garden centre outing

It feels funny having rain again. We had initially thought we would go to a point to point horse race but it just wouldn't have been worth it. Instead we went here .
Rebe and Benny both had a little pocket money, Rebe had found some treasure on a treasure hunt with Andy at the beach last week and Benny had won some money on a horse in the grand national that Bubs had kindly sent him. Rebe has been talking about wanting a cactus for a while so we looked up garden centres online and found this one and boy was it worth it, and it's only round the corner. They have a kids play area. The guys got soaked but they really enjoyed it.

They have a super selection of plants and everything was in beautiful condition. Andy has come away fairly inspired and thinking about getting a bit of veg in the ground after all.

Benny wandered around tasting things. He ate a whole cabbage leaf (in his hand) while browsing.

They have a brilliant cafe, locally produced, organic and fair trade. Super quality and completely delicious.

The kids found this 'sweet shop' (pathing stones) and played with it for ages.

And they did spend their pocket money.

Benny got himself a new watering can.

Rebe got her cactus, it has a yellow top (of course) and is called a banana cactus. It needs re-potting (hence the big pot it's in) but she's very proud of it.

It was a good thing to do on a rainy day!

A Creature!

While the painter has been next door (which is a holiday home and not occupied all year round) Rebe and Benny have been visiting him for hours at a time. Rebe to chat and Benny to play in the canoe in their garden. He finally finished (much to the kids' distress) on Friday and since then we've had a hard time persuading Benny not to go next door to play in the boat. In fact Andy caught him trying to climb over the wall to get there, which is an 8 foot drop onto a rose bush :-0 So we improvised and made Benny his own boat out of the old baby bath and one of Andy's oars. He was happy enough with that (thank goodness!). He looks just like a little captain with his hat on.



Yesterday we did some baking. I'd asked my friend Amy for a recipe I remember she had for Cheesy Footballs (Warning: these are very delicious and it is likely you may eat them all up by accident and they are NOT light in fat).

Cheesy Footballs

2 oz butter/ marg

3.5 oz wholemeal flour

2oz cheddar cheese (though I think parmesan would be delish)

pinch of mustard (optional)

1 egg yolk

2-3 tsps milk (if required)

Rub butter and flour into bread crumbs, stir in rest of the ingredients to form a firm dough.


Allow younger brother to wear you pajamas while you do this.

Retrieve rest of cheese from younger brother and put away in fridge properly.

Put dough into fridge to chill for 30 mins or so.

When chilled roll into balls (about walnut sized).

Bake in preheated oven a greesed baking tray on 200c for about 20 mins until golden brown.

Allow to cool and eat (preferable not all at once)

Cheesy footballs.

We also made mini apple cakes. I had lots of half eaten apples, so we chopped them up and cooked them a little with nutmeg and cinnamon and added them to a sponge recipe and they also are lovely. We're going to have some with some custard tonight.


And so to the creature...while we were having our morning coffee Rebe came running in shouting 'I found a creature!' and what a creature it is...

An enormous and very hairy catterpillar. It ran across our yard and look much more like some kind of mammal than a catterpillar.

This is a very accurate diagram of how fast it ran.

So, Rebe caught it and made it a home in a big bucket with a lid.

Here is a diagram of how to make it a home (note the very important holes in the top of the lid).

We looked it up online and it turns out its a Garden Tiger Moth catterpillar. How cool is that to have a garden tiger!!

Just to trick her daddy though she labelled it as a hedgehog!

I think all this excitement did me in a bit and I spent the rest of the day exhausted. I think the change in weather probably had something to dow ith it too. As usual though I fell asleep for an hour in the afternoon and it then took me more than 3 hours to get to sleep last night grrr. So I am spending this morning doing not very much in a bid to have some energy for the rest of the day.

Hope you all are haveing a lovely weekend x

a few works in progress

I thought that I share a few things that I'm making at the moment. I am steadily crossing off things from my 'to make' list. Although most things are grinding to a halt while I wait for more thread and felt to arrive in the post. So in the mean time I'm working on this... It's going to be a raglan style cardi for the wee one. I just love how the rainbow wool is knitting up. It's probably the most beautiful yarn I've knitted with so far, colour wise anyway. I will find a link to the pattern at some point, but I think it'll look really nice.

I'm trying to get the bulk of Benny's birthday things made now too. Although he won't be 2 until the 20th of June, I don't know how much time I'll have when the wee one is here, so I'd like to do most of it now.
I started his birthday crown this morning, and am pleased with it so far. Has to be snail themed of course!

Another one of his favourite things is a book called 'The Patchwork Cat'

So I thought that I'd knit him a patchwork cat of his own, I still need to make a tiny patchwork quilt for him and I've run out or both green and black embroidery thread for the features, so it's not finished. After discussing my idea with Rebe she begged for one too (but a yellow one of course) so I've made her one as her 'unbirthday present'. I made up the pattern and am pretty pleased at how they look.

Today we have been very busy, we're still doing a lot of cleaning. Playroom again today. I was getting a bit frustrated at how disorganised it had become, so we sorted everything out into their right baskets.

I think it makes a big difference to how they play. I also have a little, tiny thought that I may give birth in there so I wanted to make sure there was at least some floor space :-)


I also made another batch of Melanie's amazing laundry detergent. I love this stuff it's so economical and works so brilliantly, plus good for sensitive skin and the environment...how can you go wrong! I've also done a bit of cooking for the freezer today.

Luckily the kids were entertained all morning by a man painting the house next door

They watched and chatted with him for ages, he was very sweet with them and didn't mind in the least. Rebe even drew him a picture of himself which he was delighted with!

Now I'm going to put my feet up for a while, I've promised to read Rebe the Winnie the Pooh story where he rescues piglet.

best of friends

I haven't posted for a few days, we've been quite busy but not doing much worth blogging about. We took the kids to the city yesterday. They both needed to get their BCG vaccinations. It was fairly horrible, but necessary as TB is still pretty prevalent in Ireland. Also Andy feels quite strongly about it as his grandad died of TB. We took them to an indoor play area after as their reward and needless to say they had a ball and were asleep in seconds in the car on the way home.

We've been spending a lot of time on the beach too, it would be criminal not to with the weather as it is.

Rebe and Benny are so close it makes my heart swell. A lady we met on the beach actually commented on it today, which I thought was lovely. They are always together and are having very few arguments. They have some lovely games together, help each other, read stories together, make things, run, hide and play together.
A cat and a unicorn drawing together

2 kittens in my washing basket.

I'm so glad they are such good wee friends and I love them both so dearly.

something fishy going on

For those of you who know Andy, you'll realise what a momentous day yesterday was....he took the boat out!!! launching it at the local slip way

off out to sea

Rebe looking out for him on him on his way home. The white spray above her head is Andy coming in. We waved our rainbow play silk at him so he could see we were watching.

Here he comes.

To Rebe's utter delight he invited her aboard for a spin.

Oh don't know why that happened twice

Ahoy m'hearties

They went really fast she said and she was only a tiny bit scared! Andy said she was squealing with delight!

And he did catch something. He had dogfish and very small pollack too which he released again as we wouldn't eat that. He did bring home this little cod though. Rebe and I think it's just right for making fish fingers. Benny had a good poke at it, to test it.

Unfortunately, retrieving the boat from the water was less than straight forward (but at least I didn't have to go in swimming after it!), hopefully with a bit more practice or a change of tactics he'll get it sussed.

And just for a giggle...

I really can't see much when it's right under the bump!

in and out the dusty bluebells

Bluebells

Where the bluebells and the wind are,

Fairies in a ring I spied,

And I heard a little linnet

Singing near beside.

Where the primrose and the dew are,

Soon were sped the fairies all:

Only now the green turf freshens

And the linnets call.

Walter De la Mare

I can't believe this is outside our backdoor! I am so lucky.

Someone made a fairy house...(perhaps it was fairies?!)

A little lost kitten in a tree

These woods mean so much to me, I have visited them on every pregnancy, we used to drive from Cobh just to see the bluebells. One of the first paintings I sold was of these woods, in fact of a scene very like the one above. The children love the freedom and the beauty of these woods. I feel so blessed to have this as a backdrop to our lives.

We made a nature hunt today before we came here. Rebe had a list of 8 things she had to find including moss, a flat stone, a yellow flower, a feather.

As she found each thing she ticked them off her list. It was really good fun and she enjoyed gathering things in her little basket (things that are now scattered all over the kitchen floor- shrug).


The kids love all animals, this dog was taking himself for a walk and they gave him lots of attention on his way past.

Rebe took this picture of me, check out the big ol' belly!

I have been busy making the last few days as well. I knitted my first pair of socks (baby sized). I'm quite pleased with the result, more of those to come I'd say, especially for winter.

I also got the sewing machine out last night and made a new cover for this little buggy.

I got a pair of them from the charity shop for 6 euro. They are to be presents for Rebe and Benny from the baby. However they are very pink, and one of the covers was very worn and torn so I made up this wee one. I'm so proud of it and I didn't have any mishaps making it...you know: first the bobbin runs out, then the needle breaks, then you can't find the scissors that kind of nonsense. It was very straightforward.

I have a big 'to make' list, which seems to be getting longer instead of shorter. Lots of knitting and sewing ahead...not that I'm complaining.

this sort of day...

We woke up to this sort of day.... very damp and very misty. So we had this sort of morning...

making dens (can't keep the belly out of pictures)

slug hunting

Benny loved this and is just about as in love with slugs as he is with snails. He kept bringing them in to show me while I was having breakfast...put me right off my muesli!

However as the morning went on the mist started to fade and we decided to go for a stroll through the village to the shop...why don't you come with us...

That is the wee estate in which we live, behind the caravan park, that is why I called this blog 'Nestled Under Rainbows' I feel we are truly nestled in those woods.

I love our wee post box

This is the main street. What is so cool/ weird about it is that the road separates the houses from their gardens. Each house has a corresponding garden. I don't think it'd suit me having a road to cross every time I wanted to go out,

On the other hand there is direct access to the beach from your garden so it does have it's plus points.

It's an old, old village

Here is Rebe coming back from investigating (well kicking) a dead fish... nearly home...

and I suppose you should see my view!

Hope you enjoyed your wee walk in our village!