Breaking Barbie's legs

We had a little party yesterday for the girls, partly a leaving party and partly a birthday party for Georgia.  So I made a birthday cake for Georgia; she likes pink, so I made a pink doll cake like the yellow one I made for Isabella a couple of years ago (on here somewhere).  Last time I made it, as I recall, I managed to use one of those 'fake' Barbie dolls, whose legs come off easily, however, this time, I only had real barbies left as I had been sorting things out to pack and the fake ones didn't quite make it.  I tried to put Barbie in the cake whole, but she was too tall, so I had no choice but to pull her legs off.  I managed to get one off alright, but the other broke (the hip joint, to be precise).  Anyway, she managed to get through the whole 'cake-display' event, poor thing, always smiling through the pain.  But now I can't fix her.  I've packed the superglue and can only find uhu, but it hasn't worked.  Adrian says to tell the girls that it's a 'Limited Edition Heather Mills Barbie'.  Either that or 'Limited Edition Hip Replacement this is what happens if you don't drink your milk Barbie'.

Hopefully, here is a picture of the cake.  But I have problems with the photos on here so it could come out above the text.

Oh it worked!  Fancy that!

Fab day

Had a day out with hubby and the girls yesterday, a sort of 'birthday day-out' on account of not having done anything else to 'celebrate'. Anyway, we went to Pornic and it was lovely. Wandered around the shops wishing we were wealthy and I was slim (oh, the lovely 'things' and the lovely clothes...). Stopped for a drink outside a tabac/bar (ie not a glamorous cafe) - one large coffee, one glass of milk and one lemonade - 7,80€! Then had lunch on the harbour, which was actually very reasonably priced and then bought ice-creams for desert from an ice-cream place (one of those places with so much choice, you can't choose). Had a walk along the harbour and then got back in the car to find a beach. Which we did indeed find, and a very nice one too. The water was a bit rough and the girls got a few dunkings but they loved it! Came home and sold 60,00€ of stuff from the small ads (although they paid by cheques, so fingers crossed they don't bounce, but they tend not to over here. Anyway, I've got their addresses, so I can always send the kids round to sort them out).

The only slight downer was the late evening discovery that I had not quite shut the freezer door in the morning, so we lost a bit of food (mostly ice-cream, most of which had been left by guests, so not paid for by us). It's my own fault (and not just because I was the one who left the door open) because I had been complaining about a lack of space in my freezers - be careful what you wish for and all that.

Hopefully here are some photos, but goodness knows what order they will be in:

Isabella building a sandcastle on top of her towel.

Georgie.  The people in the background are the ones she chucked sand all over when she shook out her towel.

Foraging

Went for a walk with the girls this afternoon to a nearby lake, it's only about 2.5kms around, but today we were gone nearly two and a half hours!  The girls each took a little book of 'things to spot in the countryside' type of thing and so I think we examined every plant and bug that we came across.  Anyway, seems we went at a very good time as we discovered all sorts of lovely edible things beginning to ripen up (or even already ready) - Bay, Brambles, Hazelnuts, Sloes, Rosehips, Elderberries, Hawthorns and possibly some horseradish, although it might have been dock leaves, I'm not too sure but I took some photos and I'll try to identify it.

Anyway, I have informed my dear hubby that once the girls are back at school, we'll be back down there gathering the elderberries, I think they'll be ripe first.  Then it'll be back again for the rosehips, the hawthorns and then the sloes.  Most of what we gather will go to making jellies, which hopefully I will sell a bit more of next year (to the guests) and of course are also good for pressies.  (And yes, we eat them too, incase you're wondering).  I would take the girls with me, but after a short while of gathering the wild harvest they get bored and start complaining about spiky things and stingy things and what have you, so it's not worth it - best to stick to the walks discovering it all and then moving swiftly on to keep their interest.

There are a couple of play areas around the lake so we stopped each time we got to them so that the girls could have a play and at the end, we reached the little man-made beach where you can swim in the summer, but the weather wasn't great, so I let them roll up their trousers and have a paddle.  Although they might as well have had a swim considering how wet they were when they came out. Had to get them to strip off before they got into the car.  When we got home, Georgie said to me, quite spontaneously 'we had a great time, Mummy' which was so lovely, because we really did have a great time.

Currently on the playlist here at L4R - 'Seven Drunken Nights' by The Dubliners. 

Yup.  Did it again the other night.  Not a good idea.  Must be this whole '40 is fast approaching' thing and therefore a subconcious attempt to feel younger (see previous post).  Tried another chuppa chups, but only had cherry flavour left this time and it didn't work.

My sweet girls

This evening the girls said to me 'put your feet up mummy, we'll get your dinner for you'.  So I let them.  Off they went into the kitchen, lots of crashing about duly ensued, and then, one broken glass later, they proudly presented me with - a grated carrot and lemon juice sandwich.  Which they watched me eat and, of course, enjoy.  Fortunately, they had also thoughtfully provided me with a very large glass of lemonade to go with it.  Followed by a cereal bar.  They were so sweet though and so proud of themselves, it makes my heart melt, even if my tastebuds weren't entirely in agreement.