First things first HAPPY BIRTHDAY NANA - her birthday is today and she is off gallivanting somewhere already. Love you Nana.


This is her and my Dad back in 1943 ( I think as I am guessing) She is still as pretty now I think and Dad is still cute in his own way too.

Back to news this week - Rachel was ill the poor thing with sky-high temperatures and the like she kept trying to get outside and play but I had to be mean and keep bringing her back inside.



Becca had her final exams and final day of First year on Friday - she is thrilled she has 3 months off for the summer - me I am not so thrilled my house has been full of teenagers since Friday afternoon.


After my trip to the supermarket last week I found these there this week - I love it when I find craft stuff in unusual places.


I have been scrapbooking but my printer is out of ink and the shop swore that I was wrong with the cartridge number and that the one they supplied was the right one - THEY were wrong !!
I am still ink-less darn it - but see I am mid layout - when I get ink I will share it properly.

This weekend the weather was amazing but unfortunately CJ had to work - typical - so I took the girls riding with Mark on Saturday, the weather was fab so they were outside. Caitlin begged me to bring the camera and get some pictures of her jumping and one of Chester the horse - he liked my camera.



She did well and she is very confident on a horse now, as is her sister.


Becca wasn't having a great lesson as Milly the horse rolled and she had to jump off to avoid being squashed but she pulled it together and was jumping too.


Rachel was finally better by this weekend and was out enjoying the sunshine and washing her Barbies, apparently we are having a Bar-b-que tomorrow if it stays nice.

Well I am off to enjoy the sunshine too it is way to nice to be inside.

Hello All - This week was Rachel's first week at playschool and so far she is going well - her first day was Monday and she was so excited to be going and luckily still seemed to be happy and excited when we picked her up again at home time.
She was thrilled they now have two rabbits and did drawings for the fridge and even brought home her first library book to share.


She also had her Mama all to herself for a week as Jennie had a well-deserved week off - she still came over everyday out of habit bless her and brought me some cupcakes she had made with her Mama on Tuesday- the kid loves to cook !


Sure last night Caitlin and Rachel helped me make cheese and onion pasties for tea after the Leinster rugby match and they turned out great.


Caitlin has got her school play in a couple of weeks - The children of Lir - she has to sing a verse of a song so is practising day and night as part of her homework.


Becca is finishing up school - she has summer exams next week and then is done the year has gone so fast and we have all manage to survive relatively unscathed.
As for the rest of the week - since when did Ireland have a monsoon season? This has been the view from my kitchen window all week - I am officially sick of rain which I swear gets heavier when I leave the house to walk anywhere !!


I went shopping on Friday with Jen and found these in the supermarket and couldn't resist - they will be showing up on a layout fairly soon.


Talking of layouts I did 2 this week - it would have been three but my printer ran out of ink ..... Anyway the first is about Becca the poor girl doesn't get as many layouts as her more photo obliging sister so occasionally I feel guilty and feel compelled to do a layout for her album.


And then of course Caitlin who poses constantly - well this layout is slightly different I suppose as is it about her behind the lens !!

Hello people - well if last week was uneventful this week was worse because about 20 minutes after Caitlin finished her singing last week she started to feel ill, at first I thought it was the excitement and the singing causing the sore throat and dizziness but her temperature went through the roof and I knew it was something more. She then slept pretty much solid for the next two days ( which is what she does when ill - she is a very good patient) and her sister came down with it pretty soon after.


So I had three kiddies here off school for the beginning of the week, they were all better by Thursday and back to school and no as far as I know it wasn't swine flu !
Rachel is finally starting playschool on Monday and has been getting into practise by going to the toilet like a big girl and learning all the songs - here she is attempting incey wincey spider ! Which must be followed by a storming rendition of I'm a little teapot or otherwise I get given out too - she is a bossy little madam when she wants to be !!

Caitlin's friend, knowing she had been ill,kindly gave her some Hama beads to keep her occupied and Caitlin made this cool horse modelled on the pony she rides on Saturday.


They were finally better this weekend and went riding on Saturday in the rain - good job they have an indoor arena as it was monsoon style rain.

When it cleared up in the afternoon the girls and I went down to the shops for smoothies and brought some herbs which Caitlin helped me plant up in the planter for the back garden.
We got Rosemary, Thyme and Parsley.


I did two layouts this week - I am actually so pleased with them but I am not happy with my picture taking skills - they never look quite right.
Anyway the first is of Caitlin riding she really is pony mad.



And of course one of the wee girl and her love of dress up.

It hasn't been the most eventful week to be honest - well it has and it hasn't - Becca had the dentist and it was yet more bad news, more work needs to be done but they are leaving the decision up to us as to when it will be done. Becca is happy to leave it for now as she is in enough pain with the wisdom teeth she has coming up and summer exams in a couple of weeks, she did manage to persuade her Dad to take her into Dublin and get these trousers though which kind of took the sting out of the bad news.

Caitlin found an abandoned nest at the beginning of the week which she was thrilled to be able to bring in for the nature table at school.

David came up to visit before he is off on his travels yesterday and the kids were thrilled to use him as a climbing frame and it was lovely to see him even if it was a flying visit.

And today Caitlin was singing in the school choir she even got a chance at the microphone in a duet with her friend Lauren - they are good little singers.

As promised here are the other two layouts I did last week - I was right I didn't do a thing this week in the end.
The first is one I did with older pictures from Tracy's wedding - well the day after the wedding when we went down to say goodbye to Trace and Simon and Tracy's parents.

And of course I had to do one about Meg's obsession with my scrap supply boxes - every time I got a new delivery of goodies Meg would be in it !! She hasn't been able to get in one of those boxes for awhile now - it has been an age since I have had any new supplies and that is the way it will stay it seems for now.

The weather has been beautiful this week - I will ignore the fact it is raining today. The trees in the area are all covered in blossom it is just gorgeous.


I took Caitlin down to take a picture of the finest examples of blossoms in the village and she was supposed to hold the branch steady - I had provided chocolate ice-cream as bribery but I think she was a bit distracted to say the least.


But then again she was a bit excited as her best friend Lauren had just returned from Australia with lots of pictures and pressies.


Lauren and her family are emigrating in the summer and Caitlin is so sad to be loosing her friend but I have promised she can keep in touch - the Internet means Australia isn't quite so far anymore.
I have been busy this week as we are in full potty training mode with Rachel - it was her choice as she knows BIG girls go to playschool and she is so eager to go to playschool especially after this weekend.


On Saturday we took her to an open day at the playschool and she just loved it, they had their faces painted and released balloons and played with the new playschool bunny- in fact they have an opening and so in a couple of weeks time she will start attending for a couple of days a week just to begin with to get her into the swing of it before she goes full time. I can't believe she is already for playschool now- the time is just flying.

I have been getting into the swing of things too - I have been so removed from the scrapbooking industry that I didn't even realise it was National ScrapBooking Day until I was blog hopping. I used to be so prolific ( I know I have 11 albums to prove it ) so I decided to try and do a layout - and I managed 4 - 4 that is more than I have managed all year !!


So here is the first - it is going into our "Things we do" Album under the Cooking tab - I used up some of the many Scenic Routes papers I have left.
While I had the Scenic Routes out I also whipped up this little number for my family pages in the Family Files album.


I have to say it is easier to do a layout when I know where it is headed, it gives me a focus and makes me remember why I actually have this strange little hobby.

I will share the other two next time ( as who know when I might actually scrapbook again !! )