Belated Post: Rachel's Birthday

Continuing my streak of belated birthday posting, (Steve 2025, Sophie 2026 and though I come next in the list, I haven't even done me yet!) here is a short note on Rachel turning 12. 

I don't know if it was the fact that I don't love odd numbers and thus wanted to skip 11, but Rachel felt 12 long before her birthday. As way back as February if people asked me how old the girls were, I had started just rounding up, even though she still had a good five months to go. 

Her birthday fell in the very last week of school, though Sophie and I were already on holidays since we aren't in the state system. This ment that I could make Rachel a fun bento for her birthday, and she got lots of love at school on the day. 

Friday, being the last day of school, was just another excuse to extend the celebrations - after school party in the park, followed by her first "big" sleepover with three extra friends. Saturday we had family around for a chilled afternoon tea to wrap it up. 

Rachel was not fussed with any kind of fancy Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book cake, so Sophie and I just got creative decorating a regular chocolate cake for her. Sophie actually spent about three weeks in the lead up to Rachel's birthday planning on all sorts of foods that she would make for Rachel. Their closeness is so delightful, demonstrated by this moment I managed to capture of them sitting together wrapped up in a Jeans Quilt watching some One Piece anime. 

In general Rachel is an agent of chaos. At school, one of the ultimate prizes in their reward system is to change the school bell (usually an upbeat pop song) to any song you choose. Rachel recently used her prize powers to change it to Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall; Part 2". Specifically the part that says: We don't need no, education. Definitely gave the teachers a laugh the morning it played at 8:55. 

Happy Birthday child. 

Belated Birthday Post

Is this the year where I only post about people's birthdays months after the event? It happened with Steve, it's happening with Sophie, so maybe? 

It's a short one, but I don't want to forget it. Sophie is now 13. She's taller than me. She loves Greek myths and musicals. She's committed to BJJ trying to get her next belt (it's a yellow and black, so they call it the "Vegemite belt"). When she's not reading, Sophie is drawing on every bit of paper available. 

This sweet girl didn't want to try to juggle mixing friends from various circles for a party, so we had a casual family afternoon tea and a movie night. A plain chocolate cake was requested and I added the decorations (it's a Parthenon and the sister blades (a weapon from the Hades 2 Switch game)). 

Rachel made her a new pencil case with fabric she bought in Japan. These two together are like sunshine to me. Sophie's cooking continues to expand and the highlight of Rachel's holidays (that she shared at the first night back to Guides) was eating all of Sophie's cooking, especially the lemon bars. 

Rachel's Birthday

This might be the most low key birthday we've ever celebrated for one of our girls. Rachel's first summer-time birthday. It was on a Monday, and because I'm away during the week at my language teachers training course, I wasn't even there on the day! 

On top of that, having no oven in our house meant that making a cake was pretty difficult. We had pretty much resigned ourselves to buying a slice of convenience store cake, but come Saturday, I made the snap decision that it wouldn't be a birthday without something home cooked. I pulled together and used the rice cooker to produce a brownie cake for our girl. 

It's not a classic from the Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book, but it was something. We ate that on the Sunday before I left, and then on the Monday, Steve came through with some more "Japanese" offerings. It was kind of like Rachel got two birthdays really. 

Lots of messages and calls from back home and her Japanese school friends wrote some super lovely cards for her. Rachel was delighted to open the present of five books of the latest series she is obsessed with (Sophie was too), especially given that English books to read are in short supply here. We were on the fence about getting them, since it means we have to carry these with us while we travel Japan and then get them home again. But her excitement and crazy eyes as she opened it was worth it. 

She's got seven kilos of carry on luggage allowance after all. 

Sophie: 12

I was fine with Sophie growing ever upward - the knowledge of the inevitable "kids will be taller than me" was something that I knew from day one. But when I drew her new height line on the wall and it sat just two and a half centimetres under mine; wow was it suddenly all too real. 

Celebrations for this girl were a little strange this year. She did have a friend sleep over the night before her birthday, but woke up in the morning with a very runny nose kinda cold that Steve was sharing. So we cancelled the afternoon family gathering and just lay around the house, watching movies, playing games and generally being lazy. 

What we did get Sophie for her birthday though, was two tickets to see Six the Musical. So two weeks later, she and I hopped on a bus to the theatre. 

She was so excited to be seeing the show and I was excited to share it with her. Since I took her to see The Tiger Who Came to Tea for her third birthday, I have dreamed of many more such outings. We enjoyed the pre show hype and photo ops. She went halves with me in some merch (check out the shirt change below) and just generally got progressively more excited. 

Suffice to say, when things started she was grinning from ear to ear. It is fabulous show and so much fun to see it with her. Afterwards, we went to South Bank. Steve and Rachel drove in and we met some friends for a swim and BBQ dinner. It really did feel like we were finally having her birthday. 

Cake requested was chocolate with pink and green swirly icing. Yes, she really does love musicals. 

That's a Wrap

Reflecting that many bloggers out there do a wrap up post at the end of the year, neatly cataloging all their makes, or highs and lows to look back on in the future, I lamented to Steve that I can't do that since I've got so many things that I've made in the last six weeks that are as yet, un-blogged, my list would be pretty incomplete, or at least not a good reflection on the year. I guess people who blog for work can be a little more planned about things and maybe they are working in advance, but not so much with me. Even though I've been at the blogging for nearly 20 years now....

Anyway, in lieu of a "Here are all the things I made in 2024" I thought I'd do a little wrap up post with the fun things that have happened in the last six weeks that have helped the year speed to it's ending. Things that are just small and fun but special to us and I'll want to remember. 

The girls made boats. 

With an eleven week term to finish the year, the teachers at the girls school got creative and ran a bunch of activities to make the final week interesting and fun. One of these was a boat race across the school pool. Students were invited to make their own boat and it had to carry a ping pong ball across the eight metre pool. Both Sophie and Rachel were interested so we got into it. 

Inspired by the Pop-Pop Boat in Ponyo, they investigated different engines. Rachel made her boiler from a beer can and straws which was powered by steam when the heat from the candle did it's job. Sophie tried a variety of different designs - variations on the same theme - the most complex of which was bending copper pipes to be the boiler. Unfortunately her boat couldn't take the weight of the pipes and we had to try again. 

There was so much trial and error in both the boats. Loads of fixing one thing to have something new break. Sophie's especially which went from wood, to two layers of wood, to wood with balloons (supporting the weight of the pipes), and then to a variety of different milk bottle designs (when the balloons caused too much drag and we needed to nix the pipes in favour of a more compact boiler). After we finally gave in with the boiler, we switched to fan powered and Sophie did all the wiring to make the fan work from a 9V battery, including a switch in the circuitry. Thanks to girl guides for teaching her how to do most of that! 

Rachel, testing the Carmelita 3 in our neighbour's pool.

In the end we learnt a lot and had two functioning boats to launch in the pool on race day. Neither won, (or even made it all the way across the pool), but neither did they sink, so we still counted it a victory. The boats were named after we finished reading and watching the Netflix version of A Series of Unfortunate Events,  the Carmelita 3 (Rachel's boat), Beatrice 2 (Sophie's pipe boat) and The Persistence (Sophie's final fan boat). 

Sophie has been given the leadership role of Library Captain for 2025 at school. We are pretty proud of our girl, and think the role suits her to a T. Both girls actually signed up as Library Helpers this year and were very serious about turning up for their "shifts". In the last week of school when the kids were loitering around classrooms getting given jobs by teachers, both girls were requested at the library to help catalogue the new home readers. Hilarious. 

I came to school in my staff week to find this little beauty on my classroom door. I rescued him, took this selfie and he promptly jumped on my head. Managed to get him into a nearby garden to hopefully live out a full and happy life; it honestly made my day. 

Even when my school year wrapped up (a week earlier than the girls), I wasn't resting. Typically, I volunteered to help coordinate the Community Carols event hosted by the girls' school. It was a lot of work, easily twice the size of last year, but it made my heart oh so full to see the churches of the area coming together to celebrate Christmas and serve the community. 

After that, I spent the week packing things up and sorting things out and then Steve and I went off to Bundy for a quick one night (the girls started their holidays with sleepovers at grandparents) to celebrate Steve's sister's 30th. 

I got to make the cake. Which was a lot of fun. 

We had thought we were going to miss our Street Christmas Party (being in Bundy) but the Saturday night in Brisbane was so rainy they ended up postponing until the next day. Hooray! Steve and I could make it after all. The girls had made oreo truffles and my contribution to the food was this mango and avo sushi platter. 

Mango sushi - so delicious! 

Speaking of food, the following Saturday my family got together to celebrate what would have been my Pa-Pou's 100th birthday but also, 100 years of the Greek Faros Family in Australia. We all made greek food and had a lovely evening together. I contributed this bread which was just delicious. 

It was really lovely to be together sharing food and memories. I heard a language teacher recently mention that they feel bi-cultural, and I think I often feel that way. Growing up in Australia but with a strong connection to our Greek heritage. It's even more confused now with how influenced we are by my Japanese experiences, but I think it's something to embrace. What is God's vision of the future if not a city where every nation and every tongue is represented?  

Steve has continued sweating it out at Jiu-Jitsu each week, despite some injuries this year to level up to his purple belt. It's been over four years of training and he still loves it. Sophie had a six month break but has decided to give it another shot and now we can't keep her away - even in the heat of summer. 

Both girls helped to paint some Christmas decos for Church this year and Rachel is pretty proud of her little cow in the nativity scene. 

I have sewn so much - lots of presents and then just lots of little things. Actually looking forward to cataloging those as well (it kind gives January an easy start having all these things made and ready to blog about :P), just have to find the time. 

I'll finish this post of somewhat random collection of things with what I consider to be the Quote of the Year from Rachel. Last week, the girls had come with me to grab some groceries and we drove past school. I mentioned that the playground was dismantled (the P&C are funding a new one next year). Rachel says: "Oh that playground. I didn't play there much because it was always infested with children."

Bunting and Cake

Steve and I have entered the phase of our lives where the people around us are all having mile-stone birthdays. Turning 40 and stuff. I guess our turn is soon enough, but it was definitely a moment for consideration. 40? Really? 

Anyway, as with any big party, while most other people are thinking "Who do I invite?" or "What do I wear?", I'm thinking: do we have bunting for this? (Well, firstly "What food will we make?" of course, but the bunting is a very close second.)

Sarah was turning 40 and obviously needed bunting for her party. Even though I'd made bunting for her 30th, they were going for a "fancy cocktail theme" this time, so wanted some matching bunting for it. I didn't promise, given the "middle of term" nature of the party, but when it came to it, I did find six hours to sit at the sewing machine and make a new batch of bunting to suit. 

Bunting. So great. 

Our local Spotlight was actually closing down (just relocating) so I managed to get a good bargain on the fabric which was good. When you are trying to make specific themed bunting, it's much harder to source the material from stuff you already have. In the end, I was going for a black/gold look and I think I achieved it? 

Sarah liked it in any case. 

Ironically, when I asked her what cake she wanted me to make, she asked for the same one she did for her 30th - the Black Forrest Cake. I didn't think to look for that recipe at the time, but I still managed to find and use the exact same one, but with a few adjustments to make it more "actual cake" and less "goopy mess of cream and cherries". 

The little mini cupcakes were actually vegan friendly. I made them with the usual Shadowlands Cupcake recipe from Sophie's Bluey Cookbook, but added some of the cherry mix for flavour and then decorated to tie it in. Actually delicious and the fresh cherries were pretty sensational. 

Success for cakes too! 

Happy Birthday older sister! I guess if you are now 40, I'll definitely be there soon. :P 

Farewell to Single Digits

Just like that, Rachel is 10. 

As with Sophie, we celebrated with a room make over for the birthday girl. Rachel is a bit of a hoarder of the most random stuff, so I was honestly pretty stoked to have a reason to completely empty her room and start with a clean slate. She had a lot of random boxes that she often just piled things into that I was resolute were not returning. We emptied it all out into the living room and I began painting.

Thankfully, Rachel did come to the party and the clean out was not too painful. I think it helped that a couple of weeks earlier, Maria had done a sewing machine upgrade and given her old one to Rachel. Within half an hour of having it, the sewing machine was set up and making heat packs, which was great, but Rachel did notice that it was tricky with all the other stuff on her desk. 

The colour chosen for the feature wall (done with much less deliberation than Sophie) was Hot Pop Blue. I was a little dubious, but on the wall it just looks bright and fresh. Also a bit Greek Island holiday. She used birthday money to buy her desk and is planning on a cow-themed chair or curtains too. 

Rachel has been leaning hard into her love of cows for at least the last twelve months. She's had her beloved cow Moo-Moo since Christmas of 2019 and Mini Moo-Moo since January last year. Maybe it was Mini Moo-Moo that really increased her interest in these funny animals. In any case, when it came to her birthday cake, she asked for a cow. 

And I delivered. 

We had a family afternoon tea with onigiri, cheese twists, fruit, pumpkin scones and a cheese board. All easy fare and enough kids among all the cousins and family friends to keep everyone occupied for a couple of hours of eating and playing. 

Happy birthday Rachel. We love you; crazy, cows, double digits and all. 

One of Those Cakes

Some days, you've just got to make a cake. Rachel went off for a play a couple of Saturdays ago, but upon arriving at her friends house, things unfortunately did not turn out as she had hoped. Her friend was there, with nothing to do, but it still being only 9:30 in the morning on a Saturday, didn't feel ready to actually have a play. Poor Rachel came home in tears. 

What's a mum to do, but suggest some quality one on one cooking time. Surely cake will fix everything? If not, it will come pretty darn close. Coincidently, a day or two before, Rachel had seen this video of cake making on YouTube, and so requested to make something similar. Why not? 

We made a very thin chocolate and vanilla cake (as well as a round of cupcakes) and let them cool. Then she cut circles and stacked them to make mini layer cakes. 

We had fun making a ganache to cover them (Rachel was pretty excited when she found out she could ice a cake with something made of chocolate and cream) and then I let her go to town decorating with icing and flowers that we had in the cupboard leftover from her birthday. 

This cake was just what we needed. Especially starting back to school for term three that week. Just what the doctor ordered. If the doctor were me, and cake were medicine. 

Getting ready to write this post, I realised the last spontaneous cake we made was the Duck Cake back in 2021! And before that, was the Just Because Cake in April of the same year. The world needs more cake. 

Could be though, that we haven't been making as many because Sophie has been in the kitchen much more. She made a spontaneous purchase of a Bluey Cookbook (I think back in the Easter holidays) and has been quite inspired in the kitchen ever since. 

Another reason could be that we have all been too busy reading to need to make a cake "just because". I for sure, know of no better escape from reality and am so glad to have this shared love for books with my family. 

More on that reading next time I hope. See you then!

Rachel Turns Nine

This month has been pretty busy but the highlight has to have been celebrating Rachel. Now that she's finally riding a bike, it's hard to get her off it, so we gifted her a bike basket. She decorated it with butterflies from Nana and some star beads. 

While I get older and am personally less concerned for birthdays, they really do bring a little something special to our lives. Especially when you can make a cake for it. 

Rachel chose the piano cake from the Australian Women's Weekly Birthday Cake Book this year. I had the same when I turned nine. Coincidence? Probably. White chocolate kit kats really do make it super easy to make. 

Her birthday fell on the last day of school, so we invited her friends to hang out at the park after school finished for the term. They ate snacks and cupcakes (complete with Rachel's signature insects on them) and ran rampant in the park together. It was some beautiful chaos that I was glad to see. 

Measuring Time

I was honestly not sure I'd get any posts out in February this year, but I've found myself with an hour to spare so I'm figuring, why not. Time to catch up on some things I guess. 

Sophie had a birthday in Jan this year which was a bit of a milestone. Double digits. Can it be true? Must be, because the earth is still turning and we are still measuring time by rotations around that sun, so here we are: 10. 

For her birthday, this cool kid got a fun family afternoon at South Bank with a chill BBQ dinner and lots of chocolate cake. 

Her present this year was a room makeover, which we asked the family to contribute to so Sophie could have some autonomy over it, in lieu of usual presents. So just before I spent 40 plus hours painting the ground at the girls school for a week, I spent ten hours painting Sophie's room. 

We had gone to Bunnings and looked at paint colours together in December. Sophie had selected a range which came home and were stuck up on her wall for consideration. Slowly she would remove the ones she didn't want until she decided on the Tsunami colour for her feature wall. Since I was painting the feature wall, it made sense to repaint all the others to match the house while I was at it. 

After that, Sophie had a bit of cash to use to decorate. She chose to buy some LED lights, a Squirrel Girl poster and the white desk you can see in the corner. Other family gave her things for the room - the cute lantern balls, the light box, the collage art on the door. Sophie had fun setting it all up and making it hers. 

Lastly, she had a park play date with her small group of core friends on a Friday in the holidays. Since they are all avid Wings of Fire fans, I took them to the park with the dragons, and Sophie had a dragon guarding her cake, which was full of all the chocolate treasure a girl could want.