Yesterday was the day Alex has been anticipating for weeks – his fourth birthday! He was so excited the night before, having counted down the sleeps for the past week, that I was worried that he couldn’t sleep. But he was good as gold, and stayed in his room until 7am.

He came running into our room and immediately spotted the big pile of presents (although frustratingly completely ignored his main present –  a lovely new red bike!).  So while Sophie attempted to climb all over the bike and pull off all the ribbons I’d decorated it with,  Alex focused on the wrapped presents.  He was delighted to find some new train track and a diesel train, some DVDs, books and a maze puzzle book.

After a special birthday breakfast of croissants, Alex turned his attention to his new bike and realised it was actually quite cool, particularly when decorated with bright “spokey dokeys” (thanks Uncle David and Auntie Sarah!).  He was so keen to have a go, that he decided to ride it to nursery.  Here’s the gorgeous birthday boy in his nursery uniform raring to go:

Quite soon after this, he discovered that not only does his new bike go significantly faster than his old one, but it has substantially better brakes….  It was slightly traumatic watching him go straight over his handle bars within minutes of setting off – but an enormous relief to see how well his helmet functions!  Straight back on it, we managed to get to nursery with no further mishaps.  Phew!

I think he had a fun birthday at nursery (where he got another good behaviour sticker!) and at Jacqui’s (where he shared a birthday cake with his little friends).  He was certainly on a sugar high at bedtime!

Today, we carried on the celebrations with his birthday party.  We held it in the sports hall at a local school who brilliantly offer bouncy castle parties for little ones.  And best of all, they set everything up for you and even tidy up afterwards!

So Alex, Sophie and 20 of their friends had a complete blast running around for an hour in the big space:

The bouncy castle was a huge hit with everyone:

And the bouncy slide made it even better!

Here are just a few of our guests getting stuck in!

After an hour, we called the very hot and tired children over for lunch and silence descended as they all tucked in:

Alex’s favourite moment came right at the end – as we brought out the cakes.  Not entirely sure why, but I decided to bake them myself this year.  It took a day off work, but I just about managed to make Octonauts cake with recognisable characters on it!

Alex’s face was a picture as everyone sang to him and he blew his candles out.

Safe to say, Alex had an amazing time –  he got so hot and sweaty running around, I was worried he was going to make himself sick, but thankfully not!

After the party, we headed home to celebrate the past four years (and our wedding anniversary!) with some wine in the garden with friends and family.  All in all, a thoroughly lovely day resulting in two very tired but happy children.

I can’t believe Alex is four – here he is on all his birthdays.  I’m such a proud mum!