Blogtober: Autumn’s 8th Birthday

I’m straying away from the prompts for Blogtober today. However, I’m still discussing Autumn…but my daughter, rather than the season! I started writing this blog when she was 3 months old and a couple of weeks ago she turned 8. Time has passed by so quickly and it’s just absolutely crazy to me. We couldn’t afford a ‘proper’ birthday party this year, but still had lots of fun with a whole weekend of celebrating!

Sleepover

Autumn had wanted to have one of her friends over for a sleepover for months. However, I was so busy with a combination of university, work and my Nan being in hospital, followed by losing my Nan and then my rib injury. Therefore, it never ended up happening! So I thought her birthday would be a brilliant time to have a sleepover. Dave picked her friend up after school on the Friday and they played until dinner time. Then they played some more, watched part of Despicable Me 4 and had some snacks. The moon was beautiful and orange, so we all went outside (the kids in their pyjamas with teddies) to look at it! Back indoors, they carried on playing until about 11pm when they both said they were tired, so they had a pillow fight, brushed their teeth and got their things ready for bed. Although they were in bed by midnight, they were talking and giggling and didn’t sleep until almost 1am!

Wall Climbing

The next morning, we took them to the new(ish) climbing centre, Chimera Climbing in Chatham. Autumn has been begging me to take her there since it opened in late May, but I hadn’t got round to it for the aforementioned reasons. My friends took Reuben to a park as it’s not suitable for under 5s. The girls were a bit nervous about climbing without harnesses, but had a great time. It was wonderful to see their confidence build, as they began to make their way to the top of many of the walls!

Meal With Friends

After wall climbing, we met up with my friends (one of which is Autumn’s friend’s mum) for a late lunch at the Mast and Rigging in Gillingham where we were reunited with Reuben and Autumn’s friend’s little sister. All the children had a great time running around the playground and it was lovely to have a meal out with everyone…even if I did choose a curry that was too hot for me! Autumn was wondering the whole time we were there if she’d have a cake. She was delighted when the staff brought out a caterpillar cake we’d bought and we all sang “Happy Birthday”. Both her and Reuben were exhausted from the sleepover and were starting to get a bit silly and emotional by the end. Unsurprisingly, 5 minutes after leaving the pub they were asleep!

Seeing Family

On the Sunday, my parents and uncle in-law came to our house and brought Autumn lots of presents. Reuben was pleased because he had some too! Autumn had been asking for a Bitzee for a while, so was very happy to receive one of them. I’m yet to play with it, but I think it’s almost like a modernised Tamagotchi with multiple creatures you can unlock? Autumn had asked for a chocolate Taylor Swift themed cake. I couldn’t make a cake for her this year, so we bought one from the supermarket. We bought a glittery pink topper online that said “It’s me, hi, I’m the birthday girl, it’s me!”

On Monday after school, we went to my in-laws. Autumn went straight to the dining room and was excited to see lots more presents, including a Magic Mixies Magic Cauldron. It amused us all watching my father in-law trying to conjure the furry friend inside to come up! Lucky Autumn also had another caterpillar cake to celebrate her birthday. Three cakes in as many days!

While she may have been initially disappointed when we said she couldn’t have a birthday party this year, I think she had a great time. I’m sure celebrating over the course of 3 days also more than made up for it!