Mothers Day

This photo was taken a few months ago, but it's a favourite. I love how it shows the girls snuggled in close. It's always the way. We have lots of seating in our living-room at home, but we are always squished together on the one couch!

Mothers Day started for me with two little voices in the dark, waking me with a sweet song of 'Happy Mothers Day, Mummy'. Then they rushed to recover the presents for me that they had hidden around the house. I was given four presents... the girls gave me a set of socks each (the story behind this requires it's own blog post), Nick gave me some new winter Pyjamas and the baby gave me a new red leather handbag! Nick went out to pick up a hot breakfast for us and then it was time to prepare for the Mothers Day lunch we hosted at our place... 

Nick's Mum & Dad were the first to arrive and the girls were very happy to see Nanny for her special day; 

One day after school last week, the girls did paintings of both their grandma's, Mimi and Nanny;

Nanny, on opening her framed portrait;

Lunch was informal. I used a roll of craft paper as a tablecloth;

I popped some flowers in ikea vases and the little nests were simple centrepieces;

The nests were found at The Cooks Garden where Nick and I had lunch on Friday. I had grand plans to make some nests using twigs and sticks from our garden, but Nick was the voice of reason (and perhaps knew it would never happen!) and we bought some instead;

The eggs were bought at the $2 shop... they looked so real, my four year old nephew asked to eat one for lunch!

The aim of our Mothers Day lunch is always to keep it as simple as possible, so us Mums - who usually do all the work in the kitchen, get a break. My only contribution was this starter... 

...a cob loaf with spinach dip which I only started making 5 minutes prior to our guests arrival. 

Nick bought some roast chickens and with a few homemade salads...

...we had ourselves a lovely, delicious lunch!

The highlight of the day for the girls was watching Nanny pedal her little legs as fast as she could, on their Smart Cycle bike! 

It was given to us last week, by a friend's Mum down the street. It plugs into the TV and as you ride through various scenery, you score points for number games, alphabet recognition, pattern sequencing and various other things. It has been a hit for the girls (and they have never slept so well, after their marathon rides!) and obviously a hit for their grandmother too;

Elly had to hold her tummy she was laughing so much!

Jan, sorry to put up so many pictures of you on the bike, but Elly's face is priceless.... I'm sure her long-lasting memories of you will include all these funny things you did with your grandchildren. Livvie still talks about you doing the dancing competition on the Wii two Christmasses ago!

Saving the best for last, we had this beautiful White Chocolate Mudcake that Nanny made;

...and the chocolate Guylian seashells were a nice touch, Thanks Nick... (I think I ate half of them!)

After our long lunch, Nick and I had an announcement to make - a little Mothers Day surprise for our girls and our family...we revealed the gender of our baby!

This was taken last week, and no it's not twins!

My brother-in-law thought that was the surprise! 

I am always curious to know if others have found out their baby's gender before the birth... did you? Would you? We were both curious at the last scan, so we asked our doctor and I must say, it has been wonderful knowing! It really does help with daydreaming about our baby and imagining life after the arrival. It's been hard to keep it a secret! Would you like to know? I am wondering if I should put it on the blog, or if you can you wait until October to find out...