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!

We've not been to Rinaldi's in a while - it's one of our local Italian restaurants. Surprisingly it wasn't very busy, and we had a lovely time; Ben even had Happy Birthday sung to him by the restaurant!

Finally met Lou in person at Milo's on Call Lane, then wandered up to Townhouse. The bouncers refused to let Gary in ('not smart enough mate') - so me/Gary/Kev/Steve pottered up to North Bar for a few dangerous beers before deciding Gary really needed to get out of those combats and toecapped boots, whereupon Townhouse happily let us in on the guest list and we partied on the top floor with Lou again. Hurrah!

A surprise birthday party for Ryan was bound to involve a lot of music - we were treat to Peculiar Blue, a harpist friend, and of course Dr Blue. Myself and Nicky were there until about 10:30pm when they still hadn't found some drumsticks but other than that it was fab! Several of these pics are in black+white due to the poor light on the makeshift stage at one end of the room.

Joel's birthday weekend starts here, with a rather changeable trip to Scarborough where we had rubbish crab salad, made sandcastles, and all ended up in a horrible mood.

Ben and Ellie both got new dressing gowns and slippers for their birthdays.

Ellie had requested a party at the local playcentre with her friends - and it takes the heat off having the party at the house so who were we to argue!

Are we going to regret buying her a CD player and a Strawberry Shortcake CD? Probably...

We're not allowed to mention the age, so I'll probably get hammered for the title - however, Nicky's now got a Nintendo DS Lite so I think she's probably happy

A Bob-the-Builder scooter, and a visit from Grandparents Kirkpatrick. Hurrah!

Celebrating Ben's birthday were Amy, Jamal, Lewis, Sam, Natalie and of course Ellie; plus respective adults including Nairn and SJ who paid us a visit.

Ellie's cousin Jamal's first birthday, at the Navigation Inn just off Denby Dale Road.

A trip to Leeds, followed by beer in Wakefield with Jon, Stacey, Kieran, Lee and Jem.

A surprise party for Scott at a nightclub below The Regent Hotel Doncaster, which me, Nicky and Mum Wade popped along to.

We'd had Anil's funeral during the day, and I ended up missing the last train back (2015? Whose stupid idea was that?) - so ended up stopping at Tim's place in Finsbury Park. However, he'd got a birthday do to go to, so I ended up out on the lash with his friends until 3ish.

Dinner at Fritelli's, a Sicilian restaurant in Doncaster.

A trip to London for us, to a Polish restaurant in Shepherd's Bush where we celebrated Nairn's 30th birthday. Poor Nairn was really quite blasted, but we met some of his nice friends and had some good wine.

Ellie's Princess and Pirates party, featuring 3 princesses and one little pirate who didn't want to be a pirate really. We played some games, and the cake went down well.

One little girl is growing up.

After weeks of meticulous planning, finally the time was here to shove Nicky through the door of the Chasley Hotel in Wakefield. The surprise was rumbled at the last minute when another guest arrived at the same time (d'oh!) but the 65 guests made the party go with a bang! Lots of dancing, various children, Nicky's low-cut top, some people we'd not seen in years, and... well, it was ace fun!

Presents and brekkie - and we're not allowed to mention the age.

Two years old! Wow!