Jac put on her apron and got to work cooking sausages and bacon on the barbecue. I tended to her refreshment needs, keeping her supplied with orange juice while she cooked.

I realised recently I talk about bacon a lot. Not just a lot, but A LOT. I reckon if there was a tally done of the topics I’ve tweeted about, bacon would be number one.

The sausages were 3/4 sized ones, not stubby little chipolatas but shorter than standard snags.

Jac also fried the eggs on the barbie.

As usual, there were a few cooked over easy for those who prefer their eggs that way (not pictured).

My mum arrived with a basket of scones with whipped cream and strawberry jam.

Mum made the scones herself. They smelled buttery and looked wonderful. I couldn’t wait to have one with lashings of cream and jam. If my mum turns up with a basket like Little Red Riding Hood, I can certainly have lashings of cream and jam like an Enid Blyton character! :D

Ruby and Zoe’s other grandma made pikelets with sultanas in them. I think I love these as much as the girls. They’re good with butter and/or syrup or just on their own. They’re extremely moreish – we ate many of these between us!

Ange washed and sliced up fresh fruit – strawberries, apple, pear, pineapple and blood oranges – and assembled this lovely fruit platter.

These were some of the reddest strawberries I’ve seen in a long time.

Juji cooked lovely soft scrambled eggs…

My brother cooked pancakes. He makes pancakes breakfast every Sunday morning.

I got myself a plate with fried and scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage, pikelet, pancake with maple syrup and some fresh fruit.

Of course, pepper on my fried egg.

Jac spread some cream and jam on a scone for me. She spreads the jam on much thicker than I would. I’m not complaining – I feel very spoilt to have someone spread cream and jam on a scone for me (while I’m running around taking photos)! :) In general, Jac likes her spreads nice and thick – she always spreads Vegemite super thickly on her toast. My mum doesn’t like margarine or spreadable butters – she’ll eat her butter straight from the fridge, just slicing it to eat with fresh bread. If I spread butter or jam on my bread/scone or mayo/mustard on a sandwich I don’t necessarily need to spread it on thickly, but I always make sure to spread it evenly right up to the edges and corners. I can’t stand eating toast or a sandwich that’s got all the spread in the middle with nothing up to the edges or in the corners. Are you particular about how your spreads are applied on toast/sandwiches/scones?

We don’t eat scones with jam and cream very often, so it’s a real treat, especially with Mum’s homemade scones. When we were kids in Malaysia, once in a while on a weekend, Mum would bake a batch of scones for afternoon tea and my sisters and I would eat them hot out of the oven slathered with plenty of butter and strawberry jam.

While the grown-ups ate, Ruby and Zoe enjoyed their brunch sitting at their own little table. Shortly after I took this photo, more friends with little girls arrived, and they all sat at the little table together.

One of Mark and Ange’s friends brought her coffee machine over and played barista, making coffees and hot chocolates to order for whoever wanted one. To go with the coffee, there were sugar cubes. I love popping a sugar cube into a hot drink and watching it get sucked up.

There was a bowl of marshmallows, pink and white.

After they’d eaten their brunch, Ange brought out a tray of babycinos (warm foamy milk sprinkled with chocolate) and marshmallows for all the little girls.

Marshmallows and milk moustaches all around!

After a short play break, it was time for birthday cake! Regular readers may think the teddy bear birthday cake seems familiar. That’s because Ruby had a teddy bear cake for her 2nd birthday too (see previous post The 62nd birthday party). When Ange asked Ruby what kind of cake she’d like for her 3rd birthday she said she wanted a teddy bear again!

She was so excited! She asked her mum: “Can I eat his bow tie?” After we all sang happy birthday, Ange cut up the cake and distributed the Smarties from the bow tie and number 3 between all the little girls. After she’d eaten all her Smarties, Ruby whispered to her mum: “Can I eat his eyes?” And she held on to that pink marshmallow the whole time she ate her cake.

The cake was delicious! I love butter cake and chocolate butter cream icing! So does Zoe. She always has a great time at family get-togethers and parties. She was singing happily to herself as I took this photo.

Ruby took her time eating her cake. Long after the table had been cleared, she was still sitting there, fully focused on the slow demolition of her cake.

After brunch, babycinos and birthday cake, it was time to take a drive, beep beep! :)