Wishing

The good thing about an Amazon Wish List is that they're not just for birthdays.....tis soon the season to be jolly.




Click the title for a top top 80's chooooooon.

Country House

A brief recap of the past year...

Thriller

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

This is our first pumpkin very kindly bought for us by Andrea and Johnny when they visited.
After S and Siún carved it up I made us a crispy pancetta with roasted pumpkin risotto.
Thank you Donal Skehan.

Speaking of dinner ages ago I asked for photos of your dinners and got one response:
This is Jackie and Peter's haddock in tomato basil and other things sauce, very tasty looking it is too. Thanks Dr Jax!

Anyway, stick with us, I'm sure there'll be an interesting post along sometime soon.

Happy Birthday

It's been tooooo long. Excuses are - still working hard on the house, not as hard as previously admittedly and just generally being a bit knackered of an evening but we must try harder. I do have a little something to put together so I'll try and get that on soon.

In the meantime, it is the wee fella's first birthday today and we're having a small party - not for him exactly, more of a house warming. He doesn't know but he is happy enough now walking everywhere.

Otherwise, despite the odd jobs here and there, everything is good with us all. Obviously we're dreading the budget in December where S is expecting (along with all public sector workers) a 7% pay cut, plus a cut in child benefit and god knows what else. It's going to be hard.

As an afterthought, just in case, no pressure but perhaps I thought maybe some fair warning just on the off chance, well, it's my birthday at the end of November - the big naughty forty would you adam and believe it. Naturally a flight to South Africa in June is at the top of my list but for the more economically minded I have an Amazon wish list as usual and let me make two things very clear i) I don't expect anything at all and ii) I do not mind second hand goods (recycle man, that's the key).

A more interesting post later....

Guaranteed.

(That is not a guarantee)

PS - coolest birthday song ever, click the post title

Girls on Film

Two songs I'm currently enjoying, that also happen to have hot girls in them.

First the new love of my life Zooey Deschanel actress and She in She & Him:




And groovy Irish band Fred who have a few good songs under their belt:



Working hard on house still.....

Giggs Will Tear You Apart

Blitzcorner | Manchester United 4- 3 Manchester City Michael Owen Goal Video

Couldn't resist!

Click the title for the best song of all time.

Four to the Floor

Another poor video, very rushed and the script writer should be shot. Nevertheless, it gets the main points across. Although I neglected to point out the new flooring throughout - carpets and everything. Every night we work till at least 10pm on cleaning, painting, fixing, moving in the hope that one day it might be ready. Doors are ordered and due next week and the proper workers (my mum & dad) are due tomorrow which should be a big help. All in all we're loving it.

Obviously the late nights and lack of outside activities means there's not a lot to mention hence the lack of info so far but we'll be back to photos and drivelly twaddle as soon as we can....

Bet you can't wait.


PS - anyone know any cheap routes to South Africa or any cheap accommodation out there?

Slight Return

Lots going on, not a lot of time/access to internet. Until normal service is resumed here is the latest episode of MTV Cribs:

Daddy Cool

Happy Fathers Day

A Horse With No Name

Back from Kazakhstan, where horses were tamed, trousers invented, where all apples originate and where they eat horses, don't they (billboard for horse meat restaurant above).

A very interesting place with spectacular snow capped mountain views (the illegal taxis were also ace) and we did the usual school visit and wreath laying as this video testifies:
The military band did some excellent choreography after the ceremony to lift everyones spirits to a medley of tunes from My Fair Lady, Tie A Yellow Ribbon and some other favourites. Apparently they are due to tour the UK this year - catch them if you can, excellent stuff!

We bumped into Sir Trev(or Brooking), Lord Triesman, Gordon Taylor, Chris Waddle and Graham Taylor out there. In actual fact I was directly behind Graham Taylor in the queue for passport control. We got to the front only to have some airline staff push in front of us. Taylor turned to me and said "Do I not like that!"

Nana and Pops did a great job helping S out with the kids whilst I was away, big thanks to them:Building works are on-going:The end is in sight but with the builders due to break through into the house destroying our only kitchen and working in the kids bedroom too, me and the god-forbids are off to England leaving S to have lie ins, project manage the house and source items with which to feather our family nest.

Very sadly this means I'll miss a lot of things going on here such as Finn Harps v Ipswich Town, Fawlty Towers Dining Experience (performance art with a dinner, part of the Earigail Arts festival) and S's birthday! A small sacrifice for the greater good - though I am not looking forward to flying with two kids on my own!

Marys Prayer

So the Legion of Mary popped round and asked if we wanted to take the statue of the Virgin for family prayers for a week. S tried to explain we weren't really into that sort of voodoo but they said no matter take her for a week anyway, so we ended up trying to find uses for her...

Headphones holder
Teether
Dolly
Then we decided she was best off looking after the holy Spirit
See you in hell.....

Lost Weekend

We had planned a lovely weekend away visiting Aedin and Caoimhe in Dublin and seeing my mum and dad and Auntie Anne who were over for a wedding. It all started to go wrong as soon as we got there. Just as we arrived at Aedin's on Friday night my dad rang and said they were going home the next day once they got a flight as Anne was very ill and was in hospital. However, the next day her treatment had been enough that she felt better even though she was out of hospital she needed to sleep for most of the day. So we saw my mum & dad and had a few hours with them. We then had the evening with Aedin having a lovely time until just at bed time Murphy started vomiting and then once he was empty he retched for another two hours. Just as we were ringing the out of hours doctor service he fell asleep and slept through the night. At 1.30am Siún woke up and vomited everywhere. The next day (Sunday) each feed we gave Murphy he vomited back up so we decided to head home early. They slept well enough in the car until we stopped for lunch. To be safe and being worried about dehydration we tried to give Murph just sterlised water. He took it well enough, but threw it up as well. So once we hit Donegal we went straight to the out of hours service who referred him straight to the hospital. So we headed home to drop me and Siún off then S and Murphy would go on to the hospital. As we arrived home Siún threw up everywhere in the car. So we unpacked quickly S and Murph headed to hospital and I put Siún in the bath and then to bed. S and Murphy ended up staying in hospital two nights until he started keeping the rehydrating liquid and his feed down. They got home yesterday and we're only now starting to get back to normal.

We are never going away again.

Windowlicker

Windows are in! Well mostly:

Have Love, Will Travel

Happy Valentines Day! Today is our Valentines Day. Years ago in order not to get mixed up in the commercial singles rip off day we decided to ditch VD and celebrate the day we first met as our valentines day instead, which is today. 9 years ago today in fact. So, the FA Cup final must be soon. So we have booked a babysitter and are off out for a nice meal tonight. Lovely.

I'm loving the MP's expenses crisis. Best laugh I've had in years. At least it's getting people interested in politics again and the more transparency the more people can haul the pigs snouts out of the trough. Dog food? Light bulbs?? Moats??????

I'm counting down the days to Kazakhstan (current weather in Almaty = 25 C). Less than two weeks away now. I have my list of phrases, restaurants and bars which took a fair bit of sourcing as there isn't that much info readily available out there. I just had my jab for Hep A and Typhoid. My Diptheria and Tetanus is still working from when I got them for Morocco. I had a little bit of trouble ordering the vaccine in the pharmacy here in town. I had done some research on t'web and spoken to the nurse in the health centre and she'd done some research for me for what I needed and then told me I had to order it from the chemist in town and she would administer it. Duly I phone the pharmacy and when I told them the vaccination was for Kazakhstan the conversation went something like this:
“Where?”
“Kazakhstan”
“Pakistan?”
“No, Kazakhstan”
“How do you spell it?”
blah blah blah
“Oh, we don't have information for that one, where is it?”
“Well, it borders Russia and China – it's larger than Western Europe”
“Well, we have Russia and China – for China you need Hep A, Typhoid, Diptheria, Tetanus, Malaria”
“I don't need Dipth or Tet as I had those in the last 10 yrs. And you don't need Malaria for Kazakhstan”
“But for some parts of China you need Malaria”
“I'm not going to China”
“Well, you want to be safe on holiday”
“Yes, but I won't be in China”
Then when I went to pick it up they told me they'd be thinking about my vaccinations and suggested that Diptheria and Tetanus only last 5 years. I explained that the nurse (a health professional) had said it was 10 yrs. They reiterated about being safe on holiday but I managed to have it my way. Bless them they were only trying to help by making things complicated.

This weekend we're off to Dublin to see Aedin and Caoimhe and meet up with my mum and dad who are over for a family wedding. Which'll be nice. And Breda popped up yesterday to see us and the building works. She brought a lovely bottle of wine and some christmas cake which S tucked into straight away.

The kids are doing very well. Murphy is now sitting up on his own mostly successfully. He still grumbles a fair bit but since S sorted out his daily routine he's much happier and smiles and laughs loads, loves attention and sleeps great. He goes down at 7pm and wakes up around 6am on the whole. To get to sleep he needs to have a blanket which he pulls up to cover his face before he drops off. Very cute. He's obviously teething as he dribbles loads and has a little rash under his chin fro it. He was ill last week for two days with a high temperature (39.9 C) which must have been his teeth too.

Siún is great. Nursery two full days a week now, which is the only reason I survive each week. She has more words but still not a great talker though her two favourite phrases are “Where x gone?” where x can equal cat, daddy, mammy, car, digger, etc. etc. and “What's daaaaaaaaat?” She's almost counting but when ever you ask how many sheep/cows/cups/balls there are she always responds with “Fourfivesix!” She's been very good on the days we haven't been able to get out due to rain/diggers/etc. She's also become quite interested in ladybirds and butterflies and loves seeing them in the garden.

We visited Andrea and Johnny and their two boys last weekend in Letterkenny and stayed over the Saturday night. We had a great time, saw their fabulous looking new building works and popped up to Fanad to see the lighthouse nad feel the wind in our faces:With some really good weather recently our building works are coming along at a rapid pace. The builder has told us it should be done by end of June (which it won't be) but I keep checking with him every week just as a bit of incentive. The windows are going in tomorrow and we've already done our first bit of painting, the steel pole:And the solar tubes are in:
Right, for a bit of two way interaction I was going to ask that you send me a photo of one of your dinners/lunches/breakfast. Don't phone in it's just for fun. It should be the easiest thing in the world, just take a snap of whatever you're about to eat and email it over perhaps even with a bit of a description/recipe? What do you think? To start here's mine Gremolata (parsley, lemon, pepper, breadcrumbs coated) Pork with Lemon Spinach and boiled spuds:
Not a great photo, so you must be able to do better? Get them sent.

Click the title for fabulous Sonics. Oh, and you must must must read these reviews!

Nice Weather for Ducks

Bad weather currently and pre pay day so not much going on. In the meantime, here's another vid and some more pics:

Kitchen being planned:
Electrics going in:
Roof sealed:

Music in the title...

Magic Smile

It's magic, smile:



The song on the vid is by the hot right now Megan Washington from Australia of all places.

As ever, click the title for the 80's one hit wonder.

Fever

So, Swine Flu pandemic has been and gone. Not as harsh as Bird Flu and they're both wusses compared to Foot and Mouth. I swear the media here almost celebrated when Swine Flu was confirmed in one man here. What with this and the G20 protests in London, when is the media going to go back to reporting the news rather than trying to create it? News as entertainment indeed.

Well, we had a nice time in Athlone in the camper. S was on another course and with the disappearance of expenses for accommodation (and course fees) the cheapest option for us was camping. It was a nice little site on Lough Ree just north of Athlone Town. Weather was superb except the day we travelled down and overnight on the second night. Camper worked a treat and the kids loved feeding the ducks on the lough.

Back home for the Cup o' Tae festival, lots of music, I even managed to get to watch some footy and drink a few pints o' the black stuff. Siún loved the street dancers and music all over the place. And the weather was perfect for it. We also had a visit from my Auntie Pauline who was over with some workmates. It was great to see her.

Bank Holiday Monday and the weather is poor today. Building works are coming on. Two roofs sealed and a lot of the electrical wiring has been placed.

We've have Skype up and running and even have a webcam so Nana & Pops and Auntie Jen can see us and more importantly the kids anytime now - and all for free! Obviously those that pooh pooh blogs/twitter/facebook/blip.fm/email/etc. will have no interest in something so thoroughly modern...

Click the title for the lovely Peggy Lee.

The Gallery

The new gate and discovered steps:














On the beach:














At the radio show:





















The open farm in Athlone:





Click the title for the classic Take Hart moment.

Raging Bull

Click title for music....

Hello, Again

Obviously, I've enjoyed doing the blog too much to give up and it's a great diary for ourselves reminding us of odd things that we would easily have forgotten and also forcing us to take photos of things we wouldn't normally.

So, we're back, hope you missed us.

The UK budget is today and it sounds as if many more people are going to be hurting as we are here in Ireland. It is hard at the moment but it does make you stop and value what is more valuable, not the price of things but the freedom of choice.

Naturally, there has been lots going on, the biggest of which is S is back at work as of last Monday. Which leaves me with two kids and no car as my classic car doesn't have rear seat belts! Monday wasn't too bad (till the afternoon) and yesterday and today is a breeze as Siún is at nursery all day on these days now - though we have to monitor the cost of this as it may not be sustainable.

So, it was just to say hello again...and here's some pics.

Remember, click the post title to hear the song....


The camping holiday

Mother Stands for Comfort

We had a nice Mothering Sunday yesterday, even if I say so myself. I cooked a four course meal for S and Granny M with a little help from Grumps, the slow barman and bottle washer.

The menu was: Breakfast Martini, baked pancetta wrapped asparagus with soft boiled eggs, fillet steak with mushroom brandy butter sauce with tomato fondue and dark chocolate pecan biscotti with white chocolate soup! The two women were very happy and the kids were very well behaved, so smiles all round.

I am thinking this will be the last posting on the blog. I had started it to keep in touch with people but we don't get many emails or calls and so it feels a bit like shouting in an empty room. It makes us feel like we're dominating the conversation like the biggest bore at the party, which makes us feel selfish. Here we are jabbering on and on about how we unfolded our camper and we know little to nothing about your good self.

Anyway, so many thanks to all for reading, I will miss doing it (especially now I've found Windows Movie Maker on the laptop), and S wants me to register her dislike for this decision. Still, with the pay cut that has been forced on S by the government and there being no reason for me to seek work in this unemployment black spot due to nursery fees, we probably won't be up to much for the foreseeable future. And let's face it, the blog wasn't exactly exciting to read. So we're going back to good old fashioned email, where things are much more two way, interractive and inclusive.

So, just to end, one last time here are some summaries of recent events:
bike and car are up and running again and have been out on bike in the recent good weather (pic below); building works coming on, roofs on including our weird funny space age roof (some goods pics); S won us a day at a hotel spa which we are using tomorrow; went to see finn harps legends v man utd legends (incl. Frazier Digby, Bryan Robson, Lee Sharpe, Sammy McIlroy, Lee Martin, Clayton Blackmore, David May, remember them....); finished watching The Wire (was going to title the post End of the Line (geddit) by Travelling Wilburys, was looking forward to No 1 Ladies Detective Agency but it aint The Wire yo; Siún loves dancing to Blondie these days (rhyming debutante and restaurant, still genius); down overall on cheltenham this year; cool septic tank story (when I say cool I mean unexciting and stinky); lambs are in the fields; missed two Croke Park opportunities U2 & Ireland; took Siún to her first theatre experience (pic above); now have a twitter account - don't understand it but man does Stephen Fry use it a lot; we have moved the kids into one room - have to get up a bit earlier these days but generally good; rugby; new indian restaurant in town; currently liking bands of american bent like MGMT, Fleet Foxes, Empire of the Sun, vampire weekend.

I should have done this ages ago but I've only just realised I could - Adili, which means ethical and just in swahili, are an ethical clothing company that do some lovely stuff and the kids clothes are so cool - why not take a look at www.adili.com. And, no, I don't get any money for this.


create free polls | comment on this

Maybe see you at Thatchfest soon? I think it's going to be a fallow year this year due to health and safety reasons.



The End, take care

Video Killed the Radio Star

Lots to tell but we've been a little too tired of an evening to get the laptop out and click away, so here's a short film in the interval before the main feature, try to watch with sound:

Big rugby day tomorrow...

Happy St Patricks Day

Photos from the local parade on Sunday, heading out to another one today. Spraoi a dhéanamh.

Alone Again Or

S is away this weekend in Nottingham with Murphy. She's gone over for Rosie's birthday, so me and the girl are back to our old ways of when Mammy used to work for a living. We've been getting on well and there's been a few more biscuits than usual. The weather isn't great but we're putting a brave face on it.

League of Ireland season started yesterday and Harps are playing Kildare County away tonight. Hopefully I'll be able to attend the first home game next weekend.

Murph is coming on strong. S worked her Supermum magic and has now got him taking about 6ozs of milk twice a day from the bottle. He sleeps regularly during the day and now and again will sleep through till about 6am. Which is nice....

Whilst they're away I should be enjoying uninterrupted sleep, though annoyingly I seem to wake during the night for no apparent reason. Tonight though I have lit the fire in the bedroom as well as front room and will snuggle down early doors (on a Saturday!) in front of the roaring fire. Simple pleasures.....

Roof joists went on the new bedroom yesterday, which is exciting. Oh, how my life has changed.

Way Down In The Hole

Whilst we were in the UK we made a couple of historic purchases. The first and biggest was what is termed a folding camper. With the growing family and with the successful Germany camping holiday we decided camping was the future cheap family holiday way to go. To that end we did a bit of research and soul searching as to what type of camping equipment we would prefer. A caravan was out as they are just too wrong. A tent was fairly quickly discounted as, no longer being a spring chicken, I do not relish sleeping on floors anymore. We were intrigued by trailer tents where you sleep off the ground but still have to peg out the main body of the structure. So we settled on a folding camper where you sleep off the ground but the top half of the trailer is canvas and folds down to make a low trailer and up to make a caravan type vehicle. There's no pegging out, when you pull out the beds the canvas raises itself and you can be making a cup of tea sitting at your table within 10 mins. You can attach the awning and usually do if you're stopping a while, but it's comfortable enough without. Our preferred model was the Conway Cruiser and whilst we were in Redditch we found one for sale on eBay just down the road in Stoke on Trent. It was a bargain, so we went and inspected it, bought it and parked it up in Redditch. We then came home, got a tow bar attached and I headed back to collect it on my own. I was bricking towing it all the way back home having never towed a thing in my life - but so long as I didn't have to reverse I was safe enough. It's here now, we've given it a good clean and are planning to take it for on holiay to Castlebar, Athlone, and Achill Island. The photo above is our actual camper but two of the photos below are merely representative of our particular model:The real historic purchase was made in Redditch Kingfisher shopping centre. It was the last day of trading for Woolworth shops and out of a morbid curiosity we popped into the one there. It was actually quite sad, the shop was extremely bare, even the wall coveirngs had gone exposing the breeze block walls behind. There were piles of items stacked against the walls and basically just the tills left. In a section just by the tills were a number of fixtures and fittings, including a 'Wet Floor' warning cone for £2. However, my eye was immediately drawn to a leather chair set on a metal frame the type you would see in a staff canteen room. It had the bargain knock down price of £3 on it and I had no shame in carting it to the till and all the way home. It's sitting in a loft in Redditch awaiting pride of place in the new extension here where it will forever be known as the Woolworths chair.

Coming home coincided with the end of my Vodafone mobile internet contract, so I duly gave notice and decided to give O2 broadband a go. o2 do have a transmitter in town but we are on the edge of the internet range so it was hit and miss whether it would work. Imagine my joy when our crappy old Vodafone 56kbps was joyously converted to 1.2Mbps of O2 lovelyness. Hence the blog updating maniac. It now takes me less than 5 mins to update 6 actual sized photos as opposed to twenty minutes to upload up to 2 reduced quality pics. And we can actual view YouTube and log on to Facebook. We are positively giddy with the new possibilities. Good news for us, bad news for anyone bothering to read this tripe....

As I may have mentioned we've been enjoying series 1-4 of The Wire. Fantastic series with top notch actors and terrific writing. I purchased them on Amazon but demand has been so high that I have been selling them on eBay after we've watched them and almost getting my money back. Now tell me, who doesn't love to recycle? We've just started series 5 (the last series) and we're already wondering what will replace it once we've finished? I've heard 24 is supposed to be alright...

Electricity

Having been away in a nice warm house for the month of January, whilst the cottage has been getting cold, we thought, at least we'd be saving money on bills, etc. because without our central heating we've been using the woodburner for the living room and electric heaters for the kids rooms. However, this was not the case. Despite being out of the cottage for 5 weeks of the 8 week billing period (1 week in the house rented over christmas) we arrived home to a bill that was nearly €100 more than the last despite the lack of activity! Well, immediately we went in to investigative mode but only proved that running three electric heaters for a few hours in the morning and evening and a hot water immersion for showers is VERY expensive. Imagine how much it would have been had we been here - I dread to think. So, from this day on we are on an embargo. Instead of using the heaters we are all wearing more clothes and drinking lots of tea - I warm the kids rooms just before they go to bed, but that's all. Me and the wife huddle round the stove in the living room of an evening, with fleece blankets over our knees. It's the way it used to be, I suppose. It's very good for the blood, I'm sure, but I can't wait to have central heating again. In fact we've been feverishly monitoring and crunching the electric meters numbers on a daily basis and we've managed to bring down our daily consumption rate from 45 units per day to, 'currently', 19 units. Call me crazy and unhinged but I'm trying to get it lower still. In fact, S was so shocked by the bill she's actually turning lights off after her!

Money is too tight to mention currently as we are literally living off the one salary now. My money is no more so it's all up to S now and she is about to experience a pay cut thanks to the Irish government's new genius strategy of making pulic sector workers pay for the credit crunch - not bankers, not the rich, just public sector workers like gardai, nurses, O.T.'s, firemen, etc. With that in mind I've sadly had to lump phone and texts into the cut backs and so will no longer be sending texts but I will of course reply to any sent. It's free communication for us these days - email is king.

But this is the same for everybody in the current recession, surely?



PS - that last post was my 100th! Aint no thing.

Kids

The kids are well and survived the month away from home though Siún was a bit out of sorts and Murphy was craving a routine. We only really realised this after we got home.

Smurf is racing away. He's already more than half Siún's weight and is a handful. He won't take the bottle, does about 2 ozs a day, and is usually up about twice a night. We thought he'd be like Siún who slept between her three hourly feeds anytime anywhere. He, however, needs to be put down, somewhere quiet regularly, and even then he usually tries to fight it for 5 mins or so. Before we enforced the routine he used to be cranky all day but now he's a lot more fun. He's very smiley and giggly and he loves his big sister. He still has most of his hair (unlike his dad) which again is unlike Siún who lost all hers at about 3 months. It usually sits in a fluffy mohican style but is starting to settle now. Well, at least we have teething to look forward to.

Siún is as happy as ever, bouncing around and finding everything interesting. She's now started a whole day at nursery so she's now doing a day and a half a week. That whole day is now a special time in the Ibbs household. She's loving going swimming and also singing her strange little songs into "microphones" whenever she can. Her words are coming on with away, muddy and sock being recent favourites. As the weather has been better recently we've been getting out into the garden a bit more which really makes her happy. Whilst we were in England I managed to fulfill a 24 year old "dream" (it's very mild for a dream) and I took the family to see the Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral. It was great to see it after such a long time of wanting to and Siún certainly enjoyed bouncing up and down the corridor echoing through the church (luckily it wasn't busy) and she loved using the pointing stick to jab at sections of the map - luckily it's behind very strong glass. She's also been really happy since we got home - happy to be back at nursery, and toddler group and happy to be in her own bedroom with her toys and teddies (pictured above).


Siún recently received a ladybird plastic rain hat posted from the UK but there was no clue as to who sent it - so whoever did thanks, she loves it and wore it around the house the whole day when we received it.

Don't forget, click on the post title for the groovy modern song!

For Your Eyes Only

Whilst in Redditch we popped to see some family and I have to say I was intrigued by my Auntie Anne.

The first time we saw her she had a black eye and looked like she'd gone three rounds with some sort of super spy. Next time, she had changed further and had shaved her hair off, almost as if she wanted to change her appearance - disguise herself perhaps. Some say it's just the cancer but after I saw her in her grey boiler suit I suddenly recognised the pattern:

After we left, I heard she'd moved into her new property, or "compound", which has "a lot more space" apparently and in which, I've been told, she has her own office, with, I'm sure, a secret lever or button.

I expect that the next time I see her she'll be sitting in her office, surrounded by atlases, stroking her white pussy (not through old age), planning world domination and demanding a ransom of "one hundred million dollars!".

Back to Life (Back to Reality)

I hope you're all well and still checking the blog despite another hiatus, but this one has a fair excuse. I won't go into everything that's happened in one posting, instead I'll spread it out over a few so that hopefully you'll come back for more and also so that I have a few reasons to update over the coming featureless February weeks.

So christmas hit us and what a good time we had. Lots of people were around for it and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, kids and all! Of course Boxing Day was the big Ruby Wedding Anniversary for Nanna and Pops. We bought them a family photo shoot and some previews can be seen here. (needless to say I nearly always have a stupid expression on my face - how does that happen?). We also planned a surprise party for them, the first they've ever had. I took them for a walk and a drink in the pub in the morning and brought them back (just after the Utd match coincidentally) to a house full of people and a 60's themed buffet. On the menu was starters of prawn cocktail, egg mayonaise, a main of beef or mushroom stroganoff, and pudds of black forest gatteau, trifle or butterscotch Angel Delight. S and everyone did a marvelous job getting it and the house all ready for them.

Come the new year and we had packed up and headed down to Anglesea for a month long visit to the UK which involved staying in Redditch for the majority of the time. We had a good new year at my sisters but tiredness due to the kids and pushing it during the festive season meant S and I were in bed by about quarter past midnight, but not before we watched some great fireworks in the back garden and set sail some chinese lanterns.

In Redditch we had a great rest and invited a few to Siún's 2nd birthday party which was just a hour or so in the local soft play centre followed by a pub lunch. Simple, cheap and cheerful. I had hoped as we'd driven all the way from Donegal some mates might drive to Redditch to see us whilst we were in situ during January but aside from the birthday guests, sadly, no-one did. Happily, we did get to meet some friends half way and the setting was Bletchly Park - home of the Enigma code breakers. Sadly, we discovered, it is no place for toddlers. We also managed to pop to Teddington to see Joe & Sylvie which was great but travelling with two kids isn't the best especially when Murphy isn't sleeping through yet. We did manage to pop to central London for the afternoon whilst there but everyone was too busy to meet up, but that wasn't surprising as we'd made a very last minute decision to go in. We did have a nice walk along the south bank though, despite the freezing fog that day.

Other than that we also attended a wedding in Cornwall and the F-G's in Dorset but S dropped and broke the camera just before the bride made her entrance so annoyingly we have no photo's of either visit. We had a great time in each place and it was great to see the F-G's after so long and we're hoping to be invited back for a longer visit.

Now we're back - back to life, back to reality - and it's cold (reason to follow), we made a big purchase (more later), the kids are the kids (details soon) and the building is coming on (blah blah blah).

So much more to follow - for now though, some pics:
Iggles of Piggles:
Ruby, ruby, ruby, ruby:
That London:




Wales:
Our home(!):

November Spawned A Monster

November felt like a monster pile of activities. It started with a one week old baby and seemed to be non-stop. First there was the visit from Nanna and Pops (photo above). We entertained them with a visit to a car boot sale and lots of staying in. Then it was a quick night down in Dublin for a friends 40th Birthday, and a very nice meal was had. Two days later I popped to Berlin for a couple of days and had a very good time. Met Bert Trautmann where I found out that his name is actually Bernd but he even signs his autograph as Bert. And it's always easier coming home once we've won. Especially against the Germans. After getting home for a day it was back down to Dublin for a baby massage conference. Siún stayed with Granny & Grumps so it was the three of us that made the trip down. Just one night and a day there and we were heading back up the N4 on our four hour journey. Another day passes and I'm out to see Duke Special in Letterkenny. Very good gig but needless to say would have been more fun if I wasn't so tired. He's an eccentric type and he also sings in a Nordy accent such as "but the dark clydes gathered up above". A nice slow few days then I was off to London to see Quantum of Solace for my birthday. It felt like I landed, rushed to meet friends, saw the film, went to bed, rushed to meet my cousin, rushed to meet more friends, rushed to meet even more friends, trundled to a club, then I was back in bed, up early and back on the flight home. All a big whirl. Well, I say rushed, problems on the Piccadilly and Jubliee lines meant it wasn't that quick actually. Still, I had a good time and it was great to see everyone.
So I was happy to finally get home and just settle in for christmas.
Some building works pics:

She's A Maniac

Not much going on here - sleeping, feeding, waking, cleaning, feeding, sleeping, etc. etc.

Everyone is very well though, just a bit tired.

So, here's a little video from the day before Murphy was born, and yes, that is his mother dancing with Siún.

Here's a sentence spoken over Halloween that I enjoyed saying:

Did you see Saw? We saw Saw. We saw Saw 2 too.

Enjoy.

Yes Sir, That's My Baby

The ubiquitous baby pics:






Click the link for the song.