Birthday Party

Today we had a birthday party at a park for James and Eleanor (who missed out in July). We started with a children's party for James' friends. I made 3 dozen chocolate cupcakes and iced thm in pink. Eleanor appears to be enjoying hers, but in fact she ate only the icing!

Some family members with children joined us for this, and after it finished, we had a family gathering. I worked out that there were 10 children at the family gathering (James and Eleanor, all four of their cousins, and four second cousins). Four years ago at James' first birthday party, he was the only child there!

Their cake requests were a rainbow butterfly (James) and a rainbow (Eleanor) but I ran out of time and we bought a cake and stuck these butterflies into it. James and Eleanor actually chose these (they're Christmas decorations!) a few weeks ago.

I had difficulty photographing James because he was so busy, but towards the end all of the children (well, those over 12 months old) were on a big climbing frame, and James got right to the top:

Eleanor got cold (it was a cool day, despite the sun) and we had to change her into something warmer. She protested until her cheeks went purple and her teeth started chattering, then she finally gave in!