Here is Rebe singing a song she learnt in school in Irish... I find it fascinating that she's learning to do something that neither Andy or I can do...
I do question how useful learning Irish will apart from the pleasure of being able to speak and understand such an ancient language.
Here is my latest cleaning up robot, just needs batteries and I'm flying; feet up and knitting out!
I am just so in awe of this world, how so much beauty can exist! What a wonderful, wonderful place. Rainbows are one of my favourite things...can you tell?
It was very 'green' and there were lots of interesting green innovations and demo's. We looked at people making wee houses out of willow, there were puppet makers, a make your own pizza then fire it in a mud oven, re-fashion t-shirts, some stalls with local organic produce.
The kids painted some plant pots.
Benny just loved this and spent a good 20 mins painting his, he used up loads of paint so really got his 2 euros worth ;-)
There was an open singing session, which was great and I would've joined in but I had a boy on the boob at the time.
This was a really cool wrought iron stand, I love the fire bowl! Something I'd love to get at some point!
Rebe also made a little pipe cleaner man. This activity was run by a 10 year old boy. He was so cool, really in charge of it all and great at teaching the kids how to make the little men.
We collected lots of things on the beach and Benny stuck them on a page when we got home, including a snails shell and a good few crab claws (makes an interesting picture...lets hope it won't smell).
Look at this boy smiling at his mama! Hope you all had fun weekends too! x
The Ecology Project itself is something I'd not heard of before, it is an earth community started and run by some nuns of the Sisters of Mercy where the focus is learning to live with compassionate harmony with all of creation. They run courses on growing organic vegetables and they have woodland, fields and organic garden plots on their beautiful site. The whole place itself over looks a lovely bay, so I was excited to go.
I burnt it a little round the edges but it was still good! 
It was so beautiful and I felt I had a really lovely opportunity to give thanks for having such a great summer.
It is quite amazing watching her, she has an idea of what she wants to make then she figures out how to get the right shapes. This is one of 3 dinosaurs she made this morning before school. (She has her pinny on to stop her uniform getting porridge all over it). It seems like a move on from drawing, which she isn't doing much of at the moment. She's such a creative wee person.
My sleeping baby...too cute not to photograph!
look at those perfect lips and the softest, sweetest smelling peachy skin!
Is this the beginning of our rainbow season?
I'm excited about the pounds of elderberries that Andy picked for me on one of the trees at work,
and the three pints of Elderberry Syrup I made with it. 
I'm also very excited about the Clonakilty Steiner Kindergarden parent and child classes that we attended yesterday. It was just so lovely, the place was beautifully set up, with natural (non plastic) toys, open ended toys. the shelves were filled with arts and crafts materials and the staff were just a delight. The garden was bursting with veggies, herbs and flowers. There are swings and slides and, joy of joys, an old boat to play in (Benny heaven!). We had playtime, then we made biscuits together, played in the garden, then sang some songs, then had tea and the delicious biscuits we'd made. It was just wonderful, so calm and peaceful and the kids had a ball!
So we sharpen her pencils,
and polish her shoes. Benny wanted a go too so I let him polish my slippers. Don't know why he needed the rubber glove though!
Oh yes and this funny thing happened... we were having a quick climb on a large stone which is on the path on the way to the woods when an American family went passed us. The mummy came running back to us and asked if she could take a picture of the kids 'as they looked so cute'. I said she could but they were very dirty and she said 'Aww they're really authentic'. ha ha ha still makes me laugh, authentic!
beads
a bit of cheek worship
We've put the high chair up at the table so Joshua can sit in it (very propped up) while we are eating. I'd say it's an improvement on sitting on my knee getting covered in my dinner!
We've played with the duplo
can't just just hear the brrrrrrmmmmmm noise?
But silly me, I let Benny carry the bowl and this is what was left when we got home...
Happy weekend all!
I have been thinking quite a bit about slings today. Partly because I think I've managed to find a reasonably priced 2nd hand Ergo here in Ireland. I'm very excited about it and think Benny will really enjoy it until Joa's big enough for it. I use a Storchenwiege at the moment and it is just fab...
(this is Benny when he was about 4 or 5 months old)
The sling basically allowed women to become marsupial. Larger headed, weaker babies could then flourish which allowed our brains to grow (in evolutionary terms). 'Courtesy of the baby sling, our ancestors got smarter.' It also meant, of course, that we could keep our babies out of the way of predators and regulate their body temperatures as well as being able to nourish and feed them while still spending enough time gathering food to ensure the survival of our species.
Benny when he was about 9 months or so in our old chaotic house
Whatever way you look at it, you have to admit that slings are cool!
The picture's not great, Joshua was wiggling about in the sling, but look at the way it is growing out of the 'boundaries' set in stone by the town...
It is oozing out, as if someone has poured this tree in here and it has over flown.
I've never seen something solid look so liquid before. I love this tree!
It was story telling in the traditional sense; with morals and repetition, not from books but from legend and passed on through generations, where we could join in and shout out. It was great. Rebe in particular loved it and although Benny was quite tired we did stay until the end. I'm so glad we live here and get to have experiences like this. We walked home along the beach watching kite surfers make 2 metre jumps into the air.
yup, she finally let me wash Mio (it was only because he'd been pee'd on but still he got a wash).
but he's getting there now and today he was touching and grasping things. I'm so pleased for him, another wee milestone in his life.
