sometimes

:: the toy that belongs to someone else (Daddy) is way more fun than the hundreds you have of your own.

:: being able to get outside after months cooped up in the house has almost miraculous effects on sibling relationships!

:: we have no idea of how lucky we are. We lived on 10 litres of water per person for 36 hours this weekend as part of a challenge set by our church for Tear Fund Sunday. Not as easy as you think when a single toilet flush=6 litres.

:: I am amazed at how his imagination works. This is ski jumping - rear view (obviously) because he didn't want me to take a picture. The skis are sword scabbards and the poles are swords. Just in case you want to try it for yourself. You have to make your own shusshhing noises for it to be completely effective!

:: you have to just embrace the latest craze and go with it.

:: I am so proud of them that I am fit to burst. Patrick won a little shield in his BB display last night along with a couple of other participation prizes and honestly, I don't think I'd be any more proud if it was an Olympic medal.

:: it's just great to have Daddy at home!

 

:: creativity strikes and I make stuff.

 

:: you just get one chance to get the perfect shot. Today I got it :)

Happy Mother's Day x

10 things

It seems I'm in the middle of a rather busy patch right now. School is busy frantic. Patrick has a crazy social life, way more so than mine. Although that really wouldn't be hard! Michael is working a lot of overtime. Conor is pushing the boundaries, and then some! And there is much wedding dress hunting to be done with my sister. So in the midst of the busyness, and spurred on by several blogs I'm reading at the minute, I thought I would take the time to pause and think about the lovely bits of life that I so often overlook and share a list with you. A list of goodness if you like. Let's begin, shall we?

1. The sun has been shining for the past few days, and it is nothing short of glorious. Even Patrick says so!

2. One benefit of sunshine is being able to open the back door and tip the boys out there! Cricket is apparently an all year round sport!

3. A favourite blog of mine has a fab giveaway today! Lisa Leonard, who makes the most beautiful hand-stamped jewellery, is giving away this gorgeous necklace. Oh how I hope I win one! And if I don't, one of you could perhaps email Michael a link to the store with a gentle comment about Mother's Day.

4. Daffodils bought for me by my in-laws - a little bit of spring for my hall table.

5. School may be frantic, but it's all the nicer for the return of Sheila after her shocking ski fall and pelvis fracture! Love her :)

6. Being part of organising a wedding without any of the stress and hassle, because it's not my wedding! I've been having lots of fun watching Lesley try on dresses galore, but am starting to worry that it won't be long before I have to step into a posh frock myself - not so sure my winter blubber is ready for this just yet!

7. Girls' night on Thursday. I do so love the monthly get-togethers with 6 fab friends, the chat, the food, the laughter and the not-so-occasional tear. Because if you can't share all this with your girlfriends, it's not really worth sharing at all. And I always feel so amazingly uplifted after a night with them. Girls totally rock!

8. Rows of Easter eggs on the supermarket shelves. Mmmm! They look so good, and so far I have resisted the temptation. Must....resist....for....operation.....bridesmaid.....dress.....! (see point 6 above!)

9. Lots and lots of amazing blogs to read out there. I've added some new ones to my sidebar over there recently. You should check some of them out if you haven't already. So much to inspire and encourage. And who couldn't use even a smidgen more of that?

10. A finished scrapbook project! I know, you thought I preferred the half-finished kind. I am so pleased with this one that documents our week in Bushmills in 2008.

 

 

Now tell me, what are you loving right now?
 
  
  
 

Training

for the Winter Olympics 2026 skeleton

 

And you thought it was just a small boy in his jammies and crash helmet lying on a cushion. Shame on you!  

Bushmills

What more could you ask for?  
  
  
 
 

playing

When 2 of my daily blog stops both directed me to the flickr word spell thingy it would have seemed nothing short of rude not to use it myself. And that's what happened to an hour of my life earlier today, just playing with words and seeing the variety of letters to choose from. I love the internet! So I present to you, my one little word for 2010 - CALM

And then I thought I could use it to share some exciting family news about my sister who is now

 
 
 
Very exciting news for the family indeed! We are super excited about getting to keep the fabulous Scott in the family, especially for his tireless commitment to games of cricket in the back garden! Eyes peeled from here on for tales from the matron of honour (that would be me). And also a prize for anyone who can come up with a better title than matron - not sure how long I can take the 'ooh, Matron!' gags. Any HELPFUL suggestions welcome in the comments!
 
 
 
 

life

Sometimes it just flies past and you really have no recollection of where the time went. It's not like there hasn't been a lot going on, in fact, quite the opposite. Which is possibly the cause of this slight absence from life. What with birthdays and parties, lots of nights in school and a pretend life in my head where I make stuff and own a fabulous shop, I've hardly had time to stop and draw breath. Not to mention the amazing tv choices to be had this season - Thursday nights are almost crashing my Sky+ planner in my attempt not to miss anything! So let me share a little of what's been going on.

Firstly, someone burst right out of toddlerdom and into little boy-hood. Conor turned 4 a couple of weeks ago. We celebrated with 3 cakes, 5 friends and lots of family. It would be fair to say that it was a rather train oriented event! In fact, as far as presents went, if it didn't run on steam or at least have a picture of a train on it, it was rather a waste of time and money! His playgroup shared a cake and made him a birthday crown and then we had a small party with just a few of his friends. He's not much of a one for crowds or fuss so it was a simple affair of musical statues, pass the parcel and crispie buns. What more could you need? Well, you would need another cake the next day for your actual birthday so that you can blow out more candles with your family watching!

 
  
Michael has been busy this week putting up some of the things we want to decorate our walls with. This is my particular favourite - it's hanging above our cloakroom door so that no matter how bad the day may look, you can leave the house with a giggle! It's a question many of you may not have considered before, but I think it's worth a thought, don't you?

I'm also loving this (our friends choose the most amazing presents - lucky, lucky us!) We're having great fun measuring every visitor to the house, and the boys are longing for the day they make it to the next height. I'm as big as an average jockey. A career I hadn't thought of, but may do now that I know I fit at least one of the criteria. (If being able to ride a horse is vital then I may have to reconsider!)

Amidst all the busyness of life in January, I have also managed to create a few layouts. Believe me, it's more of a shock to me than anyone! I feel like my creative groove is, well, grooving. I've reorganised my study and purged lots of my supplies (the guilt of living with so much unused stuff was dragging me down, not to mention how rude it would be to buy more stuff while all that was lying around. This clearly now means that I can go right ahead and load that 2peas wish list into my bucket!!) As a result, I am able to create in a calm and inspiring environment!

Now, if I ramble on about anything else I will have no choice but to abandon blogging for another 3 weeks! Instead, you should pop over to Sheila's blog where she will be delighted to receive visits and comments to while away the weeks as she recovers from a broken pelvis courtesy of the school ski trip! Be nice to her - 6 weeks is a long time, especially with a zimmer frame!  

Em, where is our snow?

For the second year running I find myself becoming more and more obsessed with the weather. And not because it has snowed so much that we can't get the car out of the driveway. No, I am obsessed because we have ZERO snow in our driveway! For weeks now I have patiently endured the postcard images on TV as every news broadcast describes in detail how Britain is in the grip of the worst winter for 30 years. I have watched more sledding than the BBC will show on the winter Olympics; looked on in amazement as people wade knee deep in freshly fallen snow; marvelled as the reporters have held rulers against the stack of snow on a car roof and wondered, along with the rest of the nation, what will actually happen if we really do run out of grit! I have wished and I have prayed. I have given myself a crick in my neck gazing upwards and willing clouds of snow to gather in the bright blue sunshiny sky! And all for nothing more than the odd skiff which quickly turns to ice, and then lingers in the driveway just waiting for the moment I step on it and upend myself in a less than graceful manner!

So I have no snowy pictures to share with you - but you won't have to venture too far into blogland to find those. Even Sheila, who lives a mere 12 miles from me, had a fabulous snow day yesterday! No, I only have frost pictures. Which are very pretty. And, indeed, the lack of snow makes them special in themselves!

However, on the bright side of our meteorological misfortune, it is quite possible that Patrick's day might not have been as exciting as it was today. Mini rugby had to be moved indoors due to frozen pitches for the second week in a row, and it coincided with the Six Nations and Triple Crown trophies stopping off for some photo opportunities. All very exciting for a 6 year old (and his family and friends!) Never one to miss a photo opportunity we arrived good and early for our turn. I'm going to hang this picture in his room to keep him focused on his future as a professional sportsman!

To top it all off the teams had their photo taken for the local newspaper - no prizes for guessing who had their grubby mitts on the Triple Crown! We all await this week's Spectator with much anticipation (copies to be forwarded to several special blog readers who will be chuffed to see future Irish rugby hands on the trophy of glory!!) 

I will leave you now to go and check if any snow has fallen yet and then to watch the new series of CSI:NY to discover which of the team survived the drive-by shooting at the end of the last series. Personally I don't think it looks good for either Lindsay or Danny!
 
 

Our year

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Christmas questions

1. Where does the day go to?

2. Why did we even bother wrapping so many presents?

3. Was all that chocolate and mulled wine really necessary? (this one's rhetorical!!)

4. Did we focus enough on the important things?

5. What happened to exciting Christmas tv?

6. Why don't we gather as a huge family more often in the year?

7. Should we buy more chairs so that they all match next year and no one has to bring their own?

8. How come there's always one present left under the tree?

9. How can I keep the boys small so that there will always be this wonder and joy over it all?

10. How are we going to wait another year to do it all over again?!

These are just a few of the questions that have been wandering around the conscious parts of my brain the past few days. Clearly there are more pressing ones like where in the name of goodness are we actually going to put Conor's train set? Or at what point should we start eating normally again at the table with cutlery? But these can wait maybe another few days, until the start of the new year when I can actually find the will to do anything constructive. For now I am more than content to linger on the settee eating more Roses and watching the few good programmes we recorded over the past few days and allow the festive feelings to continue to wash over me! Before I go back to doing just that, let me share a few photos from Christmas Day. It would be fair to say that Lego, trains and cricket accessories were the big hits of the day! On a side note, I took 123 photos of all the people who were part of our day, and Michael took 3 of me - I am trying to be grateful for those 3 but given my 'just out of bed' hair and bright red dressing gown I'm thinking a tripod and the timer are the way forward for next year!

Now enough about our Christmas - how was yours?

'twas the night before Christmas

and all through the house parents were wondering where the past month had gone and hoping that nothing important on anybody's lists had been forgotten! Just thought I'd share a few photos from nativities and Santa visits before the excitement comes to a head tomorrow.

Patrick had a very important role as Wise Man #2 in his nativity. Such a fun show that allowed every child their moment of glory on the stage - mums across the hall were slightly weepy!

Conor's role was no less important. He was a shepherd, but not just any shepherd. He was the one who got to carry the sheep, which he defended valiantly when one shepherd turned rogue and attempted a sheep-napping! It was obvious who had the older brother and was used to holding on tightly to what he had in his hands!

 

This is my favourite photo of the year of him - LOVE that smile :)

We had a lovely visit to see Santa at Mountstewart last week, complete with quiz trail, crafts, hot chocolate and a ride in a horse-drawn carriage to see the man himself. You have to soak up the wonder of it all while they're small, don't you think?

Clearly it was necessary to photograph the one snowy day of the year. Alas, it has now disappeared and there is little chance of a white Christmas in this neck of the woods, but for a few hours last Sunday it was almost magical.

Which brings us to tonight, the most exciting night of the year. The mince pies and shortbread are out for Santa, there are carrots and some water for the reindeer, and there are two very tired and excited little boys tucked up in bed (no doubt with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads!)

 

I wish you glad tidings and much festive cheer. We will be singing 'Happy Birthday' to baby Jesus and opening our presents with much anticipation tomorrow before our families join us for the mega meal. However you will be spending yours, I wish you the merriest of Christmases x