Before I wax lyrical about the wonderful day we all had, I just want to ask this – where have my babies gone? I blinked and here they are at 11, nearly young ladies. Never again will I blink, for the next time I’ll be a grandmother.
I so much want to hold the hands of the clock and prevent time from moving any more. It needs to stop, just for a while. I need longer to hold my babies and whisper the words of love they need to hear. I need longer to teach them all I need to teach them. I need longer to figure out this parenting thing, so that I am able to teach them all I need to teach them. And I need longer to hold them in my arms and tell them how precious they are to me and how utterly blessed I feel to have them in my life; to make sure they know how empty it would be without their giggles, their cuddles, their gentle care when I’m not feeling well. I need longer to make sure they know to the ends of their toes that I love them so much, that I will love them forever and a day. Full stop. No matter what they do. No matter who they become. For they are my babies. Always.
No, I’m probably not coping quite as well as I ought to be with my gorgeous children growing up. For today I ached inside my heart. Pride mixed with panic. Every moment I wanted to capture, to remember, to hold close by. So I took a billion and one photos and have tried ever so hard to limit myself to a few favourites. Bear with me. The few favourites turned into many more than a few.
Every time a member of the family has a birthday Gary takes the day off work so we can celebrate as a family. Every birthday the birthday child chooses the breakfast they want. We had many changes of minds over this but ended up with chocolate granola. As soon as my mum is awake (she lives next door) she arrives round to witness the great unveiling of presents. Today she arrived at 7.20am. Yes, she is a good Granny!
The girls had asked to have a tea party with a couple of their friends from church. Gary and I talked to the girls’ mummies and we all agreed that it would be lovely for them to go to the local coffee shop, just the four of them, without an adult. They spent a happy hour or so getting themselves ready:
Whilst they were chatting with their friends at the coffee shop I got myself busy with the job of transforming our living room, ready for the autumn birthday party we have every single year. Some of our oldest family friends come and it is something we all look forward to each year.
Once the potatoes were in the oven, we went for our yearly walk on a nearby nature trail:
Then back home we went for a bite to eat:
Next up was the fun and games. We do the same ones every year: apple dunking, donuts from a string, sparklers outside, followed by a cake. This year I felt B2 was too young for sparklers yet old enough to grab one so I asked Nik to bring some bands which when you bend them they light up. I then set a treasure hunt outside for lots of chocolate, which the children had to use their lit up stick to help.
I didn’t get any outside photos as my camera simply refused to cooperate! Back inside afterwards though, it began functioning normally again:
They all gobbled down the cake and spent the remaining time making lots (and lots) of noise in our front garden. The girls declared it the best birthday ever and L11 said it had been one of her most favourite days in her life.
Happy Birthday girls, and STOP GROWING! Oh, and I love you both so very, very much!