the little one's pursuits during our holiday at the grandparents'

mostly exploring... on her own,


or with her cousin!


And playing hide and seek with the kittens!


Apart from that she spent a lot of time learning new words (by turning into a little parrot), eating, visiting the hens, the rabbits and the dog, and of course charming everybody around her. We also both got the stomach flu, suffered through a humid 37C degrees in the shade, and lost a bit of weight, but I'm sure it's not going to take us long to put it back on. Due to the heat and the flu we didn't do as much as we might have liked, but still, it was lovely to spend the time with family, and the weather meant there was a lot more hanging out time for everybody, anything non essential was put on hold as none of us were used to it and everybody was very mellow!

It's good to be home, I have so much more energy in about 20C degrees less, and while P was with us in Germany for the last 10 days, it's so nice to be back in our house, it's always a bit weird being in your parents' house with your own family...

June! And the sun is shining, too!

I've managed to let all of  May go by without a post. I have excuses though, we went to Germany for my sister's wedding, which was brilliant, even if it was extremely cold. 7 degrees in the afternoon is not a lot for mid May! Emm was supposed to be a flower girl, but she decided she'd rather hold on to the basket and keep all the petals to herself...

Thankfully we got to fly to Germany, we were worried we might have to go by ferry and car on a murderous 24 hour trip trying to make it in time for the big day. On the way home however we got delayed for two days because of the ash cloud, we didn't mind to much though, we knew before we'd set off for the airport, P could work from my parents' house and Emm and I got to spend another day with the family. My dad's birthday will be next hopefully the volcano will stay quiet for that!

After Germany, we had a week at home, before Emm and I headed off to Switzerland, with my friend Deborah, to visit friends of ours in the Alsace and in Zurich. We had a great time, although Deborah might have had quite enough of toddlers and babies! Emm took a real shine to her and was babbling Debbie-Debbie-Debbie all day long. She even talked about her in her sleep! The lives of the two friends are so different. The girl in Alsace moved there because of her husband's job, and he picked a run down house in a tiny village for them to live. She didn't have much influence on the decisions as at the time she was just after giving birth to their second child, and having a horrible time with breastfeeding (mostly due to undiagnosed thrush and lack of support from her hospital/GP/nurse). She's now stuck there in a dark and dingy house, with no friends, with nobody to talk to all day with a very lively 4 year old and a baby! The other friend is happy as a flea, having decided to move to Zurich after separating from her husband, meeting her new partner there and  living  in a bright and modern apartment with their new baby.

Now we're back home, with a mountain of laundry to do, but the sun is shining and we're in and out of the garden, hanging the washing, swinging, playing with stones and herbs... Emm loves the herbs, she picks bits of oregano and thyme and chews on them. If she tries to put stones in her mouth I have to be strict though, I say no quite sternly, take the stone away and bring her into the house with me. Hopefully she'll learn soon and I can be a bit more relaxed outside with her!

I just hear another load of washing finishing, so I better head off, to my probably boring, but very enjoyable life!!

indian summer!

we've been granted another few days of summer, what a treat! we went to skerries, where the husband watched a football match while m and i went for a lovely walk.
there was a swimming competition on, i had contemplated a little dip myself, but then chickened out!

p joined us after the match (they lost) and we had another walk as the sun was setting, and then went for some pasta. m got little bits off our plates, she loved the tagliatelle and the peas. she's really good at sucking the tagliatelle in, it looks so cute... she behaved quite well, despite being a little noisy at times, but that's just her lively self! she always gets a very lively when she gets tired.


i had great hopes for this photo, the little flags were really brightly lit up by the sun, but i didn't catch it right.

rain rain rain

it's too depressing to take pictures of, so here some photos from last week, when it was lovely and warm!

my nephew's cousin had this cool gadget for observing little critters

like this fat caterpillar!
you can't see it in this photo, but it's pretending to be a one eyed lizzard! no idea what it's called!



the older kids were delighted to get a ride on the combine harvester

i used the rain to do some sewing though, with fabric i got in IKEA (bedlinen).
A purl frog, I drew the pattern on an a4 sheet of paper (printer no work), I think he's quite similar to the original!
doesn't he look so at home in the rainsoaked greenery?

and a little turtle, from this book i think (i only brought the pattern, not the book!)


oh, i forgot to mention the most exciting and scary thing, I applied for a career break, and i got it!! 3 years off! I'm delighted to get the chance to spend so much time with my little one, i feel so privileged! we won't have much money to spare but i think we'll be OK, and time with the babe will be worth so much more than money ever could be!

I really should be sleeping... I better go to bed!

redcurranty goodness

persian lamb - the BBQ version

grilled lamb (gigot chops)
onion-tomato-cucmber salsa (with a mint and lemon dressing), yoghurt sauce, and just to be sure, also a mixed salad with a lemon and garlic dressing (in that tupperware shaker thingy, it's a great little gadget, my sis got it for free at a 'tupper party' and gave it to me, how nice is that!)
fried rice and green beans, with parsley and dill
and for the baby some steamed veg. she seems to prefer the lamb chop though!

we also had some chicken, and then redcurrants and vienetta (yoghurt for the ice cream hating husband) for dessert. a lovely relaxing afternoon with the MIL and SIL!

lunchtime walk

and a little break in a field




on days like this i'm so glad we moved here, and not into some run down estate to be closer to the city! actually, even on rainy days i'm happy out here!

nappy rash...

open air nappy changing, with a long break in between nappies! thanks to air, sunshine, caldesene and bepanthen, her nappy rash cleared up quite fast, it's the first time she's had it (at 7.5 months) so i know i can count myself lucky...

Strawberry Buns

last week's, with a butter-cream cheese icing (the butter/strawberry/icing sugar mix didn't combine, so i added philadelphia, yum!

today's, this time i didn't give in and kept beating the icing with the liquidiser until it turned into perfectly pink butter icing (thanks jo!). then i added some more strawberry pieces, blitzed it briefly, done!

the swing seat, our favourite place at the moment

a few days of sunshine

this place is like a different country! everybody's in a great mood and determined to make the most of the time, i think the day after tomorrow the rain will be back... we went to 2 BBQs at the weekend, had one at home and had another evening of al fresco dining. it's nearly like summer at home!

summer is here!

oh dear, those birkenstocks need cleaning... how do you clean suede??

another sling

i made another one, using lightweight cotton that i've been saving and looking at for ages (and a cream coloured sheet from 'penneys' for lining), i thought i might like a lighter coloured sling for the summer. i'm not so sure now about the print, it's probably a bit too small for wearing? does it look dowdy? M likes it, she is fascinated by the tiny flowers and circles..