next... on the beltway

Congratulations to our darling Nicolas who after much perseverance (and pain*), finally received his Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do. So proud of this little boy. 

*unbeknownst at the time, Nic completed his test with a fractured wrist!

8 is great

 Our lovely Nic turned 8 years old today! 
Nic was overjoyed with the day - loving (most) every moment of it. Homework was made (a little) more tolerable when he was able to read one of his new books. 

I met Nic for lunch at school and brought him a Spanakopita and Lemon Bar from Chef Nancy's. I dropped off some treats to share with his classmates (boring pre-made chocolate bars to deal with school's new no-home-made/must-be-labelled/allergy-free policy).

As per his request, I made Nic spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. Paul made a spectacular layer cake with lime and lemon layers sandwiched with fresh cream and lemon curd.

What a big handsome boy he is now. I had a giggle after finding this movie of him recently. He looked like a real wheeler-and-dealer at almost 15 months... speaking Nicolese of course. 

11 11 11 - Remembering Nic's birthday

Another occasion to celebrate. Our lovely Nicolas turns a great big whopping 6 years old! Congratulations dear son. Nic's birthday falls upon Remembrance (Poppy) Day in Australia - and Veteran's Day in the US.

Given the elementary school had requested students dress in red, white and blue as a sign of respect for Veterans, I felt it only fitting to make birthday cakes for Nic's classmates in the same color scheme. Same old banana cupcakes with cream cheese frosting - always a favorite as we often seem to end up with a few bananas that are only really suitable for cakes.

Today was a chance to reminisce a little....

Nic was induced as he was 9 days late. Being late was not such a great issue except for the following facts: my parents had been hanging out for two weeks in our very small cottage, waiting to 'help out' with the new baby - and were eager to return home (as a friend had died while they were away); it was a Friday and my obstetrician wasn't 'on call' over the weekend; I'd had a tough time with sciatica and back pain and really was 'ready'; and importantly, we were in the process of getting visas for Paul to work in the US and the baby was delaying this (No baby = no birth certificate. No birth certificate = no passport. No passport = no plane tickets. No plane tickets = no visa. No visa = no job!). So - it was decided - bring on the baby!

Remembrance day seemed to be a good birthdate - particularly for the US - where dates are written in reverse order - it would make (and has made) writing Nic's birthdate a whole lot easier to fill out on forms.

The midwives and obstetrician wanted to know if I was going to observe the minutes silence, required at 11am on Remembrance Day... Of course, that was a question asked with a very real risk of retaliation / inflicted pain (verbal or otherwise)... If you have ever met a woman in labor before, you will understand what I mean.

If Nic had popped out as a female, I wanted to name the baby 'Poppy' - as I thought this would be a fitting name given the baby's birthday.