The Captain and Harry Potter

 So has anyone actually read past book 3?  Anyone over the age of 25 that is?  He read books 1 and 2 last week and is halfway through book 3 now.  At this rate he will have finished them all in a few weeks time.  Apparently some of the later books have themes for an older audience and I have had a number of well meaning people suggest that I stop him from reading the rest of the series.  (He is 7 turning 8 at the end of October).  I am loath to interfere in his reading interests though.  Considering that I put up with his previous obsession with Beast Quest when I have spent a lifetime amassing a collection like this:

And that, my fellow collectors isn't even a quarter of it ( just some of my favourites!), which he could have worked his way through instead but has shown only a fleeting interest in.  Sniff.  Anyone with any thoughts on this?  Am I going to end up with a child having nightmares about you know who?  

Best Birthday Party Ever - The Busytown Birthday Party

We have all been super sick here at Pirate HQ.  Three visits to the GP, two at home visits from the after hours Doctor and one little Pirate with a fever so high he started hallucinating, kind of sick.  Possibly the real flu our GP thinks.  Nevertheless, by Thursday evening we were given the all clear and so decided to go ahead and have The Best Birthday Party Ever! 

Thursday and Friday were thus spent whipping up all sorts of brightly coloured party food.  Remarkably almost all of it was made with natural colours!

I couldn't bring myself to bake the ubiquitous rainbow cake though, he got a basic butter cake with 100s and 1000s on top instead!

Felt Lowly Worms from Scarry's  Best Make It Book Ever he did get though! He adored them and sat watching me make them fascinated by the process. (They are super easy if any one is scared of giving it a go!)

The cup cake toppers I made using a scrap booking hole punch thing from Spotlight, double sided sticky tape, toothpicks and a dog-eared, scribbled all over copy of an old Scarry Golden Book.

We set up a play Busytown using the Thomas train tracks turned over to the road side and various wooden cars and trucks.  Running down the centre of the table we had the fold out Busytown Lift the Flap Book.

Party games included the great Goldbug scavenger hunt.  I gathered all the kids together and showed them how in Cars and Trucks and Things that Go there is a Goldbug hidden on every page.  Then explained that they had to go and find all the Goldbugs hidden in the garden.  

There was also the great sack race.....

     
                                                                  ..... which did end in tears....

Happy Birthday Mr 4!

Photo Challenge - Day 11

"Something blue"

Apologies for the interruption in service!  It has not stopped raining in Sydney for the duration of the long weekend and we have C.A.B.I.N.F.E.V.E.R!  Back to the photo challenge though, I found these gorgeous Eric Carle flash cards at an Op Shop the other day and I have been trying to decide what to do with them.  I am leaning towards framing them and hanging them in the new playroom...

or should I just leave them as flashcards and let the boys play with them?  

They are so pretty that either way they will be well loved!

Two lovely things happened to me today!

Which is especially lovely as I have a horrible flu like cold at the moment! 

                         Lovely thing number one:

In the mail arrived my first giveaway win ever, infact my only win ever!!!! I won a copy of The Outside Boy on Julia's fabulous blog and I am so looking forward to reading it!  Thank you Julia!

 Lovely thing number two:

I popped into our local Salvo's store (my favourite shop EVER) and look what I found!!!!  A perfect, unchipped immaculate Carlton Ware single flower plate.  AAAAHHHH!  Rufus Wainwright was singing the chorus from Hallelujah in my head as I walked out of the shop!!!!  I have been collecting Carlton Ware since my early university days and I have been looking for one of these plates for a LONG time.  I feel better already.

Book worms - hurrah!

I adore books, I collect them, I read them voraciously (and have done since I was a little girl), I have even insisted that we investigate the local library options before any house purchases! So when I see the boys are starting to share a similar love of reading and books it makes me feel tremendously good!

It truly warms my heart to see them cuddled up together enjoying a book.