Thanksgiving

We had a lovely trip Stateside for Thanksgiving. It was great to see Jane's family and introduce them to Caitlyn.

Highlights of the trip included lots of food, shopping, a great ice-cream parlour, American breakfast (Yum! - Marcus), more shopping, a talent show, snow, ice-skating, playing with cousins, the Air Force museum, free babysitting, a great children's museum in Chicago, the best coffee ever, and hanging out with family.

Here's a few photos:

Caitlyn's Blessing

Following Caitlyn's dedication by her grandad in England, we had an informal blessing service for her also in Ireland - this time done by her aunt Kerry (and cousin Penny). The service included a couple of songs that are special to Marcus and Jane, a reminder of what Caitlyn was like at just one week old, the blessing ceremony that had everyone participate, a book of 'pure' (Caitlyn) and 'beautiful' (Aoife) things, and a beautiful moment where Kerry took Caitlyn around to each person so they could give their own words of blessing. All very lovely indeed.

Thanks to (Great) Uncle Harry for taking a few photos.

Baby Alannah Laughing

I was going through some old videos the other day when I came across this favourite. So I put together a couple of clips from when Alannah was about 8 months old.

I think you'll like it!

Videos by Uncle Tim

Summer seems so far away now and I'm only just posting these couple of videos (shame on me!).

(Uncle) Tim had a go at doing some filming while we were visiting Marcus' family in Bournemouth and got to grips with some video editing on the computer. Well done, Tim!

Here's a video of us spending an afternoon in one of Bournemouth's city centre gardens:





And here are the kids with grandad going on a bear hunt:

Alannah & Caitlyn

Here's a couple of photos of Alannah and Caitlyn. Check out those baby blue eyes! Gorgeous!

Prayer for Caitlyn

We recently had Caitlyn dedicated by her granddad at their Salvation Army church in Bournemouth. Hopefully we'll get some video of the ceremony posted soon. As part of the occasion we made a short video-prayer for Caitlyn. Here it is:

Four years old!

Ahh, our Bupsy is four years old today, full of imagination and compassion and sweetness. And a few other traits that wouldn't be fair to mention on her birthday! We have a few friends who have children turning three soon, who think because they have missed the terrible twos their child will just be lovely and well-behaved forever. Well, sorry to tell you, but 3 is the new 2, and we're hoping 4 will be much better!

We had a My Little Pony party on Friday with some friends. It was loads of fun, very cute and sweet and PINK! Jane had so much fun decorating the cake with an overload of pink and purple frosting and pink flowers:





Here is Charlie, so exhausted from the party that he fell asleep on a beanbag in the living room, toys still in his hand. If you can see his pocket, he put some jelly (Jello) in there to save for later!



Alannah was sad after the party because we told her that her birthday was actually on Monday and we would be having family presents and doing something fun together on that day. Two birthday celebrations, that seems great, right? And it wasn't that she didn't enjoy her party or think it wasn't enough -- it was just that she wanted to be four, and the cards from her friends had 4 on them, and she couldn't understand why we were telling her that she wasn't going to be four until Monday. Now that the actual birthday has come and gone (and she did get more presents today) she seems fine, but I still don't think she gets what the whole birthday thing/another year older business is all about!

Sisters Sleeping

Don't worry. It's just the froth!

Marcus is currently undertaking a little personal project to visit every Starbucks in the Republic of Ireland. (There's really not that many and most of them are in Dublin).

Sometimes Marcus visits alone. At other times the whole family take part. For some reason Charlie has been asking more and more if we can go to a cafe. I can't think why...?

Family Sticker

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

Beautiful Play Day

When people think of Ireland they often assume that it rains quite a bit. Well they're right! You can put up with the rain in the winter and spring, but when it still rains in July you start to get a bit fed up - not to mention suffering cabin fever! So when the sun shines you've got to get out and enjoy it.

Last weekend Dublin City Council hosted an event for National Play Day. An assortment of fun was provided in Merrion Square, one of Dublin's lovely city centre parks. Here's a short video of what Alannah and Charlie got up to...

Caitlyn!

Here's Caitlyn...

Alannah!

Here's an animoto of Alannah!

Charlie!

A quick slideshow of Charlie using animoto.com. You should give it a go. It's easy and fun!

Butterfly Girl and Dog Boy

Alannah almost never gets her face painted when the opportunity is around, but as we were running an event and had paid big money for a facepainter we made sure Alannah availed of the services - even if it did all get washed off the moment we were home.

Charlie, on the other had, would have gone to bed with his face painted if he could. He was going to be a tiger, but he couldn't sit still long enough!

A Galway Beach

While Nana was here we took a short trip to Galway. The city of Galway is lovely and the surrounding scenery is beautiful. The coastline is stunning, so one morning we headed off to a local beach.

Now Nana, being from midwest America, knows what the real meaning of summer is, so she opted to stay in the car and watch with Caitlyn. I, however, knowing we were in the west of Ireland and it wasn't raining, felt that it was a perfectly acceptable day for a dip in the Atlantic.

You judge for yourselves...




For what it's worth, it did start raining shortly after we left the beach. And the next day, and.....

Nana Came to Visit

Here's a few photos of Nana Debbie and the kids!








(Can you tell that the TV is on over my left shoulder? Charlie usually says please when he asks someone to move.)

By the way, the dress Caitlyn is wearing has previuosly been worn by another little girl. Not just Alannah - it was originally Jane's!

A Couple of Photos

Here are just a couple of latest photos of Caitlyn. More to come...

Caitlyn's First Week

Sleeping like a baby...

It's been really nice these last couple of weeks to have family members come over to Ireland to visit and help out. (Nana Debbie from the USA comes next week!!!)

Each visitor has made their own helpful contribution to these early days.

Here's Grandad...



(Sorry, Dad. I couldn't resist it.)

Caitlyn

Caitlyn Aoife Mylechreest

6th May 2008
Dublin, Ireland

2:00pm

3.975 Kg (8lbs 12oz)

Mother and baby doing very well!

15 Minutes Young

Still waiting...

...so Jane decided she would knit some cute, little baby booties in a choice of finishes. Ahhh.







They're bootie-licious!

Happy Birthday Charlie!

1st May was Charlie's second birthday. For several months now we haven't known if we would be able to celebrate it because of the arrival of the (yet-to-be) baby. It looked like poor Charlie was already going to suffer from being the middle child that gets forgotten.

But we didn't forget him! That baby hasn't come (although - breaking news - as of 4pm Jane is beginning to wonder...Watch this space!) so we invited a couple of friends around for some cake.

Here's a couple of photos and a video.

A Stitch in Time...

Jane is still waiting for anything to happen. In the meantime she has been busy finishing off a couple of knitting projects. She thought you might like to see them and be amazed.

But where are the little booties...?

Bloomin' Marvelous

Jane is now overdue, so I thought I better post this photo before the big event or it will look silly being posted afterwards.

This was taken just a couple of weeks ago. Jane looks very neat, as they say in Ireland.

Splish Splash

We all have embarrassing pictures of ourselves in the bath when we were children, so why should our kids get away with anything less...

Year in Review

Here's something that was planned at the end of last year, but I have only had the opportunity to do it now!

We hope you enjoy this selection of photos of Alannah and Charlie from 2007.

Happy St Patrick's Day!

Alannah celebrated St Patrick's Day in the traditional Irish custom of flying a blue elephant.

Visiting Grandparents

Marcus, Alannah & Charlie took couple of days to visit Grandad and Nana Val (and the boys) in Bournemouth this week. Along with swimming, playing games, going to a parent and toddler group, having "fun time with Nana", making cakes and Marcus going out to the movies with his dad, Alannah and Charlies also:

Bounced on the bed

Brought the ball pit home from toddler group

Walked along the cold, windy beach

And played in the sand.

Meanwhile, Jane stayed in Dublin to have a well deserved quiet rest before 'Number 3' comes along.

Happy Birthday Jane!

It was Jane's birthday today (hot on the tail of Mother's Day last week - breakfast in bed two weeks in a row!!!).





Marcus and Alannah put in a stunning effort baking 12 birthday cakes. Charlie also helped decorate. Look closely and you will only count 11 cakes on the plate as one seemed to go missing during decorating. Here's a hint: look for the chocolate around Alannah's mouth.