Attack of the Nerfs

Cheekus Weekus got $20 for his birthday from fabulous Auntie S.

Footy cards? "Sold out" said two newsagents, "end of the season".

Lollies? "No." said I, "not birthday money and not twenty dollars' worth". This sparked some very impressive sulking and sooking, if Princess had been quicker with the camera vid we would be looking at an AFI Award, category Short Fiction.

Quick thinking found the local toy shop still open. While Princess Pea was trying to persuade him to buy Lego knights (armoured horse, two guards and a prisoner in a cart - "because we only have one gaol and we all always want it") he found The Best Toy Ever: a Nerf gun for $19.95. Following "TV is for weekends", "only home-made sweets" and "all kids in bed by 8:30", the "no toys of war" rule has fallen in a sad little heap. It's been confiscated once already after Running Boy could not resist firing a sticky-dart at my bum and later got Cheekus in the face. I'm told this was an accident, Cheekus popped up from a redoubt unexpectedly. The bumshot, however, was not.

Thomas the Tank Engine reads in the Fitzroy Gardens with Monsieur Truffe

Today was glorious. We played with our ginormous collection of Thomas the Tank Engine things, accumulated over very many birthdays and Christmases. We built a track that went right round the house and made a train that used all of our engines and trucks. There were a satisfying number of very loud train wrecks.

Later, four of us went off to buy the CFO's birthday presents. I used to adore the Monsieur Truffe stall at Prahran Market and was delighted to find he has simply relocated to a little cafe in Collingwood: http://ieatidrinkiwork.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=8365. The croissants are delicious, all butter and crispness, and the chocolates extraordinary. Running Boy and Cheekus Weekus tasted every variety of truffle, several times, before we settled on raspberry, lime and passionfruit . I also bought some chocolate-coated ginger for my Mum and only dribbled a little bit listening to the very Frrrench Thibault.

Then we drove past the Fitzroy Gardens and there was no reason to say "no" when they begged to get out. We played forty-forty and chasey and climbed a venerable fig tree and looked at ducks and little buggly things in the pond. We talked about how wonderful it would be to have the gardens, or at least that tree, in our backyard and we planned treehouses.

Last we swung by Readings in Carlton to howls of protest, quashed (sort of) when I pointed out we still had to get some of Daddy's presents. Cheekus refused to leave the car for some time. Then Readings worked its magic and it was much more than an hour later that we left. I sort of accidently managed to buy rather more than I meant to - Princess Pea got Kiki's Delivery Service http://www.readings.com.au/product/9322225021655/kiki-s-delivery-service, Running Boy got The Ranger's Apprentice, Cheekus got some Grug books http://www.facebook.com/pages/Grug/22365212282 and I got Sheila Chandra's Weaving My Ancestors' Voices http://www.last.fm/music/Sheila+Chandra/Weaving+My+Ancestors+Voices.

We came home to a fire and baked schnapper, and at least I managed to get Good Friday into tonight's grace.