This week has been largely focussed around birthdays. My husband’s birthday was over the weekend and nobody was more excited about this than Libby, not least because she was allowed to choose his birthday presents.

My husband and I have never been particularly materialistic. If he thought a boat was an option for his birthday present, I’m sure he would have been happy to tell me exactly what he wanted. But with circumstances as they are, he couldn’t come up with anything for us to buy, and quite frankly neither could I.

So, it was over to Libby. She decided it was a good idea to head to The Works to buy my husband some presents. This was partly because it’s her favourite shop, and partly because she had it in her mind that he absolutely needed a colouring book. After all, who doesn’t?

And the moral of this story is not to allow your three year old to choose your birthday presents. He ended up with a David Bowie colouring book, a bumper crossword book, a notebook for work, some crayons for colouring in and some pens for his notebook. Libby also insisted on a colouring book each for her and Lia so they could all sit and colour together.

Luckily, I’d put together a Love2Read book for him from the girls, which I will review in a separate post but it is safe to say that it is fabulous and he loved it. And in a pang of conscience, I bought him a coat to replace the one that the dog had recently eaten. I even made chocolate cake. But as for the rest of the presents? Well, it’s the thought that counts.

In traditional style, my husband has managed to drag his birthday out over a couple of weeks. I say in ‘traditional style’ because he does have a habit of making sure everyone is celebrating his birthday long after it is over. In fact, when he turned 40 I think he managed to drag out the celebrations for the best part of a year. This year, the second celebration is just a birthday tea this weekend, shared with my sister who has also had a birthday this week.

And on the subject of birthdays, it is slowly starting to sink in that in just a few weeks, I’m going to have a 2 year old. I’ve ordered a few of her presents and one has arrived already. We’ve got some little plates, cups and table decorations to have a few family members over for a little party and she has decided that she’d like some chips for her tea that day.

Libby’s birthday is also very much at the forefront of everybody’s mind – she’s making absolutely sure of it. She is still deciding who she wants to invite to her party, but we have her invites and the party is booked. She is talking about it as though it’s going to be the party of the century.

And as for this week’s photo? Well I’m trying to use my best photos from the week for these posts, because I know they’re going to be great to look back on. And by some distance the best photos I have of the girls this week are the ones I took for my Zoocchini review. There’s only one thing better than adoring siblings, and that’s an adoring giraffe and dinosaur.

Thursday Photo #103