Happy birthday Izzy!

Happy birthday Izzy - 8 today!

So, like any dutiful parent I made sure the presents were wrapped and I was available this morning for the grand opening (took about 2 minutes as ever) before heading off for work. Feeling guilty that I hadn't been able to drop off today given it was a birthday, I made sure I was home tonight to do pick up, only for the 2 of them plus Grace to disappear off and I haven't seen them since. I'm clearly no longer required for a special birthday evening! It's our own doing - having both been brought up in families where the focus was always relatively low key for birthdays, we don't make a massive fuss and so neither do the girls. I think that's better than expecting the earth and getting all narked if you don't get want you want.

Not getting what you want is a good lesson to learn, particularly when your birthday list is a Shetland pony, a puppy or a pig (the last one clearly influenced by a big sister!)... As it was we had a chat and agreed that having more 'stuff' was not necessary and so in the end we got her a few new items of clothes and a day at the Hawk Conservancy looking after Owls - that definitely hit the spot, although I draw the line at the request to take her 2 best friends from school and Abi along as well - these things are not cheap!

Yesterday was party day and we headed off to The Jump Factory at Basingstoke for a party with Izzy and 14 friends. It was lovely to see new and old faces - she had a mix of neighbours, St Gabs and Thorngrove there and they had a great time on the trampolines, followed by all the cocktail sausages you can eat, a smattering of salad and cake to finish off. They then pleaded to go back to Mia's (of course!) so I got a lovely long walk with the dogs before we all went next door for a big (slightly alcoholic - not good on a Sunday evening!) birthday tea. Luckily we all had kids to get to school in the morning so the celebrations finished promptly at 8pm, but she did make the most of a long day of fun - no wonder we were all a bit tired this morning.

It is amazing to think how fast the time has passed - it feels all of 8 years and no more then 8 minutes since we welcomed her into the world. I'm so glad I've kept a record of the time passing with the blog otherwise it would all be a blur - so much has happened but she's growing into a lovely young girl, albeit still on the small side.... (the girl who was our party rep yesterday tried to guess her age - her first attempt was 5!). I know I need to make the most of these halcyon years before the hormones crash in and wreck our perfect little bubble. No need to dwell on that now - we'll cross that bridge when we come to it!

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