Thursday 7th January
Birthday Girl
Today its Alice’s Birthday. We have been counting down the number of sleeps since Christmas. She is super excited about turning 7! In our house we love birthdays. We spend the night before decorating the house with birthday bunting and balloons, laying out all the presents ready for the big reveal in the morning.
Birthdays on school days are a mixed blessing. Its always a rush to get a few presents opened before school so that she has something to show and tell when she gets there. A quick panic as we leave the house – mustn’t forget the sweets she has to give out to the class, and a birthday badge to go on her cardigan – just in case anybody hadn’t heard that it was her birthday!!
She was so excited go into school, she told everyone we passed on the walk up that it was her birthday. I go home and spend a couple of hours trying to bake and decorate the cake of choice – which of course is Frozen (again!!). I bake the classic Mary Berry Victoria sponge – you can’t go wrong – well apart from the time when I confused tablespoons with teaspoons when adding bicarbonate of soda!
I’ve borrowed some Wilton’s Icing colours to dye the fondant icing, and by compete accident I make a pale blue swirl in the icing – totally ‘Frozen’! A further quick shake of edible glitter and add Frozen characters I’ve borrowed from another friend – and voila! A cake that looks not too shabby – even though I do say so myself.
We collect Alice from school. Its been a good day! Phew. We return home and she opens the rest of her presents. We decided because it’s a school night she would have her birthday treat at the weekend, so tonight she settles for takeout pizza. This guarantees no eating issues for the night! She has opted not to have a party this year. Instead she is going for a pony trek and then later in the month a trip to Cadbury World!
By far the best part of the day was when she spontaneously said ‘Thank You’ for her presents. Its not a given, so we appreciate to all the more when she has said it without being asked. When she saw her cake she bounced up and down and said it was the cake she always wanted – now that was the icing on the cake!!!
A Family Less Ordinary Blog
