Baking with Mommy

Today Lauren and I had the best fun baking brownies! we made a huge mess and lovely memories! and then we ate them all! zafter our bskinv we had a marathon game of Monopoly! 

The best kind of Saturday!

Happy Saturday everyone!

Dylan's confirmation Day

Today we celebrated Dylan's confirmation and it was a wonderful day, the weather was rain and wind and more rain, but the day was perfect!

The hymns and prayers brought a tear to my eye, and I was so so proud of him. It just doesn't feel like his communion was so long ago and we are already celebrating his confirmation! We traveled back to Dublin so Dylan could make his confirmation with his old school friends, this was really important to him as they had celebrated so many other milestones together over the years. I really must say the teacher put so much work and effort into their preparation, and they really made her proud. I was asked to sing for communion, which was really special for me to do too, and I was delighted to be asked. The whole ceremony was just really well thought out and beautiful.

Here is the class and Dylan with the bishop

Dylan with his friend Evan

Dylan with his friend John

We held a family meal for grandparents after the service and reception in the school, we had the dinner in the Royal Marine Hotel in Dunlaoghaire, and it was amazing! I loved my outfit for the day, can you tell!! 

Our family with the confirmation boy!

    

With Derek's parents, Grandma Rose and Granddad John

 

With my parents, Nanna Marina, and Granddad Terence

With our special confirmation boy

My two special people

The hotel did up a special little platter for Dylan for his dessert, he was delighted with it!

Finally, I needed to add the beautiful grounds of the hotel, it is one of our favourite hotels, and they put on a great day for us.

It was a very special day, and we are so proud of Dylan and so happy to pass on the light to him to shine in his own journey through his spiritual life, 

Well done Dylan

Congratulations on your special day, we love you, and Lauren was so proud of her big brother it was really lovely to see!

Lauren's 8th Birthday Party

Today we celebrated Lauren's 8th birthday, she took her friends to McDonalds and then to the cinema to see ' Sing' She had the best day, it was so lovely to see her have such a brilliant time with her friends...

Picture overload Ahead of the birthday girl!

She chose assorted cupcakes for her cake and they loved them!

Blowing out her candles 

Then it was off to see the movie and have some more goodies! 

And of course no birthday is complete without your gifts from Mummy and Daddy! 

We had one very happy little girl, we can't believe you've turned eight Lauren, we are so very very proud of you. We look forward to seeing what you learn and achieve this year!

~ Happy Birthday Princess ~

Fly away home.... Again

So another phase in the Doyle family life comes to a close this year! we are moving back to our hometown again! It is the right time and we are so looking forward to our future! Derek is starting his own accounting practice and I am going to move my business to Waterford too... and we are really excited!

Lauren and Dylan are all ready to start back in their new schools, and we are happy as they are smaller classes and have a great education system. 

Derek and I hosted a little going away party for some friends and family, we had a really lovely night and a great send off from everyone. We will miss everyone, but we know this is the right move for our family. We are moving back to our own home near my family, and life is nicer there. It will be a big change but a wonderful one which we are embracing whole heatedly!

It was o nice to see all our friends and family, and we really appreciate everyone coming out to wish us well!

Here we go again to our hometown!

My target!

I have spent the last two years working very hard on my weight loss, I have to say it has never been easy, it has taken hard work and a lot of determination, but I am so happy that I have reached my target! I faltered at times and put weight back on, but in the end I made it! I've added some of my photos that I am proud of!

 

I reached my weight loss goals by working with my local Slimming World group, their support and encouragement was a lot of the reason I have reached my target!

I am so glad that I worked on my goals and I am proud of my achievement! Never give up, if you want it bad enough you will get there! I have so much more energy and a much more positive body image, and I am happy with myself!