• Grabbing some early morning cuddles with Jesse.
• Staying in bed just a little bit longer while Mr. LA went downstairs with the children.
• Drinking tea.
• Making pancakes for breakfast.
• Wearing one of my favourite dresses.
• Heading into town for some last minute party supplies.
• Treating Izzy to a new dress. The poor thing was devastated when we realised her bridesmaid dress hadn’t fared too well at the wedding. I believe some rather adventurous dance moves may have been the caused of the damage. Anyway, a new frock was purchased and all was right with the world once more.
• Cooking and eating carrot and coriander soup. The homemade stuff really is superior to shop bought, and nowhere near as labour intensive as you might think {the trick is to forgo any chopping of vegetables in favour of grating… genius}.
• Spending the whole afternoon baking. I’ve developed a slight obsession with four layer cakes. I mean why bake two cakes when you can bake four, right? Izzy’s 7th birthday party seemed the perfect excuse to create something very, very pink so I had a bash at an ombre effect too {inspiration here}. I feel a little more food colouring is required next time, but the birthday girl was suitably impressed when we cut into it.
• Listening to Lana Del Rey on repeat.
• Putting the children to bed.
• Enjoying some wedding champagne and cooking dinner for my husband.
• Wondering if the novelty of saying or typing the word ‘husband’ in relation to Mr. LA will ever wear off.
• Cuddling up on the sofa in front of a couple of episodes of Breaking Bad. This is a new viewing addiction for us, bloody good TV.
• Warming up with a huge bowl of porridge for breakfast.
• Madly tidying the house in preparation for the party.
• Loving Lush’s limited edition A Million Kisses Lip Tint {as seen on my lips in the picture above}.
• Helping Izzy into her dress and curling her hair.
• Watching Izzy prance around in front of our bedroom mirror and wishing she might always feel as beautiful as she does now. I dread the inevitable self loathing of the teenage years.
• Bracing myself.
• Cursing the parents that arrived early with their offspring.
• Watching 9 little girls dance round our front room to the sound of No Doubt circa. 1996. Our CD  collection may be a little bit lacking in the Katy Perry/Lady Gaga/whatever rubbish the kids are listening to these days department, but it didn’t seem to deter these tiny dancers.
• Settling everyone on to the sofa with snuggly blankets and plenty of snacks before popping the DVD on.
• Comforting the more timid children during the scary bits.
• Giving up and letting the scaredy cats {!} play in another room.
• Munching popcorn.
• Feeling relieved when Mr. LA got back.
• Cooking a lot of pizza.
• Singing happy birthday and watching Izzy blow out her candles.
• Wondering where the last 7 years have gone {even though it’s not officially her birthday until Tuesday}.
• Feeling even more relieved when the parents started to arrive.
• Eating cake and clearing up.
• Replacing our wedding cards with the first of Izzy’s birthday cards.
• Putting two very sleepy children to bed.
• Ordering a cheeky takeaway.
• Very much looking forward to climbing into our freshly made bed.

Loveaudrey xxx