Or as I like to call it, 40+gst! I love birthdays, and I love all the effort the kids and my parents and Marty put in to making my day extra special this year.

I like to include the Wednesday night in my unofficial birthday celebrations, with my regular catch up dinner with these fine ladies at a great Thai restaurant in Hendra.

On Thursday morning, my actual birthday, I got a little sleep in and was presented with breakfast in bed consisting of French toast and pancakes and coffee and presents! The kids all gave me a little something and it was so special. It was lovely having Marty there, for so many reasons, including catching some moments that I normally would’t be able to.

We enjoyed more pancakes all together outside, then the kids were happy to chill on screens for a bit while Marty headed to his desk to work. It had rained a lot in recent days and I thought it might be good to get into my overgrown garden and do some weeding. I got dressed and headed down the stairs, but unfortunately one of the stairs that had been rotting away finally gave way…

My leg went right through it and I think my shin took the full force, scraping down on the next step down. I don’t actually know, as it all happened very quickly, but apart from a bruise the whole way down my shin, and a few other random bruises and sore spots here and there, I was okay. And very very lucky.

Honestly, I am just so grateful I didn’t break any bones or skin, or that it didn’t happen to anyone else. So instead of doing the gardening, Marty got me some ice, made me a coffee and I read for a bit on the deck. We then got ready and headed to Round Table Coffee, which is a gorgeous little coffee shop in Bracken Ridge that I have been wanting to go to for months! It is full of books to borrow or buy, and games to play while you’re there. It was everything I had hoped for and more.

There also just happened to be one of my favourite op shops in the same complex so we headed there for half an hour or so and picked up some absolute bargains! I then spend the afternoon pottering (hobbling) around and after taking the younger three kids up to school to drop their stationery off, Gran picked the kids up around 3:30 for some secret squirrels business over their place. Marty and I were instructed to head over around 5:30pm for dinner and we were greeted with this!

I could not wipe the smile off my face for the next few hours! The surprises kept on coming. Here is the offical menu of the evening.

We were given five-star service by all the kids and they were very enthusiastic to help us with all the things.

A huge shout-out to Gran for coordinating all the things, encouraging the kids to help out and coming up with the idea of the fancy restaurant, and for Grumpy for all the amazing cooking, and espcially for the seafood crepes (one of my faves) and the perfectly-cooked salmon. Honestly, one of my absolute favourite birthday dinners ever.

We finished off the night with an episode of Bluey and a very much needed rest and sleep after such a big day! But my birthday wasn’t over yet! Marty had gifted me a night out for dinner and tickets for us to see Chicago, which we did on the Friday night. It was such a lovely way to finish off a wonderful few days celebrating.

Thank you again for all the lovely birthday messages and phone calls and pop-ins on the day – I even had another friend drop around flowers and ice creams today! So spoilt! It’s been a wonderful few days and a great way to end our school holidays. 44 is looking pretty great so far!