Never-ending cake...

5

And so after many, many weeks of planning and preparations Emily's 5th Birthday finally arrived. Bless her, she'd worked so hard in the preparation of it all - handmaid invites, organising decorations, party bags, games and surprises had all been in her planning. We are really not ones for going overboard but the whole homemade affair was to last 4 days with 3 distinct parties, numerous pass the parcels, treasure hunts and pin the carrot nose on Olaf. Much of it was Frozen themed but importantly it was all about people. Not just in terms of the hoards that were coming over the days and the experiences that we were to share with them, but she also decided that she'd like some of it to be raising money for Mary's Meals. And double bless her - her foregoing of numerous presents helped her raise over £250 - feeding 18 children for a year. I was dead proud.

And then there was cake. You can't have a birthday without cake. And Mummy worked the miracle of fishes and loaves making sure that there was enough cake to go around. Niomi and her had been baking for 2 weeks and whilst the birthday cake shrank - it managed to feed everyone. I was again dead proud of my star bakers.

 Her first cash present went unprompted into the Mary's Meals box

 Jazzed up sparkly 'new' bike

Party games Part 1 at Party 1

Party games Part 2 at Party 1

 The never-ending cake

 Party 1

 Never-ending cake Part 1 at Party 1

 Party 2 with never-ending cake Part 2

 Party 3

Never-ending cake Part 3 and the miracle baker still rocking at Party 3

And there you have it. My little girl is 5. And boy did she celebrate in style - all homemade but lots and lots and lots of fun. What was left? Well some hasty tidying up and then recuperation before the next round of winter fun commenced...Bring it on!