May

May 1:

We have been doing a lot of thinking about putting Lino into school, Jr Infants, in Sept and today I was suppose to meet with Joan about it but Mike couldn't make the meeting so we rescheduled for next week. But after I dropped Lino off we ended up talking a little about it anyway.  She of course recommends we wait another year because of the social part of school. She seemed to think he might be ok the first yr or so because it's not that complicated but after a couple of yrs when all the kids that are a yr older than him are flying through the lessons he might start struggling and it could lead to behavior issues. I don't want to be dealing with behavior issues that's for sure.  And it seems like all the kids that are at this place school will start school when they are 5 and some even 5 & 9mo. Plus he's a boy!  So I was telling her about the other moms that I know that are sending their daughters that will be 4 between May and July to school and she reminded me about comparing girls vs boys plus I shouldn't compare what other moms are doing.  Another mom that I talk to often also stopped to join in on the conversation and agreed with waiting. Then I stopped a couple other moms and talked to them for a while and they all agreed. It seems like the theme is that a few yrs back kids would be sent to school at 4 was normal but now most of the moms are waiting a yr because it's too much stress on the kids and parents. It's such a hard decision and it seems like I could be ruining his life if I send him to early or wait to long. But I guess the reality is that it won't kill him if he's older going to school...it might help him a little.  The one mom also asked me about his toilet training because she knew that we had been struggling with that when he first started school. And I told her most dad we are good but I still have to make him go pee and if he's not in the mood to go he won't and we could have a day of 3 accidents...you just never know.  So there another factor to think about when we are considering him going to school.  The girls that I know that are going to school have no issues with them going to the toilet and they are pretty much night trained as well and with Lino it's totally the opposite. So another potential sign that he's not ready yet. I don't know!?!?!?    Anyway it was nice to chat about it a little but I know it won't be so easy talking to Mike so it's important to have him talk to the teacher too...until next week I guess. So after that I went to the store to get some things before heading over to Nicole's. We were planning to go to the coffee morning together but I got there early so we ended up chatting about school for a while before heading out. After coffee morning we made plans to meet at Fota after Cian got out of school.  I'm really enjoying the pass because we seem to be there a lot. Anyway we had a nice walk around with the boys and it chewed up like 3hrs of my afternoon which was great!!

Senan & Shaun are double trouble in the making!!!!

May 2:

Lazy Friday is starting to be more and more busy...not sure how that keeps happening. Ended up having an impromptu coffee morning at my house with Nicole, Amanda & Gabby. Need to plan it better so Michelle can make it and so that I'm not rushing out to get Lino but it was nice anyway. Weather acted like it was going to be nice so I pulled chairs out but 2min later it was freezing. Oh Ireland, I can't tell which way the wind is going to blow here...always keeping me guessing. 

May 3:

Had a birthday party to go to today. We thought about going up to Dublin for the day to go to the zoo but the weather wasn't that great so didn't want to waste a trip on crappy weather.  So instead we stayed home and I made fancy breakfast out of leftovers. Hahaha. It was good anyway :-)

After breakfast Daddy & Lino started play fighting and Lino started crying because he got a little hurt.  So I try to give him a little advice that he can keep with him for life. It kind of made me laugh. 

"If you're going to fight someone you can't cry!!! If you want to fight then be prepared to get hurt and if you get hurt you don't cry...you keep on fighting until the other person stops. Then when you get hom you can cry!"  

Not sure that's the best advice to give an almost 4yr old but I don't want him to try and fight then be crying every 5sec because he got bumped or something. To me it's simple, If you are going to cry then don't start the fight!

The boys enjoying a little TV time after breakfast. 

So the boys and I went to the party and Mike stayed home to work out...plus he didn't want to go.  I got list somehow and once I found it I realized it wasn't that far from the house so it made me feel even more silly. Anyway it was a nice party with really good potato & pasta salad!!!  Of course I couldn't get Lino to eat anything other than cookies & cake but I expected that.  Oh and poor Shaun...apparently when I gave him his sippy cup of water, before we left for the party, I guess I didn't close the lid because when I pulled him out of his car seat he was soaking wet.  I had just filled up his cup too so it was a full cup of water...whomp whomp. I didn't even bring a spare pair of clothes either but I figured he would be ok since we were inside. But later he ended up spilling juice all over him and the floor so that was just a little too much moisture. The mom felt bad for me & him and ended up giving me some clothes for him. Poor kid. So Lino had fun and it was good to see my formed because she is just going back to work these last couple of weeks so I haven't seen her I'm a while. 

After the party, which we ended up staying later than I had planned we headed home to get Mike then back out to go grocery shopping for dinner.  I had made home made black beans. On Fiday...just because and it gave us inspiration to try and make Blackbean Adobe pies like we use to have I Texas. The only issue is that we are about 2000 miles away from Texas and one of the key ingredients to Adobe Pie...Mazia!  We thought we might just give the supermarket the benefit of the doubt that they might have it but of course they didn't...that's probably way to ethnic for Cork.  So I called my resident Mexican expert Nicole and she confirms that there is a 0.01% chance of finding it in the stores in Cork...BUT she happens to have some in her pantry!!! Score!!! So it was cool that she had some & was willing to let us have some for our experimental dinner.  Problem was that she was not in town but it wasn't that big of a deal because we weren't going I have time to make them for dinner anyway...maybe on Sunday!  So since plan A dinner plans were not going to be implemented we had to think of a quick plan B...which after much debate turned into a Mexican themed hash.  It actually turned out pretty good...chorizo, potato & onion hash with cheese of course. Yum!!!

Oh my BFF in Texas was celebrating her birthday at the Houston food truck fest and I was so jealous. The food looked amazing and the weather even better. It's times like this that make me miss Texas so much!

May 4:

Early baby party this morning...so just enough time to fight with the kids about getting dressed then it was time to go.  It was the first time Mike had been out to the house since we looked at it back in May last yr so I wanted to see how well his memory was, actually he wanted to see so I played along. He actually don't do to bad but made an early turn which he wouldn't have been able to recover from. Hahaha...it's funny how the brain works. We only went to the house once and we both had a good idea how to get there the next time...crazy.  So the party was great!!! Lots of people & kids and they even had a bouncy castle. Unfortunately the weather wasn't exactly cooperating so the bouncy castle has to wait to be used a little later in the party. But eventually did get used!!!  Ha Eun had a great spread of food and the hummus the Gernot made was off the chain!!!  We had a good time and I can't believe that Mike suggested that it stay home while he went to the party. I know he was only trying to help me get a break but this party was with my friend so it was a chance for me to hang out with her. Anyway, it was great...so great get we ended up staying there until about 5:30!!!!! I couldn't believe we stayed that long!  I was trying to make our exit around 2:30 which was already getting late (party started at 11) but Ha Eun told us to stick around a bit...but I don't think she intended us to stay that long but you couldn't tell because they kept feeding us wine & food and we were just chillaxing for real.  Eventually we left and I did try to help clean up but of course they were having none of that.  They are super cool, and I'm glad we got to meet up with them. I could see them being great friends for us...and it's sweet they they are a couple with 2 kids around the same age as us and no family around because it just means we have just that muh in common.  So since we spent the whole freaking day there we didn't have time to go home & make dinner so we decided to stop at Rosie's Bar for dinner.  We ate fish & chips there on our house hunting trip and we enjoyed it so it was nice to go back.  There was some match on so the place was a little crowded but we were able to get a table, even without a priority booking, which was nice!  We had a good dinner & it was pretty reasonable too, like less than €40 for us which was nice.  It can be so expensive to eat out around here that it almost doesn't pay to eat out. Plus it's not like it's quick so you still spend a lot of time eating out & money...the only advantage is you don't have to cook or clean...which is well worth it to me!   During dinner we had a quick FaceTime call with the family in KC then rushed home to get the boys I bed. Mike did a great job of keeping them both up in the car on the way home so they crashed like the titanic when they hit the beds!

May 5:

Cinco de Mayo!!!! 

Mike happened to be off today so that was pretty cool.  We decided to go to Mahon Pt in the morning because the weather was crap.  Every one else in Cork must have had the same idea because the place was a mad house...I've never seen it so crowded.  I met up with a couple of mom and then bumped into Martha but I couldn't stay in the play area long because it was just too crowded.  Mike did do the shopping while I sat and chatted for a while so that was helpful.  We decided to make a semi Cinco de Mayo dinner so we had to get a few items and I made arrangements to get the Masa off of Nicole too so we were all set.  Before heading home we decided to have lunch at the mall and it was freaking €30 at Obrien's for 2 sandwiches 2 coffees and a juice.  Unbelievable.  The rest of the day was spent making our Black Bean Adobe pies & flank steak for dinner.  We had the flank steaks marinating since Saturday so they were nice and tender and the Adobe pies took longer than we expected but came out very good at the end.  We both really enjoyed them but the kids were not as impressed...they haven't been cultured enough to appreciate the hard work it took to make something sort of Hispanic all the way in Ireland.  Those kids...oh well...more for us!

May 7:

Busy day today...got new tires for the car because 3 out of the 4 were basically bald and the 4th was on its way out the door in the next month so just bit the bullet and got 4 new ones.  The guy was nice and pretty quick so that was handy.  Decided to get the car cleaned after that since it stopped raining for 2hrs...plus it was about time the crackers and oat meal was removed from the car.  It was starting to become more like plaster than food...hahaha.  After school it  was haircut time for Lino.  Decided to do a semi fade instead of the normal #2 all around.  Not sure I could really tell the difference but I kind of liked it so I think we will get it again.  Trying to figure out what kind of hair cut works well on him.  We, Mike & I were getting tired of the Mohawk so that had to go but I think the plain cut is to boring for him too so not sure what to do.  Anyway, we will go with this fade for a couple more cuts and see if it sticks.  The afternoon we headed over to Douglas and met up with Cara and the boys for a quick play date.  It was good to see her and to get out of the house.  Lino & Donavan are funny when they get together but they always have a good time...and poor Shaun is just trying to keep up.  We didn't stay to long because the boys were getting a little restless so we left and stopped by Martha's for a little while so that Lino could see his BFF.  I would have went over earlier but I hadn't seen Cara in a while so wanted to catch up with her.  The funny part is that I always say I'm not going to stay long at Martha's and we always stay long.  I guess we all enjoy the time together so its hard to leave.  So after a busy day we ended the day with Shaun saying yellow!!!!  I was telling him all the different colors of the balls when we were in Douglas and he seemed to be trying to say yellow so I kept asking him to say it the rest of the afternoon and by the time bath was over he was saying it very clearly.  I couldn't believe it...had to get it on tape...it was too cute.  Our little baby is getting so big...and he loves talking and saying new words.  Gotta love that!

May 8:

Today we had an informal meeting with Joan to discuss Lino going to school.  Mike actually took the car, I had Lisa take Lino to school which was a blessing and I went to the coffee morning with Nicole at Go Safari and he came to pick me up after his plant tour.  He wasn't feeling good in the morning and by the time he came to get me I could tell he really wasn't feeling good...and he said he wasn't going back to work so I KNEW he must be in bad shape.  So anyway we had a little meeting with Joan and it was good for Mike to hear what she had to say about him going into school at 4.  I think the biggest point was that he could do it if we put him in but he would probably do better if we waited another year.  I get what she is saying and Mike got it too so it was pretty clear for us that we would wait.  Its amazing to me some of the things they have the Jr Infants doing, at the age of 4.  Sitting in the class seats for up to 3hrs at a time and only one 30min break for lunch & recess all day...very rough.  So before we left we also asked for recommendations for schools and it sounded like St. Joseph's in Riverstown was a really good school...so is Glounthaune but it might be a little more strict.  So we will see what happens...I guess I better finally bring in the application for to the Glounthaune school so he can officially be on the list.  She also recommended a couple of private schools too but with only one car it would kind of be a bit much to manage but we will see.  We can always get another car but we would prefer not to if we didn't have to.  The good news is that we both feel much better about our decision and we now have a true/firm decision that we are going to wait to send him when he is 5.  Oh, the other funny but not so funny thing was that Mike got to see how bad/tired Lino can be after school.  So he was fine at school but when we got him in the car and he asked if he could have something silly and the answer is always no of course but this time he completely melted down and Mike was in shock.  He was like "why is he crying like that?  Does he always act like that after school?"  He doesn't always have a complete melt down but a lot of day's he does...he's just so exhausted from the day so I know he doesn't know how else to express his self.  So after seeing just a couple minutes of this random yet serious melt down Mike was like "oh yeah, he's def not ready for school!"  So we dropped Mike off and after lunch I took the boys with me to do a little shopping.  I decided to try something different for dinner...I want the boys (including Mike) to eat more fish so I thought maybe I should try to cook it a little differently to see if they would like it.  So today was my first time making a whole fish...sea bass and it came out great!!!  Lino went to the fish store with me and he was such a mess...kept saying "Whewwww...it stinks in here....Whewwww...whats that in my nose???  Peeuw!"  Hahaha...I couldn't help but laugh and the fish monger was laughing too but told him that the fish may stink now but mommy will make it smell and taste nice and good after she cooks it.  Thank God he was right!  But to bad Mike was sick because he didn't get any at all. Lino actually enjoyed eating it off of the bone which is what I was hopping would happen.  Made this with a little quick sticky rice and called it a masterpiece!!!  Must try it again next week. 

May 9:

Friday is finally here...seems like a quick but long week.  Lino got invited over to Suzie's house for an afternoon play date so he was super excited about that.  Its funny because him & Suzie have come a long way in these past 6 months.  When he first started going to the school he really liked Suzie but she didn't want to have anything to do with him and would actually run away from him when ever she saw him coming.  Claire and I use to joke about it all the time because we thought it was pretty funny.  But I did tell Claire that Lino would eventually ware Suzie down and it seems he finally did.  That kid is going to be a true lady killer...he doesn't give us easy at all and saying "No" only means "not now" to him so he knows he still has a chance...too funny.  So we ended up staying over there for a while because the kids were having a great time.  Lisa and another mom were there too so it was a little party...the weather was actually very good too so I'm glad we were able to enjoy it. 


Lino & Suzie sharing a ride...looks like Suzie might be in charge in this relationship! 

Lino and his bugs...he never gets enough of them.  And he always wants me to take a picture....I guess that's kind of my own fault.

Lino decided to take over the bike...or did Suzie just decide to let him drive for a little while so that she could choke him from behind???  We will never know but I do know that is one cute mini couple!!

I was finally able to pull Lino out of there and wee headed over to Martha's house for a "quick" visit.  This time it was pretty quick because we had plans for the night so I needed to get back to the house to eat and get the boys ready for bed before we headed out to the table quiz.  Clina came over to watch the boys and I was running around like a mad woman trying to put on something nice but comfortable for the table quiz.  Ha Eun asked me about eating at the pub and I just naturally assumed that there would be food there but we had planned to eat dinner at home and stack while we were there but I found out that there was no food at the pub.  Its kind of a BYOF kind of place...very weird for me but very common here.  I guess its an American kind of thing to have "bar" food at all the bars and pubs...but here the pubs are to drink and watch the match, not to eat!  Anyway, we got a ride from Ulrika and her husband which was nice.  We teamed up with Ha Eun & Gernot and we had a blast!  We were doing OK at first but not that good but by the end we completely tanked and ended up getting 7th place out of 9 teams.  At least we weren't last but we were pretty darn close.  It was a fun night but def went too quickly.  Since there was no food at the pub we went next door to the takeaway to get something to munch on to soak up some of the alcohol that we had so we got some garlic cheese fries and waited for our cab to come BACK.  Had a fun night, need to do it again sometime soon.  Mike & Gernot hit it off well too which was great and I could tell that Mike enjoyed his company so I know that we will have more couple outings like that again.   When we got home we got the update on the boys and we just prayed that they would sleep until 8...prayed!!!!  

May 10:

The boys did sleep in a little which was nice but still up early as always.  Mike had to work in the morning so Martha came over for a little while and before she left she helped me start a fire. Shaun ended up falling asleep before she left so Lino & I cozied up to the fire and put on a moive and had a little snuggle/nap time. So sweet!  The boys were both a mess from lack of sleep on Friday night so it was nice to be able to chill a little bit with them.


Watching Frozen, which we thought Lino would never get into but now absolutely loves...and enjoying a little warmth from the big fire Martha made for me.  She is much better at this fire making thing than Mike & I will ever be.

That afternoon was pretty chilled.  It was cold and rainy so we all just vegged out on the couch.  I know our kids can some times watch a little too much TV but its hard to interact with them all the time.  Sometimes we have to do a little bad parenting to stay sane.




May 11:

Mother's Day in the US!!

Daddy let me sleep in a little but I was up by 8:15. He made breakfast for us and I made a cake for our afternoon play date.  I had to send a picture to Ha Eun and Gernot of the drawing that I did with Lino on Friday.  We were working on letters and then Lino wanted me to draw a dinosaur and a water gun but I'm a horrible drawer so my pictures look more like a monster/rocket ship and a penis.  This was a little debate that we had at the pub because I tried to recreate my water gun drawing and they were all like "that's a penis"...and after looking at my drawing several more times I guess I see where they are coming from.  Hey, I'm a scientist not a freaking artist!!!

So this is the normal view on Mother's Day sunday...around 10:30 in the morning daddy is completely pooped from the 2.5hrs of being mommy and passes out on the couch as the kids watch a movie.  If only I could do that!  Thanks for a great breakfast with my mimosa!  Love my boys!

Some fun/interesting trivia that I learned today...

The afternoon was kind of busy, went shopping in the mall, Lino did leap frogs, we had our Sunday coffee & cake date then home to get the cake and back out again for the play date.  I was pretty impressed that Mike set up a play date with one of his coworkers.  The cool thing is that they live pretty close to where Annette lives which is close to us so it was convenient. 

May 12:

Dropped my phone in the toilet

Met up with Alex at Fota Gardens for the day

Saw Amelia there but didn't have my phone to call her to tell her where to meet us.

May 14:

Ran into Cara at Mahon Pt and they came over to play and get some things for their trip.

May 15:

Coffee morning at Nicole's house

Tried to turn my phone on after 4 days in rice but no dice

May 16:

Coffee day at my house!!!

Tried to turn my phone on again but still nothing.  Charged it for a couple hours but then realized that was probably a bad idea because if there was any water in it still the charger would completely fry it...ooops.

May 17:

Went to Dublin to the Zoo!  Weather was great!!

Tried to turn my phone on one last time before heading out to the Zoo and it worked!!!!  I was already making plans to go to the store on Sunday to get a new phone but somehow the darn thing came back to life and was working 100%!  Thank GOD!!!!!

The zoo was great and the boys had a good time. It was a little crowded because the weather was so nice but not too bad. The only issue was that the zoo is so big and we are starting to get use to the small crowds of Cork so keeping up with 2 busy boys is way more challenging. At one point we actually lost Lino!!!!  Thankfully he was just in from of one of the feeding exhibits but it was a scary few minutes. 

King Silver Back!!!

Gorilla exhibit...very cool. 

May 18:

Went to mall, leap frogs then met up with Ha Eun & Gernot at the Ballymaloe food & wine festival...had a great time but it started raining so had to cut it short.  Food was good and the kids enjoyed feeding the pigs. Not sure if the potatoes left by the pin where for feeding them but that what we did and the pigs seemed to enjoy it. 

Lino & Hami....so cute!

May 19:

Went to Ha Eun's house for a morning play date but had to leave early because Lino decided to pee his pants and I just couldn't deal with changing him into new clothes.  So just stripped him and put him in the car...this boy is going to kill me with this pee stuff.  Tired from a long and busy weekend so I did nothing and was a total bad parent and let the boys play on the ipad and watch movies most of the afternoon.

Finally got a picture of my ghetto blackout blinds. 

May 20:

Went to coffee morning in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. We stop by the park in Douglas so that Lino and Shaun could play for little while since the weather was actually nice. I finally broke down and bought real blackout blinds but when I got home I realized I had the wrong size because Mike wrote the size down in a different way than what it said on the package. So I thought the length was shorter than wait actually was so we had to go back out to the store to exchange them. I guess we didn't have to go back out and exchange them but I really wanted to see if they would work so I wanted to have them for the night. So I got home and finally got them hooked onto the curtain rod and I was getting excited because I thought it would make the room pretty dark ...Nevertheless they still sucked!!!!!!  They help to block out a little bit of light but honestly not much at all the room was still pretty light so you might have to just go back to using my blankets instead. And the blackout blinds are really expensive so I'm debating on if I should take them back or not. Maybe there is a better option but I have to figure something out to get the boys room dark otherwise we are not going to get any rest over the summer.   Decided to go to Zumba so went to my first class ever and had a ball!!!  I enjoyed the movement and all the energy the teacher has so I think I'll go back again soon!

May 21:

spent the morning at CUMH handing out leaflets for Cuidiu. I didn't realize how much it cost to park but after my two and half hours at the hospital I had to shovel out €8 which was absolutely ridiculous. Someone said that I could park over Tesco's and walk across the street but they also said that the guard I watch people crossing over the road and give tickets for that so I didn't want to chance it but I think next time I will because €8 for 2.5 hours is completely crazy.  After I picked up Lino from school we just spent the rest of the day out in the garden...  we planted some points from school and just done around in the dirt trying to suck up as much sun and vitamin D as possible

Lino showing Shaun how to throw the dirt correctly. 

Sun with my baby.  He doesn't seem to interested in taking a picture but I don't care!

These legs have never been so pale!! I'm almost as white as my boys

May 22:

Morgan turns 8!!!  Can't believe my niece is 8. I remember when she was born and I was the one that got to tell the family that she was here and that she was a girl. Nothing like it in the world...so special. She will always have a special place I my heart. 

Had to run some errands today to prep for our first guest. One of the things that sucks about our European washer & dryers is that they are too small to wash comforters so I had to drop off the guest comforter and ours to get washed.  I went to coffee morning with Shaun and then home for the afternoon.  I was able to convince Mike that I should go to Zumba again so I was able to get out. I got a little lost going there because it was in a small town and it was all backroads to get there but I made it and had fun again.  The nice thing was that you get a small discount the more times you go in a week so it gives you some incentive to go a couple times a week.  I only have a few more days until vacation so need to do whatever I can to burn off a little extra calories so I don't look so horrible in a swim suit.  

May 23:

Home all day because Mike needed the car.  My neighbor friend Lisa took and picked up Lino from school for us so that Mike could go to a work funeral. I'm pretty blessed to have neighbors/friends that are willing to do that for us. 

Shaun & I playing around with my new glasses...I should be doing laundry but totally not in the mood. 

We realized yesterday that we had to go get our GNIB cards renewed but the Garda guy wasn't in the office so I called today and he was telling me that it takes 3 weeks now because the cards are different and are processed/issued from Dublin and that we had to go to the city to get it done because we are in a different district now.  What a freaking pain.  But the reality is that we got the freaking run aroud so we spent 2.5hrs going down to the city center station to get them renewed only to find out we had to go to Midleton instead.  Then we found out that the Midleton station is booked for spots until middle of June which doesn't work for us. Such a mess. Thankfully I had already made arrangements with the original Garda guy to come on Sat and he would give us a temporary card...if he could.  I didn't understand the if he could part and neither did Mike but he was our only hope so we had to trust that he would be able to get us sorted.  So Mike dropped us off at Go Safari so the boys could play for a while and he went back to work for a little. What a way to end the week. 

May 24:

Up and put to the Garda station.  We were worried that the line would be crazy like it was the first time we were there but actual it wasn't bad at all.  The guy, Sean, was able to get us all sorted and settled so we didn't have to do the temporary card thing. He actually stamped our passports so that we were valid for a while, which was very nice.  After that we relaxed and hung out as a family.  

May 25:

Mom is leaving KC today to fly I Ireland!  So exciting to have our first visitor and this also means that our Italy vacation is just around the corner!!!