~ snippets from the week he turned five ~

 

It's been a whole festival of turning 5 for Jack this week... and he's loved every minute

1.  Robot cake toppers for the park-day cupcakes on the real birthday

2.  More cupcakes (no toppers) for the kinder class the next day.

3.  Crabapple blossoms from a broken branch over-hanging our fence.  They're so pretty.  I've actually been out looking for one today to put in a perfect space in our front lawn.

4 and 5.  We used air-dry clay for the first time at home this week.  We made loads of little sea-inspired tags to hang on the party boxes.   I'm thinking Christmas ornaments are a must with this - we all loved getting our hands dirty.

6.  Grissini dipped in chocolate and then sprinkles are a firm party favourite around here.

7.  The 5 cake (courtesy of the  AWW cake book of which we are such fans).  I'm not big on that roll-out icing but it turned out ok.  We did get into trouble for sending the cars the wrong way down a street from the car and rule-obsessed birthday boy.

8.  The highlight of the gym party is getting a go in the bungy.

9.  Winning the hurdles at little athletics before the party - check out the tiny hurdles!!

The week ended on a bit of a downer tonight when he fell and cut his chin open.  Luckily we had some steri-strips and a little bit of medical expertise here and avoided a Sunday night trip to ED.  Phew!  First lots of stitches (or steris) we've really ever needed in almost 11 years of parenting.

Linking with Em to share snippets of our lives every week.


♥

~ birthday season ends and the season of jolly begins ~

We have so many birthdays in Spring (and heading into summer) that it's become our rule not to start Christmas planning/decorating until they're all over.

Last  weekend saw the final birthday of the year (for us - we still have 3 parties to go to in the next fortnight) - a bowling party with afternoon tea at our house for Gracie.  Easy party (for us) and then they ran round in the back yard until it was home time....perfect!
On request I made Donna's Hays chocolate cake - with choc icing, kit kats and m&ms  - easy and yum!

I resurrected last year's advent calendar  and we've put the tree up (we've gone fake for the last few years - I got all green about it).  I also made a washi tape tree for a bare wall and hung some recycled card garlands on it just for fun.

 

Its a total trip down memory lane unpacking all the decorations and finding the handmade treasures from years ago. We've exchanged the first presents, started the baking and already (much to the Doc's horror) the Christmas carols are on repeat on the ipod. 

I'm getting excited.  I'm such a  big kid at this time of year ... I really want to pass that sense of excitement and joy onto my kids.

Have you started your Christmas preparations yet?

Do you love it?  Or is it overwhelming?  Or a bit of both?!

♥

~ a decade of Lily ~

My big girl turned 10 today.

That's 10 years of marvelling at just how clever we are to have made such a gorgeous little person.
10 years of finding new things to worry about almost every single day.
10 years of pride and joy.
10 years since the whole path of my life changed (for the better). 

We had a sleepover party here on the weekend - 4 friends for pizza at the beach, games in the garden and then a movie and bed.  The next morning we made pancakes and painted nails.  There was a mexican sombrero cake, balloons and posies of fresh flowers from our garden.  It was beautiful.  And so very Lily.

 

Lily's a dreamer and a thinker.
She is brave and resilient, sporty and smart.
Books and music are like breath to her. 
She's calm, quiet and just the loveliest company.

Her song goes a bit like this:

when I see your face

there's not a thing that I would change

'cause you're amazing

just the way you are

and when you smile

the whole worlds stops and stares for a while 

'cause girl you're amazing

just the way you are 

(Bruno Mars)

I can't even begin to imagine how the next decade is going to look
... I know I've got good company for the journey though.

♥

~ apparently ~

For months Jack has been telling us "When I'm a big boy.  When I'm 4."

Well 4 is tomorrow and, apparently, these are the things that he'll be doing from now on:

          * sitting up at the dinner table every night with everyone else

          * eating (or at least trying) meat, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato, tomatoes, capsicum, eggs
             {he used to eat EVERYTHING - I'm not sure when it all went wrong}

          * sleeping in his own bed every night

          * eating breakfast all by himself

          * wiping his own bottom 

          * have his hair washed without a tantrum

I always knew 4 was fun and fabulous and feisty.  But, apparently,  its so much more.
Bring it on ( I say bravely, barely able to believe my baby is turning 4)



♥

~ the big girl turns 9 ~

Our beautiful Lily turned 9 over the weekend.

She was the baby who made me a mother, the one who changed the landscape of my heart and turned everything I thought I knew about myself on its head.

She's the one who has borne the brunt of my uncertainty and ineptness as I learn to be the best mum I can.

She made us a family, introduced us to that terrible fear when you realise that part of your heart resides outside your body and teaches us all the time.

{the red bike that goes faster}

{Harry's hat - cake #15 or so that we've made from the AWW bible}

I've been a mother for 9 years - it's amazing, challenging, tough and joyful - and it just keeps getting better.


♥

~ and then she was 7~

Our Gracie was 7 over the weekend.

Apparently 7 is VERY exciting - so exciting that you wake your parents at 4am, and when they refuse to stir,  you sing "Happy Birthday Self" over and over and over....until they do.

Makes for a long day for a newly minted 7 year old (and her parents).

She was as equally thrilled with her balloons as with her books, Lego and new desk (it had been hidden in the shed while the Doc painted it for the last week -at one stage we told her it was a goat and she still didn't peek).

She was super thrilled with the pool party and the Zappo the alien cake.

 

 

And who wouldn't be? - 20 friends and her brother and sister for an all-in splashing frenzy.  I kind of wished I was in there too - but I was pacing looking for stray drowning kids (none - yay) and of course there is the small matter of bathers....not ready to go there yet this year.

7 is joyous and smiley.

It's growing and exploring.

It's hopeful and impatient.

It's a learning experience for all of us (all over again).

It's going to be fun.

♥

~ and now he is 3 ~

I love birthday #3.  Its when they get it.  When they realise the presents, the cake, the fun is all about them.  He revelled in it.  Squealed for the presents.   Screamed with joy at the balloons.  Looked fit to burst as he ate his 4th piece of kite cake. (So glad he finally went for this and not the fairy princess castle - not because of the whole boy thing but because the kite was far more my skill level).  Started planning birthday #4 as soon as we got home.

We didn't go all out for this birthday - the little man only wanted "my best friends" and in the end this turned out to be our regular Tuesday morning park gang with a few almost-family friends thrown in.

So it felt casual and relaxed.  Just perfect for him.  And for us.

We made waaay too much food. This is a family tradition.  We had fairy bread and striped jellies, choc crackles, honey joys and strawberries.   I tried some new things too - the little teddy cars and the grissini wands were hits (thankyou Emma and your wonderful blog ). The girls made the lolly boxes.  We marvelled at how rich he's made our lives and how much joy and love he brings.  We had fun.

I'll write him a letter tonight.  I have a special book for each of them where I write a letter each birthday and record the highlights of the year and my thoughts on how they are growing.  It makes me cry each time I write it (or glance through it).  Its such a bittersweet experience watching them grow, knowing that they'll never be THIS perfect age again but hoping the next one will be fabulous too.

♥

~ due preparations for the party ~

{you can make these here}

~ 42, Douglas Adams and the meaning of life ~

Yesterday was my birthday

I love birthdays.

I love the rituals and the celebration, the giving (and receiving), the planning, the cake, the dinner, the spoiling.

I'm not so big on the numbers.  I don't feel 42.  Or what I thought 42 would feel like when I was (much) younger.  I thought forty was ancient, sensible and grown-up;  a holding pattern, if you like, for the rest of life.  And yet here I am  - mum to 3, one still in nappies with occasional thoughts of what a fourth would do to our lives (that's really only idle speculation - I can hear the screams of the Doc, my obstetrician and my absent abdominals already).  Not sorted, not mature, not always sensible.

In my heart I'm still in my 20s.  Still believing anything is within reach and possible if I put my mind to it.  I catch myself scanning the uni students milling around wondering if I'll see anyone I know.  I get shocked when I don't recognise the movies showing at the cinema or the songs in the top20.  I feel betrayed when my body aches and screams if I push it too hard or if I stay up too late, or have too many bubbles.  I still have to pinch myself that I am responsible for 3 small people - that they rely on me for food, shelter, love and knowledge.  I still feel like the world is out there waiting for me to come and explore and wonder.

Denial?  For sure.  I'm not one to gaze in the mirror checking for wrinkling and aging.  I have no list of what I need/want to achieve by this age, or that.  Sometimes, in those moments when I let myself think about aging,  I feel paralysed with fear that I'll be too old to play with my grandchildren (imagine if our kids wait as long as we did...), that genetics will catch up with me or the Doc and we'll fall prey to those health demons that lurk in the family histories.

So I live for the here and now.  For the little moments, the wonders, the sheer mundanity, the joys, the disappointments of the everyday.  Where the numbers are irrelevant and I strive to make each day count. 

Yesterday was a good day, I hope there are many more of them.

♥

{disclaimer:  That is not yesterday's cake.  The Doc made 3 cakes (best not to talk about the first two unless you have great tips about what to do with a cupboard full of crumbled chocolate cake) and finally cracked it with a heart shaped, chocolate extravaganza.  HRH LLJ had been wondering all day "where's the birthday?" and it wasn't until he saw the candles that he was convinced it was a real birthday.  In all his 2 year old excitement at cake and candles with the accompanying jumping and screaming I actually forgot to take a photo.}

~ the Central Cookery Book comes into its own ~

The Doc had his birthday on Saturday.

Cue massive over excitement from the 3 wombles. 

For even without party bags, games or,  heck, even a party,  the thought of birthday cake is enough to get them going. 

We baked a delicious lemon tea cake from the  Central Cookery Book.  The book that was my year 7 cooking text (and therefore, over 30 years old much to the wombles amazement).

{teacake with lemon icing}

I didn't learn much cooking at school.  6 months of classes once a week in a mixed class in grade 7.

I can remember scones and pizza (same dough) -  that's about it.  That's no reflection on the utterly delightful Home Ec. teacher who was in the classic Mrs Beeton mode.  And is was certainly a whole lot better than the sewing lessons with a relief teacher for 6 months who struggled to get us to do anything except flirt with each other and throw eggs out the window and hide cooking ingredients . I blame my lack of crafting ability entirely on her... I cheated to get my machine licence (used a pin to poke holes in a straight line) and things have never really improved. 

But the cook book lives on.  Stained, torn, well-thumbed and certainly worse for wear.  Many of the recipes in there would never see the light of day in this house - think kidneys on toast,  scotch collops (what??), tripe friscasse... and it suffers hugely from the lack of pretty, light filled photos of the food.

But those old home Ec ladies sure knew a thing or two about baking and cakes.  And pikelets, scones and the like.

{simple cupcakes}

So while I drool over the latest food porn mags (Donna Hay, Delicious) and the gorgeous, plump-with- enticing photos cook books that line the shelves,  it's the old Central Cookery Book that we turn to for ritual and celebration.