Happy Birthday To You

Today was Layla's birthday party and since we priced up a party in a hall with a disco to be over £200 we decided to be a little more frugal and have a family barbecue in the garden. We've spent the last few days prepping the house, buying food and making garden and kitchen furniture from pallets we've found at the side of the road so when the day finally came about it was rather exciting to have it all fall into place. Not quite as well as I'd imagined considering I was in a flap when my dad arrived fifteen minutes early still trying to make egg mayonnaise from eggs still inside their shells with my scruffs on.

I made two cakes - one chocolate fudge cake which was sure to be a big hit with the children in attendance and a victoria sponge cake with pink buttercream frosting and strawberries which, surprisingly, was the biggest hit. I'm not a great baker and I'm certainly no good at presenting them as well as I'd like to but they turned out decently. We stocked up on party food to keep inside and outside we set up the big George Foreman grill that we use as a barbecue and loaded sausages, burgers, chicken and bacon with various sauces and sides set upon cheap paper plates. Let's face it, who likes washing up?

The weather held out for us thankfully and we danced to the Tangled, Frozen and Hercules soundtracks while playing musical statues in the garden. The older girls took Dexter out for a little walk which saw Sadie suitably depressed until she got to go later in the evening but all is well right now with two tuckered out puppies and a man that I don't think could hold out through a film this evening. My sister in law made a paper face for all those who didn't want to be captured while I wandered around with my camera poised for shots but we all had a great time.

Tidying up wasn't as bad as expected but mainly because boyfriend did the bulk while I caught up on a bit of social media and gave the girls a bath to wash off the day. As I type this they're in bed playing with all the birthday presents and boyfriend is asleep in the big pallet chair. There's still some tidying to do but I love it when the garden is neat as when I wake up in the morning and take my coffee outside it'll be lovely to wonder about the memories of today rather than cleaning up the messes left behind.