The view from Madi's world

Madi loves all things Dora. One day one of the big girls dressed her up (okay so it's a pink wig and not a black one...)


Miss Madi-Dora


I love the backpack.


Playing with Claire's treehouse (and she has to climb to get to it)


Ready to swim (with a t-shirt on no less)

One day as I was doing the laundry, Madi spied Kailey's underwear. She asked to put them on. I let her.

She's wearing three pair! (LOVE it!)


We call it fishing with fingers.


Got one!

Thank You Drumnigh Wood

As I have said, living in Drumnigh Wood was a great experience for our family. Our kids had so many friends to play with at any time. A few other families are also leaving Ireland, so as a thank you- the moms decided to feed the neighborhood kids. (I actually did none of the planning- just took lots of snickerdoodles- the cookie of choice for all of Jake's friends...)

Jayne and Marleen feeding the masses...

Drake and Claire in the foreground- but what I want you to see are all the boys headed back to the green to play football.

Ben, Sophie and Kailey enjoying their food while Christine cleans up. Sadly- it was a windy and brisk day. The kids didn't seem to mind at all!

Claire, Emery and Madi enjoying Marleens amazing waffles. (Marleen is belgian and her waffles are heavenly!)

Me, Jayne and Christine.

I can't say enough good things about my amazing friends. Christine brings sunshine wherever she goes. Jayne is one of the sweetest women I know. Marleen helped me clean my house- not once- but TWICE as we were getting ready to leave. Not only that- she invited our entire family over (along with some of the neighbor boys) before we went to the airport and fed us all waffles, so we wouldn't be too hungry before getting on the airplane.

I couldn't have asked for better neighbors and friends. Thank you for your goodness!

Surprise Kailey!!!

Kailey's friends wanted to throw her a surprise party. I thought it was a brilliant idea. I facebooked and chatted with Sophie and Dawn for a few weeks- ironing out the details. On a Saturday, Danny took Kailey and the other kids out and I readied the house. Then Dawn, Sophie, Ellen and Ella came over, made cookies and decorated. When my family returned- the girls hid.

I asked Kailey to come into the front room with me because I needed to talk to her for a minute. Then- SURPRISE!!! Out jumped the friends! It was perfect and the best part- Kailey had no idea it was coming!

Ella, Sophie's forehead, Ellen, Dawn and Kailey

Ella, Sophie, Ellen, Dawn and Kailey

Dawn and Kailey

Sophie and Kailey.

Thanks girls. You're the best. And those memories- truly priceless!

Jake, Soccer and Friends

When we told the kids that we were moving to Ireland, they cried. They weren't thrilled when we first arrived on the island, but they adjusted really quickly and learned to love it.

Jake has had some really great friends. Most of these friends have LOVED soccer and Jake decided to love it too. He really enjoys playing soccer and spending times with his buddies at the same time. Drumnigh Wood has been great for Jake because all he had to do was walk out of our front door, across the street and there he could play with all his buddies. Heaven

Joe (wishing that Kailey was NOT taking his photo.)

Jake with his goalie gloves. He's ready!!!

Our house in the background- see the Homy?

In March, Jake's class played a match against another school from Northern Ireland.

Jake going after the ball! Go Jake Go!

End score: 2-2

A while back, Jake told me that he thought that he liked Ireland better than New York. Jake has been so good to not complain about leaving. The one thing that has made it much easier for him is that 2 of his best friends are also moving away.

Julian and Jake

Joe is moving to Michigan and Julian is on his way to Surrey, England. Thank you Drumnigh Wood, Ireland and amazing friends for making this time in Jake's life practically perfect.

The end of Claire's School Experience in Ireland

When we left for Ireland, Claire had only gone to morning preschool twice a week for two months. In Ireland, she immediately started full day school- every day! She enjoyed Junior Infants, Senior Infants and Grade 1.

Claire and Ms. Cullen

Claire enjoyed Ms. Cullen in first grade. She especially enjoyed playing with her friends.

Claire with Katie and another friend...

Alannah, Claire, Elizabeth and Imogen.

Thanks Sutton Park for helping to make the beginning of Claire's education amazing!

Madi and Oscar

Madison's favorite friend in the world is Oscar Parkins. He's an older man. He was born in December- she was born in March. They have played together a bunch. Sometimes they love each other and other times they fight like cats and dogs. It doesn't matter- they are always thrilled to spend time with each other.


Making music together!


They are NOT as innocent as they look.


Bubbles...




If only they were both looking in the same direction!





The sillies!


On their last day together, as they were packing up our house...

Oscar's family left Ireland a week before us. One day we went around the table at dinner time asking each member of the family what was the best part of their day. When I asked Madi, she said, "Osky." It was so precious and so sad.


Thanks for all the great memories Oscar!

Emery's Last Day at Rainbow Montessori

Emery has had a wonderful year at Rainbow Montessori in Sutton. We left before her school year was finished, so we got to go and see her perform a song with her class.


Miss Emery is front and center!


"Tony Knows!"


Emery gets her certificate from her teachers.



Dearbhla, Emery and Mary (Mary is the owner of the Montessori and Dearbhla is her daughter.)




Doing their silly faces! Ronan, Luke Engle, Rebecca, Emery, Lucy, William, Ada, Johnny, Isabel, Ross, Aisling, Alexander, Sebastian, Lara, Aidan, Luke, Jane, Jamie.

Shelby's Class Picnic

Each year, Shelby's class gets to go to the Conway home for a picnic. The Conways live about a mile away from the school and they have the most amazing yard. There are more than 100 steps leading from the road to the top of the back garden. This year, I got to go along (and Madi, too). We had a wonderful time! Sadly, I do not have any pictures of the amazing landscaping all done by Noreen (the mom)- but it is gorgeous. (Claire also had the opportunity to attend a picnic here. Noreen has 5 children and had 4 different classes over for an end of year picnic in one week! WOW!!!)


Evie, Jessica, Eline, Isabel, Madi, Kim and Shelby enjoying ice cream cones.


Evie, Kim, Shelby and Jessica with the Dublin Bay in the background. (They have an amazing view!)


Eline and Shelby


Isabel, Evie, Shelby, Kim and Isabelle.

It was a great afternoon. Thanks for letting me come!

The Mini

For the past two years, I have wanted to take part in the Flora Women's Mini Marathon. It is an annual event in Dublin- a 10 kilometer race that is for women only. It is the largest event of it's kind in the world! This year I did it. There were over 40,000 women who participated. (There were men dressed in drag who also ran.) It was wet and cold. I was among the walkers and joggers and we were packed tight waiting. Before the race started, I felt like I was a cow in a holding pen. Plus, I ate a great breakfast, but no lunch. At 2:45 (the race started at 3) I was really hungry. Not a good way to start a race. Thankfully, a very nice lady gave me her granola bar and it wasn't long before I felt much better.


(An aerial view of the women waiting for the race to start- This photo is from the Dublin Evening Herald Newspaper.)

Now, you should know that I have never been a runner. (Fitness For Life in College was painful when I had to run a mile twice in a single semester.) This March, when I registered for this race, I decided that I would try to run. I hurt my knee in April and had a good month when I really didn't do any running. Plus, we have been very busy- so I haven't run nearly as much as I wanted.


The beginning of the race was still packed! (See above photo.) So- there was lots of weaving in and out- trying to find a place to run. I ran mostly on the sidewalk for the first few kilometers. It started to thin out a bit after the third kilometer.

I didn't see any signs after the third kilometer and thought I had gone really far- and then I saw the 5 km mark. Ugh. Only half way! At the 6 km. mark- I took a quick detour to the little girls' room (it wasn't very quick either) and continued on my way. (MUCH happier!)

There were these cute boys (a little younger than Jake) at the water station at kilometer 7. They just made me smile and I started to think about how far I've come since March. By that point, I decided to enjoy this. So-
* I thanked everyone who clapped us on.
* I appreciated every beautiful old church that I passed.
* I high 5'd the "Clowns for Haiti" at km. 8
* I appreciated the sign that said, "Your legs may hate you- but your heart loves you!" (Did I mention that Flora is a brand of margarine that is supposed to be heart healthy?)
* I thought about the other 40, 396 other participants. I'd love to know some of their stories...
* I knew that Danny was waiting for me by the finish line and that kept me moving!


A view of people nearing the finish line- what a difference from the starting line.


The finish line- I'm the one in light pink with aggressive elbows.


I did it! I finished my first 10 k ever and I did it in 1 hour 10 minutes and 44 seconds. I think that is respectable. (I was optimistic when I left the house- see the sunglasses? I didn't need them- it rained the entire race.)


A very cheesy looking photo- but I got my medal!

Thank you Flora!

May Happenings

(I will finish the cruise stuff later...)

May was a busy, busy month.

A good man that we know from our church went back to his native China. We wish Leo all the best!

Danny and Leo Ming

My Young Women came over for a spa night. It was fun.

Koketso and Rose with their beauty masks


Kirsten opted for face stripes and a manicure.


The lovelies wash their feet before their foot massage


Even Emery and Madi had their toesies tickled (massaged)


Shelby and her great friend Eline had their much anticipated sleepover (these are the results of a "Blind Makeover"- when you are 9 or 10 years old- this is F-U-N!)


We prepared to sell these fine automobiles

(No- those are NOT training wheels for Danny's car- it's a scooter...)

The kids took part in their Swimming Gala

Claire is sliding herself into the pool. (The pool was warmish- the day was COLD!)


Shelby is freezing but happy- she won 2 races and came in second on her last! WooHoo Shelby! (Claire also did well- Jake's swimming attempts stunk. He's a great swimmer- but did not prepare. It was his first time in the school pool this year. We hope he has learned something from this!)


It was warm enough for the kids to really play outside! Madi and Jake on the trampoline.


I just love looking out the window and seeing this.


Shelby and Claire built the Drumnigh Tower. This is really how tall it was- they are NOT lifting it up. Well done girls!

Also- Danny spent a week in Singapore and five days in New York. We are glad he's back now.