party party pepper

Firstly, here's my daughter stage-managing a photo with her friends. She is a movie director in the making, no doubt about it!
We DID it!!!
We managed to get to Luna Park on a beautiful sunny day with our darling girl and eight of her friends. It was a great thing to do and I am so glad we waited that extra week.
They arrived at 12 at our place for a boring sort of a lunch. I think they were hoping for fairy bread...but no. We decided to be a bit sensible and put on a spread of tiny mini bagels, ham, cheese, carrot sticks and dips. There were some chips and lemonade because we're not some weirdo anti-party food freaks. I was just thinking about the "upchuck" factor on those rides.
After lunch we skippity-hopped down to the tram stop, doing a headcount every two minutes.(although where they would go missing on a five minute walk I don't know)
They were a little embarrassing in their loud exuberant ways on the tram, but luckily there weren't too many other travellers with us.
At Luna Park they were absolute angels. They carefully negotiated who was to go on which ride, though for the most part they all went together on everything. Only one kid sat out for a while on account of a scream induced headache.
I thought I'd planned the time reasonably well to avoid the purchase of overpriced, fat and chemical laden crap whilst there. I stuck to my guns and didn't buy anything to eat (they had water!!) but there was a bit of "I'm hungry", "can we get fairy floss?", and amazingly "I always have my dinner by now" (at 4.45pm) It was only 4 hours for god's sake. Am I the worst mother ever?
Anyway, starvation aside, we left at 5pm, ran for the tram which was conveniently waiting for us, and made it home for the most delicious, divine and delectable gelati cake from Trampoline.
Is it my imagination or are kids just fussy little pains these days? The base was a slab of blood orange flavoured gelati, with balls of lemon, choc therapy, and wild berry. Wow. But I had to ask for a show of hands because as soon as they saw it, they started with their whiny little demands. It's a friggin nightmare....I don't like berry...I ONLY eat chocolate....I'll just have a tiny bit of lemon.....whats this orange?Oh I don't like that.....I'm not a big fan of sprinkles????!!!!!
I felt like a drill sargeant "OKAY..HANDS UP WHO ONLY WANTS CHOC...WHO ONLY WANTS LEMON?
At one point I yelled out SHUUUUUT UUUUP! It's true.
My apologies to those parents who never lose their cool.

And, there are no words to adequately convey the horror and real devastation that so many poor Victorians went through last week and continue to go through in their fight to deal with the bushfires that have ravaged their homes and families. I think nearly everyone I know has been reduced to tears this week while listening to the radio coverage. My heart goes out to you all.

timing is everything

Pepper is having a party on Saturday. The date was set a month ago when she realised that we would be camping. There are 7 little angels coming to enjoy an afternoon at Lunacy Park.
Have you seen the weather forecast for Saturday?
43 degrees!!!
We will be praying for an early cool change. She won't hear of rescheduling it.
I just hope that no one melts, faints or otherwise flakes it. We'll be catching the tram down there to avoid parking dilemmas...that's if the trams are running and not exploding.
Here are the fimo beads that we made on the weekend to fashion into handmade bracelets to put into the party bags. She got to use a v.v.sharp knife to slice them up. It was fun.

Baby birthdays

Today is my little darling's 10th birthday!
Time is marching on. I can't believe I have a 10 and an 11 year old!
So beautiful Pepper, I wish you the most wondrous exciting things for your life. You are a delight and an angel and sometimes a pain in the neck, just as all kids should be! You make me so proud to be your Mum.
I love your fierce determination, your tight tight cuddles, your infectious giggle and your warm caring nature. I love your look of intense concentration when you are reading. I love your sense humour and wonder. I love your delight in all things gooey and sticky.
You are the best daughter that ever was.
I hope you have a super day today.

choc and more choc

Yesterday it was my friend Belinda's birthday and she is the queen of cakes. D decided to make this divine monstrosity for her celebration bbq last night.
What a cake! It was too too much. It was fantastic. 14 people tackled a slice each and I doubt that anyone was feeling very sprightly afterwards. Yum..happy birthday Blin!
Don't forget to note that pile of fruit in the background..By the look of those bananas I should have been making a banana cake instead!

something bright on a dull old day

What happened to the sun today? I wanted to take some photos and it just disappeared. I took this photo a while ago..It's my own hand-made rainbow.
Mackie and I spent some QUAAAALITY time today, doing a bit of a spring-clean/purge in the kids room. He was sensational company and I believe he has the tidying up gene that D and I are afflicted with. Pepper shows no signs as yet (but I was a late bloomer too) It's not cleanliness exactly, just fussy stacking and ordering. Bit of consolidation, I like to call it. Making piles....
This weekend just gone, I ate enough to sink a ship! We had a delish get together with the crew of workers from D's China trip, we had a family yum cha on Sunday morning to celebrate my wonderful Dad's 68th birthday, and I went out for a work dinner last night. Subsequently I am filled with self loathing which I KNOW is totally unproductive and dumb. But I'm feeling extremely blah-dy blah and fat.

Getting ready to say goodbye

lanterns
Originally uploaded by stellefilanti

Just found this beautiful photo on flickr. It makes me think about the impending heartache of D leaving for China.
He is part of a small Australian contingent(our mates), responsible for theming and audio-visually organising the corporate hospitality/entertaining suites for a major sponsor of the GAMES.
He is leaving on Saturday midnight for three weeks. Oh, I am going to miss him so much, but he won't have a minute free to scratch himself!
In other more chirpy news, I officially crossed the threshold to 40 in front of family and friends on Saturday. I think I was kidding myself when I proposed a tea-party. We had all the right stuff, but only three cups of tea and one cup of coffee were consumed.
My legendary friend Rachel was the backbone of the party, mixing and pouring Pimms punch for all...with aplomb (because that's such a nice word). Heating and serving delicious treats like fishcakes and spanakopita and sausage rolls.
Rachel's husband was on THAT FLIGHT that experienced some major difficulties on Friday. Rachel kept herself busy making my birthday party sensational. I don't know how she did it..but I love her for it!
Michael & Belinda opened their home for the party, so generously, and made sure everything was just beautiful.
There are so many people to thank but I think I'll try to do it face to face as much as possible. Everyone who brought a plate outdid themselves with deliciousness and scrumptiosity! Yum.
I had a great day, thank you everyone!

I AM HOME AND I AM 40

Well I'm here, back home after a fantastic holiday.
Bali was the perfect antidote to the 40 blues.
So, I'm IT, 40.
Don't see what the big deal was now.
I still have a party to look forward to in a couple of days, and I admit the freezing cold Melbourne winter isn't exactly my ideal for an afternoon tea party, but what can you do?
The frocks may be under wraps until the room heats up!
The cuppas will be flowing, the cupcakes will be filling and the company will be second to none!

glorious day!

What a gorgeous day.
I've just been out in it, staking the broad beans and dodging dog-poo. Waiting for the washing to finish so I can get it on the line in the 'shine.
The sun is beaming, the sky is blue...it's bloody freezing and sitting at the computer doesn't really help to warm the extremities. Today is my beloved's birthday which is indeed cause for celebration.
Our family tradition is to venture out for a celebratory breakfast on the big day, and because we live in "cafe society" it's never difficult to find a good before-school/work nosh up.
This morning we went to the lovely Las Chicas in Carlisle St and I had the most delicious breakfast. It was a plate of roasted field mushrooms & roasted tomatoes topped with a pasture full of rocket mixed with goats cheese & pinenuts. Wow, it was so scrumptious, but no I did not photograph it!
Down below is the cut-up beginnings of my latest baby quilt venture. So far I am very proud that I have only used fabric that was already in my stash at home. It's coming together nicely so far, but I think I'll have to buy a bit of something lovely for the back. The only downside is that the light on my sewing machine has stopped working, but I don't want to stop sewing to replace it. Where do you buy those things anyway?
I've got a cake in the oven for tonight. It's starting to smell good. It's a Chocolate Cake Deluxe from the original McAlpin's Flour Cookbook that my parents received when they bought their first oven when they built their new house in 1970. This book has a super scone recipe too, and it was much utilised by moi in my formative kitchen years. The page with the oh-so-chic recipe for Quiche Lorraine is so destroyed by spillage that it is completely unreadable.
Tonight we're going to hit the town, AKA going to the local pizza shop with my Dad and our great friend Michael to have another gastronomic overindulgence.
Happy Birthday D!!!! Love you to bits!

ELEVEN

I can hardly believe it.
I have an eleven year old child. A walking talking individual on the cusp of teenager-hood.
Perhaps it's because I'm an only child, or because I'm a neurotic flake, or I have given birth to the spawn of Satan...twice (sorry Dave, I'm sure that's not it) or just possibly because I "suck" at it, but I have always found the parent thing pretty hard.
Maybe I'm just an approval-seeking whinger.
Anyway forget all that, because today I have an ELEVEN year old. He's great and gorgeous and clever and FUNNY. He gives fantastic hugs and draws awesome cartoons and can entertain himself for hours with just a mirror.
I love him.
Here he is wearing his new ultra cool shades. If he could keep that beautiful kid-a-licious smile off his face he would look very tuff.
Happy Birthday Mackie. You ROCK!!

the birthday is nearly over, the holiday is over

Well, the countdown to 40 is official. I had a fantastic birthday. It was spoiling and love all the way.
My darlings festooned me with treats in bed. I received beautiful girl & bunny silhouette badges and a girl on a swing necklace from "love". My delicious husband knows that "lulu" in Carlisle St stocks a multitude of little desireables that I covet every time I walk past.
My delectable children gave me a boxful of luscious smelly things from "lush".
My Mum gave me some gorgeous earrings that she sneakily bought at last week's DESIGN MARKET and my Dad painted a sensational street scene in moody oils, depicting a stretch of Swan St, Richmond opposite the station. It goes beautifully with the one of the railway bridge that Dave got for his birthday, making a snazzy set.
I am still looking forward to dinner out with the old school buddies on Tuesday, then it's head down until next year.
Kids are back to school tomorrow, so the juggle is over and life resumes it's normal pace. I must thank the lovely Clare, whose work schedule fits mine so well that we were able to swap kids frequently and also J who is similarly accomodating. Thanks.