40 and fabulous

Owen and me were up early this morning to make sure that we put the last of the birthday banners up and to check that the requested Star Wars birthday cake* had held up over night...it was remarkably intact.
Finally Louisa was allowed downstairs for coffee, croissants and blueberry pancakes while opening the presents from Saturday night. Then, once Aaron had gotten up it was on to the presents from us. 

For some reason I thought that it would be a brilliant idea to celebrate Louisa's 40th by getting her 40 presents from me and the boys. It's a lot more difficult than you'd think not to end up with loads of chocolates and/or novelty tat...I think we did alright in the end though, and the proper presents hopefully made up for the tat.

After a relaxing morning Louisa's choice was a stroll through the Quarry (with 2 of the 40, a big birthday badge and a Shrewsbury Cup with a 'voucher' for coffee and cake) to let Owen have a play in the playground and make the most of the best weather of the year so far. We even got a drive-by ride-by hello from looking4beauty and NothingToFear.

Once home we fired up the barbecue before settling down for a family film night with Kung Fu Panda 4, complete with popcorn and snacks.

All in all a successful birthday weekend for the most wonderful human being I know. She fully deserved to be spoilt and some of the presents mean that the celebrations will go on for most of the rest of the year.