Five and Three

Making spring rolls

My girls turned five and three last weekend. We had two full days of
birthday celebrating with a trip to a toy shop, Happy Meals (their first
ever), spring rolls and their favourite pasta dishes, cakes, ice cream
plus lots of cards and presents. They were both in birthday heaven
 and it was wonderful to see them so happy.

Amongst their presents were some lovely books and my two favourites
are an old copy of The Children's Illustrated Dictionary and A First Book
of Nature by Nicola Davies and Mark Hearld. The dictionary once
belonged to a girl called Anna Marie Veazay. It was a Christmas
present from her dad back in 1965. It's all handwritten inside
the front cover. I think it's brilliant that this book that was owned
 and  (hopefully)  enjoyed by a girl fifty years ago has found its way
to our home and to our girls. It will be a useful book for them
 for many years and we'll make sure we'll look after it just as
 well as all its previous owner(s).

On Sunday, Lulu's birthday, we had to cancel a picnic in Chatsworth
because of the awful weather. The birthday girl didn't really mind and
we went instead to David Mellor visitor centre, also in Derbyshire.
The cakes at the cafe there are top notch and we sampled a few. If
you're ever in the area, we highly recommend a visit. David Mellor
is a renowned cutlery maker and designer and you can see all his
various designs on display there from cutlery sets to post boxes and
traffic lights. The cutlery factory is a circular building and there are
free guided tours for the public every weekend. What we always like to
do whenever we stop by is have a look around the shop. We don't often
 buy anything but just love looking at all the beautifully designed kitchen things on display. So if you happen to be around this side of Yorkshire
and Derbyshire this place just outside Hatherasage is well worth a stop.

At the end of the weekend we were tired out from all the birthday
celebrations. The girls spent much of Sunday afternoon napping and
 then watching Toy Story. As soon as they'd gone to bed I put my
feet up, had a cup of tea and some macaroons. We've had a busy
couple of days, busy but also happy. I'm so pleased and proud of
both girls. At the toy shop there wasn't any crying or whingeing.
They were genuinely happy and content with the toys they'd chosen
as well as the gifts that they'd received from everyone else. It's been
truly lovely celebrating their birthdays and they'd both been really
wonderful birthday girls. They make me so happy and as always,
very, very proud.