joseph's 7th birthday party

yesterday joseph and his pals hit up the local timezone for his birthday party. when we asked him what he wanted for his birthday this year there was not even a moments hesitation before he yelled timezone again! well. that makes it easy for parents. until we booked just hours before the perth lockdown was announced. yikes. they were great to deal with though, we just pushed it back a week so he could hand out invites when school went back and that was heaps of time!

oh my goodness. i always forget just how loud little boys can be, until there is a bunch of them in the same place with computer games added to the excitement. it was insane! but watching them was hilarious... all us mums got such a laugh out of it - and all of them declared that it was the best party that they had ever been to!

he even let madeline invite her friend madison along too and she was loving having someone her age there too. they were hooked on the virtual reality and screamed their heads off along with the ride

and did some biking together lol

what a bunch. i am thankful over and over again to live in western australia where we remain reasonably unaffected by covid and don't have it ruining everything for us. i mean, i don't think most of our friends around the world would be able to do this, or anything like it, and if they were, it would be masks on at all times. ugh.

being that lockdown was only a few weeks ago and then another week of masks after that, i tried to be covid restriction friendly with the snacks at the party, even though they hadn't specified that i needed to do so. all packaged, in their own bags so they didn't even have to share. winner. plus there was a lot less prep and cost involved than my usual spread!

and this cake. oh that cake. i asked him what he wanted so that lovely aunty jenny could get to work, only he was insistent that he wanted a caramel mudcake from woolworths. that was it. his only request. so i got creative. i had seen this hack on the internet and it's so easy that it's ridiculous so that was the order of the day. two caramel mudcakes, stacked, mouth cut out (and eaten by happy kids) lol with chocolate fingers all the way around for a border, a filling of yellow smarties and half a giant marshmallow coloured in with a sharpie for his eye. probably the easiest cake of all time, not going to lie.

and he loooooved it!

party done, cake cut... 

happiest kids, "goody bags" items chosen from the prize store with the preloaded points you get as part of the party pack

and amazing cookies from aunty jenny to take home too. thank goodness that's over for another year! 

esps hero dress up day

i laughed so hard at the choice of outfits from these two today on "hero dress up day" at school.

as i have mentioned in previous posts, there was a huge and devastating bushfire burning out of control for over a week, just a few weeks ago. many houses and a lot of land was lost to it's path. the perth lord mayors fund put an appeal into place and many people have donated money, along with those who have donated their time to help during this disaster and other physical items that were so badly needed. our school p&c rose to the occasion and called for a free dress day, where everyone could donate to the fund. we normally ask that people send a gold coin donation, but this time people were sending more, mostly $2, but some notes arrived and the school raised over $1000 from the day!

i was amused though, heroes was chosen as the theme because of all those who had been in the line of fire protecting our land (due to the closeness of the fire many in the school community were affected or knew someone that was) and there my kids are, turning up as basketball players and dance teachers! hahahah. classic kendall craziness. it makes me so happy to see them enjoying things though, so thatá mum win. love our school community!

 

100 years "old"

today, if he were still with us, my grandfather joseph would have been 100 years old. one hundred. and what a legacy he's left behind. one of the proudest moments of my life was being able to name my first born son after him and watching him now, looking just like him, with that same fiery temper, is more than just a freaky co-incidence.

to celebrate we had a j party at jared and donna's place over the weekend. all our j's are born in an 8 day period... starting with joseph on the 20th, jared on the 21st, grandad joseph on the 24th and jared david on the 27th. how's that?! mum even made this epic 100th birthday cake and brought it out for everyone to enjoy after dinner. (and it was delicious, oh my gosh.)

i often wonder what i would say to grandad if i had the opportunity to see him and chat. i hope he's watching over us and proud of what we do. i am forever grateful for eternal families and look forward to the sweet reunion we will get to experience one day, because he is still, after all this time, 100% my favourite family member. 

 

15 years down, eternity to go

fifteen years. gone in the blink of an eye. sometimes i don't even understand how it is possible, yet here we are. there are so many wonderful quotes about the beauty of marriage, but i want to be real. sometimes it's downright ugly. your spouse is your safe place. it's not all sunshine and roses. it's not always going to be amazing. some days you'll want to kill each other. but for me, it's always come down to whether or not you want to stay married. 

so many people walk away when it gets hard. they think it's easier to just let go rather than work at something. and maybe it is. maybe there have been times when it would have been easier to walk away. but we chose not too. we stuck it out. through the happy times. the sad times. the hard and dark and difficult times. and we are still married, because we want to be. above all else, we want to be with each other. i wonder how many people would fight harder for their marriages if they thought more about it being a choice. not something that you can just throw in when there are bumps in the road. because it's not an option for us. we chose each other - and we are in for the long haul.

fifteen years ago, we knelt across the altar from each other and promised to love each other for eternity. that's not up yet. so here we are. just doing the best we can. we are not perfect, but we are trying.

there is an old saying "choose your love, then love your choice." i'm doing just that. there is still no one else i would rather be with, even in the hardest and worst times.

we booked a table at the rose and crown in guildford where our friend works as the chef and oh were we looked after. beautiful mains, amazing service and a gorgeous little private table in a gazebo in the courtyard. we were so stoked. even our own fancy personalised dessert that hasn't made it to the menu yet. such a good night. 

here's to at least another 15 my love! ❤

renay's baby shower

it's not often that i am rendered speechless, but when i walked into my friend renay's baby shower today, i certainly was. i had been asked to attend and assist with the desserts a few weeks back, but then covid threw a spanner in the works and the shower was cancelled. yet as luck would be on our side, not a single further case was reported during our week of lockdown, so renay's family decided they would make the shower happen. oh and did they make it happen.

an entry hall full of dried and strung citrus, along with huge while helium balloons and lights... 

and then exquisite decorations throughout the house

no detail was left untouched, with beautiful florals

greenery and wooden pieces

and crisp whites to set it off

renay herself was a vision, also in white, absolutely glowing. she is so deserving of a beautiful day like today and i felt truly blessed to be a part of it and to be able to capture some memories for her.

i'd been asked to make all the desserts for the party, banoffee pie, carrot cake,

brownies

chocolate chip cookies and lemon pie bars.

plus the drinks, watermelon & mint water and strawberry, cucumber & lemon water

honestly, check out these details, so simple, but effective. glass bottles with greenery, water and a long white candle to complete the look

and the foodwas amazing. renay's mother and sisters had spent hours setting up a grazing style feast for the guests. delicious!

we had a diy pamper section, where guests were able to make themselves a soak/scrub to use at home, led by the lovely dom

and a few games that left guests roaring with laughter

before renay settled in underneath her little arbor to open her gifts. baby honda is definitely very loved already!

the rouse girls

and one with their mum. truly a wonderful family. so lucky to know them. ❤

and this girl? she is going to be the best mum. 

she's amazing.

and for once i actually appeared in a photo. ❤

today was a good day!

 

joseph is 7

this hilarious little dude is 7 today. i love him so much, because he always makes me laugh. he always says the weirdest things, which are hilarious - and looks at things in a different way to everyone else. he comes out with some amazing one liners and is always giggling away to himself.

he loves pretty much everything. like seriously, you could give him anything and he would love it, so he is so easy to buy for.

he's often off in dreamland and you have to call him over and over... hates doing jobs and would happily play video games all day long if it was an option.

one of the funniest things that has happened was when last year, he decided he wasn't cutting his hair to compete with another little boy in his class and ended up with this huge mop on his head by the end of the year. considering he only did one year and this other kid has been growing his forever, he definitely gave him a run for his money - but oh was i glad to see it go.

here's a classic example of joseph trying to make me laugh - trying on the most ridiculous pair of glasses he could find at the pharmacy.

he's recently started to love being in the water and has spent hours in jared and donna's pool trying to perfect his swimming.

and he still loves his food. definitely takes after his dad 100%. he is always hungry.

he has been dying for mario lego since he found out it was a thing, and doug and i pre-ordered it as soon as we could. then he needed a bike for christmas, so we had to put it away for a little longer... but today was the day

he was so happy with all his gifts...but the lego?

he was squealing and dancing when he opened it. definitely a good choice. my favourite part of the day though was him opening the ridiculous card i bought him. it had a pug dressed up as darth vader on the front - and when you open it, it barks the vader theme. it is so so funny and the look of utter disdain he shot me was worth the $10 it cost - as was the video i took when he opened it. happy birthday! from the bark side. hahahahaha.

his one request for his birthday was a caramel mud cake and aunty dom delivered. look how happy it made him.

happy birthday little dude! i hope all your dreams come true.

we love you joseph evan kendall ❤