His first day!

We're waiting outside! (I moblogged this but it kept saying COULD NOT PUBLISH). Then I get home and find that it has.....Anyway the two of them went off fine and all is good. I was so proud of the two of them, as if they were my own. I now have an hour and a half free that I don't know what to do with. I'm not running today so besides cleaning the oven or the rest of the house, I'm at a loss. This "stay-at-home-mommy" thing hasn't quite kicked in yet! Just kidding, I'm lovin' it!

Zoo Day

Day 3,456,674 of miserable, wet weather. The greyness continues. But we got a semi-good day Saturday so we spent it at the zoo with the kids. It was brilliant! All went well and by the end of the day the shyness of the 11 year old had begun to dissipate a little bit. It's lucky I run around so much cos it was my job to stick like glue to the 5 year old who just flitted around everything like a giant blond butterfly! We had a picnic , which was the only time it rained but it was actually ok under a tree! Really! You have to be thankful for the small stuff!
We got home and printed out all the photos we had taken and made a scrap book for them, the 11 year old loved this.
The 5 year was buzzing around the house like a tornado! He loves his room! Thursday night will be their first sleepover which should be fun. They have no school so we will plan something. All suggestions welcome, bearing in mind the little boy won't sit still so a movie is out.

This is my last Monday morning at work. I have some stuff to do but can't get motivated cos I know I'm leaving. I better go do something besides blogging!

Funny things the 5 year old has said so far: "Where did you buy your hair?" He said this to Grace whose hair is so beautiful people think it's extensions, I guess he does too.

Friday fluff! Woohooo!

Thanks to Midget Wrangler I've decided to become part of the group blog For Nine Pounds! Go and have a read, it's a great laugh. I haven't written anything yet! What to write..what to write....?

Only a few more days of work for me....ever....oooh that's scary! This is my last ever Friday as a builder!

We had our second meeting with the 2 new arrivals yesterday and again it went very well. They came to our house and saw their two new rooms. The little boy was thrilled, kept asking, is this mine? is that mine? Like all 5 year olds there was questions every ten seconds being fired at us! He's so funny. He has this permanent cheeky grin on his face, never stops smiling! He got very excited by his school uniform that I had gotten for him, he even brought it home to show his other foster family. I had completely forgotten the simple things that excite 5 year olds, like seeing a train; he nearly leapt out of his car seat, or even an airplane, we passed the airport a couple of times.

The 11 year old was much quieter, but seemed very happy with her room. It's all girly and pink with lots of places for possessions and photos and things, so she spent lots of time there fixing the things she had brought over to our house, the stuff she was planning on leaving there. Circumstances have probably affected her much more than him and she has spent years raising him so it's now her time to just look after herself and eevn act like a child herself for a while. It was a very tough day for her as it was her last day at her old school and she loves her teacher, so she was quite sad about that.

Next visit with them is Saturday for a whole day. We had planned on going to the zoo but the weather is craptacular (thanks Jothemama) so I'm not sure. Big moving in day is getting closer: July 12th.

On a completely different topic: this time 17 years ago I finished my Leaving Cert and headed to Glastonbury! And the world cup was on and life was completely different and I had a brill time and saw things I'd never seen before and never have since and it was brilliant. I don't know what Glastonbury is like now but back then anybody of any age could happily walk round the dozens of tents with all different types of music. There was food from every corner of the world not just overpriced burger bars. There was even lots of kids there. Now I wasn't exactly roughing it because I was working in a beer tent (yes we got free beer and cider) and we had proper showers but my Glastonbury experience is still one of those memorable times I think of and smile :-) . Not like my experience soon after of Irish festivals which seemed to consist almost entirely of very drunk 14 year olds in comas on the side of the street.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Days

Just back from meeting the two kids we're going to tbe fostering. I wasn't half as nervous as I thought for some reason, don't know why cos I spend half my week being nervous before every single race but today I wasn't too bad. Myself and Grace drove down and Tony followed on.
We walked into the house and met the little boy first. He was so cute with beautiful blond hair and cute smile! He looked healthy and happy (they're with a foster family with other children) and initially he was shy and quiet. The little girl arrived home from school then with some of the rest of the family and the house was full! The two of them are gorgeous and appear to have settled into their short term foster family well. The plan is for them to be with us long term.
The little boy soon loosened up and was the centre of attention quite quickly! He was showing us his photo album and was quite chatty and asking us questions. The little girl was much more reserved, I tried asking her lots of questions and telling her about us and what we're like. It's hard for the five year old to understand what's going on. He took a real shine to Tony so that's a great start. I can see Grace and the girl getting on great, I'd say they will have music and clothes in common so that's a good start!

The other foster parents were lovely and gave us lots of advice and direction. They've been fostering for about 6 years and have done a great job, they have a lovely family; some their own kids, some fostered.
I hope it'll work out just as well for us, there's a lot at stake and I don't mean for us. These kids have had a hard life and they deserve to be spoilt rotten, but we can't do that either. I'd love if they were with us for a long time and were just like as if they were our own. Maybe that's selfish of me but I just want them to reach adulthood with happy childhood memories of raucous games of Monopoly and picnics in forest parks and summers in our holiday home and Christmases with hundreds of family members around them. Simple stuff....I feel happy now so I hope it continues. Another meeting next week in our house and a sleepover the week after. The moving in day is July 12th.

Another Week Off

Cracking weather we're having and I still have a week off work! Woohoo! Because of the sun I'm spending more time flat on my back soaking it up in the garden than doing all the work I should be doing round the house but hey, you have to make the most of the rays when you can eh? (As soon as the exams are over it'll start lashing right?)

I have done some work though: I've been trying to sort out school places for the new arrivals. We'll meet them for the first time on Thursday. Pretty nerve wracking! Have to get some gifts for them and for the foster family they are currently with.

I was blogging here and here about our all female Clonliffe team of super mountain runners. The Wicklow Way relay (120k over 8 legs) is a great event, nothing like it on the running calender. Some photos here.

Just back now from a visit to see my Dad in his nursing home. One can go from crying to laughing in seconds on one of these visits. They sometimes keep him in a chair when his level of aggression is up. It's dreadful to see him in it and also this aggression is something that was never there his entire life and is only there now because of frontal lobe damage so it's not nice. There are some funny moments too, usually involving the other residents. One of the younger ones was asking my Dad if he ever smoked a spliff, if he was a dancer, if he knew the words to "Young hearts, run free..." Luckily for us this place is a million miles from Leas Cross and is really nice actually.

Next race for me is the trial for the European Champs, which I have little chance of making but it's also a Club Championship so will give it a go. It's uphill only which suits me down to the ground because I'm not one for the downhills!

I'm just watching Bear Grylls on Discovery Channel scree running down a hill and eating a zebra which looks like it could still have a pulse. I love his programmes, he's just amazing! Right now he's getting a warning from a hippo!

Oh and the wedding was great last week. Tony's sister got married last Thursday and it was a brilliant day. I had to run out an hour and a half before the wedding and buy a new dress but at least I got one I was comfortable in.


Me and Grace and the beautiful bride.

Grace's exams are going well, thanks to everyone who sent good wishes! She'll be finished Friday!

Moving On

I'm trying to get back into a positive frame of mind again after our disappointment with our Round Attempt. I tried to exorcise some of the demons by running the Wednesday night mountain race last night and it went well considering I had almost 20 hours of running in my legs from last Saturday so "all is good" as Grace likes to say.

I bought this dress on line (the one pictured above) for a wedding Thursday week. My first clothing purchase on line I think. I can just about squeeze into it and considering I'm tiny I was a bit surprised! Now all I need are accessories. I'm considering green shoes. I also have gold sandals which look beautiful with the colour but cos I have muscly legs I can look like I have pole dancer legs in very high heels (you know when people who wear heels all the time develop muscly calves?). Anyway enough of that.....

Speaking of on-line purchases I made my first e-bay purchase too. I bought 45 metres of this sisal rope stuff for our newly built deck. The intention is for it to look like this:

I have two weeks off now from work after tomorrow so intend making the most of the time and trying to sort out the garden.

The kids we're going to be fostering are meeting with their social worker today and she should be showing them pictures of us and our house and the rooms we've done up for them. We should be meeting them for the first time in the next few weeks with them moving in early July. I've handed in my notice to work, which was easier than I thought, so finishing up at the end of June.

Anyway no racing for me this weekend, I'd love to be heading off to run Carrantouhil but with Grace's exams starting on Wednesday I need to be at home this weekend and not heading to Kerry. Good luck to anyone doing the Women's Mini Marathon!

Meeting Strangers on the Beach!?!

I was blogging recently about answering a 'call' from Claire of Gingerpixel blog to pose for some photos on Killiney beach. And here are the results of our session and here is the set of all the portraits. Claire is so talented, the photos are all just incredible.
Myself and Tony found it hard to relax, we're always shy with cameras. I was worried we would look so stiff! But these are gorgeous! I would highly recommend Claire for any of your photography needs!

ready for my close up.......

I was reading that girl one day and it led me to this. So the three of us (me, Tony and Grace) are signed up! I couldn't believe it really! It genuinely feel like a real privelige to be involved. Claire has such stunning photos, the ones of her children are particularly beautiful.

It will be a chance to have a photo of our family as it stands now, right before it changes forever. And for that I am very grateful to Claire for the opportunity.

Ben and Sue's Wedding

I didn't want to blog about Ben and Sue's wedding in Jamaica until I got my flickr photos sorted. We had such a brilliant time and it was great to be a part of their big day. It was well timed too as it came just after our big trip to Mont Blanc. Myself, Tony and Grace flew out from Dublin via Amsterdam, Cuba then Montego Bay. Grace had one of her fainting spells at the airport which, if it had been any more serious, would have meant Tony going alone. Lucky enough she was ok.

Our hotel was themed on Sesame Street and was all inclusive so we made sure to eat at least 5 meals a day, since we weren't getting our money's worth cos we don't drink!! Cookie monster cookies everyday too!

The wedding itself was really special, lovely romantic ceremony and music. Sue looked absolutely stunning and together they looked so perfect. The meal after included dancing waiters and a proper reggae band! Some of the photos are from our boat trip the next day, organised by Ben and Sue (big thanks!) The braver souls took some dives from some very imposing cliffs (scared the hell out of me, I couldn't even jump from the boat).

I'm so glad we were able to go on the trip. The holiday was terrific as we did lots of things like scuba and gorge walking that just made it great!

Here's to many happy years together!

For the photos go to the badge I've created on the sidebar.

Happy Birthday Grace!

Check this out for some historical events on this day and this from the BBC also................
Have a great 15th. Big hugs and kisses.

Grace's birthday tomorrow!

Tomorow it will be 15 years sine Grace was born. She was born on a Sunday at 4:44pm. It was all very laid back; there was no crazy dash to the hospital, no mad car chases like in the movies! She was 8 days late when she did decide to arrive. She had white blond hair and lots of it, and was the only baby on the ward who looked like that. She was super-beautiful and still is!!

She's going out for a meal with her mates in TGIF. How grown up does that sound? Better than drinking in a field I suppose!

Years ago my mother wrote a book for us, her children. It was like a family history with lots of memories from everyone. Everytime I browse through it I see something different. Grace will have to make do with a blog instead of a book (though so far this blog is all about running!) I'm sure if my mother was alive today she'd be a brilliant blogger! She wouldn't have to spend time and money making her way into Reids in Nassau Street to do colour photocopying!

Anyway here's hoping Grace has a great day tomorrow cos I think it's the first time she's ever had school on her birthday.

Some history of this famous date!

Grace