Birthdays, Cakes and Home Improvements #LittleLoves

January is a very busy month in our households, we literally have birthday celebrations every week including my older brother, my god son and my mum. And with this is mind it doesn't help that for the past few days I have felt rather under the weather. Having avoided all the germs for so long, my body finally succumbed and I've had a sore throat and ear ache topped up with a lovely cold and a continual changing of going from hot to cold oh and then there's the sickness bug that set in Wednesday night.

But as parents we soldier on don't we because life doesn't stop does it. I still had a birthday cake to make and presents to wrap on top of the normal day to day goings on. I'm one of these people that is always on count down for the weekend but this week I was willing Saturday to be here right from the moment that I opened my eyes on Monday morning. Sadly it didn't arrive any quicker but I made it and still managed to find time for this weeks #LittleLoves

Read

I won't keep moaning about illness but with everything else came a headache so I didn't read an awful lot myself. In fact at one point I thought I wouldn't be able to read at all when I couldn't find my trusty Kindle. Luckily it decided to reappear in that first place I looked and my panic was over. One book that did read was Genuine Fraud by E Lockhart. I'd actually been sent this via Netgalley last year but I've only just found the time to sit down and start reading it.

Someone who has been reading more is my youngest daughter. She's just started doing accelerated reading rests at school to check that she's understanding exactly what she is reading when she brings books home and I was so pleased to see that in her first test she managed to get five out of five, one of those proud mummy moments. She was most impressed herself and was making a point of showing everyone her certificate.

Watched

After starting the second season of The Crown at the end of last year, I eventually got around to watching the rest of it. I did as most would call binge watch it, I got through 8 episodes in a couple of days. I find it a fascinating series, and it makes me wonder how aware the Royal family actually are of all the content because I'm sure there are parts they'd rather people weren't privy to. It has definitely made me want to look into their history more.

Another fantastic series I started to re-watch this week was Friends. A classic comedy and I am so glad that Netflix finally put it on there. It's one of those programmes that I could literally watch over and over, simple viewing with jokes that never seem to get old. My husband however doesn't agree with me and he refuses to watch it with me so I'm having to wait until he goes to sleep at night before I can enjoy an episode or two.

Heard

What have I heard this week? Well I've heard a lot of banging and crashing because we had the windows at the front of our house and our front door this week changed. We've wanted them changed since we moved in three years ago but at the time we couldn't afford it. The previous owners had installed windows with awful brown frames and it made the house look ever so dated, very old fashioned.

We opted for simple white UPVC windows and a lovely grey front door. Much more simple and modern looking and more in-keeping with the rest of the houses in our street. Unfortunately they mucked up the order and we currently have a white front door instead of a grey one. However it's made an instant to the look of the house, definitely pleased with the outcome so far. The sounds of them being installed and the cold from having no windows for a few hours was definitely worth it. Now we're just waiting on a replacement door and having new carpets put in.

Made

I mentioned at the beginning of the post that there have been quite a few birthdays this month. Last week I made a birthday cake for my mum, a simple date and walnut cake with a cream cheese icing. That went down a treat with both my mum and my eldest as for both of them it is their favourite flavourings. Well this week it was my second eldest's turn to have a birthday cake made. She turned ten yesterday (another child in double figures, how did that happen?).

Now she had all sorts of ideas on the type of cake she'd like. She spends a lot of time watching cake making videos on You Tube, what she fails to realise is that I'm no professional and despite my best efforts, my cakes will never look as good as theirs and for that reason I daren't take on anything to complicated. In the end it was a choice between something to do with cakes and biscuits or pick and mix. You'll see below what I opted for.

I'm secretly pleased with how it turned out, it actually looked more or less how I pictured it in my head and I'm reliably informed that it tasted good so I'll take that.

And lastly...

With all of this talk about birthdays I thought it was only fair to mention that tomorrow happens to be my birthday. I'm due to go out for an Indian with some old work friends in the evening but I think I'll be spending my day walking round shops while my now ten year old spends her birthday money. But it's ok because there has been mention of a Starbucks so I guess if I have a coffee in hand then I will be alright.

And you never know, the hubby might treat me to some presents while we're out too. I feel Primark calling!