5

This image is courtesy of the blog "A Recipe for Aperture"

This week, the Little Mrs (aka Ayla) turns 5. FIVE! We are in a strange town, in a strange state but this birthday is going to ROCK!

We're taking Ayla to the National Zoo on the day...would it be selfish to want to take advantage of this opportunity and spoil myself with a 15 min session patting a cheetah?? And then we're going to cap the day off with something totally decadent.....White Chocolate Fondant Puddings with home-made raspberry ice-cream! Gluten-free of course! Do I have a recipe? Well...not exactly. I'm hoping to wing it ;) I'm going to base it on this recipe but we'll see how we go.

I'm feeling much more positive about Ayla's birthday this week. Last week I started to spiral into a little pit for a day or 2. Not because she's turning 5 but because shopping for her birthday present was just plain traumatic. I thought it was going to be fun and I was really excited about it. I left Ayla at home with Steven and went off on the shopping expedition myself. I went straight to Toys R Us and prepared to go crazy. As I walked through the aisles I could feel a panic attack starting. I truly don't want to think what the look on my face was. My mum always said that I could never I hide what I was feeling because it was all over my face. I can only imagine that the look on my face reflected the pain and the panic that I was feeling. I always end up in the same section, year after year. The baby section. I keep thinking that we're moving past this stage and into more mature toys...but we're not. It's the same toys for the same age group. Every year we buy her another version of a toy that she has had before.

It's strange because we can see that she's coming ahead in leaps and bounds....except for this area. We have to be so careful because she puts everything in her mouth so there are a lot of toys (bought and hand-made) that are just out of the question.

Anyway....onwards and upwards! You will see on Thursday (or Friday) what I finally settled on for her gift. We're looking forward to our visit to the zoo....and secretly hoping that Ayla notices more animals than she did at Taronga :) And it will be my moment of truth with her birthday 'pudding'......let's hope the universe is with me on the creative front that day!

A little side note.......Happy Birthday to Little Miss Alice who shares her birthday with Ayla!