The birthday.

The birthday day started very early when a little face peered down at me at 3:40a.m.! I thought she was trying her luck at opening her presents before the sun had risen but in fact the words were "mom, I can't breathe very well". It's usually Niave who has us up in the night with attacks of "croup" but this time it was Abigail and it would be when I don't have any croup medicine in the house. So I gave her some other stuff which seemed to get her to at least 6:30 which was then "present call"!!

The moment she'd been waiting for for ages arrived!

We'd had some difficulty in deciding what to buy for her this year and eventually decided on a new hamster cage. Pickle, the hamster, has been residing in very mediocre accommodation (!) and Abigail has been eyeing a 5 star residence at the giant pet shop down the road, so Pickle now has a new home, I'm not sure she can afford the bond but she definitely likes the loft suite as the master bedroom!

She also received some new books - she LOVES to read, and 2 new DVD's - she LOVES to watch DVD's too!! And a new outfit which took about 4 hours to find... long story, don't get me started.

A little later my parents popped in on their way to work with a HUGE present:

Inside was a whole new bedroom! Duvet cover set and pretty pillow, curtains, a new rail and some great games.

After a visit to the doctor, it was a rush to get everything ready and packed for the party at the Clay Cafe in Hout Bay.

At first she had asked for a hamster cake, and while it was quite fitting, I wasn't too sure how to pull that off, so we went with a cat instead.

1,2,3,4 steps to a cat cake:
The children all enjoyed painting their item of bisque and then had time to play on the jumping castle and playground, and enjoy some party food! And of course, the blowing out of candles:

We were all exhausted by the time we came home but there were still more visitors to come.

She received lots of cards and calls (from near and far) and visitors and gifts and only got into bed at 9 o'clock.

A fun, busy day. Thank you to everybody who called or visited. And thank you for all the gifts! (She received money from quite a few people and now has nearly R400.00 burning a whole in her pocket!! "Can we go to the pet shop?" is a line I've heard many times today!)