More nippers and Iona's 3rd birthday party

The weather was glorious this weekend but I needed to "do" something so got stuck into painting the outside deck getting rid of all that dreadful blue and also sealing the beautifully sanded deck.  I will post photos once it is finished.  


It was my first week of working school hours (with the exception of a long day on Wednesday) and I didn't really miss not having Friday to myself although I am worried about when I will get all my chores done as both children complain bitterly if asked to accompany me to the supermarket.  Tess had a play date in the afternoon so I had to bribe Tom with ice cream to get him to help with the shopping - no mention of me getting ice cream and I have to do the shopping every week!  

We went round to the Mennie's for dinner on Saturday.  We haven't caught up with them properly for a very long time and we were all very happy to spend time together.  The children had a ball playing in the back yard and then watched a couple of pirated movies which the Mennies brought back from their recent Malaysia trip.  I was responsible for bringing cheese and found an amazing French brie which I think you could describe as ripe!  

After a very late night we had to drag the kids out of bed on sunday morning for nippers.  It was a stunning morning and there was no other place I would rather have been.  This was Tom's second time at nippers and although on Saturday he told me he wasn't going anymore "and that's final!" he loved all the beach races (he was very fast) and in particular the wading in the water.  Tess played happily by the water's edge and Jules and I caught up with loads of other school parents who were down there.  

In the afternoon we went round to the Wakes-Miller's to celebrate Iona's 3rd party.  I was very happy to see her wearing my favourite fairy dress that used to belong to Tess (a gift from Aunty Ali) - apparently it's a great favourite of hers too.  There were 7 boys and 2 girls at the party so Iona and Tess stuck together as much as possible but it was a fabulously traditional party with pass-the-parcel, musical cushions, musical statues and musical bumps (really an excuse to play loads of 80's tunes at a loud volume!).  Once we'd got the festivities out of the way we sat down to watch the Wallabies v All Blacks Rugby World Cup Semi-final.  The All Black's triumphed which will have generated much celebration on Rae's side of the family.