Champ's Birthday

Champ's birthday was actually on the day that we flew to Ireland. For his birthday he was getting his much awaited and deserved remote control car. Champ had saved up his pocket money for a year to go towards it. Hubby and I decided that rather than him opening it on the day that we were leaving, looking at it briefly and then putting it away, that he could get his present a little early. He loved it...no LOVES it!!!! Well, once he managed to wrestle the controller out of his Dad's hands anyway :o)

Obviously travelling all day we weren't able to do our usual birthday celebration but we did manage to pick up a chocolate cheesecake for pudding on the drive to the house.

So on the weekend that we arrived back home we celebrated Champ's birthday with a family party. It happened to be Guy Fawkes so we went to watch the local fireworks.

I made pumpkin pie for pudding. We only get tinned pumpkin in October here so we have to make the most of it!

Champ asked if he could have an ant cake so we thought about how to do it. I had seen little packs of halloween creepy crawlies in the shops that contained little ants so I bought 4 packs. The kids had great fun icing it and then creating the colony. I think hubby swallowed an ant though :o)

Everyone joined in with the singing....Happy Birthday to you...

I just love the look of complete joy on his face

So after supper, pumpkin pie and cake we bundled the children up. My Mom has been knitting hats for the Christmas boxes this year and the children were lucky enough to be given one too. At the start of the cold weather this is probably the only time that everyone will have their hats AND their gloves, from now on we spend most of our time hunting for lost items.

The fireworks were late in starting luckily Gran had brought sparklers which had the added bonus of giving us a little space in the crowd as people are wary of children waving hot metal rods around :o)

The firework display was spectacular. The kids all stood there mesmerised with open mouths, barely blinking throughout the half an hour display.

On the way home we took a back route and ended up squelching our way though muddy fields in the dark. What an adventure!