Celebrating 10.

On the morning of her birthday Abigail woke bright and early - 5:15 to be exact! We managed to keep her at bay till 5:45 which is when I normally get up and she couldn't wait to get stuck into her gifts! With a bleary eyed sister and a comatose father next to her she unwrapped them in the semi-darkness of the morning and was overjoyed to find a big box of Playmobil inside as

well as a few other bits and bobs.

Most of their other Playmobil has been in much smaller boxes and required minimal if any assembly but not so this one - so there I was at 6a.m. putting together a "Vet" for the birthday girl!

Then it was off to school armed with an enormous tub of chocolate brownies which my sister helped her bake for the class.

Usually both my children's birthdays fall in the holidays but this year Abigail's was the day before schools closed. Seeing as there was no homework and the next day would be an undemanding one at school, we decided to spend the afternoon at the Greenpoint Park with some friends and family.

It had been decided a loooong time ago that she was going to have a Pizza and DVD party but we chose to keep that to just 6 friends from school, so we invited all her "outside" friends on Thursday, unfortunately many couldn't make it so it was just her 2 oldest friends Kelsey and Joanna and cousins Willow and Marley as well as aunties, uncles, Ouma's and Oupa's!

It was a very low-key affair, the kids brought their bikes and scooters and had a wonderful time exploring the pathways, Niave even managed to stay out of the water!!!

More presents and envelopes came her way as the day progressed and she ended up with R1000,00 in cash from various people - she knew exactly what she was going to buy - you guessed it: more Playmobil!! She also received beautiful clothes from Bev and real grown-up Scrabble from Ouma and Oupa as well as many books and other lovely things.

A very spoilt birthday girl indeed!!

The celebrations were not over however, Friday night brought 5 little girls from school to our house for pizza, popcorn a torch hunt and a DVD.

I had intended buying frozen pizza bases but then discovered that Pick 'n Pay sells fresh pizza dough for R10.00/kg and thought that was a bargain. That was until I tried to roll it out - not as easy as it looks! Thankfully these 70 year old arms were there to save the day!

Mmmm!

The pizza's were a huge hit (one little girl said I should be a chef!!!). So with belly's full and candles blown...

...it was time to hunt for sweet treasure in the dark and settle down for a DVD.

After weeks and weeks spent trying to find the right one it was unanimously decided it would be Tangled.

Probably one of the least stressful parties yet, it definitely gets easier as they get older.