Turning 6

On Wednesday it was Maddi's big birthday day. She is lucky enough to get a public holiday on her birthday as it is on ANZAC day. Maddi loves school, so sometimes I wonder if she would really mind if she did have to go school on her birthday. On Tuesday night we stayed at Mum and Dad's the night, and the kids and Grandpa were up bright and early to wish Maddi a happy birthday. She was officially 6 when she woke up, as she was born at 4.10am on ANZAC day. I always think she was ready to join the world in time for the dawn service.

First thing she did, was present opening. Then we watched Tangled, one of her birthday presents. Dad had great timing and rang just as the movie finished, from his hotel in Chicago, to wish his girl a happy day. It sure was a sacrifice for Dad to be missing his Little girl's day. Grandma made some nice fluffy pancakes for breakfast and then we went to the ANZAC march in Deloraine, to pay tribute to all those who have fought and died to defend our country. It is really sad to see that there are not many ANZACS left marching anymore, and the few that do go in the parade have aged so much and are too frail to walk. I still picture Pop marching and being there in spirit.




 

After the parade we went to the Raspberry Farm for lunch with Mum, Dad, the Kings, and Steph and the kids. The kids had a great play outside with their cousins in the cubby. Maddi chose an icecream sundae for lunch. Not very often do you get to have dessert for lunch, but birthdays are an exception! After lunch we headed back to Mum and Dad's, and the kids went for motorbike rides and played with Harri and Kobe. At teatime we had some of Maddi's favourites- scallops, prawns, fried rice and chicken pieces. It was nice to have the Kings there with us. We then sang happy birthday and had chocolate birthday cake and icecream for dessert.  

Maddi has wanted to have a party for so long, and has been coming up with who to invite, so this was the year to do it, before we move.  She was so excited about it, and has been asking during the last month, how many sleeps until it was her birthday, and how many until her party. The day finally came and our social butterfly was so happy, and was in a party mood. She has been inviting people for so long to her party by word of mouth, and I was beginning to wonder if some people would show up unexpected to me! In the end she invited 13 girls to her fairy themed party and 11 beautiful girls came to the party, some dressed in colourful fairy outfits.

 Auntie Ness came up from Hobart and helped out at the party. First of all the girls made some things and got their nails painted by Auntie Ness.

Maddi is so into art/craft and creating, and asked if they could make some things at her party so we made little teacups and fairy wands, which were made out of marshmallows dipped in chocolate and covered in white chocolate and sprinkles.

 Auntie Becky and Auntie Steph and Tamika (Zaali and Makenzie's Mum) were great helpers while the girls were busy creating. Grandma was a great help in the kitchen preparing food for lunch.

 Then it was time for some games. First game was bobs and statues, which they loved as they got their groove on, dancing away.

  The birthday girl with her school friend Zarli.

Then it was time for pass the parcel.

Maddi drew a poster of a fairy and we played pin the star on the fairy wand. Last activity was a pull string pinata. The lollies didn't come out completely by pulling the strings, so I ended up hitting the lollies out with a wooden spoon. We had lots of very excited lolly collecting girls.....and boys.
 

 Then we finished off with party food for lunch.

 Blowing the candles out.

The girls were so cute, and gathered under the table, like they had their own hideaway to eat their lunch.

 Having a play on the trampoline before the guests left.

 Maddi with Chloe

 

The party bags filled with all things girly.  

 Maddi was very lucky to get so many lovely presents. She spent the afternoon creating and playing with her presents. At the end of the day Maddi said, "thanks for the party Mum, cos I really LOVE parties."  She really is growing up fast now. She makes us laugh every day. I hope that this party has left her with lovely memories of her beautiful friends in Tasmania.

Summer holidays activities

During January while Alex was away on business, we went and stayed 6 nights at Grandma and Grandpa's. It was great to get away from home and feel like we were on holiday. Grandma and I had a movie marathon one day and into the night. We watched three movies in the one day. I must say that the movies that Grandma picked have definitely been playing on my mind. Maddi and Alex slept in the tent while we were there, and loved it. After all their excitement,of being in the tent they were out to it. They were asleep a lot quicker than what they would be if we were inside. Grandma stayed out there with them most of the nights, and I joined them another night. One night was enough for me, and I was happy to sleep on a proper bed the following night!

 
The kids had lots of paddles in Grandma and Grandpa's new pool which they got all the Grandkids. The kids spent hours in the pool in the afternoon until tea time most days. Grandma and I would read and relax on our lounge chairs. I kept thinking I could easily get used to this.

One particular day we said to the kids if you get out of the pool, you'll have to have a sleep. I am a mean mother! While they were drying off sunbaking, they managed to fall asleep. I couldn't believe it. I covered them up while they were sleeping as I didn't want them to get sunburnt. Grandpa wondered why it was so peaceful and quiet, and didn't even notice them sleeping underneath the towel and pillow.

We also did our traditional Deloraine visit op shopping, feeding the ducks and ate lunch in the park. We visited Sarah and Issac one day, which the kids enjoyed and had a look at the pigs that are just near Sarah's place. On the Saturday we headed home to be back for church, and took a spontaneous visit, Sunday evening, back for an overnight visit with Chrish who was on his first night there. We joked that Chrish was the Prodigal Son, as Mum had made a delicious roast lamb with a really yummy mango cheesecake for Chrish's homecoming.

The next day Mum headed to the Young Womens camp, and we had Kelsea stay with us two nights, while Becky was at camp. We stopped at Anvers for icecreams on the way home.

 

 
The kids had girl movie nights and stayed up late. One night the girls watched Ella Enchanted and Maddi invited the neigbour boys over to watch it. I kept trying to convince her that it was a movie that boys probably wouldn't enjoy, but Maddi was persistent and asked their Mum for permission.. Instead they had a playdate on the trampoline as the boys were busy that night. Maddi loves her playdates with those boys. We have been teaching the kids about loving everyone and about loving their neighbours and explained to Maddi what that meant. One day Maddi randomly said, " Mum, I really do love my neighbours." She will be quite sad to leave her first crush, Master L. It will be sad for Maddi to not be able to ask her teachers if she can go and visit grade two, to visit her friend Master L. She tells me that Master L and his brother Master C, are really really nice, and really look after her.

On the 2nd day while Kelsea was visiting, we went on a bike ride down to the park and beach. It was hard work for them, as it was a hot day. Kelsea went great guns on the bike and it really encouraged Maddi and Alex to try and keep up with her. Maddi and Kelsea insisted on dressing up, down at the park. We had a play at the beach and park before riding back home.

We had lovely weather while Kelsea visited and the kids had a great time. Maddi loved having her over to do girl stuff. After Christmas I thought the holidays were going to go slow, but they really did go extra fast. If only we knew what was to happen the next day, we would of wished time to stop.

Waterslide Party!

On Saturday the 14th of January we celebrated Alex and Linc's birthday at the Ulverstone Waterslide and the park. I always thought it would be great to book the waterslide out for a birthday, and since we knew that we were moving, thought that it might be the last opportunity for the boys to celebrate their birthdays in Tasmania with the family. It was great to have Grandma and Grandpa, Moppy and Poppy, The Kings and The Shields family celebrate with us. Most of us had a go on the waterslide- Old and young, which made it all the more fun. It was very amusing to see the speeds that everyone would go at, and I would wonder what the technique was to go fast. The speed demons were Uncle Aaron, Uncle Brise and Daddy and the SLOW COACH of all was Poppy. In fact at one point towards the end of a ride, Poppy literally stopped and was trying so hard to keep going. It was hilarious! Linc was only interested in going a couple of times as he felt the cold, and was happy to rugged up on Grandma's knee watching everyone. Everytime we would ask if he wanted another ride he would shake his head at us, to give us a definite no.

 

 

 Afterwards we had party food and had birthday cake at the park.

The boys were very lucky and got lots of lovely presents, which they loved and  still love, weeks later.

 

 

The boys had their own individual cakes on their actual birthdays, but we thought it was much easier to have a combined cake for their party. I made the cake and Alex (Dad) decorated it as an Aeroplane runway cake. The boys love planes. Linc is especially obsessed with planes and often refers to any plane as "Daddy's plane."

 

It was such a beautiful day that we took a walk on the beach with the Kings and Grandma and Grandpa. In the years that we have lived in Ulverstone, I have never seen the tide out so far, as it was on this day. There were things that I had never seen before, like lots of big rocks that are normally covered by water.The kids are very free spirited still and stripped down to their undies for a paddle. This was one of the last days that we spent with Uncle Aaron, so it is even more cherished now, than ever. I really hope the boys always remember their Uncle Aaron, and the fun he used to join in on. Uncle Aaron would always randomly quiz their kids who their favourite Uncle was. They never responded with any names, but I'm sure he is one of their favourites.
 

 

Afterwards we hung out with Moppy, Poppy, Becc, Brise and William before they went home. The boys were lucky (and Maddi as an early b'day present) and got a trampoline from Moppy and Poppy for their birthdays. They had a great time playing with Will. The trampoline has provided hours of fun and Maddi was practically begging for one at Christmas time.  We've had the sprinkler on it on hot days, and it is always used when the neighbours are on their trampoline too. Linc loves just running laps around it, but hates it when Maddi and Alex are jumping and he is being bounced around. We sure will miss spending birthdays with the family in the future. When I asked Alex who he wanted to come to his party all he wanted was his family. He often refers to his cousins as his best friends, I hope that he always calls his family his best friends.

A 2nd birthday

Two days after Alex's birthday we were celebrating another birthday, I know we didn't plan that too well, but what control do you really have when one baby (Alex) is overdue and then his younger brother (Linc) decides to see the world a little earlier than expected! This time it was for our two year old Lincoln. He really did pick a good day to come, as he really wanted to share his birthday with Grandma, who's birthday is on the 12th. I really can't believe he is 2. It really felt like it should of been his 1st birthday and I am often second thinking, have we really had you in our family for two years? But then it feels like he has always been in our family. When he got him out of bed I said "Happy birthday" and he responded with "TWO!" like to say I'm two now. Having your birthday close to Christmas helps in some ways as Linc knew exactly how to open presents on his own. He loved his Mega Blocks airport set and Fireman Sam Book and Big Trucks book that he got.

Linc is very plane and helicopter obsessed. Helicopters are called planes by him. He is very observant when it comes to planes, he spots planes everywhere , even when they are on airport road signs. When he hears an aeroplane, he can hear it from miles away and tells everyone "shhhhh.......plane coming." Then he takes us all  to the window like it's the most important thing ever, and becons us to come, and says "come.....see!" One of these days I should capture it on video, as describing it doesn't really show how cute he is when he says it. Linc is a bit of an actor and will show so much expression in his face.

Linc had Nutrigrain for breakfast, and several bowls of it! He is a big breakfast eater. Some people cannot believe that he can eat up to 6 weetbix for breaky. Linc is still small and weighed 9.6kgs at his 2 year old check, and is officially in a size 0, but we put him in size 1 clothes. Size 1 clothes often swim on him and he has to have pants with a waistband, otherwise they are down to his ankles.

We spent the afternoon at the pool while the car was being serviced. The kids are such water babies and could spend the whole day there.

 Linc feels the cold though and was often in out of the pool and would give me the biggest smiles and would run up to me with his arms wide open to give me a hug. I didn't care that he got me wet and had made me look like I had wet myself! It was one of those moments that you say, you'll never forget, so I took a photo of Linc so I wouldn't forget it.

  Linc had some snakes for a birthday treat.

 Linc loves roast chicken, so since I didn't have time to put a roast on for tea, we had the closest thing to roast chicken-Charcoal Chicken. He had a sponge cake filled with dairy free custard.

Linc had such a happy day on his birthday. We can't really call our baby a baby anymore!

4th Birthday

 On Tuesday the 10th of January, Alex turned 4. He was more into his birthday than ever. It was a big surprise to get a bike for his birthday that Dad and Maddi had picked out. It was quite tricky too keep it a surprise, as he was very frustrated that he couldn't spend time with Dad and whilst he was at the bike shops. We went to McDonalds for breakfast before Alex went to work. Little Alex loves McDonalds. and had a baon and egg McMuffin meal.

 
He wanted a chocolate cake for his birthday, so we got him a supermarket mud cake and decorated it. 

We were planning to go for a bike ride after, but it kept showering on and off all day. We ended up sticking to riding up and down our street. We watched Cars 2, which he got for his birthday, while the weather was bad.

He requested noodles for his birthday tea, so I made something similar to Pad Thai with lots of seafood in it. All was well until Lincoln violently started throwing up all over the table and in his seat! The enjoyable dinner ended there, as none of us wanted to continue eating! After everything was sanitised and cleaned, we put Lincoln to bed and had some cake and icecream and sang happy birthday. Little Alex received phone calls during the day, but he is not a big talker on the phone, and ended up just grinning everytime he would get a call. In the early hours of the morning on the 11th of January (not his burthday) he woke up and had thrown up in his bed. The fortunate thing was it didn't happen on his birthday.

 During the holidays he has been riding his bike to the park and back. With strong legs like his, he powers up hills, but isn't so good down hills. He doesn't know how to use the brakes yet. Rather than using the brakes, he just abandons the bike while it's in motion and he's got himself into a few accidents. We can't believe he is 4 already. We love our 4 year old.