For Ellie's 8th birthday party she'd requested that we have a few of her friends round to play High School Musical 'Singstar'. Once they'd overcome their shyness there was lots of fun, followed by the customary nibbles and a sweetie-laden cake cooked by Nicky. Nom!

Our little girl turned 8, and we'd got her a new bike for her birthday - no stabilisers! Dean popped round to bring back a lens he'd borrowed, and we had a bit of fun with the fisheye lens as well.

Our Saturday lunchtime trip to Yo Sushi to use Nicky's birthday voucher - much consumed, and we found out (totally by accident) that Ben can use chopsticks.

Off to Tickhill near Doncaster for an Italian meal at 'Nordest' with Mum Wade and the rest of the family. Ellie sulked a lot, but Ben was full of beans and a definite gigglepuss, and we all sang Happy Birthday and got cake. Mmmm, cake.

A trip to Cambridge to celebrate Cousin Rachel's 21st birthday with a family do starting with drinks at Christ's College followed by dinner at Brown's, where Ben incited everyone to hang spoons from their noses.

A lovely evening with gorgeous people: dinner at Fairuz Meze on Merrion Street in Leeds, plenty of beer, and then back to Lou's house in Rothwell for partying until the wee hours. A slight departure photographically here, using off-body flash stowed on top of shelving units: I think it worked quite well really!

Local love'n'life band Peculiar Blue performed at O'Donoghue's in Wakefield - it was Lynn's 50th birthday so there were guest spots from lots of folks, revealing an ever-changing line-up during the evening.

To celebrate Grandma Rowbottom's 28th birthday (again) we all went for a family day out at Brimham Rocks complete with a picnic, ice-cream, lots of rock climbing and some rather fierce sunburn.

Sunday afternoon and evening with a lot of good friends at The Hop, accompanied by blues bands and a rather large amount of JHB and mild. Debauchery and fun with family and friends, and Ben doing air guitar to Charlie White. Ace.

We love Dean and Ali - inviting us up to their gaff in Woodlesford where the kids got giddy and Lou hogged Singstar

Oh the humanity! A lunchtime in the pub, cakes in the office and then after work in the pub all contributed to the carnage that was Dean's birthday at Gooroo Software in Leeds. For some inexplicable reason Dan also insisted on showing everyone his chest, repeatedly; once again, we'll put that down to the alcohol.

It was Antonio's birthday and to celebrate he arranged a tribute to himself at The Hop with friends joining him on stage to perform favourite versions of his best known works!

A Wacky Warehouse full of young children, fuelled by sugar and general excitement, at 5pm on a Friday after a hard day at work. Ellie enjoyed it though, and there were relatively few tears or disasters!

Lots of opening presents after school, followed by a birthday dinner at Cowshed in Wakefield (for steak cooked "medium raw", according to Ellinor).

Ben had his birthday party at The Crazy Firehouse, where he played with his friends, fought for the heart of the fair Anna, tried to cheat at table football and generally had a lovely time. There are no pictures of Mummy and Daddy sinking into the vat of wine they used that evening for recovery purposes!

Our little lad's turned 5 years old - before he went to school he unwrapped his prezzies which included a voice-changer Dalek helmet. Cue him walking around terrorising the cats yelling "exterminate"!

We went down to see the Rosie Doonan Band at Escobar, supported by The TrouBadors and The Passing Fancy. It was Rosie's birthday so pretty much guaranteed to be a good gig - sod all stage lighting so I did the best I could using the flashgun (which I hate but anyway...). Then off to The Inns Of Court for after-gig beers until about 1am, hurrah!

Oh my goodness, Lou's birthday with mandatory wearing of wigs! Mullets, bouffants, perms and even a pair of kitten-ears graced a rather debauched and fun party at Sandinista in Leeds.

Netherton WMC was the destination for Lawrence's 60th birthday party, with an array of friends and relations from all over the world including Croatia, Germany, Liverpool and... well, Wrenthorpe We drank some beer, chatted a bit, and had a lovely time.

We had a quiet family get-together for Stuart's 30th birthday, with drinks at The Sportsman on Armthorpe Road. Ellie took a few of these too!

We held a big family party at Wrenthorpe for Grandma, who was turning 28 for the umpteenth time Our cousins from Northumberland came down, various friends and family I'd not seen in years, and of course the usual suspects. Brian had arranged a curry for everyone so our front room got turned into an Indian restaurant courtesy of Red Chilli II in Wakefield, and it was fine enough for everyone to sit outside. Then the day rounded off with a glass of Scotch and a good session on GH3!

An afternoon barbeque with family and friends at Wrenthorpe, followed by drunken debauchery at O'Donoghue's where 'Left Hand Drive' were playing. Lots of photos from various different people due to the camera changing hands a lot

Sambuca-swilling Stacey turned up for her own beers, with some new friends too. 'Grumpy Old Men' were playing O'Donoghue's so there's some photos of them too.

Off to Leeds to celebrate Col's birthday, starting at Viva Cuba and then beering in La Sandinista, New Briggate. Many beers, and some bad dancing to early 90s indie music.

She woke us up around 8am to open some prezzies, then we went to Nando's in Wakefield for lunch. Her party was at the Crazy Firehouse in Normanton - an odd playcentre but really quite good. Finally back to Wrenthorpe for more presents

An afternoon with the extended family at the Belmont Hotel in Thorne, to celebrate Auntie Winnie's 90th birthday party. We had a singalong, some wine, and the kids got to meet lots of cousins they never knew they had!

Ten pre-schoolers running around the house acting mad - we're booking the cat in for psychological therapy next week.

Young Ben got a guitar and amp for his birthday - he was very pleased and gave us a rendition of a selection of hits, but personally I can't wait for the batteries to run out!