Anna is to star in her first ever Nativity Play. Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity.
I was desperate to find out more so started quizzing Anna but all she could tell me was 'sshhhh... secret from Mummies and Daddies'.
'Well, is there singing' I pestered!
Anna just gave me a sneaky smile and said 'Yes Mummy, there is singing' before refusing to answer any more! However, my detective instincts didn't let me down today. I attended the pre-school coffee morning (translated as 'Let's fleece these poor Mothers for every last penny they have) and there just happened to be a 'cast list' sitting on the table as I leaned over to grab my mug of coffee. I couldn't help it when Anna's name jumped out of the page.
I have found out that Anna is to play an Angel!!!!!!!!!!! How cute is that!!!!!! I can't wait!!!!
This evening, I asked Anna if she was playing an angel. She just looked at me quizzically, trying to work out how I found out, before looking very disapprovingly at me and said "Yes Mummy. I'm an angel. No more". However, she then gave me a full rendition of 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' so I am guessing that this may be one of the feature songs of the performance! I fear that the Nativity may last longer than planned due to every time that I clapped at the end of Anna's singing performance, she insisted on singing the entire song again!!
So, next Friday, James and I will be one of those annoying parents, probably sat in the front row, armed with cameras (if allowed due to child protection) and me with my box of tissues. Anna will probably be the one who is walking in the opposite direction to everyone else and stood in the middle of the stage while everyone else has exited right!!! I can't wait!
Saturday, 5 December 2009
Friday, 4 December 2009
Christmas is Coming
The magic of Christmas has entered the Gibson household this year - Anna is beginning to understand what Christmas means! Well, actually I should re-phrase that to say Anna understands that Father Christmas comes and leaves presents under the tree if you are a good girl. She is now telling everyone who she happens to see dressed in any item of red clothing, that she would like a Dolls House (which is a bonus as her Mummy has already put a word in with the elves that Anna may have liked that. I know my daughter well!).
As for her mother, up until this past day or so, I have been going round looking and sounding like scrooge!!! On Tuesday, a group of friends with accompanying toddlers meet. (We pretend to go for their music class so they get 'educational stimuli' but really, it just an excuse for coffee, food and a gossip!!!). This Tuesday, my poor friends had to put up with me whinging every time that a new Christmas song came on and if I heard Noddy Holder yell 'It's Christmas' one more time, the Cd wasn't going to get to see another Christmas after I got hold of it! Annabel's Mum just started laughing at me in the end as I automatically grimaced as each new Christmas song was played. For goodness sake, it was only December 1st. I am sure that Christmas songs were not played until, at least, the 20th in my day (sounding as old as I feel!!!).
I just hate the commercial aspect of it all. This is why I refused to even think about anything Christmas at all until December 1st but it seems as though the whole world has already bought and gift-wrapped their presents while I am left wondering if I have enough time to do it all. To be fair, I had already planned Anna's gifts in October but that is different because it is my little girl so it doesn't matter what time of year it is - I still get excited about gifts for Anna.
To me, Christmas is all about time spent with family and showing people that you care about them by the giving of a gift, regardless of how expensive/inexpensive it is. I know that young children would find this a hard concept to understand and, for them, it is all about Father Christmas magically coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaving them a present under the tree. I wouldn't want it any other way. However, I think adults may have lost sight of it too and everyone feels pressured into getting expensive gifts that they can't afford (especially this year) and it all becomes a little competitive, especially when it begins in September!
However, there are certain events that have occurred this week that have begin to melt my scrooge-like heart and I am actually beginning to get excited too (finally!!)
1. The first is Anna's pure excitement at seeing a Christmas tree in our local Sports centre (where we go dancing). She raced in and the smile on her face was incredibly wide. 'Look Mummy' she gasped as she looked at me with her eyes as wide as saucers. 'It is a Christmas tree. That means Father Christmas will come soon and leave presents' before she then started jumping up and down, just to try and release some of that pure adrenalin of excitement racing through her body! She then sat under the tree until her dance class began. I honestly think that she expected Father Christmas to come, then and there and drop off her present. I had to explain that he would come on Christmas Eve and, being the wonderful girl she is, said 'OK' but has then asked me if it is Christmas Eve every hour since that day!
2. Anna's advent calender has also got me a little excited! Due to Anna asking when it will be Christmas Eve (see point 1 above), I thought it may help to get an advent calender. At first, I did want to get one which didn't contain chocolate and just had a merry Christmas scene on the front of it. I failed in my quest. All non-chocolate calenders seemed to be highly religious images which seemed a little grown up for a 3 year old. I have later discovered that you can get fuzzy felt advent calenders which would have been rather cool but not to be for this year at least. Now, after dinner, Anna starts bouncing up and down on her chair saying 'Finished pudding, Father Christmas door time'. Anna's calender is then taken form the top shelf (all of the chocolate would be long gone if I put it within arms reach of Anna) and we discuss what day it is before she finds the corresponding number. Anna then counts the 'doors' left until Christmas Eve and gets very excited!
3. The third event to make me more excited about Christmas is the Christmas nativity! Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity. Now, this deserves a post all of it's own, which I will write ASAP but, needless to say, it has got me very excited!
4. This weekend has also seen me think more Christmas-like thoughts. We are going to the Santa sleepover at Alton Towers!!! I'm not sure all that it entails but I do know that there will be real Reindeer, Santa's Grotto in a secret hiding place, complete with Santa inside, lots of fake snow and it all decorated like the North Pole within the actual park. It also involves a hotel, scrumptious Christmas dinner and magic shows, disco and puppet shows galore! We have told Anna but I was a little worried that she thought this would mean that it is actually Christmas this weekend, complete with Dolls house. I then had to explain that we needed to ask Father Christmas about the Dolls House before he actually came on Christmas Eve. This took some explaining!
5. I have realised that getting excited means that I can forget entirely about my birthday which was making me feel depressed beyond belief! (It is a big one and I will be feeling incredibly old by this time next week)
So, once I return form Santa's wonderland this weekend (Alton Towers is owned by the Madame Tussards group so I am anticipating that it should be a good makeover job of the park and will feel very 'Christmas-like'. Fingers crossed. I think the scrooge will have entirely left me and I will be one very excited mummy due to my very excited 3 year old!!! Yay!
As for her mother, up until this past day or so, I have been going round looking and sounding like scrooge!!! On Tuesday, a group of friends with accompanying toddlers meet. (We pretend to go for their music class so they get 'educational stimuli' but really, it just an excuse for coffee, food and a gossip!!!). This Tuesday, my poor friends had to put up with me whinging every time that a new Christmas song came on and if I heard Noddy Holder yell 'It's Christmas' one more time, the Cd wasn't going to get to see another Christmas after I got hold of it! Annabel's Mum just started laughing at me in the end as I automatically grimaced as each new Christmas song was played. For goodness sake, it was only December 1st. I am sure that Christmas songs were not played until, at least, the 20th in my day (sounding as old as I feel!!!).
I just hate the commercial aspect of it all. This is why I refused to even think about anything Christmas at all until December 1st but it seems as though the whole world has already bought and gift-wrapped their presents while I am left wondering if I have enough time to do it all. To be fair, I had already planned Anna's gifts in October but that is different because it is my little girl so it doesn't matter what time of year it is - I still get excited about gifts for Anna.
To me, Christmas is all about time spent with family and showing people that you care about them by the giving of a gift, regardless of how expensive/inexpensive it is. I know that young children would find this a hard concept to understand and, for them, it is all about Father Christmas magically coming down the chimney on Christmas Eve and leaving them a present under the tree. I wouldn't want it any other way. However, I think adults may have lost sight of it too and everyone feels pressured into getting expensive gifts that they can't afford (especially this year) and it all becomes a little competitive, especially when it begins in September!
However, there are certain events that have occurred this week that have begin to melt my scrooge-like heart and I am actually beginning to get excited too (finally!!)
1. The first is Anna's pure excitement at seeing a Christmas tree in our local Sports centre (where we go dancing). She raced in and the smile on her face was incredibly wide. 'Look Mummy' she gasped as she looked at me with her eyes as wide as saucers. 'It is a Christmas tree. That means Father Christmas will come soon and leave presents' before she then started jumping up and down, just to try and release some of that pure adrenalin of excitement racing through her body! She then sat under the tree until her dance class began. I honestly think that she expected Father Christmas to come, then and there and drop off her present. I had to explain that he would come on Christmas Eve and, being the wonderful girl she is, said 'OK' but has then asked me if it is Christmas Eve every hour since that day!
2. Anna's advent calender has also got me a little excited! Due to Anna asking when it will be Christmas Eve (see point 1 above), I thought it may help to get an advent calender. At first, I did want to get one which didn't contain chocolate and just had a merry Christmas scene on the front of it. I failed in my quest. All non-chocolate calenders seemed to be highly religious images which seemed a little grown up for a 3 year old. I have later discovered that you can get fuzzy felt advent calenders which would have been rather cool but not to be for this year at least. Now, after dinner, Anna starts bouncing up and down on her chair saying 'Finished pudding, Father Christmas door time'. Anna's calender is then taken form the top shelf (all of the chocolate would be long gone if I put it within arms reach of Anna) and we discuss what day it is before she finds the corresponding number. Anna then counts the 'doors' left until Christmas Eve and gets very excited!
3. The third event to make me more excited about Christmas is the Christmas nativity! Last week, we had a letter from pre-school saying that there was to be a school play next Friday. I later found out that it is actually the nativity. Now, this deserves a post all of it's own, which I will write ASAP but, needless to say, it has got me very excited!
4. This weekend has also seen me think more Christmas-like thoughts. We are going to the Santa sleepover at Alton Towers!!! I'm not sure all that it entails but I do know that there will be real Reindeer, Santa's Grotto in a secret hiding place, complete with Santa inside, lots of fake snow and it all decorated like the North Pole within the actual park. It also involves a hotel, scrumptious Christmas dinner and magic shows, disco and puppet shows galore! We have told Anna but I was a little worried that she thought this would mean that it is actually Christmas this weekend, complete with Dolls house. I then had to explain that we needed to ask Father Christmas about the Dolls House before he actually came on Christmas Eve. This took some explaining!
5. I have realised that getting excited means that I can forget entirely about my birthday which was making me feel depressed beyond belief! (It is a big one and I will be feeling incredibly old by this time next week)
So, once I return form Santa's wonderland this weekend (Alton Towers is owned by the Madame Tussards group so I am anticipating that it should be a good makeover job of the park and will feel very 'Christmas-like'. Fingers crossed. I think the scrooge will have entirely left me and I will be one very excited mummy due to my very excited 3 year old!!! Yay!
Is Anyone There?
Ever since returning from Finland, life seems to have gone at 90 MPH. Anna started the playschool the week after we returned and we put house on the market (which has resulted in a lifetime of cleaning the house, walking Anna to school and back again and playing catch-up in the times in-between!!)
However, none of this is an excuse for letting the blog get ignored.
Therefore, if there is anyone still out there who still checks into this blog every once in a while, I can only apologise and promise that I will try to do better from now on. If nobody is reading this (got bored of looking and finding nothing written), I can only hope that a grown-up version of Anna is, one day, reading this and appreciating it! Unfortunately, a lot of the posts will now be written with the benefit of hindsight and from memory of something that happened quite a while ago but for, Anna's sake, I will try to include as much as possible and will also try to catch up as fast as possible!
However, none of this is an excuse for letting the blog get ignored.
Therefore, if there is anyone still out there who still checks into this blog every once in a while, I can only apologise and promise that I will try to do better from now on. If nobody is reading this (got bored of looking and finding nothing written), I can only hope that a grown-up version of Anna is, one day, reading this and appreciating it! Unfortunately, a lot of the posts will now be written with the benefit of hindsight and from memory of something that happened quite a while ago but for, Anna's sake, I will try to include as much as possible and will also try to catch up as fast as possible!
Thursday, 3 December 2009
Birthday Celebrations - Part 3
To complete Anna's birthday celebrations, we held another party for her on the Saturday after her actual birthday. This would see her Daddy's side of the family attend along with her little friends from various social gatherings that my daughter attends!
I feared for my sanity! In previous years, we have held one party with, most importantly, my mother coming to organise the chaos whilst I ran around like a headless chicken. I still envisaged the headless chicken impression but without the essential cooking element going on in the background.
Of course, I had gone mad with the buffet again but had also taken on more responsibility this time, not leaving it all to Mr Marks and Mr Spencer. The problem I had was that M and S are great at providing not just a ham salad sandwich but smoked Wiltshire ham on seeded multi-grain bread with crisp fresh iceburg lettuce and juicy sweet tomatoes with lashings of creamy organic mayonaise but not so great at providing a plain and simple ham sandwich, which is want a 3 year old wants!
So there I was at 11am on the Saturday morning, making hundreds of cheese, jam and ham sandwiches and muttering aloud at how my mother can get pristine sandwiches while mine look like they have been cut with a trowl!
Somehow, James and I managed to decorate the house, blow up 36 balloons, make the buffet, collect the remaining order from the shop, set the tables up, rearrange the lounge furniture and keep Anna from going into excitement meltdown, all before 2pm.
At 2pm, James and I braced ourselves in the kitchen, armed with kettle and camera. At 2.05pm... nothing.
'Are you sure you put 2pm on the invitations?' asked James
'Yes'
'Are you sure you put the 21st November?'
'Yes, I think so... but then again...'
Then the doorbell rang and, lo and behold, there were 26 guest all stood on my doorstep at the same time. They were very good though and formed an orderly and well-behaved queue while I tried to usher everyone in. Meanwhile, all I could hear was Anna's voice getting more and more excited in the living room as she began to open gifts. As expected though, as soon as the first gift was opened, she only wanted to play with that and the other gifts were left looking neglected on the carpet. Of course, Anna had to open the one gift that was attached to the packaging by screws and therefore, I was on the hunt for a screwdriver for the first 10 minutes of the party. I did try in vain to encourage Anna to open another gift while waiting but she had set eyes on the Postman Pat mail centre and nothing was going to budge her. Thankfully, I found the screwdriver and thrust it into some poor unsuspecting person's hand while I said 'hello' to everyone who had managed to get through the door while my daughter demanded a screwdriver!
After the first 10 minutes being utter chaos, things did actually manage to calm down and the first party activity was under way. I had made fairy cakes and bought numerous sweet things to decorate them with such as Smarties (I know, I know but it was party), hundreds and thousands, iced stars, iced flowers, glitter, icing pens and the list goes on. I think it went well as all the children seemed to love decorating the cakes. Well, everyone except Anna who just sat there eating the contents of the decorations before they managed to make it onto the top of any cake!
With the benefit of hindsight, the cake decoration may have been better after the buffet however as, quite rightly, the children wanted to eat the cakes they had just decorated and devoured them whilst I stood there holding the cling film in which to wrap them up to take home. Who was I trying to kid! The Buffet was no longer such a big deal for the kids who had just been filled up on cake but the adults, thankfully, dived in! Meanwhile, the children explored Anna's toys and just looked to have a lot of fun.
It was then time to sing 'Happy Birthday' and cut the cake. Again, a massive thank you to the very talented Grandma Lynn who triumphed, yet again, with am amazing cake. There will be photos to follow w (Keep checking back because I will try to get round to posting a picture) but basically it was a massive pink cake with iced flowers and a giant iced Peppa pig on top with little fairy cakes then placed around the entire base of the cake. Not only did it look amazing but it also tasted completely scrumptious too!!! Thank you Grandma Lynn!
Anna adores every second of the whole cake thing (not least of all eating lots of it) and is what parties are made for according to Anna. Who wouldn't? Anna gets to stand in the middle of the room while everyone stands around her singing to her. In previous years, I have held Anna while everyone sings but Anna wanted to stand on her own 2 feet this year - just so that she could show her dance moves off whilst everyone sang. She then insisted on giving a solo performance, wishing herself a Happy Birthday before everyone kindly applauded at the end. We then blew out the candles. Anna still hasn't got the knack of blowing things out yet but I promise that I did try to move Anna further away from the cake as she 'attempted' to blow out each candle!
We then played Pass the Parcel - The Toddler Version. Basically, I had wrapped up enough gifts so that each layer revealed a gift for each child. Jame had been given several tasks to do during this activity. The first was to delegate the camera and camcorder to 'responsible' people who would take decent shots and footage. Once done, James then had to operate the music. This was no mean feat as he also had to ensure that the music stopped on each and every child in order that they could get a gift and that no child received 2 or even none at all! I'm sure Pass the Parcel wasn't so complicated in my day but thankfully, James (with a little help from Uncle John, who had come all the way from Edinburgh. Thank you!) managed to get every child happy by the end of the game. Phew!
Once some more playing had been undertaken, the 2 and half hours of party mayhem was drawing to a close. I would like to think that the children had a good time and 2 of them burst into tears when it was time to go because they wanted to stay for longer (although I don't try to judge parties on how many people are crying as they go out the door!!!). I certainly know that Anna had an amazing time, judging by the permanent smile on her face throughout the celebrations and the way in which she has talked about nothing else for 2 weeks after. She is also constantly reminding me that 'Mummy, I love my parties', just to make sure that I don't forget for next year!
As for next year... I am certainly starting to see the benefit of hiring soft play centres or, at the very least, outside catering!
I realise that this is going to sound very idealistic and you will probably think 'Yeah Right, who is she trying to kid?' once you read this but I honestly think that Anna's true enjoyment of the parties comes from, not the extremely generous and kind gifts, but the fact that she has her family and friends around her (Oh, and the fact that there is lots of cake). Anna is extremely sociable (When walking to playgroup each morning, she excitedly keeps saying 'I am going to see my friends today. I love my friends'.) and her dream is to have all those that she loves around her. At her parties, it comes true.
Thank you to everyone who was so incredibly kind and generous and gave Anna a gift. Every year, I am completely overwhelmed by the gifts she receives and people's kindness and generosity. This year was no different, I hope that everyone has now received their Thank You cards, lovingly created by Anna. Oh... and for those of you who received cards with red things and black blobs on the front, they are in fact ladybirds. I have now had several family members thanking me for the cards with the bears face/clown/random painted 'things'. The biggest THANK YOU is for making Anna's birthday so special for her by being there to help her celebrate.
(I will try to post photos on her asap, as soon as I can get my hands on James' camera!)
I feared for my sanity! In previous years, we have held one party with, most importantly, my mother coming to organise the chaos whilst I ran around like a headless chicken. I still envisaged the headless chicken impression but without the essential cooking element going on in the background.
Of course, I had gone mad with the buffet again but had also taken on more responsibility this time, not leaving it all to Mr Marks and Mr Spencer. The problem I had was that M and S are great at providing not just a ham salad sandwich but smoked Wiltshire ham on seeded multi-grain bread with crisp fresh iceburg lettuce and juicy sweet tomatoes with lashings of creamy organic mayonaise but not so great at providing a plain and simple ham sandwich, which is want a 3 year old wants!
So there I was at 11am on the Saturday morning, making hundreds of cheese, jam and ham sandwiches and muttering aloud at how my mother can get pristine sandwiches while mine look like they have been cut with a trowl!
Somehow, James and I managed to decorate the house, blow up 36 balloons, make the buffet, collect the remaining order from the shop, set the tables up, rearrange the lounge furniture and keep Anna from going into excitement meltdown, all before 2pm.
At 2pm, James and I braced ourselves in the kitchen, armed with kettle and camera. At 2.05pm... nothing.
'Are you sure you put 2pm on the invitations?' asked James
'Yes'
'Are you sure you put the 21st November?'
'Yes, I think so... but then again...'
Then the doorbell rang and, lo and behold, there were 26 guest all stood on my doorstep at the same time. They were very good though and formed an orderly and well-behaved queue while I tried to usher everyone in. Meanwhile, all I could hear was Anna's voice getting more and more excited in the living room as she began to open gifts. As expected though, as soon as the first gift was opened, she only wanted to play with that and the other gifts were left looking neglected on the carpet. Of course, Anna had to open the one gift that was attached to the packaging by screws and therefore, I was on the hunt for a screwdriver for the first 10 minutes of the party. I did try in vain to encourage Anna to open another gift while waiting but she had set eyes on the Postman Pat mail centre and nothing was going to budge her. Thankfully, I found the screwdriver and thrust it into some poor unsuspecting person's hand while I said 'hello' to everyone who had managed to get through the door while my daughter demanded a screwdriver!
After the first 10 minutes being utter chaos, things did actually manage to calm down and the first party activity was under way. I had made fairy cakes and bought numerous sweet things to decorate them with such as Smarties (I know, I know but it was party), hundreds and thousands, iced stars, iced flowers, glitter, icing pens and the list goes on. I think it went well as all the children seemed to love decorating the cakes. Well, everyone except Anna who just sat there eating the contents of the decorations before they managed to make it onto the top of any cake!
With the benefit of hindsight, the cake decoration may have been better after the buffet however as, quite rightly, the children wanted to eat the cakes they had just decorated and devoured them whilst I stood there holding the cling film in which to wrap them up to take home. Who was I trying to kid! The Buffet was no longer such a big deal for the kids who had just been filled up on cake but the adults, thankfully, dived in! Meanwhile, the children explored Anna's toys and just looked to have a lot of fun.
It was then time to sing 'Happy Birthday' and cut the cake. Again, a massive thank you to the very talented Grandma Lynn who triumphed, yet again, with am amazing cake. There will be photos to follow w (Keep checking back because I will try to get round to posting a picture) but basically it was a massive pink cake with iced flowers and a giant iced Peppa pig on top with little fairy cakes then placed around the entire base of the cake. Not only did it look amazing but it also tasted completely scrumptious too!!! Thank you Grandma Lynn!
Anna adores every second of the whole cake thing (not least of all eating lots of it) and is what parties are made for according to Anna. Who wouldn't? Anna gets to stand in the middle of the room while everyone stands around her singing to her. In previous years, I have held Anna while everyone sings but Anna wanted to stand on her own 2 feet this year - just so that she could show her dance moves off whilst everyone sang. She then insisted on giving a solo performance, wishing herself a Happy Birthday before everyone kindly applauded at the end. We then blew out the candles. Anna still hasn't got the knack of blowing things out yet but I promise that I did try to move Anna further away from the cake as she 'attempted' to blow out each candle!
We then played Pass the Parcel - The Toddler Version. Basically, I had wrapped up enough gifts so that each layer revealed a gift for each child. Jame had been given several tasks to do during this activity. The first was to delegate the camera and camcorder to 'responsible' people who would take decent shots and footage. Once done, James then had to operate the music. This was no mean feat as he also had to ensure that the music stopped on each and every child in order that they could get a gift and that no child received 2 or even none at all! I'm sure Pass the Parcel wasn't so complicated in my day but thankfully, James (with a little help from Uncle John, who had come all the way from Edinburgh. Thank you!) managed to get every child happy by the end of the game. Phew!
Once some more playing had been undertaken, the 2 and half hours of party mayhem was drawing to a close. I would like to think that the children had a good time and 2 of them burst into tears when it was time to go because they wanted to stay for longer (although I don't try to judge parties on how many people are crying as they go out the door!!!). I certainly know that Anna had an amazing time, judging by the permanent smile on her face throughout the celebrations and the way in which she has talked about nothing else for 2 weeks after. She is also constantly reminding me that 'Mummy, I love my parties', just to make sure that I don't forget for next year!
As for next year... I am certainly starting to see the benefit of hiring soft play centres or, at the very least, outside catering!
I realise that this is going to sound very idealistic and you will probably think 'Yeah Right, who is she trying to kid?' once you read this but I honestly think that Anna's true enjoyment of the parties comes from, not the extremely generous and kind gifts, but the fact that she has her family and friends around her (Oh, and the fact that there is lots of cake). Anna is extremely sociable (When walking to playgroup each morning, she excitedly keeps saying 'I am going to see my friends today. I love my friends'.) and her dream is to have all those that she loves around her. At her parties, it comes true.
Thank you to everyone who was so incredibly kind and generous and gave Anna a gift. Every year, I am completely overwhelmed by the gifts she receives and people's kindness and generosity. This year was no different, I hope that everyone has now received their Thank You cards, lovingly created by Anna. Oh... and for those of you who received cards with red things and black blobs on the front, they are in fact ladybirds. I have now had several family members thanking me for the cards with the bears face/clown/random painted 'things'. The biggest THANK YOU is for making Anna's birthday so special for her by being there to help her celebrate.
(I will try to post photos on her asap, as soon as I can get my hands on James' camera!)
Friday, 20 November 2009
Birthday Celebrations - Part 2
Anna was woken on Wednesday by the sound of her Mummy and Daddy singing 'Happy Birthday' kneeling down by her bedside. I'm sure Anna mistook the sound for a few cats fighting outside but. thankfully, she woke up with a huge smile on her face. In fact, it was a beautiful smile and made me feel rather warm in the heart as 3 years ago I was giving birth to this beautiful gorgeous girl.
As soon as she was dressed, we went downstairs and Anna suddenly let out a gasp as she saw the huge present in front of her. However, curiously, she decided to save that one (I thought most children would dive on the biggest present first but not Anna) and, instead, opened the tiny present first (some Peppa Pig painting stamps). It was only after she had opened the helmet (She had insisted that, when riding the demonstration scooter in Toys R Us, that she needed a helmet before she got on the scooter itself. I'm not sure who has taught her this important safety message, as we had never felt the need to teach her that before now, but thank you to whoever did!), she then opened the scooter and let out another gasp of pure delight. We then spent the next 30 minutes with Anna going round in circles because she had her scooter permanently on right lock. A quick lesson in steering was needed. Unfortunately, breakfast and drinking her milk was far less important than her scooter so got abandoned.
I felt like a very mean Mummy when I told Anna that it was time for pre-school. I felt even meaner when, on the way to pre-school, the skies opened and the rain poured. I was drenched within 5 seconds (despite wearing a raincoat as the water just dripped off the hem and hood like a cascading waterfall). Anna must have seen a weather forecast as she had grabbed her umbrella on the way out that morning so was slightly drier albeit damp! In fact, Anna had great fun as she copied her idol, Peppa Pig, and started to jump in all the puddles.
I was sure that there would be tears on arriving at pre-school as she would insist on returning home to play with her birthday gifts and I had even bullied James to come with me (He has the week off work to do many things including celebrate Anna's birthday, prepare for 2 parties, stop me from worrying, look for possible houses that we could live in and have a few well-deserved lie-ins (which he hasn't managed to do yet!). However, I was very thankful when one of the pre-school supervisors shouted 'Happy Birthday' to Anna as she opened the front door. I hadn't reminded them that it was Anna's birthday but they had noted it and Anna was more than happy to go to pre-school if it meant lots more attention piled on her.
When it was time to pick her up, she came out very excitedly clutching a handmade Peppa Pig birthday card and telling me that everyone had sang Happy Birthday and basically made a big fuss. The supervisor then came out looking exhausted, informing me that Anna had been more than energetic this morning.
We then headed to the local soft play centre where Anna had her favourite meal of Sausages and Smiley Faces before leaping about on the slides, ball pools and tunnels for the next 2 hours.
We then went to the local Ice Cream Farm. This place is divine and Anna loves it. Basically, as well as having a massive outdoor playground with a climbing frame perfect for toddlers (albeit too wet on this particular day), an automatic clown blowing bubbles (Anna adores him and tells everyone visiting the farm that they must go and say Hello to him!) and a duck pond, they also have an animal corner complete with farmyard animals. There is also a milking parlour where you see the cows being milked before the milk gets taken to the converted barn to make into ice cream (which can be viewed on a big screen in the ice cream parlour. I have always insisted that Anna goes to the animals first as I then feel less guilty about buying her an ice cream if she has had some educational input about farmyard animals. By now, Anna has worked out the rules of this game so headed straight for animal corner. For a second, I actually thought she was keen to learn more about the animals but alas no. Instead, Anna zoomed past each pen in 10 seconds at most saying 'Hello goats, hello pigs, hello donkeys, hello pony, hello cows. Let's go for ice cream now.' I don't think she glanced at each animal for more than a second!
So we then headed for the ice cream parlour. Now, this is not just ordinary ice cream but indeed Cheshire's finest ice cream and comes in a range of flavours including Malteaser Flavour strawberry cheesecake, Banoffi and Baileys. It is extremely creamy and extremely high calories but has to be done every once in a while. Anna chooses chocolate every time and then proceeds to devour it in record time. The melted chocolate spread from cheek to cheek is really quite a sight but the massive grin on her face is also quite a sight too!
So after playing with the bubbles, devouring ice cream and making mess, Anna decided it was time to go home. Now, Anna never normally volunteers to go home but today, she had an agenda. 'Mummy, Can we go home now because I want scooter time'. (We had originally planned to take Anna to our favourite country park on the afternoon of her birthday but the torrential rain put stop to that).
As soon as we got home, Anna went straight for her scooter and, in fact, has played on nothing else since. There are still a few lessons in riding a scooter that has to be taught yet though. One of these is the lesson that you are actually allowed to go more than 30 centimetres on it. In 'Toys R Us', the space to ride the demonstrator scooters is quite limited so I told Anna that she could only go a few steps with it. She has now taken this on board and will only go forwards and backwards in a 30 centimetre radius (Yet, when I remind her to take her cup to the kitchen on a thrice daily basis, she forgets within 3 seconds! Strange!) She also insists on wearing her helmet at all times but then refuses to let anyone adjust it so the helmet is permanently falling off her head! I think she genuinely thinks that helmets falling off your head is all part of the fun of riding a scooter.
You can tell how much of a hit it is when she wakes up the morning after her birthday and immediately says' Where's my scooter. Let's go downstairs now. I need my scooter'. I honestly think that Anna would have the scooter in bed with her if she thought she could get away with it!
To contend with the scooter being driven around the living room (It is still far too wet to take it outside), we also have a massive sand pit taking up the floor space in our living room. Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob, generously, has given Anna a Ladybird sandpit complete with lid for her birthday. Unfortunately, due to the weather and her birthday falling in the winter, it isn't really suitable to take outside yet. However, this hasn't stopped Anna from having great fun with it. She is now insisting that she sits in the empty sand pit to watch TV, read her books and also hide her toys in it. She is also quite fond of hiding in it herself!
Our living room really is a sight for sore eyes at the moment, what with scooter, every Peppa Pig toy known to man, Sylvanian family caravan and car, leaf blowing game (which is the other gift that Anna adores, especially when the leaves go whizzing around the room so that her Mummy has to get on all 4's to retrieve them from the oddest of places) and a massive sand pit. All of this and, in some way which I have no idea how at the moment , I have to get ready for the big party on Saturday where 26 guests descend on our small house in anticipation of fun! At the moment, I am only anticipating chaos and mayhem but, as long as everyone has a good time and the birthday girl herself feels special , then something will be achieved. Even if I do have several thousand grey hairs and worry lines on my forehead!
As soon as she was dressed, we went downstairs and Anna suddenly let out a gasp as she saw the huge present in front of her. However, curiously, she decided to save that one (I thought most children would dive on the biggest present first but not Anna) and, instead, opened the tiny present first (some Peppa Pig painting stamps). It was only after she had opened the helmet (She had insisted that, when riding the demonstration scooter in Toys R Us, that she needed a helmet before she got on the scooter itself. I'm not sure who has taught her this important safety message, as we had never felt the need to teach her that before now, but thank you to whoever did!), she then opened the scooter and let out another gasp of pure delight. We then spent the next 30 minutes with Anna going round in circles because she had her scooter permanently on right lock. A quick lesson in steering was needed. Unfortunately, breakfast and drinking her milk was far less important than her scooter so got abandoned.
I felt like a very mean Mummy when I told Anna that it was time for pre-school. I felt even meaner when, on the way to pre-school, the skies opened and the rain poured. I was drenched within 5 seconds (despite wearing a raincoat as the water just dripped off the hem and hood like a cascading waterfall). Anna must have seen a weather forecast as she had grabbed her umbrella on the way out that morning so was slightly drier albeit damp! In fact, Anna had great fun as she copied her idol, Peppa Pig, and started to jump in all the puddles.
I was sure that there would be tears on arriving at pre-school as she would insist on returning home to play with her birthday gifts and I had even bullied James to come with me (He has the week off work to do many things including celebrate Anna's birthday, prepare for 2 parties, stop me from worrying, look for possible houses that we could live in and have a few well-deserved lie-ins (which he hasn't managed to do yet!). However, I was very thankful when one of the pre-school supervisors shouted 'Happy Birthday' to Anna as she opened the front door. I hadn't reminded them that it was Anna's birthday but they had noted it and Anna was more than happy to go to pre-school if it meant lots more attention piled on her.
When it was time to pick her up, she came out very excitedly clutching a handmade Peppa Pig birthday card and telling me that everyone had sang Happy Birthday and basically made a big fuss. The supervisor then came out looking exhausted, informing me that Anna had been more than energetic this morning.
We then headed to the local soft play centre where Anna had her favourite meal of Sausages and Smiley Faces before leaping about on the slides, ball pools and tunnels for the next 2 hours.
We then went to the local Ice Cream Farm. This place is divine and Anna loves it. Basically, as well as having a massive outdoor playground with a climbing frame perfect for toddlers (albeit too wet on this particular day), an automatic clown blowing bubbles (Anna adores him and tells everyone visiting the farm that they must go and say Hello to him!) and a duck pond, they also have an animal corner complete with farmyard animals. There is also a milking parlour where you see the cows being milked before the milk gets taken to the converted barn to make into ice cream (which can be viewed on a big screen in the ice cream parlour. I have always insisted that Anna goes to the animals first as I then feel less guilty about buying her an ice cream if she has had some educational input about farmyard animals. By now, Anna has worked out the rules of this game so headed straight for animal corner. For a second, I actually thought she was keen to learn more about the animals but alas no. Instead, Anna zoomed past each pen in 10 seconds at most saying 'Hello goats, hello pigs, hello donkeys, hello pony, hello cows. Let's go for ice cream now.' I don't think she glanced at each animal for more than a second!
So we then headed for the ice cream parlour. Now, this is not just ordinary ice cream but indeed Cheshire's finest ice cream and comes in a range of flavours including Malteaser Flavour strawberry cheesecake, Banoffi and Baileys. It is extremely creamy and extremely high calories but has to be done every once in a while. Anna chooses chocolate every time and then proceeds to devour it in record time. The melted chocolate spread from cheek to cheek is really quite a sight but the massive grin on her face is also quite a sight too!
So after playing with the bubbles, devouring ice cream and making mess, Anna decided it was time to go home. Now, Anna never normally volunteers to go home but today, she had an agenda. 'Mummy, Can we go home now because I want scooter time'. (We had originally planned to take Anna to our favourite country park on the afternoon of her birthday but the torrential rain put stop to that).
As soon as we got home, Anna went straight for her scooter and, in fact, has played on nothing else since. There are still a few lessons in riding a scooter that has to be taught yet though. One of these is the lesson that you are actually allowed to go more than 30 centimetres on it. In 'Toys R Us', the space to ride the demonstrator scooters is quite limited so I told Anna that she could only go a few steps with it. She has now taken this on board and will only go forwards and backwards in a 30 centimetre radius (Yet, when I remind her to take her cup to the kitchen on a thrice daily basis, she forgets within 3 seconds! Strange!) She also insists on wearing her helmet at all times but then refuses to let anyone adjust it so the helmet is permanently falling off her head! I think she genuinely thinks that helmets falling off your head is all part of the fun of riding a scooter.
You can tell how much of a hit it is when she wakes up the morning after her birthday and immediately says' Where's my scooter. Let's go downstairs now. I need my scooter'. I honestly think that Anna would have the scooter in bed with her if she thought she could get away with it!
To contend with the scooter being driven around the living room (It is still far too wet to take it outside), we also have a massive sand pit taking up the floor space in our living room. Grandma Lynn and Grandad Flob, generously, has given Anna a Ladybird sandpit complete with lid for her birthday. Unfortunately, due to the weather and her birthday falling in the winter, it isn't really suitable to take outside yet. However, this hasn't stopped Anna from having great fun with it. She is now insisting that she sits in the empty sand pit to watch TV, read her books and also hide her toys in it. She is also quite fond of hiding in it herself!
Our living room really is a sight for sore eyes at the moment, what with scooter, every Peppa Pig toy known to man, Sylvanian family caravan and car, leaf blowing game (which is the other gift that Anna adores, especially when the leaves go whizzing around the room so that her Mummy has to get on all 4's to retrieve them from the oddest of places) and a massive sand pit. All of this and, in some way which I have no idea how at the moment , I have to get ready for the big party on Saturday where 26 guests descend on our small house in anticipation of fun! At the moment, I am only anticipating chaos and mayhem but, as long as everyone has a good time and the birthday girl herself feels special , then something will be achieved. Even if I do have several thousand grey hairs and worry lines on my forehead!
Thursday, 19 November 2009
Anna's 3rd Birthday Party - Part 1
Anna's birthday is obviously a huge occasion in the Gibson household and, being the popular girl that she is, means that celebrations can last all week.
Due to my side of the family being in Herefordshire, James's side of the family being in Manchester/Liverpool and friends spread everywhere including Wales, Birmingham and Cheshire as well as having a house that just couldn't fit everyone in, we decided to have several parties, spread over the week.
The first party was last weekend in Herefordshire with my side of the family attending. Her actual birthday was a smaller affair with a little party at pre-school followed by a birthday lunch at the local soft-play centre followed by a trip to the Ice Cream Farm (One of Anna's very favourite places!) and then the third party is planned for this coming weekend with James' family and her little friends (and the most traumatic as I play host without my mother to organise me, as in previous years!). A busy week then!
On the morning of her first party, I explained that it was her birthday and that, to celebrate, Nanny and Grandad was going to have a party at their house with various family members. Anna seemed suitably excited and I thought she understood as she rushed downstairs to tell her Nanny. It was only when she started singing 'Happy Birthday Nanny' and continued to sing it all morning that I realised she may not have grasped my in-depth conversation with her! Even when we had set up for the party, complete with Peppa Pig plates,cup, napkins and assorted party ware , Anna was still convinced that this was all for her Nanny (Well, who wouldn't want Peppa Pig plates and paraphernalia at their party!!). There was only one thing we could do, in order to convince Anna it was her party and so, with a quick dash to Hereford, James and I returned with a massive number 3 balloon and a Peppa pig balloon for good measure. After presenting them to her, I think it suddenly dawned on her that this was her party and excitement was soon clearly evident with Anna running around the house and eagerly awaiting her first guests.
It was when James was helping Anna get dressed in her princess dress (It wouldn't be a party without a princess dress) that Goo-Goo (Anna's great-nan) and Uncle Phil arrived, soon followed by everyone else. At this point Anna was just running from one person to another with the biggest grin on her face and giving a running commentary of what everyone was saying. She also thought it was wonderful that Zim, the Bassett Hound, arrived at her party too.
A theme soon became very clear when opening the very generous presents and I think it is fair to say that Anna now owns every Peppa pig toy ever created! Anna was inheaven and was giving 78 year old Goo-Goo a full education of Peppa and her family, using her toys to demonstrate. Another gift that must be mentioned is the unique hockey top presented by Auntie Carolyne and Uncle Steve with Carolyne's hockey club logo emblazoned on it and 'Anna' printed on it too, just like the proper hockey players! The back of the top reads 'Leominster Ladies Hockey Club' so it is now official... Anna is now a member of the Hockey club and begins her debut hockey game next weekend (She is still eagerly practising with her professional hockey stick and is alarmingly quite good on target!!)
I think the highlight for Anna was when the cake was brought in, with a big number 3 and her name iced on it and, after we had all sang 'Happy Birthday' at the top of our voices (Anna insisted!), Anna did a very good job of blowing her candles out and cheering before doing her solo performance of singing Happy Birthday to herself.
It was well past 11 when Anna informed me that it was time for bed. So, after getting dressed in her pyjamas, Anna gave everyone a goodnight kiss and thanked everyone for their such generous gifts without any prompting from us, before climbing the stairs to bed. Well, even party girls need to sleep sometimes.
A short while later, I crept upstairs to check on her and she had a huge smile on her face. Anna is definitely a girl who likes to party!
Due to my side of the family being in Herefordshire, James's side of the family being in Manchester/Liverpool and friends spread everywhere including Wales, Birmingham and Cheshire as well as having a house that just couldn't fit everyone in, we decided to have several parties, spread over the week.
The first party was last weekend in Herefordshire with my side of the family attending. Her actual birthday was a smaller affair with a little party at pre-school followed by a birthday lunch at the local soft-play centre followed by a trip to the Ice Cream Farm (One of Anna's very favourite places!) and then the third party is planned for this coming weekend with James' family and her little friends (and the most traumatic as I play host without my mother to organise me, as in previous years!). A busy week then!
On the morning of her first party, I explained that it was her birthday and that, to celebrate, Nanny and Grandad was going to have a party at their house with various family members. Anna seemed suitably excited and I thought she understood as she rushed downstairs to tell her Nanny. It was only when she started singing 'Happy Birthday Nanny' and continued to sing it all morning that I realised she may not have grasped my in-depth conversation with her! Even when we had set up for the party, complete with Peppa Pig plates,cup, napkins and assorted party ware , Anna was still convinced that this was all for her Nanny (Well, who wouldn't want Peppa Pig plates and paraphernalia at their party!!). There was only one thing we could do, in order to convince Anna it was her party and so, with a quick dash to Hereford, James and I returned with a massive number 3 balloon and a Peppa pig balloon for good measure. After presenting them to her, I think it suddenly dawned on her that this was her party and excitement was soon clearly evident with Anna running around the house and eagerly awaiting her first guests.
It was when James was helping Anna get dressed in her princess dress (It wouldn't be a party without a princess dress) that Goo-Goo (Anna's great-nan) and Uncle Phil arrived, soon followed by everyone else. At this point Anna was just running from one person to another with the biggest grin on her face and giving a running commentary of what everyone was saying. She also thought it was wonderful that Zim, the Bassett Hound, arrived at her party too.
A theme soon became very clear when opening the very generous presents and I think it is fair to say that Anna now owns every Peppa pig toy ever created! Anna was inheaven and was giving 78 year old Goo-Goo a full education of Peppa and her family, using her toys to demonstrate. Another gift that must be mentioned is the unique hockey top presented by Auntie Carolyne and Uncle Steve with Carolyne's hockey club logo emblazoned on it and 'Anna' printed on it too, just like the proper hockey players! The back of the top reads 'Leominster Ladies Hockey Club' so it is now official... Anna is now a member of the Hockey club and begins her debut hockey game next weekend (She is still eagerly practising with her professional hockey stick and is alarmingly quite good on target!!)
I think the highlight for Anna was when the cake was brought in, with a big number 3 and her name iced on it and, after we had all sang 'Happy Birthday' at the top of our voices (Anna insisted!), Anna did a very good job of blowing her candles out and cheering before doing her solo performance of singing Happy Birthday to herself.
It was well past 11 when Anna informed me that it was time for bed. So, after getting dressed in her pyjamas, Anna gave everyone a goodnight kiss and thanked everyone for their such generous gifts without any prompting from us, before climbing the stairs to bed. Well, even party girls need to sleep sometimes.
A short while later, I crept upstairs to check on her and she had a huge smile on her face. Anna is definitely a girl who likes to party!
Tuesday, 17 November 2009
Happy 3rd Birthday Anna
Has it really been a year since Anna's last birthday???
Doesn't time fly when you are having fun!
It has been a momentous us year. Anna was bridesmaid... twice! She has started pre-school, flown on a plane for the very first time, been to another country (not that Anna really noticed!), gained her very first cousin and numerous other events that will come flooding back as soon as this post goes public.
I fear that this blog post will simply be a repeat of last birthday's blog post. However, sometimes, the sentiment needs to be said and shouted aloud for the whole world to hear.
So another year has sped by and, with each passing year, our darling daughter becomes even more beautiful, clever, funny, thoughtful, mischievous, cheeky and just gorgeous beyond belief. Every year, I find myself just gazing and wondering at how my daughter is growing up and how much happiness she brings, to lots of different people for lots of different reasons. She continues to wow everyone, no matter where she goes and, as her Grandad Peter said only a few weeks ago, 'Anna makes everyone love her, no matter where she goes'.
As for her Mummy (and Daddy)... I love her so much that I never thought possible. She is my world and everything in it and she makes me so very proud on a daily basis.
Happy Birthday Darling Anna.
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