Tuesday is coffee morning in the city but before we head there we have a little stalling to do so I decided to go shopping for some warm clothes for the boys so we went to the Dunnes Store. While I was looking for thick socks and long johns Lino was playing with the toys and kids dishes next to me. I guess I got too focused on what was going on because I looked up and Lino was gone! He was just there 2sec ago because we were talking about the monster socks for the house but now he's gone and Shaun is fussing...great. I figured he was just a couple if aisles over so I walked over to where the boys stuff was and he wasn't there. Now I was getting a little worried so I walked around the kids section and still couldn't find him. Then I walked all around the men & women's section and still no Lino. So I went back to the kids section just in case I missed him or in case he was playing hide & seek with me or something...but he wasn't there. Now my heart was pounding and I was freaking out. I ran over to the pay counter and told them he walked off and the lady kind of chuckled at me...I was not laughing. Then I told the customer service lady and she made an announcement. I didn't even wait for her to make the announcement before I went running around the store. I covered all of the department store area and was heading over to the grocery section but couldn't find a clear path to get there and once I did find a way a lady came walking towards me with Lino. OMG, my heart almost came out of my mouth, I couldn't believe I had lost him. I was mad and happy all at the same time...and completely freaked out and blessed too. Thankfully Cork is pretty safe, I know it's not 100% safe but if that would have happen back in the states it would have been way more terrifying. I was just so glad that no one grabbed him and that he didn't walk off too far. So of course I grabbed him and squeezed all the blood out of him but I think he realized he was wrong because he kind of squeezed me back, he was happy to not be lost. Reunited and fully scolded for walking off I put his butt in the stroller and finished my shopping. I stalled just enough that by the one we got checked out, went potty it was 20min til the coffee morning...perfect. So I get back to the car and I can't even get into the car...someone parked so freaking close to me that I couldn't even open my door without hitting their door...now isn't this a little ridiculous? I think I was just super frustrated because of loosing Lino but I was just so annoyed. I ended up having to put Lino into his seat from the other side and I had to get Into the car from the passengers side as well. I couldn't even buckle Lino in so I had to pull out and find an open area that I could open the door enough to strap him in, talk about being annoyed!!!
No worries tho, I didn't go far before getting everyone all strapped in then we headed on our way. We had a nice morning with the other kids/moms. We ended up leaving a little earlier than normal because we were suppose to take Mike to the Garda station for something but he decided not to go today so we just went home instead. The afternoon was slow...played with the boys, tried to paint pop corn but that was a horrible idea or I just didn't execute it properly. Either way the pop corn ended up being mush so it was not as I had planned it in my head. I kind of feel bad for the boys because I'm not very crafty at all and I don't ever know what to do with them when we are home other than play with the toys or play outside or finger paint every once in a while. A lot of my other SAHM's back home are super creative and put me to shame everyday...oh well, hopefully my boys will survive.
Wednesday is normally my clean up day but I needed to get more groceries because what we got on Mon was just enough for 2 dinners, I didn't really know what I wanted for the week so I thought it would be easier to just shop twice. So after dropping Lino off at school Shaun and I headed to the store. I needed to get a couple of bottles of wine for the two recipes I was making but I forgot I can't get any alcohol before 10:30...that really bothered me. Especially because I had got all the way to the check out with my wine before I was told it was too early...hopefully I didn't look like a lush :-/ Oh well, I got everything else for my recipes so I'll have I wing it from there. So I get home and start on my dinners...I'm making 2 recipes from my Jamie Oliver cook book that Mike & Lino got me. One is a chicken & leek pastry pot pie and the other is a shredded lamb stew. The cool thing about the lamb is that this one "stew" can be transformed into 3 different dishes. And since the size of the lamb leg is so big it will be enough for us to try at least 2 maybe even a all 3. I'm excited about that because that means less cooking for me the rest of the week!!! So I get started on the first dish and realize I forgot an ingredient...of course, but thankfully it's not something I have to have right away so I was able to get it going. I thought I would have time to get the lamb in the oven before having to get Lino but that didn't happen. I can't believe how quickly the time flew by...I'm so slow I can't get much done at all...very pathetic. I did have a few min to spare so I did a little veggie prep before I left. I also realized I wouldn't have been able I start the lamb anyway because I needed the wine. Of course that meant I was going to have to go back to the store to get the wine and the 2 other things I forgot...there is nothing worse than going to the store 2x in less than 3 hrs. Puls now I had Lino with me so it wasn't going to be as quick of a trip as it could be. So u get Lino, get to the store to get my missing items and we actually get out of there pretty quickly. Lino got a donut while we where shopping because he was good, that's what he told me but the truth was that the donut was going to keep him quite and cooperative so I let him have it. When we got back to the car Lino informed me that he couldn't get out of the stroller because he pee peed in his pants...good job Lino...thanks!!! I wasn't even mad, well not really, just annoyed that I let him have a donut for being "good" and he goes and pees his pants...this kid is just unbelieveable. Of course I didn't have a change of clothes so I just took the wet ones off of him and put him in the car seat. Home we went so that I could clean Lino up and finish my dinners. I got everything done that I had planned to do...cooking wise and now it's almost time to meet up with Martha & the boys...time flies.
So Martha and I decided to go to the park today instead of Monkey Maze because even tho it's cold it's actually nice outside, remember that means no rain! Lino was excited to see his friend so it was kind of not so hard to get him ready to go. We got to the park before they did because Martha was walking so Lino ran around like a crazy kid until his buddy arrived. I had Shaun nice and bundled and in my old sling and Lino was semi bundled but he was running around so I knew he didn't need too many layers or else he would be sweating and hot. He had his new hat on and a couple of shirts so he was good to go. We stayed there for a while but Martha & I were freezing..you worry so much about the boys being dressed properly you forget about yourself. We knew it was getting colder out since the sun was going down but we didn't want to leave just yet so we went to the coffee shop to warm up and have a little snack. Since Martha walked down we walked to the coffee shop...it wasn't far but it was getting cold so it was kind of a hurried walk. I guess I was so worried about my stroller and cold hands that I forgot to bring my wallet so Matha bought me a hot chocolate...so sweet. So we chatted away while the boys played. It was getting late and time for me to get Mike so we headed back towards the car...hopefully I'll be able to catch up with her over the weekend. So we go to get Mike, get home and the house wasn't burnt down from my slow & low lamb dish...thank goodness. So I finish dinner, we ate, did the night time routine and watched the tube before bed.
Nothing special happened on Thursday. After doing the drop off I went to the farmers market at Mahon to see if I could find a turkey for next Sat...we are hosting Thanksgiving. I talked to the organic farm lady and she had huge turkeys that were frozen that she was selling for 1/2 price but I wasn't sure if we needed a 25lb turkey so I kept looking. I decided to get a crêpe too because I had been eyeing this crêpe place since I've been in Ireland so finally got one. I wanted a dessert one but it was still early so figured I better stick with savoury. While that was cooking I did a little more shopping and got some milk to make rolls...Ihave to start testing out my moms recipe to see if I will be able to pull it off for Thanksgiving. Then I got my crèpe and was heading out and saw anther place that had turkey's for Christmas so I went to ask about gettig one for next week. The lady actually had some available that were 10lbs lighter so I got her card too...have to talk to the bank if Mike to see what he thinks :-). Then off to today's coffee morning which was near my house. I had a nice time talking to some of the moms there and I was getting excited because I'm hosting coffee morning next Thursday so I figured the crowd that showed up here today would more than likely show up at my house next week so I will have a nice crowd...I think. Then I raced to go pick up Lino from school, we came home, cooked and played the afternoon away. We got invited to monkey maze to meet up with Nicole & Michelle so we went there for a little while. They were there for a birthday party and we were there just for fun but Lino thought he was part of the party too. He inserted himself into the festivities and everything and I felt so bad. I fed him before we left so that he would't want something to eat but when all the kids were eating their chips (aka French fries) he was insistent on wanting some too. So he shared with a couple of the kids then the host mom bought him some hips of his own...she beat me to it because I was on the way to get him some too. She wouldn't even let me pay for them so that really made me feel bad, I guess I didn't think this thru very well because his friend was doing all the party stuff and he doesn't understand that he wasn't part of the party...anyway it was a bad call on my part. Thankfully the mom was really nice and she understood and let him sit with the other kids...he ended up having a good time and he wore his self out. We left there to get Mike from work and I finished dinner while he played with the kids. Tonight we had part one of the lamb dish...it was lamb with pasta and it was pretty good. The cheese really helped with the strong lamb flavor and all the herbs and veggies mixed in together to make a very interesting and tasty dinner...even Lino enjoyed it!
Lazy Friday...just bummed it out today. Watched the tube while Lino went to school. Once he got home I decided to make rolls so I started on that while the boys played. My mom finally have me the recipe last night...she was holding out on me like she didn't want to share it. It was like some top secret recipe and she was doing a background check to make sure I was good enough to get the recipe...crazy. I had another recipe that I had found on line too just in case mom didn't give in on giving up the recipe. So I started a batch before I picked up Mike then finished it after he got home. Let's just say the first batch was a true trial because it wasn't the best. I must have kneeded the dough too much because the rolls didn't rise very much at all...oh and the house was kind of cold and it needed to be warmer for them to rise. So I cooked a few of them just to see if the taste was there and it was. Lino actually liked them but I think it's only be aside it was loaded with butter and honey. So I decided I was going to make another batch. Really they are pretty cheap it's just the time that's the factor. So I made another batch but this time I made sure to put the dough somewhere warm to rise, the top oven was perfect. This time I tried the recipe off of the internet because I didn't have to roll out the rolls (I thought that might help with my tough roll issue). So I was cooking dinner in the bottom oven and letting the dough rise in the top...perfect!!! For dinner we had the 2nd recipe for the lamb, it was suppose to be lamb and dumplings but I didn't make enough of the lamb so it was a lot of dumplings. Actually it was GREAT!!! That dumpling mix was so rich, moist and delicious I could have ate a whole pan of it. Oh and it was super easy so that made it even better. This was definitely a winner. After the boys got ready for play time we pulled out the rolls and they were actually good. The flavor was different from my moms recipe but at least this time I didn't make little hockey pucks hahahaha. Mike said he preferred my moms version, even tho they were hard, so I knew I had to give her recipe another go on Saturday. For tonight it's time to relax and watch our favorite shows...Greys & Scandal which I heard was a great episode.
Saturday we tried to sleep in but the kiddos didn't let us sleep past 8 so up we go. Lino's first request was pancakes so we got that going. I finally got to use my griddle so that was exciting...except I had to lug around this 25lb converter too but I'm not complaining :-0. While we were eating we decided that Mike was going to leave ahead of us so that he could jog to the city and we would leave a little later so that we could walk to the train station and meet him in the city. So after breakfast that's what we did. I got the boys al dressed and did a few things around the house then left out with them. I made sure they were extra bundled because it was cold out there and windy. When we left I wasn't sure if I was going to make it to the train station in time but I actually did. I took a slightly different route and it seemed to be less if a hill so u wasn't flying down the hill by myself. Thankfully Mike had fixed the break on the double stroller while we were gone so that helped me a lot. We made it to the station in good time and I remembered that I had to carry the stroller up and over the bridge there because there were no lifts at this station...totally a pain in the ass to do by yourself. I thought one of the boys that was at the station might help but no so I had to do it by myself. As soon as I was across the train was coming in, perfect timing. So we road into the city and I tried to look out to see if I saw Mike jogging but I didn't. So I wasn't sure if he was there ready or way behind...thankfully when we got there he had just got there a few min prior so it was perfect timing!!! So we walked around for a little...went into the Italian shop to get cheese and sausages the dedcided to try to maneuver the big stroller thru the English Market. Mike was brave enough to push the stroller so that I could look for cranberries which they had so now I'm going to attempt to make a cranberry sauce for our Thanksgiving dinner. Then we wanted to get a few other things but didn't have any cash, talk about poor planning so I ran across the street to get some and by the time I got back Lino was sleep and Shaun was in Mikes arms because be was crying. Then we decided we didn't need to get any junk so I got cash for nothing...hahaha. We had to wake Lino up because he fell asleep and we knew he needed to go pee so Mike took him to the potty before we left. Oh and we also looked for ground veal but there wasn't any and there wasn't any porcini mushrooms either...for dinner...oh well. Then off to coffee and got chocolate at Mikes favorite place. We hung out there for a while because Mike was pooped and I was a little cold. The place was packed too, actually the whole city was packed with people doing their Christmas shopping I guess. After we had our drinks and got a little rest we headed back to the train station. On the way there we realized that we didn't go by the travel agent like we had planned to...need to start looking at trips for next year...oh well. So train back to our stop and a long walk home. Mike liked the alternative route as well and he thought the hill wasn't as bad as the other ones so I think this might become our new route. Once we got home I started on another batch of rolls and Mike headed to the store with Lino to get pizza for dinner. Well they were out I whipped up another batch with my mom on the phone to try and help guide me through. I did find out that I missed an ingredient the first time that she forgot to mention when to use in her original recipe, she swore up-and-down that she told me where to use it but after I sent her a copy of her instructions she realized she did forget to tell me. Then other than that, I just made sure not to over kneed the dough and I let it rise in a warm area this time...so let's see how it turns out. Once Mike and Lino got back with the pizzas I had already had the dough in the oven rising for a while so we had enough time to eat dinner before I had to roll them out for the 2nd rising. At this point I didn't realize how late it was. It was almost time for me to go out with the girls so I had to hurry up and roll out the dough so that I could take a shower before I left. I didn't want to make too many rolls because I wasn't sure if it was going to come out good or not so I rolled a few and the rest of the dough I made into a giant cinnamon roll. I put them back into the oven to rise while I showered then when I got out I put the cinnamon roll into the oven so that it could at least cook before I left. Mike was upstairs with the boys playing and on the iPad with Nini so I told Mike I was going to leave both of the boys there with him since they were so happy. He wasn't feeling it and gave me the look of death so I knew it wasn't going to happen. So after I got ready I took the cinnamon roll out got Shaun packed up and put the rolls in so that all he had to do was take them out. Lino and him were planning to watch movies while I was out so I knew he would be happy he only had to do one thing with the rolls. So we left and headed to Nicole's. I was actually late but so was everyone else so I didn't feel so bad. Nicole had a nice spread of food which was great, and she even had some traditional American snackies like 7 layer dip with tortilla chips and everything so I was excited!!! Mike text me to inform me that the rolls came out good and that they were really close to re original so that made me really happy. He thought the cinnamon roll creation was good too so I guess I can make the rolls next week and not worry too much about them tasting bad. We ended up staying there for a while and it wasn't too big of a crowd either because she had moved the event to this weekend from last due to some other issues and there was another event on tonight so a lot of the moms had planned to go that event already so anyway it was a small crowd which I liked. The only issue was that I was the only one with a kid so now I felt bad. But thankfully Shaun was really good so it wasn't a major issue. We ate, talked, smelled sents from her scentsy collection and ate some more. She made the most amazing pumpkin whoopie pies that have ever tasted...I think I ate like 4 and each one had to have at least 1000 calories so you know they where good. After a while Shaun started getting wrestles and I knew he was tired so we headed home. Lino was out in his room and Mike was passed out on the couch. I thought Shaun might just go right I sleep but it took a few more min for him to wind down again so we sat up with him for a while before we went to bed. What a busy but fun Sat.
Since Mike & I got in late we tried to sleep in a little again but you know the drill, our kids were up and ready to move by 8. Lino wanted pancakes again and I couldn't talk him out of it so we made more pancakes...he ate a bazillion of them it seemed and I thought I was going to have extra batter to make cakes to put in the fridge for Lino to have for breakfast on Monday but that wasn't happening. Michelle had offered me tickets to the craft fair that was going on today so I coordinated with her to meet up to get the tickets. I got ready then got the boys ready and while Mike was getting ready I was attacked by my little men...Lino jumped on my back while I was carrying Shaun and I just had to take their pic. I love these little guys so much!!!!!
So we picked up the tickets and headed to the city for the fair. I wasn't exactly sure what we would find there but I figured it would be a good place to find some "Irish" gifts for Christmas. As soon as we got in I saw a mom I knew so we chatted for a while. Then we tried to contain Lino and walk around the place but it was hard. Some how we managed and I found a couple things so we got that and headed out. It was a quick trip but it was nice I get out and do something different. Martha texted me about going to the baby wear shop in Rochestown this afternoon so I was planning to go there too but after we left the craft fair we headed to Tesco and it seems like we spent hours there shopping. We didn't exactly know what we wanted for dinner or for the week so it made shopping hard. Plus Lino had fell asleep in the car so he was cranky and wanted to be held so that was a major distraction. Eventually we got all the stuff we needed and we got out of that place. Oh and I got a rapid boil kettle too because I've been wanting one and decided I didn't care what Mike said I was going to get it...plus I needed something with a little more capacity for my coffee mornings and for our party Sat. We headed home and started dinner. Mike decided to make a French onion soup recipe from the Jamie cookbook then after that we started hanging pictures and getting the house kind of ready for next week. We are all unpacked but there are still random things laying around here and there that needs to be put away before we have a bunch of people over. Hanging the pictures was the major task and ended up being a major pain in the ass too. Some of the walls in the house are like cement or something so when you try to put a picture hook up it chips the wall and falls out. So now we have a couple of chipped walls with no picture and a few bent/broken nails that had to be trashed. I have no idea how we are going to hang pictures or of it's even with it with these crazy walls. Oh and when we started hanging pictures I had I FaceTime my sister so that she could settle a fight Mike & I were having about Scandal. Of course I was right but even after seeing the recap Mike still didn't believe me...too funny...I love it that he likes scandal as much as I do. So after hanging some pics and not hanging others Mike started dinner...homemade ravioli!!! This means the kitchen is going to be completely destroyed after he's done but we will have a yummy dinner. Thankfully we had the soup to eat while he was cooking because we were hungry...the soup turned out pretty good too. But Mike was confused about the broth because it was light and I told him it's because he made it with chicken stock instead of beef stock which it's traditionally made with. He gave me this look of discuss like I had tricked him, then he consulted the recipe and I reminded him that I asked him at the store if he wanted to use beef or chicken stock because the recipe said you could use either. He said chicken but then he tells me while we were eating that he didn't know it was normally made with beef stock...eye yi yi. So I know that means he's going to try and remake this recipe with beef stock...to funny. Once he was done with cooking we had dinner which was excellent of course. It was a different filling than he normally puts in the ravioli but it was still ok. He had bought some cookie cutters to try and use as ravioli cutters but after one try he tossed that idea and just cut them by hand. Lino even at all of his ravioli and I think he would have ate another one if the gravy wouldn't have been so spicy. What a good dinner!!! After we stuffed our faces it was time to get the boys ready for bed...then Mike and I got to relax for a little before we headed to bed. Another week gone...only a few more weeks until Christmas...so exciting.
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