Celebrating the lovely Lydia

You know that it's going to be a special evening when you get a special invitation

You also know that it's going to be special when you find out that it's in the "Field of Dreams" *

* we didn't see Kevin Costner

This is what made it such a special evening...

The thrill of waiting for the guest of honour to arrive

LOADS of colouring books and pencils 

Funky and comfy seats

Live music (that's REALLY good)

Matthew's littlest fan

A gorgeous setting

A professional bbq chief (the hat stops him from being a chef)

The "McFaul" involvement guarantees fantastic food...and lots of it

Zachary is bewildered by the choice of deserts.

See (they could open a patisserie) 

A topsy turvey birthday cake

Bunting....

A marque with hay bales...hours of fun guaranteed

Molly

A beautiful birthday girl (straight from the vintage hairdressers) and the party planning husband

Friends and Family

To conclude...some of the little people enjoying some treats.....

Things to love about CHW

 Ask Beatrice what her favourite bit of CHW is and her answer 8 times out of 10 will be "my club".  This is due in a large part to her leaders.  This is them.....

It is also due to the slightly barmy crafts they do...

Exhibit A - a superhero mask...She is learning to be a superhero of faith.

Exhibit B - Modelling the breastplate of righteousness.

If you ask Evie, what her favourite bit is, she will reply...

...the waterslide.

You can see all the sliding action if you click here.

Now if you ask Jacob what his best bits are....

...I know for sure that they will involve Dilly and more particularly Beanz... especially walking them up to church each morning.  (It might actually be my husband's best bit...that the dogs get to come to worship)

Give it a year or two and I think that Phoebe will have the same answer...

But at the minute her favourite bit is Magic George.

If you would like to see Magic George, Magic Beth and chums, click here and sit back for about 20 minutes!

(Evie finds him hysterical too)

I'm not too sure what Joshua loved most.  

I think he loved everything (except Dilly and Beanz) but the Bug Hunt was a highlight for him.  

Click here to see what I mean.

For me, I think my best bits involve a large Glengormley Gang...

...and the fun that brings.  To see some campsite capers, click here.

I suspect Zachary would agree...

...as would most of the tree climbers....

For Max...perhaps he would answer the Disney Party...

You can watch it here...

Or perhaps he might favour rugby tots or his birthday party

(which you can watch here)

Or indeed any of the other activities that the kids took part in

Watch the busy kids here or see what else happens (apart from the waterside) on open day here.

But I think I can conclude, that learning more about Jesus and having fun with our friends is what Castlewellan is about for all of us.

Silver Anniversary

Once upon a time, twenty five years ago (yesterday) there was this...

...and twenty five years later (yesterday) there was this...

To commemorate, we got the uber talented 17 twelve (remember her?  -  if not click here) to do this....

17twelve.co.uk

Happy Anniversary to my big brother and his beautiful wife.

H2O

Alana has a thing for mermaids.

You might remember her party last year...if you don't, click here...and you might think that Arlene had exhausted the whole mermaid theme.  Well you'd be wrong.

This year she outdid herself*

* with a little help from the creative Cummings 
(Arlene might pinch me if I don't add that)

Now last year it was Ariel the little mermaid...this year it was H2O.  You may not have tried to get h2o party stuff...Arlene has...it is nearly impossible...so a quick jaunt to the Play Resource Warehouse resulted in her creating her own

There were personalised banners...

...an undersea wall....

...and a small aquatic themed bouncy castle...

(no, it's not Max's hat)

See...

Once again, Beatrice stationed herself at the craft table (I don't know where she gets that from!) where she was able to string beads 

(Arlene really knows how to string a theme out)

(SORRY)

There were also paper fans to decorate...

Then the beautiful Nadine was on hand to paint faces...

in a range of fishy themes....

While her apprentice was on hand to do the undersea tattoos...

There were mermaid pictures to colour in, and shell cards to create...

...there was even a graffiti wall...

From time to time, the giant octopus deflated...

..to make way for games like pass the parcel...

(Look at the sea shells on the back wall)

or the piñata.

The traditional scramble for sweets

Of course Mr Octopus had a rest as the kids had their party food.

All parcelled up in lunchbags, set on H2O placemats with a line of goodies running up the middle of the table.

Then it was time for "Happy Birthday"

All that remains to blog is one exhausted Mummy and a very happy 7 year old.