A weekend away

Dan decided that we all needed a break, so this Easter he took us to Londonderry to stay in a very posh hotel for two nights! It was so nice to get away and we all had the best time. We made no plans at all, we just got in the car and went. But we had great adventures, beautiful weather, and some lovely family bonding time. There is a slideshow of all the photos which you can see if you wish by clicking here. We took so many lovely photos and I just want to put them all on my blog!

Well, our trip started on Friday. In an effort to be as relaxed as possible we got up late, didn't pack until it was almost time to leave, and just mozied out of the house whenever we were ready. The drive to Derry took about 4 hours because we stopped a few times to eat, stretch our legs and admire the view. Some of the scenery along the Glenshane Pass was breath taking, so we stopped to explore it a little. Here are some photos of that. You can click on them to see the bigger photos.












All 3 kids were great on the journey down. When we got out of the car they climbed trees, jumped across streams and burnt off energy, ready for the rest of the journey. We had to stop at a garage to buy duck tape to tape up one of our windows which is falling down all the time, and is going to cost £110 to fix! (I'm happy enough with a duck taped window for that price).

When we arrived at the hotel I was surprised at how posh it was! Dan had managed to get a really good deal for the two nights. I don't know how he managed that at Easter, but we were paying substantially less than most of the people there. And the place was full to capacity. As expected the kids rushed into our room to check it out. They ran into the bathroom, opened all the drawers, exclaimed in delight at there being a TV, and bounced on all the beds. The room was very nice. The favourite spot in the room turned out to be the window where many moments were spent gazing out over Derry City.

On the Friday night we mostly chilled out in the hotel room. Dan brought back some pizzas, which was better than going out for a meal as little Barney didn't have to sit still. We did take a trip to the hotel swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room, and were provided with lovely matching swimming hats! Yes, I had to wear one too but there was no way any one was getting that on camera.




















Saturday turned out to be a great day, despite our lack of arrangements. We all piled into the car and had a vague notion of heading towards Donegal. We ended up driving along the Lough Swilly coastline and through the mountains of Inishowen. We made various stops along the way at beaches and in mountains, all of which the kids loved. Dan was particularly inspired by the mountain scenery (anyone who reads this blog regularly will know he has a passion for mountains, LOL). Barney was a different child on the beaches. The incessant talker we all know and love turned into a quiet, focused child, who was basically in a world of his own. He was so taken with the beaches that he couldn't even answer questions, as his mind was so deeply engrossed in his surroundings! It made Dan and I laugh, but was lovely to see.

Dan and Barney were the only ones brave enough to paddle in the freezing Irish sea! Even Jimmie thought the water was too cold for that. At the end of the day the back seat of our car was completely caked in sand. Even now I keep finding little mounds of sand around the house, where someone has emptied another sock or shoe.

In between beach stops we drove through the Inishowen mountainous countryside. The scenery here was awesome, although it never looks as good in a photo. We stopped and got out for a walk. As soon as the car doors opened Jimmie and Barney raced up the mountain, Jimmie in the distance with little Barney hot on his heels. We had to run after Barney and I found a smaller mountain to climb with him whilst Daddy and the big kids hiked up the bigger one. Barney and I amused ourselves with our little mountain, and stumbled across some mountain sheep. Jimmie came back down the mountain with the skull and bones of a dead mountain sheep! These items are now taking pride of place in our home. Boys, you gotta love em.

After heading off in the car again we stumbled across a museum, in the middle of no-where! The Guns of Dunree Military Museum, to be exact. The boys (especially Dan) loved all the big canons and guns, and the views from the fort were spectacular.

(In this last two photos you can see our Dan going back to his childhood! The first photo, with the big red gun, he is making horrendous machine gun fire noises, and shooting down passing sea gulls. In the second image (with his arms in the air!) he is proclaiming himself King of all Ireland! LOL, it' so great to see him really relax!)

When we got back to the hotel the kids all said that the weekend so far had been better than they had expected. We'd enjoyed fresh air, scenery and quality family time, and everyone was happy.

Sunday was out last day but we still made the most of it. Dan took the kids back down to the hotel pool whilst I packed our bags to checkout. We couldn't stay in Derry without a walk around the Derry City Walls. So that's exactly what we did. Derry is a walled city. The walls were built in 1613 to defend the city from English and Scottish settlers.

We didn't walk around the entire circuit but we did enjoy a 30 minute stroll.

The walls looked out over the entire city, and were fortified with old canons. I'd like to do the whole walk one day, without the kids maybe.

Here are two photos of Derry taken from the walls. I think it is the bogside? Not sure. Anyway, if you open the larger images you can see the typical Irish murals on the houses, and some of the Irish flags flying. Many of the murals in Northern Ireland have been changed from paramilitary images to historical paintings now, celebrating Irish culture instead of promoting sectarianism. (I've just noticed the pub in the first photo is called Bogside Inn, so it must be the bogside. The bogside is the area where the poorer Catholic families lived after the end of the potato famine - so I read on one of the City Wall signs!)

After our trot around the walls we headed home in the car, stopping at Dungannon Park for a picnic of fruit (we all needed a detox by this point!) and a walk around the lake there.

I still have to do my Easter blog post! I'll get round to it soon. But thats more than enough for now.

A quickie about sprouting & milling

I'm off to work in the shop in a moment, but I have 5 minutes left before I need to leave so I thought I'd load on these photos. Dan worked this morning, while I did the chores in the house that he's unsure about. I did loads of washing to start, then I got all the sprouts ready to grow, planted some more sunflower greens and made some bread. I've taken some 'before' photos of the sprouts so that I can show their progress. In the 3 tier sprouter we have alfalfa, broccoli and red clover. All yummy little green sprouts full of live giving nutrition. In the glass jar you can see a mix of biosnacky sprouts. They will soak overnight and then start growing tomorrow.

Every day Barney helps me make a loaf of bread. His reason for helping is that he loves eating the fresh flour as it comes out of the miller! Here he is scoffing his face with new flour.

I had to take this photo this morning when I found a moose brushing its teeth in my hallway! We're all so mature in our house. :)

MRI appointment

Well, I had it, my MRI results appointment. It seems I was mistaken about what the scan was for. The doctor told me that the MRI scan was looking for tumours in my ear, whereas I was under the impression that they were looking at the blood flow in my neck. Needless to say they didn't find any tumours in my ear. I could have told them that. I was quite annoyed after the appointment. The doctor told me that pulsatile tinnitus is caused by one of two things, both of which are very rare. Even though my symptoms match the rarest cause, they decided to test for the less rare thing - even though that test costs more, is more terrifying (claustrophobic) and is looking for something that doesn't match my symptoms. For goodness sake! When I asked the doctor why they had been looking for tumours when my symptoms match more with the vascular problem, he simply stated that it was because vascular tinnitus is much rarer. Ok, so it's rare, but someone must have it, right? Anyway, it seems I waited 2 months for an appointment to tell me that they now need to scan my neck. Why on earth didn't they just send me an appointment for the new scan, instead of making me wait to months to tell me that they would do it. It seems so simple to me. Am I the only one who can see it? Anyway, I was cross. At my very first doctors appointment, over a year ago, I was able to tell the doctor that the conditions is vascular, that it is something to do with my neck artery. But here I am, months and months later, being told, "Hmmm, it must be something to do with your artery". I know that the condition is vascular.... because it gets worse when my blood pressure goes up (if I eat salt, do exercise, get stressed), because it changes depending on which way I turn my neck. So, here I am, waiting again, waiting for another scan, this time to my neck. Ah for goodness sake.

Family Day Out

It's been an odd week in the M family home. For starters, I've been working in the shop and Dan has taken over the role of housewife. This has worked quite well and has given everyone a nice change of pace. Although this evening I did start to get rather stressed out about the state of the house. Don't get me wrong, Dan has done plenty of housework, but I get stressed if I haven't done enough. Sounds so daft. But my brain tells me the house must be a state, because I haven't done enough in it. It might take me some time to learn to let go of that. Then secondly, Annabelle started school this week so now theres no home education to be done, apart from with the wee man. That in itself is a huge change. The mornings are more stressful, as are the evenings, but the daytime hours are quieter. She's happy enough there at the moment. She's making friends and generally enjoying the company, but I have noticed how unimpressed she is in the evenings when it's homework time.

Anyway, today was our family day, and the sun was shining like a summer's day. So we all headed off to Gosford Forest Park, at the request of Barney, who has been asking to go for weeks now. We had a beautiful family day there, lots of fresh air, peace and quiet, and plenty of nature. I could have just taken a good book, found a nice peaceful lakeside spot, or a tree to sit in, and spent hours there all by myself! I must do that one day.

Tomorrow I have the appointment for the results of my MRI scan. I'm almost certain now that they will say they couldn't find anything, and I will be none the wiser as to why I'm suffering with this condition. I do hope that they have seen something.... something simple, harmless and easily fixable. I'm sure if they'd found anything serious they would have called me in sooner, so its a toss up between having found nothing, and having found something harmless.... I'm guessing. Will let y'all know either way.

I've posted a couple of photos from the forest park below, although you can see a slideshow of the full set by clicking here.

My first day at work

Today was my first official day at work! Yes it was. Ok, its not that exciting. I was just working in Dan's shop. But it's my official new part time job. And I loved it. It was so nice to be away from the hassles of every day home life, just for a break. And I know that Dan enjoyed being at home with the kids. He even baked cupcakes with Barney! When I got home from work he had made a four course almost raw meal! Go boy! I think I might go full time. When I say four courses, well, course one was raspberry smoothie, course two was salad with sprouts and baked potato, course three was Barneys cupcakes, and course four was chocolate fondue with lots of fruits. I couldn't eat that bit, but I enjoyed watching the kids enjoy it.





The kids enjoying fondue with Daddy.











Luke took this photo of me this evening.















This is a silly pic of me talking on web cam to Dan! I took a photo of myself. One of those silly moments.







I had a slight worry today. Dan phoned me to say that my friend on death row in America had tried to phone me. He only phones once a year, when its pre-arranged, because it costs me £60 ($120) to accept a collect call from him. So when he phoned unexpectedly it got me worried. Dan didn't accept the call because I wasn't at home anyway. My mind started racing when he told me. I thought that something could be wrong. The panic made me realise how awful it is going to be if or when he receives his execution date.

I mustered up enough courage to phone the prison in Georgia. I phoned once before and got a horrible woman who was no help at all. But this time I explained the situation, that I was phoning from Ireland and it costs me $120 to receive his calls, and the lovely girl put me through to E's councilor. He was a lovely guy and he wrote a message down for me and promised to take it straight to my friend. I was impressed by the amount of respect he had for my death row pal. He assured me that he is not unwell and that he has not received his date yet, so that relieved me. I am glad to know that E will get a message from me and that all is well. Funnily enough I was writing a letter to him at the time he phoned.

Annie's first day of school

Annabelle's first day of school was a huge success. She wasn't even nervous going in this morning. She just loved it. Still, it's early days and everything can seem exciting when it's new. She came home with all sorts of stories. She made friends with the naughtiest girl in the school (heck!) and did PE, and had a tour of the school with three girls, and played in the playground. Last night I had to type up a letter about all the books she's read and subjects she has covered this year. I gathered up her most important books and sent them in with her this morning. The teacher put her into the lowest reading group, just as she wasn't sure where to put her, LOL. So I sent in her literature books with a note saying I was pretty sure it was way ahead of her age group. The book she's been sent home with it very basic. I thought it was funny that they'd put the home schooled child into the lowest groups, thinking that she's probably missed out on a lot. Hopefully they will re-evaluate the situation today when they see her work.

Last night we went to the local Italian restaurant as a family (plus my Mum) as a kind of little celebration for Jude. That was nice, the kids love getting out.

A new day

Today was Annabelle's first day at school. She was a bundle of nerves this morning when she got up and put her new school uniform on. The whole morning rush is something I haven't missed at all whilst home educating. "Have you done this? Have you got that? Have you brushed your teeth? Washed your face? Come on you're going to be late." Ergh, hate all that.

Anyway, here's a pic of my darling girl in her uniform...

We took Jimmie to school first and then Annabelle. Annabelle's school have a kind of 'turn up when you feel like it' policy. Children can arrive any time between 8.45 and 9.10am . Needless to say we'll be as late as possible most mornings. I took her into the school, we met with the principle, and she and I (and little Barney) took Annie to her classroom. The Principle had picked out a buddy for her. She was all clued up and prepared for Annabelle's arrival, bless her. This little girl was chosen to help Annabelle settle in, because she loves reading and is reading at a very high level, like Annie, and also because her Dad died unexpectedly last year, and she has had a difficult time. They must have felt that paring her with Annie would give her something new to focus on at school. The poor girl, how sad.

I felt quite sad walking away from the classroom. I have so enjoyed home educating the children. I don't know if this is the right thing for us, and for Annabelle, or not. I do hope she is happy there, and that she enjoys herself and makes lots of friends. I hope so much that I'm not letting her down, making a bad decision for her. I have told her, a million times, that she can change her mind and come back home at any time. She has a month to try the place out and think about it. After that we will review the situation and make a firm choice one way or the other.

Today I have to sift through all Annie's home school work. The new school wish to see it to assess what level she is at. They are going to keep her reading the same literature that she is reading at home, because she is so much further on with that. I feel a bit nervous about taking in her maths work, science books etc in case they don't think much of it. I'd hate to home education a bad reputation!

I'll post again when I find out how her first day went. Now onto other things. It's been a busy week, a fun week, and a sad week. This weekend we had J's kids sleeping over for 2 nights (you remember she had my kids the weekend that Dan gave me the ring? - well this was payback). It wasn't too bad actually. All the kids were very well behaved and the weather was beautiful so they were out in the garden a lot. We spent all day Saturday in the garden... Dan mowing the lawn, Barney and I planting seeds, and all the kids playing on the trampoline. Here are some photos...

Here's Annabelle and her cousin B, wearing matching t-shirts. They spent the entire weekend joined at the hip (not literally!) Whilst the others were out in the garden, screaming and shouting, these two were always quietly hidden away in a room somewhere, playing together.

The other 4 kids spent a lot of time on the hammock or in the trampoline.

Barney spent Saturday morning helping his Dad tidy the garden, and Saturday afternoon helping me plant seeds. Here he is having a lift across the patio!

Barney has always been a great help in the vegetable garden. Here he is helping me to plant garlic. We managed to plant garlic bulbs, as well as calendula, spinach, 3 types of lettuce and radishes. There is still a lot more work to be done in the garden.

This is what our neglected veg patch looks like at the moment. It's basically been left all winter. We found a pile of carrots still growing, which Barney dug up for me. The herb garden is still there, but all the other beds need a little weeding and then some more planting. I quite enjoyed getting back into it again.

Mothers Day

So today was mothers day. Dan is away in England visiting with his sick grandfather, so Mothers Day was left to the kids. Barney crawled into bed with me at 7.20am this morning, and I made him a bottle. He was too excited to drink it all, and ran off to find his big brother Jimmie. Jimmie managed to contain his little brother until 7.50, when I was awoken with a chorus of "Happy Mothers Day to you" (sung to the tune of happy birthday!) I was presented with a nice hot cup of tea, and a tray full of prezzies! Barney helped me open them all. Annabelle got a bit annoyed with him, because he was letting slip what the presents were before I opened them. But I explained to her that his excitement was just a lovely mother day memory for me, and that it was just as special as the presents.

Barney had made me (with the help of his brother) a paper heart pendant. A big red paper heart, with lots of sequins and sparkles stuck to it, and put on a string necklace. It's just the cutest thing. I also got 4 new cups! Each specially picked by the kids for one reason or another, some chocolate, a yummy mummy cooking apron, a new vase (to replace the one that got broken last week), and a few other things as well. The hand made things are the nicest. Bless.

My sister and I took our Mum out for a mothers day lunch. We went to an American restaurant in Lisburn, which caters very well for kids (provides DVD's and Nintendos to entertain them!)
We had a lovely meal, and then headed back to my sister H's house. My kids each decorated a Peter Rabbit plant pot thingy (see pic below) for my Mum. I thought they did a really good job with them. Annabelle painted the goose, Barney painted the frog, and Jimmie blended a heap of paints to get just the right colours for the Rabbit.

When we got home we were delighted to find it had snowed at our place! The kids all wrapped up and played in it before it got dark. Now I have 3 wet cold children needing my attention. No school tomorrow, off for St Paddy's day.


The kids enjoying their food at Ed's Bar n Grill in Lisburn.















Barney just wanted ice cream. And was oh so happy when he finally got one!














Here you can see the 3 plant pot characters that the kids painted. They went nicely with the basket of flowers that J gave Mum.













Mum and her prezzies, with my sister H.























Here is Mum, my littles sister H, and my next littlest sister M. J was there too, although not in the photo.












Our r house in the snow, when we arrived home this evening.

A change of pace

Well, well, how life can suddenly change so unexpectedly.

During the week Jimmie was involved in a school production, celebrating 25 years of integrated education in Northern Ireland. The 40 minute performance was very good (even though Barney insisted on yawning very loudly at every opportunity, causing ripples of laughter across the assembly hall, from Jimmies amused school mates!) They put on a very educational and enlightening slide show, with photos and captions from the last 25 years. Photos of all the bombs that had gone off in Northern Ireland, photos of protestant wall murals from Belfast, and newspaper articles from various conflicts from across Ulster over the last 25 years. It celebrated the integration of children from all communities in its school. To do this they presented another slide show, tracing the personal family lines, journeys and ancestry of some of the pupils. The whole presentation was quite moving, and I felt sure that Jimmie is in a great school, compared to the place that he went to before. It was wonderful to see diversity being celebrated, rather than shunned and hidden.

Anyway, Annabelle quite enjoyed her 40 minutes in Jimmies school. I could see her eyes lighting up. Any time I have mentioned the possibility of her going back to school she has burst into tears. This time I asked her, that if she could find a school like Jimmies, would she be interested in having a look around it, with no pressure to join it. She said yes, and got excited about it. I looked into some of the local schools. I was obviously determined not to send her back to her old school, and she was also adamant that she would never go back there.

I phoned the local Integrated primary school and spoke to the secretary. Places at this school are like gold dust, just as they are in Jimmies school. We were unable to get a primary place for them there when they were starting school age. The secretary told me that it was very unlikely that I would get a space in P6 for Annabelle, but that she would check with the principal for me. The next day the principal phoned me. She said that they had triplets leave P6 this week, to move to Spain. There were 2 children on the waiting list for P6 who had been offered places, and had just started at the school, but they still had one place left which they offered to Annabelle. To top it off, that evening was the school open night, for parents to come and visit, and wander around. So she invited us to pop in for a nosey, which we did. This morning we went back for a meeting with the principal. It turns out that her daughter is in Jimmie's class at the college, and she has heard all about him! She even told us about his Mika video on the blog !!!!!

The principal was lovely. I talked to her about how terrible life was in P6 for Jimmie at the old school. I explained how he often had up to 3 hours of homework, studying for the 11 plus. She relayed my fears and stated that P6 had not even begun their 11plus work yet. (I'm pretty sure that the 11plus horror started the first day of school in September at Jimmies old school.) She was very accommodating of Annabelle's home education. She asked that we bring her books in for the teacher to see, so that they would know what level she is at. When I explained what she was currently reading the principal said that it sounded as if she was way ahead of the average P6. She also offered that Annabelle could break into school slowly if she wished to, staying for a few hours a day at the start until she felt comfortable. I don't think that will be necessary, but was impressed that she offered.

When we came out from the meeting Annabelle said "I really want to go there!" I felt a bit sad about it, but also pleased for her. If she is as happy there as Jimmie is at his school, then it will be a good thing. I have told her to give it a 1 month trial, which is what we did for Jimmie. At the end of a month she can come back home if she wants to. We will see how it goes. So, from Monday 26th March I won't know what to do with myself. It will be just myself and Barney in the house. I hope to spend a lot more time doing things with him, instead of concentrating on Annabelle. A change of pace is certainly on its way for myself, Annabelle, and Barney.

Photos - gardening and sprouting

Here are just some photos of things we've been busy with this week.


Dan very kindly took this fetching photo of me, digging in the garden, sporting a beautiful pair of pink welly boots, and all my designer gardening apparel. Little Barney helped me feed the plants and dig the holes.





























This week I sprouted a ton of wheat, to make Essene bread with. I made the bread this evening and it is now dehydrating for about 16 hours. Sprouted wheat berries taste very sweet. Dan has been eating them in the morning for breakfast, either in milk or yogurt.








Here is Barney playing in the garage with my 4 large barrels of grains. They contain wheat, rye, oats and barley.































Today I started chitting the potatoes that I ordered. There are 4 varieties, and they are all organic. I have no idea where I'm going to plant them yet. For a while they will sit in the garage growing some roots for planting. Dan had to make me a make-shift table on top of his cds to put these on.







I am growing sunflower greens for the first time. If we like them I hope to grow them constantly. They are basically mini sunflowers, grown in a tray. When they grow to a few inches tall they will be harvested, and eaten raw like spinach leaves, in salads. It costs about 12p to grow a tray of these.






A few weeks back Barney and Annabelle planted some tomato seeds. Here they are, growing in our utility room at present.