Bowling, Birthday Cake and A Ravenous Beast!

Alfie turned 5 last week and decided he didn't want a party - he would like to go bowling with the family instead. He's a bit of a whizzkid when it comes to games and sport...he thrashes us all regularly on the wii. None of us had been bowling for sometime and I wasn't sure my muscles were up to it...I gave the audience a You've Been Framed moment when i fell over after launching a ball down the alley! It was all caught on camera and very embarrassing. That £250 is mine as compensation!

Back at the house the non-birthday party had in fact turned into rather a large party but consisted mainly of adults. Alfie was allowed a 'couple' of friends but the whole family were there too. For me it passed in a bit of a blur - running around topping up party rings and jugs of squash , supervising pass the parcel and rescuing small children from the upstairs toilet...the Princess dresses were causing major problems! Alfie had a whale of a time and the front room was filled with presents and cards.

In my wisdom a few weeks prior to his birthday I had asked him what kind of cake he would like this year. I had made all of his previous birthday cakes (bar one) A car for his 1st birthday followed by a train and a fire engine (Shop-bought Peppa Pig sneaked in age 3...too many kids to cater for!). knowing just how much he likes his vehicles I was praying for something fairly easy to produce (a campervan would have been a good choice) but no. He was very specific. He would like a "convertible Mercedes car cake Mummy" Right. I'll just go and rustle one of those up then! (Next year he's having a hedgehog cake and liking it!)

Thankfully Daddy was on hand to help cut the sponges I had made then it was down to me to ice it and decorate it and make it look vaguely like it was supposed to. On inspection by the birthday boy next morning I got a "well it's not exactly like a Mercedes Mummy..." but thankfully he did love it all the same!

We bought him a trampoline this year - something that he has had his eye on for a while. Daddy took the afternoon off and built it while he was at school so he came home to a wonderful surprise. 'This is fanatstic!' he yelled at us through the safety netting. It was definitely a hit and was his 'first favourite' present.

Later in the week we suddenly realised that it was World Book Day and with all the excitement of his birthday we had forgotten to make a hat! Guess who got the job.....

Yes, Mummy muggins rushed off down to Ryman's looking for card and glue and shiny paper. He had decided that he would like a Ravenous Beast hat - his favourite book of choice...for this week at least!

I actually quite enjoyed getting creative with the card and the hat turned out a treat...my big grown up 5 year old was very impressed with Mummy's efforts. Not so impressed when Mummy wore it on the way home though. Well isn't it part of my job description to embarrass the children??

I was just doing my duty!

Life and loss

I can't quite believe that it is March already. These first couple of months have disappeared in a flash and after all the excitement of award ceremony in January life settled down ..or so I thought. To be honest this last couple of weeks in particular have been very hard. I was diagnosed with post natal depression last year after a bout of dizzy spells (although thankfully mild) but some days it can creep up on me and make even quite trivial things seem much harder.

Apart from the general household drudgery (washing and ironing piles up to the ceiling and constant cleaning) I've also had to work every night once the children are in bed as well as fitting in my daytime work hours between school runs and days when I have baby Charlie at home. I've been beyond tired some days but you just have to keep going. The business is thriving for which I am truly grateful - I know how tough it can be for small businesses at any time of year but especially that tricky post-Christmas period. It's just some days...I wish I could stop the world and get off for a breather!

Sadly my mood has been very sombre recently too due to the fact that my lovely Auntie had been poorly in hospital. After a successful op she returned home and was doing well. They discovered that she was suffering from cancer during the op (hadn't known it was there previously) and were just deciding on the course of treatment when we had a devastating phonecall. On Friday 24th she collapsed and was taken back to hospital and whilst holding our eldest son's 5th birthday celebrations on the Saturday she passed away.
It was a very difficult weekend and hard to put on a brave face for our darling boy but his party went ahead on the instruction of his Nanny who had just lost her sister that day.

My lovely Auntie Sylv

This week we have been preparing to say goodbye to my Auntie and my Mum has been back and forth to see her husband and to help where she can. Tuesday was Alfie's official birthday - Nanny & Grandad came for tea and he was spoiled rotten! It was emotional as we found a card amongst the pile posted by my auntie before she died but I'm glad she was part of the day.
I know she was very proud of us all and I can still hear her laughter. She was one of the kindest people I have ever known and will be sadly missed by us all.
Tomorrow we are holding a service and will say goodbye to her. I just hope she knows just how much she was loved back