Phase 3

We went round to my parents at about 10am ish, laden with lemon meringue pie (thanks waitrose) the ingredients of a banoffee pie, a nut loaf that Sis in law Gill could eat, bottles of wine and fizzy pop.. and a spare bag for any goodies!! (read presents!) Oh also took the bbq ribs D made :-)

My mum, bless her had created a board of photos (featuring me) from age dot upwards :-) she had hung up two of my dresses from when I was about 10 months old.. and my very first pair of shoes!! Apart from the colour (pink) they look just like the shoes I wear now :-) My mum also made me a really lovely birthday cake from choc brownie mix with little nuts in..yummmm!

My older brother John, his wife Gill and their two kids were already there. We got busy - I made the banoffee pie, Douglas got busy with the spare ribs.

When Thomas (little brother) and his wife Katy and 3 kids arrived, things got a bit hectic, as it would with 5 kids making kids noises and having fun :D

My dad made pizzas for everyone, but got a bit flustered and gave John a meat pizza, which he being veggie for even longer than I, did not go down well :( Despite this, food was good, and everyone got fed something they liked :-)

Some of my friends showed up yay! My friend Travelling John from my folk dancing days and his girl/friend Carol... then my dear friend Shelly from north Notts, and her friend Stewart who ive met a couple of times. They fed, and then I got to open the lots of lovely cards and pressies from people!!!

My biggest and most amazing pressie was a sat nav!! this was from Thos, Kt and my parents. I also got the promise of a fruit tree (of our choice) from my brother John and his wife Gill! We have decided to get a Bramley Apple tree for the middle of our lawn :-)

I got a box of choccies.. a wine stopper with a 40 on.. a lovely 40 mug, a tile with some tea lights in.. a ceramic hot plate holder with a lovely picture on.. oh and other lovely things I cant remember cause its late :-)

It must have been about 5.30pm when Shelly, Stewart, then John and Carol left.. we packed up having said our goodbyes soon after and wended our merry way home too :-)

It was a lovely gathering.. just the right number of people for the space and my mum, whose blood pressure normally rises way above its normal limit at parties.. managed very well :-)

Ive spent quite a while putting friends and family addresses into my lovely new toy.. now time for bed.. after all a 39 year old needs her sleep, my last day of my 30 somethings.. tomrorow I shall become naughty 40!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!