Top cat

Our very cute little kitty cat turned one this week. He has grown a bit, well quite a lot actually, but he remains as cute and playful as ever (although we would prefer it if he were a bit more affectionate).

Ben got special cat food treats for his birthday and we celebrated with cat cup cakes.

Happy Birthday Ben!!

Happy Birthday Dezzy Delightful

So sweet on her 4th birthday; and still cute today.

Happy birthday Eade. 

Love

m, xox

Twelve

How did it happen? It seems like just last week you were a sweet little toddler who was so happy and easy to please.

Now you're twelve... and still gorgeous! It's nice to watch you develop your own style and foster your own opinions.

Happy birthday Ruby girl!
Love
m, xox

It's been a while...

Hi folks,

I don't really have an excuse for the spartant posting an. Things have been chugging along at their usual pace. We have had a couple of birthdays in our household this month: Eadie has finally clicked over to double digits hitting the big one-zero; as for Steve, he'd rather not talk about it. That's it on the birthday front for a while now.

The netball season got off to a very wet start and has continued that way. I think we've had one clear game night – the rest have been completely hideous. I think netball should be a summer sport in NZ. We are almost at the end of another school term which marks the halfway mark for the year which is kinda scarey. Over the holidays we will head up to Ruakaka for a few days, then squeeze in a couple of days back in Auckland before hitting the slopes on Ruapehu.

I've enrolled in a beginners upholstery course which begins next term. I've been wanting to do this for-EVER! I'm really looking forward to learning so new skills so that I can breath some new life into some of my fave pieces.

Steve and I are experimenting with a low-carb diet. I thought this would be really, really hard but it's not. It's surprising how full you feel when you eat a lot of protein (we go through a lot of eggs). So we're eating less and feeling fuller. It's been two weeks with no real signs of weight loss but some of us are feeling less bloated.

Photos:
1. The birthday girl.
2. The birthday boy. (There really weren't enough candles on that cake!)
3. Birthday card Eadie made for Steve. (Very cute.)
4. New wardrobe staple purchased especially for netball spectating.

5. Eggs! We need to get some more chickens.

Brag rights

I'm not usually one to brag but I impressed myself with this one.

It wasn't achieved the first time round though. Last weekend I attempted to make a gluten-free rainbow cake – it was a complete disaster. Which meant on the morning of the party I was furiously whipping up a sponge cake in addition to a dozen other things. But I wasn't deterred.

A friend of Ruby's had a party at the same time as Ava's. I took this opportunity to opt out of gluten-free thing and chose to make it easy on myself by buying a couple of packet mixes. I also invested in some gel food colouring which gives a more intense colour than the drops you get at the supermarket.

Cutting the cake was a little bit hairy but when I served the first slice there was a chorus of "Ohhhhh!-s" which was what I was aiming for.

If you too want to impress your friends and family, you'll find the instructions for the rainbow cake here.

Happy Birthday Snowy!

A few days ago Ava announced that Snowy's birthday was coming up. She was busy making party invitations for us all. And so, today was the big day – except the party is actually tomorrow because Steve was away for most of the day. Still, pancakes for breakfast is a birthday ritual in our house, so pancakes it was.



Happy birthday big fella!

Before I turn 40!

Oops! Too late! Well, maybe we could make it before I turn 50 – or 60 just to be on the safe side.

I found this list in the latest Frankie magazine. You probably can't read it so I'll recreate a few:

4. Climb a mountain (or a large hill). [Check] 5. Buy an original work of art. [Check]6. Learn to make sushi, with the rolling mat and everything. [Check] 8. Interview your parents and grandparents on the family history. Get it all down on paper. [Good idea.] 9. Hold a clothes-swap party. [I've been wanting to do that.] 17. Develop a signature dish and make it for lunch for everyone you work with. [Easy, just got to get a job to have some work colleagues.] 33. Volunteer time to help a charity. 34. Draw something. [Have you seen my drawing?] 35. Get a new hairstyle every year. [Not sure about this, my 40 you should know what suits you.] 36. Swear to never wear those grim undies from the bottom of the pile. Throw them out, sisters!

And the list goes on. I'm sure if I think about it for half a moment I could come with a few originals of my own.

m, xox

Another party...

This time it was Ava's turn. We threw her a little party after school last Friday. I had a cunning plan to keep the girls busy and under control with modelling clay. The idea was to make little creatures which I would then bake in the oven. The end result was cute magnets to take home.




It all went really well, and the kids were right into the clay project but they still wanted party games [damn it]. Luckily I had a few ideas up my sleeve, such as Wrap the Mummy.


I'm not sure what Ava was so excited about in this pic. The birthday cake was an easy peasy ice-cream cake. It didn't look like much but was a hit with the kids [phew!].


I think the only way to guage the success of a party is the pester factor. If the kids don't pester you too much; it's a success. I think I passed.

Dinner? Seriously?

You mean I have to do dinner as well? I was soooo happy when I remembered that I forgot to serve the mini pizzas at the party. With that and left-over cake, dinner is sorted :)

PS. They really did taste good – much better than they look in the pic!

pARrtY giRL

Ruby had to wait 'til school went back before she had a birthday party. Little did I know that a lot of people do that, consequently there were a few girls who couldn't make it. Not to worry, she had a great time with a lovely group of girls.

Unwrapping some awesome presents:


The cake (darn that colour bleed!):


The construction site:


Some examples of the masterpieces:

Walking home

The silly things you do when you're walking home after a big night out!

A fabulous night

I'm sure Sarah has a few good pics on her camera but this is what I have for now! This one was taken very early in the night. [Note the gorgeous necklace which was a present from Steve.]

And what a great night it was. Very civilised and grown-up with a nice selection of cocktails that kept coming throughout the night. I was a bit worried that people would make an appearance then disappear early but it wasn't like that at all. The pic below is of the "stayers". We finished up at about 12.45am and I think that was mainly in consideration of babysitters.




A class act!

It's really not that serious!

A day out with Sarah

I certainly got a surprise last night when Sarah M magically appeared just after midnight. A lovely birthday gift indeed.

After breakfast in Mt Eden village we headed to Ponsonby for market day.






Objects of art:




A view from the top: