Sophie's Christening

A few weeks ago, we had Sophie's Christening and I wanted to share a few pictures with you all.

I was really worried about not having anything to fit me so I ordered my dress of Need That Look, I really love this dress, it fitted so well and the fabric is stretchy which made the dress so comfortable.I paired it with which black tights because the day itself was quite cold and wet.

Since I love baking I decided to do Sophie's cake myself. I wanted to forget about fondant and use buttercream. I wanted simple but elegant.I choose a vanilla sponge with pink buttercream filling and iced all over in bright white buttercream. I then decorated with pink and white non pareils. For her name I printed out her name in a font I liked and put in under baking paper. I then tinted white chocolate with pink and painted over her name. It turned out so well and will definitely use this trick again.

I also really wanted cupcakes, but I knew I wouldn't have time to do them myself. I turned to cake genius Agatha from Cakefield Avenue.I choose mini cupcakes, half malteaser and half vanilla with pink buttercream.Agatha was a dream to order from, she is so lovely and I'd definitely reccomend using her for a special occasion.

I also did a sweet table for the kids (and adults) which completely vanished before I had a chance to take a picture. I did manage a picture of the menu. I decided to do a menu rather than having to fiddle around putting labels on the jars.

I Am The Mum Who ....

Hi all, I'm just back from the UK and decided my first post on my return would be the I Am The Mum Who tag. I was tagged by Sharon over on Behind Green Eyes

• has two children, one boy and one girl.
• thought She would never have children.
• loves to bake.
• enjoys a dance while meant to be doing housework.
• gets nothing done in the house as I can't take my eye off Sophie.
• misses my mum every single second of every day.
• is addicted to makeup.
• recognises her stubborn streak in her son.
• is extremely grateful for my two children but don't want any more children.
• loves animals.
• defends those she loves when someone gives out about them.
• has a short fuse. 
• never thought she would get married. 
• is thankful for her supportive friends
• loves glass of wine at the weekends
• has a shoe obssession

I think pretty much everyone who is a mum has done this tag, if you haven't, please do it and send me your link.

Chocolate Biscuit Cake

On Wednesday, it was my brother's birthday. Not being bale to get up to Dublin for it, I wanted to do something nice for him with everything that has happened. So I invited him and my dad up for dinner yesterday and decided to treat him to his all time favourite cake - Chocolate Biscuit. I love that he likes this because it is so easy to make and you dont have to put it into the oven.

Here is my go to recipe for 4 people

220g Milk Chocolate

110g Dark Chocolate (brother isn't a massive fan of Dark chocolate, if you are simply double this and half the milk chocolate)

3 tbsp Golden Syrup

75g Malteasers

110g Butter

225g Biscuits, I use a mix of chocolate digestives and rich tea

1 bag Mint Aero and remaining Malteasers for decoration

All you need to do is melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave. (I give it 30 seconds at a time so the chocolate doesn't burn), mix in the golden syrup, crush the biscuits, pop in the malteasers and stir until combined. I used an 8inch round tin with a cake liner so it was easy to remove. when half set, decorate with chocolate of your choice.

I ran out of Malteasers :( 

It's hard to make a chocolate biscuit cake look fancy without going all out with fondant or doing a kit kat cake but it tasted amazing. Next time I'll mix in the mint bubbles.

Are you a fan of chocolate biscuit cake?

Weightloss Update Week 1

So since my 7 days of Eating Clean post, I have tried to keep going with clean eating and on the whole I'm doing pretty well. Apart from the hubby occasionally bringing home chocolate or something equally as bold.

I've started exercising more, every day I am doing some form. I found a great youtube channel called JessicaSmithTV where she does Dance Walking workouts (she also has a few DVD's). Trying to fit in a workout is hard, Jack is grand and occupies himself but with Sophie it's proving tricky. If I'm lucky and she has an hour or more nap, I'll stick on one of my exercise play list and connect it to chrome cast so it plays on the TV rather than the tablet.

I do one of these videos on a Monday and Tuesday. Wednesdays to Fridays, I'm now walking Jack to school. This is a good 25 minute walk from the house, on the way home it's 15 minutes. Mornings take longer purely because Jack starts and stops at least five or six times. This is a twice a day walk.Using the Map My Walk app, I walk just over 6km a day. I have always enjoyed walking and once I have my MP3 player I'm a happy camper. At the weekends, I'm trying to get some sort of workout in but so far it hasn't really gone to plan

My weight has come down a tiny bit ( -2lbs) since my last post. That leaves me with just under a stone until I am back to my pre pregnancy weight. Sophie's christening is the Saturday after next and while I would never try lose the whole remainder I am hoping to loose a bit more. I have a dress in mind but it is still a bit tight.

I plan on continuing eating better, and moving as much as possible. Over the next while I'll do a monthly update with what I've been eating and what exercise I've been doing. 

If you have any tips for me please let me know 

xxx Anita xxx