From the Emerald City to The Emerald Isle

A beautiful summer day at Richie & Joanna's - this was a BBQ that Graham would have been at so we got together and enjoyed wonderful food, in the sun, just as he would have wanted. Here we're playing this "headbands" game where you guess what picture is on the card on your head (without seeing it at all). Lots of giggling ensued.

We joke that Wayne & Richie are long-lost 'brothers from another mother' (on a different continent).

Norah's window drawings of her Dad and Uncle Marko.

Which became, her Dad and Uncle Marko holding a jump-rope, with Norah in the middle.

The artist explains her process.

Hard to see but Norah says this is Wayne, holding a kite. A beautiful kite, I might add.

And here's me, holding my kite.

(person on bottom, string, and then shapes on kite)

Then she's by herself awhile longer and I come back to see this. I asked her what it was and she said, "A Solar system. There's the sun and there's Mercury."

OHhhhhh this café! This is for Wilma, if you happen to see this. Wayne's mom would adooorrre this place. It's a crafting/knitting shop WITH a café and baked goods. If Wayne's mom happened to be in he market for starting a business, (despite being at retirement age) she could make millions on a shop like this - all filled with her own creations and her own baked goods.

(store's front window)

Our Dun Laoghaire - just down the street from us.

"Arrggghhhh!" (Pirates defending their ship)

Norah and Ella.

Norah had this massive ringlet down the front of her face one morning and she refused to let me put it back in her pony tail. So...one curly bang, she had. It looked, ever-so-slightly, like a hot dog hanging down but it was pretty. :) And hey, if she wants to rock that ringlet, I'm all for it.

Setting up her Polly Pocket and Japanese re-ment, café. This was serious business and she spent about an hour on it. This girl looooves miniature-anything.

We were amazed at how she grabbed tiny cups and utensils from her toy-kitchen, to be the chairs and tables for her teeny polly-pocket dolls.

Oh and each girl had her purse with her as well.

The bag Nana brought (2 years ago now), to Dublin, filled with Polly-pockets. This is STILL one of Norah's prize posessions - her Polly collection.

(dolls that are about 3 inches tall, with teeny-tiny outfits for all of them)

And then finally, on Friday May 30th (the evening before what would have been our dear friend Graham's 40th birthday, we decided to all throw his party, despite his glaring absence.) We had this planned and none of us were willing to let the day pass so we did what he would have wanted - got together to have great food, and most importantly, CAKE! Oh how Graham loved his desserts - maybe that's why we were instantly such good friends.

Me: "Should we get a coffee?"

Graham: "Yeah, definitely"

Me: "Will we get a dessert too??"

Graham: "Of course!"

Joanna made these traditional Chinese chive pancakes (delicious!!)

Graham ate gluten-free (and me too) so I'd always make us (or try to make us) gluten-free cakes. This one was a genuine success and even the frosting was killer. On my 30th Birthday last year, Graham wrote in a book he gave me: "Remember, '30' is only an illusion". So this year, I thought it was only appropriate to use this. At first I was so sad he died just 3 weeks before his 40th birthday. I couldn't let it go but I realized (with the help of his wise words), he DID reach 40. Those 3 weeks are arbitrary and the day is just a marking. In every other sense, he reached that milestone.

We brought Polly Pockets for the girls to play and they had a ball. (Lucy is 5 and she is Torin & Nicky's little girl - along with their angel Toby- below).

Here's sweet Toby - just about the most amazing toddler boy I have ever encountered. He is the most angelic, gentle and loving little boy. He is so giving of his smiles and spirit and especially his hugs.

Norah's First Field Trip down south to Glenroe Farm in County Wicklow (30 minutes on a charter bus, from her school). This farm is the location for an old Irish soap opera called...."Glenroe" (how appropriate). I'm told it was a big deal here - I picture the show "Dallas", meets Irish countryside. The farm is absolutely adorable and to have 27 brightly colored 3-5 year olds brought that cute-factor up to about 1 bazillion.

There were 3 of us parents who came on the trip, and 3 teachers so the child-wrangling wasn't hard at all. Though a few did try to escape our grasps, and/or climb into animal pens.

Norah was so sweet (she's left/center) with the blue raincoat with flowers on the bottom. She always hangs back, waits for the kids who are pushing and shoving to see, and then once they leave, she peeks at the animal. She's got it figured out. At one point though, I felt bad (because she gets shoved out of the way in their 3 year-old stampedes) so I told her to "push her way back in" or to just "stand her ground". She goes, "But Mommy, I just want to do it how I do it". (lesson learned, and she was so right).

Luke O. (in the green coat, left) is Norah's boyfriend. And Peaches, on his right, is the 3rd member of the love-triangle. Often the three of them walk around, all holding hands and sometimes Peaches will shove Norah out of the way if she's feeling a bit protective of her Luke. It's the only "romance" in the Montessori class....

Teacher Olivia (65 goings on 7), going down the teeny slide. I just love this woman!

On another great day in May, we met Kara and the boys (Geordan & Rory) at Cabinteely Park. They have an incredible playground and hundreds of acres of trails so we had a ball there.