:: birthday fun! ::

Well the girls have had their fair share of candle-blowing, treats and gifts over the last few days! We had a fun, relaxed day yesterday for their birthday, spending much of it at home due to plans for the afternoon being put off because of the rain. But that was ok. I pulled off some last-minute plans with the afternoon tea and we later went down the mountain, picked up Eti after work and went to IKEA for dinner. Discovering, in the process, that Tuesday nights from 5-7pm at IKEA is one of the best times to go - hardly anyone around and great for two excited little girls to run wild!

Here are some of our fun and funny birthday moments from the special day for our two-year-olds:


Preparing a batch of strawberry cream cupcakes the night before...

Starting the day off with a little present opening...

Enjoying some special breakfast tresse (Swiss braided bread)...and a little bunny (a.k.a. 'billah') loving!

I love this expression on Amélie's face! It's ok, she wasn't choking...

 Wearing our cute Spanish aprons from Rita...

...and the fans too!

 Some moments of concentrated artistry with our new big pencils (I think she's going to be a left-hander)...

Amélie, being a current lotion-lover, climbed up to where I had been making sandwiches and started trying to rub the mayonnaise on her face. It did look a lot like the lotion tube!

What ensued shortly afterwards was an energetic climbing session onto anything that was climable in the room. So in an effort to stay sane while preparing lunch, I gave them a slice of cucumber each. They didn't eat them but had some fun and giggles with Superma on skype who was pretending to eat them! 

During the after-lunch nap I quickly decorated the gingerbreadmen and cupcakes...

...and as I heard the girls stirring, and the rain was pouring down outside, I decided last-minute to go back to plan A and quickly put together a special table for our afternoon tea. As it has been since suggested, I think this will become one of our birthday traditions!

We ended the day with the fun visit to one of my favourite places...IKEA. I hadn't been for a while (surprisingly...but also due to the fact that we're moving this year and we don't need any more stuff!). The girls loved it after their initial shyness in the kid's area wore off. We even met another pair of identical twin girls who had had a similar risky start to life. There was a good dose of chip and meatball eating, accompanied by lots of running to and fro into the toy area, finding toy puppies to take on adventures...and a bit of daddy chasing in the light department to round off what had been a pleasant day of celebrating two special lives!