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Today is Charlie's birthday and, since all the girls were home for Mothering Sunday, it meant we could have a birthday lunch, today, before I drove Charlie and Hannah back down to Manchester. 

I spent the morning juggling email and 'phone calls with some shopping and cake baking, which was mildly stressful as the girls were arriving at one o'clock and we needed to set off at two in order to get Izzy and her boyfriend, Michael, down to Lancaster station. 

In the end, it was all fine, though. Charlie, Hannah, Izzy and Michael all arrived on time, as did Milly and her boyfriend, Evan, who walked down from school. Bowls of crisps and sandwiches were consumed with gusto and then it was time for the cake. 

It seemed a bit ambitious to fit 24 candles on a cake, so I went for a binary solution, which only required two candles and five candle holders. You can see that here. (The cake and icing were prepared when the girls arrived but Izzy asked if she could ice and decorate it, which I think is the first time I haven't done it myself. Hm. Maybe the girls have helped decorate before.)

This wasn't the best photo that I took, technically speaking, but it is definitely my favourite.