Tuesday 21 May 2019

Six



I do so love the month of May. The air is warm and sweet with the scent of blossom, the countryside has turned a vibrant shade of green and those long, lazy days of summer are just around the corner. Bluebells are beginning to fade, the woodland pathways are drying out in the warm sunshine and, to my great joy, more and more of our time is being spent outdoors.

Another reason for my fondness of this particular month is Lily's birthday. My amazing girl is now six! I can hardly believe it. It is now six whole years since this wonderful, sweet, happy little girl entered the world one sunny May morning and turned my life completely upside down - for the better, of course! She is such a delight and never ceases to make me smile every single day. She is growing and changing so quickly that I'm frightened to blink just in case I miss any of it, so I'm determined to stretch out every precious moment of her childhood. I just adore her zest for life, her love of the outdoors and her ability to win over just about anyone with a flash of her smile.






Lily's actual birthday was midweek, so the day itself was fairly ordinary. There was, however, an early start so she could open her cards and presents before school. The excitement for the day ahead proved useful in getting us out of bed that morning as we were tired, having spent the previous evening enjoying some pond dipping. Once the school day was over we went for a lovely swim, which was quickly followed by pizza and some delicious chocolate birthday cake.




At the weekend we celebrated fully with two hours of fun and mayhem for Lily and a group of friends at a nearby play centre. I'm not a huge fan of these types of places but there's no denying they serve a purpose and the staff looked after us really well. The children all thoroughly enjoyed themselves and, although she received so many presents, I think Lily took most pleasure from handing out the party bags at the end. 
J. X

66 comments:

  1. Happy Birthday Lily, 6 is a very good year. I'm glad she enjoyed her special day despite attending school that day. My youngest usually attends school on his birthday too. Like you, we always get up earlier on that particular day. That's a very sweet birthday cake. Take care Cathy x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Cathy. She had a really nice day and she received plenty of birthday wishes from everyone at school. X

      Delete
  2. Those are sweet. It sounds like she had a wonderful time. Love the boat with floweres, and your gorgeous photos!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Stephenie. The boat is lovely isn't it. It sells tea and ice creams. I managed to capture it before it opened up for the day. X

      Delete
  3. happy birthday Lily! Have a lovely weekend :)

    ReplyDelete
  4. Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Lily.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Eileen. I will pass them on. X

      Delete
  5. Happy birthday Lily!! 6! She is a big girl! I love the cake and the idea of the seeds!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Happy Birthday to Lily. May is the best month for birthdays (mine was earlier this week). I know what you mean abiut their childhood going so fast, sometimes it really does seem to whizz by and you try to throw out an anchor to help slow it down a little. Love the party bags! xx Susan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Belated Birthday wishes, Susan. Children seem to grow up so quickly these days. Constantly under pressure to reach their next stage. I'm trying to embrace every moment. X

      Delete
  7. Happy Birthday, Lily - you have an amazing mum who nurtures and cares for you fantastically! What a life you will have.
    xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a very kind thing to say, Joy, thank you. X

      Delete
  8. What a lovely day and love to Lily for her special day. How our children grow so fast. I can hardly believe my children will be 30 and 27 this summer! It still seems like only yesterday they were born. Best, Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  9. Replies
    1. Thank you, Eileen. I hope you and your family are well. X

      Delete
  10. I was thinking of you last week and hoping the party went well. Your party bags are brilliant. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jayne. The children all had a wonderful time. X

      Delete
  11. What a wonderful blog: happy, positive, inspirational (especially compared to my old rubbish). And if sometimes, as mentioned in previous post, there are times of feeling a bit lethargic, then maybe that's the price for the joyful times. Rather that than to be the same all the time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You've made my day. Thank you for your kind words. X

      Delete
  12. Birthday wishes for your sweet daughter. Sounds like she had a great time. Love the seed packets such a lovely idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will be sure to pass on your good wishes and I hope there will be many sunflowers growing before long. X

      Delete
  13. Happy birthday, Lily! 6 already! She's growing up so fast! I love the idea of the seed packet party bags!

    ReplyDelete
  14. Happy birthday to Lily. Don't they grow up so fast, far too fast for my liking. I'm glad she had a good day and a lovely party at the weekend too. What a great idea for party bags.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jo. Yes, they grow far to quickly don't they. The party bags also included some sweets and other goodies. I'm not sure the children would have been overly impressed with just seeds. X

      Delete
  15. Six is such a wonderful age, minds like sponges soaking up everything they can. Happy birthday wishes to Lily, wishing her a year filled with magical and wonderful moments to make memories to cherish forever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Six is a great age. They are so eager to learn new things. X

      Delete
  16. Happy birthday to Lily, hope she had a lovely day. What a great idea to give seeds as a present. beautiful photos as always. B x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Barbara. I do hope all the seeds get planted. X

      Delete
  17. Love those party bags too! Happy Birthday to her, love her name. Lily, that's lovely.

    ReplyDelete
  18. Happy Birthday to your sweet little sprite!!!!!!!!!
    ~
    Lovely Birthday happenings.
    ~
    And really enjoying handing out little gifts to the attendees, shows a lovely trait, which she already has. You do Good, Mama!!!!!

    ✨✨✨✨

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. She loved handing out the party bags, WoW. She pulled them from behind her back saying 'Surprise!' to all the children in turn. X

      Delete
  19. Happy Birthday to Lily. I love the sunflower seed party gifts - may they grow tall and strong and feed the birds and the bees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Scarlet. There were other goodies, but it was my small protest against the plastic tat usually found in these bags. I hope they all get planted. X

      Delete
  20. Just catching up after major pc problems, hopefully now sorted. Happy Birthday to Lily, it sounds like she had a great few days. It's hard to believe she's now six, it doesn't seem five minutes since you posted that she was five. Love the photos, especially the second one :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm relieved your computer problems are all fixed now, Eunice. It's a pain when things don't work as they should.
      Yes, the last twelve months have flown by. X

      Delete
  21. Belated Happy Birthday greetings to Lily.
    I love the envelopes of sunflower seeds....what a fabulous idea.
    Hugs-x-

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sheila. I love the idea of all those sunflowers. X

      Delete
  22. It was years before I realised how lovely May is, for so many years it was the month of revision and exams, first for me, then my husband and then our children. Now I love it. Belated birthday greetings to your little Mayflower. You and she will always have reason to enjoy May. x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is such a lovely month for many reasons and the warm, sunny weather is always welcome. X

      Delete
  23. aw, six! I am glad Lily had such a lovely birthday, and your party favours are adorable! What a gorgeous idea.

    I have to say that I don't miss the party years at all. That's mainly due to the nasty parents and shady if not downright bitchy comments they would mutter at me, and some amazingly ungrateful kids. But I do miss the early years of Violet. You don't need me to tell you it all goes so quickly, every mum knows that only too well.

    Your cake, by the way, is perfection! xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Sadie. Lily had a great time at her party.
      It went really well and I think we are fortunate in that most of the parents are a lovely bunch (although I do know what you mean and it can be very unpleasant).
      I can't take any credit for the cake. It is a teeny tiny ready made one and for one good reason - Lily doesn't really like cake, so I wasn't going to waste my time baking one. She does, however, very much like Smarties :) X

      Delete
  24. Happy Birthday Lily :) Oh I do wish mine were 6 again. At times I found myself just lurching through the early years, but I would still love to go back and do it all again. What a great idea for the party bags, they're lovely and so much nicer than the usual plastic rubbish that just gets binned. The cake looks scrumptious. xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It all goes much too quickly, Suzanne, although with Lily I feel able to relish every moment and not worry about the small stuff. I do hope your lovely lot are well.
      The party bags went down really well. The children were given bags with cake, sweets, the sunflower seeds, rainbow pencils, rubbers and stickers. My small protest against plastic tat, like you say.
      As you can probabaly guess Lily took just two tiny bites of her cake. The Smarties, however.....X

      Delete
  25. I agree with you May is a marvellous month:)
    Happy 6th birthday to Lily, and I think those party bags are brilliant.
    Loved seeing all of your photographs, the sky, the scenery all so beautiful.

    It's half term again soon, so have a fabulous week.

    All the best Jan

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Jan. I hope the half term week sees you having more fun with your grandchildren. X

      Delete
  26. Happy Birthday to your sweet girl!
    Everything looks perfectly lovely!

    ReplyDelete
  27. Happy birthday little one! I love the seeds, super idea x

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, CT. Although she's not so little these days. She's growing so tall! X

      Delete
  28. Happy Birthday to your lovely lass. May must be a wonderful month to have a birthday, other than the exam sitting years! Cake looks yum and the seeds are a gorgeous idea.

    ReplyDelete
  29. A belated happy birthday to the lovely Lily. I'm sure you treasure every moment with her. I have my 8 year old granddaughter with me today. She's growing up so fast.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Eloise. Lily really enjoyed her special day and keeps reminding me that she is now six (as if I'd forgotten). I hope you had a lovely day with your granddaughter. X

      Delete
  30. A swim, pizza, and birthday cake! What could be better?! A very happy birthday to your daughter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your kind birthday wishes. Lily enjoyed a lovely day. X

      Delete
  31. In the year ahead I wish for Lily good health and a happy heart.

    Your opening sentence about May made me sigh. Having returned home last night from 10 days away I have been greeted with a Baltic wind, and rain such that I cannot, as I type, see across the valley. Not the Mays of my youth (but then I tend only to remember Good Times).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Graham. Since I wrote this post the weather has turned rather damp, but the gardens are very thankful for it. It never rained in any of my childhood memories either :)

      Delete
  32. A belated Happy Birthday to sweet Lily! It sounds like she had a wonderful birthday. Six is such a great age. May is a lovely month to have a birthday!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, Julia. It is a great age to be. So much to learn and discover. X

      Delete