absolutely no singing!

The first people to arrive were Oma and Opa! With a very large present! The start of a lovely afternoon with family and friends. Travis enjoyed every minute of it and loved all his presents.

 

Travis decided on a dinosaur cake this year! 

He had only 2 requests! The first was that no one was allowed to sing. He was so insistent about this, that we didn't. He did agree to blow out candles though! 

 

 

 

 

 The second request was that he get to ice his own cake!

So after helping me with the dinosaur, the kids all got started on icing their own cupcakes.

 Travis had a lovely time icing them.

at some stage near the end of the afternoon they decided to attack Erik Jan!

I am not sure how or why it started but I think the little ones won!

finally four!

Travis has been waiting for ages to turn 4. Here is the happy birthday boy!

 

 time to open presents

 anything 'Cars' puts a big smile on his face

 and Playmobil

 Let's not forget the parcel from Granny and Grandpa! Dylan knows there is a surprise in there for him too...

Once all the presents were opened it was time to get dressed and head to the creche for his farewell-birthday party. 



Yo ho ho

Just when you thought you had seen enough pirates on one blog...

 

I already mentioned that Dylan had decided on a pirate theme. He wanted everyone to come dressed up. And so it was that we had 7 little pirates running around our lounge, one cold, grey, wintery afternoon in February.

Dylan insisted on being the captain!

He also insisted on pirate cupcakes. I tried to get off easy and asked if I could just ice them and cover them in sweets. He said: "sure, as long as they look like pirates!" They were a hit and a great way to start of the party.

We played lots of games, all adapted to the pirate theme, with a gang full of noisy, enthousiastic pirates.

 Bingo!

The highlight of the party was the Treasure Hunt.

We started inside and hunted for clues all around the house. The clues eventually led us outside to the playground. There they had to catch Captain Black Moustache because he had the treasure map in his pocket!

 Then read the map and figure out where exactly X was.

 Then dig... Yay, treasure!

Enough for everyone.

Checking out the spoils.

 We didn't spend much time outside after we had found the treasure. It was just too cold!

 Back inside for playing

 

 and to make their own treasure maps.

 

Group photo of a lovely bunch of pirates!

 let sleeping pirates lie

 otherwise they come after you!

six!

When I was one, I had just begun.
When I was two, I was nearly new.
When I was three, I was hardly me.
When I was four, I was not much more.
When I was five, I was just alive.
But now I am six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now and forever.

                                             A.A. Milne

 

 hmm, or was that nine?

 

Dylan is very into Star Wars at the moment and this was the birthday crown he got from his very creative teacher, Juf Kim.

Birthdays mean parties and Dylan had 2 again this year. The first one was with the family. Because he had already decided on a pirate theme for the party with his friends, we decided to stick with it.

 

 Checking out his dino-car with Opa

 Treasure!

 happy birthday to you...

 he blew them all out in one go

 yum!

 can't just leave these sweets sitting there

pirate fun