Happy Birthday to you and you and you!

Today has been very special. Work was fine. I got my head down again and while I'm still behind, I'm not so far behind and I'm uptodate with my colleague's work while he's away which is definitely a good thing.

At lunch I dashed out to Waitrose to get a cake for the evening's celebrations plus candles in the shape of 60, 40 and 41.

On the way home, I dropped the cake and candles into the Peking with instructions for them to bring it out as a surprise after dinner. They were most obliging. When I got home to change, I found L in full prep mode, changing beds and washing as his wife P, second son and Lottie dog were on their way down.

I put on a vibrant yellow and pink handkerchief dress and got to the restaurant just in time to greet B, my stepmum, who turns 60 tomorrow. Everyone else followed swiftly after (PPP+H, R&J, C&S and Teddy who's really filling out now at 9 months and looked adorable in his dinosaur romper suit). At 5 plus months pregnant my sister is bigger now than at 7 months with Teddy. Baby number two is going to be rather bigger methinks.

We had one large table for all ten of us plus the high chair and swapped birthday presents. My middle brother, P, turns 40 on Sunday and his wife, P, turned 41 earlier this week. (My blip is of the three birthday bods). So it was a real family celebration and the meal out certainly killed three birds with one stone so to speak. We ordered the three course banquet and it really was good. Teddy refused to sleep so he was handed round and then walked around town a bit in his buggy from time to time. The cake was brought out to a loud chorus of Happy Birthday to all three of them.

All in all it was a wonderful evening.

When I got home at 10pm, P and J had arrived with Lottie dog so P, L and I sat out in the garden in the fading light under the full moon catching up and I spoiled Lottie with plenty of hugs and strokes and played monkey tug of war with her.