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Ollie's 4th birthday party: The Gruffalo

So things have been pretty dang crazy around here this weekend.  

We have found ourselves smack bang in the middle of a "non-cyclone".  It was an ex-cyclone, 
but it sure seemed like a cyclone to all of us.  Our lovely coastal home was totally buffeted by
gale force winds for 48 hours.  We were lucky enough to hang onto power overnight but this
morning we joined the thousands of others who were doing without.  Apparently the reason for
this was because the nearby esplanade was completely immersed and all of the power boxes
along it were smoking and bubbling.  Not an ideal combo.

So we did without.  Not a big deal.  We have a gas stove so cups of tea were made in saucepans and the fridge wasn't opened so things were staying reasonably coolish in their.  Our poor neighbours 
didn't fair quite so well, with their beautiful house leaking.  

Before power was restored Nick made a dash around the neighbourhood to scoop up as many bags of ice as he could for us and our lovely neighbours.  Naturally the power returned within minutes of him 
arriving home with 10 bags of ice!!  A small price to pay for the luxury of having electricity as we 
fed and bathed the children.

Thankfully the worst of it all seems to be over for us.  Our thoughts are with all of those poor people whose houses are flooding or will be soon. Stay safe.

But in nicer thoughts, I haven't yet shared with you the photos from Ol's recent birthday party.

It was a Gruffalo party.  The Gruffalo is one of Ol's favourite books.  We really went to town 
with the theme and turned our lounge into a "deep dark wood".



The cake is always my favourite part of the festivities and I couldn't have been more thrilled with 
how this one turned out.  It included all of the characters from the book and I hand painted
the icing to make it look like the forest from the book.  It was so pretty that I kind of didn't 
want to slice it up.


We played the usual party games like "pass the parcel" but we put our own spin on pin the tail on the donkey and made it pin the poisonous wart on the gruffalo.  Gross but fun.





Our food was all inspired by the book.  We had Gruffalo Crumble, Roasted Fox, Scrambled Snake, Owl Ice-cream.  And many more.  It was a lot of fun coming up with all of the ideas.



The present of the day seemed to be Lego which was totally awesome.  Nothing is better to Lego around here and we have had the best time building it together most days.  



Since we had way too many kids crammed into a far too small space it was really fabulous that Nick was able to do a reading of the Gruffalo.  Just what they needed to calm them down after all the sugar they had consumed.



Evie peevey spent the entire party walking around stealing everyone's shoes.  That is kind of her thing.




Ol did have a little melt down mid-party.  This was because he wanted to give everyone their party bags.  Nick pointed out that he could give them out soon when everyone went home.  This completely devastated him.  He didn't want anyone to leave.  Sweet boy.


Needless to say we consider the party to be a roaring success.  Much fun was had.  Cake was consumed and general good times were enjoyed.  Ol has already asked for a pirate party for his fifth birthday and a space party for his sixth.  I am already at work on them.  Plus Eve's birthday is only six months away...




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