Marcus turns 14

Our big son hit 14 two days ago. He shot up over summer and had a few back problems as a result, but that seems to have settled down now. His main problem is that he is too busy.

Monday after school is flute ensemble, Tuesday and Thursday he has maths at college then soccer practice after school, and on Wednesday he sees his maths tutor for an hour to kick around scary advanced trig and calculus. Friday we have dinner with my mum and dad. For now the weekend is pretty free but practice matches will start soon.

This year Marcus did not want to have a party (probably because of exhaustion) so Elf's genius idea was a surprise midnight feast. We had dinner with Imp and Ed and the girl cousins, and it was supposedly going to be just a fun sleepover. Everyone else was in on the surprise though.

Elf prepared nacho makings, chocolate and marshmallows for roasting. After the kids were in bed, Ed and I moved the trampoline and I dug a little fire pit and arranged logs to sit on around it, while he hung christmas lights in the golden elm. Then he and Imp went home and we went to bed.

At 11.55 the alarm went off quietly, and I took out a bucket of kindling and got the little fire going. Michael and I had sourced long green twigs for the marshmallows. Once it was all crackling away Elf went and woke the kids. Marcus was genuinely surprised and delighted. It all looked wonderful and I took NO photos. Here is the setup by the light of day, however.

It was a lovely calm night, a bit too overcast for many stars though. We whispered Happy Birthday To You (next door's kids were sleeping not very far away) and just as we finished Winston chimed in with an appropriately quiet howl.

I was soon grumpy and keen to go back to bed. Michael was the last butt to be shifted, as he was on his haunches just loving poking various things into the fire. Eventually we got everyone back to bed.

After the midnight shenanigans Sunday kicked off surprisingly early, and we opened presents. Our gift to Marcus was a very nice leather Sherrin footy. It's a dream to kick, and unlike last time we got a new footy, Marcus didn't sprain his thumb right away.

So, happy birthday to our first child, dear boy that he is.