boo's birthday party

it took us awhile to decide on having boo's second birthday party at a play centre. at the age of two, he is full of energy and is always moving around and i think his peers are the same too. rather than hosting a party at home for him (where we may not be able to invite as many of his little friends), we decided a play centre would make this little cheeky monkey happier. besides, it also means the food and entertainment for the kids are all taken care of. win win really. 

we're so glad all his friends could make it to celebrate this special day with us. this boy was well and truly spoilt with all the presents he received. from different types of trucks to lego sets, to Peppa Pig backpack and activities books and lots and lots of nice outfits too. 

i'm not sure if he will remember his second birthday party when he gets older but at least we have some photos to show him. i wish we could have taken more photos at the party but to chase after a toddler in a crowded play centre and take photos of him and his friends was not easy.  

my first solo gig - boo's second birthday cake

i started planning boo's second birthday cake a couple of months ago. at the time, he was into Pororo and Friends so i thought i'd make him a Pororo and Friends themed cake. i got my cake decorating master, Myfanwy, to help me with the figurines in October. we made three figurines together- Pororo the penguin, Crong the dinosaur and Petty the female penguin. we talked about the design and i was all ready to make a Pororo and Friends theme birthday cake. 

when his birthday finally came around, he started getting less excited about Pororo and more obsessed with Peppa Pig. partly because he has just been to the Peppa Pig live show at the Sydney Opera House two weeks ago. so, a day before his birthday, i decided to make him some Peppa Pig cupcakes for our mini celebration at home. he was so excited when he saw those cupcakes. the next day, Jim suggested to me that i should change the theme of birthday cake for the party to Peppa Pig. with only four days till the party, i had to come up with the design, make the figurines and start planning on how i could get the cake done in four days. 

so, on Thursday, the first thing i did when i got home from work was to bake the cake. i took a day off work on Friday to complete the top tier and to make all the figurines (the house, the sun, Peppa and George). i also covered the cake with a layer of chocolate ganache and coloured a kilo of white fondant into blue to cover the cake the next day. on Saturday, i covered the bottom layer of the cake and i put all the components of the cake together.  

i'm quite pleased with the result. this is the first time i've completed all the components of a birthday cake by myself - with a lot of SOS text messages to my cake decorating master, Myfanwy, no less but i did it on my own. perhaps i've missed my actual calling to be a cake decorator and it's time for a career change?!? 

daycare xmas party

daycare had their xmas party last friday and all parents were invited. i was very excited to attend because this is kind of our first "school" related event and i was also looking forward to seeing boo interacts with his daycare buddies. 

the party started off with the kids "singing" 'jingle bells' and 'rockabye a bear'. all the kids were meant to be sitting at the front to "perform" for the parents but they all ended up sitting on our laps. after the songs, everyone went to the playground where there were face painters and balloon makers. boo got his face painted with a red back spider and he also had a purple sword. he was having a ball running around the playground waving his sword and pretending to be a pirate. while he runs around the playground, i got to catch up with the other mothers and the educators.

before the party ended, santa came and gave all the children presents. i thought this boo would freak out when he sees santa but he was fine. he happily accepted his present from santa and he even thanked him. 

the party felt like a conclusion of his time as a baby in the babies' room as he moves to the next room in the new year. how time flies. when he first attended daycare, he could barely speak and was still on all four picking up dirt and germs but 12 months later, he's running, talking and singing. i wonder if he'll do a little performance for us in next year's xmas party? 

boo's second birthday

boo's actual birthday fell on a weekday again this year, so we didn't managed to do much with him. last year, work was not as busy so we were able to take half a day off to take him to the aquatic centre for a swim. 

we couldn't let his birthday pass without any celebration so i made some Peppa Pig cupcakes for him and we had a mini celebration at home. 

the grandparents picked him up from daycare earlier than usual and took him to the shops to let him pick his own present. this boo loves the garden so much, he picked a gardening trolley set. below are some photos taken on the day. 

today you are 24 months

_ two years old today! from now on, we won't be counting months anymore, we'll be counting years! how the past two years have flown by. 

_ you are getting more and more cheeky these days. playful as always but you are also getting quite good at throwing tantrums which is normal i guess for your age. 

_  you are really starting to put words into sentence these days. your longest sentence for this month would probably be "where did mummy go"?

_  nowadays, you want to do everything yourself. you like to say "my do it" "my pick up" and i have to correct you that it's "i do it" "i pick up" 

_ you are very good with names and have now learnt how to say your own name better, you can say daddy's name and gung gung's name too. oh, you don't go Joby booby anymore, you can say Joby! 

_ you still enjoy singing and dancing to the Wiggles but ever since we went to watch Peppa Pig live at the Opera House, you ask for Peppa pig more than the Wiggles.  

_ your favourite bedtime story is still "room on the broom". daddy has read it so many times that he can recite the first few pages without looking at the book. 

_ you are getting quite good with singing. nowadays you can sing pretty much the whole twinkle twinkle little star. you can't sing the exact words but close enough. 

_ mummy hope you enjoyed the Peppa pig cupcakes i made for your birthday today. you were very good at blowing out the candles tonight. i hope you'll be able to do the same at your birthday party on Sunday! 

weekend away \\ the entrance

we haven't had a family holiday since the beginning of the year and our last weekend away with our friends was at least 2 years ago. so this weekend, we decided to combine the two and have a group weekend away at the entrance. 

before we were all married and have our own family, we used to have weekend away quite often. but as we all got busier with our lives and with our little family, finding time that is suitable for everyone and organising a weekend away got harder.  

today's the first day of summer. i was hoping for beach weather but we didn't get the sunshine we were hoping for. not for the first half of yesterday anyway. the rain was light and very unpredictable in the morning. it stopped raining when we were indoor but started raining as we were on our way out. nevertheless, the kiddies still got to play at the playground at the waterfront after they had their babycinos. going by the weather in the morning, i thought going to the beach would be out of question but the weather warmed up after noon and we managed to spend close to an hour at the beach. 

boo was very excited when we got to the beach. he had so much fun chasing the waves with daddy, kicking sand and building sand castles. this boy certainly loves the beach. he didn't mind getting wet or having sand all over him. 

on our way home, we stopped by the Australian Reptile Park. we managed to catch the alligator feeding show and the Tasmanian devil talk. boo was very scared when i told him the alligator was coming for him. turns out this child is not fearless after all. we saw a little koala joey sleeping in its mother's pouch and boo kept saying "wake up koala" hoping to wake the sleepy koalas up.

despite the less than perfect weather, we had a lovely time. we ate, ate and ate more. after the kiddies are in bed, the adults stayed up a little later than usual to chat (about our kids of course, duh?) it was really nice to be able to catch up and it was even nicer to see more interactions between the boys. i'm really glad our friends decided to start a family around the same time as us. it's nice to be on the journey of parenting together and watch our family grow together too. hopefully these kids will grow up to be best friends like their parents too. i think we definitely need to organise more weekend away. 

a little boy and his red wheelbarrow

last weekend we met up with Jim's cousin who's visiting Sydney for lunch in the city. the in laws agreed to mind boo for the afternoon so we were able to have some time off our parenting duties and have some couples time. 

Rozelle markets is one of my favourite markets to visit and it is also on our way to the city. so we decided to do a quick stopover at the markets before lunch. 

as we wander around the markets, this red wheelbarrow caught my attention. we can probably pick a brand new one up from bunnings or a toy store but seeing it at the markets gave it a really vintage/preowned feel. boo loves pottering around the backyard like his grandpa so i thought it would be a perfect for him. Jim wasn't too sure about it but seeing it is only $10, he agreed that we could get it for boo. 

boo was so excited when we brought it home. it took him awhile to figure out how to push it around the backyard. i really enjoyed watching him explore the different ways to 'play' with the wheelbarrow. he would tip it over, sit on it, lift it up, climb on top of it and he even tried to put Joby on it. of course, his favourite was to push it around to chase me.