Xavs 2nd Birthday and party

What a weekend! We have just come off a 3 day celebration in honour of my littlest baby turning 2.

Every year Duane takes the kids birthday off work, this year Xav's fell on a Friday which meant a lovely long weekend together.

I tucked my little boy into bed on Thursday night with a little tear in my eye. I spent the rest of the night annoying Duane, starting every sentence with "This time 2 years we were....." I am still amazed that the last 24 months have gone so quick, and yet on the other hand I really can't remember our family without Xav..strange hey!

I was planning on taking a photo of Xav at 4.07am, but just in case I missed it I took a quick one at midnight, just as the clock tuned to the 17th July.

Xav stirred when I took the pic, so I asked him if he wanted to come into our bed. Ungrateful little sod just told me "NO" and promptly rolled back over. He did come staggering in about 3am though, so I got to have my warm, snuggly cuddles in the end.

Grace had snuck in about 5am, then we all woke for the morning about 7.30am. Nothing better than lazy mornings in a big king size bed with 2 little people snuggled in the middle.

The kids were both so excited that Daddy was here in the morning. Seeing him of a morning is a real novelty for them, he gets up at 4.30am for work during the week and then early on the weekend for golf.


We lazed around on the bed, singing dreadful rendition of Happy Birthday to Xav. I snapped a few sleepy pics, then we all got ready to head out for breakfast.

We headed up to Duane's work for a lovely breakfast. It's become a bit of a tradition to go there for special occasion breakfasts. Its such a lovely place, and usually we are the only ones there so the kids don't annoy too many people! I had a yummy vegetarian omelette that has the most deliciously crispy outside, just devine! Duane had his usual big breakfast and the kids chose fresh fruit salad with raisin toast, washed down with babycinnos and copious amounts of Marshmallows! Yum!

After breakfast we headed home for a quick change into warmer attire as we were heading up the mountain. We were planning on going to O'reilleys to show the kids the wild birds and have a wander through the rainforest, but on the drive up we decided to detour and head to Mt Tamborine instead.

It was a windy trip up the mountain, Grace was looking a little pale a few times, but luckily no heaving was had over the back. We had a quick drive through the village, but pretty much headed straight to the Botanical Gardens.

It was a beautiful clear day, albeit cold and a little windy, but the kids were happy to run around in the brisk mountain air. I used the beautiful backgrounds and happy children to my advantage and went snap happy with my camera. It was a bit tough at times as the lighting was a bit bright, but I still managed to get some good shots. I should have taken my tripod as I was getting a little nervous balancing my pride and joy precariously on uneven benches. I desperately wanted to get some family pics though, I always seem to miss out on being on the "cheese" side of the pictures. However I have marsted the remote control on my camera, so there should now be no excuses!

The kids had a blast going from one section to the next. Xav zoomed by in a whirl of excitement, but Grace the little nature lover, took her time to stop and smell the flowers. There were lots of little seats, winding paths and wooden bridges, and the kids had a great time exploring everything.

After we had been around the whole area, we headed back to the car and made the trip back down the mountain. Both of the kids were buggered and promptly curled up in their car seats and fell asleep.

That night Duane's parents came over for dinner and to give Xav his present which was a wooden 3 storey car garage. Xav loves it and has spent every day zooming his cars up and down the ramps, winding them down the lift and squealing the tyres around the corners. It was a big hit!

~~Cupcakes decorated in melted chocolate!~~

Saturday we spent the day at home cooking, baking and organising for the party on Sunday. We had held off giving Xav his present from us until today, figured we could stretch the gift giving over the weekend! We gave him a shiny red metal ride on car, and he loves it! Grace had picked out some crayons that her school sells, pure beeswax block crayons that make the most beautiful colours. She excitedly gave him her present then promptly took it back, unwrapped it and then gave it to him!

Sunday was party day. I had only wanted a small get together, which was made even smaller by a few people cancelling from being sick. So even though there wasn't any kids Xav's age, he still had a blast playing with everyone.

Making the kids birthday cakes is one of my most enjoyable parts of their birthdays. I love picking out with them what type of cake they want, and then researching how to do it. As Xav wasn't exactly insisting on any particular cake this year, I narrowed it down to a few of his favourite things. It was a toss up between a clock, car or digger. He is going through a very obsessive clock phase though, so in the end we decided on that.

Slight problem though, Xav is still learning how to pronounce the L in clock. I had to stifle laughter when I heard him ask his very straight-laced Poppy where his C*ock was! I figured we had a week or so to teach him how to say it properly before the big event, otherwise it could have been interesting when someone asked what type of cake he had for his party!

Anyway, I know that a straight round clock would have been nice, simple and over and done with quick. However, he does seem to have a thing for Grandfather clocks, so in all my excitement and eagerness I committed to making a Hickory Dickory Dock cake. I searched everywhere online, but couldn't find any that were made out of fondant, only iced ones. So with a bit of creativeness I baked, cut and shaped 3 cakes into a 3d Grandfather clock. I froze the cakes (easier to ice that way) then on Saturday got to work doing the decorations. Fondant is a pain in the butt to work with. I had dyed 3 different colours, enough to make the outside of the cake and also 2 little fondant mice. Every time I went to roll out the brown, it would go streaky and stick to the board. It was a no win situations, I needed to use icing sugar to stop it sticking, but every time I used it the fondant would go streaky. Finally I worked out that if I used icing sugar mixed with cocoa, it would be fine.

~~Grace putting the candles on the cake~~

~~Hickory Dickory Dock~~

Of course I can find a million things that I don't like about it, but overall I'm happy. Xav loved it, so that's the main thing.

Xav was spoilt with lots of lovely presents. A giant wooden floor puzzle, lots of lovely books, 5 much needed t-shirts, a very special car with doors that open, an Iggle Piggle book, a wooden clock and also a car track soft mat. Everything was a hit and has all been played with by both kids.

It was a wonderful weekend, a perfect way to celebrate the youngest member of our family turning 2!

**Stupid Blogger is not putting my photos where I want them. Also took me FOREVER to upload the pics, so not all the ones I wanted are here.