Harry's Belated 4th Birthday!

Harry turned 4 on 20 December 2010 and for a long time I thought I had got away with not holding a party. That was until I found out he was mentioning it to friends at preschool and they were all waiting for their invites! lol.

Parties are usually pretty stressful affairs for me and I really didn't feel up to catering a large party at home this year. I needed the easiest solution possible...enter the party packages at Lollipop's Playland.

I have to say, I loved this solution so much. All you do is choose your theme and bring the birthday cake on the day. No setting or clearing up and they provide everything from the food to the loot bags.

Harry chose the boy racer theme and invited eleven of his closest friends from preschool. They had a great time and I could finally relax and enjoy the party myself, instead of running around like a headless chicken like I usually do.

We had an awesome day and Harry was so thrilled to have all his friends there to celebrate his special day...even though it was four months late. :)

Harry's 4th Birthday Cake

I recently posted here about holding Harry's 4th birthday party a few months late. Ok, I won't win any mother of the year awards for that one but he was thrilled to finally celebrate his birthday with his friends from preschool.

After consulation with Harry and our cake expert (aka Karen) we were in agreeance that this number 4 cake was the easiest, I mean best, option! :)

It is from the Australian Woman's Weekly Party Cake book (thanks Sarah!) and was actually really easy to make. We used a mixture of chocolate cake with a small section in vanilla.

Lots of red butter frosting later and Karen had the cake looking fab.

Then it was time to tint the fondant grey and get rolling. The roads were super easy to make and tic tacs were used to mark out the lines.

We found some cars from the $2 shop and used one of Harry's wooden trains for the railway section (licorice).

I thought Karen did a fantastic job of the cake and Harry absolutely loved it. I highly recommend it as a simple option for any little boys turning the big four. :)

I will share a few photos from the party in the coming week. :)

The Most Belated Birthday Party Ever!

Yep, I must win the worst mum award for this one. Harry turned 4 in December 2010 and I have finally organised his birthday party...in April 2011!

In the meantime, if you are looking for cute invitations like these ones, check out Poppy Seed. I highly recommend them for great friendly service and beautiful products. :)

Happy 4th Birthday Harry!

Four years ago at just after 9pm, our little Harry was born. He remained nameless for a couple of days, despite having known we were expecting a boy for several months.

Now we can't imagine him as anything but a Harry. :)

Today we started the day with a few presents and Harry was thrilled with his new cars and Zhu Zhu hamster.

He also has a new rug (Ikea, again!) for his cars and has already tested out the 'roads' by zooming around the tracks with his cars. This was also a present for our floors, to protect them from the banging or scratching of a busy four year old. :)

We made this chocolate cake for Harry to take to preschool to share with his friends.

We laminated a picture of him dressed up as Spiderman and then covered the rest of the cake in his favourite lollies and some candles.

Harry kindly shared a piece with Rose and I after we collected him this afternoon. :)

We finished the day by going out to dinner as a family and Harry was able to choose his favourite book to read at bedtime. It has been a lovely day and it saddens me to think how fast the time is flying by. I want to savour every little moment with my littlies, they are only small for such a short time. :)

My Little Pirate

Yesterday Harry attended his good friend Luca's 5th birthday party.

As you can tell, it was a pirate party so we picked up a few items to complete the pirate look!

We found most of this outfit from Trademe but Rosie bought the hook hand for Harry and the hat was given to us by a friend. :)

Harry wasn't sure about the eye patch (it certainly didn't look comfortable!) but proudy trotted off to the party, ready for some pirate action.

Tomorrow I will be sharing our Advent Calandar for December. :)

Karen's Birthday Weekend: Part Two

Part Two of Karen's birthday weekend!

A post about the party just wouldn't be complete without special mention of these gorgeous matching outfits for the girls. Our very talented Nana Alison whipped up these black and white music themed twirly skirts and white layered tops and the girls were so chuffed with their themed outfits.

As you can see, she didn't stop there. Oscar also had a matching bandana! What a stunning trio. Thanks Nana for all your effort, we really appreciated it. :)

One of the highlights of the party was of course, the fireworks. You cannot have a party around Guy Fawkes time without them. :)

Rose was initially terrified but after some coaxing from Nana and Carol, she was soon clapping away with Eden and enjoying all the action outside.

This weekend we were also very fortunate to be able to stay at B's house. It is right by the beach and totally amazing. I was amazed at how bright the stars are out there at night. They really were like diamonds and I don't think I have seen anything like it before.

This was the view from our bedroom. You would be hard pressed to top that anywhere! Taff was able to enjoy this view from the lounge while he relaxed with a book. B, thanks so much for your kindness and generosity in allowing us to stay. It was the icing on the cake of a great weekend and so nice to find someone with the same taste in books! :)

Karen, I hope your birthday was a special one for you, I know it was for us. You are a woman of many talents and you truly are a motivation and inspiraton to me. Your enthusiasm, drive and love of life is an example to all who are blessed to be counted as your friends and family. Happy birthday! :)

Karen's Birthday Weekend: Part One

We have had an amazingly busy, but fantastic weekend.

It was Karen's 50th birthday and we travelled down to Gisborne to celebrate it with her closest family and friends. It was a fantastic party and so wonderful to see old friends again!

The party had a black and white theme and a friend of Camille's made this absolutely stunning birthday cake to match the theme. It was a chocolate caramel marble cake and was every bit as delicious as it looked. :-)

The party was held at B's incredibly beautiful home by the beach, which is designed perfectly for entertaining and events such as these. I really, really want an oversized kitchen island now! :-)

Rosie and Eden were the only children at the party and we were very impressed with how well they did. This was Rosie's first grown up party!

It was such a wonderful night and tomorrow I will be sharing more about our great weekend. :-)

Rose's Party Part Two

Right, now to the party itself! Some lovely students in my class had put togther a plan for Rose's party in the 'Event Planning' section of our Life Skills unit last term. They came up with some suitable games and painted a beautiful 'Pin the Wings on Tinkerbell'. They also organised and wrapped our Pass the Parcel for us. I love my class!

After our games, we had a very special person arrive...Fairy Rosebud! She was beautiful and animated, the girls loved her. :-)

They listened to a fairy story and then prepared a special fairy dance for us!

After learning some special fairy skills, the girls received their fairy certificates.

The Fairy Queen had also sent a special present for Rose from Fairy Land.

We then said goodbye to Fairy Rosebud and it was eating time...

and then present time...

and then cake time!

We had a fantastic day and Rose was so happy to have spent it with her friends and family. She is already planning the next one!