Ante Turns 1! The Very Hungry Caterpillar.....

Ante turns 1

Very hungry caterpillars waiting for their cake

Amazing cake made by Bex (Ante's mum)

Harry, Holls and Grayson

Dons

Marcel and Bubba

Bex and Ante

Jack- now a black belt in Karate

Jules

Dion and Tia

Jimmy

Jen

Fiona and Kiwi

Tarn and Beau beau

Kiwi and Billy

Tam and Jimmy

Selfie with the sister in laws

Mons and Cooper

Our most precious nephew Ante turned one the other week and we got to celebrate it on a beautiful sunny day with all the whanau. The theme was The Very Hungry Caterpillar and his mum Bex made the amazing cake. I whipped up some cupcakes and after doing a search online I found these cute little fondant caterpillars. I think my ones turned out pretty well.

Baking for Nightshift- Banana Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

This is one delicious banana cake. I have to say I am not a big fan of banana cake at all, in fact it's my least favourite flavour. However I have made this a few times since I found this recipe. What I like about it is that it's a pure and simple and unadulterated banana cake with no frills, spices or additions. AND it tastes great....that could have something to do with the fact that sitting on top is a layer of cream cheese icing maybe? It makes a big cake which is made in a tray tin so although it isn't tall it's certainly big enough. You can find the recipe here. The girls at work that night loved this cake and one of them adores banana cake so surely that has to some sort of endorsement?

A Bit of Ballet for the Oldies

Cupcakes for the dancers and their support 'crew'

Warming up

Sophie about to start her Barefoot

Saskia mid dance with sweet old Margie going for a wee wander

Lexi also warming up

The gorgeous Krystal doing her Classical

Stephanie doing Free Movement

Mikayla doing her Classical- looking stunning in that gorgeous tutu

Ms A introducing Harry

Harry doing his Classical

Stephanie with her Grade 3 Character

Zoe with her own dance number form the Grade 2 exam

Sophie with her Classical

Stunning!

Finally Lei and Cushla with Harry and Saskia

Lexi busting out the moves

And Oli doing the same

Last weekend Dons and I organised for some of the ballet kids to do a wee show for the lovely oldies at a rest home where Dons works. So a small group of us hatched together a 'show' and the lovely Ms A (ballet teacher extraordinaire) brought her two little ones to be a part of it too. The kids did so well and I was so proud of them trying to put a little bit of fun and enjoyment into the lives of others. And it worked. The oldies loved it and just beamed, clapped and cheered along with the staff who also seemed to have a good time. I love that the kids have such a sense of wanting to do something good for other members of the community. Before the show they all went around the residents and introduced themselves and had a little chat. At the end the little ones got up and busted some moves much to the delight of the oldies. All in all a lovely experience and one which left Harry feeling great. Of course a huge thanks must go out to the parents too who gave up their Sunday afternoon to bring their child!