String Bean's 9th Birthday

String Bean celebrated her 9th birthday yesterday at the CSIRO Discovery Centre. She just loves this place and really wanted her birthday celebrated here again.








Lots of fun had by all. Especially with the stick insects and turtles.

I also made her a tree full of spiders as a birthday cake!

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Birthday

Fuzzy celebrated his 7th birthday party today with his friends and family.


He chose John Knight Memorial Park and the kids had fun following a trail of clues ending with a treasure chest.

Fuzzy loved his Ben 10 Omnitrix birthday cake.


The kids enjoyed opening all the presents once we were back home.

We were lucky to have fabulous weather and the kids had a ball.

Happy 5th Birthday Squealy.

Fuzzy, birthday boy and String Bean.

He's been waiting and not necessarily patiently, for his birthday this year. He had a fun filled day with lunch at the club with his great grandparents and gifts galore. He is going through a Scooby Do stage, so many of his gifts featured Scooby related items.

Georgia's Birthday

The kids were invited to their friend's Birthday party today. Georgia and the kids all had a great time. Was loud and crazy but fun :)








Can just see the birthday girl: front left.

OMG Theatre!

SPAMalot set, Supa Productions.

Haha this is the only photo I got all evening, wasn't going to risk the Supa boys selling my little red camera baby on Ebay (as they threatened to do at the start of the show if they caught you taking photos).

Wow what can I say. Fantastic night from start to finish. Lovely dinner at Teatro Vivaldi, act 1, dessert served during the intermission and then act 2. For an amateur production it was unbelievably good. A large cast, beautiful sets and costumes. Wonderful singing and dancing. It had it all. And being Monty Python it was FUNNY!!!

Photo Courtesy of: citysearch.com

Def. recommended for the Monty fans out there. Season runs for 2 weeks, May 7th to 22nd... see it while you can. Read a review here.

A Spamalot Birthday

On Friday Husband Deluxe is turning the big thirty five (eeek here comes 40) so I have planned a big night out. Dinner at one of his favourite restaurants: Teatro Vivaldi followed by Spamalot both at ANU.

I know he is going to have the best night!

An 18th!!!

Kimmy and Simmy. Overjoyed with the Birthday cake.

We were invited to an 18th last week (haven't had a second spare to post about it!) Kim celebrated in true outdoor style: BBQ, roaring fire and booze, booze, booze. Was great, esp. as there was a free flowing supply of champagne: my fave.

Husband Deluxe and Tim were on BBQ & beer duty. I was busy helping set up salads and the rest of the food.

We all had a great time and unfortunately just made me feel really old. Esp. given that all the young bunnies hung out at the fire and all us old crusties headed for the warmth inside and the comfort of the couches roflmao

My Birthday Cake

My lovely teaching partner Steph baked me my very own 'Cake Wreak'. I should have worked out that something interesting was about to happen, as she wrote on my card: "Happy Birthday. I hope you have a day full of surprises".

So when I walked into the staffroom at recess I was definitely surprised and impressed to find this cake waiting for me...


omg! What a classic. I was laughing so hard. The best bit was that nobody got it, except Steph and I, which added to the general amusement factor as most people sat there trying to work it out.

Fun in the Sun.

Today we had two birthday parties to attend. Both were lots of fun and really laid back and relaxing. The kids had so much fun catching up with their friends. So lots of feasting on party food and cake. Not so good for the diet! Oh well.

And one last happy snap so that The Crone can see how much O & S have grown! Esp. Miss S. When the kids realised we were going to visit Jo-Anne they started up with the: "Oh that's the garden we can dig in!" Unfortunately Fuzzy and Stringy picked some of Jo-Anne tomatoes, which didn't go down too well. Sorry J..... :-)

A New Year and New Things To Do.

Well as 2009 rolled in we kept up the pace and continued blitzing the house. The wisteria clippings made it into the trash pack, lawns mowed & I nearly finished washing all the windows. *sigh* No recovering from a hangover here :-)

We also were lucky enough to discover a colony of ants nesting underneath our umbrella stand. String Bean was the recipient of an 'Ant Jungle' set from her friend Ethan for her birthday. According to the instructions collecting eggs is the best way to establish the colony, so we decided that since eggs were around, today was the day.

So we set the included trap and collected some eggs and a few ants that were hanging around. We then chucked them in as best we could and set the trap with chicken to try and collect some more ants. It's easier if you're just collecting ants, as you chill them in the fridge for about 6 minutes to put them to sleep and then you can tip them straight in!

Over the day we have added another 3 trap loads full of asleep ants to the colony. They wake up instantly and start cruising around and checking each other out. We were getting them into the trap with left over chicken so they spent most of the time breaking it up into tiny little portions, which they them take down into the tunnels. The ants have already made a heap of tunnels in there which is fantastic. The kids have really enjoyed watching ants do their thing!

A Day For Birthday Parties.

String Bean had two birthday parties today, back to back. The first party was a superheros theme party for her friend Sam. What a lovely party! 8 guests, apple bobbing and canvas painting. Oh and dressing up and water fights!!!
The second party was at Pink Kisses at Belconnen for her friend Georgia. Now given I had some preconceived ideas I was actually pleasantly surprised. The girls were treated to a new hair style and some glitter hair spray. They could then choose either a butterfly mask (which String Bean jumped at!), a hair extension or a multi coloured hair plat thing? ;-) She then got a minimal (hardly any) blush and eye shadow makeover. It's not really her thing though.

















They did lots of dancing, limbo game and made up either a lip gloss or some bubble bath. They all had an absolute ball. Even if she spent the entire party choosing no pink things.....was hard for her too. But she managed to find a blue bracelet, green hair clip, white butterfly mask, etc. The girls could choose five things to add to their lolly bags. Not sure if I'd personally have a Pink Kisses party.....then I'd have to explain to Fuzzy and Squealy why they weren't invited!

Popopoly

String Bean received a game for her birthday from us. Junior Monopoly. Except she can't quite say it right.

We've had the following versions:
* Popopoly
* Nonopoly
* just Opoly

String Bean's got it now. They love the little cars, the money, using the little houses.....everything really. Even paying to see the fireworks ($2 into the loose change spot) is a cause for much merriment.

String Bean is quite the property tycoon. She ended owning nearly the whole board. But in her true caring style she became most upset when she thought that her Daddy was going to loose a second game. She then started playing not to win, but to loose. "It's OK Daddy, you don't have to pay me." What a little sweetheart.

Last Birthday post for the year....

I promise.

Uncle Andy and Aunty Shaz sent down some gifts for the kids and wanted to share a few photos of them opening their gifts.

String Bean's Birthday Party

Was a great success after a stressful start. The plan was to arrive at around 12pm to set up. I don't know why, but at 11am the thought popped into my head that I needed to get the venue. Just as well as they were doing a working bee that day and the place was crawling with men mowing, pruning, laying mulch, planting new plants and painting some of the outside fixtures of the building.

But what really took the cake for me was the fact they had lifted half the bike track to replay pavers that had sunk. So there were pitch bars, pick axes, wheelbarrows, wet cement etc all over half the play area. Plus the pavers were all over the grass play area.

String Bean and her alien cake!

Thankfully the men all gave up on the other jobs and worked super fast to complete the job on time. Phew!

The girls going for a ride!

The party really did go incredibly smoothly though and the kids all had a great time. The play area was a big hit as were the bike's. Lots of the kids chose to ride round the track. Lots of fun was had by everyone.

A Mouse!

String Bean received a set of Magnetix for her birthday. She started out following the example shown on the box. But of course in her usual creative style of doing things she was quickly thinking outside the square.

As always I am amazed at how she views things and just how clever String Bean is at putting things together!

Happy Birthday String Bean!

String Bean turned a big 6 years old today. She had a fabulous day of feasting. Started by opening gifts. Then off to school with a tray of homemade mini muffins. We decided to pick her up early and headed over to Cherry Seed for afternoon tea and a play around the gardens of Gold Creek Village.



We then spent a few minutes at home, long enough for a bath, then it was off to Guides. She wanted to take a chocolate cake to share with the girls. So all round a fun day full of feasting on chocolate cake! Luckily she ate a homemade lamb wrap with lettuce (didn't want the cucumber or Greek yogurt). She's come such a long way with her eating.....at last!


Fuzzy loved the Shop. Very hip and vintage. With gorgeous tea seats for the kids to play with.

He especially loved the tiny little open sugar bowls. Just the right size for tipping the whole lot into your mouth! Oh dear he needs to be house trained I think lol.




Cupcakes at Cherry Seed.

Happy Birthday Fuzzy Wuzzy

On Sunday the 2nd of November Fuzzy Wuzzy turned a big 4 years old. He ended up having a fantastic day as he got to have the party of his choice: McDonald's and the cake of his choice: a lolly car race track!

Overall it was the easiest party ever. We had two hosts, as one girl was in training. They took care of all the games, keeping the food and drinks going and generally keeping the kids happy. I tell you, best $115 I've ever spent! Highly recommended.





Fuzzy loved his special day. Now to get through the 4 year old immunisations and get him ready for big school next year. Wow my boy is growing up...thankfully!

Tennis & Treasure

String Bean was invited to a Tennis and Treasure birthday party for her friend Holly. So we went for a leisurely drive out to the countryside, Murrumbatemen to be precise. After getting over my slight *cough cough* house envy and over my major garden envy I was able to cruise around and enjoy my surroundings and company.



Mitchell, String Bean, Lewis & Nelson.

Everything was just so unbelievably gorgeous. Perfectly maintained gardens, all clipped, flowering....no weeds in sight. Ahhh. Maybe one day.

The kids had a fantastic time searching for treasure. Playing tennis. Eating sausages. What a wonderful idea for a birthday party. Even the drive didn't seem like a drag......novelty factor I'm sure.

Pyjama Day/Crazy Hat Day

String Bean had a full on day today. From some insane reason school made it Pyjama Day (fund raiser to purchase goods for the school Fete). The ELC always staff and provide for the healthy food stall. Treats on offer will include: corn on the cob and chocolate dipped strawberries. The later sell faster than you can say 'chocolate dipped strawberries!'

It was also Crazy Hat day. The kids had to design or wear a crazy hat. We totally ran out of time, so String Bean got to wear her funky cowboy hat instead. At least we remembered to do both things and pack the $2 donation...phew. I am not looking forward to all three kidlets being at school, all doing readers, sports etc......argh.....breath......sigh.




















In addition to all that. It was also one of String Bean's friends birthday parties. So for the first (and possibly last time) she went ice skating. Unfortunately she didn't really enjoy it all that much. She spent the whole time clinging to the edge. She went round 3 times and then that was it! She just waited around for the hot chips and birthday cake! She isn't a natural, oh well, at least she did try.

Happy Birthday Squealy

It was Squealy's 2nd birthday this week. We decided to do a low key party where just family came along. Since he is really into giraffes and he's been able to say that word for about 6 months now, I made him up this cute giraffe birthday cake. He just loved it and got such a lovely surprise when the cake came out.

Overall he had a fantastic day. Not too much squealing. Just a little bit when the older two moved in on his new lego!