An A-type Weekend

Well this weekend, like many others, was filled with 'projects'. Among these, another attempt at a cheesecake. In an attempt to mimic the last masterpiece, we again melted chocolate to 'drizzle' across the top - however, it did not drizzle, but rather 'blobbed' onto the cheesecake with such reckless abandon that we decided to smear it across instead......... then, to cover the rather un-aesthetically pleasing look of the top, Dave 'dusted' it with Quik (read, threw large amounts on top of it with the intention of shaking it off only to realise that it was a cheesecake in a springform pan and dusting it off was not really an option) - he then 'blew' it off - at which point large amounts of Quik blew straight back up into his face. I fell on the floor laughing - you had to be there I know, but it was pretty funny (and I'd had a Bailey's or 3 as all small children were out for the count!!). Anyway, here is the end result. Of course, we had forgotten how hard chocolate sets and it's now near impossible to cut a slice of this cheesecake, but we're managing somehow :)


In addition to baking, I also did a spot of gardening. After meeting Meegan at the Blackwood St markets this morning, I purchased 7 pots of herbs for $10 - what a bargain - and the garden that used to house a lemon tree before the Level 5 water restrictions claimed it's last breathe, is now housing the herbs - hopefully their root system will survive our water-deprived clay soil a little better than the citrus tree did!!



After the planting was done, I took some time out to just lie around and snap some pics of Mackenzie (see sweetheart, I DO take photos of you sometimes - pity I didn't take the time to clean the sleep out of your eyes too!!)



Hmmm, what else.... I know I did more than that. Oh well, maybe not so A-type of a weekend after all - it sure felt busy... oh yeah, that's right, I also spread nearly 2 cubic metres of mulch on the gardens... and I have the sore muscles to prove it. Night!!

Charli (aka Dora) to the rescue

Picture it: Charli is playing in the backyard with a skipping rope. About 20 noisy miner birds start harassing a baby butcher bird (not that I feel much pity as these birds are usually the aggressors).... they are making a hell of a racket and when Charli asks what the noise is I say that the birds are just playing. Surprisingly she doesn't believe me and pretends to tie one end of her skipping rope around her waist harness style while holding the other end up in the air and screaming "I'm tumming, bird, I'm tumming....wait". I could barely dial the phone to call her dad I was laughing so hard. Where are those video cameras when you need them :)

We did it!!

The Pre-Party Preparations.

Well I'd been thinking about Charli's Dora the Explorer second birthday party for many many weeks. In reality however I left most preparations until the second to last moment and spent a couple of nights waking at 3am wondering how I was going to design the maps or more importantly, what the hell I was going to put on the maps, and how all of this was going to happen in the next three days with Charli not finding out what I was doing ....... I'm not going to explain here the whole concept of Dora and Boots and their adventures. If you are clueless and would like to be clued.... feel free to visit the Dora site at the Nick Jr website.

Needless to say, my most amazingly creative sister-in-law Bekk - who is stuck in Mt Isa working at the moment and therefore has many an hour to spend on such tasks given the questionable venues she has to choose from at which to socialise - offered (silly girl) to make some backpacks up for the kids from purple felt. I was quick to take up her offer and here's how they turned out.



Unfortunately this little guy seems to have lost an eye - rest assured they were not made like this - Bekk was not willingly scarring small children for life by presenting them with one-eyed backpacks!!! All of this creativity achieved with a sewing machine that was not available until the night before the party and then went on the fritz with three backpacks to go!! Thank you so much Bekk!!

The Dora Hunt

Well the kids arrived and after trying to keep about 7 kids under the age of 3 penned up in the lounge room until everyone arrived we decided to get started without a couple of them. Backpacks were distributed - much to Henry's delight who was a bit put out that all the presents were for Charli Girl (and rightly so Henry!!) Kids were asked to pull out their maps



Of course the concept was lost a little on children who were not yet literate, however, the first stop was the big blue river (a tarp in the front yard) and all the kids had to look in their backpacks for their skipping ropes so that we could make a rope bridge and cross the river (lame I know but I couldn't think of anything else at the last moment because of course I had not scripted this day - as if it would go to plan with 9 two-year olds in tow!!.... yes 9!!! so much for the rule of inviting one more than the child's age to their parties.... I read that little parenting tip after the invites had all gone out ha ha).

Next stop was Quicksand Cave - something we'd put a little more effort into - our carport decorated with purple plastic walls and sand on the floor.



The kids were told that they were not allowed to touch the sand or they would sink. I potentially have instilled a beach phobia into every attending child. Years from now on the psychologist's couch they will tell of a Dora party at which for some inexplicable reason one of the parents made them afraid of sand!! They lept across the numbered 'rocks' to make it safely to the other side.

Once through the other 'wall' and it was onto the stop 3 - the Pinata Party. Of course the first thing they spied as they ran towards the backyard was a 2-ft high stuffed Dora sitting on a set of swings and the squeals of delight and shouts of 'party' (say it like the karate kid says 'bonsai') as they raced down the hill were priceless. I do hope that part was captured on video.

The Pinata

Once in the backyard I found myself standing alone at the Dora pinata asking everyone where the pinata was before someone pointed out that they probably didn't even know what a pinata was. Stupid kids!! So I dragged them all off the swings and made them come over to the pinata - because you know, this party was not about them having fun - it was about them following the bloody map that my husband had lovingly printed and laminated!! So get your bums over here kids!! :)




Each child took hold of a ribbon and 'pulled pulled pulled' until finally I stuck my hand up Dora's backside and pulled out the bottom of it myself - to the squeals of delight as children were rained with packets of dinosaur jubes and little toy whistles (disclaimer: parents were advised that after Dave had shoved a whistle in his mouth we had ascertained that they were not a choking hazard however all parents were responsible for their own children and whatever objects that may be put inside said child's mouth).

The Cake

Despite my godmother insisting that the Dora Cake looked like the Lion King (!! what the?? LOL) I would like to think that given

1. this was my first attempt ever at piping a cake,
   
2. it took over 10 colours (!!) and
   
3. I had to wait until all children had gone to bed which meant that I was icing this bloody thing at 9.30 on the Friday night

well I think it worked out rather well. I can't take full credit though. When Dave entered the kitchen with me close to tears, pouring a baileys and declaring that Dora was just going to have to be iced all in one colour and that I didn't give a crap anymore.... well he leaped to my rescue and got me started by doing all the fiddly black and brown outline piping...... I felt more enthused after that. So hats off to Dave or else this.....



may have looked like one large blue blob with a few sprinkles scattered over it. It was made all worth it when Charli recognised who it was. Of course I will admit to holding her down and asking about 10 times "who is it Charli?" before the survivalist in her must have realised that she was not getting any of that yummy looking cake until she'd given me the answer I was after..... she whispered "Dora", I beamed and then whisked the cake up stairs to cut it (much to the chagrin of all the drooling children). Charli seemed to like it.....


This unfortunately is probably also the only shot I got of the lovely birthday outfit that Aunty Libby bought for her months ago - well she didn't specifically buy it for her to wear at her birthday but it looked like something Dora might wear to a mexican fiesta!!

Post-party Blues

So everyone left and Dave, Charlotte, Mackenzie and I just hung in the backyard for awhile waiting for Charli to get tired...... we waited... and we waited..... and we waited....... Dave was approaching drunk on the beer he was consuming and had I not been breastfeeding I would have been close behind him...... finally at about 2.30pm we got both girls to sleep and instead of also sleeping we sat in the backyard and reminisced about the last two years. Charli finally woke up about 4pm and spent the next 2.5 hours alternating between sobbing and just plain crying. Those post-party blues can be a real bitch sometimes. We hoped for an early night......

..... but it was not to be. Well not for me and the girls at least :)

A girl's night in

Lying around on our bed at 7pm with the girls, Dave looked dead on his feet and so I stupidly suggested he go to bed as it was Charli's bedtime anyway and as soon as I had her and Zie settled I'd be right in there with him......he barely managed to say "i'll just have a nap" before the snoring began. By 8pm I knew that there was no way Charli was going to sleep - despite being tucked in with her Dora figurines from Samuel (thanks Sam!!)



I'd been into her room 4 times and finally made a deal with her. She could come out and watch telly but we were watching what I wanted to watch. I compromised. I wanted to watch a chick flick. Charli, as always, wanted to watch Dora. So we put on The Shaggy Dog with Tim Allen and she lay with me and watched the entire 2 hour feature length film - and it wasn't even animated. Of course I had to get a running commentary about the dog's antics the entire movie - and how you explain genetic modification to a two-year old I'll never know. She wanted to know what the pug dog crossed with the cane toad was - well I lied and said it was a funny looking frog. She seemed happy enough with that and I suspect she knew that if she pushed the point she would be sent to bed before the exciting conclusion to this movie. At 9.30pm she declared she was tired and she wandered off to bed. All in all a good day, though one that went on a little longer than I'd hoped. She sure does know how to milk a birthday party for all it's worth doesn't she??

Happy Birthday our darling sweetheart - your Nanna is watching over you for many more birthdays to come. We all love you. xoxox

Two years ago tonight....

I was sitting at the computer on a pregnancy website asking the girls there whether cramping meant that I could be in labour..... 5 and a half hours from now two years ago I went into labour. 10 hours and 17 minutes from now two years ago our lives were changed forever when our beautiful girl Charlotte was born. You have brought so much to our lives little girl. Each and every day you make me laugh - even on those days when I am so tired I could cry. I saw you today swinging on a 'big girl swing' - back and forth you swung your legs making yourself go higher and higher. Somehow I blinked and you grew up. Happy Birthday for tomorrow little girl. Your Daddy and I love you very much. xoxox

A little something to look forward to

Well dear readers, this coming September my lovely husband and I will have survived 5 years of marriage. Add to this the fact that the last 5 years have included a PhD, full-time study for Dave, family health problems, and two small children entering our lives and thus making alone time all but impossible - and I bit the bullet today and booked us in for two nights here for our anniversary. If you click on the accommodation link you'll see the luxurious lagoon suite which will be our home for two nights. And there will be a couples massage package at the day spa complete with champagne and cheese platter afterwards. Our package includes dinner each night, breakfast each day, and a bottle of champagne daily - clearly I am going to be drunk the whole time. Counting down the days until these two days of bliss will be ours - and I'm sure that we will only discuss the children for 40 of those 48 hours away.

Toesday bloody Toesday

Like Sunday Bloody Sunday, except on a Tuesday - and of my toe - and the blood was more of the internal bruising kind and less of the kind where 26 civil rights protesters were shot dead in Northern Ireland. So really my incident with my toe is really nothing like it, but here's what happened nonetheless. But first - why am I blogging about my toe? Many many posts ago, Beck started Toesday - I can't remember when, sorry you'll have to find the post yourself - it will give you a chance to read all of her posts - go on, it's worth it :)

Anyway, I've never posted a photo of my toes - though I did post a gorgeous one of Charli and her daddy and their toes many moons ago now when she was only 6 weeks old. But I don't like my feet and they are usually not for public viewing. But my unsightly feet have just been made worse by slamming the little toe of my left foot into a bedside table (and no I was not drunk worse luck - I felt every spine chilling crack in my little toe as it happened). It swelled immediately. Today it looks like this....

It feels worse than it looks. And don't think I haven't complained endlessly about this since it happened....and made Dave look at it 1000 times since yesterday........ he did exactly the same thing last week - I kid you not EXACTLY THE SAME THING except on a different piece of furniture. And he had previously broken his toe so it probably hurt more. AND Charli threw herself on his foot after he'd just hurt it. But he complained not once. What a trooper. I on the other hand will be milking this for all that it's worth. Because that's just the kind of gal I am :)

(p.s. and the photo is out of focus because of the excrutiating pain I am in .... or just because I am a crap photographer)

A bit of DIY

Well I often lament that I don't have very good craft skills. People such as Beck have more craft in her little finger than I have in my whole body. But when it comes to larger projects that are home oriented and a bit more blokey then I'm not too bad. I've been known to make my own flyscreens for rental properties that allowed waay too many bugs in for my liking. And my latest project is to transform these chairs. Here is a before shot:



Four chairs and solid pine table were my mum's and she had re-upholstered the chairs in this fabric to match our new corner lounge as the tables and chairs were in her dining room. However, since the table and chairs are now in our eat-in kitchen being used and abused by a toddler who is none too careful with her food...... well if you look very closely you would see remnants of spaghetti, playdough, weetbix and the stray piece of mushed up corn...... I needed wipable chair coverings!!

So off to spotlight I went in search of upholstery grade vinyl, a staple gun, some upholstery tacks, and calico. Then it was off to Clark Rubber for some new foam padding. Home again and the maddening task of removing tacks and staples from the bases began......4 weeks later - maddeningly trying to get this done with Charli asleep as her DIY skills are still being developed ;) and this is the end result.......



I won't be winning any upholstery awards but it suits our purposes.

Little susie homemaker

With the PhD still awaiting comment and me starting to almost feel on top of motherhood with two under two - I am back to baking. This.....




was presented to Michelle today when she came to visit. A white chocolate cheesecake. I believe her words were "bloomin' bloody wonderful" - and it was if I do say so myself.