Zahra is 1!

Can you believe that Zahra is now 1 year old? We can't either! Although she does look very grown up in this photo.

She had her birthday on Saturday. It started with our family tradition of presents in bed.

Later we had a party with her friend Lyn. Of course we had chocolate crackles and fairy bread and a cake shaped like a 1.

Zahra has got very cakey hands here after trying some of her carrot birthday cake.


She is very lucky because the day after her birthday, St Nicholas comes! I showed her where to find the presents in her boots outside the door.

Nana and Opa Ross came to stay

Goodness me, I can't believe it has been so long since I wrote something. I am such a busy schoolkid now that there just isn't time! But we have had some more visitors and another holiday so I better tell you all about it.

Nana and Opa Ross came to visit! Yay! It was very exciting for us all. Zahra got to meet them for the first time and she liked them a lot. They arrived right at the beginning of the school holidays and we all went on a trip together. You can see Zahra with Nana and Opa Ross here on the train.

Our first stop was a little village called Gandria, on Lake Lugano. We had lovely rooms with balconies right on the water, it was so beautiful.

It was Nana's 60th birthday while she was visiting us, so our trip was a little celebration with her.

Next we had a long day of travelling on Italian trains to get to the town of Bolzano, in the South Tyrol. It is gorgeous there and we had lots of fun looking around the town, playing in the park and taking a gondola up the mountain nearby. Zahra had fun in the swing, as you can see.

The weekend we were in Bolzano Mama read that there was a bread and strudel festival in the next town, so of course we had to go. We tasted lots of yummy breads and sweets and I baked bread in a little bakery for kids they had there. I made a plait cat.

After Bolzano we went to a Kinderhotel in the mountains. That was the best fun ever. I made friends with other kids and did all sorts of cool things with them like hiking at the top of a mountain and feeding farm animals and putting on a theatre show for the parents and dressing up as Indians and having sausages over a fire. Zahra liked playing in the kids' playroom.

And being pulled around in the wagon!

After the Kinderhotel it was time to come home and go back to school. But before Nana and Opa Ross left we had to show them one more thing - snow! They had never seen it before so Dada and I took them to the mountains here in Switzerland and I taught Nana how to throw snowballs. I was very sad when they had to leave so now I am counting down until we go to visit them in Australia next year.

Teeth!

Well as if going to school wasn't enough to prove I am a big girl now, today I lost my first tooth! It was verrrrrry wobbly and then I brushed it and brushed it and all of a sudden it wasn't there anymore. We had to look on the floor to find it!

Meanwhile Zahra is busy getting her teeth and wants to chomp on everything. Yesterday Mama couldn't even get her in the front door without her munching on the tasty door handle.

My first day of school

Guess what? Today was my very first day of school. Here I am with my Schultüte, a special present that German kids get when they start school for the first time. It is filled with cool stuff for school and a few lollies and chocolates too.

Here I am ready to go, outside the house.

Swiss kids are supposed to walk to school on their own, but my school is a bit too far away so Mama and Dada are really behind me. See the cool backpack I chose, with a dragon on it?

I was pretty excited to be a schoolkid. The school I go to is bilingual German and Italian. That's pretty tricky for me, since I don't speak any Italian yet, but I am going to learn I guess!!! It was pretty scary at the start, but once I got in the classroom I was happy.

I am sitting next to a girl who is called Janette, like Mama! Funny hey? I made 3 friends today and had a yummy lunch of squiggly pasta with pesto. At the end of the day I wasn't so sure I wanted to come back again, but tomorrow is another day.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of Zahra looking very cute. Mama and I love it when she is all wrapped up in a towel after her bath.

Summer holidays

July was all about holidays. First, Nonno and Marilyn came to visit us as part of their holiday. That was very cool because Zahra got to meet them for the first time.

Zahra felt very comfortable with Nonno, as you can see here. They both liked doing the same kind of thing!

Then we went on our family holiday to an area in Italy called the South Tyrol. It is very beautiful there and we liked it a lot because they speak Italian AND German and have Italian and German food. We stayed at an awesome hotel that had so many good things for kids that I didn't want to leave. This was the view from our room.

We also stopped at a town called Brixen (Bressanone in Italian) which was very pretty too.

There was a festival on the night we were there and I did some painting with some other kids.

After that Mama and Zahra and I went to have some holidays with our Swiss friends, on Lake Constance in Germany. It was great because I had my friend Zoe to play with all day and Zahra had her friend Lyn and Mama had her friend Noëmi!!!

The house we stayed at was beautiful, it was right on the lake and had a big garden with lots of fruit trees. Zoe and I played and played and played and then we played some more. Again, I cried when I had to go home.

Lots happened in June

First of all, Noni came to visit. Yay! This was her first time to meet Zahra, and Zahra's first time meeting a grandparent, so it was very exciting for us all. Zahra and Noni loved each other straight away.

Then, Zahra turned 6 months old. That meant she could start eating food, and boy was she happy about that. Here is her carrot face.

We thought her being 6 months was a good time to celebrate her Welcome to the World party. We had a little picnic in the park with some of our friends. We asked everyone to bring a wish for Zahra's life, and you can see them here writing them down to put in her wish box. We read them out and then we had some of the yummy chocolate cake we ate the morning Zahra was born and then we had a pinata for the kids.

Here I am having my turn at the pinata.

And you can see everyone watching and waiting for the pinata to break. All the Dadas really wanted to have a turn too.

Zahra loved her party. She looked at each person as they read out a wish for her and seemed very interested, like she was taking it all very seriously. This is her at home late at night after it was all over - still happy and ready to keep partying!

I also had another party that day - a farewell party from my Kinderhaus. I am starting school in August so it was time for me to say goodbye to all my kindergarten friends. I wasn't very sad, because I know I will see them again. In fact, I loved having a little party just to say goodbye and said it was my best day ever! I gave everyone a little koala and a card with this photo on it to remember me.

June really was a party month. Noni had her birthday on the 16th and we took her to a nice hotel in Strasbourg to celebrate. Zahra and I surprised her when she woke up in the morning. We got changed into some matching dresses that Zia had sent us. Noni loved it.

Then of course came the best party of all - my birthday party! I got so many cool presents.

In the afternoon I had a party with my friends at the movies. There was a Princess Lillifee film on and me and my friends like her (well, the boys don't like her so much but they were happy to come anyway). We watched the movie together and then we had a party with games and cake and opening presents and running around popping balloons. I loved it.

Last weekend I had my Acroballet show. I did lots of cartwheels and somersaults and bridges and here I am taking a bow at the end.

Oh, one more thing happened in June. I got married! Here I am with my husband Lenz. He has red hair like me and is really funny. He likes football and Power Rangers and playing with me. He is one year younger than me, but I don't mind. His birthday is the day after mine, so I got to go to his party too. Anyway, after all this partying, I am glad that it is summer holidays now - I need a rest!

Zahra is getting big

Guess what? Zahra is big enough to sit in a high chair now! She sits with us at the table sometimes, at least when she is awake. The only problem is, she REALLY wants to eat food like us too. Not long to wait now though. She is 5 months old and she can start when she is 6 months.

The flowers in Switzerland are really pretty at the moment.

I saw these ones and said "Mama, I can't stop looking at these flowers! I think I won't be able to go home because I want to look at them all day!"

My cousin Thomas came to stay!

We had the best time just after Easter. My cousin Thomas and my Zia came to stay for 2 whole weeks. It was soooooooooooooo much fun having them around and I was very, very sad to see them go. I still get upset if I hear songs that remind me of them. Here is a photo of us 3 red-headed cousins together.

Thomas was very, very sweet with Zahra. He was so gentle with her and gave her lots of kisses. Zahra wasn't so sure about him at first. This is the first time they met!

Zahra loved her Zia though.

Thomas was the best fun to play with. We had lots of fun in my playroom and also when we went out. He has the best laugh and likes doing funny things with me.

Here is a nice photo of Zahra from when we all went to the Sports Club.

And one of me with Dada and Zahra on the swing.