Happy Birthday, Cara

It was Cara's 6th Birthday on the 19th.

Six, eh? Sheesh.

Needless to say she had an awesome day

She asked for a cake with fairies on it. In the past we'd always drawn on the cake with icing tubes, but given that it was a cream cake, we had to go another route:

I think I was the most chuffed about this. But I don't care.

To add to all that, they had a sleep-over at Grandma's that Saturday and she got a letter saying that she'd been accepted to receive tuition for violin, viola or cello (please, please, please don't let it be the cello, it's too biiiiiiig). Anyhoo, it's really excellent news as we were beginning to think that no news was bad news. The deal is that, if you are accepted to do this thing, you get free tuition (as long as you turn up to the orchestra practices at the weekend as well - which is cool).

Jo's up next.

Nine, eh? Sheesh.

Mini strobist

Cara's got into photography lately. She knows how to use more of the functions on the P&S than I do (which is saying something).

I also set her up with a strobe, brolly and DSLR and she got some pretty inspiring results for a five year old:

Although her assistant was awesome (and underpaid).

To the beach!

We've been to the beach mostly this summer (I know we posted already about this). WHenever Jonah has had a mate round we've headed for Petit Port or Marble Bay - Cara's mates are a little too small to take on a hike like that, but so saying Cara usually accompanies the boys.

And at Petit Port there were more waves - and bigger!

We also went down to Ladies bay to look for razor clams. No luck yet, but we'll try again some other time.

Cara's tooth

Cara lost her first tooth the other day.

She wanted to keep it, so she had to write a letter to the tooth fairy asking for the money, but also asking to get the tooth back.

In the morning, there was the tooth, and there was the money. That fairy's a soft touch!

Accesorize and pamper

Ankle bracelets and hair straightening. What have we let ourselves in for?

Beads from Gran and Pampa.

Nice beads.

On the road

And not too soon after learning we all go for an ice cream down the road:

If you look closely, you can still see the chocolate covering most of her face.

Cara's 5th Birthday

Cara is 5. Were it not a period of time that is rigorously defined as 365 days, we would say that it has taken an age for her to get here.

She got a scooter and a DS, for which she has been angling for a long time.

Happy? She's very happy.

And what kind of cake did she ask for? A chocolate cake with pink icing. Why not?

The evolution of a bike rider

So now it's Cara's turn to learn how to ride a bike. It's been a while since we posted anything here, so here's the sequence of her learning.

First we start with the "Parents run alongside the bike bending over to hold the rider upright" routine. Thankfully this doesn't last long, but my my, isn't it killer on the back:

Then we move on to the individual starting, which looks a bit wobbly and works without the benefit of good breaking, but at least the back doesn't ache any more:

Once that phase is over, it's pretty much plain sailing and she's off and running:

Bye Cara, don't forget to write when you get where you're going:

Lazy Saturday

No orchestra for Jonah on Saturday, so we all had a nice lazy day:

Although Cara does look a little worried about it. Don't worry , Cara.

Another party ...

... another butterfly