Happy Birthday Charlie!

Our little man turned 5 today! He's been very excited about his birthday for a very long time, he knew it wasn't long after mine so we've been counting sleeps! He was at school for his birthday, we're not sure how many birthdays he'll have at school as we think it'll fall in half term most years but this year half term is later due to the Jubilee. He was very lucky too that the school hosted a Jubilee disco on his birthday which he really enjoyed.

After school we went to see Mark's parents, Nanna had made Charlie a special cake complete with dinosaur candles!

The only thing Charlie asked for was a car ferry, ever since our cruise in February! (not quite sure of the association but there you go!)

Courtney enjoyed Charlie's birthday too!

Twins!

Look at these 2!! Mark tells me their outfits were not planned and it was just co-incidence the way they're dressed! Too cute!
Charlie earned his 5 metres swimming badge this morning, just 2 weeks after learning to swim with no armbands! He's really taken to swimming, just a shame he's not in time for the London Olympics, LOL!!

Party in the Park!

The weather has stayed really lovely all week, I think it was very much needed, we've had so much horrible weather lately and has really cheered us.

Charlie was invited to a party at Williamson's Park in Lancaster. He went off bug exploring with his party friends and Courtney came with us for some lunch in the cafe there. After lunch we had a walk around the park, the weather had brought everybody out, it was really busy!

Then we collected our little man, he'd really enjoyed the party!

Gervase Phinn

Last night Elizabeth and I went to watch Gervase Phinn. He was an Ofsted Inspector and is also an author with a wide variety of published books. He tours the country telling anecdotes from his inspection days, he was very funny! Elizabeth was given 2 tickets for for birthday from her mother in law and suggested Elizabeth could take me! That was really kind of her and kind of Elizabeth to take me. Here we are with Gervase before the performance, not the most flattering photo of Elizabeth and I but, hey, it's documenting the memory that counts, LOL!

School shorts!

Charlie made a request this morning to wear his school shorts, all his friends were wearing them yesterday! We're having a nice spell at the moment and yesterday got to be quite warm so he's highly delighted to have gone to school this morning in shorts! Hopefully this nice weather continues and it won't be the first and last time he gets to wear them!!

.........and a pic just because his sister looks so cute this morning too!!

So proud of our little fish!

Charlie started swimming lessons in January. He's always enjoyed swimming and being confident in the water right from us taking him swimming as a baby. He has progressed really well in his lessons and today made us extremely proud. Charlie swam without any floatation aids!! Way to go Charlie!! Over the lessons he has gone from the inflatable orange armbands to flotation disks, starting with 2 on each arm and gradually going down and down. Last week he only had one disk on one arm and Karen, his teacher, was confident he's be swimming alone this week and he did!! Yay! Here's our very proud little fish!

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I celebrated my 38th Birthday! I quite like 38, I'm an even numbers kinda girl and although 37 was a good year I'm quite happy to be 38! Although the next even number steps me into my next decade, LOL!
First thing my gorgeous family piled onto our bed singing Happy Birthday to me and showered me with cuddles, kisses and pressies! That was special!♥ We got dressed and set off to Frankie and Benny's for breakfast. I had pancakes with berries and ice cream, it was yummy. (It was just perfect too as I hadn't felt brilliant the day before.) I just love this pic and Courtney and I taken there!

As a child I remember visiting a place called 'Fairy Steps' and I wanted to take Charlie and Courtney. To be fair I really had no idea how to get there or indeed really where it was, LOL! I just remembered turning left at Beetham, Cumbria and it being a nice place! So that's what we did, turned left at Beetham and had a little adventure! After not being able to find the steps we called in at the post office in Arnside and got directions. We then found them straight away! Only what I hadn't remembered is that they were a good walk away from the road, Mark thinks around a mile both ways!! The track was all different terrains and very muddy in places (would now be a good time to admit Charlie and Courtney had their new shoes on, LOL!) Eventually we made it, I have to say it was worth the walk, the steps were fun to climb and the view was stunning. Folklore has it that if you climb the steps without touching the sides that you'll see a fairy at the top..........have you seen the steps, not even Courtney could have done that, they were sooooo narrow at the top, LOL!

We were in need of refreshment once we returned to the car so went to Beetham Nurseries for a lovely latte and piece of fruit cake! (Mark had hot chocolate, Charlie and Courtney had fruit shoots and biscuits.) We got home late afternoon and Karin visited with Daniel, Charlie had chosen a birthday cake for me and had been desperate to present me with it and sing Happy Birthday again so he did it with Karin and Daniel.♥

In the evening I met Kathryn for a couple of drinks at the Hest Bank hotel which was lovely so all in all I've had a terrific birthday, I'm a very lucky girl!

Albert is 90!

What a special day celebrating a very special man's 90th Birthday! I am so honoured to have Albert in my life. Recently Albert has had a few health scares and has unfortunately visited the hospital quite a bit. Thankfully he is quite fit at the moment and is settling into his new home perfectly. He is now living in a local care home and seems very happy there. We organised a surprise party for his 90th Birthday for today. His birthday is actually tomorrow but having the party on Bank Holiday Monday made sense as everybody could go. Happy Birthday Albert!

One whole size!

We took Charlie and Courtney to buy new shoes today, both their shoes still seemed to fit but they're both very scuffed and 'old.' Imagine our surprise when they were measured and both of them had grown a whole size each! Charlie measured in at a 9F and Courtney a 5F. We had a look at the girl's selection which was vast! We picked up a couple but when Mark and I saw a beautiful pair of red ones at the same time we knew we had to have them for Courtney, they're so cute! Quite a few of Courtney's summer dresses have red in them or navy so they should go nicely.

Charlie's selection wasn't quite so! The boys shoes always seem to be the same styles and we rotate between brown and blue! There were a couple of novelty pairs, one had a dinosaur, the other a digger but we thought they were a little too young for him. He asked if he could have light up shoes, he has had these shoes before but when he was a toddler so he doesn't remember them. He tried a pair on and instantly wanted them! Why not, hey! :D

First night in his new room!

Bless!

The joiner finally came back today to trim and re-hang Charlie's door. We've been chasing him for a couple of weeks! You see we have 2 very cheeky pussy cats who would like nothing more than to have a nice comfortable bed to sleep in and our male cat enjoys playing 'pouncy' if you move your feet so Charlie wouldn't have got any sleep if we'd let him sleep in there with no door!

I made up his bed as a surprise for him after school. I can't tell you how much this little boy adores his new room, every little addition we have made to his room has filled him with excitement and it's pure joy for us to see. Note how his duvet is sideways on his bed, from when we first put a duvet on his cotbed (around when he was just short of 2) Charlie has always liked it sideways on and tucked in both sides, it's like security to him and I have to admit I'm quite pleased he's all tucked up, that bed is so high it would be quite a way to go if he was to fall out of it!!