Princess is 6!

She had a lovely birthday, starting with a "Champagne" Breakfast (sparkling grape juice, pancakes and bacon).

We gave her the Polly Pocket she particularly wanted. It was quite a dilemna for me, since I don't think the world needs any more plastic (and we have more than enough already). But, I also know what it is liek ot have your heart set on something, and not get it.

I did wrestle with it for a long time, and offer large numbers of alternatives (even suggesting she might like to buy it herself when she is paid for her ad- basically just to alleviate some of my own guilt)...but it wouldn't do. If she could have *anything* in the whole world, apparently, it was a Polly Pocket Boat.

We also got her a wooden dollhouse, a few years late probably, but she enjoyed putting it togehter (kitset), and has begun colouring it with her new feltpens.

She spent the next 2 or 3 hours mostly in her room with her new Polly Pockets (one from Grandma and Poppy as well), which was a good thing since we (unforntunately) had a landlord inspection on the same day.

Daddy took the day off work to be wiht his Princess (he always takes the kids' birthdays off), and because it was too good an opportunity to miss- I booked an appointment with our new bank, so I could leave Tombliboo at home. That took longer than I expected, and I was left with not very long at all to make the birthday cake.

I normally make the cake (at least) in advance, and put it in the freezer...this saves time on the actual day and also makes it easier to ice. Sadly, this was about our "poorest" week ever, and I didn't have the ingredients to make the cake ahead of time. I didn't really have time either, since Tombliboo's eardrum perforated early on Monday morning :0(

I spent far too long deliberating over *which* cake to make- mostly, whther to make it dairy and egg free (to suit one cousin), or dairy, egg and wheat-free to suit both cousins.

I decided I didn't have time to come up with alternatives, and it would be much easier (and nicer for our little guests) if everyone could eat the cake. I won't do that again, lol.

By the time I made the cake, I had 20 minutes to ice it...not cool. Consequently, the pony I planned looked far more like a dog, and there wasn't a whole lot I could do about it. I am not much of an artist when it comes to cakes, even though they always look stupendous in my head.

We went to our cousins house for a very early (Chinese takeaway) dinner, and playtime with hte chidlren after they got home from school. Then, Daddy took the "big" kids, J-Man, Princess, P9 and A8 to the ice skating rink. This was the celebration Princess requested. She has only been ice skating once beofre- on her 3rd birthday.

They all had a fabulous time- Princess didn't leave the side of the rink much, but J-Man got in to it- even learning to skate backward (though he says he had to go rather slow so he didn't fall down).

They came back for birthday cake, and it went a bit downhill from there.

For starters, Princess (bless her) asked, "Thank you Mummy...what *is* it?"


Oh dear...well you have to laugh really!



Then, for the taste-test, and it turns out (well, I epxected it owuld be so) that it tasted repulsive. J-Man and Princess ate the icing, but couldn't "take the cake". Our cousins enjoyed it well enough though, and had a second helping!

Daddy *loves* cake, but he apologised saying that he really couldn't eat it.

So...lessons learned...make the cake in advance, spend more time icing it, and don't susbtitute more than 2 ingredients.

The children played while the adults chatted, and we left (hopefully) with enough time for our cousins to get enough sleep for school the next day.

We got home, and found a surprise package on the doorstep. Princess was delighted with a new dvd she had hoped for (Enchanted, from Nanny) and a new fairy book (Shannon the Ocean Fairy, from Nan & Grandad) and lots of hair accessories (from Uncle B) as well.

Princess got busy playing with her Polly Pockets again, and we ended the night reading another fairy book- and me telling her all about the night she was born. I turned out her light 3 minutes before she was born at 11.06pm 6 wonderful years ago.

Happy Birthday Princess :0)