Happy 8th birthday to our dear Søren Augustus! How time flies! Eight already……. As seems to be the case in 2020 and 2021, it was a lockdown birthday for Master Søren. Not to worry! As usual we managed to celebrate in style, even if it was more subdued than last years massive Mad-Scientist party (lucky you got that one in Søren!).

It may not have been the birthday you dreamed of still being in lockdown, home-school and pouring with rain, but it is certainly one to remember!

Due to what felt like never-ending lockdown and visitor restrictions the presents came in over a period of several days. Not a problem though, it was a festival of Søren celebration. Starting with an early present from Mum and Dad of his own Chromebook when school went back for Term 4 (we had purchased it months before, did we jinx ourselves for endless home-school?).

The presents kept on rolling with plenty of new cycling gear from all the grandparents. He thinks he looks even faster!

Of course there was always going to be a pile of presents from Mum, Dad, Astrid and Zinnia on his actual birthday……. complete with a new Mickey suitcase that matches his other Mickey suitcases. Another pre-lockdown purchase for those mythical holidays we were planning to take!

He was still excited by the thought of getting to use the suitcase eventually (we have rescheduled all those trips) and there were plenty of other cool presents for the mean time…..

The definite favourite though was a RC stunt car with hand controller. A perfect present for driving mum mental on a rainy day, as you drive it around the house and up and over all the furniture and walls…….

There was a brief pause from the presents as the clock struck 8:00 and he was officially 8!!! Then it was the birthday boy’s breakfast of choice – chocolate panettone French toast with caramelised banana, whipped cream and Dutch chocolate sprinkles!

Full of sugar, it was onto home-school for the day. The postie saved the day though when another present arrived during school meets. Work was rapidly finished off and it was declared play time for the rest of the day!

It might have been raining all day but that meant extra time for presents from grandparents and those all important parcel deliveries from the postie!

We never ended up getting out for an adventure on his actual birthday due to lockdown rules and non-stop rain, but that didn’t dampen his spirits or reduce the amount of food we ate. Dinner was take-away Japanese and boy did we feast!

With birthday cake to come later in the week, the birthday boy’s dessert of choice was zabaglione, prepared by Anto. Complete with a candle to blow out, and it was delicious 🙂

While we were stuck with home-school for a couple of weeks longer, our lockdown officially ended 2 days after Søren’s birthday. With very limited bookings available for cafes and restaurants, we’d planned an actual non-takeaway meal out of the house to celebrate with family.

Of course there also had to be birthday cake to accompany such an important occasion. Søren had requested a number 8 train track cake. With the proviso it had to have a tunnel, and the train had to be able to go through the tunnel. Never a simple cake request from my kids, but this is what we came up with……

Anto and I declared it job done and Søren was satisfied we had met his cake desires. At his request the cake was a lemon cake, and the icing buttercream. The track was constructed with liquorice and Dutch chocolate sprinkles.

The weekend arrived, and we ventured out into the real world, for our first dining out experience in many months! Granny surprised Søren with a bunch of balloons, as is birthday tradition. We didn’t yet have retail open here in the ACT, so luckily she lives over the border where shops had just re-opened 🙂

There were more presents, and the most family members we’ve seen in the one place, at the one time in months!

We also had the luxury of someone else cooking and serving our food and drinks , and more importantly, cleaning up after the grotty children!!!

With dinner done, it was time to blow out the number 8 sparkler and crack into that big pile of green sugary icing…..

Lockdown might have felt like it went on forever, but Søren had timed his birth date well, allowing us to celebrate (even in a more modest way than usual) out in the real world. We had to endure another couple of weeks of home-school before school and life as normal started to return, but there was plenty of balloons, presents and that cake, to power us through!

We can safely say that the past year has certainly not gone to plan and particularly the last few months….. but Søren your cheeky grins, cuddles and endless questions and plans have kept us entertained.

Life without you would be quieter but way more boring If I didn’t have to tell you to stop running in the house about every 1.5 seconds, answer another question about current affairs, space, maths, Covid or some random thing you found on youtube while you were supposed to be doing something else, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself

You give me a heart attack just about every time we go riding with your crazy stunts, and near misses, and should have been born with your own bandaid supply given you injure yourself just walking. You are a great big and little brother to both your sisters. While you fight incessantly with them, you also love them dearly have such fun with both of them when you aren’t trying to kill each other.

You love your pets and have been devastated by losing your furry best friend Chimu but have such wonderful memories with him and Inti. You are a much adored grandson and nephew and definitely my favourite son and middle child

You never stop taking things to bits to see how they work and I don’t think we’ll ever catch up on the pile of ‘Søren’s things that need to be fixed’. You are developing some awesome taste in music, although Spotify does think we like Imagine Dragons way more than we actually do, thanks to you!

We constantly get told how you are such a kind, sweet and independent young man, who never misses an opportunity to dress up in a kilt, suit, bowtie or dinner shirt. It’s been a tough year with losing friends, seeing family less, missing so much travel and adventure and your favourite sports but you bring plenty of joy to all those who know and love you. Hopefully 8 is going to be amazing……