Still House Hunting

We are STILL house hunting. Each weekend off we trek, looking for our perfect little spot (it's been over a year now). The kids are bored, and to be honest, I'm tired of thinking this is the one. But yesterday, I think I found my forever house. It's beautiful and has such potential - but it'll take a load of work (it's a victorian villa built in 18760) and commitment and money! Bob likes it to, but doesn't like the work and money bit. It got me thinking though - we always take the easier option, but I think from this perspective that working more for something will make it mean that much more to you. I'm heartbroken cause I won't be the one to let this little house realise it's potential! Here are some pics of the kids from yesterday -

Meet Starsky

So this is the newest and final addition to our family :) He's just a bundle of cuteness!! Seriously.

What a fantastic weekend! The sun shone, and it was HOT! I feel like we had a four day weekend we did so much stuff - and BBQ'ed both days. A visit to the Zoo, a picnic at the beach, a view house viewings (which is very usual for us at the moment) and time spent with friends. Lovely!


Look at all my teeth

The brothers Co-operating

A little bit of attitude

Coy smiles

Meet HoppityHop

Me and Rachie and Lisa's Birthday


Rachie waiting for her pancake...

Okay, I know that it's not the most origional of names! But there was no swaying Daniel. Our bunny whether we liked it or not was going to be called hoppityhop. She's quite cute, a little traumatised already and the kids are crazy about her.... so here she is...

Monkeys, Skeeto's and Volcanic Ash

Rachel "dancing" on the table

Ben riding Jimmy

Just about the best picture ever

Daniel getting ready to hold the chamelion

Rachie and her daddy

The title is obscure, I will give you that - but it's been literally AGES since I've been able to blog and as it is it's 11pm here and I know that Rachel will wake up in a few hours. We've been and come back from SA and what an exciting trip. The main focus this time was on family and for Robin work to and that made it really difficult to catch up with old friends I am ashamed to say. The kids had a fantastic time though, and as usual I learned a lot - this time about letting go. There is a big difference between raising kids in Ireland and kids in South Africa... Seeing children play, having fun and experiencing freedom from parents hovering around came as a shock - I thought Europe had one up on Africa but in that respect I was wrong. We are to overprotective of our kids here - making sure they don't fall, or run in the road, watching out for some other disaster to happen - helicopter parenting ... we forget that kids need to live a little!

Okay, I'm going to stop lecturing - and explain the heading, then let the pictures do the talking... Daniel thought it would be fun to chase a troop of monkeys (cute little things really) all was fine until the monkey's stood their ground and mock-charged our little gut - let me tell you that by all accounts he turned tail and ran so fast that he covered 70 mtrs in about 2 seconds! And the wonderful caring parents we are fell about the place laughing at the fright he got.

Skeeto's - (n) aka Mosquitoes. as in "The skeeto's thought I was breakfast but I amn't". Again - Daniel attracting the wild life in africa got completely covered in mosquitoe bites, while the rest of us got off with hardly any

And then the dramatic turn that our holiday took - 6 extra days due to the Icelandic Volcanoe... Thanks Chaps!

Happy St Patrick's Day

I took the kids up to Drogheda today - and it was a bit of an eye opener! But the kids had a good time and I must say I did to. It's nice to see them enjoying themselves so much. Look :)

Ben wanted to be a flag


boys having a chat waiting for the parade


Lovely Rachel


Serious parade watching

The Irish dancers looked really good - their hair was amazing

Cheeky smiles

Happy Smothers Day and the Big Day Out

What a lovely day today - the kids could not stop wishing me a happy smothers day. Got spoilt to as a lie in is worth its weight in gold, AND I got a day at the spa down the road to look forward to. We had already agreed to meet up with a friend of mine and her children in town this afternoon for the start of the St Patrick's day festivities. They turn one of the greens into a big playground and the kids love it. We were even luckier today as the sun decided to join us, and you can't beat a bit of sun after a long bleek winter. We got a table, right next to a little hill and the boys spent all their time there rolling down the hill having the time of their lives. Rachel took it upon herself to charm most of the people around us, literally strolling from table to table smiling and raking in the compliments (I was playing the part of the proud mommy and loving it too, so I can't say it was all her)... The boys rode the mechanical sheep (yes, it's Ireland!)... Ben was all gunho until he actually got up there and he was no sooner sitting on the sheep than he hopped off and wouldn't go back on, I think it was higher than he had thought it would be... then the boys got to drum with the group on the street, just about the time that the local TV cameraman was passing and they were shot - first the Leinster website, and now TV - we are working hard to increase their media profile :)... Oh, and the boys were dressing Rachel up this morning in their swimming gear, was very funny... Have a peek at our day -

Mechanical Sheep

Daniel's Shamrock

Having Fun

Ben smiles when he thinks of rugby

The Birthday Party

We had a lovely party for Rachel yesterday and I think she had a great time. It didn't rain, which is always good and the kids loved the trampoline and it was great that we could be outside. I am still struggling to come to terms with my baby being one!


Getting ready for the party

Ben and Sean his buddy

Pretty Dress


Friend Margaux and her little boy Macs

Happy Birthday Rachie

I can't believe that Rachel is one tomorrow - where did that last year go?... She is just such a wonderful little girl and we are all so lucky to have her with us. She is a happy, generous and loving child - sorry I'm gushing a little, but she really is. We are having a party for her on Saturday with everyone coming round. But tomorrow we're just going to have a little tea and I made cupcakes. i really am struggling with photo's at the moment - so I appologise for the quality of the shots, but you'll get the idea.


This is our new toy which arrived this weekend. The boys love it, and I must say that I have been enjoying the trampoline to!

And here's our little princess ( ;) going up to bed the night before her birthday... She's bushed so no smiles for the camera.

Introducing Jennifer

Jennifer has been with us for over two months already - so here she is... We are really lucky, the kids are happy and so am I. Her being with us has made my going back to work easier. I have no photo's of Daniel, he didn't want to smile for us...

Leinster Practice

Jennifer was wonderful today and took the kids to the Leinster Open Practice! Needless to say they loved it. It was amazing to as Daniel was spotted by the official photographer who took lots of photo's of him enjoying the practice... so we might see him on the website. If that happens I'll let you know... here are the pics :)

Spidergirl

I couldn't not pop in this quick post... Rob spontaneously lifted Rachie and hung her upside down at the door - and she though it was hilarious! She couldn't get enough :) So now we've dubbed her Spidergirl. Oh, and I didn't believe it but Beer Butt Chicken worked and it's delious... so I had to add that...

The End of my Hiatus

The last few weeks have been a very big adjustment. Returning to work has been wonderful if I'm honest, but I definately feel like I'm juggling and all the balls are up in the air all the time, and I can drop them at any moment. Jennifer, our child minder is working out really well and the kids are happy and adjusting well. My main aim was that their routine wouldn't be altered other than me not being there and in that respect I think I've succeeded.

The return to work co-incided with quite a few other things happening in our life. We've had serious problems with the tenants in our house in Lusk, our car finally died (pity I was in it at the time and had to spend two hours in the freezing cold waiting for a tow), I tried to cycle to the tram into work, on probably the coldest morning we had and the bike slipped from under me. Thank goodness I did wear the trendy helmet Bob bought me in America otherwise I wouldn't have come away from the fall with only a stiff neck. AND apart from Daniel and Robin, we all got a dose of the winter vomiting bug - all of this happened in the second week of work while Robin was away in Helsinki... And those are the reasons for my lack of blogging.

But I'm back now, and I'll be updating you all a lot more often. Here are a few shots of the last month. Enjoy :)