If there was one thing that I never thought my middle daughter would be frightened of it was the washing machine. Violet is hardly a nervous child and lives every moment with huge energy and excitement. She is game for anything but an incident 2 days before Christmas last year has had a huge effect on her.

Our washing machine had been steadily getting louder and louder for a couple of months. It started quite gradually but before I knew it, I was thinking twice before putting a wash on when I knew I was going to be working in the kitchen – our machine is kept in the utility room but even so, you couldn’t hear yourself think when it was on.

Because the machine was still washing clothes well enough, we didn’t do anything about it. Looking back now, we really should have looked into adding having our washing machine repaired to our pre-Christmas to do list.

We were going away between Christmas and New Year so wanted to keep on top of all the party clothes being washed – anyone who has had 3 young children will understand how you rely on your machine. 3 loads a day is perfectly normal for us.

I took the girls to meet some friends at a soft play area on the Friday 23rd December morning and put the machine on before we left the house. We got back around 1 and were planning on going out after lunch to do some last minute shopping. The weather was rubbish though and Baby T was exhausted so I decided to let the girls have a chill out afternoon. I put another wash load on and went upstairs to try to get T to sleep. Violet was downstairs watching tv and Millie was upstairs in her room.

Before I knew it Violet was shouting me upstairs with a really panicky look on her face – I knew straightaway something was wrong and ran downstairs. As I got to the bottom of the stairs, smoke hit me. I told Violet quickly that there’s a fire and she needed to get help from next door – Thank God our neighbour was in on a Friday afternoon.

I’ll always wonder if what I did next was right? I decided to check whether there actually was a fire in the kitchen and leave Tara in her cot upstairs (I’d also shouted at Millie to get out of the house) – I ran into the kitchen and managed to turn the washing machine off which sounded awful as if it was about to explode. The smell of burning metal and rubber was something I’ll never forget. I could barely see in the kitchen but as soon as the machine was off and all the windows and doors were open it got better. By now, my neighbour had come round as proceeded to take the machine outside – we didn’t want to take any chances about it exploding in flames. I had got Baby T as soon as I could and the girls were looked after next door but it started to occur to me that if I hadn’t got to the washing machine when I did that we would possibly have lost everything. Not ideal 2 days before Christmas!

Someone was looking after us that day – if that had happened during the washload earlier that day, then I could have got home to a burnt down house. Even more scary for me that keeps going through my mind is that I took a chance on turning the machine off whilst Tara was upstairs.

Later that night we got a brand new machine which is blissfully quiet. The Christmas food in the fridge was rather smelly and Violet is now terrified of being in the house when the washing machine is on. She even panics when the kettle boils or there is a pan steaming even when I’m stood right next to it. Perhaps all this could have been avoided if I’d only thought about repairing our rather loud but still working washing machine?

Violet is a little bit famous on our playground for her love of pancakes – I’m not exaggerating when I say at least twice a week she comes running out of school to beg me for pancakes for tea – this is all year round, not just around Shrove Tuesday.

When I was asked a while ago to take part in the Idealo Pancake Day Challenge then, there was no thinking to be done. The challenge is between a group of bloggers to come up with the most interesting way of having pancakes. Idealo even sent me a fabulous Le Creuset Crepe Pan with which to practice – I never even knew such a thing existed! I will admit that we are a bit conventional when it comes to our fillings for pancakes – yep, its good old sugar and lime juice for us. Occasionally we do go a bit wild though and throw in some Nutella!

I make pancakes so often though that I do try to make them look a bit different – if only to make it a bit more interesting for me stood by the stove! This week we have been trying pink pancakes in different shapes – the girls requested heart shapes so Ta-Da!! We just follow the recipe below and add some gel food colour – I have found that the liquid food colour just disappears when I used it.

The recipe I use for pancakes is a really simple one – I’ve learnt over the years not to get too hung up on exact measurements (yes, I will admit to adding a bit more milk at the end when both girls still want more and there’s not quite enough mixture left!)

Ingredients: Should be enough for about 2 hungry kids and couple left over for 2 adults
4 eggs
8oz plain flour with a pinch of salt (You can use SR flour if that’s all you’ve got but you don’t need the salt)
22oz milk (ours are a medium thickness so if you prefer thin pancakes then add another couple of oz of milk)
Sunflower Oil to use in the pan

To make:
1. Whisk the eggs in a biggish bowl
2. Gradually whisk in the flour and milk alternately until it is all mixed in and hopefully not lumpy.
3. Heat up the pan with a splash of the oil each time you make a pancake
4. Add a ladle full of pancake mix and cook for approx 2 mins on 1st side and 1 minute on 2nd side

Some things you may not know about pancakes:
1. Shrove Tuesday came about as we are supposed to be using up all our dairy products in preparation for fasting during Lent. Lent starts the day after Shrove Tuesday with Ash Wednesday.
2. The first pancakes never turns out well. No reason, its just the law of making pancakes!
3. No matter how much mix you make, the last one always turns out tiny.

Warning: Completely soppy post.

I’m going to come out with all the cliches here and say that I can’t believe its been a year already since we met Baby T and what a fantastic year it has been, but who cares? Its true.

Life with 3 children has been tough this year but I’m proud that we have managed to enjoy it and every day we are grateful for our 3 beauties.

Tara arrived a tiny, perfect little bundle (on her Daddy’s birthday) and is still really petite. She is the fastest crawler I’ve ever seen which means up to now she has no interest in learning to walk.

She has always been a placid child, which is still the case – its a good job, she gets taken EVERYWHERE! She is learning how to use her voice though which is brilliant.

The most fascinating thing about our year has been watching the 3 girls love each other – Millie and Violet have been amazing. I have not seen one moment of jealousy for the attention Tara has received and they are still constantly wanting to play with her and cuddle her. Every visitor notices how often M & V pick T up – and yes, we have had several moments where we scream ‘Put the Baby down!!’

Even after a year, I’m still astounded that Baby T is here – how lucky are we?

For Baby T: (I’d like to think one day she’ll read this blog) Thank you for such a brilliant year. You make our family so perfect and it is great to see how much a part of it you are. We know you won’t always eat cat food but its really funny to watch how much you want it now. Your relationship with your sisters is magic to watch – they adore you and your complete affection for them is wonderful. We can’t wait to start on our second year as a family of 5 and want to fill it with just as much fun as the last. With all our love, Mummy & Daddy x

Don’t you just love the picture? Taken recently by Cara at Freckles Photography (Tara’s wonderful Fairy Godmother)

There was no choice to be made about what would be Cake of the Week this week – Baby T is One and this is her cake. A Very Hungry Caterpillar cake. It is an absolute miracle that there is any semblance of a cake as this week has been so busy – Why do I always have my babies during school holidays??

Tara’s birthday isn’t actually until tomorrow so I will save the overly emotional mummy post until then (Just wait until you see the picture lined up for tomorrow’s post though!)

We are having Tara’s birthday party later today and once again I may have ‘slightly’ over catered. I even went to the lengths of ordering a Costco cake to be on the safe side – When I saw that they have a caterpillar design I just HAD to get it – I even got Dermot’s name put on there too as it is his 34th birthday tomorrow too.

I got help doing the board for the caterpillar cake from Millie and my Mum – Its definitely a cake design that everyone can get involved in!

Anyway, hope you like it – I’m off to bed to prepare for an afternoon of partying – Don’t forget to come back for the aftermath post along with the 1st birthday post – I’ve just finished watching this week’s One Born Every Minute which seemed the only fit way to mark doing the same thing exactly a year ago!

PS Has anyone seen Millie’s Ipod? Its going to be a very quiet party without it!

There’s a new baking group in town across the world and it start today. Old readers of mine may remember years ago that I used to join in with the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group. I learnt loads from the few recipes that I joined in with but business and babies meant that I couldn’t keep involved every week.

We are starting afresh with a new book – Baking with Julia and we have a new recipe to follow every 2 weeks. I’m going to do my best to stick with this one – there are loads of recipes in the book that I’d like to crack. Some of them seem complicated, some of them a real challenge but all of them look yummy (and a teeny bit fattening too!)

Our first challenge seemed like a nice introduction – White Loaves … until I remembered I have NO luck baking bread. I don’t own a bread machine but think after this attempt I need to acquire one.

The bread smells and tastes lovely but is as heavy as a wet house brick – It did improve a LOT with toasting and lashings of butter (I seem to have gone all Enid Blyton) but I’ve got a long way to go before the Warburton family are quaking with fear. I have no idea why my bread always turns out so heavy – I followed the instructions to the letter, kneading for a full 10 mins and allowing to prove twice. Any ideas?

We have agreed not to post the recipes but to link up to whoever is hosting that week so click here if you fancy making a better effort than me.

You can’t beat getting into a good book – that feeling when you finish a fabulous yarn and wish you were still in the middle of it, is like a mild grief. I’m certain most readers have experienced seeing someone reading one of their favourite reads and wishing they hadn’t read that book yet.

My love of reading takes me back to my early teens when I used to stay awake until the early hours, reading secretly by the light of the street light through my blinds – I was always so grateful that we didn’t live a couple of houses further up the road where they didn’t have a street light.

I try to read a variety of genres but seem to lean towards realistic stories and biographies – Like a lot of people, I occasionally feel I’ve got into a rut with what I’m reading. This happened about 7 years ago and I joined a local library book group – I’ve never looked back.

I’ve been asked by the Tots100 to recommend my favourite book to another reader – no problem there. I choose The American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld. This book was a real surprise for me – I’m not particularly interested in reading political novels so perhaps wouldn’t have normally picked up this book but I had heard other people talking about how good Curtis Sittenfeld’s novels are so gave it a go.

The story is about Alice Blackwell, a seemingly normal girl growing up. What I loved about this book was how ‘normal’ Alice seemed. I don’t want to give too much away as for me most of the beauty of the book was not having a clue what was coming next – I will tell you that there is an accident and that I was completely shocked. The writing was brilliant here. The story goes on to describe Alice during her time being the President’s Wife – there are rumours that the book is based on the life of Barbara Bush – this makes it even more fascinating.

This was definitely a book that was difficult to put down. I remember not getting an awful lot else done when I read it and I’ve still got that sense of wishing I could read it all over again for the first time.

I’d like to recommend this book to Kate from the Five F’s blog – its always a bit nerve wracking suggesting a book to someone else in case they think it is pants – hopefully I’m safe with this one though!

We love biscuits in this house – truly we do. Its sad how long we can spend discussing our favourite of the moment. My essential item in my hospital bag when I had both Violet and Tara was a pack of digestives!

I have been asked to tell you about a new competition run by Bakers Pantry who supply biscuits to your home. There are 15 chances over the course of this week to win a month’s subscription of biscuits. All you have to do is click here

Of course, I couldn’t tell you about this fabulous competition without having sampled a selection of the biscuits on offer so Bakers Pantry kindly sent over a box for us to try – that was a surprise when I answered the door to the postman – better than a bill any day!

We received seven different types of biscuit which honestly all looked delicious – the types you tend to eat when you are on holiday in a posh hotel. We’ve not eaten them all yet but so far the favourite has been the Chocolate Chip and Cherry Cookies which come in a lovely tin – perfect for a coffee morning with the ladies!

So don’t forget pop on over to Bakers Pantry and grab yourself the chance of a month’s supply of biscuits – I’m off to indulge with a cup of tea (and yes, they dunk brilliantly!)

Not sure what exactly to call this cake – I’m thinking its animal print icing but is it a zebra or a tiger? I had completely free reign on this cake – I suggested red and black as Vicky’s sister tells me that she isn’t very girly so pink wouldn’t do.

We decided on a star explosion but the rest was a surprise. I really wanted to do a funky board so was really pleased how it turned out – obviously it had the obligatory bling with the black stripes being sparkly.

I had a really good catch up with Gina, Vicky’s sister who used to look after Vi at nursery – Good job she is used to kids – mine were WILD that morning!

Last week’s Cake of the Week had a fabulous response – There was a real cutie from Real Suburban Mummy eating her chocolate cake and an entry from Mary Oxendine introducing us to her recipe blog.

There was an amazing Twix cake from Jackie Marum which bowled me over -I hope Jackie doesn’t mind me putting a link to her photo up.

So what have you been up to this week – I’ve currently got a loaf proving in the oven as I’m joining up with the Baking with Julia crew – I used to join in with their first book, Tuesdays with Dorie so am really excited about what I can learn as I bake through the next book.

A cheery little fellow and a new addition to the Creme Egg Creatures range. My daughter despairs that you can see the creme egg but I quite like showing what he is made of.

We have had several discussions about whether his ears should be on top of his head or at the side – I won with the side.

Available giftwrapped for a cheeky Valentines gift!

Yes I’m in bed. It’s 9.02 and we’ve been up what feels like a million times in the night with various children. None of them ill but not asleep either. I do know that I haven’t had 2 solid hours of sleep together so when the school lot have left I’ve crawled back to bed. Baby T is now awake though so up I am for the rest of the day, hoping tonight is one of those blissful nights where I don’t move, speak or think for 8 solid hours.

For Tara Cain’s Gallery we’ve been asked to send a pic of what we were doing when we read
the prompt of ‘Me Right Now’ – so here you go! You didn’t think I’d actually show a photo of me in bed did you?