Land Rover Defender Birthday Cake

Boys will be boys and they love their toys…!

My husband loves his ‘Landy’ and he enjoys nothing better than going on a 4×4 trip, testing its limits and performance.

Oh, I can tell you many, many stories of our Land Rover trips we’ve been on, most of them ending in the water or mud or somewhere not very appealing. And I think that is the main appeal {for the boys in any case} of the infamous Defender.

It’s kind of like a dog – man’s best friend. {Well, some men in any case – not the Toyota-drivers…}

Oh, and we’ve heard all the jokes – trust me! But I must just say that those Defenders are mighty strong and sturdy and dependable, contrary to all the jokes, etc. We’ve driven through rivers, where the water reaches the bottom of the windows, covering the entire front ‘nose’ {?!} of the truck, climbed rocky mountains so steep you cannot adjust your seatbelt {an automatic safety feature} and you’re literally pooping your pants, but we always come out on the other side. {Ok, almost always…}
And even I can drive it – it’s quite fun too! Nothing feels better than just ramming over stuff! You also feel so safe when driving through dodgy areas, although a quick getaway is totally out of the question – it’s like driving a snail as a getaway car…

Right, so in honour of {some} man’s best friend, here is the Landy cake I made for my husband’s recent birthday:

20140919-144006.jpg

It was a rich and decadent chocolate affair with cream cheese frosting and covered in decorative fondant.

20140919-144109.jpg

And yes, it was ‘stuck in the mud’ {hehe!}…

20140919-144155.jpg

Xx

Kids bunkbed – DIY

Finished bunkbedStaining & varnishing of bed

I decided on a bunkbed for the boys – Seb is ready to sleep in a ‘big boy bed’, and by the time Francois is ready for a bed, Seb can move to the top bed, or the beds can be taken down and just be 2 single beds. Either way, I still love the bunkbed look, plus it’s a great space-saver! (Something we don’t have a lot of in our little country cottage!)

After shopping around a bit, I found a great Small Business that could make it just the way I want… But, and it’s a BIG but, it would’ve taken 3 months minimum to supply!

Eek – I don’t have the time or patience for that, so, I decided to Do It Myself… (Well, sort of – we bought a ready-made natural pine bed, which I then stained and varnished myself.)

It was really easy to do and didn’t take that long (ok, it took 3 weeks, as I could only really do it during the boys’ nap times, and I didn’t work on it every day…).

And here it is – thanks hubby for assembling! 😉

(Bunkbed & mattrasses from Lotter’s Pine, wood stain is a Woodoc gel stain {dawn red} and the varnish is a matt sealer, also from Woodoc.)

x