Missing Cake

Seb's birthday turned out good.

Looking back on my blog all the recent posts have been about birthdays.  From July to October we have a birthday every three weeks, its a very busy time of year for us.  Other half kicks it off on the 19th July then there is no rest till all six of us have celebrated our special days (or not as in my case).

I was cruel to Seb.  I didn't bake him a cake or cupcakes, I bought a cake instead but refrained from letting him know.

I waited until the Friday night and I told him that I was so sorry that I didn't have time to bake. He said that was okay and not to worry about it and that he would be just fine.  All day Saturday, which was his actual birthday I dropped in now and again that we didn't have his cake or cupcakes done. Each time Seb was really grown up and gracious about it.   He was given some chocolate from a friend so he even agreed that I would use the chocolate bar and put a candle in it to sing Happy Birthday to him.   We had a nice meal and afterwards I disappeared off to 'prepare the chocolate'.   Everyone was in on the secret.
When I walked back into the room with his cake this is what his face was like ...

You could not have faked that look for a million pounds.  He was thrilled with his cake and not one bit cross that I had tricked him.

We got him a kindle as his main gift, which he was delighted with.  He also got plenty of books, chocolate and a few other bits.

This year we didn't really plan any birthday parties.  Money was a bit tight for a while and to be fair I thought the children could have a choice of what to do now they are getting older.  Each child opted for a day out or a shopping trip.  Seb chose to go to the transport museum, despite visiting the museum on a previous birthday he still loved it.  

Tree Today Gone Tomorrow

I love our front garden.  Its not very big, certainly very small in comparison to the back garden.  However the little garden is pretty and has a cosy feel to it, if you could describe a garden in that way. When we moved in to our house there were two little trees in one of the borders, they were fine and didn't cause any trouble at all.  Over the years the trees have gotten larger and have at times been in the way.  They block the light and  I cant see the children playing from the dining room window.  They had to go.
Our neighbour who is a keen chainsaw-er very kindly offered to do the deed for us.  So on Saturday we decided that while the rain stayed away we would go ahead with the job. Sol got very upset at the prospect of losing her trees.  She hid from the sound of the chainsaw and wanted to make a tree grave for our two trees.  She came round however at the promise that I plant something new and pretty, something that will attract butterflies in the summer. 

The rest of the week was uneventful.  We had another day up in the city of Belfast shopping.  Seb needed new shoes for his Boy's Brigade club so we made that an excuse to go shopping again.  He did well him and his sisters got chatting to the shop assistants in the Geox shop and ended up with three Geox watches to go along with Seb's new shoes.
Later on in the Castle Court Centre Seb was watching the Pretzel makers at Auntie Annes pretzel stall, he watched intently how they stretched and rolled the dough.  After a few minutes the pretzel guys came over and gave him this huge pretzel for free.  Seb was delighted of course and they were more than happy to give him further demonstrations in pretzel making.  I thought that was really nice.