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?

Bowling Cupcakes

I'm going to be cheeky and double up on this blog as these cakes are also my entry to this weeks Cake of the week.

This week sees the last of my three children's birthdays for another year. M was happy with a shop bought cake, thank goodness, as her birthday is in the first week of the new academic term, always a busy time. (I've vowed that I will make her one next year, no matter what!) L asked for a Horse cake which she helped me to make although again because of work it was a little late. But she didn't mind and it was my first entry to the Cake of the week blog.
So next is R's birthday. It's actually on Wednesday but he had his party yesterday, so for him the cakes came early! He originally asked for a chocolate tray bake covered in sweeties but I didn't have a tin that was a good size. They were all too big or too small so I suggested chocolate cupcakes instead and luckily he agreed! I told him to leave it with me and I promised him I'd make them special.
I baked the cupcakes on the Friday night using my usual recipe and then sat down to see if I could pull off my idea.
I was originally going to transfer the sweetie topping idea from the tray bake to the cupcakes but then, from nowhere the idea of Bowling Balls and Bowling Pins came into my head. Well, I say from nowhere, R was having a Bowling party but the idea to put the theme onto the cakes just seemed to pop into my head. I like it when that happens!
So I bought a small pack of ready coloured icing and a pack of white icing and once all the children were tucked up in bed I attempted to make the cake toppers.

Fiddly to make but I really enjoyed it 

The next morning I was up early to decorate the cakes. I piped them with swirls of chocolate butter cream and popped on either a bowling ball or pin to each cake.

Cakes ready to go in the early morning sun

Set up at the party

I was very pleased with how they turned out and so was R. His little face when I showed him the toppers when he got up that morning was worth all the effort. He had a lovely party with his sisters and friends and he still has his actual birthday to come!

My Little boy, not sure how much longer he'll let me call him that!

Making the most of it

I've been feeling very poorly of late and haven't really felt like doing much at all, but with the beautiful weather we've been having I really didn't want to waste a day sitting indoors. So I suggested to Mr P that we get out in the fresh air with the children and the dog, as this may well be the last sunny Saturday we get for a while. We decided to head for Heaton Park. It's a lovely park with so many different areas to explore. We packed up a picnic and got everyone into the car and headed off. We got to the park and set up camp near the shade of a tree, so hard to believe that it was the 1st of October!
There were so many families and groups in the park all enjoying the unusually good weather, it was lovely to see.

Heaton Hall in the distance

Changing colours in the October sunshine

Hazy day 

We spread out the blankets and took off our shoes. The breeze was so warm and yet still refreshing.

My view as I lay in the sun on our blanket

A little boy named Alfie took a shine to Bruno and we soon got chatting to him and his Mum, Lynsey.
We asked them to join us for a game of rounders.

Hot dog enjoying the breeze

A new friend

I wasn't up to running so I bowled. We all had a really good time, it's nice to make new friends and Alfie and Lynsey really seemed to enjoy having some other people to play with.
Our new friends headed off and we were joined by Mr P's parents, who arrived with a bag full of goodies to add to the picnic.

We did lots of eating, chatting and people watching. The children rolled down the hill, played all kinds of ball games and wandered through the wooded area collecting acorns and other bits of nature.

Rollin' rollin' rollin!!

Catch!

Nap time!

The sun dipped behind the clouds for a while. We decided to pack away the picnic and go for a walk.

Last game of cricket

We headed off for our walk and the sun came out again, which was lovely.

Monkey's in a tree!

Cattle in the park

Crossing the stream

We walked through the park with it's horses and cattle and the shady woodland areas. There are many squirrels and they are so tame. The tropical foliage we saw on our last visit had all gone and the paths were covered with fallen leaves from the trees, still beautiful, just different.
The sunshine had certainly made me feel better and the fresh air had worn us all out, so after a final stop at the play area we headed for home with the in-laws in tow. While the children showered I made a simple tea of pizza, pasta and salad. It really was a lovely day.
On waking this morning I noticed the lack of sunshine peering through the blinds of our bedroom. Sadly I'd been right. The sunshine of yesterday had been replaced with grey drizzle, more typical of this time of year. But that fact just made yesterday even more special and I'm very glad we made the most of it.