Liam's Birthday + Weekend Plans

Today is Liam's 23rd birthday :) I know we're only part way through the day, but the next few days are going to be super busy here, so I'm grabbing any opportunity to write a blog post when I can!

So for Liam, this morning started with breakfast in bed. I got the kids up and got daughter ready for school, made the children pancakes etc first while Liam slept, then daughter brought him up his cards & present and I brought him up this tray...

Chocolate chip pancakes with golden syrup, a latte and chocolate...because who doesn't want chocolate on their birthday?! Well, Liam it turns out. Or at least not first thing in the morning! He managed to just about eat the pancakes and drink the coffee, but the maltesers are getting saved for this afternoon!

After a lazy relaxing morning, Liam, baby and I went out for lunch. I had a brie & red onion chutney panini...

open panini = double the toppings = good! :) this was really tasty, lots of yummy cheese! Liam also had a panini, his with chicken, bacon, sweet chilli sauce and cheese on it. We really didn't need anymore food, but we somehow managed to persuade each other that as it was his birthday we should have cake! Enter birthday cake round 1...

Liam let me try a bit of his chocolate fudge cake which was amazing...

so rich and gooey, yum. Unfortunately my lemon meringue pie was a bit disappointing...

admittedly I'm a bit squeamish about eggs being cooked properly, but for me the meringue was not cooked enough. The top was quite nice and chewy, but the bit nearest the lemon layer was super liquidy. Bleugh. I also ate way more food than I needed to so felt uncomfortably full afterwards. Unusually for me I hadn't had breakfast as I'd been so busy making everyone else's, but I don't think I needed to compensate quite that much!!

Now we've had a couple of hours to let our stomachs rest, Liam's family are due round soonish, bringing another cake with them no doubt! I will try to resist as we have the delicious Manna chocolate brownies that I bought when I went to Exeter Food Festival to eat after dinner. I don't want to be too full from other cake to enjoy my brownie...I've been looking forward to it for weeks!

The rest of our weekend is exciting and food-filled too! Tomorrow Liam and I are going away overnight while my sisters and my elder sister's boyfriend look after the children. The best part of 2 days + 1 night child-free, bliss! It was their early wedding present to us - babysitting plus an overnight stay at a local hotel/leisure place - included in the package is dinner Friday night, breakfast on Saturday, afternoon tea on Saturday, champagne and a box of chocolates in the room, plus full use of gym, swimming pool, jacuzzi etc. I can't wait! :)

Finally on Sunday, it's my 25th birthday. I love that Liam and I have birthdays really close together as it means we can spread the celebrations out for four days. Not so good for my weight perhaps but hey ho, it only happens once a year! I'm not sure what we're doing on Sunday, but hopefully if it's nice weather we'll have a picnic lunch and then probably see my family in the afternoon. I like that we're getting to spend both our actual birthdays with the children and other family, but then get two days to ourselves in between. The perfect balance :)

So there we go, a brief (ish!) outline of my weekend plans! I'll try to check in at some point, but I'm not sure when I'll get the chance. So in the mean time, have a great weekend everyone! :)