We recently celebrated our littlest mister’s third birthday, and I wanted to share some pictures of his special day. He is dinosaur CRAZED, so the theme was easy for him to pick, and we were so lucky that dinosaurs seem to be everywhere for party favours, decorations and food at the moment.

The biggest difficulty was his dinosaur themed volcano cake that I was adamant I wanted to have erupt because I knew he would be beside himself about it – if I could pull it off.  I was lucky enough to find this amazing blog post from Oh So Delicioso on the erupting volcano cake she did for her son using jelly and dry ice. We wanted to have the cake still be edible so wanted to steer away from the bicarb and vinegar option. It worked really well and was such a hit for the party, and most importantly, Smith thought it was the best! On the bottom layer of the cake, we buried white chocolate fossils, which everyone had a lot of fun uncovering as they ate.

I am going to put up video’s of the cake in action over on my Pinterest, and I will link here if you wanted to check it out.

We also had activities set up to entertain the guests, a sandpit full of dinosaur fossils my kiddies made, and we also hid dinosaur eggs around our garden that they could break up using tools and find a dinosaur inside. We were able to get these from Kmart. We also made some eggs by freezing dinosaurs in water balloons filled with frozen water (obviously), which we just cut the balloons off on the day, for them to break up as well – using littlE (and completely safe) plastic chisels.

I wish I had taken more pictures, as we had a lot of signs up with dinosaur puns and the party favours also looked pretty cool. I made dinosaur dough and made labels for some plain bubbles also. We had green raptor juice and pretty much everything I could find on Pinterest, including the party hats for toy dinosaurs.

It was lots of fun to create everything and most importantly, Smith had a wonderful time. I huge thank you to our family and friends for making it so special for him.

And so our questions for each of Smithy’s birthdays begins.  Where has my baby gone?  *sob*

What is your name?  Mithy. Hayden Mark Taylor.
How old are you?  Free!
What is the weather like today?  Outside it rains
How tall are you?  Bigger than Buddy
What is your favourite colour?  Ah.  Ah. *Clacks tongue*  Umm.. Hmm.. *Goes for stroll*  Green.
What is your favourite toy?  Helicopter
What is your favourite fruit?  Grapes.
What is your favourite snack?  I don’t know.  Ummm… Maybe yoghurt?
What is your favourite drink?  Ummmaaa Water.
What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Toast.  Actually sonts.  (crossiants)
What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch? *Just smiles*
What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Yoghurt.  Actually no.  Chicken Wraps.
What food do you really dislike?  I don’t want Spaghetti ever again!
What is your favourite TV Show?  Aladdin
What is your favourite Movie? (crossly) I said Aladdin!!  I am Aladdin.
What is your favourite thing to wear?  Dinosaurs
What is your favourite sport? Fishing
What is your favourite animal? Giraffe.
What is your favourite song?  We Are The Champions, Queen
What is your favourite book?  Piranha’s Don’t Eat Banana’s
What’s the funniest word you know?  *Puts fingers on chin…* Hmmm…
Who do you love?  Daddy.  And Daddy likes me.
What is your favourite memory?  Watermelon pizza.  So yummy.
Who is your biggest hero?  Owen.  (From Jurassic World)
What makes you happy?  Watermelons.
What makes you sad?  No just make me happy.
Who is your best friend?  Ah.  Charlie. (also from Jurassic World)
What is your favourite thing to do outside? Jump on the trampoline
What is your favourite thing to do with Mummy?  Go to the supermarket.
What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy?  Ride my bike.
What is your favourite thing to do with Judd? I don’t know.
What is your favourite thing to do with Ellie?  I don’t know.
What is your favourite holiday?  I don’t know.  Only whistles.
What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Oh yeah I know that.  Mummy.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  Owen.
How many kids do you want to have when you are older? Eight.
What car would you like to drive when you are older? Mummy or Daddys.
If you could choose a superpower, what would you choose? Anything like Baby Jack Jack!  (from The Incredibles)
What’s your favourite joke? Can we please stop doing this, okay Mummy?
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  The supermarket
What do you want for dinner for your birthday?  Restaurant.
What is your favourite present?  Dinosaurs!
What did you learn this year? Don’t draw on the couch.
If a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish for?
1. To be with everybodies
2. The genie to sing all the songs
3. Then I would be happy once he left me alone.
What’s the best thing about being you? I’m Mithy!
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you lately?  My birthday party!

And just like that, Judd is six!  Here is the usual yearly update 🙂

What is your name?  Judd.
How old are you?  Six.
What is the weather like today?  Looks kinda dry.  A bit cloudy.
How tall are you?  About this big (1.17 meters)
What is your favourite colour?  Red.
What is your favourite toy?  Motorbike
What is your favourite fruit?  Banana.
What is your favourite snack?  Oreo’s.
What is your favourite drink?  Apple Juice 
What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Croissants
What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch? Snack Trays and Fruit Salad.
What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Chicken Wraps.
What food do you really dislike?  Pear.
What is your favourite TV Show?  Star Wars Rebel Wars.
What is your favourite Movie? Wreck It Ralph.
What is your favourite thing to wear?  My Ninja Turtle T-Shirt.
What is your favourite sport? Auskick.
What is your favourite animal?  Snakes and Lizards.
What is your favourite song?  I’m Still Standing from Sing
What is your favourite book?  Ninjago.
What’s the funniest word you know?  Diplodocus
Who do you love?  Mummy and Daddy.
What is your favourite memory?  Going to the zoo and Kings Park with school when Mummy and Daddy were parent help.
Who is your biggest hero?  Daddy and Mummy.
What makes you happy?  When someone shows me a funny face.
What makes you sad?  When people don’t play with me.
Who is your best friend?  Charlie, Jacob, Mantra and Mikayla.
What is your favourite subject at school? My favourite time is free play when we get to play with the animal jungle.
What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Play catch with Daddy.
What is your favourite thing to do with Mummy?  When we walk to the park.
What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy?  Bike Riding.
What is your favourite thing to do with Ellie?  When we pretend Santa’s coming and we have to sleep.
What is your favourite thing to do with Smith? Same as what we do with Ellie because we all play together.
What is your favourite holiday? Going to the beach.
What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Little Ted.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  A police.
How many kids do you want to have when you are older? Five
What car would you like to drive when you are older? A race car.  It has to be a car with a spoiler.  Or just a work car will do.
If you could choose a superpower, what would you choose? Forcefield and to be able to shoot lightning out of my hands.  Don’t you think it would be cool to glow in the dark as well.  Plus I want to be able to change colours of things and go invisible.
What’s your favourite joke? Knock Knock, Who’s there?  Leaf.  Leaf me alone. (Big grins)
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  The Amazon.
What do you want for dinner for your birthday?  Take out.
What is your favourite present?  My fitbit watch.
What did you learn this year? How tall a T-Rex is.  Which is about as tall as a brachiosaurus, just a little bit littlier.
If a genie gave you three wishes, what would you wish for?
1. A real life go-kart
2. A rocket booster on the back of me
3. Having a real pet dinosaur
What’s the best thing about being you? I’m the fastest runner.
What’s the best thing that’s happened to you lately?  Having my birthday!

What is your name?  E for Eloise
How old are you?  Four.  (Pronounced whore lol)
What is your favourite colour?  Pink
What is your favourite toy?  Jesse.
What is your favourite fruit?  Ummm… blueberries and strawberries and grapes and lemonade.
What is your favourite snack?  Crackers and sultana’s
What is your favourite drink?  Ummm… Apple Juice.
What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Pancakes that Daddy makes.
What is your favourite thing to eat for lunch?  Noodles. Yes.  Mummy, what is your favourite food to eat for lunch?
What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Pizza.  Yes.
What food do you really dislike?  Avocado’s.  I’m allergic to them.
What is your favourite TV Show?  This is the Greatest Show.
What is your favourite thing to wear?  My rainbow dress.
What is your favourite game?  Tag you’re it!  And sometimes Judd kinda goes faster than me.  But I go fast.
What is your favourite animal?  Elephants.
What is your favourite song?  I like …  Let me think.  I like Jasmine.  I like all the rapunzel songs too.
What is your favourite book?  I love Hairy McLairy and We’re Going on a Bear Hunt.  Mummy, what book do you like?  And I like the earth book too.
Who do you love?  Mikayla.  And my brothers.  My brothers names are Smith and Juddy. I’d like a baby sister.  Daddy.  and E for Eloise.  Mummy.  I love you all the way to the moon and back again three times.
What is your favourite memory?  When Rapunzel came to my house.
Who is your biggest hero?  Supergirl.  No Hulk.  And wonder woman.
What makes you happy?  Going to Mikayla’s house.
What makes you sad?  I can’t remember.
Who is your best friend?  Mikayla and Stella.
What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Jumping in the trampoline with Daddy.
What is your favourite thing to do with Mummy?  Jump in the trampoline.
What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy?  Jump in the trampoline.
What is your favourite thing to do with Juddy?  Play catch the ball.
What is your favourite thing to do with Smithy? Tickles.
What is your favourite holiday? Going to Smiths beach.
What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  Bamboo.  Her racoon from RiffRaff&Co
What do you want to be when you grow up?  I wanna be a fireman.  I wanna be super strong.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  I could go to see the Elephants?
What do you want for dinner for your birthday?  Dino Snacks.
What is your favourite present?  My bike.

Just a few pics of Smith’s BB8 cake, I got this idea from Pinterest, and the one on there looks much better than this!  But I tried 😂

– My smallest human has turned 2, and he is convinced that he is going to skip turning 2 and just turn 3 instead. He is desperate to be as big as the other kids!

– he is 10kgs and 79cms tall. He is still in size 1 clothes and some pants are 0’s coz he is tiny.

– He has a 2- 3 hour sleep during the day, and generally sleeps during the night unless it’s the week of the full moon 😳🙄

– he is talking in short sentences, can count to 6, and knows a few colours. He loves to sing and knows the words to all the songs from The Greatest Showman. He says things like, ‘Judd’ (constantly) ‘Ellie, or ELOISE’ (if she isn’t listening) Mummy, Daddy, love you, see you later lalligator, and Bye Babboon (instead of see you soon you big baboon which is awkward.) He will say things like ‘Juddy at school’ or ‘put it in there’ or ‘summing to eat peas’ (something to eat please) and has always refused to say Ta, opting for thank you always. He loves singing Happy Birthday, especially the Hip hip hooray bit, and he knows his fruits and vegetables and all of his items of clothing. He loves shoes.

– Reads a shortened, but highly animated version of ‘Piranha’s Don’t Eat Banana’s’ by Aaron Blabey. No word of a lie I have video evidence 😂

– I cut his hair last month and have probably trimmed it three to four times since! He had quite long blonde curls, but since cutting it his hair has really thickened. Still wavy bits now and then..

– He loves Nursery Rhymes, like Rockabye Your Bear and when we play ‘round and round the garden’

– loves spotting for planes and birdy’s. We took him to the airport viewing deck for his birthday weekend and he loved it!

– loves making pancakes with Daddy on the weekends, even if he is always a bit too forceful cracking the egg in and a little too generous with his taste test.

– is fantastic at jumping now, he loves to jump almost as much as he loves to run and have races.

– can scooter and throw a ball really well.

– has the most expressive face I have ever seen. He will look at you from underneath his lashes, out of the corner of his eye, or make his eyes big and wide, usually all as a reaction to his cheeky behavior.

– desperately wants to go to school like Judd… scary when he is a July baby and misses the cut off so will end waiting until 2021! But he wants to do everything his big brother does and will copy him any chance he gets.

– loves eating my food, which means he eats a lot of salad, spinach, kale, quinoa and chia. Lol. Also loves his daily protein shake 🙄 meanwhile I have a mouthful of my food to his plateful and still I put on more weight than him! #hungry

– we weaned him off breastmilk (and by we I mean my amazing hubby did the hard yards for 2 weeks while I slept like the dead) basically by introducing coconut water as an alternative just under six months ago now. He has always loved coconut water and doesn’t like normal milk, so that helped the transition.

– somersaults into his cot for sleeps and thinks that’s the best thing ever!

– He may be cheeky and take up so much of my time, but he will still come and ask me to sit with him and have cuddles on the regular, and press his cheek to mine. He will stroke my face and tell me the quietest stories. He is really great at hugs. He will always kiss someone better that he has hurt. Accidentally or purposely. He is the youngest of three after all 😳 and he looks up to everyone in our family and I know he just wants to do everything we do already. Given he is the baby, and will always be, what I would give for him to slow down! But also, i’m not sad that he isn’t a baby anymore, coz this next part is a lot of fun and also just easier. And harder. But not 3 under 3 and a half hard anymore. 3 under 5 and a half is just more doable.

This is is my last couch update before the kids take over. I’ve been doing this on a pretty much monthly basis for 5 and a half years. Thanks for reading along. You can check out my posts of Judd’s first two years here, and Ellie’s start here.

I have seen so many of these gorgeous number cakes on Pinterest that I had to give it a go!  I have been looking for an excuse for ages, but my 5 year old wasn’t interested for his birthday.  Which was fair enough 🙂
Today is my anniversary though, 16 years together and 8 years married to my husband, so I thought a ‘sweet sixteen’ cake, was a cute idea.

I based this on the Easter Bunny Cream Tart recipe from loveswah.com

The biscuit base recipe was brilliant, but the icing recipe isn’t overly tasty, nor firm enough in my opinion.  Next time I would probably go for a tastier type of meringue that would hold a little better.  It is still quite warm in Oz though, so I’m not sure if that has a lot to do with the icing not being as firm as it should be.

Have you made one of these cakes?  It’s such a pretty centrepiece, almost too good to eat!

I can’t believe my firstborn is half a decade old!

We ask him questions on his birthday every year, I have attached the questions and answers from his fourth birthday here.

What is your name?  Judd Taylor.
How old are you?  Five.
What is your favourite colour?  White and Black. I like Green.
What is your favourite toy?  Dinosaurs.
What is your favourite fruit?  Mango.
What is your favourite snack?  Crackers and Quince Paste.
What is your favourite drink?  Apple Juice (poor deprived child never gets to have this!)
What is your favourite thing to eat for breakfast?  Waffles with frozen blueberries and frozen raspberries.
What is your favourite thing to eat for dinner?  Chicken Wraps.
What food do you really dislike?  Ummm… Banana’s
What is your favourite TV Show?  Share the Love Logo.
What is your favourite thing to wear?  My camouflage shirt.
What is your favourite game?  Catch the ball with the mitt.
What is your favourite animal?  Pterodactyls and Snakes.
What is your favourite song?  The Mob Song
What is your favourite book?  The Chapter Book we read last year. (The Folk of the Faraway Tree)
Who do you love?  Charlie (his friend from school)
What is your favourite memory?  Swimming in the pool and when Noah comes over for dinner.
Who is your biggest hero?  Noah
What makes you happy?  Toys.
What makes you sad?  Having dinner when I don’t like the food.
Who is your best friend?  Noah and Charlie. All my friends in my school.
What is your favourite thing to do outside?  Run around and jump on the trampoline.
What is your favourite thing to do with Mummy?  Ride our bikes together.
What is your favourite thing to do with Daddy?  Fishing on the docks or at the sea.
What is your favourite thing to do with Ellie?  When we make the bedrooms dark and use our torches and pretend to have sleepovers.
What is your favourite thing to do with Smith? Play with the ball together.
What is your favourite holiday? One that has a sunrise. I loved going to Smith’s Beach.
What do you like to take to bed with you at night?  My rabbit.
What do you want to be when you grow up?  A helicopter pilot.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?  To Smith’s Beach, because I loved it there.
What do you want for dinner for your birthday?  Pizza!
What is your favourite present?  My skateboard.
What did you learn this year? I learned how to play nice in the home corner and how to write my name.