The fabulous Lollos cake!

This cake was just amazing.  Perfect.  Beautiful.  Delicious!

Mia was in absolute awe of her Lollos cake, staring at it in wonder.

The top tier was a delicious rainbow cake, and the bottom one was scrumptious chocolate cake.  The most fabulous secret, however, was that beneath the layer of fondant icing, was a layer of caramel!!  Pure bliss!

This cake was done by Cakes-By-Rox, who is my special blog friend and officially also my cake lady! :-)

Mia's Birthday in Pictures

 

Mia woke up to a couple of helium balloons floating in her room.  I got them in green and blue, as that was the colour theme of her Lollos birthday party.  She loved it - I heard her wake up over the AngeCare monitor, and the first thing she said was "balloon!"

 

 

Wyn and I walked into her room singing happy birthday - she was positively beaming!

 

Then it was present time.  What a difference to last year, when she didn't have much of an idea of what was going on...  This year, she opened the prezzies all by herself, complete with appropriate sounds like "ooooh, wow!" 

 

Cupcake for breakfast!  She blew the candles out, and then asked to "maak vuurtjie" - she wanted to blow them out again!  All in all, she blew candles out 14 times on her birthday, plus twice more the next day at her party!

 

Another cake, for visitors to share with her.

 

And yet another cake!  Oumi couldn't arrive empty-handed!  This was a cute miniature one, decorated so prettily.

 

Mia's birthday party was held at a teagarden, with loads of kiddies entertainment.  Everyone had such fun.  The venue did the decor in our Lollos theme so nicely, we were super pleased with it all!

 

Mia adored her fabulous Lollos cake!  She spent the first ten minutes of her party sitting there, admiring the cake!  This cake was so awesome, it deserves it's own post with more piccies - will share soon! :-)

 

Birthday girl had so much fun at her party.

 

Everyone sang happy birthday to her twice - in English and in Afrikaans.

This happy lil face tells everything - she loved it!

 

So spoilt - a mountain of presents!  She spent the weekend opening her prezzies bit by bit - lots of distraction each time she opened a prezzie and wants to play with what's inside! :-)

 

The end of the Lollos cake!  Yum yum.

 

 

Mia is a very blessed little girl.  She had the kind of birthday every little girl should have!  Surrounded by so much love, joy and happiness.

xx

 

Happy 2nd Birthday, Mia Mooi!

Mia turned 2 on Friday, the 21st of September.  We've been enjoying a whole week of celebrating, she's a very blessed, loved little girl!  Pics coming soon.  Meanwhile, I wrote her a little poem for her b'day. :-)

To my darling Mia Jill,
Today is your second Birthday!
I wish you a day of pure joy, happiness and fun
Enjoy being spoilt by everyone!

You are growing up so nicely,
I am so proud of you.
I am completely in awe
Of every little thing you do.

I begin my day with wonderful snuggles,
And end it with bedtime cuddles –
I hope we can do that forever
I love our special time together.

You are such a girly girl –
You love jewellery, shiny things, and everything pink.
But you also love making a mess
With water, sand or food!

You are our little sensitive soul
Our sunshine child
Our funny bunny
Our whole entire world.

I love you so much.
Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mommy
xx
 

Our weekend in the bushveld!

We went to Leeupoort this weekend with my family.  It was a wonderful getaway - just what we all needed!  So nice to just chill and spend time together.  My sister and brother were both there as well, and it was great for Mia to be with them too.

We were in a self-catering house, surrounded by bushveld.  The animals were so tame, it was an amazing experience!  There were 4 zebras that came right up to the patio for food.  Warthogs as well.  And some bokkies too.  Really special!

On Saturday night we made a huge bonfire.  Soulfood - sitting there looking into the bush with a glass of vino, mmm!

I got inked!!

Today, I got a tattoo.

I have wanted one for a while, spent time researching different designs, and the hardest decision was WHERE I would want it.

At first I liked the idea of the Virgo starsign, to represent Mia.  But then I would need to remember that I must get a tattoo representing any other children too - and might not want a second tattoo.  Also, I'm not really that into Astrology.

I then saw a pic on Pinterest, a shortened version of my favourite quote, which is "Live well, Laugh often, Love much..."  And also the words of my blog's name:  Live, Love, Laugh - and I just knew that this is what I wanted to have done!

My sister came with me, and Mia was in tow too. 

I sat on the little bench, with the tattoo artist infront of me, and I gripped the sides of the stool as hard as I could...  I wasn't sure what sort of pain sensation to expect...  And it wasn't unbearable, but it was still really really sore!  Like a hard scratching feeling.  Luckily not continuous - he stops every now and then to wipe over the ink, which gives a few seconds to gather myself again.

By the time he was on the 3rd word, the last one thankfully, it was getting quite sore - but luckily it was over and done with in 15 minutes!

He said to use Bepanthen baby cream on it a couple of times a day while it heals, can wear closed shoes after a few days, and yeah - carry on as normal! :-)

I'm super pleased with it, so happy I went ahead with getting a tattoo!
Whoop whoop!
xx

"Incey Pider"

I hate spiders so much.  Gosh, just thinking of them makes me shudder and *gril*.

Last week, on Thursday, there was a massive rainspider in our room, against the curtain.  I fetched some Doom, tried to spray the spider, but it climbed up into the pelmet - I tried to throw some shoes at it to make it fall, but it didn't work.  All this time, Mia is standing on our bed, trippling around in excitement, saying "Pider coming! Mommy 'puit' hom!"

That night Wyn caught and killed the spider for us.  Mia couldn't stop talking about this "Incey Pider" - with Pider pronounced soooo cute.  She kept telling me about "pider coming, mommy puit hom, gooi shoe!"

We told Mia that if she sees a spider, she must "Just look. Don't touch."  So there's been a lot of conversation about just looking and not touching, but the funniest is when she swaps them around and says "just touch, don't look."

Yesterday morning, snuggled up and cuddling with Mia in bed after Wyn had already left for work, Mia suddenly said, "Pider!" And I knew it wasn't to tell the story again - it was to point out that there was another damn spider.  Aaaargh!!  He climbed up into the pelmet, must have felt the vibes radiating from me - and Wyn caught and killed him again in the evening.

In the garden, there was a teeny tiny spider hanging on a tree branch, so I showed Mia to look at the little tiny spider.  She inspected it, and declared it, "ant!"
:-)
xx

Need some reassurance...

New Respect!

Cecilia has worked for us since Wyn and I got married - so it's going on 5 years now.  She's used to the way I do things, and I'm used to the way she does things...

Since Mia was about 6 months old, she started working 3 days a week for us, sleeping over on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.  This has been working well for us, as I then have Tuesdays - Thursdays to see clients, as well as Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings when Wyn can look after Mia.

Celia is great with Mia, I feel totally at ease leaving Mia with her.  She plays nicely with her, teaches her things, feeds her nicely and puts her to sleep nicely.  Brilliant!

Yesterday morning Celia arrived, looking like she was about to faint.  She complained about her stomach ulcer, and said she'd been vomiting.  I immediately told her she shouldn't have come to work, and took her back to her taxi to rather get herself to the clinic for some medicine and rest.

And that left me with a mountain of housework to do...  And it didn't help that i've come down with a bit of a cold!  I'd been bargaining on getting some extra rest while Celia looked after Mia, meanwhile I got the complete opposite of that spectrum...

It took me 3 hours yesterday morning, to do what Celia normally does in under one hour!  How does she do it!  All the housework, plus a busy toddler needing constant attention and tlc.

Between all this I have to arrange family to look after Mia while I have clients, as I really don't like having to cancel clients...  But it's hard asking such favours, everybody's lives are busy doing their own things.  Yesterday afternoon was a mad rush to get Mia to my aunt, rush back to see my client, and rush back to fetch her again.  Tomorrow morning Mia's great-grandfather is going to look after her.  :-)

I'm pooped!!! I really hope Celia is well enough to come in on Friday to help out with the ironing at least - coz that's where I draw the line!
xx

I ♥ Spring Time!

Spring is absolutely my favourite season.  It speaks of new life, rejuvenation, positivity and happy memories.  I love that the weather is neither too cold or too hot.  I love the excitement to get toes painted again to wear open shoes, and the fact that at my next hair appointment, I'll do blonde highlights again.  I love that it means it's a month of celebrations, because it's Mia's birthday, and it's our wedding anniversary.  Good times!

I also love that spring represents a time of decluttering.  Ordering your life.  Your home.  Your space.

My list of decluttering includes:
 
 - Clean out wardrobe - give clothes that I haven't worn in two seasons to charity
 - Clean out pantry
 - Clean out bathroom cupboards
 - Tidy study
 - Sort out Mia's arts & crafts goodies
 - Tidy salon cupboards
 - Have carpets professionally cleaned
 - Find out about having curtains washed professionally
 - Sort out computer files and folders and tidy them up
 - Budget for the remainder of the year
 - Lots of general tidying and packing right all over the house!

Lots to look forward to this month:
 
 - This weekend we're having a braai with a few friends over - haven't done this in ages.
 - Next weekend we're going away to the bushveld with my folks.  Blissful!
 - The following week, it's Mia's 2nd birthday, and her birthday party on the Saturday.
 - And the last weekend of the month, it's our 5th wedding anniversary.  The inlaws are coming to stay to look after Mia, and Wyn and I are going away for the weekend.  I'm going to miss Mia like crazy, but really looking forward to our two days to ourselves!
 
Mia is our sunshine flower child.

Here's to a happy spring!
xx