Birdy turns one... and a little announcement!

It doesn't seem quite like a whole year has passed since I announced the arrival of my third child, Moxie.

She's gone from being this tiny swaddled bundle to being a furniture-scooting, stair-climbing little daredevil who is keeping us all on our toes.  Seriously, my first two kids were active and curious, but Moxie is a tiny Houdini whose only mission in life is to get on top of the highest piece of furniture in any given room.

On monday last week we celebrated her actual birthday with a little cupcake, a round of "Happy Birthday" and a few presents.  Then, on the following sunday we got to celebrate with some friends when we threw a proper brunch, complete with cake.

I've been loving our heart-shaped "Waffles on a stick" machine.  The kids love holding the waffles in their hand and they can be made ahead and frozen.

Brunches are our go-to entertainment format at the moment.  The kids are in fine fettle in the morning and my husband - who normally doesn't set foot in the kitchen - makes a mean batch of the most delicious and tender crêpes.  So with his help with the food, I don't have much else to do but a bit of extra catering and some decor.

The cake was smaller than I usually make, bearing in mind that after a plate full of liege waffles, crepes and bircher muesli, you generally don't feel like sitting down to a big slice of cake (that still didn't stop me though!).  I settled on a theme of spring birds and blossoms and tried to keep it simple for the sake of my slightly sleep-deprived brain!

I also made matching cupcakes which were party favours.  The toppers I made weeks ahead from gumpaste and were the easiest thing to do.  I then piped the "nests" with a Wilton grass tip in chocolate buttercream and with the addition of a couple of fondant flowers, they were really a very simple cupcake design to execute.

We are making the most of our time with our friends here in Zurich, which brings me to my big announcement.  Starting July this year, we are going to be living in Sydney, Australia.  It's a big move for us, spurred on mostly by our desire to be closer to home (which is New Zealand), and to make schooling a bit easier for our kids.  It will be sad to leave after almost six years here in this stunning, amazing country - how lucky we have been to live here.

So that goes a little way to explaining why I have dropped off the radar for so long.  I'm planning some changes for my blog in due course, and looking forward to becoming a part of the blogging community in Australia once we are settled in.