We celebrated Annie's birthday on the weekend with family catchup at Pyrmont.

The Daleys have developed a bit of a routine for our weekend gatherings. After Evie's morning nap we head to Mum and Dad's. When we arrive the adults get their much needed dose of caffeine while Oscar and Leo play on the equipment or in the fountain at Pirrama Park. At lunchtime we have prawns, oysters and sashimi for starters and follow it up with TD's slow cooked lamb for mains. In the afternoon, Oscar and Leo have a swim in Nan and TD's pool and the babies nap (sometimes the adults do too). Then when the boys return from their swim we have cupcakes baked by Jess for afternoon tea.

I really look forward to our weekend catchups at the moment. I've always enjoyed spending time with my family but these days it's extra exciting to get out of the house. It's great to hang out with grown ups and have grown up conversations about grown up stuff. A catch up at Mum and Dad's is ideal too because I can do all this without disturbing Evie's routine. The result is a happy baby = a happy mummy = a happy daddy. Everybody wins.

So Happy Birthday Annie! I hope you enjoyed your birthday celebrations as much as I did.


More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

I'm sorry, wonderful readers but I just have to get a little mini-rant out of the way first.

Can you believe it? My sister and her family have up and moved to London. The city that we just moved home from. The city that we moved home from so we could be closer to our family. My brother lives in Hong Kong and now my sister lives in London. I'm an only child! wah!

Ok... now that's out of the way.

Annie, Richie, Oscar and Leo have moved to London and we're really happy for them all. London is such an exciting city to live in and they will have so many fantastic adventures. Richie has new opportunities at work, Annie gets to take advantage of the continental mini-breaks and the boys are going to love all the trains! We're sure that they'll enjoy living there as much as we did.

To farewell the Bells there was a little party a couple of weekends ago. The plan was to hold it in Pirrama Park. The weather had other ideas though. In the morning, it was a beautiful, sunny 27 degree day. Unfortunately at 2pm, as the party started, so did the rain, the thunder and the lightning. I was watching the thunderstorm from Mum and Dad's balcony and I saw several lightning strikes hit the park. Luckily Mum, the queen of organisation, had booked the station as a back up in case it rained. The party moved to and continued at the station.

Have you ever tried to take photos of groups of kids who are more interested in running around then sitting still for a photograph? I don't think I have a single photo from the event where everyone is looking at the camera. With the Bell family photo, I had to create a collage of photos. Each person is looking at the camera in at least one photo in the collage.

Good luck in London Annie, Richie, Oscar and Leo! We miss you already.

More photos (slideshow) on Flickr.

We celebrated Annie's 30th birthday on the weekend. On Friday evening we had dinner (and a cocktail or two) at the Rose of Australia in Erskineville. Saturday evening involved a small gathering of Annie's closest friends (all 50 of them) at the carillon. The best thing about the weekend would have to be the butter chicken tarts on offer at Annie's party (they are delicious!). The worst thing about the weekend was discovering that we have another three years of little johnny howard (arragh!).

Annie had a fantastic time, even though her cold-hearted and indifferent parents couldn't be there because they are gallivanting around Europe. They better bring her back a fantastic present *G*. (photos)

Photos are now up from Annie's 29th Birthday celebrations which were held at the Drummoyne Sailing Club. I must say Oscar looked very cute in his Wallabies jersey.

Happy Birthday Annie! (Photos)

The Guessing Competition on the Baby website is now closed. I guess we now have to wait until the baby comes to see whose guess is the closest! Some statistics on the guesses so far:

Number of Guesses:	34 entries
Male/Female Ratio:	65% / 35%
Most Popular Dates:	14th December 2002 (Alice Granger-Hignett, Sybil, Freya, Andrew Wilson) 18th December 2002 (Ally Guest, Nell Hudson, Trevor D, Naomi) 20th December 2002 (Danielle Laundy, Sharon Daley, Fiona Price, Lauren Munroe)
Earliest Birthdate:	7th December 2002 (Susie Bell)
Latest Birthdate:	26th December 2002 (Beck)
Smallest Baby:	5 Pounds (Sharon Daley)
Biggest Baby:	8 Pounds and 6 ounces (Susie Bell)

Click here to view the entries. Good luck!