party girl

Today is a quiet day, a happy, sleepy day as we recover from Sunday's sleepover birthday party extravaganza!

For weeks she has been counting down till the 11th, and yesterday she waved goodbye to 7 and said hello to 8!

And what a great celebration Sunday had. She loved all her pressies, including little Chickie, made by gorgeous Jess, and her quilt cover, made by her measurement challenged mum (yep, I made it too short... but it's fixable!)

The day was made brighter by a visit by one of her fairy godmothers, Michelle, who also stayed for a turn or two of charades. I've never seen someone demonstrate a rocking horse so enthusiastically! That girl can really rock!)

The party was a blast, with lots of dancing,

games and a walk up the street, saying hello to everyone we met!  We played Sweet & Sour do you know that game? If someone says hello back they are Sweet and if they don't, you guessed it...! Funny.

Back home the girls painted photo frames, .

and inspirational words.

They played pass the parcel, Bobs & Statues & the Smartie game.

They loved the newspaper fashion show too, lots of very cool and creative outfits!

After dinner it was time for dessert! We didn't have a cake this year but made Smushin's instead. 

Two scoops of ice cream on a placemat + bowls of treats + a fork = yum!

Thanks to Jamie Oliver for the inspiration.

We all sang Happy Birthday (in between watching Hairspray) and then it was time for a night walk!

The girls loved being out in the dark, they cackled & giggled, shrieked & sang, it was hilarious! I think we even scared some big tough firefighters who were trying to have a serious meeting at the fire station.  You should have seen the looks on their faces as the girls danced past, twirling & spinning and talking at the tops of their voices! Very funny!

Back at home they snuggled down in their sleeping bags and eventually went off to sleep. Today we had pancakes for breakfast and soon it was home time. What a lovely group of friends Sunday has, they were all so lovely, polite, funny and each one a gorgeous individual. I'm sure it will be a party Sunday remembers forever.

As I packed up their bits & pieces to take home I couldn't help but think how apt these painted words were.  

Bye for now lovely friends,

see you soon xo

Bottle top Birthday Girl

Although today is the official birthday, yesterday is was princess/ballerina/fairy land at our house. Six little girls all dressed in pink, yellow, purple & blue joined us to celebrate Rosie's 4th birthday.

It was a really lovely day, once I got past the stressful getting ready part in the morning.

As usual there were a few tears & a few anxious moments as we tried to quickly get our house in order. In the end I had to shove a few piles of random items into another room and boy did that make a difference! By the time the girls arrived our house looked beautiful, pink balloons, sparkly fairy bread, rainbow bunting and a table set for a party! Yay!!!

I realised this week that this would be our last four year old party & I really wanted to make it a special one. Part of me still has trouble with the concept of no more babies on the way. Mark & are a lucky though to have these gorgeous five.

Have I told you the story about the bottle cap? One day I was walking along in Seddon and noticed a shiny green bottle top on the ground. For some reason I picked it up and there was a number 5 printed on the other side. Five has always been my favourite and lucky number so I tucked it away in my pocket. Not long after that I found out I was having another baby....yep, number 5! My kids love that story.

Rosie hasn't had a party before so she was pretty excited..and a bit overwhelmed. She absolutely loved all the presents her friends gave her.

Mark worked his magic making cups of tea for parents and getting food ready while our older kids helped with the games & dancing.

There was a bit of wand decorating with lots of sparkles and glitter. After a delicious chocolate cake and the Happy Birthday song the little princesses departed and I fell in a heap on the couch. Phew!

Today is Rosie's real birthday and this time four years ago I was huffing and puffing up at Daylesford Hospital. It had been a tough pregnancy - I had pneumonia at 36 weeks, we had just moved to the country and I had three small kids and one starting secondary school. It wasn't an easy labour either, I don't think I have ever been in so much pain. But then, just as I was about to be whisked into an ambulance to head for an emergency caesar, Rosie appeared. I remember crying with happiness and relief at the sight of her beautiful face. Cuddling her, my extra bonus, bottle top baby, was pure joy.

Now she is a big girl and is still bringing me joy & cuddles every day.

She is a mad, fun, loving, full of life, theatrical, colourful, sweet and crazy wonderful girl. It was so much fun celebrating yesterday, I hope your weekend was fun too xo

And no there is not even a tiny crumb of chocolate cake left....