Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Spreading the news...


Finorah is going to be a big sister!!!
Estimated due date:  January 30, 2014

Monday, July 29, 2013

A (short) Week in the Life (v.12.5)

 
She really likes to take photos of herself and especially likes to watch herself in the camera on the phone.

Sleeping with her five lambies...

Monday, July 22, 2013

A (CRAZY) Week in the Life (v.12.4)

We had a rough week all around.  We started out the week with Finorah waking from 2am to 4am on both Monday & Tuesday with some severe teething.  She was so exhausted from not sleeping, she fell asleep on the floor the following Wednesday.

Tired girl

Someone is exhausted (well, actually two people, me included).

It's awesome because now that she can understand what I'm asking of her -- I can get lazy.  I asked her to go throw her diaper away.  Look what I found an hour or so later.  Smart girl...


E left for a week long conference on Friday.  This is the lady sleeping peacefully before Mama's chaos ensued.

She honestly fell asleep like this and she slept through the entire storm.


There is a longer version of the story, but the abridged version is a big storm rolled through ALL Friday night into Saturday.  It was moving due east and the storm line was directly over top of us.  I woke at 4:30am to six inches of water in my basement.

No, people, we don't have shiny carpets.  That's standing water.

Six inches covered the entire basement.  And the only one to deal with it was me.

An example of all the silt that was also on the carpet that you just couldn't see.


Saturday morning, while I was trying to do what I could with the insurance company, someone sat by herself and read.

Even Bishop was tired by Saturday evening from all the excitement.

With nothing on television, we were streaming videos online.  She was so tired that she fell asleep in her bouncy chair.

As I was flipping through the photos this morning, I found this one.  She must have taken a photo of herself over the weekend when I gave her my phone to play with.  I laughed when I saw it.

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand. (Part IV)

One last photo of Cloughveen

Someone was so exhausted from being carried all day and breathing so much Irish air -- she started to fall asleep on E's head!

The girl was sooooo tired...

We attended E's distant cousin's 90th birthday party that evening.  This happened to be in attendance there.  The Sam Maguire Cup!  It's basically the Stanley Cup of Gaelic football.

Everyone was able to get photos with it.
(PS Someone also ended up getting a sunburn from the Irish sun being outside all day)

The girls in the Sam

The girl was on fire!  Give her a balloon and she is set for the entire evening!

Dancing with Daddy




The Irish step dancing that was taking place was a big hit with Finorah.

This is the cottage that we stayed at while in Ireland

Finorah on Eany Water -- the little bay that was right outside our cottage

Daddy & Finn at the beach

Taking a dip in the Irish waters of Donegal

Beach Mama

Checking out the water

One final photo on the beach

Family!

Cousins pyramid.  Not sure what kind of a face Finn is making here.

Love

The next generation in Irish sheep herding

We were able to get a 99 for Finorah.  Her first!!!!!  A 99 is a small child's cone that has half of a Flake candy bar stuck in it.







I love you, Spot.

One final hug goodbye.

Tired after a long trip of Finn-Hugs.

May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. (Part III)

Probably one of my favorite photos of our entire trip.
My little sheep herder...

After leaving Cloughveen, we were heading to Disert Graveyard.
Along the way, we passed an old school that E's great-great uncle taught Gaelic in.  (Obviously the roof is new)

Our final destination that day was Disert Graveyard.  It was an ancient religious site that predates Christianity in the region.  In 600ad, St. Columbkille consecrated a well on the site to provide healing powers.  During the times of British occupation, it was illegal to have catholic masses so the locals would meet around Mass Rock and have an outdoor mass illegally.  Two of E's uncles were buried in as they died before they could be baptized.  In those days, you couldn't be buried in a cemetery if you weren't baptized.  

In order to get to Disert, you had to walk through someone's field.

It was a pretty long hike.

The sheep were paying us no mind as we walked through their field.

Once at Disert, they had old stones that were said to cure certain illnesses.  And people would leave coins as offerings.


This stone is said to cure bad eyesight.  You simply look through the hole in the rock.  Aiden decided to go for better than 20/20 vision.

These two stones were said to bring about virility.  You place a stone in each hand and walk around another stone multiple times.

This pile of rocks are all rocks left by people visiting the graveyard years ago.

The rocks had been in place for quite a while as moss was growing on them.

Aiden trying his hand at the virility stones.

The entire shrine that was sitting on the hillside.

A little further over was a set of stones that was called Mass Rock.  You were to walk under and through the stones to cure an ailing back.

E & Finn at Disert

Mass Rock

E walking through Mass Rock

S walking through Mass Rock

Us sitting next to Mass Rock

The Johnson family -- Neave didn't want to be in the photo
L to R: Matt, Aiden, Neave, Maraid, S

Neave upset

A good family photo

The siblings showing their support for Neave

L to R: S, E, & Anita

Cousins:  L to R: AnnaMarie, S, E, & Anita

 Desert was served at Disert -- Finorah was very excited about chocolate buttons.

A pretty view of the mountain side.

Finorah & I at Disert

Thank goodness for timers on cameras!
All of us: L to R: me, S, AnnaMarie, E, Finorah Matt, Neave, Maraid, Aiden & Anita

The walk back

Homeward bound.