Recently in Special Occasions Category

Jilly, Evie and I joined Kieran and Holly in a leisurely drive to Anthony Gormley's 'Another Place' just outside Liverpool on Saturday.  We met Deb and Kev, and Julie, Ged and Sarah Mabel, and had a brief walk along the beach admiring the Gromley statues (it has to be said that Evelyn admired them a little too closely at times).  Due to the surprising number of vehicles on the road, we had to abandon our planned trip to see the red squirrels in <a href="http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-formby-2.htm" target="_blank"><strong>Formby</strong></a>, and decided to head into Crosby for a bite to eat and a hot drink before heading off to Deb and Kev's.

Debbie had prepared a beautiful chicken pie for dinner which we all enjoyed before settling down to a quiet family quiz night on the Wii (which <strong>Team Holly/Webby</strong> won despite having a reputation for being profoundly stupid!).  On Sunday (the day before Jilly's birthday), I was treated to the opportunity to help Kev with a little back-breaking physical exercise, digging up and moving 100 cubic metres of soil the length of their considerable garden (I may be exagerrating a little), while Debbie abd Jilly prepared a lovely birthday buffet tea.

On Jilly's birthday, Jilly and I organised the day off and, at Jilly's request, went to Ikea in Birstall.  We'd originally planned to see a film at the nearby cinema, but soon ran out of time having spent so long looking at all the lovely things and planning - amongst other things - buying Evelyn a beautiful day bed and moving Evelyn back into the small bedroom.  We drove home and 'vegged' at infront of the telly watching a new movie before collecting Evelyn from school (don't tell Evelyn we had the day without her, or she'll have a meltdown.  When I collected Evelyn from the out-of-school club, Emma told me that, when she'd seen Evelyn before she was due to start at the club, Evelyn had told her that she might not be going to the OOSC because Jilly and I might be coming to collect her early because it was Jilly's birthday!  Emma added that Evelyn had become <em><strong>too upset</strong></em> when we hadn't turned up to collect her!  Aaaarrgghh! I felt dreadful!)

I took Evelyn home to her mum, then we all got ready for a slap up Birthday Pizza dinner with Kieran and Holly at Pizza Hut where an excellent feed was had by all.

I'll add links to birthday weekend piccies just as soon as I can get them off my phone/get them from Kevin! 

Of course, Evelyn was delighted to be staying with the Wassocks while Jilly and I went away for the night to celebrate my birthday; and we delivered her to Jim and Helen without incident.

Jilly and I made our way to Beverley for around mid-day and had a pub lunch in 'The Queens Head' before having a wander around the town itself buying, amongst other things, Junior Scrabble for Evelyn from Oxfam (we're sure she'll be very pleased with it as the Junior Monopoly we bought her (also from Oxfam) proved to be a great hit.

We had a lovely, and very unexpected, surprise when we booked into The Beverley Arms Hotel. We made our way up to our second floor room in the listed part of the building (where there is no lift), and were soon joined by a member of staff with a bottle of wine. Deb and Kev (bless 'em!) had arranged the delivery of a bottle of wine to our room. Deciding that I'd prefer a bottle of Syrah to the Merlot he brought up, the member of staff was happy (or, certainly, seemed happy) to trail back downstairs to bring me my preferred plonk! I'm not what you'd call a seasoned hotel user, so this seemed - to me - excellent service, so I gave the guy what I hope wasn't an embarrassingly mean tip as a 'thank you' for his trouble; those stairs took my breath away climbing them once!

After relaxing for a while in our hotel room, showering and changing, Jilly and I made our way to Cactus Jacks, and Mexican restaurant five minutes walk from the hotel. As we hadn't booked in advance I was a little anxious that we might be unlucky and not get a table as the place was packed. The restaurant was fully booked but, with a little help from a very obliging maître d', Jilly and I were given a table (more excellent service for my birthday).

After an excellent Mexican meal (yes, we would recommend the food and service), Jilly asked the staff if they could recommend any good pubs nearby and it turned out that we'd passed one between the hotel and the restaurant...you could not predict it!

The White Horse Inn (aka Nellie's) is a fantastically atmospheric 17th century pub, literally down the road from the Beverley Arms. Reminiscent of the Rat 'N' Ratchett (or a poorly lit New Beehive, in Bradford), this Sam Smiths pub seemed very friendly and Jilly and I enjoyed a couple of drinks before returning to the hotel.

I had a lovely birthday, thank you Jilly.

I have had an excellent birthday weekend.

Jilly and Evelyn got up before me this morning and brought me a pile of cards and birthday presents. As always, I could rely upon Evelyn to help me open my cards and pressies. I don't want to list the lovely presents given to me on these pages, but I would like to thank everybody (you know who you are) that sent me something.

After work (I didn't have enough leave to take my birthday off!), Jilly, Evelyn and I enjoyed tea at Pizza Hut. Jilly and I just about managed to finish one pizza between us (as we've both been careful about what we've been eating recently), while Evelyn had her own little mini-pizza to herself. The evening was slightly marred by an extremely drunk bloke who - incapable of opening the door to the restaurant - walked face first into the glass door making the whole glass front of the restaurant wobble. Evelyn immediately burst into tears and took some calming down, while the bloke outside composed himself before staggering off down the road. Evelyn continued finishing her meal once the idiot outside had left.

We returned home for tea and cake (made by Jilly and Evelyn's fair hands)...

Sat with Evelyn this morning, Jilly asked Evie what she thought I might like for my birthday.

Evelyn's first suggestion? "A Nintendo DS?" (Where did that come from; I dunno!)

Jilly pointed out that I'm not really any good at video games, and probably wouldn't enjoy a DS. Could Evelyn think of anything else that I might like for my birthday?

"Er...some sausages?"

I've said it before, SHE IS A LIDDLE BEAUDEE!

Christmas Day
In contrast to last years Christmas away from home, Jilly and I decided, some time ago, that we'd like to spend a quiet Christmas at home this year.

Returning home from university, Kieran spent the day with his dad before joining us at home for Christmas Eve and, in keeping with our idea of a quiet Christmas, we all sat nicely and watched the Christmas telly over a civilised glass of Port...er...or something.

Despite her threats to be up at half past four in the morning, Evelyn slept until a very respectable 08:30, when Jilly, Evie and I got up; got up just in time to open a handful of Evelyn's presents before inviting Debbie and Kevin in from the cold outside. Again, Evelyn didn't disappoint us by happily accepting the few presents we allowed her to open when she first got up. Rather naughtily, Jilly and I hid several of her presents for later in the morning. Obviously a little disappointed that Santa hadn't brought her all the presents on her list, Evelyn didn't utter a syllable of complaint.

It was lovely to see Deb and Kev on Christmas morning. They were on they way to visit relatives in Grimsby for Christmas, and arranged to call in to see us on the way. After a brief cup of tea, Deb and Kev were on their way again, and Evelyn continued opening our pressies.

I'm sure it's wrong to be proud of the fact but (never-the-less), we had a wonderfully vegetative day watching the television, and watching Evelyn playing with her new Zhu Zhu Pets and Polly Pocket Roller Coaster Resort.

Kieran joined us for a lovely Christmas dinner (including gammon!), lovingly prepared by Jilly - and complete with a favourite recurring Christmas present; sprouts - before leaving for Holly's and a second dinner.

Evelyn played with her Roller-Coaster until it, quite literally, broke! Several teeth broke on the cogs inside the roller-coaster's escalator and, while Evelyn was a little upset, I was relieved that she agreed to 'return the toy to Santa'...as I thought it was cheap tat (I am the world's most miserable dad, aren't I!)

Interestingly, Evelyn agreed with our suggestion that she might prefer it if Santa brought her more accessories for her Zhu Zhu Pets

Boxing Day
On Boxing Day, Evelyn's grandma and granddad joined us for the day. Kieran and Holly appeared in the early afternoon, and we all enjoyed an excellent Christmas-dinner...er...dinner.

Annis family Christmas get-together
Conscious that there's never a great deal of room in our house (as soon as there are more than four adults in it), Jilly organised the Annis family Christmas bash in the local Methodist church.

Alcohol simply wasn't allowed in the church, so we didn't take any; and nobody really missed it! Jilly and I organised a load of excellent family games to play, a friendly multi-choice Christmas quiz (that one member of the family tried to cheat at - you know who you are!), and I took my laptop and speakers along to play a Christmas tunes playlist.

The afternoon went (perhaps surprisingly) well given the number of people who might have preferred to have had a drink. Everyone agreed that they'd had an excellent time and even suggested that we organised a similar party for occasions in the future.

We see more of Kieran - now that he's moved out to university - than we have done for ages. Of course, he had to come home for his birthday cake, and brought Holly with him [more accurately, of course, Holly brought him!].

Today is Holly's 21st birthday. In celebration, Holly's mum and step-dad threw a party for her at Bar Barcelona in Lindley; and Jilly, Evelyn and I were invited along.

Of course, loads of Holly and Kieran's friends and family were there, and the bar provided an excellent tapas buffet. Everyone seemed to have a excellent time but, as we had Evelyn with us, we had to make a comparatively early retreat home.

Happy Birthday Holly!

Bar Barcelona's food was really good, so I think Jilly and I will probably return in the near future.

Eager to return our beautiful girl home (not least, so that we could have our birthday breakfast in bed together), I collected Evelyn from Jim and Helen's at 09:00 this morning.

I quickly found the birthday card that I'd bought for Jilly on Evelyn's behalf (the front of the card has a fluffy pink border) and Evelyn signed it before rushing upstairs to wish Jilly a happy birthday. While Evelyn went upstairs, I stayed downstairs and warmed chocolate brioche in the oven, toasted some crumpets and made Jilly a (second) cup of tea. I took breakfast upstairs to my beaudeeful ladies who were waiting (astonishingly patiently) to open Jilly's presents.

Jilly received a plethora of lovely cards and thoughtful presents from friends and family which she opened with Evelyn's enthusiastic help (and for which I'm sure she'll be writing thank you letters very shortly).

During the morning, Kieran and Holly arrived to wish Jilly a happy birthday, and Jilly pounced on the opportunity to get a photograph of all three of them together (I think Evelyn must have been out of the room).

Jilly and I had hoped to drive to the coast - specifically Southport - for the day, but as the weather has been so very dreadful, Jilly decided that it might be nice for us all to go to the cinema together. With Evelyn's help, Jilly decided that she'd like to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid, which we all enjoyed immensely.

In an attempt to make as much of the occasion of Jilly's birthday this weekend, I asked the Harrisesses to look after Evelyn tonight while Jilly and I went for dinner at a new (at least it's new to me!) Italian restaurant in town, Ciao Bella.

Both the food - and atmosphere - in the restaurant were great and, of course, it was the excellent company that made the wait between the two courses more tolerable; that and the Pinot. Despite the bit of a wait for the main course, Jilly and I will definitely return to Ciao Bella.

As we're both getting on a bit now (and, speaking for myself, more than a little miserable), Jilly and I were both immediately inclined to leave Vox (about the nearest, decent, pub to Ciao Bella) before getting served, as the pub seemed full of geniuses all stood drinking at the bar preventing us from getting a drink! Ggggrrrr! We went home on the last bus.

Thanks, once again, to the Harrisesses for looking after our beaudeeful girl, allowing us to get out for the night.

Bright as a button, Evelyn woke this morning to join Jilly and I in our bed. Jilly had purposefully set the alarm to wake a little earlier than we normally would on a Tuesday so that Evelyn could open her birthday presents before leaving for school. Jilly and I didn't mention it at the time, but this present opening in our room is new to the three of us as we have always been away for Evelyn's birthdays in the past.

Evelyn was terribly excited as she opened all her lovely gifts. She seemed equally excited about each of the cards she received; squealing about how lovely each of them was as she opened them.

Jilly and I took Evelyn to school together this morning (as Jilly had organised a slightly later start to her day), and it took the pair of us to bring back a selection of presents and party clothes from five of Evelyn's friends that were to join her for a small birthday party this afternoon.

Having set my alarm for 14:37 (the very minute Evelyn was born six years ago) this afternoon, I rang Jilly to see how she was. Jilly was at home preparing the house and party food for the girls' arrival after school, but she'd still found time for a little 'blub' as 14:37 arrived.

Very bravely (or, perhaps, rather naively) Jilly collected Evelyn after school, along with her five party guests; Millie, Molly, Niamh, Caitlin and Tayla. I arrived home from work a little after 5pm to find the girls quietly finishing their party food at the kitchen table.

"This is the quietest they've been all afternoon! Jilly told me, mopping her fevered brow!

To paraphrase Jilly's description of the afternoons events, it might be wise simply to say that the party had been 'lively and exciting'! Er...'lively and exciting' in the sort of way that holiday brochures describe San Antonio Bay as 'lively and exciting'...but Evelyn really enjoyed herself. And, I'd missed all the trouble.