First pic from the wedding

We left our camera at the wedding so I only have one photo until this afternoon. But here it is, my sisters and I in the wedding car, Hannah's bridesmaids. What a beautiful day it was. I will write more when I get the photos.

(edit - you can now view all the photos on my facebook by clicking here)

Lots of exciting things....

I think I am currently going through the busiest 6 weeks of my life ever, at the moment! I can't complain as it's all good stuff, but I could sure do with some chill out time.

It's my littlest sister Hannah's wedding on Wednesday and needless to say everyone is running around like headless chickens trying to get it all sorted. Last Saturday was Hannah's hen party, and today is David's stag day (Dan is off at that al day today). Tonight I have my Mum and sisters coming round for a rehearsal of the song we are singing at the wedding, and I suppose to sort out any last little things. My sisters and I are bridesmaids, and our daughters are flower girls. On Monday we are getting ourselves tanned so that we dont look quite so washed out in the wedding photos, then Monday evening is the wedding rehearsal and decorating of hall. Then all day Tuesday is for decorating the church and reception area. And finally Wednesday is the wedding day which will start at the crack of dawn with hair appointments etc.

Once all that is over there is no rest as my solo dance performance is on Friday (Laverys Attic in Belfast - Blood & Glitter - £5 for a ticket or pay at the door!) and I'm rehearsing like a wild thing. Last night was the first time that I felt the dance looked anywhere near ready to be seen by anyone other than Dan! Dear lord, I hope I'm not going to totally humiliate myself. We have a rehearsal on Sunday, and I have to perform it in front of my class on Thursday night (yes the day after the wedding). So you can see how crazy everything is. I've been dancing for about 3 hours a day, on and off, and every muscle in my body is aching.

After all that is done, I'm off to England to see H.I.M in concert with my friend Caroline. I can't wait for that. And the weekend after that my Mum is having the kids for two nights whilst Dan and I go to Dublin to see Apocalptica. Then I guess it will be time for Christmas shopping and the start of a new year!

Here are a few photos of wee Barney helping me to rehearse my dance. (I'm dancing to HIM - Join Me in Death)

Blood and Glitter Rehearsal

Well most of you know that I'm dancing my first solo belly dance at Laverys nightclub, Belfast, on 30th November. Thats in less than two weeks time, so dress rehearsals have begun (despite my dance being far from ready yet!) Yesterday our teacher, Karen, held a rehearsal in her house and we all got dressed up. It was blooming nerve wracking performing in front of the other dancers, especially as they all went before me, and they were all excellent! I really felt as if I was letting the team down and I think I need to really work on mine over the next few days. Anyway, here are some pics from our rehearsal. (Mine are from before the rehearsal as I couldnt take pics of myself dancing at Karens!)

Hannah's Hen Party

Its only a week and a half until the big day for my littlest sister Hannah and her fiance David. David's stag do will be held on Saturday, but this Saturday we celebrated Hannahs Hen Party, and what a day it was. It started with a day spa session at a Turkish Bath. This was awesome. There were 9 of us girls and we spent the day relaxing, nibbling, chatting, whilst also getting the Turkish bath and massage sessions.

After the spa session we drove to the Odyssey in Belfast where we dressed Hannah up in hen gear and tied 10 helium balloons to her. We then gave her 20 forfeits to chose from and every time she completed a forfeit we removed a balloon from her. The poor girl had to go bowling in this getup, and then on to a Spanish restaurant! But I think we made it memorable for her at least. You can see all of the photos by clicking here.

After the meal we all went back to Mums house for a slumber party and facial session. But not before driving Hannah round Belfast and Downpatrick, with balloons out the car windows, in convoy, beeping, hooting and shouting the whole way round. We got lots of cheers and commiseration's along the way!

Annabelles 11th Birthday

Poor Annabelle has had two bouts of sickness lately, but at least she had a happy birthday in between. She got a temperature and is being sick rather a lot. This happened two weeks ago, and now its back again, although no one else caught it.

Anyway, last week she celebrated her 11th birthday and had a lovely time. Daddy took her out for pizza and cinema. She had lots of presents which she had to open in Victorian costume as she was going on a school trip to The Argory that day. I think all in all she had a lovely day. Here are a few pics....

Daddys Day Out

Since its the last day of the school half term holidays, I worked in the shop and Dan took the kids for a Daddys day out. Daddys days out are always full of wonderful precious memories. When I saw the photos I so wished I'd been able to go too. It looked like they all had an awesome day together. Dan seems to have captured some real good shots as well, you can see the rest of them by clicking here.

They all took a trip to Newcastle and spent the day wandering the beaches and sand dunes. Despite the fact that its almost winter, it was mild enough that they didn't need coats! Little Barney spent the entire day picking things up and examining them - stones, shells, seaweed, dead crabs, you name it he found it. The kids always seem to enjoy a free day out in the fresh air so much more than any expensive day out!

Anyway, I cant say too much about it as I wasnt there, but here are some of the best pics...

Sparklers in the back yard

I just wanted to post these few photos from today. When it got dark we went out to the garden to light some sparklers. This was Barneys first encounter with sparklers and I thought he'd be frightened seen as he doesnt like fireworks. But he absolutely loved them! He screamed with delight "Mummy, tonight I am going to have fantastic dreams!!" Dan took a lot of fantastic photos which you can see on his facebook account.

Halloween, 2007

Last night was Halloween night, and we had a house full. Steve and I, and our kids; Jenny's kids, and Emma & her daughter. As usual we all got dressed up to go trick or treating, which is quite a big thing in this estate. The kids all collected a whole bag of sweets each, and had a great time together. Here are a few pics from last night. The rest of the pics are on my facebook or bebo.