keep it simple Simpleton!

               Here's a picture of the top of Mount Calorie...as it errupts ...YUMMY!



When it came to family planning, some would argue we forgot how to say "when", but as far as birthdays go, I think we deserve a pat on the back. Starting from January, our family members have a birthday every second month and two in July.Which in case you are not paying attention is right in the middle of the year. Symmetrical and systematic...

Now of course, "September", is living in Durban, with Fluff, which does mess with the perfection of it all somewhat and if I ever get hitched again, I will have to bear in mind that the only opening in the nice and tidy arrangement of birthdays, is in September. Just something to bear in mind...This arrangement is really well done as it gives you a months breather in between birthdays to recover financially and otherwise.

So it's March, which means my youngest daughter had her birthday. N turned 9 this year. Instead of baking and icing a birthday cake, I made an ice-cream mountain. All I did was take some  vanilla ice-cream, slightly softened. I sculptured it into a volcano and let it harden in the freezer. When it was time for "the cake", we just twirled chocolate sauce and caramel sauce and "Astro's" and "Jelly tot's" all over it. We congregated 9 candles at the tip of Mount Calorie and set them ablaze while Grandpa pounded out "Happy Birthday " on the piano and the rest of us sang along. We dispensed with bowls and other polite things and all just dug into the mountain with our own "earth movers". We mined Jelly Tots like they were gold, and panned for "Astro's"

Following the birthday, of course, was the birthday party. I usually pour over party planning web sites as I plan the my party masterpiece.This time I didn't even plan. We invited 6 little girls for a sleepover and just had fun with it.The girl's designed and created dresses from newspaper and modeled them.  We ate KFC and  made banana boats. M, daughter number 2, made some homemade face masks and we had  a"spa" with blended cucumber and sugar face packs and oatmeal face packs. I even got a wonderful foot massage out of it. Ah bliss! All in all it was a very memorable and enjoyable party for N and her friends at a fraction of the effort I usually go to.

One of N's friends enjoying her oatmeal mask!

Keeping things simple, is really keeping things smart.