Georgia's Party - The birthday girl

What a marvellous day Miss G had. How often can you get to slide whilst still in PJ's?

















Bash a pinata with a whole line up of people BEHIND you?





Get to play duck, duck goose and slide in a purple fairy dress.

And just have a ball?

Happy 6th birthday Princess G!

Georgia's Party - The cake!

Georgia's 6th birthday cake was a cupcake tower comprising 50 pink and purple cupcakes from the truly amazing, lovely, talented and very generous Kellie at Cupcakes by K - http://www.cupcakesbyk.com.au/

There were G's, 6's, hearts, flowers, pussy cats, stars......plus 20 gift boxed cupcakes for people to take home.

Not only did they look and smell divine but most importantly, Georgia LOVED them....and in the end, that is all that really matters!

Georgia smiling widely while having Happy Birthday to her, counting through the numbers while we counted to 6 and blowing out her candles. Oh her smile brings SO much joy and happiness!

Georgia's Party - Ethan - Cheezels and cones

And who thoroughly enjoyed his big sister's party yesterday? There were Cheezels by the plate load, there were marshmallow cones, there was a bouncing castle, there were balloons....and when it all got too much and close to sleep time there was St. Sarah the Supernanny to whisk him upstairs, give him lunch, watch a DVD and put him to bed. Oh the life of Master Ethan!

Georgia's Party - Luke

Being married to a self-described Peter Pan, you know he'll enjoy anything the munchkins are into. But how much fun did he have at G's party yesterday?

He got to wield the shot that brought down the pinata and the rained the contents down on the assembled munchkins.













He made plenty of use of the bouncing castle/slide and all while clad in his favourite Tigger ice hockey jersey!

p.s. Yes, in all of these photos he's clad in his socks. We are obviously too poor to afford shoes for him :)

Georgia's party

Every year, we throw a BIG party for Georgia's birthday. This is the third year it has happened and it shows no signs of slowing down. One of these days we are going to find people who DON'T want to come....but alas G's party seems to be loved by one and all and I've been told the chances of any of our family and friends NOT turning up is about nil. I suppose that is good isn't it? Except when it comes to the guest list. Oh that is tough.

Who to invite and who we'd love to invite but simply can't fit. It is a real challenge. We have family who put in so much to help us so we can't leave them out. We live in the most amazing street on the planet. We are truly Blessed to call most of our near neighbours our dear friends. We couldn't have the extravaganza we do without them noticing the mega bouncing castle sitting in our teeny, tiny back yard!! There are many that have helped us and continue to assist on our Georgia journey that we see so infrequently that getting them here for a party is about the only time we get to see them each year. Georgia's friends from Mum's Group, daycare, kindy and school....and the list goes on and on.

We can fit 40 people here if we pack them in like sardines. So we asked Georgia who she'd like at her party and she gave us a very clear list on who she wanted to share her big day with. There were some she left out that I thought would be in...but ultimately she made the call so I direct all complaints about non-invites to her :)

I hope there is no one reading this who is mortally offended they didn't get an invite. Please be reassured that it is not that we don't care - far from it - it is just that we are very restricted by space so we had to draw the line somewhere. Thanks for your understanding!

Teeth and hair

Today Georgia came home from school with one of her front teeth.....it was sticky-taped to a piece of pink cardboard.

Please see pic of Georgia's new smile at left :)

That is tooth #3 to go but the first one that we've actually been able to get to do the Tooth Fairy thing. Note to self - put on Tooth Fairy hat after munchkin has gone to sleep.

Yesterday was haircut day for the two smallest members of our family. Georgia was incredibly well behaved during her haircut. Amazing what bribery and the promise of a 'special treat' after the hairdresser can do.

And then there was Ethan. He screamed, he yelled, he shouted, he lashed out....it was quite an entertaining performance for me (he was on my lap - think of wrestling a shouting giant squid), the staff at the hairdresser AND the hairdresser's clients. Oui!

Interestingly enough, when we got home, he was sweetness and light personified - see pic. But Georgia wouldn't pose for a post-haircut photo and was in a foul mood.

If it is not one, it's the other :)

Something a bit different.....a post about ME!

This blog is very munchkin-centric, and particularly Georgia-centric, but that is a reflection of my life. But for once, I'm going to do a post about ME.

Way back last century, when I was a traveller who made her way around the world with suitcase, overnight bag AND a handbag in tow (travel light? moi? never!), I visited a few countries. If I had 'spare' time in my life, I could sit down to work out how many but to save time, let's say about 30+ countries. Yes, lots of stamps in the passport, lots of postcards home from exotic destinations and lots of praying from my Mum that I would be safe, well and warm.

I recently read a list of the world's 10 greatest cathedrals and I was exceedingly chuffed to say I've set foot in, and where possible, climbed by the bell towers/turrets/whatever high point was on offer, of them. The list is:

1. Notre-Dame, Paris, France
2. Saint-Chapelle, Paris
3. Notre-Dame, Reims
4. Chartres Cathedral
5. Dom, Cologne, Germany
6. St Stephen's Dom, Vienna, Austria
7. Duomo, Milan, Italy.....remains the ONLY place in the world where I've walked on the roof...literally....on the tiles.
8. York Minster, York, England.
9. Salisbury Cathedral, Salisbury.

10. Seville Cathedral, Seville, Spain. I've been to Barcelona (didn't like it one bit) but not to Seville so this is the only one of the top ten that I haven't visited.

'Been there. Done that!' And don't those days seem so long ago when compared to life now?

Photography by a munchkin

Guess who found my camera when I wasn't looking? And managed to turn it on and take some pictures before I discovered the budding photographer in action?

I think the lime green PJ pants and foot at left might give a reasonable hint.

Yes, Miss Georgia decided to test out my camera and oh she had fun. None of this toy camera business for her. A nice Canon IXUS with a 3" viewing screen thank you very much :)

We thought pic 1, 4 and 5 showed particular artistic flair!
Fingers anyone? With a nice table and chairs overlooking the Beach visible through the chairs.














A finger all but covering the lens.













How great is this for a picture by a 5 year old? Amazing how good the view from our 'weekender' at the Beach was.












The camera angled up we presume? This was the upper floors of the building we were staying in.

What a hoot!

The Big Boy Bed

Long time between blog posts. Sorry! There is so much I'd love to have had time to blog about. Maybe I'll get 'there' (where is there?) one day.

But then somethings happen that everything just has to stop and the blog must be updated. And this is one of those things.......Ethan moving from his low to the ground toddler bed into his 'big boy bed'.

Luke and I decided this afternoon that tonight was going to be THE night for Ethan to give THE big boy bed (TBBB) a try out.

So, train pillowslip on the pillow, train quilt on the bed, his usual array of toys moved over to TBBB to keep him company. And the little man himself was very keen on the idea.

Here's the before and after bottle shots. Here's hoping he stays in bed until it's daylight. Now that would be an event worth blogging about!

It's a beautiful night to be a Queenslander

QLD 28 vs NSW 18.

Enough said :)

Thursdays and Fridays

Just about everything 'special' at Georgia's school happens on Thursday or Friday mornings....when I'm at Red Hill and not able to attend :(

These pics were taken by the Mum of one of G's classmates (thanks Libby!!) so I could see what happened at the Mother's Day morning tea.

They show G and Grandma looking at the wall of Prep A art. The lower pic is G with her painting. Notice how hers is rather abstract while those of her classmates are of 'formed objects'?

Considering she could hardly draw a mark on a page two years ago, what an achievement!!

This week on Thursday is Under Eight's Day at school. Luke has taken the day off to attend the festivities.

Next Thursday at school is the Sports Day.

Thank goodness the walkathon is on Sunday 14th and I'll be able to attend!