This week my Word of the Week is: Eighteen! #WotW

This week my Word of the Week is:

It has to be Eighteen! I was originally going to go with preparations because that’s exactly what most of the week has been filled with, getting ready for Ellie's birthday today but when will I ever get to use Eighteen again? The next chance will probably be when I’ve been blogging for eighteen years and that’s still a good six years away so I thought I’d better grab this chance while I can!

I’m writing this on Thursday because I knew yesterday and today would be chaos, the good kind of chaos but chaos all the same. We’ve had a busy week! Deep cleaning the house because we have had guests staying. There’s nothing like having people round to make you notice every speck of dust. Presents have been wrapped, bags hidden away and we’ve all gone into full birthday prep mode that even included haircuts and a little beautifying with nails done and the works! The cake was delivered which is always a big moment. There’s something about seeing the cake that makes a birthday feel very real!

By now Ellie will have opened her presents and hopefully loved them all. One of the big surprises was a dressing table that we got for her. I did that sneaky parent thing where I printed out a photo of it and popped it in one of her cards so she knew what was coming even though the actual boxes have been sitting in the dining room for weeks hidden under a towel and she never even noticed! Hopefully it is getting put together today.

Now that Ellie’s officially 18 it’s like a whole new world has opened up for her. She’s already realised that she doesn’t need me to sign permission slips for college anymore. She can buy paracetamol from the shop, she can order her own drink at the pub, which makes me feel old and the biggest one of all she can go on a proper night out with her sister. Becky has been planning something really special for her. Along with a few bits for her dressing table she also bought tickets to an event and sorted a hotel for a night away.

The hotel and event were booked a bit last minute as Ellie had to wait for her new college timetable to be confirmed. She popped into college earlier this week to sort out her course details, fill in paperwork and finally got given her new timetable. She came home so happy with it. She’s got two half days and one full day with all her lessons nicely bunched together instead of those long gaps in between classes where she just had to hang around for hours. She said it’s the best timetable she’s ever had!

Ellie wasn't just having a birthday yesterday she is having a whole birthday weekend! She has plans today, tonight and tomorrow. I don’t think she’s going to know whether she’s coming or going but I am betting by Monday she’ll probably collapse in bed and spend most of the day recovering.

This week has been all about Ellie turning 18, the planning, the cleaning, the wrapping, the surprising and finally the celebrating. Eighteen feels like such a milestone, and I couldn’t let this week’s Word of the Week be anything else!

How has your week been? I hope you have had a good one! I am of course linking up with Anne who blogs at Raisie Bay for her Word of the Week linky!