Jesy's Little Girls (Little Mix Adoption Story)

Chapter 29 - Birthdays: Part One

Jesy's POV

It is now late June, Eloise's sixth birthday is coming up closely followed by Olivia's eighth in the first few days of July. I can't quite figure out how I feel about the upcoming birthdays, I can't believe how fast they've grown up, I remember when they were born and they are just so grown up now! I'm proud of how far they've come over the past few months since the accident, it's been a really difficult one for them and I'm happy that the three of us have made it this far together. But it's bittersweet for me, the girls are obviously excited and I am too, I loved birthdays growing up and they feel exactly the same but it'll be their first birthdays without our parents and that breaks my heart. Your first birthday without your parents shouldn't be still in single digits! And I wish that our parents were here to celebrate with them. I know that they had special traditions and I hope that I am able to carry those on. 

Just a year ago, I had gone back to the family home for the girls birthdays and then the five of us had gone on holiday. I have some very special memories of those two weeks we spent on an island off the coast of Greece, it was the last vacation the five of us went on together, my parents took Olivia and Eloise away again in October to Dubai, I couldn't get the time off work. We then spent Christmas and New Years together, but after that with the girls school, mine and my parents work, we only saw each other about three times before the accident in March. Now looking back I wished I had made a bit more time to visit, but then there was no time limit to spending time with my parents, it felt like I had all the time in the world. Little did I know!

Anyway, both girls birthdays are towards the end of the school year so they had been to so many birthday parties at varying incredible venues over the city. I knew some parents had spent loads of money on birthday parties for their 6 and 8 year olds and while my budget was a little tighter than some of the other private school parents. I wanted to give both girls a party just as good as their friends. 

I was hoping that since both girls birthdays are so close together, Eloise's on the 18th June and Olivia's just two weeks later on July 3rd, I could get away with just hosting the one birthday party. But neither girl was particularly impressed with this idea, so I ended up having two just a week apart. 

Eloise being six wanted a princess party, like many of her friends had had earlier in the year. So, I hired a room in a castle type house that provided lunch for them and found a company that would bring 'Cinderella' for an hour. We invited seven of the little girls in her class at school and all arrived in varying princess dresses carrying brightly coloured wrapped gifts. A few of the other parents stayed and we sat in the corner of the room on little child sized chairs, chatting as the girls played and munched on tiny bitesized sandwiches and little fairy cakes. Eloise came home with a selection of princess themed toys, a bit of a sugar high and a big smile. It was easy, so I had high hopes for Olivia's party a week later. 

Olivia's was not as easy. She had asked for a horse riding party, I have absolutely no idea where it had come from, I honestly don't think she has ever ridden a horse before in her life and living in London, I wasn't sure there was anywhere to ride horses. Luckily after a few google searches, I found a horse riding stables in Hyde Park. I booked three instructors to take nine eight year olds for a horse ride around the park and sent the invitations. Olivia chatted about it for ever, so my earlier nerves and apprehensions were gone and even I was started to get excited about it. 

That was until the day before the party when Perrie and I had decided that we were perfectly capable of making our own cowboy birthday cake. So we did and kind of didn't. After deciding that making a giant 3D horse was a little advanced for our beginner capabilities, we stuck to a cake, a few flowers stuck to the side to look like a 'horse field' and a pre bought marzipan horse on the top. Easy! We started with a simple chocolate cake recipe, which was simple to make, except we forget to start the 20 minute timer and it ended up being in the oven for over double the recommended cooking time. So, after a quick trip to the store we tried again this time sitting outside the oven watching it cook, so the second time it didn't burn. But when we opened the supposed 'green icing' to cover the sides with, it was so neon that the poor horse that Perrie had named 'Bloody' (one part because of its blood red lips and the other because it was a bloody stupid idea to make our own cake!) was frolicking in a magic land or at least the Caribbean rather than London!