ireland 2010

our trip to ireland was amazing. all of my siblings and their significant others went to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. the babies did great. (except for baby r's aversion to all the fresh cream i was stuffing in my face.) it was so beautiful and we had many fun adventures.....

this took some getting used to... especially on their teeny tiny streets. what you see here is a small freeway.
we stayed in a small town called dingle.

this is the view from our front door....
we took a tour of the dingle harbor. baby C was stylin'. baby R was sleeping.

the highlight was when fungi swam along side our boat for about 10 min. so exciting!! i was too busy screaming to take any pics. good thing my sissy was making all those dolphin calls.
this was one of my favorite days. my step mom and aunt watched the babies and the "big kids" got to have some fun adult time. we all piled into our small euro car and went for a little drive. we saw a big mountain with a ruin on top. we decided to climb it. the ruin was very small and anticlimactic, but the journey was the memorable part.

a lonely boat in the dingle harbor...

my boys......

this guy celebrated his 60th birthday....
happy birthday dad!!!!!

we had a lovely picnic on blasket island. it was pretty much the most amazing thing.... until baby R started to scream. it was a stressful 20 min.
these guys kept popping their heads out of the water to check out what everyone was doing.
hiking around the storybook island....
the journey to the island was an adventure in itself. we took a boat close to the island (nattie didn't do too well on that one)....
then we put on lifejackets and got onto a raft-like boat that took us to the island. the seals were right next to us. scary.

the boat ride back was so rocky and almost made me sick. good thing baby r slept right thru it.
inch beach. one of the most beautiful places i have ever been. we drove right up to the water.


more inch beach...
driving along the coast...
baby R loves being daddy's mini-me.


this was an adventure as well.....

we found out about an old ship graveyard, so the girls decided to have their own field trip. we got into our car (scary) they trusted me to drive (double scary) and we drove right down along a dark, muddy, it was pouring rain by the way, one-way road that led right to the beach. we took pictures because we made it... didn't know how we were going to get back out tho....
when we turned the corner.. there they were. it was so creepy. the wind was so strong, it was foggy and pouring rain. it felt like we were in a scary movie.


we were sinking into the ground...


chester copperpot.........

we loved all the phrases people would say:

* no bother

* cutlery (silverware)

* stirrers (spoons)

* petrol and filling station

* guarda (police)

we were sad for our vacation to come to an end, but we were ready to get back. we missed the girls so much. baby R was amazing for most of the ride home. we had a layover in philly for a few hours. we took a taxi into the city and saw the liberty bell, independence hall and even hiked over to the italian market for some cheesesteaks. not as good as you might think wit out wiz... but still delightful.

ultra professional sewing tutorial

how to sew an adorable dress for your child......

disclaimer.... i do love to sew, and even tho i had the best teacher (thx grammie) i don't always follow the rules. although nobody ever went to jail for using too many pins, i don't want to take my chances.

1. go to a cheap place (like SAS fabrics) and get some cool material. i found this grey material for $1.74 for the whole piece.

i like to use a paper grocery bag to sketch out my pattern.

yep.... just eyeball it. maybe hold it up to your child if you want to get some idea of what size to make.
baby R likes trader joe's bags the best...
cut out strips for ruffles on the front.
i prefer to use sharpies... and the same scissors i use in the kitchen. ( i am ultra professional)
2. lay it all out.
3. i made the skirt first. i wanted it to have a modern, raw look, so i did a zig zag across the top of the skirt.
then i did a loose stitch about an inch below the zigzag and gathered it.
4. skirt is done. now move on to the strips. do 1 loose stitch down the middle of each strip. gather.
5. pin the strips down on the front of the dress. stitch down the middle, attaching them to the front of dress.

sew top front and back together.
6. my neckline was WAY too big, so i gathered around the neckline and then added elastic all the way around.
7. then i attached the skirt to the top of dress. i attached mine from the outside (seam showing)
8. the dress was WAY too long, so i laid it out and cut off several inches.

and then....
9. voila!!! you are done.

did you get that awesome dress at j crew???

NO!! you made it :)

10. yeah!!!
it is super soft t-shirt material, so child is happy. i think it will wash well too. the edges will probably curl up, adding even more dimension.

11. i also made a matching headband with some of the scrap material and elastic. but the child disappeared... so no more pictures.

annabel lee

i was telling my dear eldest daughter the story of fungi, the romantic dolphin of dingle, and she says to me...

"oh, that reminds me of the poem annabel lee by edgar allan poe."

she then proceeded to pull it up and have me read it.

| Annabel Lee

It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of ANNABEL LEE; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me- Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we- Of many far wiser than we- And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea. Edgar Allan Poe i'm so impressed with my eccentric little 5th grader.