Harri turns 11

Harri has been counting down the weeks until his birthday, and kept asking me if he could have a birthday party this year.  He had a party with his friends last year, and I'm not into having parties, let alone one every year, so I told him that he wouldn't be having a party this year.  I considered letting him have a sleepover with two close friends, but Harri and sleepovers don't really work very well, so I told him that maybe instead he could just invite two or three of his good friends to go to airtime 360 (an indoor trampolining place) after school with him.

He thought that was a nice idea and as his birthday was getting closer, I kept reminding him that he needed to let me know who he wanted to invite, so we could ask if they could make it.  Next thing I know he gives me a list of seven(!!) boys and was telling me that he couldn't shorten the list because they were all his good friends.  A few of the boys aren't even in his class at school, so I pointed that out, but he reminded me that he is still good friends with all of them and plays with them all at lunch time at school. 

They were all lovely boys and I wasn't feeling as stressed about the whole birthday party thing as last year, so I told him it was okay and that he could invite all of them, especially after I realised that I would be working till very late on his birthday and was feeling awful about it.  Being a single Mum sucks for many reasons.  I'm obviously a soft touch - sometimes!

I decided I wasn't going to stress about food too much and was just going to take easy things, and knew that they would all just have fun together and wouldn't care if I baked for a week, or bought a few things from the supermarket.


The boys all had a great time, and were very hot and sweaty by the time their hour was up.

He was very lucky to be able to choose what kind of cake he would like, as the Cupcake Fairy once again made him his cake.  She's a life saver as it means I have one less thing to think about! He is sports mad and last year he decided on a basketball cake, but this year he decided to have a soccer cake. He googled soccer cakes and found something like this. He absolutely LOVED it.

 

Because he had his party a few days before his birthday, he said it didn't feel like his birthday on the actual day.  He has been begging for a Playstation4 for a long time, and I told him to keep dreaming and to make a wish list of some smaller things.  On that list were lots of sports things including soccer gear. He was very excited about his new soccer top.

It was nice that I was working on his birthday, as I saw him a few times at school and it was fun to see him smile when I would say 'here's the birthday boy'.  I had to work till very late, but he was very lucky because Alison took him shopping after school and to Cold Rock - spoiled boy!

When I got home from work we went to our old favourite for tea - Hogs Breath, which was Harri's choice.  I never complain because with the VIP cards we have, you get a free meal for your birthday.  Kobe was making us laugh while we were waiting for the food as he was pretending to interview Harri. 

 Harri was born on the first day of spring which we think is very special.  I'm sure he was supposed to be born on that day (even though he was very overdue!) because he really helped us to have joy back in our family.  After Noah was diagnosed it was hard to focus on anything else, as all we could think about was his health, and that we wouldn't have him with us for very long.  When Harri was born, we finally felt like we could really smile again.  He helped us to get through our first very long winter.

He is like Aaron is so many ways including being sports mad, passionate, caring, affectionate, kind and he's always complimenting me.  Pretty much every day Harri looks at me and says 'you look nice today Mum!'.  The other day at school he came up to me (in front of his teacher) and said 'is that shirt new Mum?  It looks really nice on you!'. He makes me smile (and also scream a lot as he is so passionate about things that it's not always a good thing!) and we are very blessed to have him. I know that Aaron would be very proud of him for looking after me so well. 

Sydney and Canberra

It always seems like we go away for weekends which are really close together.  In May we went to Sydney a couple of times  to the National Mother of the Year award and because we had already booked a weekend away to stay with my brother Christian.  Then this month I went up to Sydney for Time Out For Women and also had a weekend booked to stay with Chrish again as we got very cheap tickets, so all of us went back up last weekend.   Mum had stayed at Chrish's after Time Out For Women so we were looking forward to spending the weekend with her as well.

It was fun to see our friend Ande at the airport. We hadn't seen each other since we were in Queensland about 18 months ago.  She lives in Queensland but was coming to Sydney for the Bears of Hope Ball which is an organisation who provides support for pregnancy and infant loss.  Ande and her husband Dave had a beautiful boy Riley who was stillborn, and since then Ande has volunteered with Bears of Hope. It was awesome to see a photo of her at the end of the weekend, with an award for volunteer of the year. Well done Ande!

We were so happy that Sydney had beautiful weather while we were there.  The first day we caught a train into the city.  We never get sick of the sights at Circlar Quay. 

We then caught a ferry to the zoo. It was such a beautiful day!

We all jumped at the chance to touch a snake. 

We couldn't resist a few selfies :)

The giraffes have the best view in Sydney!

The boys absolutely loved the seal show. 

They also loved this playground near the lemurs.

We went on the sky safari three times and Harri believed me that it cost $20 each ride (it was free with admission) so he thought I was feeling very generous (and rich!).

We spotted this poor lady trying to get her backpack out of the water, and then one of the students suggested that they use the life buoy to drag it out.  They did that and got the bag out, and Kobe absolutely cracked us up as he yelled out 'Bondi Rescue!!' really loud.  For the rest of the day we couldn't stop laughing about it.  

Mum was jealous when we went to Canberra last year as she hadn't been for over twenty years or more, so we decided to make a day trip there, while Chrish stayed at home for footy finals. 

We joked about our old mate 'Tony' (the P.M.) and how it would've been nice to catch up with him in Canberra, after spending time with him at Kirribilli House.

 Mum's broken arm was aching a lot from her moving it around a lot to take photos, and she was making us all laugh as she was in all sorts of angles trying to get a good photo.   

Kobe is such a clown and does anything for a laugh, including doing a crazy dance out the front of Parliament House!

We then went to the War Memorial. 

Last time we went to the War Memorial the World War 1 display was under construction. It was absolutely amazing and there were so many things to see.

 

 

We spent a lot of time in the Afghanistan section watching the movie that was playing in there.  I teach 8 children who are from a refugee background and their families are from Afghanistan, so it always hits me how much they've been through, and what they have had to leave to be safe.

Before we left Canberra we had a special treat at Max Brenner.   We had a fun day, but the drive back to Sydney seemed so long.

The next day we spend some time with Chrish, watching the girls from his footy club play in their elimination final, before flying home.   Harri and Kobe absolutely loved it and couldn't believe how well they played.  Kobe kept saying he wanted to watch the girls play more often. 

We made sure we had a slurpee from 7 eleven before coming home, as Aaron used to absolutely love them.  Whenever we go to the mainland we try to have one for him. 

We had a lovely (long) weekend and were so glad to get away from the cold in Tassie for a few days.  We always love seeing Chrish, and even though we wish he would move to Tassie, we love having a place to stay at in Sydney.