Toshi-Koshi Soba - Happy New Year!

Farewell 2012 and welcome 2013! We bid 2012 farewell in the traditional Japanese way way - with a dinner of 'toshi-koshi' or end of year soba noodles. Elise set the table with her favorite pink partyware and TM set up a mini shrine to thank the gods for 2012 (especially for the safe arrival of Victoria). With incense burning and offerings of sake and grapes to the gods, all that was left to do was enjoy a glass of champagne. May 2013 be a wonderful year!

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rockin' around the christmas tree... happy holidays!

This Christmas, we decided to mix things up a bit and headed down to Apollo Bay for 5 days. With the beach right on our doorstep, it was a relaxing stay and enabled the whole family time to get to the know and enjoy my the latest addition to the family - the delightful Victoria Rose.

School Uniform Morning!

This morning Elise and I dropped in to the School uniform shop to buy her school uniform for next year (seeing as I will be a bit tied up with new baby at the end of the year). Plus I can't help myself. Everyone in my family knows that I like to plan months and months in advance. Elise was so excited! She looks so tiny in her little uniform and what a big school bag! Lucky school is only a block away. Now the job of sewing name tags onto everything. East Ivanhoe Primary School - here we come ... next year!!

Fairies & Pixies & Magical Worlds

Elise is at that wonderful age where everything

is without doubt 'magical'.

Even the simple sheltered picnic area in the park that

we visited yesterday was quickly labelled a

'magical house'.

All of Elise's friends parties are either 'princess'

or 'fairy' themed and I find myself digging out

the fairy wings with increasing frequency.

And so it was that we found ourselves before

the facepainter at an event we attended

on the weekend requesting an image of

Tinkerbell be painted on Elise's cheek.

Poor Mr. Facepainter had apparently never had

to do a Tinkerbelle before, but

true to form, managed to produce a look-a-like.

Elise would have been delighted with anything that

even slightly resembled the good fairy,

so there were smiles all around when Mr. Facepainter

finished and advised us he 'liked a good challenge'!

When I think back to my own childhood days,

I remember believing in Santa Clause

and thinking that the Wizzard of Oz was a true story.

I remember dreaming up magical scenarios

in which magical and special things happened.

What a special age. And what a special reminder...

that we shouldn't forget to dream a little

and believe in magic.

Elise Runs Wild at the Melbourne Zoo!

After much pleading on the part of Elise,

we headed to the Melbourne Zoo last weekend.

It was Elise's first time to visit the Zoo

and I have to say she was at the perfect age for it.

Elise has been to every kid's annimal farm

 in Melbourne, but I had been waiting for her

to show an interest in going

to the zoo and am glad we waited.

Elise ran from exhibit to exhibit with a look of

pure joy and excitement on her face,

repeatedly asking "what's next?! what's next?!".

I have to say, her enthusiasm was charming.

After a great deal of walking, we managed to pursuade

elise to sit down for a rest

(... admittedly a bit of rainbow icypole bribery

did the trick!)

Elise's and my favourite exhibit - the giraffs

with their graceful long necks and Angelina Jolie lips.

First Fairy Party

Elise is attending Fairy Hills

Kindergarten this year to do her final year of kinder

before school starts next year.

Fairy Hills is a beautiful

kinder in East Ivanhoe that I'm so glad

we stumbled upon..

We set out to attend Elise's first

party of the season a few weekends ago.

Most of her little friends will be turning

5 this year.

Compared to some of the girls

who came fitted out in

professionally-made fairy atire,

our costume was a little

make-shift but had character none

the less.

Elise had a ball, but mum was badly

in need of a coffee hit given the 10:30am

saturday starting time.

Any ideas for Elise's 5 yr old party in December?
If you know me, you know I like a good

pre-planning!!

Happy New Year! 新年明けましておめでとうございます！

The New Year is probably the most important

event in the Japanese calendar (on par with

Christmas in Australia) and it is a time when

the whole family get together.

TM obviously misses this very much, so we have

made our own tradition.
We have the customary soba noodles on New Year's Eve
(although chilled because it's too hot to have them warm).

This year we had NHK Tv, so TM was able to

watch the endless music program that everyone

typically watches in Japan on NY eve.
I have to admit, I have never been a fan of it,

but I actually got into it this year.
Elise kept up a dancing ritual in front of the TV.

TM managed to stay up till 2am (as Japan is 2 hrs behind

Oz), but I turned in after 12pm,
seeing as I am usually

the one on Elise and dog duty when they
wake up at random hours!

TM set up this little shrine on our dining room buffet

and has been presenting 'god' with little offerings

of sake and rice.

May it be an excellent year for everyone.

The White Christmas

As everyone will have noticed, Christmas Day this year

put on a strange weather display... hot one minute...

Snowing hail-stones the next!...

But the main thing for Elise was that Santa came!

Elise Turns 4 Years Old... Oh How Quickly the Years Pass

Elise turned 4 in early December.

I decided to keep it simple, and so

asked 4 of her friends from her

swimming class, to attend a little

garden party outside the pool

after their lesson.

Only two kids showed up,

but it was enough for elise.

The girls have some lunch while

Forest who we had to smuggle into the pool

park, naps.

Elise loved the cake in a shape of

a little puppy.

I got the cake from Bread Top,

which have shops around Melbourne, including

Richmond and Doncaster.

Very yummy cakes.

A little dinner party with the grandparents and uncle

followed the lunch party.

Poor elise had a terrible cold and didn't feel

well, but she thoroughly loved the day

and especially everyone singing happy birthday

to her. What an angel. xo 

More of the Kinder Years - the End of Year Concert

Elise LOVES kinder, like you wouldn't believe.

It wasn't always like this, mind you.
We have had our fair share of guilt

as we dropped off a very upset Elise.

But that was all generally before we found

GUMNUT child care in Alphington.

I had been looking for a friendly

family-oriented kinder for Elise that

also offered day care, and third time

we were lucky.
Elise started here when she was 2

and has now just finished 3 year old kinder

(last day today).

They had their annual concert of chaotic

singing and dancing the other night,

and I had a front seat, so I got it all on

camera while Takamitsu puppy-sat at home

(see next blog!)

Here is a photo with two of her best friends,

Nicholas and Ruby (on either side of her).

Our Marshmallow Stand at the Kinder Trash & Treasure Fair

Yesterday - despite the pouring rain,

Elise's kindergarten had a Trash & Treasure Fair.

I had put my hand up to hold a stall,

so spent all of Friday cooking up endless batches of

marshmallow with toasted cocount and

gingerbread biscuits.

P.S. Why do I always blink at the wrong moment?
... not the best photo of me.

Unfortunately, less people came that we had hoped

for, so we had a bit of stock left over,

which I distributed to our neighbours,

and have a big bag to give to dad who loves

marshmallow.
Elise had such fun she didnt want to leave.

Elise's First Attendance at a Friend's Birthday Party

Elise has two main friend's at her Kindergarden:

Ruby (picture below) and Nicholas.

She talks non-stop about Ruby & Nicholas.

So when we received an invite to Nichola's
4th birthday party,
Elise was highly excited to say the

least.

It was held at a big play center with lots
of play equipment.
Probably age appropriate, but very noisy!

Most of the kids spent the entire 2 hours

playing.

The good old mini pies and sausage roles,
very colorful cordial and chips and chocolate

cake were served. Needless to say there was

an element of hyperactivity by the end of it all.

All in all though, a successful first birthday party

attendance!

The Royal Melbourne Show - Yee Hah!

We took Elise to the 'Royal Melbourne

Show' again this year on a Sunday

afternoon. It was packed - we usually

went on a Monday when we ran the restaurant.
We are lucky because Elise isn't interested in

the rides yet - and doesn't know too much

about the showbags ....YET!
www.royalshow.com.au