Happy 5th Birthday Orlando! For me it’s hard to reconcile that 5 years have passed already since we brought that starry eyed little love home from the hospital, but after a brief conversation with Himself sometimes it’s more perplexing that he isn’t much older. Orlando is a practical little gentleman, thoughtful and sincere, as well as being capable of Maximum Silly.

For example, I was distressed in the week(s) leading up to going to New York. How was I going to leave my babies? I was teary and a bit maudlin until Orlando gave me a little pep talk one morning as we were getting ready to go to school. He explained that they would be ok at home with Daddo, and that I should be sure to not forget about them, to Skype often, and most importantly to get New York City all ready for their arrival in July. Well! If he was going to be so reasonable about everything, who was I to quibble?

Om nom nom

One thing I was not going to miss out on though, was the Big 5 Party. We held it a few weeks early and, at Orlando’s request, the celebrations were held at our house. If you were anything like me as a small person, one of the most fun parts of an impending birthday is picking out what kind of cake you’ll have. This year it had to be a red ladybird. Evil Aunty Delana was most enthusiastic about assisting with the decorating – we made a ladybird and her magical garden! The ladybird body was strawberry cake ( bug guts! ) and the head and little garden mounds were vegan carrot cake. Something for everyone. Most of the kids wanted the carrot cake, but maybe that had more to do with me calling the cake “bug guts”?

Orlando’s Ladybird Garden Birthday Cake

For games we played Pin The Tail on the Pikachu, we ate doughnuts hanging by strings from the washing line ( no hands! ), played Pass The Parcel (what’s with the prize on every layer thing? I don’t think it improves the game) and of course there was a mighty Treasure Hunt in the garden – which we’ve made into a very fun place for small people.

Treasure hunting

Delana made little sculpey creatures for our guests to take home, tied to their helium balloon party favours. I love home birthday parties! Especially when Orlando has such superlative taste in friends – what a great bunch of funny little loves.

Today is Orlando’s for real birthday and I don’t mind admitting to you that I’m having a hard time being on my own on the other side of the planet. 15 more sleeps until I can cuddle my wee wonders again. I don’t know if New York is ready for you, big guy, but come on over. They’re going to love you.

We did it! Our very own house 😀 And it’s keeping us very busy too – garden designs, paint samples and curtains…
But before any of that, before we even contemplated moving into our cream brick veneer (with arches!) suburban semi-beachside (we can see the water!) 3br mortgage, there was . . . dun dun dun!!! The Carpet. It had to go. Oh yes. Nothing spells ol’ nana quite like a certain colour of carpet, coupled with floral curtains and brown wood veneer built in cupboards of random placement and no apparent function. Just like the end of year sale at Mr Bankrupts, it all had to go.

With 2 weeks before moving day we thought there was oodles of time. Built in furniture out, check. Not too hard. Carpet up and in the mini skip, easy peasy. Underlay up… hang on, what the heck is this black shite?

Apparently black rubber underlay was all the rage in the 70s. Unfortunately it likes to become one with the wood floor underneath. Get out your putty knives, kids, it’s time to spend 3 days scraping the floor! …what is that funny smell? Try not to think about it, possibly just over-active pregnant nose. Thanks for your help, Nanna Robyn! Get all the staples out, hammer in the nails. Orlando is good at that bit.

Great! Floor is scraped, random bits found underneath are removed. Lets squeeze the hire equipment into the back of our infinitesimally small car. No problems. What! This is taking forever, and there’s still black stuff ingrained in the floor. Only a week left and we still have a long way to go… Call in the reinforcements!! Yay for Barry and Lyndall!! Why you crazy people want to help us with this back breaking labour is a mystery, but we ask no questions. Lets get another machine, speed things up a bit… good idea Barry. FYI: anyone in Australia attempting this DIY project should listen to the Kennards Hire Man when he says it’s a b1tch of a project, leave their antique machine where it is and go get the good machine from Bunnings; called a Deva 10. Practically does the job for you.

Hmm, what’s this strange staining and why does is smell so bad here… OH GOD NO!!! The final revenge of someone’s small and untrained house pet… in nearly every room in the house X_X Okay, all of “The Bsssh” as Orlando dubbed the sanding equipment, is complete. Time to put the goo down. ‘relia makes 3am trips to the new house in order to get all the coats on before moving day arrives…

And yay we are done! In the nic of time, too. Looks soooooooo much better and cleaner and less old nana, or “modern” as the realtor says when she stops by to see what we’ve done to the place. What do you mean the wardrobe won’t fit through the bedroom door??