Claire's birthday (2nd post)

Claire's had a fun packed birthday and has now gone out for the night. This morning she was picked up by Oli and Sam and taken in to Crawley where she "needed" to do some birthday shopping. They got back this afternoon just in time for family arriving for tea and cake (Oli and Sam stayed too)

Oli, Claire and Sam

Birthday cake with polka dot candles :) Oooh, surprise!! ;)

She did well blowing out her 19 candles

Whew!

Tyler was very impressed and then resumed going down his nan's "slide" legs

Emily and Michaela listening to the banter between Claire and the boys

Time for cake

Once everyone had left we popped in to town so that Claire could see everyone at work and they wanted to give her a birthday present. We had time to change when we got home before going to The Emperor Chinese Restaurant. Unfortunately Hugh wasn't able to join us because he was working a late shift. The food was delicious, as always, and we had a lovely evening.

Claire had time to get changed again before Oli and Sam came to pick her for her night out. They were starting out at Wetherspoons and then moving on to Whitehall (the local club) where Claire had booked a party. However, tonight Whitehall were having a school uniform dress code because of the people coming back from Uni. I found out that this was why Claire had wanted to go shopping this morning - she got a new skirt, tie and shirt for the occassion. I've no doubt she will have a wonderful time and by the sound of it she's expecting around 30 friends to join her. Best of all is that I know the boys will make sure she gets home safely.

Finally, I'd like to try and add a link to a video that Dave Powling shared on his blog which gave me goosebumps. http://vimeo.com/moogaloop..swf?clip_id=2539741 I hope you enjoy it too.

xx

Happy Birthday Claire!

Claire is 19 - as I type it's 9.18am the exact time she was born! She LOVES birthdays (and Christmas) and has been counting down to her birthday for the past month. Today is the day!! Here she is waiting for everyone to come down so she can open her presents. Jon is working from home today so we didn't have to get up super early but by 8am she was anxious to get started.

Presents piled up next to her and she can start opening.

One from Emily

The final one came in a little jewellery store bag - she had no clue what was inside :)

I think she liked it!

Couldn't resist adding this photo of Hugh. He doesn't enjoy being hauled out of bed when he doesn't have an early work shift but is a good sport and gets up for all birthdays. I think he was just counting down till he could go back to bed!

As you will have realised, Claire got back safely from Dublin yesterday. She brought little presents for each of us, which we weren't expecting! She knows me well, I love my little notebook and pen and you can never have too many!

Birthday wishes also go to Morag and Duncan - two members of our extended family with birthdays on the same day ;)

I'm sure there will be more photos soon.

Enjoy your day - I know Claire is certainly going to enjoy hers.

xx