Gingerbread

Before we went down south for our Christmas holiday, I made a batch of gingerbread. It is almost as fun to bake as it is to eat. Dominic is a fan of gingerbread (especially if it has mini M&Ms stuck on it) and so were his cousins as it turns out.

Conclusion: gingerbread is very popular with kids. Good to know if you're a witch wanting to build a house to entice small children, not such good news if you're a gingerbread man or woman, wishing to pursue a career in early childhood education.



Plate of finished cookies. The cars and dinosaurs were done by me with cookie cutters. The Santa head and UFO were sculpted freehand by Matt.



Delicious Christmas trees. Gingerbread + icing + green sugar crystals + mini M&Ms = yummy.



The Santa head before it went into the oven. I like the fact that it reminds me of Captain Caveman (if he ever dressed up as Santa).

Sadly, he was too delicious to survive long out of the oven and did not make it to see Christmas day.

Going to the zoo, zoo, zoo!

We had a beautiful day at the zoo. Matt has put up some of the photos (we took a lot - the animals were cute and frolicksome as was the Dom). Here are some more pics:



Checking out the Canadian Geese with his dad.



One of the giraffes gives itself a head rub.



The Wild African Dogs were interested in us...



...but left disappointed when they discovered it was only an apple that Dom was chewing on.



Lemurs know how to sunbathe with maximum basking.



Dom enjoys the playground area outside 'The Nest'.



Someone was offended when we made too many 'a dingo stole my baby' jokes.



Dom's favourite today was the Serval. While the servals have tended to nap through most of our previous visits, today this one was doing laps around the cage. Dom was giggling away as he watched the awesome serval on the move. It is a very graceful and beautiful big kitty when it is roaming around.



Despite the surprised expression on the Sun bear's face, it didn't actually sit down on a pine cone, just next to one.



The other Sun bear shows of its manicurificent claws.



The Red Panda was attempting to bust out when we arrived.



'Almost there...'



Then the Red Panda realized we were watching and abandoned its escape plan... for now at least.

Dino-muffins!

Woo-hoo! My new dinosaur muffin tin worked out. We now have dino-shaped muffins (which more than meet Dominic's approval). I can now say Dominic ate a T-Rex for lunch!



Banana Choc Chip Dino-muffins!



Om nom nom. T-Rex. Delicious.

Scrooge vs Grinch vs Grouch

While I'm probably more at the bouncing around singing jingle bells than the 'bah humbug' end of the attitude towards Christmas spectrum, I do love my anti-Christmas characters. There's nothing more charming than a mean, cynical grump who just can't stand the noise and excitement of all the Merry Christmasing going on around them. Let's face it, we've all had moments in the supermarket or shop when they've played Mariah Carey singing 'All I want for Christmas' one too many times and we're tempted stuff fruitcake into the stereo just for some peace and quiet. So it's time for a Christmas poll about who is the greatest Christmas-hating character of all time. The contenders: Ebenezer 'Even the vegetables don't like him' Scrooge The 'cuddly as a cactus' Grinch Oscar 'I hate Christmas' the Grouch Please comment with your vote!

Birthday vegetables!

Dominic is two years old today! Where has the time gone?

Ah well, rather than descend into a stream of clucky drivel about how my baby is all grown up, I shall get on with posting some birthday pics.

Dominic, like most sophisicated young gentlemen, likes a vegetable or two. What better way to commemorate the day of his birthday than with celebratory veges?



Just what every wee lad dreams of for his birthday, to be sure - a potato to call their own.



The birthday version of Mr Potatohead. You pull the candles in and out of your potato. Hours of fun (well, minutes anyway).



He was overcome with glee at the presentation of his majestic birthday radish (like a good little fraggle).



Alas, the noble carrot did not survive long into the photo shoot.

If only I'd had the forethought to buy a turnip for the occasion. Maybe next year...

Robo-cupcakes

With Dominic's second birthday coming up, it was time to make some pre-brithday weekend cupcakes. I used the chocolate mud cupcakes recipe out of the Cabury's cookbook and they were delicious. The decorations were mutilated licorce allsorts that were then reassembled to look like Plex the Robot (well, as close as I could get. Modelling out of licorce allsorts were harder than I expected).



Chocolate mudcake, blue frosting and lolly robot goodness.



A lone orange robot surround by yellow Plex robots.



Victory! Dom approves of his sample cupcake.



In fact, they taste so good that he licks his fingers rather than the wiping sticky hands on Mum's jeans and smearing them with blue icing.



'Hmm, I can see more cupcakes on the bench...'

Soon followed by an abrupt end to photo session as I had to flee to save plate of cupcakes. Having a wee one who is tall enough to grab whatever he wants of the bench can be all sorts of trouble.

I should probably find a hiding place for cupcakes to keep them safe from Dom and his parents...