Happy Birthday Miss 10

The former Miss 9 is now officially Miss 10 , double figures, never again to be a single digit age!!!!!

2IC flew back from OS after a 3+ week absence on her birthday: YAH, YAH, YAH and that's not just the kids LOL. Apart from attempting to buy part of her birthday present with Mr 4 in tow..."No I did not buy you a fish tank, he must be remembering when we went to the Aquarium to get fish food". Trying to hide the said non existent fish tank: " Stay out of my wardrobe, I do not have the Spiderman outfit in there" and organising to collect a bookcase I got on eBay for her room after I asked the seller if she'd hold it till the weekend of the 31st for me, then having her pull rank and dictate that it'd have to be collected Saturday as she was out Sunday...( NOTE TO SELF: Never send money in advance on CO Pick UP item as a gesture of good will to hold as it WILL back fire) I was tearing my hair out come Saturday. All went well and Miss 10 got her much coverted The Dragon's Eye book, the new Clarice Bean book, and her much wanted Jebo tank for her room. ( Are three fish tanks over doing it a tad???)
During the afternoon, 2IC, in between jet lag snoozes and PS2 games with the boys; helped Miss 10 re arrange her room ( seems adolescent impulse arrives with the tween age)I left on a intrepid road trip to the eastern suburbs ( may well have been the eastern states) with my pal, B to collect the eBay bargain bookcase. Given my past interlude with travelling across town, I'm glad for her coming and and the use of her Catholic school bus Tarago to cart the bookcase back in. We had a wonderful time chatting on the way over but I AGAIN used WHEREISIT and it again tells you to turn LEFT from Manningham Rd to get to the Eastern Freeway, which we AGAIN followed and AGAIN got lost. Never the less ,we arrived at our destination not 51/2 hours later but 15 minutes after we said we would be there, not too bad but B is a much better navigator and has a better sense of direction then I . So we arrived back with Miss 10's other birthday gift in tow, a solid wood bookcase, 61/2 foot high painted mauve and blue, which cost me all of $42 and nice trip across town with a good friend.LOL It was worth it to make her 10th something special. I'm not big on parties as they tend to turn into little power games and "I invited you to mine" scenarios. We might still make a special trip to the piccies with a few select friends, one of the blessings of birthdays near the school holidays...no one really ever finds out if there was a party at all!!!!LMAO!!!!

Birthdays,parties and such

I have been BUSY, I mean really busy. 2IC and Mr Now 7's birthdays are two days apart and 2IC was going to be uuum ,27 ok. So for 2IC's 27th birthday I had planned a surprise party ( as you do for all 27ths) and we also were at a loss as to what to get Mr Now 7 for his birthday, I had searched everywhere for a Thunderbird 2 ( Sound tech model) to no avail...apparently the Soundtech models are now a collectors item and very hard to find ( Oh, well at least his collection of TB1, 3 and 4 might pay for his first car LOl) So we were at a loss, after collecting 2Ic at work on Friday night we headed to Highpoint( HP) to the dreaded Toy R US ( YUK) We browsed, we looked, we ummed and ahhhhed. Then we spotted it...a skateboard, beginners model with a wide deck and slow ball bearing based wheels. YES YES YES this was it...balance, skill, big boy toy, challenging but not too much and an activity for him to try alone or with others. FAN TASTIC. SO with the accompanying purchase of some safety gear ( knee and elbow pads) whilst 2IC took the boys to get a drink, Miss 9 and I got Mr Now 7 his deck!!!!
Now between this all I am co ordinating 2ICs party, a friend to get him out of the house, balloons and cake to collect, drink to buy and hide, etc. Saturday morning, I ran about like a blue arsed fly getting stuff and ,thankfully, being able to stash items such as balloons and extra food at my pals place ( you know who you are, cause I know you read this) I was even able to put the drinks on ice in the garage without 2IC noticing ( too busy with the cricket or PS2 to notice me in the garage) So despite 2IC's mate being on call and unable to get him out at 3.00 as I asked , he gallantly arrived at 4.00 with some story about 2IC's help being needed to fix his PC, to my dismay and the confusion of his mate, 2IC offered his mate a beer and they sat down to chat...by this time I'm pulling my hair out as I have to collect the cake, etc. They left about 45 minutes later and I whizzed about picking up stuff whilst Miss 9 stopped home and cleaned up a bit for me. All in all, everyone arrived on time for the 7.00 party with 2IC and mate turning up 45 minutes later after his wife ( my pal) had told him he needed to go home for tea maybe. LMAO All this whilst she was cooking up a storm of party goodies to help out in 36degree heat telling 2IC "I always cook on Saturdays"YEAH, RIGHT.
It was a fun night with family and friends, I put one of 2IC's oldest friends; who was also best man at our wedding on the spot; and asked him to say a few words...sorry. Scotty, mea culpa, mea culpa. All the kids had fun, I had a cake and ice fight with my nieces, dunked Miss 9 in the ice chest, told my SIL she was rude and ill mannered,the kids lost about three helium balloons when they were leaving...they flew over the fence to one of our favourite neighbours backyards...it was a blast!!!
Funnily enough Mr 7 was up early the next day for his birthday, he'd already been to Build A Bear to get a bear done except he got a monkey instead who now wears a "Woody"( Toy Story) costume. He was in awe of his skateboard and not at all shy about having a go..indoors. Outside may be a different story.