The spread......

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This little devil is running me ragged day and night so I thought it best to put a cute photo of her (and her sister) in to remind me of how blessed I am. Because some days are long...............

Birthday bike

Tilly likes to keep things close to her chest, the birthday bike was a big surprise but instead of reacting like a kid in a candy store, she held it really tight. She eventually smiled. Note horsey in the basket. Mummy wanted daddy to get a pretty pink bike with a pretty white basket. Daddy got what they had, but he felt it was the right one for Tilly. It is her most favourite possession. She rides around the neighbourhood with confidence now.

And now for some photos!

More photos coming soon:

And who was there?

Back in May, or maybe April, my dear friend Heather told me she was planning another trip to Taiwan. She gave me a range of June to September. I told her if she was coming in June to come for Tilly's birthday. And they did!! Her and her sweet two youngest, Lili and Noa. Now, Lili is an old friend of Tilly's so to have her here was golden. Then there is Sarah and Ellie, Tilly's two best friends here in Taipei. And here is how they looked all together:

This is before the cupcake creations began. This is also not a good representation of who was there. Let's not forget, Evie, Abram, Noa, John Amos and wee baby Charlotte just 16 days old at the time, Cousin Bonnie, plus the mummies. Aside from having a party that included my family, this one just couldn't get any better. All our nearest and dearest.

Tilly's birthday in June

A various number of reasons why I couldn't post photos back in mid-June when Tilly's birthday actually happened. But anyway, here we go:

Last year I was inspired by this. I think they are always at the cutting edge of creative inspiration and I was completely inspired. I knew Tilly would love a cupcake birthday party so while I was in Australia, several months before her birthday, I bought packets of cake decorations in anticipation of the big event. I wanted Tilly to have a birthday she would remember, simple but memorable. And I think we pulled it off.

The night before I prepared about 30 cupcakes using this recipe. I have vegan friends. That is to say, one vegan friend with one vegan daughter who happens to be one of Tilly's best friends. Therefore the whole vegan issue becomes a bit important. More on the vegan thing later. I was thinking this morning to do a series on some of my vegan recipes. Simply because a) everyone is doing 'series posts' these days and b) I think it's a worthy topic. This recipe is gold. It never fails and it makes a gazillion cupcakes. Case in point I made some for church this morning and being vegan it cost a few bucks, if that. No butter, eggs or milk - all expensive here. But being an American recipe it has way too much sugar in it. I cut it back by nearly half. Even then I think it's a lot. But it's really great. American recipes are great - unpretentious and easy to follow.

So, some simple coloured icing to go on the top, plus the decorations. The girls had a blast!! Look at the end result!!

Life lessons

This morning after Evie woke at 5 to have a feed she amazingly went back to sleep and I put her back down on her bed. Normally she would have been up and that would have been that. The next thing I know, I hear Tilly tickling and cooing at Evie and Evie's sweet little tinkly laughter floating through the house, and it was 7:30!!!. I've discovered this is Tilly's favourite thing to do first thing in the morning, wake and play with Evie. But it's something she doesn't get to do as Evie usually wakes criminally early and I go to great lengths to keep the two apart so Tilly can get a good sleep. So Evie went back down for her nap much later and after breakfast Tilly was treated to a movie. It's a cool rainy typhoon day today and it's perfect weather for a nap for little sis and a movie for big. Her choice of movie was 'The red tide" - a movie given to us by our mothers group at the church. About an under water kingdom ruled by a whale of the deep. In the movie is a little crab who works for a nasty big fish who endeavours to kill the sea with a poisonous "red tide". The little crab is sad and lonely and trapped (literally at one point, in a trap made of sticks). I decided to use it as a chance to talk to Tilly about how to treat others, especially those who are lonely, in trouble etc. And the conversation went something like this:

• Me: Can you see how sad he looks? All alone and trapped. You know if you see someone like that little fish who is all sad and alone you should go to them and be a kind friend to them. (I was speaking figuratively about being trapped - but he was indeed trapped in some sticks)
• Tilly: Mmmm, well he isn't a fish mum. He's a crustacean.....
• Me: Ok, well if you see someone like that little crustacean you should go and be a kind friend to them.
• Tilly: Mmm, yes. And I will get them all out of the sticks like that.
• Me: Well, sure. If they happen to be trapped in sticks, getting them out would be a nice idea too....