I'm a tad late in posting this but I've a very good reason - we had the pleasure of a vomiting bug working its way through the house over the past few days.

He was completely back to normal by Saturday and as Tom and I felt fine we thought we had escaped it but after tea on Sunday night we both felt unwell and I had awful stomach ache. I woke to diarrhea and vomiting early hours of Monday and then Tom started with it in the early hours of Tuesday. 

Not great for the Easter weekend but we still had fun and thankfully we are all recovered now.

Anyway.... March! I swear this month just whizzed by in a blink. The little man turned 2, we've been preparing for no2's arrival and have had lots of time with extended family friends. Life just needs to slow down a wee bit!

This month:

We had a few snow days which resulting in some snuggly days at home and a pub lunch

I had my final work trip away down to Birmigham

Ethan turned 2!!!

There was lots of birthday celebrating including a trip to soft play and the inlaws coming over for a spot of birthday cake

My parents came to visit

We took a trip to the National Railway Museum

We celebrated Mother's Day with a coffee date in Costa and Tom made us fresh pizza

Tom bought a fish tank

I went shopping with my bestie for all of my hospital bag bits and enjoyed a child free lunch

I did lots of baking including these Easter Brownies (a great way to use up that leftover chocolate)

Tom marked endless exam papers

Ethan started his settling in sessions at the new room at nursery

We enjoyed an impromptu midweek curry

It's been a busy old month and I can't quite believe it's now April. All we need is for the weather to pick up a bit and to see some glimpses of Spring. I don't know about you but I'm fed up of the cold now.

As always I'll be linking up over at Dear Beautiful's blog. Do stop by and check out all of the other lovely family photos.

Just a quick recipe for you lovely lot today!

If you are looking for a way to turn some bog-standard brownies into something with an Easter twist this will be right up your street. All you need is selection of Easter chocolate and a tray of brownie mix – easy! These brownies aren't as rich as my regular Creme Egg ones but that does mean you can eat more before hitting the cake, or should I say, brownie wall.

Easter Brownies

So last week I posted a letter to my baby boy who is now 2! I'm still in denial about it; looking back I thought his first year went fast but this past year has just flown by!

We didn't have a party as such this year as with being 6 months pregnant the last thing I wanted was a house full of people and stressing about catering and cleaning etc. Instead we had a little playdate with his chums on the Friday and on the Sunday before his birthday (which was on a Wednesday) we invited family over for a slice of birthday cake.

I was working away in Birmingham the day before and I knew I wouldn't have time to create a sugarpaste showstopper so instead opted for a simple chocolate drip cake. Unfortunately we had two mini disasters - one; it snowed that week and the toppers Tom had ordered were sent to his work but school was closed for 3 days so we couldnt get to them and two; I made the ganache too thick so it wasn't as "drippy" as I would have liked. It didn't matter though, the birthday boy loved it and didnt take long to wolf it down.

As always I used my go to chocolate cake recipe for speed and used ganache rather than buttercream to decorate. It really is the easiest of recipes and is always a hit when we have visitors.

A Second Birthday Cake

2.5 cups SR Flour
2 cups soft dark brown sugar (although any sugar will be fine)
1 cup cocoa
1 cup veg/sunflower oil
1.5 cups of milk
1tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 eggs

Preheat your oven to 160C (fan)
Grease and line two 20cm cake tins
Pop all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth
Divide between the two tins and bake for 40mins or until a skewer inserted comes out clean
Tip onto a wire rack to cool

To Decorate
300g milk chocolate
300ml double cream
100g dark chocolate
100ml double cream
Selection of chocolate chips and shavings

Melt the milk chocolate and double cream together in the microwave in 30 second bursts until melted, smooth and glossy
Repeat in a separate bowl for the dark chocolate and double cream
Pop in the fridge to cool and firm up
Level both cakes and once the milk chocolate ganache is cool sandwich the cakes together and pop back in the fridge for 15 minutes
Take the cake out and cover it in the remaining ganache
Once covered place back in the fridge to firm up
Take the dark chocolate ganache out and if it's too hard give it a 30 second zap in the microwave or until its at a pourable consistency
Pour over the cake and decorate with the chocolate shavings and sprinkles

Enjoy!

How is it that you are now 2? It barely feels like any time has passed since I wrote to you on your first birthday and now suddenly it's 12 months later.

It's been a busy year for us. We've adjusted to maternity leave ending and juggling the nursery run with our commutes to and from work. Daddy always drops you off on a morning as there is no way I can get from nursery drop off at 7:30am to work at 8:00am. Usually I pick you up on an evening but sometimes if Daddy decides to finish early he will pick you up instead. It's my favourite time of the day - we walk in to the room, call your name and you stop whatever you are doing and come running towards us, arms outstretched with a massive smile on your face. You love it there and Emily, your key worker is amazing. I found the adjustment when you moved from the Baby Room to the Toddler Room back in summer hard but now I'm dreading that you will soon be moving up to the next room. My baby is growing up!

Speaking of babies, I'm currently pregnant with your baby brother who is due in June and as aprehensive as I feel about juggling two little ones I can't wait to see how our life will change. You are such a caring little soul Ethan, always sharing out toys and food with your little chums (although you can snatch and shout "mine" when it suits you). Your friend Hamish got a new baby sister back in October so we have seen lots of her and you don't seem remotely jealous of her when she's in my arms. You do want to sit with me if I'm holding her but there has been no jealousy. I'm hoping that's a good sign for when your little brother arrives.

Both Daddy and I have commented on how caring you can be towards others and we hope that's a trait that stays with you as you grow up. Learn to fight your corner but always remember how important it is to be kind to other people. A little bit of love can go a long way.

You are so helpful too, putting your rubbish in the bin and dirty washing in the basket and always clap yourself afterwards. We are keen to praise positive behaviour and thankfully you are generally pretty good but when you want to throw a tantrum by God can you throw one!

When I think of you turning one you were still very much a baby but now you are a fully fledged toddler. You are talking (Daddy and I counted at least 100 words) but aren't quite at the sentence stage yet. You do try to put some words together but we aren't concerned, we know it's just a matter of time. Every day you learn a new word, it's just a case now of learning how to form sentences.

You love to climb and can get on and off the kitchen table and the sofa without any help. You have yet to master climbing out of your cot but I have a feeling that it won't be long as you have tried throwing your leg over recently but just aren't tall enough.

Speaking of height you are a little shortie. All of your chums are taller than you and you currently wear a mix of 12-18 and 18-24 month clothing. I've bought some bits in 2-3 but they are all massive. I think you are following the Longely trait of being small until you hit your teens and then shoot up.

At the moment you love watching the Lion King, Despicable Me and Frozen. When you want to watch any of them you point to the TV and say "Lion," "Minion" or "Let It Go." We do try and limit screen time but it's also nice to snuggle on the sofa and watch a bit of TV together especially as I am getting bigger and find myself needing to have a little rest during the day.

When it comes to my bump you will point to it and say "baby" or "baby 'idin (baby hiding)" but will often give it a kiss then pull my top down and say "bye." You are such a funny little character Ethan, you really do make us laugh!

You have finally mastered the art of sleeping and now generally nap for 1-2 hours over lunch and do 7:30-6:30 at night. Sometimes you waken but for the most part you are so much better at sleeping compared to how you were a year ago. We are pretty strict on naps and bedtime though and I'm hoping you will still nap when baby is here. I think I'll need it!

With regards to food you are a pretty good eater. You don't always have a massive appetite but generally eat or make an attempt at eating whatever food we give you. Both Daddy and I don't agree with pandering to fussy eating and thankfully we haven't hit that stage with you yet. Your favourite foods are cheese, yoghurts, baked beans, peas and blueberries and you are most definitely a milk monster. I worried about weaning you on to cows milk but you love the stuff and happily guzzle at least two cups a day.

Toys wise you love all of your little figures, Happy Land, your wooden kitchen and all of your toy vehicles from cars to planes and trains. We are quite fortunate in that you will happily play by yourself but if you want our attention you will bring a toy over to us to play with you. A new thing we have started doing is building a den and often if I am trying to get ready on a Friday (my day off) I can pop you in your cot with a blanket over the top and you will play in it for ages, calling it your "Den."

Ethan my darling, I could talk about you all day but I do need to draw this letter to a close. You may only be 2 but it feels like you have been here forever. We struggle to remember what life was like before you came along but one thing is for certain, our lives are so much richer being blessed as your parents.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

Mama and Daddy xxx

Even though this is primarily a food blog I do love writing down our family moments and recording the ordinary memories along with the extraordinary ones too.

I feel like these toddler days are flying by so quickly and I want to remember Ethan at this age before Number 2 arrives. Every day he learns a new word and slowly but surely I can feel these baby days slipping away. He turns 2 in a couple of weeks, does that mean he's no longer a baby?

The weekends are important for us as the working week is so busy. We leave the house at 7:15am and are rarely home before 5:20pm then its a busy couple of hours juggling family time, cooking tea, bedtime, housework and if Tom has any prep to do for the following day's lessons.

The weekends though allow us to relax and take things at a slower pace. This past weekend I decided to capture our memories on camera rather than a Vlog and I'm so glad I did. I snapped some lovely shots, one or two of which I need to frame.

Obligatory brownie and Diet Coke break while the littlest one napped.

Tea once again involved eggs (told you I had a lot to use up!) and I made us a chicken and ham egg fried rice with duck spring rolls. Both the chicken and ham were in the freezer (the ham was actually leftover from Christmas) so it was a great way to make a frugal yet filling meal.

Obligatory weekend pancakes especially with our glut of eggs!

Once eaten the usual Sunday evening routine began. I bathed Ethan and did bedtime while Tom got stuck into prep for the lessons for the week ahead.

He finished in good time and we managed to squeeze in the last episode of Next of Kin before bed.

It was a slow and quiet weekend, we barely left the house but it was just what we needed. We've a few busy weekends ahead so it was nice to take stock and just enjoy being at home.

Now I am in a quandry as to which brownies are the best and to be honest I really dont know. They are all amazing in their own right but what I have learned is how adaptable that little square of fudgey chocolatey goodness can be.

I don't need to ramble any more than that, I'll let the photos and recipe do the talking. All I will say is - you need to make these sharpish!


Cruchie Brownies

I adore pancakes. They are my favourite breakfast and with Shrove Tuesday coming up I though it would be the perfect time to share this very easy recipe with you all.

It's originally from the BBC Good Food website (my go to website for all recipes!) but I've had a little fiddle with it and I think I now have a recipe for wonderful light and fluffy pancakes with the added addition of some scrummy blueberries.

It's so easy to make that I find myself making these most weekends. I've also discovered frozen fruit works just as well which is an added bonus as fresh berries are just a tad expensive at this time of year.

Blueberry Pancakes

After my last weekend post I had all these grand plans to make it a more regular thing but if I'm honest time just runs away from itself. It's a never ending juggling act these days but I would rather post as and when I can instead of putting myself under unnecessary stress and pressure.

Why is it when you go in to IKEA you always spend more than you intend to? All I wanted was a plant and some cushions but we also ended up buying a new kitchen table and chairs, a potty, a new frying pan and lots of other random bits and pieces. Thank goodness I planned ahead though and tea was simmering away in the slow cooker when we got in, I did not fancy cooking by then!

After the IKEA madness, Sunday was a much slower day. A lie in is impossible for me these days as I just can't get comfy so when Ethan woke at 7:30am I left Tom to snooze and brought him downstairs.

He's obsessed with his potty at the moment. He doesn't really understand what it is for but he's showing signs of awareness by telling us when he has done a poo so we thought it was best to get on and introduce it slowly. I'm in no rush to get him out of nappies or to potty train so we are happy to follow his lead.

A lazy morning was just what we needed. We pottered about, I did two loads of washing and even baked some banana bread and muffins as there were a few sorry looking bananas in the fruit bowl.




 That afternoon we headed to Tom's brother's for a family lunch as his nephew had turned 9 the day before. Jason cooked a wonderful feast and the lamb kebabs were to die for! I may have had two but I'm blaming it on baby!

We played some silly party games, Ethan loved chasing his cousins around and tucked into cake. It was a fairly relaxed afternoon which was much needed after a busy Saturday.


Once we got home I made Ethan a light supper while Tom got stuck into lesson planning. Before we knew it bedtime had rolled around for the little man and our usual Sunday evening routine was well under way.

It was a lovely weekend, busy in parts but we also made time to relax. Roll on next weekend when we have no plans at all. I cannot wait!