Rosalin had her first birthday on the 16th, and oh boy did we have some good times! She got us up by 6:30 in the morning (of course) and we decided to let her open the presents from home in the morning but wait until her party that evening to open the gifts from us. She was in a pretty good mood but really had no interest in opening the gifts, just looking at the package. I ripped a hole in it big enough that she could see what was inside and then focused all her attention on pulling out the blanket instead of opening a bigger hole to make it easier. She got a nice fuzzy blanket and a beautiful new bracelet, with some awesome cards (Thanks Everyone!!). That morning Spen had to go to school so Rosalin and I focused on having fun, making her ladybug cake, and getting ready for her party. For breakfast Rosalin had an endless supply of jam on toast with orange slices which she loved and then off to the tub for her to get nice and clean before the fun began. Spencer started working on the burgers while Ros had her nap and I tidied the house. After Spen left for school and Rosalin got up we made a fort in the living room out of her new blanket and had a little picnic of ritz crackers for her morning snack.
Just before lunch time I started making her cake with a 13x9 chocolate cake (Ann Rigedale of course) for the ladybug body and a new circle pan with a push out bottom for the head. I even bought oreo cookies to use at the spots on the back. We don't have a mixer so mixing the cake was a bit of a chore, and I wasn't able to get it quite as smooth as I hoped I would be able to. I stuck the first cake in the oven and hoped for the best, after checking the cake and seeing that it was almost done I poured the batter in the round pan to be as efficient as possible with the transition. I took out the 13x9 cake and realized that it wasn't nearly as fluffy as I hoped it would be and several flour balls had floated to the top making it pretty nasty looking. Trying not to get discouraged I went to put the other cake in the oven. I saw there was some batter on the counter but didn't worry about it as I had done a hasty job of spooning the batter from our ginormous mixing bowl into the pan. I got the circle pan into the oven and turned my attention back to Ros who was about starving for some lunch. As I started to get some soup and toast going for Rosalin and I, I smelled something burning and looked to the oven only to see chocolate cake batter dripping out the door and onto the kitchen floor. Knowing I was about to be in trouble, I stuck Rosalin in her high chair so that I could focus all of my attention onto the kitchen. I opened the door and using our tea towels (we don't have oven mitts) I tried to pull out the cake that was dripping all over the oven, the floor and the counter. There was chocolate cake batter EVERYWHERE! Meanwhile, the soup is boiling and splattering all over the stove and toast has popped and is just getting colder and tougher by the second. I dumped the cake batter back into the mixing bowl, wiped up the chocolate off the floor, turned off the oven and left the door open to cool down. I decided to ignore the mess behind me and Ros and I sat down to some soup and toast. I messaged Spencer with an SOS to come and make a birthday cake, and he skipped his afternoon class to come home and help his domestically challenged wife. He made a cake while Rosalin and I played and at supper time we headed over to the Oldfield's house to have her party with a hot, un-iced cake and a bucket of icing.
While Rosy played and Spencer started BBQing burgers, I iced a chocolate cake with white icing and got crumbs all mixed through it. Tabitha Best asked if I had made a cookies 'n' cream cake and I decided that that was my silver lining of the whole cake fiasco and just pretended that this was my intention for the new cake. I iced it and stuck a oreos all on the top and the cake was done. Supper was delicious, all of the kids were crazy and cake was awesome. Rosalin got a little scared when we turned off the lights and a group of people sang her Happy Birthday, but with a little help from Willow the candle got blown out and it was time for cake. The cake was delicious of course, and after that we opened all of her presents and cleaned up the mess. Ros loves playing with the kids and after staying up too late and having lots of good times we headed home and put the munchkin to bed. It was a really good day. Love to all.
Lovin' the new bracelet, if you ask her about it she'll just lift her hand up in the air. If she sees it not on she'll bring it to you and hold her hand out until you fasten it for her.
A little nervous about everyone singing to her.
This is the best picture of the cake. Just a sheet cake with vanilla frosting and oreo cookies all over the top.
This is Pearl Best. She is adorable, and we think she looks just like Jade.
Now, I know that around the world people get spiders in their house. The odd daddy long leg or a little one hanging from the corner in your living room. But no one, in any part of the world should have to see this 10 cm from their hand as they are trying to wash strawberries for breakfast.
Spencer left early this morning to go surfing, so Rosy and I got up and were going to have breakfast alone. I was going to quickly chop up some strawberries to keep her happy while I got us some yogurt, and after washing the strawberry I noticed this guy trying to get out of my sink. AAAHHH!! I had to be brave and ingenious to kill this guy quickly and without risking the chance of him killing me. I wrapped several layers of toilet paper around the cap to Spencers shaving foam and stuck my hand in the lid so that I had a plastic barrier. And then I squished this guy with all my might, and rinsed him down the sink with about a minutes worth of super hot tap water. Hopefully he will not be coming back anytime soon. Ya, I am that awesome. Love to all.
Here's just another video of her walking, because I know you all wanted to see it again.
Love to all.
Not too far from our house are some waterfalls called Minyon Falls. We drove up there one weekend with the Williams for a picnic lunch. Kingston and Ros had fun chasing each other around during the lunch and it was such an amazing view from the falls. The falls are 100 metres up and it overlooks a huge valley. You drive up a long precarious hill up to the top of the falls and it's amazing to stand there at the top looking down as the water falls.
Ben with Kingston playing in the creek by the picnic area.
The Williams family.
On the way home from the falls we stopped and got some ice cream that was tasty, but not nearly as good as Spencer's homemade ice cream of course. It was a really fun day.
Rosalin is walking lots more now and it's crazy to see such a little person moving upright. I'm excited for her birthday coming up and I'm trying to think of fun things that we can do together for it. It was Father's Day on Sunday (crazy eh?) and Spencer got a fun book from Rosalin about a Daddy bear and his cub, and she was kind enough to sign the inside for him. I struggled to get Spencer something that he would really like and wouldn't take up too much luggage space, so I ended up getting him a surf lesson. He's going out fairly often now and I think a lesson will really help him with a shove in the right direction. This morning Spencer went out on his own and said that he got within 20 ft of a group of 10 or so dolphins just surfing along all the guys. He was pretty excited when he got home. At church on Sunday the kids were telling me their highlights of the week and one little boy said that someone was eaten by a shark out in Ballina which is where Spencer surfs. I was a little freaked out and asked him when this had happened. He said that it had happened in the last couple weeks, and one of the primary teachers was just sitting in his chair slowly shaking his head. Don't believe everything a 5 year old tells you...it could really freak you out. Just to clarify, nobody was eaten by a shark in Ballina recently, but a little boy thought that it would be cool if someone had.
Spencer only has a couple weeks left of school, and we're getting pretty excited to have some big adventures. Sorry I've been a little slack with the blogs, I'll try to keep you up to date. We just got a new camcorder as our last one broke, so hopefully I'll figure out how to send everyone some fun video. Love to all.
