2014

Éowyn’s Sixth Birthday

Monday 20th October 2014Baggie

So a busy few weeks continues with our oldest child’s sixth birthday. Yes, Éowyn came into this world six years ago. Although six years, in the grand scheme of things, is not that long it is amazing to think how much our lives have changed in those years. It is also difficult to remember that we once had a life sans kids.

Éowyn’s birthday, this year, fell on a Friday. The Friday the week after 54 European Qualifying games. Hence my ‘weekend’ this week was Wednesday and Thursday so it seemed a good opportunity to claw back some of the days owed me to turn it into a three day ‘weekend’ and tag Éowyn’s birthday onto the break. With Lucinda unable to take the day off work it meant that I could take Éowyn and Amélie to school and look after Ezra, and then to be there to pick the girls up at the end of the day.

Despite it being her birthday, Éowyn did not wake any earlier than usual Friday morning. However, she did declare that it was her birthday and she felt different now that she was 6. She did not elucidate as to what this difference was exactly but good to know that there is a difference between being 5 and 6, it is too long ago for me to remember (the 1970’s!).

The morning, as most parents of young children can probably relate to, followed its usual routine of cajoling them to get ready and ushering them out of the door, so there was no time for present opening, that would have to wait until after school. However, she had received her main present from Mum and Dad the night before, her first bicycle. Yes, both Amélie and Éowyn received bikes for their birthday, I will keep you up to date with their progress and when the stabilisers come off. That is a little way off yet.

We had asked Éowyn what she would like to do for her birthday and whether she wanted to invite anyone around. It will not surprise anyone that knows our daughter that she wanted her best friend Aaliyah to come round and to go to the pizza restaurant (Pizza Express in Staines). Éowyn rushed out of school doubly excited firstly because Aaliyah was coming home, and secondly it was her turn to take Marmaduke home. Marmaduke is a teddy bear that is given to a member of the class to take home each weekend. The chosen child then has to write a little diary entry of what they did with Marmaduke and attach a photo of them with Marmaduke. So Éowyn insisted that Marmaduke came along to the restaurant.

Since Friday night, is usually movie night alternating between our house and Emma and Martin’s house we invited Emma and her kids Blake and Natalie along too. So a table was booked for three adults, 6 kids and a bear.

We only live a short walk into Staines town centre so we decided to walk the kids to the restaurant. As we started, we questioned whether this was the wisest of decisions, however apart from an attempt at walking on water by Natalie and Aaliyah (the mistook an algae covered pond for grass) the journey was uneventful and all six were very well behaved and we got to the restaurant relatively unscathed, if a little soggy.

I am not sure that the restaurant staff were fully prepared for the rumbustiousness of a table of excited children; however in fairness to our brood, they may have been a little noisy but they were not unruly. They all ate well, although the prize for the best diner was Ezra. He ate every crumb of his three courses and helped the others finish their meals too. Not bad for an 18 month toddler, although he is a Bagnall and my son, so it is to be expected.

The one thing we had overlooked when we decided that we would walk to the restaurant was the fact that we have just passed the Autumnal equinox and so the nights are getting longer. So by the time we had finished our meals and left the restaurant it was dark. O.K., we live in a town on the edge of one of the largest conurbations in Europe so dark is a matter of perspective, nevertheless it was a lot darker than when we arrived, especially the walk through the park, that had Amélie holding on to her daddy very tightly

Éowyn still had a large pile of unopened presents when we arrived back home (safe and sound, I hasten to add). She was kind-hearted enough though to allow Amélie and Aaliyah to open some of them, although not the big ones! There were a few tears when I refused to extract some of the toys from their packaging but it had been a long day and it was the cue for Lucinda and Éowyn to take Aaliyah home and me to put Amélie and Ezra to bed.

There was a whole weekend ahead of them to play with their toys and another party to go on Saturday morning. Georgia’s princess party, so they needed their sleep and so did Mum and Dad.

All it is left to say is ‘Happy Birthday Éowyn, love Mum and Dad’

Peace and Love

Baggie

Make a wish

A birthday drink

My friends

Ezra

Amélie

Natalie

Is there something on my chin?

Marmaduke and the girls

Birthday bikes

Joint birthday party

Thursday 16th October 2014Thursday 16th October 2014Baggie

Very rarely is there a need for an update between Amélie’s and Éowyn’s birthday, it does happen but there does have to be a good reason. I think this qualifies.

Éowyn’s and Amélie’s birthday occur at a busy time for birthdays of children we know. This is in no small part to the fact that we were on an N.C.T. course and as a consequence friends that we met there had children around the same time. I suppose it is the nature of the beast and as regular readers of this website will recall we often arrange a joint birthday party for the N.C.T. kids. This update is not about that party, that happened two weekends ago and you can read about it here. No this update is very Bagnall-orientated.

When we asked Éowyn and Amélie what they would like for their birthdays, apart from the list that Nanny Fran was presented to purchase in America, the thing that they both wanted was a party. Since we had never really hosted a party for them, we decided that we would grant their wish.

We asked Éowyn and Amélie for a list of friends and we added a few of our own and the list came to more than 40! To arrange the food and drink for 40 three to six year olds and entertain them was something we did not relish. Therefore the decision was made to opt for a professional. A phonecall or two later and Jelly Kelly was booked for 12th October 2014.

We chose the 12th October because it is what is known at IMG as a ‘Dark Weekend’, a weekend without Premier League. Until this season that meant that I got the weekend off, however with the advent of a new contract, in the shape of the UEFA European Qualifiers even that glimmer of normality in the Bagnall household has gone. However, with the first kick offs not until 1700 it meant that Sunday morning was the window of opportunity.

Therefore the date was set, the time was set, the entertainer was booked all we needed now was the venue. This proved more difficult than even securing time off work! The majority of halls in the vicinity are fully booked on Sunday mornings, usually for after mass coffee mornings. How very heathen of us to want a children’s party on a Sunday morning rather than going to church. Nevertheless, after eliminating the closest halls we ended up 3.5 miles down the road at Charlton Village Hall which is managed by the Burge School of Dancing. It seemed that fate had smiled on us. The hall was perfect as a venue, a large space for the kids to run around in and a separate kitchen area for preparing all the food.

We had invited over forty kids but as with all these things not everybody replied and not all that replied in the affirmative turn up. Nevertheless there were 25-30 kids and around a dozen adults. Maddie, Megan and Finley also turned up to help, which was very good of them. Lauren would have come too, but she was on a Duke of Edinburgh course – she was actually very upset that she couldn’t come, there is no doubt she made the right decision.

Jelly Kelly was an enormous hit with the kids (and with some of the adults too). She was worth every penny and kept the kids entertained for the entire party, including during food. For those of you that are unaware of Jelly Kelly, she is dressed somewhat like a clown but performs magic for the kids. She starts the party with a few games that get the kids geed up and loosens any barriers that they may have either not knowing each other or general coyness. You may be forgiven for thinking that this boisterousness would make them all unruly. No fear. It was unbelievable how attentive the kids were, you can see from the photos below that they all sat on the floor listening intently and respectively putting their hands up to ask or answer questions.

I will not ruin Jelly Kelly’s act for those of you reading this, it is safe to say, however that it is a classic mix of pantomime and magic. There are lots of jokes for the kids and more for the the adults that sail way above the kids heads. There is fun and a little danger (so much so that for public liability insurance purposes there has to be a fire extinguisher to hand and the kids have to sit behind a line a set distance from the finale – that has intrigued you now, has it?). Regardless of all that the most important aspect of Jelly Kelly’s show was that above all frivolity the birthday girls were the star(s) of the show.

Éowyn revelled in the attention and soaked up the attention, Amélie not as much but perhaps she was a little overwhelmed by it all. To top it all, the girls had asked for a ‘Frozen’ (the film, not the type) cake. We had looked on line for a ‘Frozen’ cake big enough to satisfy that amount of children and the prices were more than the rest of the party, so Lucinda went ‘old-school’ and bought a plain cake (not enough time to bake one) and decorated it herself. As you can see it did not look too shabby and the way that it was demolished by the kids (and adults) it could not have been that bad!

A number of the kids thanked us for inviting us to the party (very polite – well brought up) and said it was the best day ever. Very nice but I think that they may have been exaggerating a little, but nice to know that they enjoyed themselves.

After cleaning up I had to head into work so I took the remaining party food (mainly sandwiches) for the gannets of MCR. We had made ham, cheese and jam sandwiches and then there were the eponymous sausage rolls, party sausages and crisps. Within an hour of getting into work most of the food had gone and the biggest draw was the jam sandwiches, something most of them had not had since they, themselves, were children.

We would like to say a few thank-yous. Firstly we have to say thank you to everyone for coming and making our girls very happy; we also have to thank you all for your incredible generosity we were overwhelmed with presents that you bought, we were very touched. We have to thank Jelly Kelly for entertaining everyone and last but not least to Nanny Fran, Auntie Liz (who drove down from West Bromwich for the party) and Maddie for helping prepare the party and tidying up afterwards.

I leave you with two questions from Amélie: What is the plural of daddy long legs? And where are the mummy long legs?

Love and Peace

Baggie

Cheeky grin

Mommy and Ezra

Northern Chic

Looking smart

My big sister

Baby at C&A pose

Getting to know you

Birthday questions

Funny microphone

The birthday girls

Centre of attention

I’m 6!

Grab that magic

A little magic

No clues

Aim, Fire

BANG!

Cake’s on fire

‘Sponge’ Cake

Birthday girls

Jelly Kelly and the Birthday girls

Listening attentively

Sitting next to her friends

Jelly Kelly is funny!

Birthday Cake

Blowing out the candles

Frozen Birthday Cake

The baguettes

The Bagnall three

Éowyn’s presents

Too funny

Laughing

Smirking

Amélie’s Fourth Birthday

Wednesday 8th October 2014Monday 20th October 2014Baggie

I think it catches me by surprise every year how rapidly September comes around and thus how quickly the year turns and also how quickly my children are growing up. As you can probably guess from the title of this update, my little girl Amélie turned 4 last Sunday. Due to the fact that the start of the academic year, in the UK, is the 1st September this makes her one of the oldest still at nursery. This is despite the fact that she, like Éowyn before her, is probably more than ready for reception and full time education. Nevertheless another year at Mini Tots looms for her.

Amélie’s birthday sits in the middle of a busy birthday period. Not only is it just under three weeks before Éowyn’s birthday and the day before Auntie Liz’s birthday it also sits in the middle of our N.C.T. group’s crop of birthdays. As many people in the same situation do, when we were expecting our first child Éowyn we joined an N.C.T. group and although that was six years ago we are still in touch with 5 of the other couples. We may not meet up as often as we used to as a group (individually we often see each other) but in an attempt to keep the group spirit alive we arrange a joint birthday party for the kids, somewhere in the middle of their birthdays. As a coincidence this year’s N.C.T. birthday party fell on Amélie’s birthday.

A stroke of luck in part due to a busy European week for our Premier League big boys and in part due to the Ryder Cup (go Europe!), the bulk of the Premier League games were on the Saturday and the Super Sunday game was my beloved West Bromwich Albion v Burnley. Not a game with a large interest from foreign broadcasters even I will admit, therefore I decided that my (work) team could safely handle this one by themselves and I could start to claw back the days work owes me, by being off with Amélie on her birthday and attending the N.C.T. birthday party for the first time in years!

Not only was I off work but Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz decided to come down for a few days. Again, a little bit of a coincidence with Auntie Mary buying Auntie Liz tickets to see Kylie Minogue at the 02 for (and on) her birthday. Therefore Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz had double the excuse (not that they need one) to come for a visit.

The venue for last year’s celebration was deemed a success and so Alice Holt was once again chosen as the venue for the party. Alice Holt, a few miles outside of Farnham, is a woodland managed by the Forestry Commission. In addition to the woodland, it has a Go-Ape adventure playground and this year has been home to the Gruffalo Trail. Indeed, Lucinda took the kids on the Gruffalo trail during the summer holiday, so it is somewhere we know quite well.

We parked close to the wooden chalet that would be the venue for the party and were surprised that we were the second family to arrive, especially since we had to wait for Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz to drive down from West Bromwich (an early start for them). Thankfully with the trusted S-Max we could squeeze Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz in the car save them driving any further. We unloaded the car (kids and party food) and had a look around the chalet. It appears that we had been upgraded from the chalet we had hired last year (not that I know!) and this one was much bigger, with its own toilet facility and resident fox and badger (stuffed you’ll be glad to know, taxidermied, if that is indeed, the proper term). Not the best taxidermy for the fox looked like it was quite surprised when it died, or at least when it was stuffed! The badger on the other hand seemed to be smiling, perhaps he saw what happened to the fox!

It seemed to be a shame not to take advantage of the Indian summer we were experiencing (indeed the temperature peaked at 25C, not bad for the end of September) so we decided to tackle the Gruffalo trail en masse. It was a good walk to build up an appetite for the party food. The kids were all well behaved but perhaps a little bored with looking for the Gruffalo characters in such a large group. The most fun they had was when they found a branch across a dried up creek. They it was a bridge over boiling lava and they all took it in turns to walk across it. Who says that kids today have no imagination. It is amazing the fun you can have with a fallen tree branch.

So after party food, some party game and even a birthday cake (baked by Claire) we headed back home to celebrate Amelie’s birthday. Regular readers may recall that at the beginning of September Nanny Fran and Auntie Liz flew to New York for a mid-week trip. Éowyn and Amélie were so excited about Nanny going to America because there are some toys that are available in America that are not available in the UK (a demonstration of the power of the internet that they even know that) and Éowyn had handily written a list so that Nanny Fran wouldn’t forget.

As usual Amélie was truly spoiled with the presents that she received (including the ones from America!) and as usual Daddy spent more time extracting them from the packaging than Amélie did unwrapping them. Thank you all for your presents. I think that Éowyn was as excited as Amélie about the presents that she received and we had to stop her hogging them before Amélie had got a chance to play with them. Amélie (and Éowyn when her birthday comes around) is going to have her first proper bike for her birthday from Mum and Dad. We know it is the wrong time of year but there should be some fine days over the winter, and so hopefully by Spring they will both be confident on two wheels. You will have to keep popping by to see how that goes.

I will leave you there, as if I manage to find the time there should be a veritable plethora of updates over the next month or so. Again you will have to keep popping by to see how that goes!

But before I leave you there is one thing left to say: ‘Happy Birthday Amélie, love from Mum and Dad’

Peace and Love

Baggie

PS West Bromwich Albion made it three wins in 8 days with a 4-0 defeat of Burnley. Maybe it will be a good season after all.