Phew!

Well what a week! This week has seen me working (as in work I get paid for!) a total of 76 and a half hours, plus any minute when both kids are quiet! Considering I only work part time I think that's quite impressive. However it is with great relief that I can report that all of my Year 11 students sat their first exam this morning and all of them had a full set of coursework behind them too. I did have to go on MSN at 10:30 last night to get one of them to rerecord their work and send it to me but I feel very relieved it's now all done. Just one exam left now...

But work aside because a far more important event happened this weekend. My little girl turned three! This is something I feel quite emotional about because all of a sudden she doesn't seem to be my baby any more. 

• She's moved out of Older Toddlers at nursery and now goes to pre school, where she doesn't have 'carers' but teachers
• She doesn't have to wear swim nappies in the pool any more
• She's actually deemed old enough to play safely with most of the toys she's had since birth that say 'not suitable for children under 36 months' (including the walker bought for my son's 1st birthday - yes really!)
• I have to pay for her to go to Farmer Palmers and most of the other places I've been able to go to for free until now
• She's a big girl, with a mind and opinions of her own in every area of her life!

So how did we celebrate the big day? Well since Christmas she's been talking about how she wanted to have her own fancy dress party with a bouncy castle, so there wasn't really another option! At first I was quite chuffed as a lot of her friends were having organised parties at play centres etc. so I thought Evie's request might be cheaper, but boy was I wrong!

Our house is quite small and we had a real squish when it was her 1st birthday. Last year because Harry was so young we opted for a low key and joint beach party, but this year with them all running around we decided we'd have to book somewhere especially as we couldn't bank on the weather being ok, so we booked the local community centre, £40 straight off, plus the bouncy castle hire, plus the decorations and paper plates etc. plus the food, plus the presents for prizes, pass the parcel etc, plus all the other stuff I've forgotten! In total it probably cost us about £150, about the same as it would've to hire a catered venue and have no stress whatsoever! Hey ho, you live and learn.

The main thing is Evie had a wonderful day surrounded by all her friends and family. She's only just recovering now and is still really tired from all the excitement. It was touch and go too as she was throwing up on Saturday and we were wondering whether it would go ahead at all, but thankfully it all worked out. Happy birthday Evie!

So now my stress is over at work and at home, I'm looking forward to a week or so where hopefully I can take things a little bit easier. I'm sure it's just wishful thinking, but for now I'm happy with that as I haven't even had time to think for a while! Until next time... x