Daisy Suzanne Allen

Born Sunday 6th March 2011

7th birthday

Her life:  4 to 4¼ years ♥ 4¼ to 4½ years ♥ 4½ to 4¾ years ♥ 4¾ to 5 years ♥ 5th birthday ♥ 5 to 5½ years ♥ 5½ to 6 years ♥ 6th birthday ♥ 6 to 6½ years ♥ 6½ to 7 years ♥ 7th birthday ♥ 7 to 7½ years ♥ 7½ to 8 years ♥ 8th birthday ♥ 8 to 8½ years ♥ 8½ to 9 years ♥ 9th birthday

In summary:  Index ♥ From birth to four years old ♥ Four years old to nine years old ♥ Nine years old onwards

Special features:  Golden Bear (reprise) ♥ More cookery

The birthday extravaganza started on the Saturday before - the 3rd.  The Allens came round and laid out their presents and cards on the table.

She was happy to get some Miximals to add to her electronic secret diary.

Uncle Matt (and Aunty Nic) got Daisy a cracking set of pencil crayons (that is one of the two drawers of crayons, so quite a lot of choice).

The present opening continued with a pad (exciting!) while Gregory played with the one present he had got from Nana Sue as compensation.

After the present opening, it was time for Uncle Matt to get the hair treatment, as Daisy and Gregory suddenly decided to put as many hair clips into Uncle Matt's hair as possible, and he was left with little choice but to sit there and take it.

It does look amazing once all done and Uncle Matt gets a hug not to mention the title of Mr McStylish Bylish.

We then sat down for the meal while I flashed in the mirror.  I served some of Daisy's favourites, including chorizo risotto, chicken & tomato rice and tomato pasta, plus tiger bread and salad.

The next day, it was time for Daisy's birthday party with her friends.  We rocked up to Build-A-Bear at the Trafford Centre on the Sunday morning, gaining exclusive access.  We met up with Rosanna and her dad Andy on the way in, and the kids posed before we went in.

Soon enough, Daisy's elite group of friends had arrived and they looked on intently as the activity was explained to them.  Left to right (and front to back), we have Maeve, Daisy (obvs), Lucie, Sophie, Rosanna, Gregory (obvs) and Harriet.

Not exactly sure what they have been asked to do here.  Some kind of yelling, it seems like.

So, after a while, they chose their bear to build and were ready for the next stage.

It was a pleasure to have the entire shop to ourselves for most of the time we were there (some people sneaked in under the half-open barrier).

After stuffing their bears, it was time to give it a heart, which needed breathing alive first (or something).

We also had to put it on our heads, for some reason that was probably explained at the time but I can't now recall.

The heart promptly got inserted into the bears for good...

...and then they danced their way through the store...

...and on and on they danced.

It was then that they accessorised the stuffed and heart-filled bears.  Rather confusingly, the brown bears often got pink outfits, thus ending up looking similar to the pink bears.

Daisy was very happy with her bear, as you can see here.

She named it Honeycomb on the computer.

Here is the line-up of birthday partiers and freshly stuffed bears.

After the bear action, it was time to get some lunch, and so we headed to Frankie & Benny's.

So there we were, Lynne and me, looking after six children and hoping that they are sufficiently distracted by the drawing stuff that we (i.e. Lynne) had brought along.

They were happier when the food came, though.

And then it was time for the birthday cake with 7 (seven) candles.  Here is the before...

...and after.

Finally, after all that party fun (and the parents had come to relieve us of their children), we headed home for the inevitable present opening session, patiently watched by Gregory (still wearing his name sticker, you will notice).

Daisy was very pleased with all the presents she had been generously bought by her friends and gave them the ultimate double thumbs up.

As a final treat for the day, Daisy was allowed to have her tea in the little lounge with the, er, laundry.

Before long, it was Daisy's actual birthday, with the traditional well-assembled (by Lynne) presents and balloons.

Again, Gregory looks on as the presents are opened, perhaps a little wistfully, safe at least in the knowledge that his birthday is about five weeks later.  He will have his time.

Another picture, another present being opened whilst Gregory looks on.  This is a Stitch-shaped carry case.  (Stitch is part of Lilo & Stitch, an American Disney media franchise, according to Wikipedia.)

Obviously her birthday starts with a treaty breakfast, specifically cocoa pops.  That evidently makes her very happy...

...as does the next course of jam on bagel.  Somewhat of a sugar overload which is only done on very special days.

As is now standard, I took the afternoon off work to be there when Daisy finished school (I don't recall if I picked her up, but I probably did).  For her birthday meal, we went to Zizzi in Stockport, where Daisy had taken some of her birthday presents.

Just in case you needed reminding, Daisy is 7 today.

After what was most likely the default pasta in tomato sauce, Daisy was brought a funky dessert with special birthday candles.

The waitress, who was also called Daisy (we vaguely recall), had written a sweet little card to go with her not-so-little sweet.

This was the point where Gregory got hold of my phone to take some photos himself, taking some of the waitress who served us in the meantime.

The budding photographer even managed to get a picture of me - a rarity on these pages.

We finish with one of Daisy's favourite birthday presents, a Smooshy Mushy (me neither).

And, with that, we march headlong into her eighth year.

Back to the Secret Portal.