We now have a teenager in the house as Sophie turned 13 this week. She enjoyed having a day out at Chessington with three of her friends as an early birthday celebration and had ‘Happy Birthday’ sung to her by the cast of Doctor Dolittle at vocal warm-up for the last show, which she found a bit embarrassing.
This year’s birthday cake request was for a Chitty Chitty Bang Bang themed cake. I quite enjoyed the challenge of trying to recreate the car from the Watermill production complete with a little fondant Jemima behind the wheel. We spent most of Sophie’s birthday at a dance festival and she enjoyed being able to share the cake with her dance friends. She also enjoyed getting to catch up with one of her Chitty friends at the festival, who was competing with a different dance school.
It’s been a lovely week on the whole and Sophie’s enjoyed all her birthday celebrations. For me, milestone birthdays tend to hit hard though and there has been an unspoken undercurrent of sadness with the reminder that becoming a teenager is another milestone that Jessica didn’t reach and where Sophie is leading the way instead. But that has been for me to quietly carry whilst keeping the focus on celebrating 13 years of our beautiful Sophie and the wonderful, kind, caring and talented person she is.
Thomas enjoyed Sophie’s birthday celebrations (particularly the cake!) and going to a birthday party for one of his school friends this week. It’s the first time a school friend has invited him to a party that wasn’t a whole-class party and he was particularly excited about the fact that his friend lives on a boat. He had such a lovely time at the party and it was so nice to see him having fun with friends from school.
Thomas also made me proud this week when he and Sophie went to a Jellycat-themed kids’ pottery workshop. It was a drop-off session which made me a little anxious. I really didn’t think Thomas would manage to focus for the whole session, and so I took my laptop and waited in a nearby coffee shop just in case he needed me, but he really enjoyed it and I was so impressed by his and Sophie’s creations.
What I’ve been grateful for this week:
- Day 296 – I am grateful that Sophie enjoyed her day out at Chessington with her friends.
- Day 297 – I am grateful for a brilliant week performing in Doctor Dolittle. Puppeteering Gub-Gub was so much fun. Two shows in two weeks has been crazy but I have loved every minute.
- Day 298 – I am grateful for a lovely evening taking part in a concert to end a busy couple of weeks of performing.
- Day 299 – I am grateful for managing to create a Chitty cake as requested for Sophie’s birthday tomorrow.
- Day 300 – I am grateful that Sophie has had a lovely birthday.
- Day 301 – I am grateful that Sophie and Thomas enjoyed getting creative at a Jellycat-themed kids’ pottery workshop.
- Day 302 – I am grateful for crafty birthday gifts.
Joining in with Raisie Bay for Word of the Week.
Also joining in with #Project365: