Let Them Eat Cake

So Bear's third birthday has come and gone. He had a wonderful day, hubby and I lept into decorating mode as soon as he had gone to bed and decked the house out with millions of streamers and balloons which if your anything like me, instantly makes a house feel party like. We madly wrapped up his presies (a big boy bike complete with training wheels, a helmet, a horn and a police siren and flashing lights, a wheelbarrow (he's been asking the Butterfly to get him a big boy wheelbarrow for ages now, his other one is a little kid version and he was desperate for a proper one), a soccer net and ball, a frisbee and a Wiggles DVD. It was really fun, we were sitting on the floor surrounded by wrapping paper and sticky tape (do you have any idea how MUCH wrapping paper it takes to wrap a bike?!) trying to whisper and be as quite as possible to avoid waking him and giggling like little kids.

Once the house and pressies were done I shifted into cake mode. Now birthday cakes are always a big deal to me. When I was little my Mum would give me the Woman's Weekly Birthday Cake books and I'd be allowed to choose anything I wanted. My gosh, I poured over those books for weeks and weeks, tossing up the pro's and con's of a castle vs a jewerly box, a duck vs a teddy bear. It's one of my happiest memories, made all the better by the fact that the book was covered in stains from previous cake making adventures. So cakes have always been important, they are the major event in our birthday celebrations and I promised myself when I became a Mummy I would lovingly hand make my babies cakes every single year, making whatever they wanted. Sounds nice but in truth of the matter is I am no cook. Hubby cooks all the dinners in our house, and on weekends takes over breakfast and lunch duties too. So this is actually a bigger deal for me than it may sound :)

For his first birthday I made him a train cake. He adored trains and was thrilled to be able to actually eat one. It was my very first attempt at making a cake so I was pretty nervous! He liked it though :) Not a great pic, and excuse the whited out patch where his name was, but you get the idea.

For his second Hubby chimed in a begged for a number 2 covered in m&m's. It's what he had for his second birthday and he wanted to share that with the Bear. How could I say no?! So this was cake number 2:

This year he's getting two cakes, he had one on his birthday on Saturday and will have one on his party this Saturday. Following tradition I made a number 3 for his actual birth day cake, but as per his request decorated it with snakes and spiders. It didn't turn out how I wanted, I only started it at about 10:00pm the night before so no big surprise there really, but oh well. This is the final product:

For his party he has requested, wait for, Muck. As in the dump truck from Bob the Builder (it's a fancy dress and he's going as Bob). I'm not yet sure how I'm going to make him, but bygod I will! Somehow. Lol.


knife and fork image by Carlos Porto

Party Plans

Image by Danilo Rizzuti



I can't quite believe it but my little Bear turns 3 next week. It's actually a really tricky thing to wrap my head around. First of all I just can't believe that he's growing up so quickly - this is my baby we're talking about here, the one that I was told by two doctors and a sonographer that I was loosing when I was pregnant, the one that proved them all wrong and stuck with me and grew into a perfect little baby. The one who stayed breech for the entire pregnancy, his (big!) head sitting under my right ribs. When he would stretch he would push his head out so far you could SEE it clear as day. That was quite a party trick, it would freak people right out :D This is the bub who turned dark blue as I held him after he was born, who was rushed away to special care and hooked up to countless tubes and monitors. This is the baby who fought to get better as he lay in his little humidicrib, the baby I stared at for hours and hours, my hand holding his through the special cut out hole. It was the only contact I could have with him for a couple of days and it near killed me. This is the baby who they were about to send away to a dedicated children's hospital to get him further help, but who that night fought on and got out of the danger zone. This is the baby who they finally wheeled into my room, announcing they had someone who wanted to see me. From that moment he has just blossomed. I know I keep saying it but he is amazing. He is so clever (and I'm not just being biased, at the age of 1 1/2 he had the comprehension of a 3 year old), so sweet, so kind and so burst-your-sides-open funny. He's such his own person, an entire lovable, complex and amazing human wrapped up in a little body. How can he already be 3??! Three seems so grown up, it's so far from being a baby and so much more of a big kid.

But then on the other hand if I think of how long it feels he's been with us, how long he's been part of our lives, it feels like forever. When I think of three as actually only being 36 months, it seems tiny. 36 months. Doesn't that make it seem like a blink of an eye? How do little ones grow so much, learn so much, become so much in a mere 36 months?!? My overwhelming feeling about him turning 3 though is pride. As I watch him run around, play games, sing songs and make up dance moves, cook cakes or clean up his toys, tickle the Butterfly or nestle in a corner looking through a book I could just burst. He is doing so well. He is so happy. Which means I am so happy. God help me when he turns 13. I'll be an emotional wreck.

Anyway, he has requested a fancy dress party this year and wants to go as Bob the Builder (he's also issued instructions as to what we are to come as - apparently I'm to be a princess (complete with crown, a big special dress and a wand), Hubby is to be a cowboy (which I think he was secretly thrilled about) and the Butterfly is to go as Wendy, Bob the Builder's sidekick. His costume was easy peasy - a pair of overalls, a red and yellow checked shirt, a Bob the Builder tool belt complete with tools, a hard hat and a pair of boots! Woohoo! He's asked for a Muck cake (Muck is Bob's big red dump truck) which I'm really looking forward to making. I ADORE making and decorating cakes, I spend so much time on them and the perfectionist in me rears her head, but god it's fun. I'm planning on making the dump truck itself out of a number of different cakes then hollowing out one big piece to be the dumper itself which I'll fill with different types of lollies. I've ordered a Bob the Builder candle which I'll stand in the dumper amongst the lollies to make it look like he is riding in the back. Fingers crossed it works out!

Activities-wise we'll be having a treasure hunt, pin the hardhat on bob, pass the parcel and biscuit decorating. I'm also contemplating making up a few tubs of slime (he adores it) and letting them get all messy, or giving them balls to try and throw into the tubs (which will then in turn make a huge mess when they splash in). The food will be pretty standard - mini sausage rolls, sandwich triangles, fairy bread, fruit kebabs, jelly cups with chocolate frogs stuck on top, mini spring rolls, veggie sticks with dip and a bucket full of poppers.

I'm making the decorations (yep, I'm a sucker for punishment) so will no doubt have a few late nights coming up. I'll take some pics when they are done. It should be great fun though! Have I mentioned that I love planning parties for my little ones?! lol.

And the best thing is when it's all over and done with, we'll start again. The Butterfly's first birthday is in September :)

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow!!

I know I blogged about Tassie last night but I just have to dedicate a post to the glorious stuff that is snow.

Now to give some background info (and perhaps make my reaction seem a tad more understandable), before this holiday I had never been near snow. I'd seen it on the Swiss Alps, bu never actually got close to it. Since we've been here however I've got to experience it in all its icy cold goodness. We always had to go up the mountain though, and it was mainly snow on the ground (as opposed to falling snow).

Today however, that changed. This morning we were all munching on our breakfast, planning our day, when Hubby looked out the window and announced that it was snowing. I didn't exactly believe him. The conversation went something like this:

Hubby: "Look Bella (one of my millions of nicknames), it's snowing"
Me: "No it's not"
Hubby: "Yes, it is"
Me: "No it isn't, that's rain"
Hubby: "White rain?"
Me: "Yes. But it's not really white. It's just fat rain"
Hubby: "White, fat, floating rain that is making the ground white?"
Me: "OHMYGOD IT'S SNOWING!!"

I then promptly scooped up the Bear and ran outside (the Butterfly was half way through her toast and would not have been very pleased if I had taken her away from it. She takes after her Mumma that girl, nothing gets between her and her breaky!). So I raced outside, Bear on my hip, and started dancing and cheering and spinning and trying to catch as much snow as possible on our hands or in our mouths. I wasn't aware exactly how much noise I was making until the man next door opened his window, leaned out and called "Yes Lauren, it's called snow". Smarty pants :P After returning Bear back to his breakfast I resumed my snow dance and soon noticed that my feet, legs, hands, arms and face were burning. In all the excitement I had run outside exactly as I was - in my pj's of boxers and a shirt (it's a heated house, a must-have down here). I had stopped to grab Bear's coat but nothing for myself so I quickly learnt a very important thing about snow. It's cold - not gee that's a bit chilly, but seriously seriously COLD. And yes, I am aware that snow is in fact ice, but I had somehow glossed over that fact when I raced outside.

Anyway, after lunch we decided to head up the mountain and see if we could find some more snow. There wasn't too much on the ground, just a light covering, but we decided to hop out anyway. Within about 5 minutes snow started pouring down. It was so thick the sky was literally white and we couldn't see our car about 10m away. It was freaking awesome. If you looked up you could see thousands of flakes falling down to you, and if you tracked it carefully you could watch one fall from the highest height then catch it in your hand.

We all had a ball. When we were so cold we'd nearly turned into snowflakes ourselves we piled back into the car, cranked the heater then giggled the whole way back. I think this trip has converted us - we are a family of snow bunnies :)

Some piccies for you - they are hardly the best quality but I wanted to spend time playing in the snow, not photographing it!! Apologies for the scenery only pics, I don't feel comfy putting photos of my family up on the net.  xo

Tassie Tassie, oh Beautiful Tassie

Told you I'd come back sooner this time :D

So I thought I'd use this as a bit of a travel diary tonight and recap some of the amazing memories we've been making on our holiday so far.

I have to start with the plane ride. The Bear was oh so excited about flying down, his Grandma and Grandpa gave him a pilots cap a while ago and the moment he woke he scrambled out of bed to find it and plopped it on his head. It stayed there the entire trip down, an event made all the more wonderful by the fact that two actual pilots commented on his hat - one saluted him and asked if he was going to help fly the plane today, the other said he preferred the Bears hat to his own and did he want to swap. It makes me so happy to come across lovely people like this, willing to take a moment out of their own busy days to make a little boy smile. A rather amusing moment occurred though after we had taken off when Bear looked out the window then,  quite shocked, announced to the entire plane "Mummy Mummy, we are up in the sky!". He has flown before but apparently he only just noticed we weren't driving along a road :) The Butterfly took the whole thing in her typically chilled out-cheerful stride. She loved having an audience to goo and coo to, and took to batting her eyelashes and smiling at anyone who walked past. Her one moment of disapproval occurred when she desperately tried to make the mini TV screen scroll, touch screen style. She eventually gave up with a grumpy 'humph'.

Since we've been here we've done so many wonderful things, I'm filling up my camera's memory card every day and wishing I had more. The parks down here are amazing, they just kick the pants of the ones back home. There is the "Lighthouse Park" which features a great big lighthouse, a HUGE wooden boat filled with ramps, slides, tunnels, sand toys, mazes, rock climbing walls and anything else you can think of; then there is  Princes Park which has a huge slide (Bear's jaw nearly hit the ground when he saw it), rolling grassy hills perfect for the Butterfly to crawl and roll down to her hearts delight, and a really fun spiny wheel-circle thing (yea I know, a great description. It's a great big circle on tracks that the kids can sit or stand on. As they climb onto it it starts spinning around, sending them flying into the sand or squealing with delight as they spin around and around). And not to forget the Train Park, a gorgeous little corner park with a bike track, a big train to play in, wonderful climbing equipment but best of all two great big slides, side by side, perfect for Mummy-Bear races.

We've been out to Richmond and raided the lolly store, driven through some gorgeous countryside calling out hello to the millions of cows, bulls, sheep, geese and chicken that we passed. We've feasted on ice creams while wrapped up in millions of coats, beanies and scarves. We've played in the snow, making our very first snowman and snowballs, the Butterfly bursting into laughter as she watched it dissolve in her hand. We've feasted on beautiful cheeses, the Bear making his preference for Blue and Brie clearly known. We've visited Oatlands and huddled under a huge old windmill, danced in the rain through the markets, cruised the streets picking out houses we'd love to buy if ever we win the lottery. We've given up counting the rainbows, they seem to be a daily occurrence here, instead just launching into a family rendition of the rainbow song whenever we spot one.

All in all we are having such a lovely time. There is nothing quite as nice as waking up on an icy cold morning, all snug and warm inside your bed, pulling your little ones in to join you and laughingly planning what new adventures you should have that day. The Butterfly is loving this holiday tradition and happily points to our bed when I get her out of her cot, gleefully pulling the covers over her head and giggling like mad while she waits for the Bear to "find" her.

Life is sweet. So very, very sweet. xoxoxoxox

Hello, I am still here!

I know I know, I've been very slack with my poor little neglected blog lately. I have a good reason though - we are currently in Tassie!

We are spending our days playing in the snow up on Mt Wellington (we made our first snowman and snowballs today, woohoo!!), checking out all the convict buildings, playing in all the millions of fantastic parks, shopping and doing all sorts of fun things.

Now I know this will make this the shortest blog entry of all times, but I am going to go and dive under my doona and try and stop my teeth chattering. It's 3 degrees people!! Woohoo!!

(I promise I'll write again sooner this time)

xo