Tuesday 15 July 2014

28/52 - a tiger birthday // on ice!



Lily

A busy weekend celebrating her brother's birthday. 

We took a little family trip to ice skate at the temporary outdoor rink in the city. While it was not quite ice skating in Central Park, New York (now there is a magical memory I will never forget!!), ice skating with my family was pretty magical in itself - and the fresh air and winter sunshine made it all the sweeter!

She love, love, loved it.







Eli

Finally four

He had an absolutely bumper birthday weekend, and relished every moment. He was so happy, so excited, and so appreciative of every gesture of celebration. It was a pleasure to honour our boy's special milestone. 

He is four and it honestly feels like he changed over night. Just growing up so fast, a true preschooler now. 

My big, little, middle son :)








Miles


The littlest member of my trio loves to greet visitors as much as his siblings. 

When a guest is (eagerly) anticipated, they sit at the door and wait, wait, wait. (While waiting, there is often a fair bit of bashing of the screen door, I must add!)

He just loves to be in the midst of any activity :)






Mark

Super Dad, skating with ease and guiding the Birthday Boy around on the ice with a trusty Penguin for support (emotional and otherwise).

Just love how E is gazing up at his Daddy, with trust and adoration. He knows he is in good hands.



Project 52: A portrait of my family, once a week, every week, in 2014.





More highlights from the week that was....


Let it snow!
Just noticed the other Dad in the background too. Dads are awesome :)






Attempted family photo taken by the nice Ice rink supervisor!


Fun in the winter sun with my sweet girl 
Fallen autumn leaves snap frozen in the ice! Pretty 
Just amazing to see them gliding (weeeeell, gliding is a bit of an overstatement, more like sliding
and stepping!) around the ice independently! (iphone)

Let it goooooooooooooooooooo....



Our morning in the city wouldn't be complete without a ride on the beautiful 100 year old carousel. 
Yes, I was bestowed with this kind of mega-greeting on every rotation!!

A snap to remember a wonderful date night with my man. For a change, we ditched the standard dinner & movie (not that it's not a great evening too!) and visited a hip urban Food&Fashion night market (we just tried to blend in with the cool crowd, haha). It was incredible. We perused the gorgeous jewellery and fashion, then sipped mulled wine as we strolled through the frosty night into the city for a tasty bowl of Laksa. We then cruised back to Max Brenner for a serious chocolate fix. It was a beautiful night out with my love, just chatting as we walked around, seeing new things and feeling exhilarated by the icy night. Loved it :) (Thanks Amber for babysitting!)

Eli was thrilled to have Harper and Finn sleep over the night before his birthday. How exciting to share Birthday Pancakes with friends!! He was pretty stoked to be the Birthday Boy ;)
I honestly think this was his favourite moment of his birthday weekend. Mark was playing some SUPER cheesy Birthday music station on Pandora (who knew there was so much bad birthday music!?). While some boppy music was playing, the kids started singing along and pointing to Eli as they sang. He also pointed at himself for extra effect. Yes, it was his day!! They were all giggling hysterically and he mentioned this scene at least a dozen times over the next week. I think he felt the love :) The kids were so lovely in celebrating him so wholeheartedly too.

Surveying the Tiger cake he requested... (you know that moment where you hold your breath and hope your feeble efforts match a child's imagination!?!?). I think I passed ;) Phew.




I am very limited in my baking abilities, but got brave enough to attempt 'tiger stripes' within the cake. They actually turned out pretty good (well, good enough!) though this shot isn't the best as it crumbled on this slice, oops. Eli liked it!



This boy ended up with quite the birthday bounty!! A mix from us, family and
kind friends. All so thoughtful, much appreciated and being truly enjoyed around the home!
The big gift from us was the mini-trampoline - perfect for our bouncy boy!!

Sweet Lily took her own initiative to make Eli a birthday bag of goodies. Bless her dear heart. Included was a portrait of
Eli's beloved Bee, a 'Japanese doll' (the blue fabric wrapped around cotton!), a 'matching game' (top right), precious card (Dear Eli, I hope you have a good day, I am so excited about it). She did all of this on her own and just asked us if we could help her at the shops to choose something - and picked this awesome umbrella from Aldi (the white bits turn colourful in the rain!!). Chokes me up every time I look at this scene, she loves her brother so much, and I just love her good and generous little heart. 





A fourth birthday truly celebrated.... ice skating outing, birthday dinner with grandparents, friends sleeping over... what more could a four year old want!?

Happy birthday, my darling Tiger xx




'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.'
Galatians 5:22-23 







2 comments:

  1. Beautiful. Lovely week. I adore the photos of the kids skating. Just lovely.

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    Replies
    1. thanks Kate! we had so much fun, it was a great birthday week! xx

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