• Waking up as Jesse clambered into bed beside me.
• Creeping downstairs to make myself a cup of tea.
• Snuggling on the sofa while we waited for the others to emerge.
• Making hot drinks for my sister and her boyfriend.
• Slowly serving breakfast.
• Coaxing the kids into their clothes.
• Ducking into the shower and quickly getting dressed.
• Unloading the Ocado shop and filling the fridge with fresh produce.
• Heading into town.
• Wandering through the Harbourside Market.
• Taking a ride on the little Cross Harbour boat.
• Visiting the ss Great Britain.
• Listening to Jesse regale us all with his knowledge of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
• Enjoying the sight of Bristol’s famous coloured houses in the January sunshine.
• Treating each of the children to a giant marble in the gift shop.
• Walking back along the harbour to Three Brothers Burgers.
• Tucking into a huge feast of burgers, fries, deep-fried pickles and milkshakes.
• Smiling when a waiter brought over an enormous ice-cream sundae to celebrate Izzy’s imminent 11th birthday.
• Feeling rather full.
• Making our way home.
• Sipping tea and dozing on the sofa while the children watched Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
• Making veggie sloppy joes and a huge platter of cheesy nachos for dinner.
• Sending the kids to bed and pouring myself a G&T.
• Laying out Izzy’s gifts and blowing up balloons.
• Watching Nightcrawler and marvelling at Jake Gyllenhaal’s seriously creepy performance.
• Falling down a rabbit hole of Lip Sync Battle videos on YouTube.
• Laughing a lot.
• Collapsing into bed.
• Waking up when we heard the children moving about.
• Wishing Izzy a happy birthday.
• Heading downstairs to watch her open her presents.
• Smiling as she paused to read the blurb of every book she was given.
• Loving her reaction to our little surprise.
• Wondering where the last 11 years have gone.
• Serving up bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese for breakfast.
• Making the most of a slow morning surrounded by family.
• Baking a lemon and mascarpone layer cake.
• Feeling deflated when the sponge didn’t rise.
• Making everything better with pom-pom cake toppers and a generous dusting of golden caster sugar.
• Knocking up a quick lunch before my sister had to head back to Brighton. I’m still obsessed with this one-pot wonder from Anna Jones.
• Singing Happy Birthday and eating cake.
• Waving off my sister and her boyfriend at the door.
• Working my way through a mountain of laundry.
• Packing Izzy off to drama with a bag of sweets for her pals.
• Tidying the kitchen, sweeping the living room and vacuuming upstairs.
• Enjoying a decadent afternoon bath filled with Relaxing Bath Salts from L’Occitaine, a lovely gift from my little sis.
• Drinking tea and sorting through photos on my laptop.
• Watching cartoons with Jesse on the sofa.
• Making potato rosti, fried eggs and bakes beans for dinner.
• Plating everything up just as Izzy and Mr L.A. came through the door.
• Finishing the meal with a scoop or two of Oreo ice-cream.
• Sending the kids off to bed.
• Working our way through a few episodes of Fear the Walking Dead.
• Dragging myself upstairs to bed.

Love Audrey xxx

P.S. If you enjoy my regular weekend posts, you’ll love my email series, ‘Weekend Prompts’. Catch up on previous instalments and subscribe to receive the next one here.