Annabel's Christening

Just a few pictures from Annabel's Christening today. She was perhaps the most well behaved baby I have ever seen - while being held by a stranger and having water poured on her head! It was a lovely service followed by a delicious meal back at Val & Simon's house. We had lamb stew and mash followed by apple crumble - perfect on a rainy Sunday!

Can you tell I'm happy to be holding a baby?!? Hehe.

Kebs & Annabel

She was such a great sport with all the pictures!

Uncle Biff - always entertaining :)

Off to get our Christmas Tree now :)

Thanksigiving - English Style!

Isn't this a nifty little contraption? I want one. It's called Hostess - it keeps your dinner warm so you can put thing in the dishes as and when it's finished. No overcooking!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with your family and friends. We had an excellent Thanksgiving (on Wednesday). Andy's grandparents kindly offered to host it at their house (ours is a bit small for 8 around the table!) I made mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, stuffing (the most important part of the meal!) and of course, pumpkin pie...wait maybe that's the most important part of the meal, haha. Anyway, Nanny made the most delicious turkey and because she wasn't sure she'd like mashed potatoes or the sweet potatoes, she made roast potatoes as well. So yes, we had 3 sorts of spuds! Also, most everyone said they wouldn't like pumpkin pie, so Nanny had not one...not two...but THREE extra desserts on hand. Pavlova, profiteroles and banofee pie. And she set the table so beautifully! We all had a lovely evening together. I am thankful for so much this year.

Although the lighting isn't very good- this is the only picture of Andy and me from that evening!

As you can see - everyone liked pumpkin pie much more than they thought they would! I was hoping for more leftovers than that!!! Haha.

Although I really enjoyed Thanksgiving, I'm glad it's over. Why, you ask? Because it means that in just a few weeks...we are going home for Christmas! And it also means we can get our Christmas Tree and put out our decorations, which we're doing on Sunday : ) Hurray!

Diary of a Student

Well I've been working on my first Political Economy of Development essay for about 10 days now. It's only 3,000 words and about 4% of my overall degree, but still - this is what is has come to. For DAYS I have been sat at this computer - books, papers, articles and graphs everywhere. And I am completely and utterly fed up. It's finished - but now I have to do all the polishing and fixing up - which is the worst. And the reference page, the worst of the worst. Just feeling a wee bit sorry for myself. And I have to work tonight again. No rest for the weary. I told Andy it looks like my book bag exploded all over our living room. And I did promise I would clean it all up and organize it as soon as I hand it in on Thursday. Celebrations will be in order! Also, anyone into cooking - check out my friend Amber's cooking blog: http://www.bluebonnetsandbrownies.com/ It's really fun. I might even be a guest blogger from time to time!

At least I've got the 70s faux-fire going - that makes me feel better.

Only 9 more months of this! Haha.

Wedding Fun!

We just returned from a lovely overnight in Botley. We went to Andy's family friends wedding. Gill and Tom have been friends with Angie and Geoff (Andy's parents) for more than 20 years and Andy and James grew up with Gill's son Tom. Gill is also Andy's Godmother - which I didn't know until last night! Anyway, the wedding was absolutely lovely - we had such a fantastic time. The ceremony was short, but sweet and the food was delicious. Andy had a filet steak and said it was the best he'd had in a long time - he loves steak and eats it whenever he can as I don't cook it. The evening entertainment was fantastic - they had a Tom Jones impersonator - all the way from Vegas! He was hilarious and we danced the night away.

Angie and her boys - awwww....

I loved Gill's dress and the vintage lace...it was beautiful!

The four of us (that thing in my head is called a Fascinator - people in the UK wear these to weddings, well, Fascinators or hats...this I borrowed someone, just for a laugh.)

Andy and me before the ceremony
Also, my dress was £13 (down from £90, gotta love a bargain!)

My honey at our table.

Fireworks!!! It was a pretty incredible display.

This cake was pretty cool - it was already sliced and in boxes ready for you to take away - I had never seen anything like that before!

We had such a great time - it was nice to get away for a short break, but now - it's back to the books. I have an essay due in two weeks time! Eek.