Birthday girl

I'm not sure how this happened but somehow 5 years has passed since we welcomed Esther into out family. In some ways I can't remember what it was like before she was here! The night before her birthday we travelled up to my parents house. In the morning Esther woke up to rooms full of balloons and waffles with lots of different topping for breakfast. Auntie Bex and Uncle Joel were there too. She opened her cards and presents- she had asked for a baby Annabell doll so that's what the big box is. In the afternoon Uncle Dan and Auntie Natalie came with their 2 year old niece. Then in the evening my Uncle Sid and Auntie Jean had a Caileidh for their 40th Wedding Anniversary. The girls LOVED the dancing and Esther and Eliza got to play with my cousins children plus everyone sang happy birthday to Esther so she thought it was a party for her! We had a birthday party for Esther today, it was only going to be a small affair - Esther invited 6 girls from school but it turned out smaller than planned as 2 didn't turn up! Esther didn't even seem to notice and had a great time anyway! Here is she with her friends having happy birthday sung to her!

Blowing out the candles:

The cake - Ben and I decorated it last night and I think it turned out pretty good!

Here's a bit about Esther:

She likes to colour and draw, loves playing out and riding her bike, especially since she can do it without stablisers. She is really good at making new friends but is also a mummy's girl. She is usually pretty good at sharing and loves to help out with Alice and play with her. She is trustworthy and super helpful plus alot of fun! She loves to wrestle too. Esther is a good example to her younger sisters and WE LOVE HER!

The big 3-0!

On Saturday I made it to the ripe old age of 30! We came up to spend the weekend at my parents and were there until today when we finally made it home a day late. Ben got ill on the Friday and has been ill ever since. He is a bit better today - enough to drive us back home - but there is just no cure for man flu is there?? ha ha, good job he doesn't read this!
So my big day consisted of homemade waffles a-la-mama for breakfast, my best friend Rachel came over to spend the day, we went out to some nice local village for a walk around and played some games in the afternoon. In the evening I was supposed to be going out to a super nice restaurant for dinner with Ben but ended up at some restaurant with Rachel instead since Ben felt too bad to go out! It was a good day though despite Ben being under the weather.
We went out to the seaside whilst we were up there and to some great parks, I finished off my Christmas shopping for Ben, Esther and Eliza too - I've never been so prepared - I just need to figure out where to hide all the stuff!!
Esther especially was sad to come home! I had to list off all the great things we would be doing in the next few weeks that we couldn't do if we stayed up at Grandma and Grandpa's house and that made her feel better.
So all in all, 30 is actually a great number and it kinda feels nice to be there (not sure I'll feel the same way at 40...).

New skills

I've kind of an ambitious project for Esther's birthday cake... My mother-in-law bought a Barbie cake tin a while ago for 50p or something ridiculous and passed it our way. So I've decided to use it for Esther's birthday cake, the only problem is the decorating... I've never used an icing bag before so I experimented today with some mini cupcakes - I discovered the nozzle I was trying to use was waaaaaaaaaay to big for the size of the cake so have to give us and just smooth the icing on and throw on some edible glitter. They look ok enough for Esther to take to her pre-school tomorrow anyway! It's not made me super confident about the real birthday cake so I'll do it the day before her party and if it looks naff then no-one need ever see it! I'll just hurry down to the Bury Cake shop! Wish me luck!

Why are Polly Pockets so expensive???

Esther has asked for some Polly Pockets for her birthday, a pretty resonable request but everywhere I look they are just super expensive for hardly any quantity!! Even on ebay people pay a fortune and I've been outbid at super high prices! Hmmmm....her birthday is on Friday.....time is running out....maybe she will forget what she asked for? Not likely! Isn't it funny that nearly 4 year olds can remember exactly everything they want to remember? Oh well, maybe I'll just need to buy something full price for a change... so hard when you are a bargain hunter!

Eliza turns one!

Eliza turned one last week and I can't believe how quickly the time is flying by. She is absolutely wonderful! Still loves her thumb, lucky thats its attached to her body eh? She has really got into soft toys, loves to sleep with 3 or 4 in particular and is partial to toys that have tails....don't know what it is that my girls love about toys with tails but they do. Eliza started walking pretty well just this last week, before then she wasn't bothered one bit. Plus she has THE cutest smile and laugh going, I know everyone thinks that about their children but in my case its true. He he he! I think I really could eat her up.

Anyway, so I made her a disaster cake for her birthday. The cake broke as it came out of the tin, then the frosting wasn't being co-operative and so it was only somewhat rescued by the application of copious amounts of sweeties. As it happens only Esther, Eliza and I had a piece and then it was put in the bin....not that it tasted bad but the thought of it made me feel sick....

Open wide!

Waiting for cards, can't get the thumb out...

Esther making her prettiest face for the photo.


Cards at last!

Poor little girl got one present for her birthday but we decided to by a wooden playhouse for the garden for them both to play in, I'm probably more excited about that than they are! All in all, I think Eliza had a great birthday. Actually she got 2 presents - I asked Esther what she would like to buy Eliza for her birthday - the answer: a pink dog with yellow eyes called Hayley. Yep, random. SO we found her a brown dog with brown eyes but Esther was still happy with that and so was Eliza. Unfortunately we lost it less than a week later at the Temple.....

Happy birthday Eliza!