2 weeks till half-term!

Not that I'm counting or anything... It's actually more like 1 & a half weeks since I'm off on a Duke of Edinburgh trip for the last Thursday & Friday of the half-term. We're walking & camping in the Black Mountains in the Brecon Beacons, Wales, so it'll be a bit chilly I'd imagine...

Today we had a visit from Andy, Will's twin brother, who bought along his 3 kids for Sunday lunch. His wife Jo was marking A-level papers, so this gave her a few hours of peace & quiet! Ellie is 5, James is nearly 4, & Katie is 20 months, & the highlight of their day was discovering the exercise ball which they loved rolling around the house! That, plus Will's guitars... We took them for a walk around my school which they really enjoyed. Andy teaches in a state school & he was rather envious of the fact that not only did I have my own classroom, but there is only 22 desks in it! He asked where the other 10 students sat!!! It was a very nice (if manic) afternoon, we don't see much of the kids.

Nicola was in Reading for the weekend so on Saturday her & Claire & I went into town to try on a few potential wedding dresses. There are some lovely dresses around, but I'm not convinced I've found the right one yet. A gorgeous brown silk one isn't far off though... I definitely don't want a proper white 'wedding' dress, but would rather have something I loved which I could wear again. We still haven't made any progress with invites yet, at this rate people might just be getting an email!

I enjoyed the start of the six nations rugby this weekend, especially seeing Wales, under the mighty Warren Gatland, take down England. Waikato's loss is definitely Wales' gain. Italy ran Ireland quite close too. My brothers friend Josh Sole has managed to keep his place in the Italian team & he looked in good form.

Tomorrow afternoon we have a couple of house guests arriving... My cousin Renee & her fiance Jeremy have been living in Ireland, but are now trying their luck in the UK. They'll stay with us for as long as they need to find their feet & get themselves set up over here.