Audrey's 11th Birthday

Audrey chose to have a sleep-over party for her birthday. I must admit the prospect of having a gang of young girls sleeping over at the house was slightly terrifying. What if they fell out, what if they chatted all night, homesickness etc etc. In the end I needn't have worried. Audrey's mates all got along swimmingly and everyone had a really good time.

Audrey's party started at the nail-bar where the girls all had their nails done, then made slime at home (slime is currently the no.1 pastime of primary school age kids) and then a couple of videos and pizza.

In truth it was fairly easy to organise (Eli kept away and had a sleepover at another friend's house). Everyone went to sleep at a reasonable(ish) time and Audrey had a blast.

Riding hat cake

nails!

Audrey's (snowy) birthday

I'd done quite a bit of preparation for Audrey's birthday - from making the horse cake, to preparing 'Frog in a Pond' (blue jelly with a jelly frog at the bottom). The plan was to have a 'Pony Party' at the riding school where Audrey learns to ride.

 

On Saturday Canberra's weather had been glorious. The last chills of our (long) winter seemed to be disappearing. I'd sat outside without a jacket and things had looked rosy.

 

On Sunday morning (the day of Audrey's party) I'd checked the weather and noticed that they were forecasting a 70% chance of rain in the afternoon. The weather forecasts in Australia tend to be remarkably accurate. There's not so much 'chance of showers' which is the line almost every UK forecast trots out with annoying regularity. I guess the size and scale of the country allows forecasters to see fronts appearing more clearly.

 

It was dry all morning but then as we drove to the riding school (car boot full of precariously balanced party food) it started to rain. By the time we'd driven the 15 minutes out of town to the centre it was bucketing it down and by the times we were at the car park for the riding school the rain had turned to a frosty mix of rain and sleet.

 

After speaking to the staff along with a slightly crestfallen Audrey we decided to cancel the riding. I quickly googled films showing that afternoon, but unfortunately there was a range of 'contains violence' movies. Eventually I found Dendy in the city had a series of Ghibli films showing. They're anime Japanese films (mostly) for kids. We've seen a couple and they're good (albeit weird at times) so we headed there as an alternative.

 

Sure enough the film was weird (and loooong) but everyone feasted on popcorn and Fanta and we got to sing and cut the cake at the end so it was all ok. We'll do the horse riding another time, perhaps in a few weeks when the chance of snow(!) has passed.

 

The birthday crew

 

the cake

 

 

Eli's 8th birthday

Eli on his birthday (who no idea how hard it was to make a spherical cake!)

Eli had a football party with his mates (having already had a lot of football/soccer over the school holidays). We held it at the local sports hall where he plays five-a-side.

It was a lot of fun and enjoyed having his mates to play with. He got a load of pokemon toys as well as scoring a few goals so went home pretty happy. I was chuffed with my cake :)

Audrey's 9th Birthday

The birthday's are rattling along now. I can't believe our little girl is already 9.

Audrey wanted desperately to have a group of friends for a sleep-over (but I couldn't face it!) so in the end we opted for an afternoon ice skating at the nearby ice rink. Audrey and her friends got along ever so well and there were no broken bones to report (just a fair few blisters from the dodgy hire-shoes)

It's funny(?) listening to the girls natter on, and listening to what is important to them. Eli managed to fix up a play-date with a couple of his mates away from the girls (so it worked out perfectly for everyone!)

Here's a few pictures of our afternoon. I really missed Amy today, not least as she would have helped clear up :) but also because I know she went to extraordinary measures to be at Audrey's 7th birthday. She would have been so amazed to see how big her little girl has become.

Audrey's 'Total Girl' magazine cake

The gang in skates

Eli's 7th birthday party

Eli celebrated his 7th birthday by having a party at the rock climbing centre in Hume. We've been a few times before so both Audrey and Eli were old hands. It was a really fun evening and the kids enjoyed a BBQ as well as the chance to take on the many walls on offer. It was great to have Robin and his son Joe on hand to help out. A couple of Mums made cakes and a salad too so that was kind.

The (very tall) cake - which took on a worrying lean!

Audrey's 8th Birthday

I can't believe our little girl is 8! She is growing into an independent (and sometimes outspoken!) young girl. It's lovely seeing her grow up, but also a little sad that this was her first birthday party without her Mum.

Audrey had decided to celebrate her birthday with a ten pin bowling party.

There were nine girls (and five boys) in all and everyone really enjoyed themselves. After a game of bowling which both Audrey and Eli did really well at, we retired to the party room for nuggets and chips and Katy Perry cake! and then onto the amusement arcade in the bowling alley.

I must admit I'd been sceptical at first when Audrey had suggested bowling as a theme/venue, but actually it was really well organised, good fun and also meant that you could walk away at the end of the party and leave some of the mess behind. The kids were all really well mannered (a Dad remarked how surprised he was to see how well all the kids behaved), everyone (kind of) understood the scoring system (a bit difficult to grasp even as an adult) and no one sent balls down the wrong alley or ran down to try and kick the skittles over. I'm not sure I was so well behaved as an 8 year old.

Oh yeah, and someone scored 125. That must have been me (although I must admit having the 'bumpers' down the side of the lanes probably scored me an extra point or two!

Happy Birthday Audrey!





Katy Perry Cake!

Audrey and her friends (Claire, Amber and Sophia)

the boy's end of the table! (Elliot and Alexander)

Encouraging positive behaviour through play

Eli's 6th Birthday Party

Audrey and Eli ran from the piñata with hands full of sweets, carefully counting them to make sure that they both had an even share. Meanwhile other kids bounced energetically on the jumpy castle and in the opposite corner of the hall on the large Scalextric Digital track cars buzzed round the figure eight frequently smashing into each other and disappearing over crash barriers and smacking the hard floor beneath.

 Eli turned six a couple of weeks ago and as part of his ongoing celebrations I had arranged a joint party with his little mate Aidan. The school had kindly lent us use of the school hall free of charge and numerous kids ran madly around variously excitedly running to zombie themed party games or eating party food. There was also face painting and dancing!

I made not one, but two cakes and Eli came home with masses of presents. It was lovely seeing my little boy turn six. Our first birthday party without Amy, but despite that sadness everything went well, just amazing that our little baby boy is so grown up now!

Eli's Scalextric Cake

Audrey's 7th Birthday

Audrey had been excited all week in the lead up to her 7^th birthday party.

In truth her party was relatively ‘low-key’ a pizza lunch at nearby Hellenic Club with a few of her mates, which compared to some of the other grand birthday productions we’ve been to as guests during the last seven years, hardly registered as a party at all.

In the build up to the party the number of guests had swelled dramatically from an initial two to six (nine kids in all once you added in siblings) still, it was a manageable number and meant we could easily accommodate a grown-up’s and kid’s table.

Audrey had added in the requirement to come dressed as a Princess and had constructed a written party-plan of party games, party food and the requirement for people to come both for lunch and evening meal(!) All of which were in her head not ours!

Her mates came – dressed up as princesses and they all had a crazy time on the ball-pool/climbing frame area in the club. There are much bigger climbing frame/ball park places in Canberra but Audrey seems to like it at the Hellenic so who were we to argue?

Audrey sported an Elsa (from Frozen) dress. Elsa is a BIG hit amongst girls aged 3-10 and all of Australia’s toy shops were sold out of dresses which had driven me to make my own using our sewing machine. The material cost me less than $20, but the two evenings I spent swearing and trying to drive the sewing machine made the dress much more valuable than the money I paid for it. Either way Audrey loved it, wore it proudly and looked beautiful in it.

We had a few tears at the end from the party-girl (when people started to leave and Audrey realised that her guests weren’t going to stay for 24 hours) but she soon got over it. Presents and party bags were exchanged and everyone headed home.

Audrey started planning her 8^th birthday almost immediately.

Audrey in her Elsa dress

"Frozen" Birthday cake

Eli's birthday party

Our little boy is soon to turn 5. It seems amazing really as the time has flown by so quickly.

We celebrated with a trip to the cinema to see the 'Lego Movie' which is a really big deal if your under 10, in fact it's a pretty big deal whatever your age.

I think there was about 23 of us when we finally went into the cinema - we took up an entire row across the middle of the theatre. Amy had cleverly planned to have the party preceding the school holidays (where everyone would have otherwise gone to watch the film) so it was the opening weekend.

The film itself was excellent - so many action scenes one after another and something for everyone boys, girls and adults alike. The hero of the film is Emmet (on which the cake was based).

Afterwards we went to the cafe next to the cinema where the chef came out to congratulate me on the cake (yes I was very chuffed). Unsurprisingly Eli received a whole ton of Lego toys for his birthday which will end up being sucked up into the vaccum cleaner/falling down the heating vents for months/years(?) to come.

He ended the day a really happy boy having seen all his friends, watched a film exclusively about lego and then had pizza for lunch. Do birthdays get much better?

Amy's Birthday

Sadly Amy celebrated her birthday by returning to work!

When she got home though the kids wanted a party and so we all got kitted out in party hats had a great game of pass the parcel (thanks Barb for both wrapping and buying our pass-the-parcel!) and then enjoyed Vietnamese take-away followed by baked cheesecake birthday cake.

Thanks everyone for so many lovely cards and gifts for my beautiful wife.

Mummy's boy

crazy children

Audrey's 6th Birthday

I read an article recently that the typical cost of a children's birthday party is now around $300. The same (UK) survey said that according to kids their perfect party would be held at a theme park, include 30 guests - and a guest appearance from David Beckham!

David wasn't available last weekend (and anyway I've never really understood the fuss about him myself) so in his absence Audrey celebrated her 6th birthday at a local pizza place together with her best mate Amber (and little sister) - rather than 30 others. There's a really good play area there and so the kids could go wild while parents could chat (in relative) peace.

Audrey had a Barbie cake which was well received and loved the presents she received, including a load of new Barbie clothes from Grandma, new lego, a sticker book and some excellent new pens/texters.

pressies for all!

new clothes for Barbie

Happy Birthday to You!

Barbie Cake

Eli's 4th Birthday

It's hard to believe our little boy is 4. Time goes so quickly.

Like many four year olds Eli loves Thomas the Tank Engine and so it seemed appropriate that we'd take him to Kingston Model Railway.

We hadn't been before - the tracks are tucked away behind exclusive apartments - an oasis of 'old' Canberra in the midst of expensive developments.

The railway is staffed by volunteers - almost exclusively old blokes. Most of them deaf, but clearly all fervent train enthusiasts and all of them equally happy to see their trains used by the groups of childrens' parties who came to use the trains which they lovingly run and maintain. It's a long track which weaves around the grounds and great fun for adults and kids alike.

We had booked a table and barbecue. All shaded under trees. We were blessed with beautiful Autumnal weather (25 degrees) and our lovely friends came with their kids and shared the day.

Eli was so excited to see all of his mates in one place. A few from school, a few from his daycare days and a few people we knew along the way. I think we had 15 little boys and girls there in all.

The barbecue was a hit (although in truth the kids preferred the party food to the more 'sensible' sausages) and Eli loved his Thomas the Tank engine cake. Amy had made it and I had decorated it. It took 3 attempts to get the face of the engine look ok - the first couple gave Thomas a slightly sinister grin!

Even after the party had ended (and a few stray balloons had floated away above the trees) Elijah was still on cloud nine. Happy Birthday little boy.

Leo, Eli (mucking around) and Darcy

Eli grinning by his cake

Chloe, Tommy (with Jack in the background)

Remy looking cool

Tricky blowing the candle out in the wind!

All aboard!

Eli with his mate Ryan

Audrey peeking

Audrey's Fifth Birthday

When you're 5 birthdays are a pretty big deal. Audrey spent several weeks leading up to her birthday telling almost anyone she met that her birthday was on August 24th. When the actual day arrived she announced that it was her birthday to everyone who came in contact with her - her enthusiasum was almost to the extent that if you were in Canberra on Friday you probably already knew that it was Audrey Hickman's birthday.

Audrey got a stash of presents - including much excitement around a Disney Princess handbag and necklace and a double feature of Octonauts DVDs. Her little brother got in the act as well with a few presents of his own - it is handy occasionally to have an older sister.

This year Audrey has managed to achieve a birthday celebration spread over several weeks. We've delayed her "party" - a trip to go and see the new Tinkerbell film until the eagerly awaited release at end of September. We decided though to give Audrey a night out on her actual day with her good friends Abbey and Will - her choice of venue the nearby Hogs Breath Cafe - a slightly disappointing decision (for adults at least) but chosen, I am sure, because they serve curly chips. If you're just turning 5 then culinary considerations pretty much come down to whether the resturant serves curly chips. At least there's decent beer on tap for the Dads.

Here's some pictures of Audrey enjoying her day.   It seems only yesterday that we were in Warsaw and a very pregnant Amy and I were being run to the hospital by our good friends Mike and Pene. How time flies.

Audrey with her stash of presents

Will and Audrey



Audrey's cake



Nice birthday cake

We were invited to Eli's friend (Ryan) 3rd birthday recently. Audrey was invited too as she's friends with Ryan's sister Erin. It was a nice party and we were particularly impressed by the birthday cake!

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