggle. but, i am most excited to be by your side as we meet new adventures as a family and explore new horizons together.

i will always be here to hold your hand in moments of apprehension, to catch you in times of weakness and i will always help you back to health. i will care and love you, because that comes so easily to me.

happy birthday my love. paljon onnea rakkain.

this year is going to full of magic!

love, äiti

bear’s birthday party!

February 12, 2013 by mama lola

WELCOME TO BIRTHDAY WEEK!

on sunday, my bear had a birthday party for his 5th birthday. he insisted that no adults were allowed except for dear hubby and myself, and all four grandparents. so that’s what we did, a drop off party. i was a little nervous and skeptical that it would work, but another mum had recommended it and since bear really wanted to do it, i figured why not.

the party was short, two hours. the plan was to let the guests trickle in, but they all arrived promptly at 11am! that meant party time! the kids played, while i made some fruit kabobs and cream cheese wraps. then dear hubby had them play a few rounds of pin the tail on the donkey, then it was lunch time, and then cake time!

after devouring the carrot cake the kids played again for a bit, and then it was present time! and then, again the parents arrived promptly and the party was over! for any parent considering hosting a drop off party… DO IT! for us as hosts, it was easier as we didn’t have to feed as many people, and i wasn’t trying to catch up with a friend while trying to organize the kids as well. i actually had several opportunities to sit and chat with my folks, drink coffee and just watch as the kids played. We did look into bouncy castle hire with the intention of having some inflatables as we knew the kids would love this, but we decided that it wouldn’t be safe having one at a drop off party. It would be too much pressure for me and the hubby to make sure all the kids were safe on the inflatables and still manage everthing else we had to do for the party.
the kids themselves were so well behaved. there was no fighting, no shenanigans of any kind; they followed directions, ate nicely, chatted amongst themselves and were super adorable, quite frankly!

we made an amazing cake that i will post about in another entry. and, i will share what we did for loot bags this year in another post.

THIS IS BIRTHDAY WEEK!
bear is turning five on valentine’s day and i’m building up to my letter that i wrote to him for this special occasion.

lovely valentine’s day card crafts!

February 6, 2013 by mama lola

kids love to hand-out valentine’s day cards to each other at school. we were even sent home a list of all of the student’s in bear’s class to ensure that no kid is left out, i suppose.

here are eight super cute, super easy cards you can make with the kids for valentine’s day. i find my kids love to be involved and even my lion who is only 2.5 years old, can easily participate in the creation of these cards.

: SOURCES :

1. olive you card from better homes and gardens.

2. fly away with me from life in wonderland

3. hearts in a jar from hooray hurrah

4. i’m glad you’re in my school from simple organized living

5. have a “dino”mite valentine’s day from life in wonderland

6. i love you from my kids guide

7. would you like a lollipop? from the matthews family blog.

8. some bunny loves you from so crafty on squidoo

let me know which one you decided on!

birthday invitations :: a DIY craft

January 26, 2013 by mama lola

bear is turning the big five-o-roonie in a few weeks!!!
valentine’s day to be exact.

and what almost-five-year-old doesn’t want to have a birthday party with their friends?! of course i went on pinterest looking for birthday invitation ideas, but nothing sprang out at me. so, bear and i designed our own little invitations. so cute, perfect project for him to help with and easy enough for that it didn’t turn into some all consuming time sucker!

here’s how we made ’em!

MATERIALS:

colourful paper or card stock
scissors
pencil
glue
markers, sparkle pens, whatever really.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. choose a picture of the birthday prince or princess. get copies made.
2. decide on the colour, size and shape of party hats. once i made one that was the right size, i traced it and cut out the rest of the party hats from the card stock.
3. decorate party hats. bear did the decorating and he loved it. we kept it simple, but you could add pompoms or glitter or whatever, really!
4. glue the decorated party hats on to the heads. let dry.
5. then i loosely traced the backs of the photo heads, cut the traced heads out of card stock and glued them on to the backs of the photo’s. this way we could write on regular paper, than the slippery photo paper.

have fun making your own invitations!

still can’t believe he’s going to be 5!!!!
what?!
i’ll be writing my sappy post about being this guys mama closer to the big day.

nine fabulous valentine’s wreath ideas.

January 23, 2013 by mama lola

valentine’s day is only a few short weeks away, so i’ve compiled 9 awesome wreath idea’s for any DIY craft lover. some are more complicated than others and will take more time, but there’s something here to suit everyone’s taste! ENJOY!

1. valentine’s wreath with pipe cleaner rosette’s:: shaken together

2. valentine’s willow heart wreath :: the cards we drew

3. valentine’s day wreath :: the thriftress

4. pink floral wreath :: simply crafty

5. spiral rose wreath :: little birdie secrets

6. heart argyle valentine’s wreath :: mine for the making

7. valentine’s fanric wreath :: project insprire

8. a paper wreath :: woodlands home

9.triple heart yarn heart wreath :: kaboodle

delightful strawberry treats!

January 17, 2013 by mama lola

as we start to move closer to the weekend, here’s a little summer lovin’!

for me, strawberries are a sign of summer. and since we are obviously not going to have a snowy winter (again) and, since i am tired of this winter that turned muddy and brown, i have to admit that i am now yearning for some warmer temperatures and some green grass in my backyard. i know, i know, i’m a winter gal, but there has to be snow for it to feel like winter. and there isn’t so i’m ready for a change.
so, to brighten my spirits and yours, and to warm our toes i thought i would heat things up here at BEAR&LION and get the summer ball rolling… with some STRAWBERRY DELIGHTS!

sources

1. strawberry tea from mandee’s candee shoppe

2.rhubarb strawberry tart from simply gourmet

3. strawberry bruschetta from the curvy carrot

4. strawberry cupcakes with strawberry buttercream from cupcakes garden

5. strawberry shortcake from epicurean mom

6. strawberry jam from mike’s table

night out! freedom!

January 15, 2013 by mama lola

as a part of my resolutions for this year, a big one is to start taking care of ME. my goal is to try and make myself whole again, by doing things that i like; spending time with people i love, taking time away from the kids and the household, letting myself have a good time and enjoy life and not feel guilty about it.

so, this past weekend dear hubby and i shipped the kids to their grandparents house for one night. we actually had almost 24 hours of kid free, adult time! it was incredible! we went dancing with friends on saturday night and boy-o-boy did we busta move! dear hubby’s shirt was soaked in sweat by the end of the night! gross i know, but great evidence of a good time!

we drank lotsa fancy drinks, danced for hours and then eventually dear hubby and i dragged our butts home, walking as we couldn’t find a cab! ha! we totally felt like 20-somethings!

i felt such incredible freedom. a feeling i don’t think i’ve felt since becoming a mother almost five years ago. knowing the kids were in good hands with my in-laws, knowing there were no restrictions to our time out or the potential for fun, made it so much easier to go out and have have an awesome time with me peeps! it’s kind of unbelievable we’ve waited so long to send the kids away for a night, but it has always felt like a bad time for a variety of reasons like my health, financial obligations and just the notion of asking a favour of people to hang with the kids, is tough. i realize it sounds silly and what have you, but we have now learned. a new era has opened itself up and dear hubby and i intend to take full advantage of all the people we have around us who want to spend time with the kids!

on sunday morning, dear hubby and i stumbled out of bed at 10am (yup, we totally slept in), headed out for breakfast and then came home and parked ourselves on the couch for some movie time/ nap time. we weren’t really hung over, just stiff and tired from the intense dancing and the super late night! the kids came home a little before dinner, happy and healthy, and ready to play. i love my kids, but they clearly need a break from me and dear hubby, as much we need a break from them.

can’t wait for our next dance night!
perhaps an 80’s & 90’s theme night?
hmmm…

hearts and cupids arrows :: a valentine’s crafts.

January 13, 2013 by mama lola

valentine’s day is almost upon us.

the stores are already filling their shelves with heart shaped boxes filled with chocolates to suit everyone’s flavour preferences. there are cardboard cut outs of cupids hanging in windows and there are lots faux red roses around town.

here are some cute and simple craft projects i’ve gathered from pinterest. i especially love the little cupid arrows made of twigs and felt.