My teenage plank. Mag is a bit crazy, there are times he just likes to muck around and today was no exception. He thought it would be funny to be bounced about on a see saw whilst remainging in the perfect plank position.
Thursday, 11 August 2011
My Teenage Plank
My teenage plank. Mag is a bit crazy, there are times he just likes to muck around and today was no exception. He thought it would be funny to be bounced about on a see saw whilst remainging in the perfect plank position.
Poznan, Poland
We visited Poznan in Poland. My husband was there on a business trip so we thought it would be fun to tag along too. It was pretty cool, we got ourselves a few 'free' meals out and did a fair bit of sightseeing while we were there. I loved the buildings, they were all tall and crammed into small spaces, each one colourful with just the right amount of character to make you want to take a peek inside. We were only there for a few days but despite this it was still a nice trip. The weather was hot, we weren't prepared for the mercury to hit 32 degrees Celcius and I ended up buying some more appropriate clothing than what I had brought with me.
I loved the market, we bought fruit and found the sellers to be very generous towards the children.
The buildings were all so ornate.
The street cafes, our hotel was the green & white building 4th from the left.
Poznan town hall. The mechanical goats above the clock were iconic, they came out every day at 12 noon and butt heads together. There's a bit of a story that goes with them I am linking the wikipedia page, I hope this is allowed. GOATS STORY
The tram lines, I loved them, they fascinated me! They always looked so busy I didn't dare go on a tram, I was afraid of where I might end up.
A street cafe - very pretty.
Blowing bubbles!
"What's the story in Balamory?"
I loved the market, we bought fruit and found the sellers to be very generous towards the children.
The buildings were all so ornate.
The street cafes, our hotel was the green & white building 4th from the left.
Poznan town hall. The mechanical goats above the clock were iconic, they came out every day at 12 noon and butt heads together. There's a bit of a story that goes with them I am linking the wikipedia page, I hope this is allowed. GOATS STORY
The tram lines, I loved them, they fascinated me! They always looked so busy I didn't dare go on a tram, I was afraid of where I might end up.
A street cafe - very pretty.
Blowing bubbles!
"What's the story in Balamory?"
Monday, 9 May 2011
Round Up
The last couple of weeks have been a blur of going out every day for some reason or other. I'm not sure if I could recall it all and publish it here on my blog.
Easter was interesting, we spent almost every day that week out soaking up the sun. We spent a day in Kearney Village flying the kids kites and had a very tasty picnic. Two days on the beach and several other days just out and about, we hit the town of Portrush too. The children all have a little colour in their cheeks now and me a healthy glow.
Other things were GCSE exam papers, three of them to be exact and now a stack of revision work for the eldest child's next three papers. Once the 27th May is here that will be the last exam for a few months. I am wondering what subjects he will sit next - its a real toss up between doing three more GCSEs or a couple of AS/A levels. Mag also got the results of the six GCSE papers he did back in March, 3 of them he got 100% on, one was 98% and the other two were in the high 80s. Not bad for a 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school.
We have been busy planning out foreign trips, we have two weeks travel coming up and another couple of weeks in the pipeline including a possible trip to the USA on the cards.
Sol has had problems with her feet, well she always did. As a baby Sol had what was called Positional Talipes, in other words her feet were real bendy and curved inwards. This was caused because of her laying breech in my belly for the whole time she was in there, once she was born she has a real tendency to lay with her feet tucked under her. She had a little bit of physio and wore boots to try keep her ankles straight. The last few months I started to notice her feet turning in again. I called the hospital clinic where she was registered before and they wouldn't see her, they said it was acceptable that her feet turned in again despite her history. They suggested that Ryan Giggs the footballer has feet that turn in and because he does its okay for Sol to have that too. What the F***, Ryan Giggs has millions of pounds and a full medical team at his beck and call, and further research shows that he actually gets treated for his foot problem.
I wasn't going to accept this, after all we neither have a million pounds nor the skills of a footballer. We ended up going private and she has been diagnosed with pronation, in most cases pronation turns the feet outwards but in her case they went inward. This un-natural curve in her feet had her hips misaligned so she had to have them manipulated and is now having to do special excercises. A long time ago talipes was treated with ugly boots and frames - Sol is very lucky now to be able to have orthotics made to wear inside her shoes. They are sort of like insoles but actually have a heal and are moulded in a certain way so her feet are shaped properly. She has had them for a few days now and I can already see how straight her ankles are compared to before.
Easter was interesting, we spent almost every day that week out soaking up the sun. We spent a day in Kearney Village flying the kids kites and had a very tasty picnic. Two days on the beach and several other days just out and about, we hit the town of Portrush too. The children all have a little colour in their cheeks now and me a healthy glow.
Other things were GCSE exam papers, three of them to be exact and now a stack of revision work for the eldest child's next three papers. Once the 27th May is here that will be the last exam for a few months. I am wondering what subjects he will sit next - its a real toss up between doing three more GCSEs or a couple of AS/A levels. Mag also got the results of the six GCSE papers he did back in March, 3 of them he got 100% on, one was 98% and the other two were in the high 80s. Not bad for a 14 year old kid who doesn't go to school.
We have been busy planning out foreign trips, we have two weeks travel coming up and another couple of weeks in the pipeline including a possible trip to the USA on the cards.
Sol has had problems with her feet, well she always did. As a baby Sol had what was called Positional Talipes, in other words her feet were real bendy and curved inwards. This was caused because of her laying breech in my belly for the whole time she was in there, once she was born she has a real tendency to lay with her feet tucked under her. She had a little bit of physio and wore boots to try keep her ankles straight. The last few months I started to notice her feet turning in again. I called the hospital clinic where she was registered before and they wouldn't see her, they said it was acceptable that her feet turned in again despite her history. They suggested that Ryan Giggs the footballer has feet that turn in and because he does its okay for Sol to have that too. What the F***, Ryan Giggs has millions of pounds and a full medical team at his beck and call, and further research shows that he actually gets treated for his foot problem.
I wasn't going to accept this, after all we neither have a million pounds nor the skills of a footballer. We ended up going private and she has been diagnosed with pronation, in most cases pronation turns the feet outwards but in her case they went inward. This un-natural curve in her feet had her hips misaligned so she had to have them manipulated and is now having to do special excercises. A long time ago talipes was treated with ugly boots and frames - Sol is very lucky now to be able to have orthotics made to wear inside her shoes. They are sort of like insoles but actually have a heal and are moulded in a certain way so her feet are shaped properly. She has had them for a few days now and I can already see how straight her ankles are compared to before.
Tropical Beaches
The weather here last week was glorious! We spent a few days on the beach just soaking up the sunshine. Who would know we would have a paradise beach here just a couple minutes from my house. Love it!
Babies are here!
The kits are here! they were born on May 14th much to the delight of the children. The children understand that all these rabbits are going to a new home in a few weeks but I am sure there will still be a few tears. There were eight babies in total, our very own octuplets! Sadly one kit died, we think the mum accidentally squashed him.
This one is called Lucky as he almost died twice. He fell out the nest and had got so cold we actually thought he was gone, just by chance we saw a little twitch as we were disposing of his body. I brought him in and warmed him on a hot water bottle, he survived! This happened again, same thing he was cold and appeared dead and once again we revived him.
Wednesday, 6 April 2011
Groomsport by Night
Simply backing up what I said in the blog post beneath this one.... these photos wont wont any prizes in photography terms but they let you see what I saw whilst out walking a couple nights ago.
Walk from Groomsport to Orlock
~~ The children call this the giant chess piece, and it does look like a rook.
None of these are ours, our boat is teeny in comparison.
I love this shot these two are just like man and wife.
Sad News
R.I.P. DILLAN
Well, I hate to report this sad news but the children have been so upset I felt I have to share. Our neighbours two dogs broke into one of our rabbit hutches and killed one of our pet rabbits. Now you have to understand that these are no ordinary rabbits, they are real pets. The rabbits come in the house and are just spoiled rotten. Since this happened the children have been very tearful, its traumatic for them to have their pet destroyed like this.
I was surprised at the depth of the children's feelings as we have experience natural causes deaths before and the children had always been accepting. I am only glad I was home and caught the dogs when I did. the dogs were starting on another hutch, it doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened if I was away from the house. The second hutch had our pregnant lion head bunny in, a Dutch rabbit and two young girls, the devastation would have been awful.
On a lighter note the lion head bunny is due her litter on the 14th April so we are looking forward to that. We have decided, (if its okay with the person who is taking the babies) we are going to keep one of the new rabbits if there is a male.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
Did I tell you?
One of my rabbits are pregnant again. This time it wasn't accidental, we bred her deliberately. The rabbit is a lion head and I had a special request for some lion head baby bunnies.
Where have I been?
Where have I been? I know, I know, it has been forever since I last updated the blog. I have ran out of excuses, there are none! I was just dead lazy and I got even lazier when I thought of all the other times I apologised at being lazy and reading other blogs where people do the same thing.
I wont apologise, I am here ... I am posting again, for now. Just accept that if I refrain from posting I am either being lazy or I am super busy, or having a crisis in my life, or out socialising far too many hours, or having a baby (probably not but maybe the rabbits are having babies again), or feeding the dog ..wait I don't have a dog. Oh, I don't know, maybe it is raining!
I wont apologise, I am here ... I am posting again, for now. Just accept that if I refrain from posting I am either being lazy or I am super busy, or having a crisis in my life, or out socialising far too many hours, or having a baby (probably not but maybe the rabbits are having babies again), or feeding the dog ..wait I don't have a dog. Oh, I don't know, maybe it is raining!
These are lovely moist cupcakes. Best eaten when they are a few hours old or even the next day (if they last that long). This recipe only took minutes to prepare so perfect for some who is too busy to hang around the kitchen for long.
Ingredients
1/2 apple peeled and cored. Chop it up into small pieces.
some lemon juice (though I didn't have any this time and it didn't change the recipe)
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup of butter or margarine (nice and soft)
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups of self raising flour (sifted)
Frosting
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup butter (room temp)
1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar (I made this with granulated sugar & cinnamon)
Method
Preheat the oven at 160C / 320F, I think today my oven was a bit too hot so you may need to turn it down if it is fan assisted.
Lay 12 cupcake cases into a cupcake baking tray.
In a small bowl mix the chopped up apple with the lemon juice and the cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, butter and sugar until light. Then add the milk and flour, beat for another two minutes or so until the mix looks creamy. Add the apple and stir it in.
Divide the mix between 12 cupcakes, this makes a generous amount so you get full cup cakes.
Bake for approx 18 minutes.
For the topping ...
I prepare my topping while the cupcakes are in the oven. Mix half of the icing sugar and the butter, then add remaining icing sugar. This half and half way makes it easier to get out any little lumps. Beat until light and fluffy.
Spoon the topping on the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Ingredients
1/2 apple peeled and cored. Chop it up into small pieces.
some lemon juice (though I didn't have any this time and it didn't change the recipe)
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup of butter or margarine (nice and soft)
1 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups of self raising flour (sifted)
Frosting
1 1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup butter (room temp)
1 tablespoon of cinnamon sugar (I made this with granulated sugar & cinnamon)
Method
Preheat the oven at 160C / 320F, I think today my oven was a bit too hot so you may need to turn it down if it is fan assisted.
Lay 12 cupcake cases into a cupcake baking tray.
In a small bowl mix the chopped up apple with the lemon juice and the cinnamon.
In a mixing bowl beat the eggs, butter and sugar until light. Then add the milk and flour, beat for another two minutes or so until the mix looks creamy. Add the apple and stir it in.
Divide the mix between 12 cupcakes, this makes a generous amount so you get full cup cakes.
Bake for approx 18 minutes.
For the topping ...
I prepare my topping while the cupcakes are in the oven. Mix half of the icing sugar and the butter, then add remaining icing sugar. This half and half way makes it easier to get out any little lumps. Beat until light and fluffy.
Spoon the topping on the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
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