Tess' 9th birthday party

Where does the time go??  I always find this time of year disconcerting with our ties to the northern hemisphere because, as they are experiencing new beginnings with the end of the summer holidays and the start of the new school year, we are hurtling towards the end of the year at an alarming rate.  We have 1 more week before the end of Term 3 and it can't come quickly enough as all the children are exhausted.  

It's been a busy week for Tess with multiple dance obligations.  I was lucky enough to be a parent helper on Friday taking the dance group to the Seymour Centre and helping them with and watching the "Performer's performance".  This was really something - the majority of the other dance groups performing on the same night as Tess' group were high school students and their standard of dancing was extraordinary.  I confess that I'm not a huge fan of modern dance but there were certain performances that I was very glad to have seen and it was fantastic for the kids to see what they could aspire to.  I have 2 observations:  a pre-requisite to being a female high school dancer is long hair and in modern dance it doesn't get tied back in a neat bun.  As such it is constantly getting flung about and frequently stuck in the dancer's heavily lipsticked lips.  My second observation, and I appreciate this may be uncharitable/inappropriate, is that dancers clearly don't need to be the tiny, lithe beings I always supposed!  

A devil and an angel - I'm not sure those costumes are the right way round!!!

 L to R: Sarah, Tess, Jack, Olivia, Jessie, Nikki, Skye, Eleanor, Kayla

Tess' best friend Olivia had her birthday party on Saturday morning and as Ken was away I was there to help Emma.  It was a traditional party with lots of party games including musical chairs, sleeping lions, pass-the parcel and the chocolate game.  Emma and I were highly amused with how fair the girls were - during pass-the-parcel once a girl had opened the parcel and received a small gift (yes, in this modern day and age there is a gift included in each layer of wrapping!) they then sat out of the game which ensured that everyone received a small gift and only the last larger gift was actually subject to chance!  

It was right at the end of the party that I suddenly realised I was meant to go and buy Tess' birthday cake (her party was the following day) from Manly Freezers (they do an awesome chocolate slab cake with icing which easily feeds 30) and that it was now shut.  Cue some frenzied text messaging with Lisa to find the perfect idea/recipe which resulted in the most amazing flourless chocolate cupcakes.  I do concede that they were probably a bit too rich for the girls but I'm looking forward to eating the left overs!  

So after the most manic week, a party and an all-day play date, Tess' party was at 4pm on Sunday afternoon - a lousy time but it was then or November!  This year we did a cheerleading party and where I had been imagining pom-poms and dance routines it was actually more like a gymnastics party which the girls loved.  I attempted to channel my inner Martha with the food - fruit stick anyone?