Author: Renae

Living life as a wife, a stay at home mama of 3 kids under 5, a marriage celebrant, a craft and sewing amateur, a cooked breakfast lover, coffee enthusiast, extroverted socialite, and most recently, someone who is trying to keep a tidy house. It's tough I tell you!

Happy 30th Birthday Hubs continued

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After Hubs’ exam on Friday, all the med students in his year based at Wang (15) headed back to one of the students’ houses to be greeted with this:

It was officially time to party! We had a nice afternoon with yummy treats, cold beers, and of course, tasty tasty caaaaaake!

(More info on the cake to come)
Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Huhhhhhhbssssss,
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuu!

(Oh okay. Here’s a sneaky peek!)
And of course, being Friday, Hubs and Chance had their best Friday shirts on!
And so continues Hubs’ birthday month!

Introducing…

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Jett Alexander
My dear cousin Amy and her wonderful Hubs Andrew had a beautiful baby boy on the 16th of June. Everyone is doing well and I got to have some lovely new baby cuddles. Congratulations guys, and I look forward to the day that Jett and Chance get to play together! I’m sure they’ll be great friends.

Happy ??th Birthday Hubs

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Since Hubs is celebrating a bit of a milestone this year, we’re having a birthday month! It started on his actual birthday, last Thursday (the 23rd of June, for those playing at home.) I had planned to give him a big sleep in, brekky in bed, and present opening to follow. What actually happened, is that Hubs was the one who gave me a sleep in! That’s just the kind of Hubs I have. An awesome one. Once I got up and showered, I did make him brekky – bagels with cream cheese and we ate together on the couch. Then it was time for prezzies! Unfortunately, it was also time for Chanbe’s nap time. So once he was settled, the opening commenced!

He received some lovely cards from family and friends in Brizzie, as well as a package from his Mum that took him for a lovely trip down memory lane. He also received…

… as well as…
… and then there was this!

Hubs had asked me a month or 2 ago if I could make him a jacket. The thing is, he thinks I’m much more clever on the ol’ sewing machine than I actually am, so I enlisted the help of my dear “Aunty” Heather (who is one of my Mum’s besties, as well as my brother’s Godmother) who is a wizz on the sewing machine, and after running all around Brisbane to find the right material, Aunty Heather did an amazing job turning Hubs’ ideas into reality!

Rather dashing if you ask me! After a leisurely morning lazing around home, we popped down to our favourite coffee shop for a celebratory coffee and cake.
We then had a lovely evening at home, as Hubs had an exam the next morning that he had to prepare for. And I had a party to prepare for! More details to come!

We’re in Brizzie

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So Chanbe and I arrived in Brizzie on Wednesday, and unfortunately my little guy is sick sick sick. Just a cold, but a nasty one with a horrid cough that’s been keep me him (okay, both of us) up all night. Not much to be done other than give lots of fluids and lots of cuddles, which there are plenty of both.

Anyway, just wanted to touch base and say hi and if this post is a bit random, you can blame the lack of sleep. Also the fact that blogger has changed the layout of posting and it’s messing with me a bit. Just something else new to learn… Oh! And my dear cousin Amy had a little baby boy the last night. SO EXCITED!!! Can’t wait to meet the little man. Congrats Amy & Andrew on the arrival of Jett Alexander x x x

30 hours

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In the last 30 hours, as well as having 7 (interrupted) hours of sleep, I have been busy in the kitchen making the following:

Shepherd’s pie
Bolognaise
Lamb stew (slow-cooked)
Chicken stew (slow-cooked after the lamb)
Pasta bake
Orange polenta cake

Oh yes. I’m taking the next month off cooking. Maybe not baking though. I may whip up a batch of either chocolate or oatmeal cookies tomorrow, depending on time. I still have to pack for Brisbane, as well as send a few emails and run a couple of errands, and spend time with Hubs before we depart early Wednesday morning. Unlike last time, we will drive from Wang to Melbourne airport. The thought of all the “legs” was too much this time around, and I’m relieved about that decision.

So much to do! But right now, it’s sleepy time. And by that, I mean I’ll be sleepy while Chanbe keeps me up 🙂

The Cake

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Step one: find an awesome vanilla cake recipe

Step two: mix ingredients and choose colours

Step three: bake first layer, which happens to be blue
Step four: break layer when getting it out of pan

Step five: be sad about this

Step six: be happy about your new hair cut and colour! (where applicable)

Step seven: watch as the other layers come out wonderfully!

Step eight: make your ganache and frosting, and colour to your heart’s desire!

Step nine: start layering

Step ten: keep layering!

Step eleven: frost the outside of the cake (be generous with this “layer” of frosting)

Step twelve: whack the ganache on top.

Step thirteen: take a cute photo of your son.

Step fourteen: decorate your cake as desired. Don’t tell your friends, or whomever you’re eating the cake with, what’s inside, and enjoy their oooohs and aaaahs!

Yum yum yum yum YUM!!

Any questions? I’ll be happy to help if I can. (I got most of my help from the internet.)

Also, there’s 14 steps because I can’t stop on 13. And I noticed I have 13 followers on my blog. This is not sitting well with me. Maybe someone could help me out? 🙂

Thanks!

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Why thank you for all the compliments for the cake! I really had a great time making it – that’s the good thing about Chanbe going to bed around 6pm. I get the evenings to bake and cook to my heart’s content while Hubs plays studies on his computer. Tonight I spent 2.5 hours cooking meals to put in the freezer so Hubs has a few things to eat while I’m away, and so I don’t have to cook for a week (more like a month!) when I get back from Brisbane and we have to move.

Oh yeah, did I mention Chance and I are going to Brisbane for a week on Wednesday? I thought it would be good for Hubs to get some solid study and sleep done in preparation for his exams. The next month is going to be absolutely chaotic, with my trip to Brizzie, Hubs’ birthday (guess how old he’s turning!?) (and I’ll give you a hint – it’s not 23!), Hubs’ first 2 exams, our garage sale, (I’m SO EXCITED about that!), then some full-on packing needs to start, then Hubs’ third and final exam (yay!) then more packing (and culling I hope) and then we move the week of the 4th of July. That’s only 3 weeks and 1 day away. Yikes! I want to be “settled” in by that Friday – that’s the plan anyway. The thought of it all is giving me a massive headache, and I don’t know if and when I’ll have time to blog in the next wee while, so I’ll just have to play that one by ear. I’m glad I got my 500th post in though!

There is something I do want to share in the mean time. Last week I was going through some of my posts on this blog, reminiscing and reading about our adventures, when I stumbled upon this one. I looked up the movie I had mentioned, The Expendables, and Hubs and I ended up watching it last night.

It was awesome.

I do love a good action movie, and the best thing about this movie? One of the scenes had Bruce Willis, Sylvester Stallone, and… wait for it… Arnold Shwarzenegger!!! I’m not even kidding! Where else can you get Bruce, Sly and Arnie teaming up like this! It was a thousand times better than The A Team movie (2 thumbs down from me) and just a whole lot of fun. 2 thumbs up if you want mind-blowing action and a star-studded cast.

I’m falling asleep at the keys now, so I’m going to call it a night. Looking forward to seeing a few of you while we’re up in Brizzie!

Happy 500 posts Wifey

/ Renae / 6 Comments
What better way to celebrate, than with delicious vanilla bean cake!
Delicious vanilla bean cake with vanilla frosting, topped with ganache!
Delicious vanilla bean layer cake with vanilla frosting, topped with ganache!
Does it get any better than this? Happy posting to meeeeeeeee!