Monday, July 1, 2013

All Sorts June


Liquorice allsorts is a candy and consist of a variety of liquorice sold as a mixture. These are made of liquorice, sugar, coconut, aniseed jelly, fruit flavourings, and gelatine.  It’s not a candy I particularly like, but it was June: a mixture of sad and fun, celebrations and disappointments, and a getaway too.

Saying Goodbye
We were the first to say goodbye to Cynthia and it was heartbreaking.  We had one last play at the park on a Saturday afternoon and it was unfortunately rained out after 2 hours.  There were many tears and just a great deal of sadness.  Eloise was stronger than me and asked Cynthia before they pulled away if she could come visit their new house in America soon.  She also assured them she would send them a card too.  It’s still hard to read the books about friends moving away without tearing up. 
Tom & Eloise

Goodbye Calvin!

Back in 5. Gone to the Tropics.
Our first domestic getaway in a few years!  It definitely deserved its own post (or 2!).  Read about it here.

Birthdays!
Face-painting at Dylan's 4th
We had several weekends of birthday parties in a row, including mine.  I love celebrating birthdays, but not my own.  Not because it’s a getting older thing but well, having the attention on me makes me a bit uncomfortable.  Luckily Eloise and Eden treated it just like another day.  An hour into my birthday, I already wanted a birthday morning do-over.  Eden was sick and cried for an hour, non-stop.  Hello, Panadol. Eloise decided that my birthday was a surprise so she would not wish me ‘happy birthday’ until forced to. I wasn’t exactly feeling the love that morning!
I was really looking forward to getting into work… mostly for the quiet!  My wonderful co-worker made this cake for me and we also had a lunch out.  Yum!


That night, with Eden still sick we were stuck at home so we had Thai from our favourite restaurant delivered.  And finished it off with cake number 2!
My super sweet 17 times 2!
Sydney Fish Markets
It's been raining... and raining... and raining in Sydney.  After a day of being stuck indoors and watching cooking shows all morning, we decided to go for a drive to the Sydney Fish Markets.  Eloise and Eden both loved watching the king lobsters and crabs in the tanks.
Sydney Fish Markets (coral trout)
Octopus

MissE is 4.5
Mommy-Daughter Date
MissE asked me for some mommy/ Eloise time and I happily obliged with the release of Despicable Me 2 and Monsters University.  So one rainy Sunday, we left daddy and Eden home to head to the movies.  We had a lovely girls’ day out: as a special treat, she was allowed to pick whatever she liked in the candy aisle at the grocery store and I bought her the collectors’ cup at the movies.  Post-movie (hilarious) we browsed the stores and had a cafĂ© lunch.  At home, she also had her nails done in rainbow colours!
Say Minions
Rainbow manicure
The next weekend so daddy didn’t feel left out, she had a Daddy-Daughter Date with Mike Wazowski.

Liar, Liar
It’s started.  We called Eloise and Eden for dinner while they were watching TV together.  Eden went to turn off the TV, Eloise screamed and then Eden was in tears.  When we came into the room, Eden was holding his arm crying.  Eloise said she did not touch him.  We asked her at dinner and she still said she did not touch him.  We asked her if she was telling the truth.  She said yes she was.  She did not touch him and her nose was not growing.
The next day, Eden got up before Eloise.  He held out his arm and said “Jie-jie hit arm.  Owie. It hurts. Jie-jie jai-jai” (naughty in Cantonese).  BUSTED!  We asked her one more time about the incident and she finally fessed up.  She nearly was not allowed to go to a birthday party later that day as punishment for lying.

(Un)fabulous Four... or another adjective
We almost got to the end of the month with no incidents of brat-titude but on the very last day of the month... it became seriously un-fabulous.  I prefer a different adjective to go with four but I will try and refrain from using it.  It stemmed from a week of refusing to nap during the day and blew up in Eloise's face as she sits in her room with nothing but a bed and her dresser of clothes.  Another level naughty.
Post-script: It turns out, Eloise was acting completely out of character because she was feeling sick!  She had 2 home days and is back to herself.  Whew!

Mr E is 23 months!
Almost-birthday-boy is 23 months.  Where has this year gone?  He is as cheeky as ever.  When I ask his carers how he was that day, the answer I tend to get is “mischievous!”  Unfortunately as 2 approaches, there is a significant increase in tantrums over everything: putting on pants, putting on a hat and jacket (it’s winter and freezing!), he wants his “moo cup”, he doesn’t want Eloise to sing, etc.
He is very good with using his words to form sentences like “I don’t want to” and “Eden come too” or tell us when he gets hurt.  He asks us to “kiss owie” or “um-um baby feet” (eat his baby feet).

His favourites: singing!  He loves to sing: We Are Young, Wheels on the Bus, Gangnam Style.
Another favourite is pre-bath nudie runs through the house.  Unfortunately it’s a bit like having a puppy again because occasionally there are piddles and exclamations of “Oh dear mama!  Oh dear!”

Wrestlemania
As Eden approaches 2, he has been learning about time-out the hard way.  He is a boy.  He is rough and likes to wrestle.  Eloise doesn’t help the situation because she thinks it’s funny until she gets hurt.  The other thing he does is while Eloise is happily colouring at the table, he picks up a plastic chair and hits her over the head with it.  All of the above carry the penalty of time-out.  Occasionally we can get Eloise to pretend to cry and get Eden to check if she is “right?”  and say “sorry” with a hug.  This works 40% of the time since Eloise can’t stop giggling.

Kids Playland
While daddy and jie-jie were at the movies, I took Eden to the play centre.  It felt weird to be there without Cynthia, Calvin and Cam.  Eden found it odd without his jie-jie but was soon having fun.

He is definitely my son.  He sat there for 30 minutes
and sorted the broken balls out of the ball pit!
Me
With my work, I get to visit local hotels quite often.  Here are some photos from my visits:
Sydney Harbour Marriott: cookie bar
Lunch: fresh prawns and scampi, seafood ceviche
(Not pictured: mock-tail bar, coffee cart, waygu & lamb pies, sliders, desserts)
Alice in Wonderland chair at Curzon Hall
Curzon Hall
So I totally couldn't stop singing "Beauty & the Beast" while here.
I did a Photo a Day Challenge this month.  Check out the photos here!

And finally, in look what I made corner: I made a Snickers Cheesecake for my co-worker's birthday (fun fact: she made my cake for me!  We kind of rock!)


Until next time!
Preview: Eden turns 2!


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