A Happy Birthday

In our house this time of year is known as ‘birthday season’ because so many of us have our birthdays in March and April – Ben and I have ours in March and Jenny and Stuart have theirs in April. We always have a party to celebrate the kids’ birthdays and normally Ben and I have a special dinner to celebrate our birthdays, but this year Ben did something extra special – he arranged a wonderful surprise party for me!

In the morning I was awakened at the crack of dawn by the kids jumping on the bed, eager to present me with my birthday presents and breakfast in bed, which was really lovely. The kids bought me two pairs of slippers, some perfume and a new hairbrush and Ben bought me a beautiful new coat which I’d had my eye on for a while. (He obviously picked up on the subtle hints that I kept dropping, such as, ‘I want THAT coat for my birthday!’) 

I spent much of the morning watching DVDs with the kids while Ben prepared lunch and then after lunch we all went out for a drive in the hills and along the coast. It was a beautiful clear, sunny day and the view across Morecambe bay from the hills was stunning. 

We were out for a couple of hours and then when we returned the surprise party was set up and waiting for me. (My sister Judy had collaborated with Ben to set the party up in my absence.) Ben and the kids held back and then as I walked into the living room dozens of friends and family leapt towards me shouting ‘Surprise!’ I nearly jumped out of my skin! But after the initial shock had subsided I had a good laugh with everyone else. 

I should have expected something like this from Ben - he’s so thoughtful and it was big birthday. I won’t tell you how old I am as I’d have to shoot you afterwards, but let’s just say the number is divisible by ten without remainder. (I knew those maths lessons that I was forced to endure as a child would come in handy one day.)

Anyway, I chatted with the guests and enjoyed the buffet for a while then my kids appeared dressed in some of their best party gear. I was so proud of them.

Keith wore a premium quality boys white 3 piece suit with a boys white cufflinks shirt with double cuff and cufflinks, a boys white tie in shiny satin fabric and handmade leather junior boys white shoes.

Crissy and Sarah wore beautiful matching special occasion girls dresses in ivory and black and girls white party shoes with flower diamantes. And Simon wore a stylish 5 piece boys grey suit set and handmade junior boys black leather shoes.

They all looked so lovely. I’m so grateful to Ben for arranging such a wonderful birthday for me. I’ll have to think of something extra special to do for his next birthday.

Preparing For Christmas!

It’s almost Christmas! Hurrah! I love Christmas – it’s my favourite time of year. I love it more than Easter, Halloween and Summer holidays all rolled into one. And not just because Ben (my hubby) has his annual bath at Christmas! (Only joking Ben, if you’re reading!)

I’ve been feeling very Christmassy since we put the decorations up at the start of December. It took us a full afternoon, but it was fun blowing up all of the balloons, hanging the streamers and decorating the tree. The kids loved it. We have an artificial tree that has seen better days, and every year we say that we’re going to replace it, but we never do.

We’ve been preparing for Christmas for months – stocking up on food and drink and buying presents for family and friends. We have most of the presents now, but there are still a few left to get. (I always like to leave a few Christmas presents to the last minute in order to inject a little peril into the proceedings!)   

Every Christmas we have a theme in our home, just for a bit of fun. Last year we had a Santa theme. Ben (my hubby) dressed up as Santa, I dressed up as Mrs Santa and the kids all dressed up as elves. It was hilarious. The year before, we had a horror theme and we all dressed up as monsters. This year we found it hard agreeing on a theme. Keith (my eldest son) wanted an Elvis theme – he thought it would be fun if we all dressed up as Elvis and acted like Elvis all day. Ben and I quite liked the idea, but the other kids didn’t – they wanted to have a more Christmassy theme. After a lot of discussion we arrived at the idea of having a ‘red’ themed Christmas! Don’t ask me how we started at ‘Elvis’ and arrived at ‘red’, but we did. And I’m still trying to work out if ‘red’ is more Christmassy than ‘Elvis’.

Anyway, over the past few weeks I’ve been sorting out the costumes for the kids and have just about got them sorted.

For Sarah (my youngest girl) I bought a fun ensemble comprising: a lovely little red leotard, a frothy red tutu skirt and some red pom pom tights that will go perfectly with the girls red Mary Jane shoes with patent leather double straps that her aunt Judy gave her recently.


For Simon (my youngest boy) I bought a very cute red and blue Spiderman costume from the online Disneystore. I wanted to buy him a more conventional outfit, but he had his heart set on the Spiderman costume; and if he wants to spend his Christmas dressed as Spiderman then who am I to stop him! You’re only seven once! (By the way, I wonder if Spiderman will be spending Christmas dressed as Simon?)

For Crissy (my eldest girl) I bought a gorgeous red tartan smocked dress by Sarah Louise, some red tights and some girls red and black patent shoes with a lovely bow design on the front. She loves the outfit so much that she keeps telling me how much she’s looking forward to wearing it on Christmas day. And I’m looking forward to seeing her in it!


For Keith, I bought a boys red shirt and tie set, some boys red trousers and some boys black leather shoes. I also bought him an Elvis wig, sideburns and sunglasses set so that he could have his own Elvis theme if he wanted to! He loved the present and told me that I was the best mum in the world. And you know what, he was right!


OK, I’d better sign off now – there’s still lots of stuff to do and only a few days left to do it in. Happy Christmas!

Happy Halloween!

I have some news on the wedding front – Judy and Dimitris have come over all romantic and decided put the wedding back to February 14th – Valentine’s Day! It was Dimitris’ idea – he’s such a big softy! I’m quite relieved as it gives us more time to prepare for the big day and save up for the trip to Greece. I’ll keep you posted.

I’ve had such an enjoyable week or so I can’t tell you. First, I was out trick or treating with my three youngest on Halloween. They all wore scary masks and carried little trick or treat buckets and we went around the neighbourhood pestering the neighbours. (There’s nothing I like better than pestering the neighbours - it’s a hobby of mine!) Instead of calling out, “Trick or treat!” (as I instructed) Crissy kept calling out, “Treat or treat!” When I tried to correct her she said that she was doing it on purpose as she didn’t want to play any tricks, she just wanted the treats! She’s a girl after my own heart! Most of the neighbours were great (as always) and we managed to fill the buckets with treats in less than an hour. And I’m sure the kids managed to empty them again in even less time!

We then went to Judy’s house where she was having a kids fancy dress party. All the kids looked amazing in their cute little outfits. Dina, Judy’s daughter looked adorable dressed as a fairy! She wore a: diamante glitter communion alice band (which looked like a little fairy crown), pink leotard, pink frothy tutu skirt, girls pink party shoes and she carried a droopy little homemade wand! It was so lovely watching her running around waving her droopy wand casting pretend spells on the other children. When I asked her what spells she was casting she said, “Good spells!” How adorable!

My eldest boy, Keith wasn’t feeling so well and stayed home watching telly with his dad. But his brother Simon and his two sisters Crissy and Sarah all attended and had a great time.

Simon was dressed very formally, wearing: a white boy’s formal shirt, black patent leather shoes and boy’s black bow tie. His best friend Stuart (who was dressed as a cowboy) asked him why he hadn’t come in fancy dress as he had promised. Simon replied that he was in fancy dress – he had come dressed as a party pooper! That’s my boy!

The girls both wore matching girl’s special occasion dresses with a black top and red bow. They got them for a friend’s birthday party a few months ago and I was determined that they wore them again before they grew out of them. It would be such a shame to wear such beautiful dresses only once.

Talking about beautiful dresses, Jenny (one of Crissy’s friends) came dressed in an absolutely stunning ornate pink and white dress. When I asked her mother about the dress she told me that it was a Marie Antoinette Dressing Up Set from Cachet Kids. She also told me that it was only a little over £30, which I found hard to believe; but when I looked on the site it was true! I think it must be a misprice.

There were lots of great costumes at the party. One of the best was a homemade costume of a giant frog worn by one of Crissy’s friends. Another was a homemade costume of a scarecrow worn by one of the children I didn’t know. The problem with the costume was that a piece of wood ran through the arms and across the shoulders of the jacket to keep the arms stuck out like a scarecrow, but the poor child was then unable to use his arms to eat and drink. And it was very funny watching him trying to play party games with his arms stuck out like that.

My brother Ed brought his son Ashley dressed as a miniature James Bond. He wore a boy’s shirt with tie, a small black boy’s suit, small black patent leather shoes and he was carrying a tiny black toy handgun. He slept through most of the party and Ed took him home early to put him to bed.

Anyway, the party was a lot of fun – there was lots of food and drink, lots of games (like pass the parcel and bobbing for apples) and Dimitris put on a very funny magic show, in which most of the tricks went wrong to the great amusement of everybody.

Then on November 3rd the whole family went out to a local bonfire and firework display which was absolutely amazing. (It’s always held on a weekend, even when bonfire night falls during the week.) The event went on for about two hours; there was a massive bonfire and hundreds of fireworks. The kids all had sparklers and we all had burgers and hot chocolate to keep us warm. It was a great night – the kids loved it.