As yet unnamed!

The Easter Bunny Visits

There was great excitement starting the day before Easter Sunday. Charlie doesn't totally get it yet but Noemie seems to think the Easter Bunny ranks up there with Santa. Lots of questions, where does she come from (for some reason the bunny is a she), will she leave candy only for good kids, etc. 

We hid 24 plastic eggs all around the garden and Noemie found 15 and Charlie had 9. Out of the 9 he found, I think Noemie helped him with about 5 of them. Charlie is so lucky to have such a sweet big sister. 

 

I know she looks disgruntled to be giving him the egg but she wasn't. She voluntarily reached one he saw but couldn't reach and handed it over to him happily. What I love is that there is another egg on the window ledge that they both passed to get to the green  one. Charlie was very careful when he found an egg, making sure he didn't crack it while putting it into his basket. He also isn't greedy with this stuff as he was pretty content with having just 2 eggs in his basket and we had to encourage him to find more. So he just followed his sister around for the rest of the time and lucky for him, got some handouts.

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

Today is my Dad's 75th birthday. He's a very young 75 though so it's hard to believe he's actually that old. My folks came over for lunch today. I made Eggplant Parmesan which is something my Dad loves and then some Red Velvet Cupcakes for dessert. We all had a lovely time and the kids were both so excited it was Grandpa's birthday. Noemie particularly loves birthdays regardless of whose birthday it is! She was up at 7am today, lol!

It was a beautiful day so we took advantage and got some photos outdoors. After lunch, Kirk and my Dad went for a walk around the block so Charlie could ride his tricycle and Noemie could go on her scooter. 

I've been working on a knitted vest for my Dad but of course I didn't get it done on time (do I ever?!?). I'll have it done in a few weeks though so he can wear it on a cool summer day or in the Fall. 

Here are a few more photos.

Half Term = Super Busy

The kids are on half term this week so it's been a bit hectic. Thankfully we are having amazing weather at the moment, perhaps it's our summer and the rest of the summer months will be a wash out? That would be typical. 

On Monday the kids had a playdate over at Hannah and Silvana's house. Lots of outdoor play on a small bouncy castle and running around in the grass. 

Tuesday I took Noemie to an Easter Party at her friend's house in Wimbledon. Massive bouncy castle there along with a toy hunt (as opposed to an egg hunt) and other fun activities. Each party we go to , the bar is raised so I feel bad for anyone who has the next party to plan. 

Yesterday I took some time out to myself in the morning but in the afternoon it was park time and then a picnic dinner in the park. I took these photos at that time. Charlie is in dire need of a haircut so that is where we are all headed this morning. A trim for Noemie and a serious chop for Charlie. He overheats easily so I'm thinking of getting it just about shaved off. His hair doesn't seem to get as curly as it used to even when it gets long so it's no longer cute to let him grow it out. It just looks silly. After the haircut we are going to get Noemie some new sandals, then have lunch at a pancake place on the Kings Road. Afterwards, Noemie and I are running errands and I'll have S take Charlie home or to the park. He just doesn't shop as well as Noemie does.

Tomorrow is my Dad's birthday so I'll be doing some cooking this afternoon/evening in preparation for that. Combine all of the busy-ness with the fact our kitchen/diningroom/conservatory is being totally redone in 10 day's time makes for some crazy packing up of the entire downstairs of our house. My packing boxes arrived earlier this week and so far I've managed a measly 3 boxes. I'm hoping to do more this weekend as I'll need Kirk to carry the boxes to store them all in the garage. Luckily our builders will help with removing the furniture to store in the garage as well. Thank goodness we have a garage!

Leaving you with 2 more photos of the kids. 

Noemie Turns 4!

Noemie turned 4 today and she woke us up at 6:45 to open her presents. Actually, I woke up at 6:45 when I heard her come out of her room and started to head downstairs on her own. Kudos to her for not wanting to wake us up, and probably for thinking she'd get to her presents faster if she didn't have to wake us up first. 

I have other photos to share but no time tonight to edit them so I thought I'd do a quick photo share of our cheeky monkey who pulls faces and hardly ever manages a normal smile for the camera these days. 

She had a good day I think. Started off with lots of present opening then went to the park and ran into a friend of hers so they played for a bit. Then after lunch we all went to Baskin Robbins as her and Charlie wanted some icecream. Then it was time to go to school with some cupcakes we made yesterday and apparently her classmates sang happy birthday to her. Once we got home from school, Nana called to wish her a happy birthday and then Daddy was home early as well. 

I'm still wondering where the last 4 years went!!! Happy Birthday to our little princess! 

Found more photos

These were taken a few weeks ago, the day after Charlie and I succumbed to a tummy bug the weekend before N's birthday party. You'd never know that just 24 hours prior, Charlie was a really poorly little guy. Noemie went to nursery this afternoon but before I took her (and no, she didn't wear her pajamas there, we changed her before we went) the kids were going a bit stir crazy as I couldn't take them out in case Charlie was still contagious which I doubt he was seeing that N never came down with the bug. At one point they  were playing trains next to each other and Charlie got up, walked over to N and hugged her and then went back to playing. They both love jumping up and down on her bed and I figure if the bed breaks, she can sleep on the mattress on the floor. 

Nothing major happened this past week. Beautiful weather so lots of outdoor play time. Kirk took yesterday off so we went out to lunch at a steak house in Mayfair called Goodmans and then we went to Hamley's to buy stuff for N's actual birthday this coming Monday. Afterwards we walked down to Bond Street and stopped in a few delicious stores (Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hermes...) looking around to see if there were any pretty handbags for me and in the end we found something beautiful at Tod's. One of the D bags in a yellow/orange color. Part of their Spring 2011 collection. So excited as I usually veer towards darker bags so this one will be fun and summery! Interestingly, all the stores were pretty empty but then we go to Tod's and it's crowded. I'm so lucky and spoiled to have a husband who understands/accepts/supports my luxury handbag fetish. We went to Hermes thinking about a Birkin bag but I have to admit they seem so grown up that I think I'll hold out for another decade before I get one of them. Or maybe until our 10th wedding anniversary? 

We're off to yet another birthday party tomorrow afternoon, this time at Westfield's. We will go up a bit earlier, have lunch, look around the kids shop area (Noemie wants an Ariel dress up thing and it was the one thing we couldn't find at Hamley's) and I'm sure Charlie and Noemie will both want to go to the Lego store there (and us too!) This afternoon Kirk has a footie match so I am going to get the kids to help me start weeding the garden to get it ready for new plants in a few weeks. I ordered some cute planter pots for them and will go to the garden center this week to get a vegetable planter thingie so we can try some potatoes and carrots perhaps. It's half term the week of April 18th so I want to have a few projects to do with them.

Videos

When they were playing with Hula Hoops. SO glad we rented the larger space as we had little ones crawling around and the big ones racing around like looney tunes. I have a few other videos from the party but haven't emailed them from K's phone to my computer yet.

Charlie obsessed with his trains. He reads books about them. Watches Thomas on DVD at every opportunity. Plays in his room all the time and then calls out "Mommy, where ah ooo?" or "Daddy, where ah ooo?" He is thrilled Noemie plays so much with him and his trains. He has no idea how good he has it with a nice sister.

Noemie and I went out for a walk and did some shopping this afternoon while K and C stayed in and watched Thomas on DVD and played with some trains of course. When we got back the kids had a snack and decided to go upstairs to our bedroom, climb into bed and just chat while they ate. K and I were downstairs and he went up to make sure no one was getting into trouble and found them like this. Apparently Charlie missed Noemie while she was out as Daddy just isn't the same at playing.

I barely got any sleep last night thanks to some all night raging party (and when I say all night, I mean they stopped the party at 6am this morning) in the council flat building across from our house. It was super loud reggae music which got louder as the night went on and then some idiot shouting into a microphone. A bunch of people out on the balcony with the windows open just didn't help. No amount of mentally trying to get the balcony to collapse or the power supply to go off JUST in that flat worked. The thing is, you can't call the cops in this country for this sort of thing as it's not their issue. You have to call the noise people at your council and when I got up at 5:00am to call them, I found they closed at 5am... I suppose they don't expect people to be partying that loudly at 5am. The building of flats really ruins what is otherwise a really nice street to live on. There was talks about taking the building down and I was thinking all that construction noise would suck but it would probably be worth it to get these low lifes out of the area!

The Party :)

So the day finally arrived: Noemie's Birthday party. It was her first one she's had so she was uber excited. It all went really well and she had a fantastic time and I think all her little friends enjoyed themselves as well. We had 24 kids, about 25-30 parents and an entertainer. The entertainer was about 15 minutes late but she made up for it with how she got all the kids involved. Even the boys who usually just sit around in the corner were jumping, dancing, singing and joined in with everything. Though it was a princess party in that the girls were dressed up and the cake/cookies were all princess themed, I didn't want the activities to be girlie as I can't blame the boys for not wanting to get into that stuff.

They started out with some songs, dancing, playing with musical things and getting warmed up. Some hula hoops were involved, lots of jumping and prizes for various things. Then we moved onto Pass the Parcel. The never ending game as there were 17 layers to unwrap. Each layer had a little prize though so it kept the kids going. Once that was over we took a quick break for refreshments and snacks then it was time for some Karaoke. 

 

Noemie volunteered to sing first which was a total shock as she's usually the quiet reserved kid. She totally came out of her shell today and was the life of the party which was wonderful to see. She sang twinkle twinkle little star. Her party dress is Cinderella's wedding dress that Kirk picked up in NY last month. It's not even for sale yet in the UK so that was pretty cool! Her sparkly princess shoes are a tad too big for her but I fixed that by stuffing some of my spinning fibre into each toe. 

Once everyone had a turn at singing, we moved onto the Pinata. The Pinata that just wouldn't release the toys and candy contained within. It took a lot of beating and finally we had to tear it open and a massive load of stuff came out. I went a bit nuts with the filling as I wanted to be sure that all the kids got a good amount of stuff. Usually it's the more outgoing kids that get stuff and the shy kids coming away with nothing. It was pretty funny today as they all sat in an orderly circle once the stuff was out and picked through the stuff they wanted and put it into their little loot bags to take home. 

Last but not least, time for cake! I was up until 1:30am last night decorating this thing but it was so worth it as Noemie loved it! And the kids and other parents seemed to really enjoy it as well. Noemie had a lot of help from her friends to blow out her one candle. I'm pleased with how this cake turned out. Last year was the robot. Wonder what next year will be? 

Once the cake was done, the kids ran around for a bit more while the entertainer packed up to leave. I think people finally started filtering out at around 4:15 and the last person left around 4:45. The party bags were a hit, I didn't take a photo of them at the party as there was a mad rush to hand them out to the kids, but I did take one the other day after Noemie and I had finished putting name tags on each bag. We had some siblings at the party so I had to make sure the contents of the bags were age relevant so I put names on everything just to make it easier when it was time to hand stuff out. 

This was the first birthday party I planned and the amusing thing is we had less people at our own wedding. This probably compared to planning a wedding with all the little bits involved and I could've made my life easier by buying a cake, ready filled party bags and ready made food but I actually kind of enjoyed doing all the stuff myself. I think the next big party will be Noemie's again as I think Charlie might be too young still to have something on this level. At least I've done it once now so the next time will be far easier! 

Everyone went to bed easily tonight. Noemie went to bed easily last night too and woke us up at 7am which wasn't too bad (except for I went to sleep at 2:30). I fell asleep on the sofa tonight before the kids even went to sleep. On that note, it's bed time now. We have a few videos on Kirk's phone which I need to download and share on here sometime. 

Noemie chats about her upcoming birthday party

(it's a huge file so may take a while to load)