J-Man turns 11!

He had been to Moto-X the night before with his Dad, and arrived home on the morning of his birthday with his best friend J13 and cousin M12.

He opened his presents. He already had his second x-box controller, and knew about an xbox game he'd asked for and seen me purchase (PGR), but I had hoped to keep his last present secret.

Unfortunately, he had seen the courier arrive with it, and Princess had blurted what she thought it was. He had mentioned being "addicted to Guitar Hero" (a demo), and I was trying to see if I could get it and stay within my budget. Princess had told me he really wanted it and I had said I was trying to get it but not to tell him. I secreted the rather obvious-looking package away, but J-Man went looking for it and eventually confirmed what he supposed- that his final present was the guitar.

I was really disappointed for him knowing all his presents before the day- though he acted surprised enough. Anyway, he enjoyed unwrapping them and Princess and Tombliboo had made cards for him too. He had asked for a pianta, so we went outside to give that a whack.

I didn't want to make it too easy to smash, and in my exuberance- I pretty much made it impossible to smash. A slit with a craft knife soon sorted that out, and lollies, lollipops and mars bars showered down in to our carport.

The boys headed back inside with their loot, and with J-Man's favourite chips (Tomato Skoffs, ex Munchos) and fizzy (Coke) they played on his x-box, and went for a quick drive to the shop to buy x-box live points so he could get the full version of a demo he enjoyed (Castle Crashers).

We had his favourite homemade lunch (dinner usually), Chicken Laksa, and then his cake. He had requested a lemon cheesecake (like last year) "but without the onions."

There were no onions in last year's cheesecake. What happened was that the gelatin went too hard- probably I left it too long...and I wasn't sure what to do, but went ahead and beat it as the recipe directed, hoping it would come right. It didn't. The cheesecake taste nice, but the texture was somewhat less desirable. It really looked like there were small chunk of onion in it, and it was a bit of a disaster.



This year I found a recipe that had a jelly in it, and hope for the best. It tastes heavenly (though insanely sweet), and I added a hand-drawn duraseal-covered xbox controller to the top with a happy birthday sign and 11 candles. He was very pleased.

After lunch, J-Man and his friend went Rock-climbing with his Dad. He came home around 5pm ,and played on his xbox until friends of hours came over for dinner and the evening.

J-Man, Princess and Tombliboo had a wonderful time with H13, Z10 and J6..playing xbox, cards, Wii (the friends brought their's over), and swinging on our clothesline.



We got pizza for dinner- J'Man's real favourite, and said goodbye around 11pm. He was keen to watch Frankenstein, but I was had it so we agreed to head to bed and definitely watch it the following day.

The plan for his birthday had changed several times, and he didn't like that, but said it had been a great day. Happy Birthday Gorgeous!