Current location:	kitchen (because I can)
Current mood:	content

Birthday and a weekend
As presaged by the excellent start on Friday morning I had a grand birthday. Phil and I had the day off so we dropped the kids at nursery and school, picked up a parcel from the post office (a belated gift that should have arrived for Christmas but instead arrived for my birthday, so the timing was most apt) and went shopping without children (a fabulous situation, as most parents will attest) in nearby Rochester (lots of fun and unusual shops, but I was very restrained) and then came home early due to the cold for lunch at home and time spent playing with the new computer.

I collected Alex from school and then a bit later we all jaunted off to collect Amy and head out to dinner at the local Frankie & Benny's (not amazing food but nice enough and child friendly), an experience made more entertaining by Alex accidentally knocking a glass of coke all over me while playing with an airplane. Oops! Then home and our regular Friday evening gaming session with Rick & Albert - Phil's new train game which has enough complications to do my head in mildly but which I enjoyed more than might have been thought by how I talked about it.

Saturday was tidying and prep day, giving the downstairs a thorough tidy and eventually a vacuum to get rid of the accumulated dust bunnies. It was also going to Bluewater and remembering just before I went that Alex had a birthday party to go to that afternoon (fortunately in plenty of time to make it) and wrapping the emergency present I had up the loft for such eventualities (and then wrapping it again when Amy found it on the lounge table, unwrapped it and brought it out to me ("What dis, Mummy?")).

Sunday was competitive baking with Phil (white chocolate brownies from him, apple bran muffins from me, very busy kitchen with both of us active in it with a side order of assistant Rika) and then in the afternoon we had a bunch of people over for a small party and gaming afternoon - just the right number to be able to have 2 games going and some people to sit at the side and kibitz, websurf and otherwise relax. It was another wonderful day and a great way to celebrate birthdays various - thank you to everyone who came!