Gymnastics Party

The weather has been amazing again this week but after a brilliant start on Friday morning it became quite overcast by mid-morning so Leanne, Alayne and I decided to hang out at my house in case it started to rain. The girls were most appreciative of my new outdoor area where they quickly made themselves at home on the sofa to do their crotcheting. Tom and Charlie insisted on going swimming in the pool despite it being about 15 degrees so we pulled back the pool cover a tiny bit and they played around the steps until they turned blue. By afternoon the weather was beautiful again and we headed down to Clontarf with the rest of Tess' class for a class play date. The kids had a ball and it was a great opportunity for the mums to get to know each other a bit better. Some of the dads, including Jules, came down after work and cooked sausages for all the kids - such a great way to spend a friday afternoon.

Tess woke up very excited on Saturday because it was the day of her joint birthday party with Olivia. Tom and Jules went shopping for boogie boards for the kids and Tess and I headed to the hardware store where I'd spotted some lovely plants the day before. We arrived at the store and as Tess was shutting the car door she managed to shut her thumb in the door. The next minute was a nightmare as I was completely unable to open the door despite putting all my weight behind it and pulling for my life whilst she stood there screaming with her thumb trapped. The door eventually gave way and I was lucky that we had parked by a medical centre and one of the nurses who was on her tea break had witnessed the whole drama. She ran over and took us straight to a doctor who sent Tess to have her thumb x-rayed. Fortunately the thumb was fine - just very badly bruised - and Tess actually managed to fully participate in her party after all.

The party was a huge success. The 14 girls (plus Tom!) did gymnastics for 1.5 hours and had a wonderful time - we were very excited that towards the end of the party the kids were playing on giant trampolines jumping into soft foam pits and we were allowed to join in too! Emma did an amazing job with the cake as usual - the girls had chosen this cake a couple of weeks earlier and I was very glad not to be responsible for making it - not one of my skill sets!

On Sunday it was a beautiful day (made even more beautiful by the kids playing quietly together until we decided to get out of bed at about 8.30!!) so we decided to go out on the boat. Ken and Emma took their boat out with friends of theirs and we all had a lovely time together. Tess and Tom loved playing on their boogie boards and those of you who know me well will be very impressed to hear that I dived off the boat and swam to shore and back!