Birthday Girl

After a night of pouring rain, I was awoken on ANZAC day at 6am, not by the dawn service but by Little Alex and one excited little girl! It was still quite dark and I heard a little voice ask, “has the sun come up yet!?” She knew it was her birthday and was sooo excited! At 7’oclock we got a phone call from Moppy and Poppy who were calling from Paris to wish Maddi a happy birthday.

Maddi requested a Little Mermaid Cake, and a Wow Wow Wubsy cake (a show on ABC kids), way back around the time of Little Alex's birthday. But I negotiated with her to make a Little Mermaid cake. As soon as she got out of bed she asked where her cake was, and as soon as she saw her cake she exclaimed, "I love my Little Mermaid cake!"

We gave Maddi a Sylvanian Families Village, that was mine as a kid. They were quite popular in the 80's and have since found that they are still sold in Target. They was very special to me and I kept the collection with the intention to give to my daughter one day. Lucky I had a daughter. It’s still in mint condition and I wanted Maddi to treat it as something special. I thought we should give it to her for her third birthday. After all it is not recommended for children under 3 years. We'll keep it upstairs in the spare room, away from Little Alex so Maddi can play in peace.

Maddi opened Moppy and Poppy’s package, which had a Gotz doll from Germany in it. Maddi instantly fell in love with her new doll, which she named Meeka. She introduced Meeka to her brother “Baby Boy”. She got straight into role with Meeka and insisted that she come along to the ANZAC march in Deloraine.

It was great that the rain had cleared off and the sun had came out for the ANZAC Day Parade. It’s a tradition to go and watch the ANZAC Day march as Pop is in it every year. He used to be fit and strong, but is still going strong, but now going in his buggy. I don’t think ANZAC Day would be the same if we didn’t go and watch Pop march. Every year there are less and less diggers. Last year I remember how few diggers were. It made me quite emotional. This year the band played more upbeat tunes, which didn’t affect me quite as much as last year. Maddi will one day come to realize the significance of ANZAC day and why we go to the ANZAC Day Parade in Deloraine every year.

We headed to Launceston to the Bike Centre to celebrate Maddi’s birthday. I like the idea of having parties out of the house as it saves on mess and there is lots more open space to run around and be free. When two families come together for a party there are a lot of people. The weather didn’t look too promising the night before and we began to make back up plan, just in case it was raining still. Fortunately it was a beautiful sunny morning with just a few clouds.

The bike centre was a great place to have a party as it was one big open bike track with working traffic lights, a barbeque, a playground and power to run a CD player and to off course have some hot milos on a cold day. The good thing was we had booked it and we had the place all to ourselves.

Alex cooked sausages on the 'Barbie.'

Maddi had fun at her party and ran from one thing to another.

Maddi gets reoccuring tonsillitis and had another bout of it during the week. Wednesday night she was vomiting through the night, but she was all set for her birthday by Saturday, after a trip to the doctors.

Only the girl of the party gets to be spoiled by being pushed around on a bike by Grandma. Grandma got very tired from all the pushing.

Good thing Harri had his stack hat on as he came a ‘gutser’ when he first arrived at the party. The bike Centre is in an old giant water tank. Harri rolled down the steep ramp on his bike and clipped the side of the bike on the gate at the bottom. I didn’t see it, but it would have been pretty scary going down a hill at that speed!

Little Alex enjoyed the food and the activity. A few weeks ago Maddi decided to jump in some puddles and of course it was a case of monkey see, monkey doo. Alex loved all the puddles at the party and was saturated. We had to borrow a change of clothes from Kobe. When I took his shoes and socks off his feet were like wrinkly prunes.

Maddi of course loved eating the party food.

She was very lucky to get so many lovely presents from everyone. Everyone was very thoughtful and knew just what to get her. When it came time to opening the cards, only Jay was allowed to read the cards to her. Jay is a bit older than the rest of the cousins and looks out for all the others. Maddi really looks up to Jay, and she often talks about him.

The cake was the highlight for Maddi. She had the party all under control and stabbed in three candles in the cake herself.

She took charge by adding some more lollies to the cake, as Maddi thought it needed more lollies. Perhaps next year I should pass on the cake decorating role to her! Maddi said the fish on her cake were “Emo” meaning Nemo from finding Nemo.

Maddi saw these Disney Princesses party whistles a few weeks ago, and asked for them for her party. They were a hit to her. She even invented a new noise for the whistle by making her own sounds as she blew the whistle

As we were packing up the party it started to spit. We were so lucky to keep out of the rain all day, and actually get some sunshine for most of the party. Maddi loved having everyone there for her party, although she did notice who wasn't there. I bet she'll talk about the party for weeks and reflect on it from time to time.

Our Maddi Mae

Our ANZAC Day baby- Born on the 25^th of April 2006, at 4.10am.

She has the most beautiful, radiating smile. When she smiles her whole face lights up and her eyes smile too.

She has a cute little voice, with a slight lisp that is only noticeable to those who hear her talk most. It makes her sound ohhhh so cute! She loves to talk, and will talk all day at home to herself, her imaginary friends, her teddies, “baby boy” and her Mum and Dad. Life is often a musical at the moment with her and she will sing requests to us. How can you deny such a request when it is sung so sweetly!

She is a fun, happy girl who loves to socialize. She knows what’s important in life and loves her family and friends and would much rather spend time with family then do anything else really. She talks about all the details about her family about what songs they like, what they look like and will often quote what they say and tell us what they do. She misses her family and friends when they are away from her. She longs to visit her Grandparents. She looks up to her family so much that most of the time she is not Maddi, but she is her Auntie Becc. She bosses “baby boy” and tells him that he’s Brise and gets in role as Becc or “Becca” most of the day, and poor Alex has to go along with being Brise all day. She makes friends wherever she goes and she will find out her new friends’ names and ask me if her new friends can come to our house to play when she has only just met them!

She has an infectious laugh, where she turns into a giggle pot and her laughter gets out of control. She always gets her brother to laugh along with her and it takes them both a while to contain themselves.

She is very assertive and independent. She told me a few weeks ago to “go on a holiday with Daddy again, and I’ll stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s, and Moppy and Poppy’s by myself.” She can at times be bossy! She knows what she wants and is very determined to get what she wants. She often corrects us, and Alex and I have to remind ourselves that she is only 2. She can sometimes intimidate large dogs and adults with her assertion. Bonnie, Moppy and Poppy’s large rotweiler is intimidated by this little girl and will be obedient to her commands.

She is a cheeky little girl and she will often pick up very quickly when an adult is trying to stir her. She will often stir us with a little grin on her face. When we tell her we love her, she often responds with “I love you too………much!” with emphasis on the much.

She has an incredible memory and an intelligent mind. We can go to a place the once, and she will point it out again. When she sees a place she remember all the details, that we have forgotten. She can remember surroundings really well. She is always asking questions and learning about things. She can direct us back home. If she ever got lost we wouldn’t have to worry as she knows her address.

She has a passion for food and is very cultured in her eating. She tries new foods and usually likes them. She loves to cook and to eat. She loves all sorts of foods from vegetables and fruit to gourmet foods such as capers and olives. She will always try to source out capers and olives in a meal as they are one of her many favourites. I think she would prefer to eat meat and vegetables over takeaway.Although she loves the novelty of going to "Donalds".

We are incredibly proud and amazed by this little girl. We are so lucky to have her. She brings us a lot of joy and laughter. What a blessing she is to us. She has already taught us so much already. We can’t believe she is turning three tomorrow. We can’t help but reflect on those days when she was a newborn, wishing that she would get to the stage where she will walk, talk and grow up. We are not wishing her years away now, as she’s growing up way too fast. Sometimes I wish I could keep her this small forever. I will miss that cute little voice soon.

A parcel in the post

The Parcel Man rang our doorbell this morning! We got a parcel sent from Germany from Moppy and Poppy. We were pleasantly surpised as it was expected to take a month to get here and it took less than two weeks. Those Germans certainly know how to run their postal service!

Moppy and Poppy are on a working holiday in Europe for four weeks visiting Germany, Sweden, Denmark and France. They are currently in Denmark in Copenhagen for an Operating Theatre convention, that Liz will be speaking at with an audience of 650 people. We've been hearing about their adventures through their blog and it sounds like they're having an amazing time.

We'll keep this parcel sealed till ANZAC Day. Although it is very tempting to have a sneak peak without the kids around.... but I'll restrain myself!

Country experience

What a great day it was to visit the Marakoopa caves today . I picked Mum and Dad up and we set off along the slippery wet roads to the cave. It was such a cold, wet day that we were all rugged up for the occassion. The cave keeps a constant temperature of 9 degrees celcius, and outside the cave it read 10 degrees. The original plan was to go into the caves with the Kings, but it was so busy that they took the first 25 people in that tour and we missed out. Instead we were put into an extra tour half an hour later. We crossed paths with the Kings during the tour, and it wasn't hard to miss them all rugged up in their Hawks scarves.

Maddi was in a bit of a bad mood before the tour. I think she was a little scared of going in. If only looks could kill!

We went on the cathedral tour and there were some fairly narrow spaces. I carried Alex through the cave and it was hard to keep him from touching the cave, which was forbidden. He was so pleasant and really happy as it's not very often that I will carry him around for an hour or so these days! Maddi remarked to Mum that the caves were the fairy's house when she saw the crystals formed on the rocks, which was very appropriate.

It was a steep journey with lots of stairs to the cathedral. When we got to the cathedral, a few people had a go at singing Mama Mia. Apparently a church group would meet up here and hold a church service. Our guide was a bit of a joker and would tell some way-out stories along the tour, so I'm not sure how true this bit of information was as I can be gullible at times!

Mum and Maddi taking the journey down the steps.


As we got to the end of the tour, the lights were turned off so we could look at the glow worms. We were unable to take photos as it affects the glow worms. At this point little Alex got very cuddly and limp and drifted off to sleep. We met up with the Kings on the outside and Lisa got this snap of my Sleeping Beauty.


We left the caves and started driving down the road. About 250 metres down the road, Mum yelled out to pull over. Poor Mum had got the case of the gastro once again. She got back in the car feeling a lot better and we headed to the honey place in Chudleigh. Fingers crossed we haven't picked it up!

After all these years of knowing about the Honey Farm and not visiting it, I went inside for the first time. I was surpised at how good it was. It doesn't look like much on the outside but is really well presented and informative on the inside. We had a taste test of all the great honeys and tested some of the products.


The kids outside the honey factory



It's very rare to get good photos of both the kids. They never look at the camera as you can see. I think the King boys need to give them some lessons with Auntie Lisa!


We then headed to Mum and Dad's with sweet taste buds. We were excited to see the baby lamb that was born just a couple of days ago.

Alex was not interested at first


The kids had a hold and Maddi kept imititating the baby lambs "baaing". It won't be long before there are more sheep lambing and that's all Mum and Dad will hear!

Mum made us some homemade tomato soup, which was just right for such a cold wet day. The kids were fed and we headed off on our journey back home. We had a great day and the kids were pooped after their day to the counrtyside. Fresh cold air, walking up lots of stairs, warm soup and farming always does that to you.

Day with friends

We spent Easter Monday with our friends Daniel and Holly. We went to The Cherry Shed in Latrobe for lunch. They have the best cherry icecreams there. Last summer (2008) it was quite a warm one and whenever we would go through Latrobe we would stop at the little kiosk for an icecream which were the best. The Cherry Shed have recently expanded their business and turned it into a cafe style restarant. There is heaps of seating and the food is reasonable. Alex ordered a platter and they had sold out of cherries, so he was compensated with raspberries.



Maddi was in a happy, silly mood and wanted to show us her "smiley face!"

She turned gourmet and had her chips and nuggets with the crackers from Alex's platter.


After mains we decided we weren't sick of all the Easter chocolate we had consumed and headed up the highway for dessert at Anvers Chocolate. We really should of ran up there and worked our mains off! Anvers was busy as always and we were very lucky to get a table. The desserts and hot chocolate at Anvers are awesome, about half the mug is filled with froth which is just the way I like it.

Raspberry mousse cake


The kids having a play on the Anvers chocolate car afterwards.

We headed home in the afternoon and ended up doing some exercise after all, as the boys had a kick of the footy.

Good Friday

We went to Mum and Dad's for a Good Friday brunch. Maddi had been looking forward to visiting Grandma's all week and meeting up with all her cousins. All week she would name everyone that would be Grandma and Grandpa's house. Chrish was planning to come all week but because of his health and hospital stay he wasn't able to make it.

Mum made the girls some tutus for Easter. The girls looked very pretty in their Easter outfits. We had an Easter Egg hunt and it was such a beautiful day that the eggs started to melt. Little Alex is right into chocolate now. He didn't get eggs on the hunt, but was quite happy to take from his cousins baskets and wasn't happy unless he had chocolate. It's a good thing he likes having his teeth brushed at the moment!



Mum with the girls
Mum and Dad with all 10 Grandkids. It's hard to get them to all look at the camera. This is the best one I got! To see some more from the Paparazzi see here.

Easter Bunny has come!

On Saturday night we got into Launceston Airport and headed straight to Hobart for the night. Georgina and Damien were down for the weekend and we wanted to catch up with them while they were down. Maddi and Alex had a wonderful time at Mum and Dad's. We got a report from both Mum and Maddi about the experience. Maddi is still telling me about all the great stuff they got up to on the farm, right down to the finer details of what they ate for tea! On Saturday the kids spent the day at Moppy and Poppy's house and were still awake to greet us when we got to Hobart around 9 o'clock.

On Sunday afternoon, the easter bunny paid a visit to Moppy and Poppy's house. Easter bunny knew that Moppy and Poppy are going to be away in Europe over easter, and paid an early visit.
Alex loved his first Easter Egg hunt and kept trying to eat the eggs with the foil on.



Maddi was amazed at where the Easter Bunny hid the eggs. She was amazed that Easter Bunny had put them on the gate and on the car tyres. The Easter Bunny seemed to like Ness' car a lot.

After we collected all the eggs we divided them all up.

Alex loved the eggs and got a bit silly about chocolate. He would come up to us and let us know he was there, and then jump up and down on the spot until we gave him some chocolate! I think he's a born chocoholic. He definitely takes after his parents!

He was so happy about the Easter Bunny's visit that he was on a sugar high!