Four

Lily turned 4 on Monday and we had an Enchanted Wood party to celebrate.

There were many Silkies, but we also had a rabbit, an Angry Pixie, a Dame Washalot and a butterfly.

She requested a Fairy Toadstool cake, and I happily obliged (and it worked! Yay!).

I finally finished sewing the fabric garland that I cut out for her first birthday party.

They made paper plate masks and decorated biscuits.

Her new swing set was a big hit.

I can't believe she's already 4. Although sometimes she seems 15...

Three! (or my adventures with veg jelly)

On Sunday Lily turned 3 and we had a party for her. Here she is with the 'pool cake' that she insisted on having.

I had a bit of drama making the 'jelly' in the middle. There is only one brand of veg jelly crystals in Australia that seem to make a lime flavour (none of them do 'blue') - Vitarium. However, Coles only stock their raspberry flavour and although Vitarium said that they would post me a sample of their lime flavour, it never arrived in the mail. So, on Saturday night I followed a recipe that P. googled for making jelly with agar agar (which, by the way, costs $18 for 50 grams!).

Can I just strongly recommend that you do not follow that recipe yourselves? When I followed the instructions to the letter I ended up with a few large lumps of solid agar agar jell suspended in lime cordial juice. It didn't look appetising (not that I find jelly particularly appetising, to be honest). So, in a small panic, I heated the whole lot back up on the stove and found, to my relief, that it did dissolve again. I then added some extra water to cover any that may have evaporated and (after it had cooled somewhat) popped it in the fridge overnight.

In the morning I got the 'jelly' out of the fridge to find that it was now a very solid lump. I let it warm up a little, but nothing changed, it was like a massive, bowl-shaped jelly baby. Ahhh!

So, in the end, I mashed it with a potato-masher and spooned it into the middle of the cake... Looks 'fabulous,' doesn't it?

On a more serious note, poor Lily got a fever on Sunday afternoon after all the guests had gone home and was quite sick until sometime on Monday night. She had had a pretty exhausting week at preschool (a week of no naps) and I think that the excitement of the party may have just all been too much for her. (Hopefully it wasn't the 'jelly'.)

I'm just glad that she was OK for the party itself, because she had such a good time.

Happy New Year

I hope that you all had a lovely NYE.

We spent yesterday morning at the zoo and the afternoon at the beach. It was such a lovely sunny day. Lily ran around like a 'mad fool' (as she now calls herself) and paddled about in the water, while we ate yummy hot chips and drank soy lattes. I love Balmoral.

In the evening, Lily shocked us all by staying awake for the 9pm fireworks (she had had an early sleep and a huge day) and so we wandered down to the harbour to watch them. She enjoyed the lights in the sky at first (although she kept asking to see the bangs), but quickly got very tired and told us "I don't want to see them anymore. They're a bit scary." So we wandered home to bed.

I heard the midnight fireworks, but couldn't even be bothered lifting my head to watch them out the window (my Dad's guest bedroom actually had a pretty good view of them - as I have found out in year's past by making a habit of watching them from bed... oh I am so lazy). Cuddles with Lily was quite celebratory enough for me.

This morning P and I wandered up to Milson's Point in search of coffee and found a gorgeous little french cafe that we had never noticed before. It lead us back to our ongoing reverie about running our own little cafe somewhere and then on to other (possibly more realistic) schemes about what we might do when we grow up. I love those mornings when the world seems so full of delicious possibilities...

This is also why I love New Year's Day. The new year is such a clean slate and life feels full of delicious possibilities. What are your schemes and dreams for 2009?

I think that I might...

• Start baking pastries and new kinds of bread
• Do more walking (maybe in the evenings with our little night owl)
• Stop buying juice from the supermarket
• Sew myself a new wrap around skirt (or two...)
• Take more photos & video
• Send more handwritten letters and cards
• Come ridiculously close to finish off my annoying PhD and move on with my life
• Start handmaking Christmas presents a little earlier in the year

I'd add that I plan to do more yoga, but that one is getting a little repetitive these days and so I'd better just leave it off...

Merry Christmas

I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas (or Hanuka, or other special family time...). Ours was great, but also a little intense.



In the lead-up to Christmas I set myself too much work - sewing lots of presents (like the clutches pictured above - from Bend the Rules Sewing); printing canvas for wrapping paper (also pictured); baking and wrapping gingerbread; and cooking more food than would fit in our fridge.


On Christmas Eve, we hosted drinks for 30 people (my Mum's family). The photos above are of the calm before the storm (so to speak). It was so lovely to see everyone and Lily loved having her cousins over the play with (and to exchange gifts with). Also everyone came loaded down with food and drinks, and we had many hands to help with the clean up at the end. However, this was only the beginning...


On Christmas morning we hosted breakfast for 9. We sat outside in the sun and it was a beautiful morning - lots of fresh fruit (mangoes and cherries always make me think of Christmas); mushrooms on toast, muffins, and (of course) coffee. More gifts were exchanged, but by now Lily was getting tired and said "Goodbye everyone" and lead me off to a quiet place where she could feed to sleep.
During her nap, more cleaning and cooking was done by all... and then we hosted a lunch for 11 (some of my Dad and my Sister-in-law's families). We had enough food for 20, at least, and it was a lovely long lingering lunch. Still more gifts were exchanged, more beautiful fruit, chocolates and coffee was consumed, and still more cleaning was done by many helping hands.

At 6:30pm we finished off the last load of dishes and then quickly made a couple of roast vegetables salads & a fruit platter and drove out to P's parents place for the Mega-family dinner. There were at least 50 people at P's parents' place and yet more gifts were exchanged... We asked Lily if she wanted to open her presents. "No," was her firm reply. Instead she wanted to play outside with her cousins. (We ended up having to open about half of Lily's gifts this morning - on her behalf - It was crazy-talk.)

We got home at 10:15pm, exhausted.

It was truly lovely to catch up with all of our families and to share food & gifts with the people that we love. However, it was also pretty overwhelming to see (and host) so many people in such a short space of time. If only we could spread Christmas out over a few weeks...

30

I turned 30 today.

It doesn't really feel any different... Should it?

Pistachio & rosewater cupcakes (and little hand)

I had a lovely afternoon with friends and was thoroughly spoiled with gifts - including: some new CDs; Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol; a self-healing cutting mat, rotary cutter and quilting ruler; a very fancy (and comfy) camping mat; a beautiful handmade wallet; a beautiful handmade iPod pouch (P. has discovered Etsy to my never-ending delight); a budget to go on a book-buying spree; many bunches of beautiful flowers; a gorgeous new bookbag from here; a book from there too; some yummy pantry items; a very pretty latte mug; a candle holder; and a bunch of pretty bangles...

Off to bed for me now. I hope that you had a lovely weekend.

A few more wedding photos

My brother and his lovely (now)wife were married over the weekend in Watson's Bay.

It was such a beautiful day. The setting was stunning. The ceremony was moving. The bride and groom looked wonderful and happy. The reception was tons of fun - especially the Jewish dancing that started things off with a bang. Lily had a ball being surrounded by family and stealing the spotlight whenever possible. And we ended the night in a gorgeous "luxury suite" on the harbour. Bliss.

Congratulations Jono & Nat. Thank you for a wonderful day. I hope that you are recovering well.