My babies birthdays – part 1

The start of day two at the zoo

April is always such a busy month for our little family. As well as Easter we also celebrate two very special birthdays. A and H have their birthdays five days apart so I am always very busy making presents then planning a their special day and of course baking.

H showing me how tall a giraffe is

This year the hubby and I decided that instead of little parties for the children we would take them to the Taronga Western Plains Zoo at Dubbo. According to Google maps it should be about a five hour trip but of course with planned stops along the way, unplanned stops to feed the baby and towing our little van (and therefore travelling under the speed limit) it actually took us closer to eight hours. It was a great little holiday and the children really enjoyed seeing all those animals up close. We invited my parents to join us which was really nice for the children to spend time with Nanny and Nunu as well as having two extra pairs of hands. The three children are all pretty good little travellers and each time we go away things get a bit easier.

As soon as we got home we were straight into celebrating H’s 3rd birthday. She is of an age now where she really understands what birthdays are and we had a lovely day all together. I caught myself a few time that day in disbelief that my little girl is now three. 

Keenly watched by big brother

When I asked her what cake she would like H was very decisive and said a butterfly cake and she was pretty pleased with the result (she supervised the whole process). We have a little family tradition of having the birthday person choose the evening meal and H wanted pizza so we invited our close friends who are pretty special to the children and had a sweet, intimate celebration for a special little girl. 

Sharing a book with Baby L

Official taste tester when Mama made the cake

Baby L was asleep when we had the cake - I was hoping to get a family pic with all of us in

She loved her butterfly cake

Neither child really needed much in the way of presents, and would we rather give a few meaningful gifts. For H there was a balance bike (that we gave to her before we went away) and although she is not all that confident or coordinated yet I am sure it won’t take her long once she realises that she is better able to keep up with her big brother! We also gave her a set of Charlie and Lola books – both children LOVE books -  and Charlie and Lola have been H’s favourites for almost 12 months, she always looks for them at the library. There was also a sweet wooden dolls highchair that I was lucky enough to find in an op shop (thrift store) when H was quite young and a little set of three wood and felt peg doll fairies that I made(I always try and include a mama made gift)

{hmmmm I cant find any photos of the fairies or high chair - will have to get some}

And now I have decided to make this a two part post so I will be back soon to share A birthday.