The Birthday Must Go On!

This weekend marked my oldest son's 6th birthday. Unfortunately, everyone was sick this weekend, coming down with some sort of 24 hour bug that rampaged through our systems, leaving us worn out and exhausted. I felt bad for my little guy, who was so excited to be back in Canada to celebrate with a real party, only to have to cancel because he was too sick for a big celebration.


Our first mini celebration was Friday night, with a small cake just for immediate family, followed by his main gift. Luckily, he felt great as he hadn't yet gotten sick. Unfortunately for me, it was right smack dab in the middle of my 24 hour gross-fest, so I basically made it down for the cake and that was it.

Still, he loved his new Iron Man guitar, and showed off his rock star stance for the rest of the evening. He takes guitar lessons with his Uncle Dave whenever we're in the country, so he brought his guitar along for his Saturday morning lesson. Unfortunately, the birthday boy started feeling ill on Saturday night along with my husband, and the two of them spent most of today in bed.

I didn't want to risk getting any guests sick, so we cancelled the invites and postponed the celebration. However, by this evening both my husband and my son began feeling better, so we decided to go ahead with the cake, only minus the extra guests. The cake was a chocolate cake made from XO Baking Co.'s chocolate mix, and homemade buttercream icing.

We took advantage of the slight reprieve and let him open the rest of his gifts, then watched the kids try and get the Avengers pinata to give up its goods!

I don't know how everyone will feel tomorrow, but I'm hoping it's better than it has been the past few days. We have some official paperwork to take care of before going back to France, and there's an extreme cold front  heading our way on top of it all. Thinking warm, healthy thoughts!

Milestone Birthdays and Gluten Free Cake

This past weekend we celebrated my sister and my father's birthdays with a joint birthday party. My sister and my dad were born on the same date in July, and both celebrated milestone birthdays this year. My sister turned 30 and my dad turned 65. My mom and I decided to prepare a big party for them both. We chose to do something a little different this year, since we typically just have an outdoor BBQ with hamburgers and steaks. Instead, we hired a catering service called La Cantina Catering to come and prepare the main meal for us, while we provided the appetizers and dessert.

My Son's 5th Birthday Party was a Success!

Over the weekend we threw my son a 5th birthday party for a few of his friends. Last year we went to Chuck E. Cheese, but this year he wanted to go bowling. We checked around, and settled on Woodbridge Bowl, which offers 10 pin bowling, but with lighter balls, ramps, and bumpers. Their party deal was reasonably priced, and included a party size pizza, chips, juice for the kids, and coffee for the parents. We also ordered chicken fingers and fries for the adults.

Like any parent with a child who has food restrictions, I was ready to provide all of my son's food for him, so I was surprised to learn that they could accommodate us to a certain degree. The bowling alley ordered us a gluten free personal pizza for my son, and provided gluten free chips for the chip bowls. It was a little thing, but it meant a lot to my son, who got to eat a pizza that looked just like everyone else's. We served him the chips before all those little gluten-filled hands hit the chip bowls, and everything was fine.

Planning a Gluten and Dairy Free Birthday Party

My son turns two on Sunday, and this is the first year we'll be preparing for a gluten and dairy free party.  The party is mostly family, with just my son and his cousin as the two children.  Since it's in the afternoon, post-lunch and pre-dinner, we decided to go with a simple appetizer style menu that everyone can enjoy.

Here's our menu:

Artisanal Meat Platter: We ordered from Metro (Dominion in some areas).  We spoke with staff and they were very open to ensuring the safety of the tray for our son.  We read the ingredients on the different meats for the tray and approved the brands that were safe.  Black forest ham, roast beef, rosemary ham, Montreal smoked-meat and oven roast turkey.  The staff was helpful and accommodating of our requests. We've ordered from them before, and were happy with the quality and service.  We'll pair it with a few varieties of gluten free crackers instead of bread.  My son refers to any sliced meat as "sandwich", so as long as there's some available, he'll be satisfied.

Grilled Vegetable Platter:  This we ordered from Longo's, because it doesn't come with any cheese.  Again, the service was great, and we were able to check out all the ingredients before agreeing to the order.  The platter has marinated mushrooms, eggplant, roasted red peppers, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and asparagus.  It will pair nicely with the meat and has enough variety to keep everyone happy!

Salad: We'll put our own together and pick up a gluten free dressing.

Snacks: plain potato chips, GF pretzels, GF candy

Fruit Platter

Gluten and Dairy Free Cake:  We have been looking for a suitable cake for a while now, and I was pleased to discover that there are actually several bakeries that could accommodate us.  We eventually settled on a cake from a bakery that we came across by accident on our way to another place, Terra Mia Bakery.  Unfortunately they don't yet have a website.  The sign outside advertised gluten free cookies and cakes, and we went in.  We settled on a 10 inch, double chocolate cake, with dairy free whipped cream and sugar icing.  My mouth is watering already.  I hope it tastes as good as it sounds!  The bakery bakes their own line of gluten free cookies, which are delicious.  The baker and the owner came out to discuss our needs, and went over all of the ingredients and options with us.  Keeping my fingers crossed!