Sunday, October 19, 2008

Saraya and Stuart's 36th Birthday!!!

Yesterday my baby girl turned 6.
And today my beautiful husband is 30.

We celebrated yesterday with a big, big, big combined birthday bash for the two of them at our church.  Stu's big idea, to invite everyone who is near and dear to us, including all his Prep kids, plus all Saraya's year one class, plus the parents and siblings........ and friends, family, church family.  It was enormous, both the planning and the event itself!!!  It was by far the biggest event we have ever organised and I'm pleased to say that although we're all exhausted, it came off really well and a great time was had by all!  Hooray!!! 
Here are some pics for you to enjoy............




When the requested Dolly Varden cake was completed, I thought "this is never going to feed 50 children!!!"  so I made some cupcakes to put around her.  



I rang Mum on Friday afternoon to ask her advice - how could I keep this cake cool until tomorrow morning?  this was her ingenious idea..... put a towel down, with 4 icebricks on top, and the cake board on top!  I had it in front of the open kitchen window, and the fan on, and it stayed nice and cool.  Thanks Mum. :)


Saraya having breakfast, and opening her little baking set from us.  


Here is Stu being goofy, surrounded by his prep kids.  He's happy!


I couldn't work out how to make a cake big enough for Stu which would feed lots of people, so I ordered a slab cake for him from the supermarket.  We ended up having just over 100 people there; I'm amazed the catering stretched.......... we only had about 10 sausages left at the end, praise God!!  The loaves and fishes story comes to mind!







Both Stuart's older sisters came up yesterday with their families.  It was so awesome to have them here.  They both made speeches, and Wendy even thought to bring some childhood photos of Stu for friends to see.



Yes, we hired a jumping castle.  No, we do not normally have parties of this scale!  For the children's birthdays we usually have a few friends over for cake or afternoon tea, and that's it.  So this was pretty special.  But it was Stu's 30th after all, he wanted everyone there to help celebrate and there were LOTS of children, so it was really well used!



Okay, this is hard to explain........... basically a recent school event saw a teacher tied up to a fence and kids got to throw wet sponges at him.  Apparently all the children were disappointed it wasn't Stuart, and hence he promised them we would do a "sponge throwing" at his party.  Yes, that's my husband for you- completely mad, full of life and enthusiasm for stuff like this!  He got soaking wet and had all the kids in fits of laughter.  We had a face painting lady who did this superman symbol on Stu's arm.  She was amazing; just about everyone had something painted. 

So there you go.  Fun and games for all.  Stu also ran a treasure hunt, and a giant pass the parcel game.  And showed the trailer for his upcoming movie (he makes one each year with his prep class, and this year it's the story of Joseph) for all the families which was so exciting!   You can view it by clicking on the top image in the "Our Videos" list.

I am so tired I could sleep for a week.  No, make that a month, maybe two.  I haven't had much sleep with all the party prep, plus William being unwell.  He's doing okay, though not great.
He is STILL contagious, with a few spots still yet to scab over.  So yesterday my dear friend Helen helped me by looking after him here at home, with me coming halfway through the party to feed and settle him to sleep for a nap.  Helen, you are wonderful and I love you!!  Oh, and happy birthday to you too today!!!
Happy Sunday everyone. :)

"This is the day that the Lord has made; Let us rejoice and be glad in it"  Psalm 118:24

5 comments:

Smilie girl said...

That's amazing! Happy birthday to Stuart and Saraya. You look you had a fantastic time. Your mum is so smart to think of that idea for the cake. Hope you enjoy your memories of a special day. And hope your little one is better soon. I'm a friend of Renata and stumbed on your blog.

jazzy cat said...

Hey Min! Mammoth party!!! Love the jumping castle and especially the face painting - that is such a great idea for adults and kids alike! Trust Stu to get so involved with the fun and games! Looks like a fabulous weekend and congrats to you for that cake! It looked 'picture perfect' and those cupcakes are brilliant too!! Sleep well now! Happy Birthday to all.

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday Stu and Saraya! What an amazing party! Everyone looks like they had a great time (especially Stu!)

Saraya's cake is just darling...how did you decorate it? The reason I ask is because Bee wants a Barbie cake, which involves baking the cake in a pyrex mixing bowl, inverting it, and sticking a Barbie in the top so it looks like she's wearing a big, flouncy dress.

I could use decorating ideas!

Renata said...

WOW - you must be exhausted!
Happy birthday to both Stu & Saraya! The cake looked fabulous! Looks like a great party! Dave turns 30 in december - but I'm hoping he wants something much lower key than your party (actually I don't have any ideas what to do!) Hope you can relax this week & enjoy a party well done!

Kelly @ The Barefoot Mama said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ALL!!!!!!

I love Saraya's expressions in this post! She is a gem, Saminda! (Praying that your little man is all better soon...I don't like thinking of him with chicken pox and being all itchy, aww!)

The cake is, in one BIG word, AMAZING!!!!! I'm so hungry just looking at it. The computer is definitely not a friend to the pregnant stomach, LOL.

P.S. I saw that pic of you in there - you look great!

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