Nanna's 60th birthday party

Dear Matthew and Toby

We recently celebrated your nanna's 60th birthday with a big birthday party at her place. Up until the day before we were keeping it a secret but the day before Darryl let her know what had been planned, which meant we had the whole day to set up at their place before the party. It was a real team effort, and as you can see from the first few photos below, even you and your cousins helped set it all up.

In the evening everyone arrived and we had a great time mingling with everyone and enjoying the amazing platter boards that Darryl had arranged to be set up. You both had even more fun playing with your cousins in the garage, and Matt you had a go at table tennis. At the end of the party you even got to roast marshmallows outside with Darryl on the fire.

It was a beautiful night celebrating your beautiful nanna. She goes above and beyond for us, and I am so grateful she is in our lives. Every Tuesday she travels an hour (in peak hour!) to come to our house so your dad and I can work. She does the school run for you Matt and then goes to the library and river/playground with you Tobes. That is no small feat and it means that you both don't have to go to daycare or before and after-school care, and you get the loving care of your grandmother. She is beyond generous.

Love you both,

Mum xxx

Aunty Robyn's birthday party

Dear Matthew and Toby

We celebrated Aunty Robyn's 24th birthday by heading out to dinner for together with her, Ma Ma and Gumps. We went to a local restaurant called Il Ciao and all enjoyed yummy pizza and pasta for dinner.

Aunty Robyn had made this incredible blue and purple chocolate cake (see photos below) and we all enjoyed filling our bellies to the brim with that one.

It was a lovely evening and we even managed to fit in some trivial pursuit with questions about our favourite series, Friends

We are all so lucky to have Aunty Robyn in our lives. She is wonderful to you both and always cooking and playing with you (especially with you on the Nintendo Matt).

Love you both,

Mum xxx

Class Liturgy

Dear Matthew and Toby

At the end of second term Matt's Pre-Primary class held a class liturgy.

It was the first one of the year and Matt you did a reading. I was so proud of you getting up there and bravely reading your line in front of all the families. It is so great to watch you grow and develop. Your courage is inspiring and I'm so lucky to be able to witness your new skills. I also got to see you join in and sing all the beautiful songs with your classmates, which is enough to make this mama's heart sing and happy cry to myself.

Also I have to include the gorgeous photo of you both at the end of this blog- you fell asleep together on my bed and it was just too cute not to capture.

Love you boys,

Mum xxx

                                     

IKEA and Art Hub

Dear Matthew and Toby

We have had a pretty quiet June, which I am pretty grateful for given how busy the last few months have been! A couple of fun things we have done are taking a trip to IKEA to get new drawers for Matt's room and had a go at Art Hub on YouTube.

Our IKEA trip was a lot of fun, we had a good walk around and had a yummy lunch in the cafeteria. We managed to walk out with only a few extra things that we didn't know we needed to buy until we got there, which was a minor miracle in itself. You boys had a great time pushing the kids trolleys around. Tobes, you won't even let me hold the handle on the pole of the trolley- Mr Independent for sure!

Matt, you have also had a great time having a go at the Art Hub videos on YouTube. The videos slowly instruct you on how to draw various items (in the photos below you are drawing a cartoon banana). You have especially loved drawing minions and are getting better and better every day. I love watching your love for drawing develop- you are just like your dad as he is very talented at drawing.

Love you boys,

Mum xxx