Grandma Wolf...

The following is based on a true story...

Once upon a time there was a toy maker who was Obsessed with Little Red Riding Hood. 

And she had a son who was so scared of Wolves that he could not sleep alone in his own bed 

for fear that they were hiding there.

One day he went to visit his Grandma with a basket of Easter eggs.

But could not go alone into any of the rooms in her big house 

because he thought the Wolf was hiding there.

Hiding out, under the bed, in every room, even the toilet.

Luckily the toy maker had made her son a Wolf Toy. 

A toy so cute that all his fears would fade away.

She crafted a Wolf dressed up as Grandma with Little Red Riding Hood hiding in the belly. 

With the addition of a floral nightgown, with lace trim.

This little boy could not be scared of a cross dressing Wolf in a Nightgown carrying a tiny doll.
Could he?  Surely not!

Alas he could....

"Oh Grandma, what big lips I have"

"And what a sly grin You have"

"And Grandma what big Hips you have"

"All the better to Hold you with."

And so the toy maker put Grandma Wolf away on a big high shelf,

and went back to the drawing board.

The moral of this story is, don't introduce your children to Wolf stories before they are old enough
or no one will ever get any sleep.

Mad Hatters Third...

We celebrated the Third Birthday of my son Mihali Jim recently with a Mad Hatters Tea Party.

It started with an invitation.

 

And then a costume...

 

  I found the invite image many moons ago whilst traversing cyber space looking for a sneak preview of Tim Burtons Alice in Wonderland opening soon.

The White Rabbit costume was fun to make.  I used a vintage suit that Little Jim wore to my neice's wedding and removed the sleeves to make a vest.  I embroidered the clock face and then made the ears knowing he would wear them only momentarily.

 

He wore them only momentarily....

 I am very particular about cakes.  Some would say I'm too particular.  I grew up with a Mother who constantly baked an amazing assortment of cakes, pavlovas and slices.  Every day in my school lunch there would be Golden Wattle cake or Lemon slice...and endless list of culinary delights.  

As a consequence of this- cakes need to be exceptional for me to take an interest in them.

Which is why I asked BB to make the Birthday Cake.  

This is BB...

She made her famous Chocolate Pavlova.

Its neither too sweet or too chocolatey.

Not too much cream, just the right amount of raspberries.

It is perfect. 

It is freaking delicious.

But I didn't have enough cake to go around. (Sigh!)

 

So it was lucky that my amazing Rachel helped me make other cakes.

Giant chocolate cupcakes with ganache and tiny hearts.

We had an Alice.

The beautiful Lucia in her wisdom was able to masterfully aid the 3 year olds at game time.

We also had a Mad Hatter and the Red Queen of course.

(BB made Aunty Rosie's top hat, it is an extraordinary work of millinery achievement.)

I also made a top hat, but out of cardboard and not so much of an achievement. Although it is still structurally maintained it is covered in tiny cake hand prints.

The Birthday boy somewhat suffered from Character confusion.  He was the white rabbit one minute then he was Buzz Lightyear and then suddenly Mad Buzz.

He loves dressing up at the moment.  Sometimes he has 5 superhero changes a day.

  

There was also Pin the Smile on the Cheshire.  This was really fun.  I had pass the parcel as well but unfortunately had to cancel Mad Dancing and Musical Chairs as it was 35 degrees and we were Meeeeeeeeelting.

Mihali Jim received an amazing array of lovely toys. Manni and I gave him the Plan Toys railway from Eco Toys and friends gave him matching wooden toys to go with it.

But it was simply this Woody doll from Aunty Rosie that won his heart that day and every other since the moment he opened it.

I am often woken at 3am to the sound of Woody crawling into bed beside me.

He says cowboy stuff when you pull the string.

It was a wonderful day, full of yummy food and family and friends, spritely little ones and crazy hats and way too much Sparkling wine.

A most memorable day indeed.

Love Magnified....

                                                                           Image

I have just arrived home from a wonderful day to discover that my boy is going to give me a not-so-wonderful night.  I knew it was a terrible sign when I picked him up from Grandpa's this evening and was met with the discovery that he had just eaten an entire Magnum ice-cream and slept for FOUR hours through the afternoon.  I don't care what planet you're from, an almost 3 year old boy having a four hour midday sleep cannot be good for anyone involved.  Yet this revelation seemed to be completely lost on Grandpa who was quietly proud of his amazing sustained somnambulist inducing skills.  He seriously expected me to applaud him and mistook my open mouthed silence for admiration instead of outrage!

Meanwhile I am here tapping away on my computer while the little one is sitting in bed half singing, half crying.... half human, half beastie. And its nearing a hundred o'clock, time we were all asleep!

It is also nearly February.  The whole of January almost gone and I have not so much as even said Happy New Year to the 7 people that read this blog :)

 So Happy New Year.

Here are some revelations that could potentially lead to resolutions....or the other way around.

• The Melbourne Museum is Awesome.  And so I have decided to take Little Jim once a week, starting last week.  He likes to pretend that all the stuffed animals in the glass enclosure can really fly even though they choose not to at the moment we see them.
• Devendra is playing Billboard tomorrow.  How AMAZING is this artist????  Devendra Banhart being ridiculously beautiful and musical in ones home town is about as good as it gets.
• Ron Mueck at the NGV is pretty awesome also.  I was planning on taking my son with me to see this tomorrow.  I have seen Ron's work before and think it will be amazing for a small child for all it's humanist aspects.  Plus I figure if I can take him to the Tate Modern and the Musee D'Orsay, I can take him to the NGV.  However in light of his current mood (yes still singing in bed and its now a thousand o'clock), I'm wondering if it would be tantamount to unleashing a dragon upon the city???
• Being close to the beach is a wonderful thing.  Why did I ever move so far away?  (Crossing the Yarra River may sound simple enough in Theory but in reality North siders rarely do it these days unless they take a packed lunch.) I love the beach, I love Gippsland beaches in particular.  Even just the sight of the sea makes me feel good.  So much natural beauty to ponder and pioneer. 
  
• I have decided that this year I'm going to see at least one film a week. So far I have seen Avatar, Bright Star, Fantastic Mr Fox, Up in the Air and Nine. These were respectively Awe-inspiring, Brilliant, Fantabulous, Unassuming and Not as amazing as you would expect for a cast of great women but nonetheless had amazing art direction and cinematography.
• I believe I need to spend more time going out of my way to meet new people or see new things or new places.  I have been spending far too much time in my head or reading books or blogs or sewing and not enough site seeing.  I solemnly profess from this moment forth to endeavor to do more interesting things, instead of reading so much about other people doing interesting things.
  

There now the little one is finally off in slumber land and I shall soon follow.

See you next week, hopefully with some great pictures from Little Jim's Mad Hatters 3rd Birthday. x