So next week is pretty special for our family, our littlest member turns 4 years old. And since we always love an excuse for a good party…

Over the course of the last 4 years we’ve only managed to have 1 celebration around his birthday as someone has always been sick.  This year I was holding my breath to see if it would all come together, no friends getting ill, no family members getting ill and definitely no birthday boy getting ill.  Luckily  the stars were aligned and all went beautifully for our mid week birthday bash.

Neirin, being a lad who knows exactly what he wants, requested a pirate party  with decorations but a pink castle cake with pirate skulls.  He’s a boy who loves pirates, he’s a boy who loves pink and he’s a boy who loves getting what he wants!  On this occasion I was happy to oblige.  Even when I was instructed to add more decorations as there weren’t enough.  Ahem.

It was a lovely and fun afternoon, crafting treasure boxes, pirate hats and biscuits with the children, before they settled in for a good play and the Mamas all settled in for a good chat.  Thanks to two other photographic Mamas (much cleverer than me!) there are also some photos of me laughing and enjoying the party, a gift in itself.

The morning of the party, as I made decorations, baked cupcakes, gingerbread cookies and a big old birthday cake, I forgot for a while what it was all about.  Luckily I was reminded by the children who happily played, by the happy company of friends, by the generosity of spirit that filled the house that afternoon.

As I browsed the wonderful pictures that my friends had taken, sitting in the post party quiet that evening, I was struck by the pictures that actually included me.  I’m so used to being the one who takes the pictures and I’m not massively keen on being in front of the camera.  But I’ve realised lately that the boys might look back at the photographic evidence of their lives and wonder where I had gone!  So I’m determined to get in front of the camera a bit more, to share with them the special moments and set aside my self consciousness, because really it is silly.  I know, how I know, that when they are older and they look back at pictures of us together, they won’t notice the imperfections of body and face that I see, they will only remember the laughter and the happy times that we shared together as the shutter fell.

These are the times worth remembering.