From the attic... with love...

Today I helped my mom clear out some of my old things from her attic, I mean this stuff must have been up there years! I put away all my dolls things from storage in my bedroom in 1999, (when I was 16) up to our attic and haven't seen them since. I haven't played with these since I was about 10 years old. When I was 16 and clearing them away, my mom and Gran suggested I write a letter to my future little girl, if I ever had one, and well... I did. I can understand now why they thought it was a good idea, at the time I thought it was weird, I'm glad I did it now. I watched Lauren as I gave her the letter and it felt really special. I think my grandmother was here in spirit today, at least I hope so. There is something really special when you watch your own children playing with toys you once treasured.

I found some old books that I always thought a little boy would love, if I ever had one, and well Dylan loved them. He absolutely loves books, and it was wonderful to watch him sit down and read them!

My mum made this for me, for my Barbie dolls

The letter I wrote

 

Some books I kept for when I had a little boy

 

Please excuse the chocolate faces! and the cough mixture in the background! Not to mention the clear out mess every where!

Forgotten memories made today extra special for my children I'm glad I was sentimental... 

Now We're heading off to the swimming pool.... More memories to be made!

Forgotten phone Pictures...

I wanted to add some of the pictures that I've had stored in my phone for a while, these are the photos that get forgotten about, and I don't want to forget anything!

My little precious kiddies over the past few months...

My sleeping beauties

Silly poses

A story with Daddy before bed

Some more random shots



I hope they aren't too grainy, the next phone I get, I'm going to get a better camera on it! I love to look back at our ordinary photos and see their happy faces! I love them so much, I just want to remember every single moment!

I'm looking forward to the weekend, we are taking the kids up to Dublin, to their cousins birthday parties and we are going to staying up there over night. Dylan is going to be so excited when we tell him! It will be nice to spend some quality time together. I can't wait!!

I'm a happy, lucky mommy!

Return of the mystery tour

When I was a little girl , my Dad used to bring my brothers and I on 'Mystery tours' we weren't allowed to ask where we were going, but we would be brought somewhere fun, and sometimes it would be a trip to the zoo, or disney on ice, or else we would go to the woods and look for pine cones, or we could go to the beach to search for sea shells. It was always fun and it was aways exciting! I remember it fondly now that Im an adult, and so today I decided to take this little tradition into my own childrens lives. So today off we went on our mystery tour!

We first went to the woods in Faithlegg, We walked down to the viewing point in the clearing of the woods, and looked out at the beautiful views of Faithlegg, it is so impressive! then we drove to one of the ports called cheekpoint, it is an old fishing villiage and we walked the kids along the pier and they looked at the boats, and played in some of the old fishing boats that they set up on the grass. and then we all went back to my parent's house for our Sunday dinner, as usual!!

It was a quiet and relaxing weekend, the weather has been really lovely for this time of year, so I'm glad we took advantage of it, it may be raining again before we know it!  I copied some of these views from Google images, which I love! so you can remember all these beautiful places even when we forget our camera....

Faithlegg

Views from Faithlegg woods

Cheekpoint

I always say how lucky we are to live in such a gorgeous part of Ireland. It has so many beautiful drives, walks and views.

Onto the other news, well Dylan has started playing on a football team, and he is really enjoying it! He always seems to score goals every week, he come home delighted with himself every Saturday. Derek takes him every week, so he can have some special time with Dad!

We joined the gym near our house. I'm delighted with it! I'm going to take the kids swimming regularly, and start swimming lessons for Dylan soon. I also think it will do Lauren good too, she is very shy around new people and sometimes gets very distressed with new situations, she's always fine after a little while, she always seems to settle about ten minutes before it's time to go home! I hope if I start her doing new things slowy it will help her.

So onto a new week, but I'm glad we had a nice day together. I'm going to take the kids swimming tomorrow after dinner, Dylan is already excited!

I hope it will be a wonderful summer full of mystery tours!

Does the tooth fairy come to adults?

Well, I was told a few years ago that I would eventually need at least one of my wisdom teeth out. Since I am terrified of the thought of a general anesthetic, I quickly pushed the possibility to the back of my mind. Sadly the day has arrived, my wisdom tooth is coming up! I am the proud owner of a hole in my gum!! And boy does it hurt, my regular dentist has sent me to an oral maxiofacial surgeon.

 My consultant has told me that it not only has to come out, but that she would not even consider the procedure without a general anesthetic. It is an impacted wisdom tooth, she will have to open my gum, break the tooth into pieces and extract it. If that isn't glamorous enough, she says that in every case of impacted wisdom tooth extraction there is a risk of loss of feeling in the lip, but in my case it is a very real risk. She showed me on my x-ray where the tooth is laying, and I could see for myself how close it was to the nerve. She said I will need to take a week off work. I know some people who've had the procedure and they've only needed a few days off, so I'm really super scared now!

I am trying to put the thought of the general anesthetic to the back of my mind, and I'm not allowing myself to think about what they will actually do to me once I am out. Then there is the worrying about how I will feel when I come around after the surgery, and the dread of the pain I will be in! needless to say I am an absolute nervous wreck! I've never had a general anesthetic in my adult life, I've had a few as a child, but I don't remember any of those, thank god!

So Derek has booked the days off work to take care of me, my mum is on babysitting duty, all that's left is for me to actually go through with the surgery and not to run screaming from the country! I know that I have to get it out, I'm in absolute agony, it's constantly getting infected and I just want it OUT!!

So in other news,  I've lost a total of 6lbs in the last two weeks, I've cut out carbs and I'm doing my best! It is so hard though. Although I haven't been as good as possible over the past few days! I will get back on track from now on!

The kids are doing great, we went out to the adventure play place today with my mum, and they had a great time. It's great being back home, they love being able to see their Grandparents whenever they like!

So that's it for now.. oww ....

The Copper Coast and other adventures...

During Derek's days off last week, we went on a really lovely day out. We took the children to a soft play area. We also went on a lovely drive, through the Copper Coast. It is so beautiful. It is a national geopark, which has some great scenery. It is very popular, people travel here especially to take the drive. We often drive along the road, We should be so grateful to live close to such a beautiful coastline. We really enjoyed the day, and I really had to add some lovely photos we took that day...

At Fun Fitness 

Some more photos from Derek's days off...

Lauren with her favourite birthday present

 Some painting...

Lauren loves to do the washing up, it keeps her quiet for so long!

It's getting harder to get photos of Dylan, he won't let us take his photo too much anymore!! also some of the photos are blurry, because the two of them are running around all the time! We loved having him home, it was a great few days. I can't wait until he's home with us all again everyday. This was Lauren's first time playing at the soft play centre, usually she's too nervous to leave my side, but this time there was no stopping her... Dylan brought her all around, bringing her on the slide and playing in the ball pit with her. He is such a really great big brother, he's so caring and devoted to his sister, and she adores him!

I'm a lucky Mommy.... I remind myself of this every single day...

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Today we spent a family day celebrating our national holiday at the parade, we have a parade every year and the kids love it! I didn't bring my camera because I was too concerned with watching the kids, they could go missing too easily in the crowd, so no photos of the parade!

Then we went to my parent's house for dinner. I love that everything closes in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day. I love that we celebrate what it means to be Irish. So to all of you out there... from our family in Ireland...

La fheile Padraig sona duit

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Lauren's Birthday Photos (Part two)

We had some photos on our other camera that I wanted to add. We also have some nice ones of the two of them. I've seen such a change in Lauren since her birthday, she speaks all the time now, she uses full sentences, and she plays with her brother with their toys. She has decided that bottles at bed time are 'for babies' she is really a little toddler now. it is both wonderful to watch her grow, but it also makes me slightly sad to say goodbye to my 'baby'

Dylan seems to have settled really well in school recently. He has made lots of friends, he has started playing football with a local under 7's football team. He scored three goals last week! He is adorable he was delighted with himself! He goes on a Saturday morning. I hope we continue with the good behaviour! 

The two of them are becoming great friends, they play with toys together, and they watch cartoons together. They also play games together now! On a Sunday morning, Dylan gets Lauren up and plays with her doll house with her! He is such a great helper, and we get to enjoy a wonderful rest! knowing they are playing safely in the next room. It is so nice though not to have constant whining in my ear!

So without further ado, here are the photos from Lauren's birthday.... Part two... These were before our guests arrived, so Lauren was still in a great mood! She found all the attention difficult! She seemed to enjoy her party better before the visitors came and after! better luck next year!

The princess in her party dress

Our two angels

Presents and cakes

Princess party bags

 Before the party, with her new bunny...

We enjoyed celebrating the beginning of our little Lauren's second birthday...

We love you...