What Constitutes a Party?!

We have 6 birthdays within 9 weeks, starting on the 16th June, and ending on the 18th August. In order to maintain our sanity, we only have one children's party per year - and it is rotated as to who gets the party. Those not due a party get to select a family outing. The question is "what constitutes a party?"

This year Hannah asked if we could have a family outing to Zone3 for her birthday, and could she please invite a couple of friends to help make up the teams. As this was the first such request, Andrew agreed. We booked Zone3. The only time slot we could get was 6pm. So we planned an early tea for our family, but then the friends also needed an early tea. The easiest solution seemed to be to invite them for tea before Zone3. With tea so early, our children would need something else to eat after Zone3. As Hannah's friends were having tea with us and travelling with us - guess what - we ended up inviting them for supper as well.

So what started out as a family outing ended up being party pies, sausage rolls and savoury fingers for tea; then off to Zone3, with chips and fizzy between games; then back to our place for Lemon Meringue Pie for supper. BUT THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!

One down, Rachel's next .......

Rachel really enjoyed Zone3 and decided that was what she wanted for her birthday too. We relunctantly agreed as it seemed unfair to have said yes to Hannah and then to say no to Rachel. So Rachel invited three friends. This time we ended up with a 5pm timeslot at Zone3. Instead of an early tea, Rachel's friends were invited for tea AFTER Zone3 - so we ended up hiring videos and having her friends collected around 9pm.

THIS WAS NOT A PARTY!!!

Two down .........

For Keziah and Rebekah we booked the local Guide Hall, sent out invites to all the girls in their class (plus a couple of others) and had a PARTY.

It was a "Pink and Purple Party", with everyone asked to wear something pink and/or purple. We decorated the hall in pink and purple, complete with helium balloons. There was continuous chips and fizzy and party games run by Hannah (Pass the Parcel, Limbo, a Quiz to test how well their friends knew them apart, Dance competitions, Pinata, etc). Andrew provided BBQ hamburgers and sausages for lunch.

Next year we will be more careful with the non-parties!!!!!

Blogger vs Facebook

Can someone please shed some light on why we use Blogger, yet some of you also have Facebook accounts?

I have just set up a Facebook account, but am not sure why. I did it mainly because Grandma told me Madalyn is on Facebook, and I thought it might be a good way to keep contact with what she is up to.

The not-so-new New-Do

OK, do you know how much I hate photos of myself? I am only posting this because of the number of requests I have received.

16th June 2009

Prezzies .......

"Happy Birthday To You" .........

Cake and Cards ......

The wording on the cake said "BEST MUM EVER".

What more can I say?

Unwelcome Visitors and Hair Driers

I have been investigating why some members of my family have some unwelcome visitors and some have escaped this plight.

The common factor among those that don't have these visitors is the hair dryer! I have looked into this, and although no so called experts will back up this theory, there is evidence that the lowly hair dryer may indeed help prevent unwelcome visitors.

This would explain why this is a much bigger problem among primary students than among their teenage highschool counterparts.

Scratching your head? You may have unwelcome visitors too.

Take a look at the entries on the ABC Talking Health blog:

http://www.abc.net.au/health/talkinghealth/factbuster/stories/2008/06/11/2271382.htm

Easter Stumbling Block

My New Year's resolution for 2009 was to weigh less than my husband before the next New Year.

There were two possible approaches to achieve this goal:

1. Lots of cakes and goodies to increase Andrew's weight.
2. Diet and exercise to decrease my weight.

Although I was really tempted by option 1, it wouldn't help my situation in the long run. Shopping for clothes would remain depressing, and my children would continue to out-walk me.

I've been working on option 2. To date, I have lost 9kg (that's about a third of the way there).

The Easter stumbling block was causing me some concern. All that chocolate!

Solution:
I bought myself a "chocolate bunny". When the others were consuming their Easter chocolate, I got out my "chocolate bunny" so I didn't feel too hard done by. My bunny is actually a chocolate scented plush bunny which sings "Yummy Yummy Yummy I've got love in my tummy" when you press it's hand. The best thing is that I will still have my "chocolate bunny" long after the others have finished their Easter chocolate!!

It's Always My Fault

We went to our shack at Lake Leake for the long weekend. The kids had a great time with their Lake Leake friends. They went bike riding, swimming, demolished part of the out-house (deliberatley, as it was already falling down), used the timber to make a raft, cooked damper, etc, etc,.

I spent Friday at the supermarket, buying the food required to keep the hungry army happy. I supervised the kids as they packed their clothes. I packed the bedding, toiletries, towels, teatowels, games (actually Hannah organised the games), etc, etc,. So guess who copped the blame when we got up there without any sunhats? That's right - ME! I still haven't heard the end of it as Hannah and Rebekah still have sore scalps.

We are going to Mt Field this weekend. I have already packed the sunhats. What will I forget this time, I wonder?

Oh, by the way, Andrew and I had a very relaxing weekend in-between the kids activities. I think "couching" is Emma's term for it!