Fun Weekend

Evening everyone! How were your weekends? I'm happy to say that I've had a great one! :-)

Yesterday was my little sister's birthday, so in the morning we went round for cake...

The brownies were the most fudgy I've made so far - success! :)

In the afternoon, Olivia requested a girly spa session. My Mum, Olivia, my other sister Sarah and I went to the local spa for an hour or so. It was quite small - just a mini pool/jacuzzi, a sauna and a steam room, but it was nice to relax and catch up.

In the evening, we all went out for dinner.

After a few photos (!) it was time for some food. I'd pre-ordered my starter and main from the Christmas menu. To start, I had a goats cheese tart with beetroot salad...

and for my main (which I was most looking forward to!) I had a cauliflower and sweet potato curry, mmm!

I didn't order dessert myself, but I did have a few tastes of Olivia's. This was advertised as a "taster dessert to share between two", but in reality it was a full-sized portion of nearly every dessert on the menu!!

Even with all of us helping out, my Mum still ended up taking quite a few desserts home wrapped up in foil!! It was a really nice meal, and evening. I hope my sister had a nice 16th birthday!

*****

Today, we didn't have any fixed plans...but we still ended up being busy!

When Toby had his morning nap, we finally got round to filling the photo album we'd given Izzy for her birthday back in August! I'd printed out lots of wedding photos for her to use, eventually narrowing it down to her favourite 25!

I'll have to take some photos once she finishes the album. It looks great - as well as the photos there are lots of decorations - stickers, sequins, mini pom poms etc!

Once Toby woke up, we all ate lunch. A random snack plate of things that needed using - grilled asparagus, Indian party selection, mozzarella sticks, raw mushrooms and caramelised onion houmous.

I love snack plates for trying a bit of everything, although this was a bit too much food - I was uncomfortably full after this!

I resisted the urge to lie on the sofa groaning though (!), and instead we all wrapped up warm to head outside.

First on the agenda - kite flying! My Grandparents gave Izzy this kite for her birthday, but many excuses later, we only finally got around to using it this weekend. Izzy had such fun!

After we'd done flying the kite, we made a quick stop at Costa to warm up - I had a gingerbread latte, my favourite - before walking along the seafront...

Such a lovely day - cold, but clear and dry :)

and stopping off at the play park on the way home...

I love days like today :) So nice to be able to do whatever we wanted and suit it around Toby's nap/Izzy getting tired etc. I just hope the rest of the holidays are this relaxing...somehow I'm not sure we'll manage it every day, but hopefully some!

How have all your weekends been? Do you feel prepared for Christmas? 1 week to go!! I'm pretty much ready. Made easier by going to Liam's parents' for Christmas lunch - so I don't need to worry about buying loads of food. I still need to bake some last minute gifts, and I haven't bought much for Liam yet - but I'm planning to take the children shopping on Tuesday for that...wishful thinking that it won't be super busy?!! ;)