A surprise party for me!

Today was a pretty good day all in all. The morning was quite lazy. Oh the kids were great today! They spent about 4 hours playing in Jude's room together. It was so nice. The nicest thing was that all 3 of them were engrossed in the game. Not just Sam and Jude, but Luke too. I really enjoyed seeing them find something that they could all relate to, rather than them having to humour Luke all the time.

In the afternoon we made some cakes on a stick. We saw something similar on the tv yesterday and thought it would be fun to try. Basically we just cut up shop-bought cake, into rectangles, dipped them in melted chocolate and stuck dried fruits and nuts to them. We put them onto sticks to make lollies. It was great fun for the kids.






In the afternoon I finished my home made Christmas gift. Every year we put our names into a hat and draw one out each. We have to make a present for that person. Its a secret who we get. After Christmas I'll post some photos of the things we made. Last year I made painted and varnished pebble paper weights for Sam, Sam made a photo album of my life for me, Jude made Steve a box of little niknaks, and Steve made Jude a collage of photos in a frame. This year I am making for Luke as well as my secret person, so that he doesn't feel left out. I'm pretty proud of my efforts this year.

Well, it was arranged that we would be going round to Mums house for dinner tonight. The plan was to pick Steve up from work at 6pm and drive on to Mums house. Of course, I was in no rush, thinking I had all the time in the world. I rocked up to Steves shop at about 6.20pm, after showering Luke, putting on something half decent to wear and a little bit of makeup. I'm so glad I did. I almost went in my jogging bottoms. lol. I was running late and just thought that Mum wouldn't care if I arrived looking like a stay-at-home-Mum. Doh.

When we finally arrived at Mums at about 7pm I gave Mum the chocolate cakes on a stick that we had made. She whisked them off me at full speed and I took them back to show her them and give the kids the glory they deserved for their efforts. Lol. So I was in the kitchen taking my time, chatting away, unaware of anything at all unusual. Finally Mum said she had a job for the kids to do, so I should just go into the living room and make myself at home. Well, when I opened the living room door I nearly had a heart attack. The room was full of my family, all letting off streamers and party poppers, yelling "SURPRISE!!!" My goodness! Poor Luke didn't have a clue what was happening and stood clinging to my leg looking utterly bemused. Sam, Jude and Steve all knew what was happening but didn't even give a hint away. Well done kids! Of course, no one told Luke because he can't keep a secret. lol. There were loads of balloons with 'happy 30th birthday' on them, banners on the wall, and all my favourite people were there (apart from my Dad, who was there in thought :)

Well, after recovering from the shock I had to open presents! WOW. My birthday isn't until the 29th, which is why I was so un-suspicious. Jenny's kids gave me a big badge saying 'birthday girl', and I got one from Hannah too saying 'lady of leisure'. Luke helped me open every single present. He was shocked and kept saying "we didn't know this was going to happen, did we Mummy?" He is great at helping with present opening. Bless him. Well, I don't think I've ever been so excited before! lol. Dad sent a gift for me. Inside the bag were some really lovely seaweed body products. When I opened the envelope that was with them I found a voucher for two people to have a hot seaweed bath, steam and shower at a health spa type place in Newcastle (Co Down). How fabulous! I was really pleased with that. What an exciting, luxurious gift (thanks Dad). I got so many presents, as well as some Christmas presents including home made truffles and jewelry (from Mum), a big Lush gift box and a £25 voucher (from Maddi and Tom), candles and a makeup bag full of boots botanicals (from Hannah and David), and a big tray of bath products (from Jenny) amongst other things. I was truly spoilt!

The evening got better and better for the kids as some Christmas presents were handed out as well. My niece Bevin had bought every one a little gift with her own pocket money which was really sweet.











Mum must have spent all day in the kitchen because there was a huge array of gorgeous food and we all made pigs of ourselves eating them. Jenny had organised a few party games which were great fun. The first was 'pin the tail on the donkey'. Well, I haven't played that for years! It was hilarious. Jenny blindfolded us and spun us around. You can see a short video of Steve trying to pin the tail on the donkey by clicking here. I was in stitches watching the adults stumbling around the room trying to find the wall with the donkey on it! Then we had a game of pass the parcel. Adults and children. There is another short video of that which you can see by clicking here. The adults enjoy these things as much as the kids I think!




Jenny had decorated a chocolate cake with Thorntons Chocolates to make a big 30. Luke helped me to blow out the candles.

The whole evening was great fun and a huge surprise. I haven't been as surprised since the time that Steve told me he was bringing home lunch and turned up with my best friend from school, who had flown over from England without me suspecting a thing. (That was years ago). If you would like to see all the photos from the evening you can view them in flickr by clicking here.

Thanks everyone for the big surprise and the lovely evening. I hope you all have a happy Christmas and enjoy yourselves to the full. I'll be having another quiet birthday at home with the kids on the 29th so I'm a very lucky Mummy indeed :)