Charlie's Birthday (part two!)

Slightly later than planned, here are a few more pics from Charlie's birthday.  He really had a fantastic time - even though it was fairly low-key.
He had a good day at school - the kids sang Happy Birthday to him in English and Welsh, and he took cakes to hand out to his class at the end of the day.
He was thrilled to bits to find Nanny waiting for him when he got home - along with even more presents and cards that the postman had brought.
We went for tea at one of his favourite restaurants, and then came home for some fireworks and cake.
For once, the fireworks were actually pretty good - we've abandoned the idea of buying a box of little ones, and just had five or six bigger ones, along with some rockets and sparklers.

Rosie had already seen some really big fireworks at the village display a couple of days before, and wasn't bothered in the slightest by our somewhat smaller/quieter selection!

Moshi Monsters are very popular at Charlie's school at the moment - he collects the cards and the little figures, and likes to play the game online.  So, as a change from daleks, he decided he wanted a Moshi Monster cake this year... specifically, an orange one called Boomer.

For those of you, uninitiated in all things Moshi, this is what Boomer looks like...

And this is how his cake turned out!

...And yes, the icing really was that vivid! I dread to think how many e-numbers there were in it, but it tasted ok!  I had to carve all the little bobbly bits around the edges, but the icing went on pretty smoothly, and Charlie was absolutely tickled pink with it.

I know it would be much easier (and quite a lot cheaper!!) to buy one from the shops - but it was worth all the expense, planning and fiddling about with icing smoothers and carving knives just to see how delighted he was with it.

He kept coming into the kitchen as I was putting it together and kept saying 'Wow - that's awesome! How did you learn to do this? I think this one is the best yet!!'

It has to be said, it's a nice feeling when your nine-year-old thinks you're really cool.  I'm filing those memories away though, because it'll probably only be a few more years before he thinks that mothers are decidedly UN-cool!  (And I know I'm biased, but don't you think he looks grown-up and handsome in this pic?)

He didn't want me to stick the candles into the cake, so we stuck a candle and a sparkler candle he chose from the supermarket into some blobs of leftover icing.  

It must be said that the sparkly fountain one was considerably larger and much sparklier than any of us had anticipated!  In fact this is the third photo I took, because in the first two, he's flattened back in his chair, looking slightly nervous, and the candle flame is about a foot higher!

The fun continued today when we went into town so he could spend his birthday money and gift vouchers - he came home with loads of lovely goodies. Now he's all set to make a start on his thank-you letters... I think they might take him a while!

He had such a lovely birthday - and now he can't wait for his birthday treat at the theatre next month... and I STILL can't believe my baby boy is NINE!