Family update 11/10/13

So it's moving along into Autumn, the kids are settled back in their after school activities. Lauren is LOVING her Irish dancing, swimming..... eh not so much! Dylan on the other hand is flying through his classes. He is also loving being back at rugby.  It was so cute Lauren got her first pair of Irish dancing shoes, so she phoned Nanna to 'show'

 her the new shoes and her dance! The innocence!!

 

 

 

Last weekend my parents came up for a visit, we took them out to breakfast and it was amazing! the food was great. Dylan had his friend to sleep over and they were up so late! Afterwards we went for a bike ride and to the park!

 

 

 

Dylan is really enjoying school this year, and Lauren is taking to it like a duck to water, here she is doing her first homework assignment, she is also playing with her etch-a-sketch ALL the time, she hasn't put it down since we got it for her!

 

 

 

As usual it's been quite busy around here! We are heading down to Waterford to visit my parents tomorrow for the weekend and we are all really looking forward to it. Lauren was all giggly and giddy at bed time! Dylan and I stayed up late to watch our movie for movie night! It won't be long until Lauren will be staying up to watch the movies too.....

 

Look at this little face..... my favourite boy!

 

 

Here's to a lovely family weekend!

 

Touch of bling

I'm in love with this month's gel manicure in 'rock royalty' with some Swarovski crystals..... love my treat days.....

I'm one happy Mommy

My 31st Birthday

Last week I celebrated my 31st birthday! It was a great day.... I can hardly believe my 30th was a year ago! I spent a lovely few days being spoiled by my little family.  The lovely girls in work had a gorgeous chocolate cake with '21' on it to make me feel better! My dear friend arrived with a HUGE bouquet of flowers... it was a very nice birthday.

 

I got my annual new purse and Derek is taking me for a night away in 2 weeks to celebrate. .. Complete with a spa treatment, I can't wait!

 

We were supposed to go down to my parent's house but we were having car trouble :(  so my Mom said birthday no 2 awaits me in Waterford!

 

I'm a lucky girl..... Happy Birthday to me!!!

 

 

Life is lovely when you are around the ones you love! 

Visit to the Garda Station

 We have been having great Autumn fun around here!

 

On Sunday there was an opening day at Blackrock Garda station, they had the squad cars, jeeps, bikes etc all on display for the kids. They could get their finger prints taken and they saw the cells. It's the community guards way of breaking down the barrier that exists between the Gardaí and the public. It was to encourage children to ask the Gardaí for help if they ever need it, it also shows that if you are not good then the Gardaí will also do their job and put you in jail! I think this hit home with Dylan! They had great fun sitting up on the bikes and having a look inside the cars, they had treats and face painting and the Garda brass band was playing.... Dylan decided this week he wants to be a Garda!

 

 

They had a great day, and I think Daddy secretly thought so too! 

First day at school

  So the baby of the house started school, we throw ourselves rather reluctantly into the next stage of her life. She is now a school child, I can't bring myself to believe that our baby has started school, the days are going by far too fast. We were dreading the first few days with her, but they have gone by without any problem. She went in and was slightly upset when we had to leave but settled down really quickly, she was a little apprehensive one or two other days but all in all she did really well and we are really very very proud of her.

 

Dylan started third class this year and he was delighted to get back into it, he wasn't so delighted with the photos though. It's funny to see the photo enthusiasm wane each year! He has a lovely teacher and he has started his supplementary classes in English and Maths, so I think he will really do very well this year in school. We are so proud of our big boy...

 

So here's our yearly back to school photo shoot....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we start on Lauren's first step of school, and Dylan's first step into the senior cycle in school, I like to reflect on how lucky we are to have the opportunity to send our children safely to school each day and  how lucky we are to have a great education system. I am proud of the children they are, and the adults they are working hard to be.

 

Good luck to my wonderful kiddies for the school year ahead! 

Last days of summer 2013

We have really enjoyed the summer, the last weekend of summer we went for a walk in the woods just a short drive from our house. It's a beautiful place to take photos.... we had a lovely walk, and on Sunday Dylan had his first day back at Rugby for the season.
 

 

 Lauren and mommy decided to snuggle up in the big bed and watch the Smurfs movie.... it was lovely and cosy!
 

 

 We just relaxed for last few days of the summer holidays.  The kids had a great summer and we are thankful for the wonderful weather we were lucky to have. Here are some photos from the beautiful forest...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Goodbye summer 2013!

 

  

 

Here's to the start of the school year ahead!

Summer fun 2013

We had a busy summer here... on Monday I took the kids to get there new uniforms, I nearly didn't hold back the tears looking at Lauren in her track suit for the first time.  This feels like it has happened so quickly, her first day of school is two weeks away it's such a big milestone

 

Look at the cuteness!

 

 

The week before I took her to get her first pair of school shoes......

 

 

Dylan lost one tooth

 

 

but had to have three removed under general anaesthetic. The first dentist we saw said they had gone bad but we went for a second opinion, this dentist did some X rays and determined that they were damaged during his birth, there was no enamel on one and the nerve was exposed.  She said that teeth he's had in his mouth for 4 years are perfect but these teeth that were there a year had this much decay, she said that would suggest to her that the teeth came in bad.  So she suggested we remove the teeth, they also removed another loose one for safety during surgery. So it was all a bit traumatic! He even had a welt on his lip, my small baby boy :( but he did great!

 

It is bottom and top left molar

 

 

The kids have been having fun with their au pair Victoria, it has been great having a bit of help around here over the summer

 

 

We even had a water balloon fight or two!

 

 

 

 

I went to some great conferences, the highlight was meeting Dr Obagi!!!

 

 

I even caught up with friends since we had a baby sitter

                                                                              

 

 

We have had lots of fun, but there is still two more weeks left of the summer holidays... we will have to live it up!