Anouk – 4th birthday

Anouk turned 4 on May 12th. I can’t believe it’s been 4 years since that day I was in labour during my mum’s birthday lunch at my place & had to rush to hospital before I could even serve my mum her birthday cake. A day I will treasure forever. As a result of a fast labour & a baby girl born before I could even get out of the labour ward bathroom (another interesting story!) Anouk Nouvelle now shares her birthday with her Grandma & this year their birthdays also fell on mothers day. We considered waiting a couple of weeks to celebrate with friends, knowing that no one would be available on mothers day. In the end I decided to celebrate her birthday on the actual day with just our close family.

We shared a bbq lunch in the park. The sun was shining & it was a really really beautiful day. I took Anouk to our local party shop to choose some decorations. She filled her hands with whistles, party hats & pretty things in green & pink. The night before her birthday it was a team family effort to create & decorate her castle cake. Some years I order our cakes & some years I make them. It’s not my specialty, however this castle cake is so simple to make (& we had made one for Ava before, so we were cheating a bit).

Anouk is all about castles at the moment. She draws them. She talks about them. She didn’t want anything for her birthday other than a “colouring book & a castle cake!”. Yesterday she asked Pete to guess what she was thinking of…. “it’s pink all over & it has a tail. Can you guess what it is dad?”… Pete exhausted his options… “a mouse?”… “a pig?” … until he had to give up & ask her what has a tail & is pink all over…

“It’s a pink castle with a tail” . That’s why I love this girl. Always thinking outside the box.