Thursday, December 2, 2010

My Creative Space

My Creative Space this week has been to focus on Elliot's Creative Space!


When I was getting the Christmas boxes out of the shed on the weekend I couldn't help but have a rummage through all my old school boxes (in a former life I was a primary school teacher). I have roughly 10 or 12 big plastic storage tubs full of my old teaching supplies. Most will never again see the light of day unless of course in the unlikely event that the desire to teach returns. My life is full of boys and belly and home and cooking and (attempting to) garden that I can't imagine returning to paid work.


Two of the boxes contained art and craft supplies, glitter and all sorts of sparkly things, a whole shoebox full of scissors (!), pipe cleaners, buttons, you name it, it was there. I cleaned out one small, low cupboard of our old kitchen dresser so Elliot could help himself whenever the creative mood took him. Luckily the dresser has those old fashioned handles that you need to lift up and then pull, so sneaky Archie hasn't figured out how to open them.


Elliot was so excited when I showed him the boxes of stuff and once the cupboard was done he got to work straight away creating a space masterpiece, complete with cellophane rocket ships.


There is more grown up craft over at Kootoyoo. Check it out!

Monday, November 29, 2010

No Meal Plan Monday

Unfortunately the Random Recipe of lamb biryani got pushed aside last week as we had one night of takeaway (shock horror!) and then last night was supposed to be Carols in the Park, but we skipped it cause of the weather. Not that it actually rained, but I just didn't feel like packing up a picnic and all the other paraphernalia to potentially have to leave after a bit due to a downpour. So we spent our Sunday afternoon and evening putting up the Christmas Tree and decorating the verandah with twinkly lights. Lovely.

I'm not planning any meals this week because it's going to be a short week as we are travelling down to Brisbane so that I can attend the graduation of some of my old students. They are moving on up to high school and are such a lovely group of kids I just couldn't miss it. I'm sure I will cry. I'll blame the pregnancy hormones but really I'm just a big sook, tearing up at the drop of a hat.

Have a lovely week everyone!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Pineapple and Cherry Upside Down Cake

Made by Elliot. Inspired by Playschool

This was Elliot's idea so I just provided the ingredients and he led the way after watching them make this cake on an episode of Playschool.

This is one of his favourite episodes so Elliot has dictated the recipe for you, I've just typed his words.

1. Put brown sugar and melted butter in the cake tin. Then the pineapple and cherries. Make it look pretty with the cherries in the middle of the pineapple circles.
2. Get Mummy's big mixer and mix normal sugar and butter for ages and ages. Put the eggs in (but not the shells) and mix for ages longer.
3. Put in a bit of flour and a bit of milk and a bit of flour and a bit of milk and then some 'wanilla' and keep on mixing and mixing.
4. When the mixing is finished put it on top of the pineapple and cherry and put it in the oven. It's very hot!
5. We can't open it straight from the oven so you've got to wait. When Mummy says it's ok, flip it onto a plate and eat it!

Thursday, November 25, 2010

My Creative Space

Along with my on-going creation, this week I've been working on a beanie for our 4 year old niece for Christmas. I think it's going to be a bit big, I'll have to get El to model it once it's finished. She can always grow into it! I wanted something girly, just cause I don't get much excuse for girly, but not too girly. So a lovely creamy colour with a couple of soft purple stripes and trim is perfect!


It's a really simple pattern from a Lincraft pattern book. Knitted flat and then sewn up, with a simple knit edging and pom pom and braid details. Easy peasy and pretty quick too!

Head over here for other creations!

Wednesday, November 24, 2010

New Experiences


Check out the other pics at Faith, Hope & a Whole Lotta Love. Happy Wordless Wednesday!

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

I'm Working on Something Special

I am so blessed to be creating something unique and wonderful and amazing for the third time.

I'm working on Baby Number Three!

I love being pregnant and I have relatively easy pregnancies, although having two full-on toddlers at home full-time has been tiring to say the least. Over the past couple of months, the TV has definitely been my friend. Because Elliot isn't a day sleeper I'd put on  Playschool for him when Archie went to sleep because it'd be the only chance I'd get to put my feet up and on more than one occasion Elliot has woken me up after a quick kip on the lounge to let me know that Playschool has finished and he's turned the tele off, can we please go and play now? Now that I'm past the first trimester I'm hoping that the fatigue has run its course and I'll be back to my usual self.

I'm so excited to meet this new bubba and introduce the boys to their new baby brother or sister (for the record, Elliot thinks sister).

I'm (to be perfectly honest) daunted by the idea of parenting three young children, two can be hard work some days! Elliot will have just turned 4 a couple of weeks before the new arrival arrives and Archie will be 2yrs and 2 months, so they'll still be young.

I'm so excited to have started another journey with another new person. A journey that will contain joy, tears, hope, fears, frustration, elation and just about every emotion in between.

This journey of motherhood sure is an interesting one!

Monday, November 22, 2010

Monday Meal Plan

Well, this space has been really interesting over the past couple of weeks hasn't it! Hopefully I'll get back into my blogging groove this week and have some interesting (or not so interesting) things for you to read. But, because I'm a creature of habit and routine (when I get into one) I'm not going to explain my absence today. Today is Monday, Meal Plan Monday!

Everyone knows how my weekly meal plan is my saviour so I'm not going to bang on about it anymore. I'll just get on with sharing what will be on our table this week, including Matt's meals and our Random Recipe.

Monday
Pasta Primavera

Tuesday
Pork sausages with mashed sweet potato and steamed veg (Matt)

Wednesday
Chilli Con Carne (Matt)

Thursday
Stirfry veg and noodles with boiled egg

Friday
Lamb and spinach curry (slow cooker)

Saturday
Whatever takes our fancy!

Sunday
Lamb Biryani (Random Recipe)

Monday, November 8, 2010

Meal Plan Monday

We're back again from a long weekend away and we planned our week's meals last night over dinner. I realised last night that since our move Matt's dinners have become somewhat non-existent, so he is cooking two meals this week.

The Random Recipe this week is from Darina Allen's Irish Traditional Cooking, another one of my many cookbooks I've never actually cooked from! The recipe that I'll be cooking is Pot Roasted Beef (p 107) so nothing overly new or exciting but we haven't had a roast for a while so carnivores Matt and Archie will be pleased! I've also planned to use some of the leftovers in a risotto for another dinner and also for sandwiches for Matt's lunches.

So this week the plan is:

Monday
Curried sausages with brown rice and steamed veg (Matt)

Tuesday
veg and rice noodle stir fry with boiled eggs

Wednesday
pot roasted beef with roasted root veg and steamed veg (Random Recipe Darina Allen's Irish Traditional Cooking p107)

Thursday
pasta primavera

Friday
risotto (with left over pot roast)

Saturday
BBQ (Matt)

Sunday
No idea, we'll see how the day takes us

Saturday, November 6, 2010

I've Been Tagged

Last week Catherine from A Time to Create tagged me with 8 'getting to know you' questions and it's taken me a while to get around to answering them! Oops!

1. What is one thing you cannot stand?
hmm, I've got a few. I can't stand hypocrisy. I can't stand people being rude or mean to their children. I can't stand bad manners. I can't stand it when Matt doesn't put the lid on the milk properly!!!!

2.  If you could go back to your childhood what cartoon or TV show would you pick to be your favourite?
My brother and I absolutely loved The Mysterious Cities of Gold. Ooo, Astroboy was pretty good too, we'd play Astroboy and I'd make my younger brother dress up as Astroboy's sister Uraine while I got to be Astroboy! Good times, good times.

3. What is something you do or have done that would surprise a lot of people?
Almost all of my new friends (who I've made since moving 18 months ago) are really surprised that I used to be blonde. Super blonde, foils, the whole kit and kaboodle that involved 3 hours in the hairdresser on a Saturday morning every 6-8 weeks. And too much money to mention. I did love it though. Oh to have two incomes and that much spare time again!

4. Do you believe in ghosts?
I don't know. Sometimes.

5. When you go into a store what's your weakness? Something you just can't help buying more of.
Cookbooks. I have so many, almost 2 shelves of our bookshelves are cookbooks. I read them like novels. Absolutely can never have too many, and they are one of the few things that I'll buy for myself.

6. What's the funniest story you have on your significant other?
This one is tricky, there are a few! My favourite though is when we were living in Cairns and Matt had a job to do up in Cooktown (he works in property). Back then, Cooktown was really small, no street names and definitely no house numbers on any of the properties. We had a map of the property he was supposed to look at, but that was all. We followed the map (with me navigating, Matt driving) to the property, Matt got out and had a wander around and decided we were at the wrong place. I told him it was right, but we still had to drive around for another hour (maybe more, it was 9 years ago) looking for the property. We got completely befudddled and he eventually conceded that the first property was the right one so back we went. He still (9 years later) refuses to admit that I was right in the first place! Ugh, men and maps!!! Oh, he absolutely refused to stop and ask someone too!

7. What is your proudest moment being a parent?
I think it has to be whenever Elliot just turns around to Matt or I, or his Nan or Pop or uncle and gives them a big cudle and tells them he loves them, completely out of the blue. He does it quite often and it melts my heart every time.
Oh, there was also a time we were at the shops and a baby in a pram near us was crying and screaming and Elliot turned and asked me why the baby was crying. I said it may be tired or just upset about something and he replied "Oh, it's Mummy should give it a cuddle. Why doesn't she put it in the sling? That'd make it happy" I love my boys!

8. If you could go back and relive one day of your life which would you choose?
I've got two, the day each of the boys were born. For Elliot I'd be more demanding of his time with me in the recovery room after delivery, I'd stand up more for myself. For Archie, I'd wait longer before going into the hospital so his labour could have been really established and maybe have avoided another c-section. Oh the 20/20 vision of hindsight.

So there we go, a bit more about me!

Now, I'm tagging

Messyfish
The Clip Cafe
Gina at Clutterpunk
dillpickle unfinished

Thursday, November 4, 2010

My Creative Space

Elliot and I have been working on a joint project this week, stamped Thank You cards to send out for Archie's Baptism.


We bought blank white cards and a 'thank you' stamp which we used with a regular green ink pad. We then potato stamped a cross onto the cards with regular blue paint.


Simple, cheap, quick and a great craft project for toddlers too!



Check out more creative goodies at Kootoyoo.

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Up in the Air I Fly!


Head over to Faith, Hope & a Whole Lotta Love for more Wordless Wednesday pics.

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Playing with our Food

I have been so blessed with my boys that I haven't had to struggle to find healthy food that they will eat. Sure, Archie picks and chooses his vegies (he's going through a zucchini phase at the moment) and he's always been a big lover of meat and carbs. Elliot on the other hand, lives for vegies and cries if he can't actually see them on his plate (funny wee man that he is) but on the whole, I have two healthy, strong, growing boys who love good food.

This doesn't mean though, that we can't have fun with our food!

Over a year ago our town hosted a Children's Day in the Park where all the local Kindys and Pre-schools, Child care centres, ABA, and basically anything child related set up a stall and had activities for the kids. Despite the snakes and lizards, fire engines and police cars, painting and playdough Elliot's favourite stand was the Government's Health Department that were giving away 'apple slinkies'. Now, I had no idea what an apple slinky was, but thought it sounded fun so over we went. Well, was it ever fun! A fancy machine that cored and sliced the apple into a spiral! (They were giving away the apples, not the machines! LOL!) After he devoured the first one, he asked me for another, but being the altruistic girl I am I said that one was enough and we had to make sure there were enough for everyone else. Turns out they were donated lots of boxes of apples and they didn't have many takers! Well, after a friend who works for QLD Health told us that I had to limit Elliot to 4!!!


So after all that waffling, here is the point of this post, a while back, I found an apple slinky machine! Yippee! Both the boys love having apple slinkies and it actually has proved to be a useful appliance for grown ups too because it can peel the apple, I use it when making apple crumble or stewed apples. It makes the job so much quicker! All I do is run it through the maching, which cores, peels and spirals the apple, then I just cut it into quarters. Done and done!

My wonderful boy loves the 'green spaghetti'!

Who wouldn't love this?

Food has never been so fun!

Monday, November 1, 2010

Monday Meal Plan and Random Recipe Review

Last week our Random Recipe was Maggie Beer's Lamb, Barley and Cinnamon Casserole from her wonderful book Maggie's Harvest. I absolutely love this book, I've read it cover to cover several times since I got it for Christmas last year from Matt and the boys. The cover is a beautiful fabric with embroidery and it is full of wonderful photography and sentimental stories of Maggie's journey in food. Oh, and heaps of gorgeous, seasonal recipes.

While I randomly chose from the 'Spring' section, the dish was really a very wintery one, but still very yummy. It was a bit of an all day affair because I made the chicken stock in the morning and as the casserole took 4 hours in the oven, it had to be in by 1:30 so we could eat at our regular nanna hour for the boys. The lamb and pork was deliciously melt in the mouth and the barley had soaked up all the juices and it was very much like a risotto. I was just about to type out the recipe but in the book Maggie mentioned she made it one the TV show, and all their recipes are on the web, so here is the recipe and a pic, a much better pic than I could have taken!

A short week this week:

Monday
Bean Burritos

Tuesday
Peppered porterhouse steak with mashed sweet potato and steamed veg

Wednesday
Steamed fish with brown rice and steamed veg

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

In The Light Of The Moon ...


Thanks for stopping by. Why not check out some more Wordless Wednesday pics?

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Sleep, Where For Art Thou?

Over the three and a half years I've been on this parenting journey I think I've used just about every method of getting a baby or toddler to sleep there is. I have sung, rocked, danced, pushed the pram, bounced on a fit ball, driven, breastfed, patted bottoms, and even in one moment of desperation, control cried (all that ended up happening was both of us crying, and I swore I'd never do it again). All of this has taught me one thing. Babies (and toddlers and children) will sleep when they are ready to. All we can do is help them along the ride.

Elliot, now three and a half, has always been a good sleeper - once he's asleep! He is a deep and sound sleeper but not good at actually going to sleep. When he was a little over two he just said to me one day when we were having the sleep battle "But I just need people with me". What can you say to that? He has always needed and still does need someone (me, Daddy, Nanna, Pop) to be with him until he is asleep. Fortunately for me (cause I get him into bed and Matt does Archie) he seems to have found a solution, he goes to sleep in Mummy's and Daddy's bed on the condition that he's in there by himself. Later when we're ready to go to bed Matt will take him back into his room. If he wakes through the night, he simply brings himself back in with us and more often than not, neither Matt nor I realise he's there til the morning (or when we're up with Archie)!

 Elliot (7 weeks) being nursed to sleep by Pop

Elliot (14 months) waking up with Nanna after a sleepover.
 
And on to Archie. For every bit that Elliot is a deep sleeper, Archie is a light sleeper. He has the same issues as El with needing people, so someone has always needed to put him to sleep but then he's awake. And then back to sleep, then awake, then back to sleep, rinse, repeat. For the first, hmmm, probably ten months of his life he fed every 1-2 hours around the clock, day and night. To say it was exhausting is an understatement because while sometimes he'd feed back to sleep, more often than not at night, he was awake. Sometimes cranky, sometimes just awake and wanting to play. It was through all of this that we seriously started co-sleeping because we were just too tired to do anything else and anyway, nothing else worked!!! But eventually (and I mean, in the last couple of months) he's just gotten into a little sleeping routine that works for all of us. Matt takes him to bed in the evening and they rock in the chair and sing songs. When he wakes the first time through the night he comes in with us. Some nights he has a feed back to sleep, some nights he has a feed and isn't asleep but puts himself back to sleep and some nights he's not interested in a feed and just fusses around giving us pats and kisses and then puts himself to sleep, usually on top of the covers with his feet in our faces. He is generally only up once or twice a night now which I'm just over the moon about considering where we've been on his sleep journey!

Archie (4 weeks) have a nap with Nanna *

 Archie (5 weeks) sleeping in the sling which was a sleep lifesaver for both boys. *
I'm really pleased that both boys have found their own sleeping patterns because, as tiring as it has been, I can sit back and know that we listened to them and what they needed at the time. We respected them as little people and didn't impose unrealistic expectations which would have set us and them up for failure (aside from that one horrid moment of controlled crying, which failed dismally). We were willing to give them the time they needed.

* When going through all the baby photos for sleep pics, I realised that we don't have many of Archie. At first I put this down to being the second child, poor hard done by wee man he is, but then when I was talking to Matt about it he said "It's because he didn't sleep!"

Monday, October 25, 2010

Monday Menu Planning

I truly do find menu planning so grounding. It is the one thing in my week I cannot go without. Floors not swept? Meh. Having to rifle through 3 baskets of washing to find one crumpled but clean outfit? Meh. Dinners and shopping not organised and planned, taking into account our busy days, home days, suiting everyone's tastes? Chaos ensues!!!!

After we've been away for a weekend at my parents, menu planning the coming week is the first thing I do on a Sunday night once the car is unpacked. It gets my mind back into home-mode, gets me thinking about what we have on through the week, what we've got in the pantry, fridge and freezer to use up, how I can extend the boys' tastes a bit without overdoing it. I love sitting with a blank page, days of the week ruled up and ready to be filled in. I love dividing our shopping up into our different stops through the week, markets for fresh fruit and veg, the butcher, the grocery, the bulk wholefoods shop in the next town if we're heading that way (which we are this week!!!!), the dairy.

Anyway, I know not everyone is a menu planner, I *ahem* even know some people that roll their eyes when I get my pen and ask the question "what will we have for dinners this week guys?" but, for little old me, it is truly my most favourite household chore.

If it can in fact be called a chore!

This week we're having:

Monday
Tuna Mornay Pasta Bake


Tuesday
Boys - boiled dippy eggs and wholemeal toast soldiers
Adults - Laksa

Wednesday
Lamb, Barley and Cinnamon Casserole from Maggie Beer's Maggie's Harvest p659 Random Recipe

Thursday
Homemade pizzas

Friday
Pork sausages with mashed potato and steamed veg

Saturday
Ratatouille with quinoa

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Lazy Days

I'm having trouble finding motivation to get stuff done at the moment, so this blog is very much reflecting my house at the moment.

All over the shop, forgotten about, needing more love and attention paid to it. The laundry is piling up, the floors are in desperate need of a sweep and as for cooking, well, let's just say I'm thankful for having a stock of yummy healthy meals in the freezer.

However, in all this humdrum-ness (if that even is a word!) I did see something this morning that made me smile as I cut watermelon for the boys.


I'm hoping that a weekend away will recharge me and have me return home refreshed and rejuvenated.

Wishing you all a happy and restful weekend! xx

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Archie's Baptism


Well it's done! Archie's Baptism is done and dusted.


It was a lovely, clear day but I had quite a sleepness night the night before. There were howling winds and pelting rain and all I could do was pray and hope that by the morning it would have blown itself away, and it did! Not a cloud in the sky!


The service itself was short and sweet with just 14 of us there including the boys! Archie seemed to pay attention to everything going on too, when his Grandmothers were doing readings he watched them and listened, he watched the Priest blessing the water and oils, he stared at the candle as Godmother Helen lit it and held it for him. He wasn't so keen on his white Baptismal bib though, so that came off straight after the ceremony!


The dear wee man fell asleep in the car on the way home, all that Baptising sure does tire a boy out! So then it was lunch with the family, way too much food and presents which were all opened with an emphatic "WOW!!" and not wanted to part with any of them "Boat!", "Cup!", "Truck!".




So that was the day. Unfortunately it was too warm to wear "the cardi" and also, my dress wasn't as boobie as I remembered so it wasn't an issue. It was finished the night before, so I kept up my usual standard of leaving everything until the last minute!

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Random Recipe Review

After all the busyness of the weekend and Archie's Baptism, I really needed to get back into my routine of meal planning today. I just couldn't face it last night and fell asleep on the lounge at about 7:30! It really was such a big weekend and I'll post more about it tomorrow.

The last Random Recipe was from a fortnight ago, I just didn't get a chance to post about it last week. The recipe was Boiled Chicken with Aioli from The Mediterranean Collection. It wasn't a dish that we'd normally have, but the sort that Matt would like me to cook more often. It was surprisingly yummy, really simple flavours that would be good for a cold winter's night. It was basically just making a chicken stock with added sausages and pancetta. Vegies like cabbage, carrot and potato are cooked in the stock and then it's all served up with reduced stock like a gravy. In the end I couldn't be bothered making the aioli so we just had it with the vegies cooked in the stock and some extra steamed greens, just cause I like to have heaps of veg!


Boiled Chicken with Aioli (without the Aioli)
Poule au Pot

 1.5kg free range chicken
1 onion, studded with three cloves
250g piece of pancetta
4 good quality pork sausages
4 carrots, trimmed
4 leeks, trimmed
bouquet garni
 4 waxy potatoes
1 small green cabbage, cut into wedges

1. Wash and dry the chicken and stuff the cavity with the studded onion (my onion was really big so I put half in the cavity and half in the stock). Place in a large, heavy stockpot, cover with cold water and bring to the boil, skimming the surface as necessary.
2. Add the pancetta, sausages, carrots, leeks and bouquet garni and return to the boil. Simmer gently, partially covered, for 20 minutes. Add the potatoes and cabbage and continue to simmer for a further 40 minutes until all meats and veg are tender.
3. When the meats are tender, carefully remove them and vegetables from pot and place, covered with foil, in a low oven to keep warm. Strain the poaching stock into a clean pan and boil rapidly until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Carve the meats and arrange on individual plates with veg. Pour over some of the stock.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

My Creative Space

With Archie's Baptism coming up on Saturday my creativity this week has consisted of menu planning, table decorations, place settings, Archie's outfit (drama upon drama upon drama) and the on-going project of the cardi. Luckily my Mum is sorting out most of the decorating side of things while I've started cooking up a storm! On the cardi front there is just the seaming up to do and sewing on the buttons. A late night last night saw all the bands knitted up so today and tonight will be the sewing up, my least favourite part of a project! Hopefully the boys will cooperate and play independently so I can just sit on the verandah and sew away!


So my apologies, another boring creative space here. Hopefully there'll be something more exciting next week and there will definitely be more exciting things here!

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Prodigy?

Don't forget to check out more Wordless Wednesdays!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Sourdough Bread


My first ever attempt!


I'm not sure if it turned out right but it is yummy! It is really holey and spongey, dense and moist. And sour. I'm not sure if it's too sour. I may have used too much starter or it may have been left too long before baking. Either way, it's yummy (I think) although Elliot did tell me after a while that it hurt his mouth!


Archie devoured four slices with local jam from the markets for morning tea, so it can't be that bad!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Around Our House Lately

Things have been busy. I celebrated my 30th Birthday last Thursday (Yay!!!). I was truly not worried over the whole 'turning 30' thing. I think I've always felt older than my years anyway, so 30 isn't a big deal. My new friends made it a big deal though by organising a morning tea and cake at the park! It was such a lovely surprise! There were soooo many kids but they all get on so well it didn't seem like that many at all. We played Duck Duck Goose, a wonderful musician friend taught us a new song, we had Chocolate Cake decorated with strawberries, there was so much laughter and fun! I didn't take my camera (bummer!) but a dear friend did and put some pics on her blog!

Now, to the super exciting bit!!!! I get to introduce another addition to the family, along the same lines as Kenny but even more exciting, if that is indeed possible! Introducing .... Freida!


Freida is a Pfaff Expression 2.0 and she is just lovely. It was a surprise, but not a complete surprise if you know what I mean. I had suggested a sewing machine as a dream present a while ago but forgotten about it. Then a little while ago when we were having a weekend in Brisbane, Matt said he needed to go shopping for my present, but he came home empty handed. I said "Oh well, if you're getting me a sewing machine the shop in town sells them and you get free lessons". Anyway, about a week later he made a massive production of walking through the house with a massive box wrapped in a blanket and 'hid' it in the cupboard. Like I wasn't going to have just a little peek. And then some googling. And then some more staring at the box and wondering how I could re-wrap it so he didn't know I'd peeked. Then Elliot let the cat out of the bag, in that 3 year old way, that they couldn't find a sewing machine at the shops.

I put Freida straight to work whipping up a pair of pants for Elliot. Unfortunately I let the 3 year old loose in the fabric shop and he chose a lovely aqua colour. It wouldn't have been my choice, but anyway, they're his pants, he's the one that's got to wear them! I haven't sewn since high school Home Ec, where it's fair to say I was terrible. I was so nervous, but I'm really pleased with how they've turned out (besides the colour obviously!) They took a full afternoon, and that includes a good 30 minutes of Matt and I trying to figure out how to thread the machine, and then realising about a million times that we'd gotten in wrong and re-doing it.



Anyway, enough typing. Here are some pics from my birthday celebrations! They're sure to continue next weekend when my parent's, brother and Archie's Godmother and her sister come up for Archie's baptism! Yay for extended birthday celebrations!

Party hats all round!

Hip Hip Hooray!!!

 Touched the bottom, better kiss a boy ...

or two!!!

 Why eat chocolate cake when there's garlic bread?
Elliot was quiet in his room for ages and we found him playing a board game with two of his Postman Pat toys. He was having a turn for each of them as well as rockin it out in his lairy pants!

A wonderful day full of family, friends and cake!