Half Term Hols

I always love the October half term and this year was no different. We were treated to lovely autumnal weather on most days which meant washing on the line and walks in the park. We did so many things this past week that it has flown by and I really can't believe that it's back to the old routine tomorrow!

MB was spending the week with us so we had our full quota of children for the week. There were lots of things to fit in, some of them pretty routine but as is often the way they have to be done while were off from work/school.

We had trips to the park

Our Fabulous four

Bruno taking a rest 

Beautiful Autumn colour

After trips to the park we made time for hot chocolate and dvd's, we all enjoyed some quiet time after the fresh air.
We only had one whole day at home I had a job to do that I'd been putting off for a while. You can read about it here. I also had a couple of little sewing jobs to do and I'd promised L that we could make her Sock Monkey from a kit I'd got her for her birthday. We did it together and she's turned out pretty well, I think.

Careful does it!

She's taking shape

Ta Dah!!!!!

Trips to the shops were also required this week as my birthday always falls in half term. Mr P had given the children money so that they could each choose and buy their own gift to give to me. Two trips were required. The first to the local shops, as R had picked something from one of the many Christmas shop brochures we had lurking, and the second to a shopping centre. The girls went off one way while R & I were left waiting for them, so we had a wander in a few shops of his choice. He's really not a lover shopping of any kind but he was quite happy browsing in the 'boy' shops!

A sign of things to come?

We squeezed in a family trip to the cinema to see Johnny English, which made all of us laugh out loud along with all the other families. It was really lovely to hear so much laughter.

And then came the big day, my birthday! It has to be said that by the time my birthday comes, I've usually run out of steam, but this year the children and Mr P had been plotting and planning so I went with it as they had all put in so much effort.

I got up to banners on the walls and balloons all over the floor, my gifts (there were a lot of them!) were all presented beautifully and the children were all so excited that you'd have thought it was their birthdays!

Each one had chosen gifts that they thought I'd like, without help from any other adults and I was so touched and amazed at what they'd chosen.

Felix trying to blend in

From R, a two tier cake stand and two candles in glass jars to go on my dressing table. From MB a pencil case complete with contents for my work bag so that I no longer have to scrabble around in the deepest darkest corners of my work bag for a pencil only to discover there isn't one there! And two pretty nail polishes. From M and L a basket decorated with ribbons full of wrapped goodies including, chai tea, posh coffee, shortbread, a hairclip, socks, hazelnut syrup (for coffee) and pretty tissues.
Mr P ordered me some beautiful underwear from Victoria's Secret in America. It fits like it was made for me and made me feel very special.
After all my gifts and cards were opened L painted my toes for me and M made some lemon cupcakes. I'd decided that I'd like to go out for lunch instead of dinner so that's what we did. We headed to the local carvery for a nice roast dinner and we weren't disappointed. We all left rather full and came home for a relaxed afternoon doing nothing much, which was perfect.
Later on M presented me with the cakes she'd made. They were her first attempt at piping and I think she did a pretty good job.

Cakes on my new stand

I'm more comfortable being on the other side of the cakes!

 I think it was probably the best birthday I have ever had. Everyone had put so much thought and effort into me having a nice day That means more than anything. My girls had even bought and filled little party bags for us all out of their own money, it was a lovely touch and shows that even though as a Mum, I sometimes feel taken for granted, that they really do care.
It rounded of half term week really nicely. It's lovely just to have time to spend together as recently some of our weekends have been taken up with other things. The next time we're all off like this will be the Christmas holidays, which are getting ever closer. Thankfully another task we managed this week was the children writing Christmas lists, those shopping trips came in handy! I hope you all had a lovely half term too what did you get up to?