1. August 2013 Updates: Alma’s 3 rd birthday!

2. The week Alma turned 3 years old it was mid winter and she was having a horrible cold. Despite having 40 C fever the night before we decided not to cancel the party, as only her uncles from Bondi were invited and I already prepared everything for an “Upsy Daisy” themed celebration (Alma calls the doll “Lola” or “Lela” as she doesn’t watch the TV show). Hahgoot worked hard on a card and presents (left).

3. Alma, who was horribly sick, was in a great mood all through the party. Debbie brought the girls cool soft animal masks from her recent trip to England. Too cute!

4. Alma’s favourite part was opening the mountain of presents... Hahgoot helped her read all the cards (and translated from English when needed). As you can clearly see, Alma fell in love with Penny the doll (a gift from aunt Debbie) at first sight!

5. Barak got her a “Hello Kitty” watch and purse set and uncle Menash played the “rich uncle” and gave her some money to put in... She was thrilled! Barak also had the funniest birthday card, as he gave her a hilarious card with squeaky singing ducklings, that made the girls crack up every time someone opened it up to listen...

6. Hahgoot gave Alma a “Monsters Inc” book (from the new movie) and mum added a set of figurines to role play the story. Most of the presents were from mum: Dora underwear (with super Boots in action!), a maths game with frogs and flies, a girly LEGO set to share with her sister and a whole set of workbooks and wipe clean cards!

7. As she was obsessed lately with stickers workbooks I bought her a set of 12 books about Maths and English, only with stickers! She also got a Dora cook-and-dress- up set (to help me in the kitchen) and a Peppa Pig jewellery set (which she chose herself a few days earlier).

8. When the presents opening stage was over the girls played together and the adults had a few minutes to chat while I set up the table. We were planning to go out to the nearby Featherdale Wildlife park and have a picnic, but instead we stayed in and had brunch.

9. After brunch we had the cake (inside it was a chocolate-strawberry marble cake, with real strawberries, but the swirl didn’t work out as planned – I need some practice!). Considering I prepared the cake and the brunch while attending to a sick kid for a few days and had very little sleep at night, it wasn’t too bad a result...

10. After the sweet break Alma started exploring her new gifts. She liked the educational toys! The workbooks were all a big success.

11. In our next presentation: Despite the flu, Alma continues to celebrate her birthday!