Tutu

I wanted to share these photos of Poppy from yesterday, after seeing Mia embrace her new tutu (another story, another lot of photos to come), Poppy insisted on having a spin (excuse the mess in the background!).

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Happy Anniversary!

Exactly one year ago I started this blog.

I know I've been a little slack of late but nonetheless I'm pretty pleased to have been able to keep this going for a whole year!

So much has happened in these 12 months, mostly, the girls have continued to blossom and I'm now back at work.

On the other hand, some things never change, like my decor disorder and real-estate obsession... that's a whole other post...

On the whole though, it's been fabulous and challenging, funny and sometimes unsettling, it is nice to be able to flick back and review it almost week/week, month/month

Recent highlights: Taking 2 days off work to spend with Luke. Re-bonded with the house, sorted wardrobes one day, spoilt ourselves the next. Headed to the city on the train, wandered around, lunched at Gingerboy (noted by Sara, the Ginger-nut lunched at Gingerboy, ha-ha), got high (forgot was on sinus antibiotics, had wine.....) and received a beautiful Tiffany bracelet from Luke (a belated Mother's Day gift).

Mia has been extra divine and her speech has improved considerably, not to mention her drawings. This is a piece she drew for her friend Kayla, it's Kayla and her little brother Thomas wearing bunny suits, and the big triangular thing on the side is ice -cream..of course. She's continuing to ask wonderful questions and confidently display all her hilarious quirks. Food porn is still high on the list (has been knows to sleep with dessert cookbooks) and she has thoroughly enjoyed Master Chef. We've broken the no TV post dinner rule and allowed her to watch it with us. At the finale, she disappeared to her kitchen and returned with a large bowl of (playdough) 'cookies'. She placed it delicately on the coffee table in front of us and cautiously stood back, hands linked behind her back as she explained her 'dish': "chocolate cookies with cocoa". She requested we taste and listened anxiously for our response.....

I should note here, that Luke has developed a man-crush on Matt Preston (giant judge on right), they've even exchanged emails.

Mia's shorts obsession is also continuing, we were so desperate the other night to find a clean pair of bed shorts, I just took one of her PJ pants and cut them off, she was so pleased as she stared at her reflection in the mirror (and once again declared, I'm a boy!). Still she can't hide her girliness and has taken to cross-dressing with all her little sparkly accessories.

Poppy meanwhile is barely walking now, more running, always on the brink of teetering over her un-coordinated petit feet. She loves to chase Oscar and be chased by Mia, who is, in no exaggeration the best sister in the world. She protects her, feeds her, cleans her and truly loves her. In fact, the only way we can get Mia out of bed in the morning is by bringing Poppy in to her bed, then they cuddle and get up.

Poppy is delicious, funny, playful and mostly grotty. We had friends over for a lovely brunch one Sunday morning, so glad they weren't disgusted by her 'look' : texter-snot-chocolate face.

Made for a very amusing morning/arvo with lots of bubbly and laughs and also an embarrassing trip down memory lane: Luke showed friends my old skating footage....agghhhhh! Stopped it just before my appearance on ''Good Morning Israel'' came on. Still on theme, some of my old costumes also came out (a selection live in the dress up box)...I love this photo of little Thomas, his choice.

Wish I had photos of the cupcakes I made for brunch, decorated with my new favourite food: Edible glitter!

On the work front, actually really enjoying myself at the moment, both the work itself and the people, but aware of the fragility of that status...Am spending a healthy amount of time laughing & lunching with my gorgeous work husband Andrew and his other glamorous wife Lisa. What do we laugh about? I can never remember, but there's definitely a lot of work geek stuff, truly ridiculous, any who, what I do know is that while I sometimes reflect on the past 20 years, and think about how I've matured and grown, I now doubt those reflections and instead wonder how is it that I haven't changed at all, still giggling like a 16 y.o school girl?

Cook Off!

Mia's Birthday Party Cook-Off was a whole lot of fun. The kids were simply amazing, so enthusiastic, cooperative, adventurous, mature and happy! They all donned their personalised, home made aprons (Safta Ariela) and chef's hats and off they went.

We started off with a Master Class in Ginger Bread Cookie making. Rather informal, most of the kids popped in for a look, a sift, a pour & a stir. While the dough was cooling in the fridge, we went on to make Pizzas.

It was then time to roll the dough and make some cookies. Those little hands were fabulous, not to mention the patience they displayed as they shared the rolling pins and cookie cutters. Post bake they decorated them (see below)

I had other activities planned as well but they were so busy with the first two that we skipped the others and let them run around a little. The beast of a trampoline that we bought was a perfect outlet for all that energy. At one point there were six kids jumping around at once.

In the background we had some of Mia's favourite tracks playing inc:
Welcome (Cabaret)
Food Glorious Food (Oliver)
So Long Farewell (Sound Of Music)
It's Not Fair (Lilly Allen)
Changes (David Bowie via Shrek)
Chunari Chunari (Monsoon Wedding)
Blame it on the Boogie (Jackson 5)
Tomorrow (Annie) and more...

Thank you to all who came and for your thoughtful & gorgeous gifts (I'm just trying to work out what's from whom). Mia had a beautiful day with her friends and family.

Mia is 4!!!

Mazel Tov Mia!

Mia is 4 today. Our gorgeous first born, also know as Big M, Schmoops, Little one, Me-Moosh, Olive and many other names is in her words "bigger'' today.

Mia & I spent the day at home together after she was rather ill with Gastro since early yesterday morning. For the record, Poppy was also affected but not as badly, and I'm simply run down. It's been a peaceful way to spend her Birthday, watching The Muppets, Cabaret (her favourite), playing with her new garage and cars, decorating her Birthday cake all while wearing her Monkey hoody, complete with shorts and knee high socks.

We finished the day with a dance to "Chunari Chunari", one of Mia's favourite dance tunes. It's interesting she loves this song so much, I went into labour listing to it as it's in Monsoon Wedding, the Indian film, which we watched just before heading to hospital.

Meanwhile Luke has just returned from a fabulous weekend in Hong Kong for the much anticipated wedding of an old friend. Lucky for me I had help while he was away with Anna sleeping over Sat night and Mum (less helpful) on Sun night. And for extra company was joined by another friend on Sat night for dinner, so it was one very girly weekend. Thanks to all!

There is so much more to tell here as I haven't posted in almost 2 months! An accumulation of busyness and tiredness has meant we've been completely stuffed.

So here are some of the other things which have taken place since the last post (sorry it's a bit of a dump) and some random shots that I like.

This isn't actually new but yet to be shared; Mia has decided that in her words boys have more fun and they get to wear shorts more often then girls so therefore she has declared herself to be a boy! Funnily I went through a similar phase around this age.

So this boy obsession also means that almost everything she looks at or experiences is measured against whether its for boys/girls and we go through the rigger of explaining that girls can so all the things boys can do (and more) inc: wear shorts & pink things, have long hair, play sports, skateboard & dance.

So much to her Safta's dismay, she wont be wearing a dress at her 4th Birthday party. But she will be wearing an apron & chef's hat: Master Chef Mia. Besides 1 girl who is the daughter of my friend, Mia has invited only boys to her Cooking party. I should mention she is having what I predict will be only a brief fling with a girl at childcare, they like to play Mum's & Dads together (Mia is Dad), however, she hasn't invited her to the party.

Other things of note:
Poppy is walking! Happened a couple of weeks ago, a couple of steps, has now progressed. While she shows no caution when climbing, she's rather cautious when walking, so often reverts to crawling.

Had dinner with some girlfriends one night, one of which is named Michelle. As I said my goodbyes to Mia she wished me a good time at the dinner with the Obamas.

Mother's Day was spent with Safta, on a tram and at Fed Square viewing the John Brack exhibition which I recommend, was gorgeous and I'll be going back for seconds!

The girls love and affection has spilled over to their time in the car and we're often finding them holding hands in the back, like an old familiar couple, content, staring out the window.

But then, to counter balance that, both have been tantrum crazy. Poppy does the full exorcist, and Mia does the full teenager, EXHAUSTING!

Other than that, they are gorgeous and we've had a few nice outings and home plays as the weather cools (animals shots are from Werribbe Open Range Zoo)..and the rest.