We’ve been hoping for rain to relieve this drought.  We weren’t hoping for rain on Sienna’s birthday.  But it was forecast, and inviting a dozen adults and a mob of kids for a barbecue on our back deck was looking to be badly timed.

You’ve already seen glimpses of these pictures and know that it was a perfect day. The rain came through the night, freshened everything up, and watered the plants.

 

Those plants we used for some of our cooking. Alex made a very delicious Kale salad. We made strawberry mojitos and rubs and marinades with Sage, Rosemary, and Oregano from the garden which we put on a tonne of farm-fresh beef and pork we source from 5 Marys farm in northern California. Usually Alex spends the whole day at our barbies cooking in the kitchen. This time we made a big effort to prepare most of the food the day before so Alex had more time … to look after all the kids …

 

We allowed Sienna to open one present before her party. Sienna “gets it” this year and has been very excited all week to grab the centre of attention away from Page.  After she got to open (with Page) her first present, she requested to go to have a nap again.

 

Our weekend neighbours, Jake and Cassie, came over early to help us set up.

 

Asher, who is the son of my new CEO came over to play. Asher will be turning two too in a couple of months.

 

Gracie may be three, but she and Sienna always get on well.

 

Hannah – the camera kept following her around. I edited the pics to only include this one. The one where we can see her face under the (spolier alert) chocolate cake.

 

Maya lives in the neighbourhood, and goes to daycare with Sienna, where she looks out for the little girl.

 

The special girl and her Mom.

 

 

 

Meegs and the mesmerising blue eyes of Zoë.

 

Page already wants to marry Nick.

 

Alex set out a blanket on the bottom deck to get all the children to gather around and open all the pressies.

 

In la tradición de los norteamericanos, we had a piñata.  The tweak to the tradition was that they whacked it with a cricket stump. Same result.

 

When everyone went home, the next day, Sienna got a chance to play with all her toys.

 

Thanks to Jake, Cassie, Tim, Nora, Nick, Hannah, Linda, Matt, Gracie, Jack, Asher, Jessica, Oren, Marie, Reuben, Meegan, Zoë, Joanna, Maya, Alyce, Andrea, and Juliana for making Sienna’s birthday one of our best days at the new house.