easter eggs, birthday cake and goodbyes

Easter this year was extremely BUSY, so much happened in the space of a few days that I think we all need a holiday to recover. This year Lily's birthday fell on Easter Sunday so we decided to have her party on the Easter Saturday, which was fine but we also decided to get her a cubby house for her birthday, which was only delivered on the Thursday before and of course had to be put together before her party - stress!!! It all worked out though, the cubby was built , the party was great and she had a absolute ball. Then on Easter Sunday, we started with the usual egg hunts and chocolate overload; then we had birthday presents and more birthday cake; and then Brian and Monica flew home that evening so we had an emotional trip to the airport to end off the weekend. Phew, I'm tired . . .

Easter morning - actually more like night - Austin woke us up so early

Opening some of her presents

a trip to Zubi to visit Daddy who was working (fancy photo effects)



Shattered . . . not long after this she crashed on the couch for 4 hours



my little tomboy - she was keen to put on her princess outfit (a birthday present from granny and gramps) but then decided it was getting in the way of her bike riding so off it came!



Cake time for the 2nd time - and so happy to be the centre of attention again!!! This time mummy made an ice cream cake because she was sick of baking - and ice cream is so much nicer than real cake anyway 

Happy 3rd Birthday Sweetheart, you bring such fun, love, laughter and crazyness to our lives,

we are truly blessed and we love you so very much.

xo 

the cubby house - part 1

I feel guilty that Austin and Lily missed out on having a garden for the year that we were in the unit. Yes yes, we were at the park or beach nearly every day but it's just not the same as being able to open your back door to let them out to play and explore.

So to make it up to them I really wanted them to get them a cubby house/fort, and as Lily's birthday was coming up we had the perfect opportunity to kill two birds, but cubbies are not the cheapest things in the world I soon found out!!! I spent hours trawling cubby sites trying to find something decent but cheap, but eventually I had to settle for something we could actually afford, not the one I really wanted, which was really really hard for me to do - as Steve likes to say "only the best for Karen".

We got the cubby from My Cubby, they were awesome and organized for it to come in half the normal delivery time so we could assemble it in time for Lily's party. It comes in a kit form that they said should take a weekend to put together - well it arrived on the Thursday which gave Steve 2 days to finish it but he could only do it after work so it was going to be tight. But with a bit of help from me, his mum and my dad he managed to get most of it together in time, even with a few hours delay because of a missing panel. I was very impressed with my non-handyman husband. It still needs the sand pit, paint and a few finishing touches so I will post some more pics when it's completed.

Austin helping/hindering

the most important tool - beer

look at all those screws -  each hole had to be drilled

Monica and I were the 'holders'



Dad getting roped in on the 2nd day

nearly done

and he swims...

Austin started swimming lessons again a few weeks ago, this time only a 10 minute drive up to Terrey Hills - rather than the hour long drive we used to do to get to Roselands pool (we'd meet up with friends at the same time but can't do that anymore because of school). He goes before school which works out well because he doesn't start school till 9.25 and is up at 5.30/6 so the mornings at home are long, I actually like getting out and doing something.
After a 3 month break I was worried he would forget everything but he'd actually improved and watching him in his lesson I could see he had really got 'it' this time and was swimming properly and most importantly with confidence - another milestone complete . . .

Easter Parade

Austin came home from school the other day and said that he had to decorate a stuffed toy for the Easter Parade - I thought he must have misunderstood his teacher and even asked the other mothers if it was true but sure enough all the kindergartens had to decorate a toy. What ever happened to a hat??? So much easier! He wanted to decorate his rhino but we were a bit stumped with what to do. I'm hopeless at sewing so it had to be simple, we found some stickers and ribbons, plus some rabbit ears and chickens from last year that we just tied on. It looked ok but he hadn't really done anything for it besides sticking the stickers on so I went out and bought a little craft basket for him to paint and because they weren't allowed to put chocolate eggs in we blew out some real eggs and then dyed them red.


blowing out eggs is hard work but he was really good at it

the finished Rhino

the Parade

doing the chicken dance

Happiness is . . . having the Easter bunny visit your classroom while you are on parade and fill your little paper basket with chocolate eggs . . . Remember that? I do? Took me straight back to Primary School

When he was walking past I couldn't help but think back to South Africa when my little 18month old had his first Easter Hat Parade, awww look at him . . .

Pyjama Day

There are many days I would donate $2 to charity to wear my pyjamas out, somehow I don't think I'd look as cute though . . .

sunny days . . .

After a pretty miserable summer, we've had some gorgeous weather lately, perfect for just hanging out and enjoying time with family . . .

AT ZUBI

 

 AT THE PUB

AT THE FISH MARKETS

Balmoral Beach

Sunday was another gorgeous day, we decided to do a bit of exploring and spent the afternoon at Balmoral Beach which is somewhere I haven't been in years and Steve had never been. What a great spot for the kids, it reminded me so much of Bundeena actually.

Fish & Chips at the Beach, nothing better