Make hay whilst the sun shines…

We have had a beautiful weekend of weather, which has drifted into the start of the week. Saturday was taken up with two different children’s Birthday parties, but they were surprisingly sedate.

The first one was in the morning at ‘Tiger Eye Beads’ on Cuba Street. One of Charlotte’s friends turned eight and a group of girls gathered to make jewelry before returning to the party girl’s home for pizza – all most civilized. Dan took Charlotte into town, whilst Sophie, Alice and I chilled at home in the sun.

Sophie planted sunflower seeds….

And practiced her balancing skills…

The second party, in the afternoon, was absolutely magical – at the Maranui surf club on Lyall Bay beach. After the party all the children enjoyed playing out in the sunshine and it was a beautiful opportunity to capture the magic with the camera. You will see the blog name is in the process of changing to ‘Catching the Magic’ and we have the domain name reserved – just need to transfer a huge number of files!

The party girl had a fabulous time and is off to school after the hols. Sophie will be joining her friend in the New Year. Charlotte joined in the tail end of the party, as she is friends with the party girls older brother – who is in the same class, and it was really lovely to celebrate such a happy occasion with a gorgeous family that have so much love for one another.

Here’s a few snap shots from the party – the cake was beautiful!

The girls all made the most beautiful crowns, whilst the boys played with little kit airplanes.

Sunday was a family day, with a few necessary chores around the house thrown in. We’d promised the girls some fun on Wellington’s Waterfront – where they enjoyed ‘zorbing’ (see some photos from an earlier post written by Charlotte) and ‘vertical bungy’.

They learned to do flips and were spinning around like a pair of crazy clowns.

Charlotte:

Sophie:

Alice nearly fell asleep in the swing:

We had a lovely lunch together at Leuven. Dan had mussels, which the girls turned their noses up to, and I tucked into a delicious warm, lamb salad with a walnut dressing. The girls ate chips, bacon and sausage!

Monday was quite relaxed, though we hit the swimming pool in the morning for Charlotte to try out snorkeling for the first time, which she loved.

In the afternoon we enjoyed playing at home, with Charlotte and Sophie deciding to make Sophie’s party invitations – I have no say on the design aspect these days – they take over and do all the graft for me. It’s weeks and weeks till Sophie’s Birthday, but they like to be organised – long may that last!

Some lovely neighbour’s children came down to play late afternoon and they all had a fun time with bubbles, chalk and painting.

We watched ‘Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue‘ before bed with the girls last night, which was a beautiful film – the trailer can be viewed here.

Off to the doctors today as Sophie’s had a nasty cough for weeks and poor Alice is thick with cold. My throat is sore and I hope it doesn’t come to anything too bad – us Mums aren’t allowed to be poorly!

Right, off to look after my darlings.