Dominique and Shaun - The Wedding ......

On Saturday 25th September

Dominique and Shaun were joined together in holy matrimony ......

The venue was awesome, the pastor gave a truly lovely message and the food was simply delightful....

 Yolandi and NJ

Yolandi was one of the bridesmaids

 Nelson and Chantal ...

 Yolandi and NJ

 Janine and Andy

Cute .....

 The two brothers ...

So different and yet so similar !!!!!!

 Without the smokes but still .......

 Dad and Mom du Toit

 Jonathan ... the little brother .... not so little anymore

 Mr and Mrs Alexander ...

 Dominique and Shaun have been waiting for this moment for such a very long time

and finally the day had arrived .... the vows made ...... the rings exchanged

So happy ...

 Love this one .....

 Just us ......

 And some more of us .....

 The venue ..... so lovely ...

 Mom and Daughter

 and again ....

 and again .....

 Ian, Dad and Andrew ...

Should have added Jonathan to the left and Andy to the right

would have completed the picture. 

 The couples first dance. ....

 The tear jerker dance ....

Ian and Dominique's dance to "You raise me up"

Was simply awesome - Charma had the same song, last year, for her and Norman's dance ...

But this was just so special - her second Dad's dance and it was so beautiful ......

 And Janine caught the flowers..........

 Doesn't she look good as a blond again?????????



So on Friday morning, we raised ourselves early, after only a couple of hours sleep,

attempted to put some order into our home after the 21st, lost some of the music deco and then packed and went off to Jhb for the wedding. 

Could simply not not miss the wedding.

So all in all, we had such an action packed week, never a dull moment .......

Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, but everything that was important and needed to go right - was perfect ...... and that made this crazy, hectic, eventfull week, so very worthwhile and memorable ....

Chantal turns 21

On the 22nd September Chantal turned 21!

She wanted to have a masquerade party at home ......

Lots of work later and the party was a reality ....

Little sleep, lots of food, a lovely cake ...

and here is the pics!

 Chantal and her friends dancing in my empty lounge ...

 Andy and Janine ...

 Nelson and Chantal ....

 Nanna and Lorraine .....

 It says it all ....

 It feels like I cut hundreds of these notes and maskes out ....

don't want to do that again in a hurry .....

my home is still covered in glitter......

 We wanted a cardboard arch .... but my hubby did this ....

soooo much better

 We strung hundreds of balloons and streamers accross the section that is not undercover and created a canopy .....

Just so glad that it did not rain .....

 Seated 48 people in this little area ...

 Andrew and I ......

 Dad ... making THE speech ....

turned very emotional ....

 Bugz .... listerning to her Dad

 Her 'boet' doing his speech .....

 Bugz ... doing her speech .......

 Chantal with some of her old school friends .....

 It worked so well, there was a table for the church friends, old school friends, the older friends (Andy's friends that have put up with his little sister all these years),  the 'Afrikaans' friends, the varsity and orchestra friends and then there was the table for the older folks (the Grannies, Grandpa and Aunt).  Worked out so well.

 My two .....

 On the right is Brian van Niekerk, the minister, who is also a 2nd cousin on the Beech side of the family ...... surprise, surprise .... the world is very small indeed

 I am so proud of this cake ..... I baked it, I decorated it and copied the music onto it ..........

The young one's dancing .....

Just want to say this...

last week was such a full week ...

I crashed Andrews Isuzu on Tuesday ......

I do not have a scratch on me - daily thanking the Lord for his protection,

the car was packed with the drinks for the party ...... how embarrassing ... I don't even do alcohol

Chantal turned 21 on Wednesday ...   I baked and iced the cake that evening

Spent Thursday making tons  of 'Macaroni and Cheese'

Decorating and getting everything ready ....

Don't know how we did it ....

But just going through 2 weeks of very little sleep and here I am starting to plan Andrew's 50th .....



The Peinke Family Reunion

The Peinke's had a family reunion on the 07th August and all the family were invited, from the Peinke side and the Bottcher side.  It was so good to see everyone again, for me it is special because I spent so much time with them on holiday.   

Finger eats were organised, and the venue was in a night club as a private function which was nice for the youngsters as they could just stay on and carry on partying when 'Jet' opened later. 

It was also great to see Michael and Rina again. 

I just need to add - GAUTENG IS FREEZING .........  Gosh I love Durban!

Mike and Rina

 Sue, Kevin Peinke and a 'Peinke' cousin

My crowd ... Nelson, Chantal, Janine and Andy ...

Gerald, playing his bag pipes

Nanna, Aunty Trudy, Rosemary and a 'Peinke' cousin

The two remaining sister's ....

Rina, Michael and Nanna

Caroline and her family

The Peinke family - Denise, Gerald, Rosemary, Jeanette, Caroline, Aunty Trudy, Kevin and Tracy ..

Denise came from East London and brought Aunty Trudy,  Gerald came from Botswana, Caroline came up from Vryheid (KZN) and Jeanette flew in from the UK

Jeanette's arrival - a huge surprise ... only Tracy knew she was coming over from the UK

That pole ......

Rosemary's family

Our family ....

Now just the three of us ....

Fun .......

And some more fun ..... Andy looks like he aint going there with Claire and Nadine ....

Tracy will have to have one at home ... she was a pro ..... I just wonder where  she is hiding her one....

Rosemary and Tracy ..... and Tracy is not letting go of that pole ......

Denise, Caroline and Nadine (Rosemary's daughter)

Gerald and his bag pipe mates

Darren and Andy .....

Kev and myself

Mike and me .....

The Gorrie's .........

Caroline and Denise .....

And the night was still young ..... just way to much for these two ....