The most eagerly awaited event in Alesia's life finally arrived on Sunday. It was my turn to sleep in on Sunday morning, and after the previous week of illness and meetings and boxes I really wanted my sleep in, so Alesia had to wait until 9am to open her presents.
Here is Nyama with Alesia. We asked Nyama to make Alesia a Mongolian-inspired dress and Alesia is wearing the result. It is lovely and Nyama won't let us pay for it. When Nyama arrived she was dressed in a lovely dress (also home-made) and was fully made up. So I figured I had better get out of my jeans and t-shirt and into something more suitable for the mother of the child.
Alesia had two birthday cakes - a pink one (pictured) and a chocolate one (which we all ate). Alesia proved that she was not completely recovered when she could only manage a few bites of chocolate cake. The cream here is pretty scary. It just doesn't melt.
Keira enjoyed the party, and dressed up in her new play dress (thanks Sallymae). She is loving all the new books we have and often has a bit of quiet time by herself with a book to recharge before racing around the house again. Her biggest achievement on Alesia's birthday was to have an afternoon nap in the room next to the play zone the kids set up. We invited everyone we knew with kids, which resulted in about five families and a few others that Alesia has got close to at work. Everyone came (which was reassuring for us, this being our first time to host a social event) and the result was all the toys we own everywhere.
The most important piece of cargo from Sydney - the coffee machine. It has been getting a work out and we have set up our own little cafe corner, with coffee and mugs above, and a drawer of tea below (you can get many varieties of tea here). A painting of Manly is on the fridge, to keep us homesick. Edward - note that your boxing prowess is also on display. Overall it was a great way to end a really busy seven days. We have all our boxes unpacked, Alesia had a great birthday (complete with three barbies and a winged horse) and everyone is healthy again. We are off to Thailand early Wednesday morning and will be away for a month. April is probably the hottest month in Thailand, so look for some hot photos soon. We had a high of 12 the other day, so we are trying to get prepared for 38!
