Party

This may be the last time Louka's happy to have her birthday party combined with mine and Johnny's. But for now, she still loves her grandparents and cousins best.


I've been making the easy one bowl chocolate cake for all occasions recently, including morning tea at kindergarten on Louka's birthday, so I thought I'd try something different today. I found a recipe for chocolate genoise that looked light and rich and tasty, so I gave it a try. At Louka's request it had pink cream icing (thick cream sweetened with a little icing sugar and coloured with pureed strawberries) and decorated with more strawberries. It was pretty good, and a success with Louka.


She wasn't interested in the pink trousers I gave her, and unfortunately the pastel pencils Graham had ordered hadn't arrived, but there were plenty of presents. Graham gave me a gorgeous dark blue Kitchenaid Deluxe. When we got home, Louka insisted on trying it out so we made up a batch of bread which I hope will rise ok overnight.


Lunch was a barbecue with three different kinds of sausages and chicken breasts as well as onion rings, baked potatoes, mushrooms and salad.


Then we had cheesecake for Johnny's birthday. After a short break to digest all that we had coffee and Louka's cake, as well as a cake for me that mum had made despite having agreed that two cakes were plenty. Just as we started eating cake, a few drops of rain fell, and it quickly became a deluge. Sheltering under the outdoor umbrella wasn't cutting it, so we raced for the house, trying to cover the cakes so they didn't get soggy. My parents' rain gauge showed 5mm in about 5 minutes ― pretty heavy rain. It eased considerably once we were all inside. It was quite enjoyable though, as it was still fairly warm.

Happy fourth birthday

Today, Louka turned four. For the past week or so she's been asking "Am I four yet?" and "How many more days?". This morning when she woke up I greeted her with "Happy Birthday!" so she knew.

Last night she helped me make a chocolate cake to take to kindergarten. She also helped me decorate it with (rather nasty) red gel icing, fudge icing and icing sugar. It didn't look too bad (sorry, no photo). There was none left when I picked her up from kindy. Better still, she'd had a happy day with no crying or tantrums. What a great birthday.

On the way home we went shopping for her requested dinner ― lamb loin chops and cutlets marinated in yoghurt and grilled, with the marinade made into sauce. The chops and cutlets are because she couldn't choose between the two. We also bought the ingredients for another chocolate cake to take to my parents' place on Sunday for a combined party with me and my dad. Elin, Max and Lindsay will be there, so Louka will have fun.

Third day of kindy

Today didn't work out so well. Again, Louka ran off happily to play, but at lunchtime I got a phone call saying please come and take her home, she's had a twenty minute tantrum (not the first for the day). When I got there she was happily listening to a story, then she calmly ate her lunch, but she came to me straight after and was pleased to leave. She says she gets "sad" when the teachers get cross with her, but she won't say why she disobeys and makes them cross with her.

First day of kindy

Louka was eager to start kindergarten, and she does seem to be getting a lot more independent. She was supposed to start last week, but I forgot until they rang me to see if she was still coming.

We arrived a little late today, but not much later than many others. Louka was ready to run off and start playing before I knew quite what we were supposed to do. I had to ask for a bye-bye kiss.

I headed to the house to do some kitchen building, then returned to pick her up at 2:30, as suggested by the teacher. There didn't seem to be any kids there! I was concerned I was late, but in fact they were all in the second room having a rest. Louka collected her shoes and bag and I chatted to the teacher. She said Louka was confident and social, but had growled at her when she gave instructions. I wasn't all that surprised.

Louka told me she'd had lots of fun and the teachers were nice, and gave me a picture she'd drawn. She chatted about half way home in the car, but eventually succumbed to sleep after her big day.


before


after