What a week. It all started on the 28/07/04, which was Paul's birthday, we had a very busy day, getting his cake ready and his special dinner. Paul likes black forest cake and we had German food for dinner, also his favorite.

Then the next day the 29/07/04, was Connor's birthday and this was special because it was his first birthday. So the preparations began again this time it was for Saturday as we had a birthday party and Naming ceremony planned.

In all of this madness Talia was feeling very excited and a little bemused. So trying to keep her calm and centered was very difficult. The day before the party was fraught with lots of cooking, decorating and cleaning. I prepared and cooked all the food on the Friday. The cakes we made on the Thursday so they would be ready for decorating the next day. We made two candles for the naming ceremony, and a snake for the birthday cake. The snake we were working on until 1am on Saturday, then we had another couple of hours on Saturday morning to finish the snake. Unfortunately we had a small disaster; we finished the snake and had gone on to cleaning up when Paul noticed that the snake had collapsed. The snake originally had its head resting on top of its body, but due to the weather warming up as the morning went along, the icing softened and it fell down. Luckily it wasn't too bad and we rearranged the snake so that it lay flat instead, all was saved. The decorating came along really well and the kids were getting very excited. Connor went and had a little nap and Talia went to the hairdresser to have a trim and get her hair braided, she looked really pretty. When she arrived home she changed into her party dress, minus the shoes and all the fun began. People started arriving at 2.30pm and by 3.30pm all but my Uncle were at the house. So the ceremony began as Connor was not happy to be trust up in his suit. He likes to be free and cool. The ceremony went off without too much disruption. Talia did not like that Connor was getting all the attention, so she ran riot, and made lots of noise, but fortunately our celebrant kept going and Greta helped to keep Talia occupied. After the ceremony it was down to party business, eating, drinking and being merry. Mum and I cooked all the food and made the salads. There was plenty to eat and drink and everyone had a great time. Talia got impatient and went around telling people they had had enough and took their plates away. She wanted to sing happy birthday to Connor.

When people left they were given a party bag, which consisted of a glass bowl with a peice of the snake and some lindt chocolates. It was a very stressful, exciting and happy day.

My one regret was that my Father could not be with us due to business commitments overseas, but he has been kept upto date via email.