Two birthdays in the house made for a busy end of May.
Even when the boys were tiny and not inclined to recognise that their favourite person was celebrating a special day, I was determined not to let my birthday fly completely under the radar and began the tradition of cooking my own birthday cake. This year, I received the wonderful gift of a weekend escape, so didn’t expect anything more than being smothered in kisses by my boys on my actual birthday, but it was very sweet when they appeared at my bedside, each with a bunch of roses in a different colour. The big boys were rather miffed that they weren’t allowed to stay home from school to be with me on my birthday though 😉
After dropping the boys off at school, Nicholas and I enjoyed morning tea with one of my closest friends and then we went home and I baked while he napped. My mum, sister and baby Polly came over for afternoon tea and shared in tea and birthday cupcakes (ala Quirky Cooking), then the five Loves went out for dinner at a local favourite spot so I didn’t have to cook or clean up. Motherhood may mean that birthdays aren’t quite as wild as they used to be (I’m kidding… my birthdays were never that wild), but I did have a lovely day.
Later that week, it was Daddlove’s turn for a celebration and I had been hatching a birthday plan. The boys enjoyed delivering one gift each and lots of cuddles to Daddy in the morning, which Ben loved, and Charlie’s whole Prep class sang happy birthday to him and clapped all the way up to 39, which I’ve no doubt was also a birthday highlight. But the real present was taking him out to a place he’d been wanting to go for forever – the Brisbane Jazz Club. Sans kids and under the guise of a romantic birthday dinner for two, we headed towards the city in a cab and, about a block away, I heard the little gasp of recognition as he worked out where we were going.
As we walked into the jazz club, two of our dear friends were already waiting at a table for four. Surprise! And then, before long, two more friends arrived, and another two and another two and one more couple, and pretty soon we had a jazz party for twelve going on. As soon as the music began and we heard the enchanting sounds of Charlotte McLean and the band, the look on Ben’s face was priceless and I knew he was in his happy place. Food, wine, good friends, jazz, river views and a night at the Stamford later, I’m pretty sure this birthday celebration will be hard to beat. Given that next year’s birthday is a more significant milestone, I’m really going to have to get planning early to top this one!
As is often the case, it was fun to celebrate my own birthday, but so much more fun to plan someone else’s.
Happy birthday my love. May there be many more celebrations ahead x
nicholas: You were very brave when you took a dive into concrete this week, and didn’t let it faze you for long, but you did end up with a graze across your chin and quality bruise underneath. The graze looked even more impressive when you ate frozen blueberries later that night and the purple sunk in! Whoops.
charlie: You weren’t very interested in having your photo taken this week, so it required bribery and I was granted only two shots. I love how your long eyelashes glisten in the fading sunlight.
Joining in the 52 Project at Practising Simplicity ~ a portrait of my youngest boys every week in 2015.
