Life As We Know It

Aoife's birthday

 

4 days on and I still can't believe I have a five year old!

The cliches are so true. It seems like yesterday I held that sweet baby girl in my arms for the first time, feeling just as fragile as she was, yet at the same time totally overwhelmed by the immense love I already had for her.

Now look at her.

 

 

Five. Years. Old.

Wow!

 

And five was a VERY. BIG. DEAL to her too.

 

When we asked Aoife what she wanted for her big day, she quickly said that she wanted some friends over to play, balloons, and party plates filled with party foods... and, oh, don't forget the cake!

(The cake was very important. I don't think she has forgiven her daddy yet for preferring mince pies to cake)

Later, she also asked for cars, a trumpet, and a pink, shiny, sparkly dinosaur...

(No, we don't know where she got that last idea from either!)

But the party remained at the top of her list.

 

And so it was that on the Saturday of her birthday, Aoife had ten little friends over. And she loved every minute of it.

There were games:

 

 

 

 

 

Lots of games.

Food.

The all important cake:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And jelly and ice cream too.

Presents:

 

 

And laughter. And noise. Lots of noise. And many wonderfully sweet moments between young friends.

 

It was an absolute pleasure having those kids over. They were a lot of fun. And when they had all gone home the house seemed oh so quiet.

But we needed that quiet time too, to relax and soak up the last few hours with mormor (who kindly took most of the pictures above by the way).

 

 

Come back soon mormor. We miss you.

 

The wedding

 

While in Ireland, Alan and I went to Belfast for a couple of days on our own for a wedding.

Yes, on our own.

I wasn't sure I could handle that just yet. Apart from that week in hospital with the burst appendix, when Alan looked after him, I hadn't been away from Kirby overnight since he was born. And this was for TWO nights. Alan "got it" though, thank goodness, and ordered a family room at the hotel just in case I chickened out at the last minute.

But I didn't.

And the kids were perfectly fine.

And I was fine.

And we could definitely both relax and enjoy the wedding and reception more without them (ahem, yes, sorry if I spammed your twitter stream that night).

 

I'm so glad we were there to celebrate the wedding of Peter and Anna-Marie. They're both great people and I'm so happy they've found each other.

The wedding was lovely. Anna- Marie looked stunning and so happy to finally marry Pete, and Pete didn't scrub up too badly either. Seeing all the lads in the skinny trousers was hilarious. They were all VERY afraid to sit down on the coach heading out to the church. But there was not one ripped seam all day as far as I'm aware.

The village church where the wedding took place was beautiful. It was small and intimate and very, very pretty. My pictures do not do it justice. They'd picked lovely hymns and the singer had a fantastic voice. A beautiful wedding.

And the reception was great fun. I haven't danced or laughed so much in ages.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry girls, I didn't get a picture of Jeremy strutting around dancing shirtless later that night. I'd packed away my camera by then :(

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh my goodness, couldn't somebody have told me I had lipstick "horns" before this picture was taken?!?! So attractive (NOT).

 

 

 

Not had enough pictures? Here are the photographer's photos...

 

 

Well done Peter and Anna-Marie and huge congratulations to you both! We are so happy for you and wish you all the best for your new life in Manchester!