Chase's 5th Birthday

We love a reason to put on a celebration. And Chase's 5th birthday was a perfect occasion.

He has caught the party planning bug too, and started flipping through the cookbooks weeks before to find a cake theme he liked. A castle was his pick.



A cake like this is a couple day project. First we baked the cakes. Distracted by baking with two kids, I forgot to add 8 cups of butter to the batter. Surprisingly though they tasted just fine. So, the 5 year olds got a low fat cake instead.

Then we made the icing and we were ready for assembly.


At this point I took over the project as two kids, pots of icing and bags of candy seems like a risky proposition.



The icing is proving a problem to deal with. It has a totally different consistency than when I make it in Canada, and after some tinkering I still end up with a gooey, runny iced cake. The strategy is to cover it with so much candy that the icing will take a back seat!



Charlie and I deliver the cake to Chase's class for morning "tea".


The brave teacher even let the kids have seconds! (They didn't seem to mind the missing butter or the droopy icing!)

The Wiggles

Crocodile Dundee. Foster's. The Sydney Bridge. Nicole Kidman. Ayres Rock.

THE WIGGLES.... all Australia icons.

Thursday the whole family stepped out for the Wiggles' Dorothy the Dinosaur Show. It was definitely the D-list cast, but the kids didn't seem to mind. Chase was fixated. And Charlie was content to climb up and down the stairs - again and again.

The Big Move

We finally got to say goodbye to the hotel after six weeks as move in day came over the Easter extra long weekend.

Sayonara Hotel Room!



The house is empty and ready for our 297 boxes! At this point I have already been stressing for a couple of weeks about where we are going to put everything. This 1920 vintage house has ZERO clothes closets.






The truck with five guys and six crates of our worldly possessions rolls into town. Everything has passed through quarantine except for a dirty bike and two straw baskets.


By mid day the crates are empty...


Despite the fact that we have paid for a full service move, we are left with this as the movers skiddaddle at midday, never to be seen again.



We realize now that we brought way too much stuff with us. But at the time we were packing up, everything seems important as you don't know what you will need. So, as we unpacked boxes we did another cull to pick and choose what to keep.


At the end of Day 1, we had a place to sleep.

Ah, my own bed...


It was a very long day, and not everyone made it to bed before falling asleep. Zzzz!

Easter

The week before Easter was busy with egg hunts (no fewer than three!)and preparations for the move to our house.

Chase had a hunt at school, plus both boys went to one with Chase's entire class at a park after school and one community one. Poor Charlie can't eat the chocolate - but I still think he had a good time.








The day before the extra long Easter long weekend with THREE!! stat holidays, Chase delivered 50 packages of Easter treats to Dad's office. Although he had requested a full bunny suit, he made do with the ears.

Call for Stamps

Chase's class is collecting used stamps for a project. If you have any used stamps that you wish to send us, we would be most grateful.

Here are photos from a recent trip to the playground. The Aussies put a lot of resources into their kids and the parks are no exception. They are on every corner (or so it seems), immaculate landscaping, no garbage and well maintained.

Charlie's face is white from the sunscreen. Mom needs to do a better job applying. But it hard to do with a constantly moving child!