Eleven Candles! Where did the time go?

My daughter, Anita, turned eleven last Friday.  Eleven!!  I can hardly believe it.  She is at the age where she's still a child, yet almost a teenager.  Yikes!  I wish there was a pause button I could press, so I could hold on to her for just a while longer.  I want her to be a child for as long as she can.  I want to protect her and keep her safe at all times.  But, of course, I am slowly letting her go, allowing her to grow, and mature into the wonderful young woman I imagine she'll be. 

Until then, I am going to cherish and savour these last few childhood years.  I won't take for granted tucking her in bed every night, kissing her goodnight, and hearing her tell me she loves me (at least three times) before she falls asleep. 

Anita asked if I could bake her a lemon layer cake with lemon curd

filling, so of course, I did.  Really, is there anything better than a

home-made birthday cake?  To me, a store bought cake, no matter how

beautiful it may look, cannot compare to a home-baked cake, as it is made

with so much love and care for that special person in mind.

I can tell she's getting older when she says no to chocolate and

 asks for lemon, instead!

I baked these rainbow chip cupcakes for her girlfriends party the next day!

Can you see the rainbow chips?  I frosted the cupcakes with vanilla

butter cream and decorated them with tiny synthetic roses

The birthday room at Creative Cafe where all the girls got to pick their own

pottery to paint 

Anita picked a donut shaped piggy bank

Annabel chose a bird to paint

And my niece, Emily, chose to paint a flower shaped jewelery box

After the girls painted, we had pizza, sang happy birthday, and

had cupcakes!

The pieces the girls (and Nuno and I) painted, had to stay at the cafe to

be glazed and fired.  I will be picking them up as soon as they're ready and

delivering them to their creative artists.  I can't wait to see what they look like!

A Perfectly Pink Princess Party!

On Sunday, my April Fool's baby celebrated her sixth birthday!  I can't believe how quickly the time has passed.  It seems like just the other day, she was turning one, and now she's six years old! 

This year, Annabel chose to celebrate her birthday at home with a pink princess party. 

On Saturday, I baked chocolate and vanilla cupcakes for the princess celebration and a cheesecake for our evening get-together with family.  I was super excited to do some baking as I don't get to bake very much these days.  It was such a treat!

Scooping batter into muffin tins

Chocolate cupcakes cooling on the rack

Preparing cheesecake for water bath

The morning of Annabel's birthday...

 

Annabel opening her gifts from Anita.

 

 

 

 

Annabel loving her new pretty pink dress!

 

 

 

 

Since Easter is right around the corner, I decorated the vanilla cupcakes with buttercream icing, fuzzy, yellow chicks and cadbury mini eggs.  The chocolate cupcakes were dipped in chocolate ganache and topped with sprinkles and cadbury chocolate bunnies. 

 

 

 

 

The party started at 12:00 pm.  The little girls had pizza for lunch.  I would love to share photos of all the children with you, but because of privacy laws, and such, I cannot.  They played with the pretend kitchen, doll house, colored, read books, played Wii and had lots of fun. 

Soon, it was time for tea...

 

 

 

 

The tea was really fruit juice, but we'll just pretend! 

 

 

 

 

Singing happy birthday to Annabel!

 

 

After tea and cupcakes, Annabel opened all of her cards and gifts and took pictures with her friends.  They played some more and then it was three...time for all the princesses to go home. 

 

 

Later that evening...

 

 

 

After dinner, we had some family over for cake and coffee.  Annabel loves cheesecake, so this was her birthday cake.  I topped it with whipped cream and fresh mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries and raspberries), her favourite! 

 

 

 

 

Annabel making a wish and blowing out her candles.  If it were my wish, I would ask to pause the time.  There's no place I'd rather be than right here, right now!  I count my blessings.  They are many!  Annabel is such a sweet, kind little girl.  I am so proud of her and the person she is becoming.  Happy birthday, my darling daughter! 

Saturday Teacupcakes and Sunday Strawberry Festival

On Saturday, Nuno went to a fishing tournament on Orr Lake , so it was just the girls and I at home for the day.  Anita was flipping through one of my cookbooks and asked, "Mommy, can we bake something today?".  I told her I would think about it, since I still had to finish up some chores and after all, it was Saturday, and I thought I should relax a bit.  Her request lingered in my mind and I remembered I had  new cupcake molds I still hadn't experimented with.  So the answer was, "Okay, we'll make cupcakes!".  And then, of course, Anita and Annabel cheered and waited as patiently as they could for me to finish my chores. 

Annabel sifting flour into the bowl.

Anita adding softened butter

Annabel adding sugar

Vanilla cupcakes cooling on the rack

I decorated them with cream cheese frosting (which I tinted pink).  The teacupcake molds were a hit! 

This past weekend, our local "pick your own" farm, www.barriehillfarms.com celebrated their 5th annual Strawberry Festival.  We decided to go pick some strawberries on Sunday and enjoy the festivities.  The morning started off very grey and cloudy, so we waited till later in the afternoon to see if it would improve. 

 

Nuno and the girls on the tractor trailer, getting ready for the ride to the strawberry fields.

 

 

Fresh picked new potatoes, sweet peas and snow peas for sale.

Fresh spinach and asparagus for sale too!

We had to wait a while for this strawberry shortcake, as the organizers had run out of cake, but Annabel didn't want to go home without eating it.  So, we waited, and it was definitely worth the wait!

This is what we purchased at the farm on Sunday - fresh picked strawberries, new potatoes, and sweet peas! 

The weather did improve and we had a fun afternoon at the farm!  I feel so lucky to live within a few minutes of this wonderful farm that provides such a large assortment of  fresh-picked produce from May to September!

Sunday's dinner - grilled pork, local new potatoes and sweet peas.

And don't forget dessert! Our vanilla cupcakes, cut in bite-size pieces, vanilla ice cream, and sliced strawberries soaked in their own sugar syrup. So simple, yet so delicious!

I will end this post with the beautiful backyard sunset I captured on Sunday evening.  Sorry for the rather long post.  I just had so many pictures I wanted to share with you.  I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday.  It is rather chilly and blustery here in Barrie.  Hoping it's warm and sunny where you are!  Thank you for stopping by.  I so enjoy having you.  Happy Wednesday! xo