& Sidonie's choice was...

a Lola cake...

I've just cleared up from her party... it's been a busy time with these Birthdays, but more about them later - I have to lie down!

Seahorse Cake

Every Birthday, each child chooses what type of cake they'd like for their party...

This year Ivo wanted a seahorse and seaweed one...

Justin

... no not Mr Timberlake (tho' obviously he should get one too for other reasons...) It's Mr Fletcher I'm talking about!

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/Cbeebies/

Congratulations to Sita.. on the birth of her baby

Birth facts issued by Paignton Zoo

• Sita's keepers expect the birth to happen during the night
• Generally rhinos give birth standing up
• Sita is showing physical signs of being ready to give birth
• The zoo hopes to let nature take its course
• Keepers won't intervene unless they have to
• There is no due day

(Hopefully one day all (human) women will get this level of understanding whilst they are in labour!!)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/realmedia/rhino/archive/rhino_birth2.ram

http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/realmedia/rhino/archive/rhino_calf2.ram

Love the Milk You Give

I just can't believe SMA can get away with their new Logo - as a Graphic Designer-in-a-previous-life I'd say it's very sloppy, and very misrepresentative... or maybe it's just a pure coincidence that it looks like a mother breastfeeding?
...and don't get me started on the strapline "Love The Milk You Give"...
FFS talk about manipulation...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9Ggb2rQsYk

A Day @ the Tate Modern

... or more correctly, a day playing-on-the-grass-outside-of-the-Tate-Modern... it was a gloriously sunny day so other than to use the loo, and to buy sketchbooks from the shop (the boys are avid draw-ers)... we didn't go inside in the end!

I arranged to meet my friend Yoko, who was over from Australia, and who I had not seen since 2002. She had never met Sidonie, and the boys were very little the last time she saw them.

Before she arrived;
Jude; "Mum, what does your friend Yoko look like?"
Me; "she's Japanese..."
Jude; "Is that her?" (pointing at one of several Japanese women tourists)
Me; "No"
Jude; "Is that her?"... (another tourist..)
Me; "No"...
Ivo; "Is that her?".... (this could go on forever... we do live in London!)
Jude; "Does she sound Japanese?"
Me; "uuurh no, well only when she speaks Japanese... she sounds English... or maybe a bit Australian, I don't really know..."
Ivo; "what colour hair has she got?"
Me; "not sure sometimes black, sometimes bits of other colours I'm not sure"
Jude "Mum... (impatiently) is THAT her?"
Me "No"
Ivo "Mum is Yoko really a real person? I don't think you know what she looks like...?
Jude "I'm going to say ... onegai shimasu*... to her because she is Japanese"

Just to prove to my children that I do not have an imaginery (Japanese) friend - Yoko arrived, and we had a wonderful few hours catching up on old times and new stuff. It's a magical thing when you feel like you've just started off from where you left off... even if it is a 5 year time lapse. It was like she'd never been away...

The kids played on the beach (OK foreshore... but the Thames does have beaches when the tide goes out)

To end our day with a Japanese theme - we had salmon ramen, ebi raisukaree, ebi gyoza, negima yakitori & yaki soba for tea @ Wagamamas at London Bridge.

* http://www.pacific-aikido.org/glossary.html
Jude is a green belt in Aikido!

A new blog is born...

It's going to take a while to get going on this - but hey!