From July 27th to August 24th it is our birthday month. All three of my youngest have their birthdays in the summer. Starting with Boo, who turned 11 this year, to the Little Man, who turned 8 and finally Star, who is now officially a teenager at 13.
No Parties
This year we decided on no parties, and, well, I’ve said before how well that went. Boo had a friends over and a full party tea, The Little Man had friends over and a full party tea and it was only Star who didn’t get a party and she hasn’t had one since she was six anyway.
It’s not that I don’t like birthday parties, I love them, but with summer holiday birthdays you don’t get half as many children as you expect or cater for. Also, it’s way too much for me to deal with now that I am sick/disabled. The plan was to give each of them a really special day to remember, but it turned out that two of them ended up with parties anyway. Thankfully, without a ton of invitations going out and loads of preparation, the parties turned out a lot better. I had less stress and the amount of kids that were here were only marginally less than what normally turn up anyway!
Star usually spends her birthday in Pizza Hut with family only. It’s her choice. But due to some not so careful planning this year I managed to book our holiday so that we would be coming home on her birthday. She didn’t mind. I took her presents and cards away with us and she loved opening them in the caravan. We were going to get a cake when we got home but then I saw that Millie’s Cookies, on the holiday park, did giant birthday cookies, so we got one of those.
We then had lunch in Mc Donald’s at the service station on the way home. She was happy enough, and that’s all that matters.
My Littlies
I used to call my youngest three the littlies on this blog. It doesn’t seem that long ago, but I guess seven years is a long time when you are talking about young children. The (not so little) Little Man was not even a year old when Raisie Bay was born. His earlier months had been recorded on a previous blog (Baby No. 5) and I’d decided to focus more on family life rather than baby years. Boo would have been just under 3 years old and Star, just under 5. I guess they are not my littlies anymore, especially Star, she’s only an inch shorter than me now! I get reminded of a photo of me and my Mum when I was twelve and I was almost as big as her. My two oldest children don’t feature on the blog at their wish, but just for the record, they are both much taller than me now.
Growth
As well as my children growing, I feel my blog as grown as well. Sometimes, I think I’ve gone around in circles, but there is definitely growth.
I love to record all of our family moments, and we have been through a lot of milestones in the past few years. I also love to review things, especially books. There was a time when I did a lot of cooking and recipes but I can’t physically do much cooking anymore, so now it’s just Boo who features occasionally.
So where do I go from here? The kids are growing up and will soon not want to be included. I have never found my ‘niche’ in all seven years of being here. What is the purpose of blogging anymore?
Oh, I’m not going anywhere. I’ve plodded along with little direction for the past seven years, I’m sure that I can just carry on plodding along. I can still record family memories even if I get ‘banned’ from posting certain photos. And I’ve still got a way to go before the Little Man gets to that stage 😉
My Blog, My Way
‘My blog, my way’ used to be my blog tagline. I chose when I finally gave up on finding my niche and direction and decided that I will write about anything I wish. In all truth, as much as I love my readers and the friends I’ve made through blogging, this place has always been for me. To ramble at my hearts content.
The month of birthdays is over, the growth will never stop, things change, life changes, but here, on Raisie Bay, I will always be found rambling on about anything and everything.
Thanks for reading x
My daughter was 13 at the end of July, we went out for lunch, but no party for her either. At the moment she is happy to still be a part of my blog and YouTube videos, I know that will end one day but am making the most of it while she still wants me around.
#MMBC
Happy birthday to all your children….
It’s our birthday month too. My fella’s nearly a couple of weeks ago, Ellie’s on Wednesday and Becky’s 12 days later.
I feel the same way about my blog. I’m not going anywhere but there will come a time where the kids won’t want to be involved…I am sure I will find something to talk about. lol x
I still haven’t found my niche and to be honest, I’m not really that bothered that I don’t fit into a niche anyway. Sounds like the birthdays were fun and I love the Cookie.