Happy 6th Birthday, Charlie!

Well, as the title says, today is Charlie's 6th birthday. I can hardly believe six years have shot by since he came into the world. I know I'm biased, but he really is a remarkable little boy, with a very wise head on young shoulders. He brings so much joy to us - what would we do without him! Happy sixth birthday - we love you, Charlie-Barley!Chas had a great time this morning, opening all the presents that had arrived earlier this week. He had some really lovely things, and was a bit miffed that he had to go to school and couldn't stay home and play with them.

He is really into biology at the moment, and had asked us for a model of the human body with removable organs, along with a model skeleton - each to their own, I guess! He was tickled pink when he opened the body model, and set about removing kidneys, lungs and other bits with great gusto.

While he was at school, I made his birthday cake, with a bit of assistance from Pete - we're getting pretty good at this birthday cake malarkey now, six years in! Watch this space for pictures on Saturday!

He had a good day at school, and enjoyed handing out his fairy cakes to his friends. After school, we headed over to Nanny's house for some birthday cake and sparklers, which was lovely. Charlie loved his presents from Nanny and Grandpa.

The presents were from Grandpa as well as Nanny, because he helped Mum choose them a few weeks ago. Dad picked Charlie's birthday card too, so it is very special.

In fact, before he died, just after he'd chosen Charlie's card, Dad specifically told me to tell Charlie 'Happy Birthday' from him today. So I passed on Grandpa's birthday wishes and kisses to Chas this morning, as he asked me to.

It was lovely to spend Charlie's birthday with Nanny, but I won't deny that today has been very hard for all of us.

I was horribly aware of Dad's absence today, and I know Mum was too.

I think it made it harder because we remember all too well exactly where we were this time last year - here at our house, and Charlie was sitting on Dad's knee in the conservatory, watching Pete set off some fireworks.

It's mind-blowing to see how much can change in 12 short months.

Pete was off work today, and he's off again tomorrow, so we should be able to get everything sorted for the party. The house needs a bit of a blitz, and I need to make some more fairy cakes, but other than that, I think we're pretty well organised.

I've attached a few pictures from today.