On the 24th July 2015

Esther and William turned 5

They were so excited on their birthday eve

So happy when they woke and rushed downstairs

In their birthday pyjamas

“Are we 5 yet, Mummy? Are we 5?”

Before any presents were opened

We had breakfast

A Lion King inspired

Lion Hunt Breakfast

Complete with lions, hyenas and meerkats

And a carefully chosen story

The looks on their birthday faces

Will stay with me for a long, long time

When present time finally came

William’s delight at finding electric engine after electric engine was magical

Esther carefully opened her pony palace

Her Happy Land sets

And commented on every new thing that she found

Every gift wrapped in stars

A little Baby Tilda reminder for us all

The playroom was filled with more presents

A stage area

With microphone and electric guitar

We have been watching lots of shows!

For the first time in five years

Their birthday was a rainy day

So instead of our planned trip to the zoo

We went out for lunch with Ami, Granny and Granddad

A lovely lunch

With another sign for Tilda

That she was not forgotten

On the 25th July

We held a joint party for Esther, William and Bea

On a hot sunny day

Sandwiched by rainy days

We held our Ugly Bug Ball

It was a wonderful afternoon

Filled with friends, family

Lots of fun

And lots of food!

I absolutely loved making our healthy party food

All with a minibeast theme

It had a real Hakuna Matata flavour

For my Lion King friends

The ants on a log

Celery, peanut butter and raisins

Was surprisingly good!

There was hardly anything left over

So I think our guests

Young and old

Enjoyed the minibeast feast

Esther, William and Bea loved their cake

Baked by Granny

With twin helping hands

And decorated by a very clever Daddy

The cake arrived with the Big Bug Band theme tune

Playing in the background

Another magical moment

One I will never forget

The highlight of the party for me

And I think for Esther and William

Was the Fun Train session

And ‘Peggy Moosic’

Esther and William joined in with every song

The sun was beating down

All the children did well in the heat

And we waved our stars

And blew bubble kisses to Baby Tilda in the sky

It was wonderful

Very special

And Peggy has kindly asked me to donate her fee

To The Lullaby Trust

In memory of Matilda Mae

Thank you Peggy x

So many friends and family came to share our special day

It was wonderful to see so many little people

All the children had a ball

The grown ups too

Many children found the water slide to be the highlight of their day!

The BeBop 16ft Inflatable Water Slide from Toyz World was a lot of fun

All afternoon children were climbing, sliding and splashing

As the sun shone

The water slide was a firm favourite activity on our special day

William loved it

And played on it with his cousins and friends for much of the afternoon

It was wonderful to see their smiles

And hear their laughter as they played

The slide was not as big as I had imagined

But it did provide a huge amount of fun

The slide inflates quickly

Using a provided electric fan

If you have a large garden

And children who love water play

Then a BeBop Water Slide could be a good investment for you

It certainly made a splash at our party!

Thank you Toyz World x

Bea had a ball at The Ugly Bug Ball

Looking bea-utiful in her dress from The Princess and The Frock

Esther also looked stunning

In her bespoke butterfly fairy dress

Again from Princess and the Frock

She really did look pretty

William had a spider costume

But spent most of the party in the water

Or wrapped in a towel!

What a wonderful summer afternoon we had

A family party with a festival feel

Making magical memories for our little ones

Celebrating

And remembering

A very special, much missed, little girl

Happy Birthday Esther and William

I love you more than you know

And I am so very proud of the wonderful little people you are

Love you x

We were loaned a BeBop Water Slide by Toyz World for our Ugly Bug Ball