Astrid turns fantastic FIFTEEN….

Every year the Winter solstice brings back memories of when the longest night of the year was pretty much the longest night of my life….. in labour and waiting to become a parent and welcome Astrid into the world. Now that tiny human is not so tiny and a fifteen year old!

She is now ‘so old’ she can’t hold up the obligatory number of fingers and toes to get the birthday shot… at least it was fun trying!

The birthday celebrations….

Birthday celebrations are still important even when you are turning fifteen. Not a fan of mornings still, Astrid was prepare to get out of bed for presents and birthday breakfast before school. Zinnia had to ensure her giant teddy was available to help Astrid wake up…..

She was rewarded with a few special things from her parents and siblings. Her love of jellycat bunnies hasn’t subsided, so that bunny we smuggled back from our Sydney shopping trip was well received.

….. as was the new phone that finally arrived (eventually) to replace the poor old one that has seen better days due to many times being dropped and probably over use!

The traditional birthday breakfast….

The birthday person always gets to choose a special breakfast. Even on a school day! Crepes with nutella were requested, so Soren and Anto prepared a feast for the kidlets.

This is the face of a 15 year old who was not prepared to give up any crepes!

Birthday dinners and mocktails…

Sadly for Astrid her birthday was a school day. We did figure out this might be the last year she actually has classes on her birthday. The joys of extra holidays in college and uni! She did elect to skip squad training so we could go out to dinner on her actual birthday with family. More pressies, and a Mexican feast. There of course had to be mocktails for the kids!

Astrid picked a nutella cheesecake for her birthday cake for me to make. It was a Nutella lovers dream.

The entire restaurant got to sing Happy birthday, much to Astrid’s horror! The cake was delicious but had an awful lot of nutella and while some of thought it was a bit rich, the nutella fiends including Astrid and Zinnia thought it was fabulous, but even they were defeated after a small slice 🙂

Celebrating with friends….

With pretty much every weekend for tied up with dance comps and swim meets, we did find a Saturday night for Astrid to have a few friends over for a little celebration. Movies, copious snacks and a Mexican feast. Yes she loves Mexican food as well as Nutella!

Astrid requested my tiramisu for her party ‘cake’. We all love my tiramisu so I was happy to make a batch and there was another round of candle blowing and singing of ‘happy birthday’.

The teens definitely stay up later than us when allowed, but were eventually dispatched home so the adults could get some sleep after another early swimming start. Oh to have the energy of the young! The birthday celebrations were enjoyed and definitely less effort than all those fun but exhausting parties of her younger days 🙂

Fabulous fifteen…..

Well the last year hasn’t resulted in Astrid being any more fond of early mornings, or cleaning. She does surprisingly make it to swimming by 5.30am with less growling than us getting her out to the bus on a school day. Although her ability to run the 1km to the bus stop with her heavy school bag in about 3 minutes flat, but yet hate running in the triathlons she signs up for is impressive! We are hoping this is the year that she learns to like cleaning and being organised, but it hasn’t happened yet so we aren’t holding our breath…..

It seems like not that long ago she was a baby and toddler, never wanting to sleep. Now she emerges at 11am if allowed. At least the rest of the time she is full of energy and plenty of feist……

We had to do our traditional ‘jumping’ birthday photos. She might be only 1cm shorter than me now and has plenty of practice trying to stand or jump higher than me! Zinnia, who is definitely a mini-Astrid in looks had to get in on the act too this year…..

A big year of adventure….

There were of course many thousands of photos from Astrid’s 15th year. They do grow up so quickly that I’m never sorry I take so many. It was hard to select a handful from our year of adventure. We might live a very busy life these days but it’s never boring….

Growing up in a flash….

The years really do fly by. As Soren reminded Astrid, she’s now halfway to 30! We’ve survived one and a half decades of parenting! I’m hoping the next few years will be full of joy and adventure, like the first 15 have. Maybe with more sleep for all of us and a little less shouting of ‘Assterridd…..’ and us asking when she is ready, or how long til she’s finished something, and being told ‘nearly!’ We joke it should be her middle name.