Pomp and Circumstance

"In one hand you get a packet of sweeties and in the other hand you get a ferticicate."

Octavia and Alex completed their year at Mount Oriel playgroup today with a graduation ceremony. Oh, I know it has become commonplace for this age group. That doesn't stop me thinking that it is a better ceremony than some of the commencements I've attended. (No offense intended, Dannette, but Fr. Sullivan did not give me a packet of sweeties with my ferticicate. Nor did he announce to all and sundry: "Mummies and Doddies, this here's a wee dummy certificate. I've larened over the yares that they just lose them so y'can c'llect yers at the door on yer way home.)

The good news came in this week that Octavia and Alex both got places in the nursery at 'The Rocket School' for next year so this ending is less bitter than sweet.

Sports Day, Take 1

Ever had the experience of standing on a drenched patch of grass next to someone you met in your younger years and suddenly realizing, "Hey! Those kids belong to us! We aren't in our younger years anymore!" I didn't get a photo of Elaine chasing Rowan with the Flip, but I enjoyed spectating immensely. As she says herself, "He sashayed" off the field. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

Noah, on the other hand, ran flat out (see photo). He was having a great time and you'd see it had his mother checked camera settings to make sure his face was visible to the naked eye! He came in second in the sprint and was pretty pleased. His relay team got first place and he took 3rd in the long jump. Being long and lanky has its perks.

I missed seeing the long jump because the heavens opened on Sports Day, Take 1 and Sports Day, Take 2 was held another day when I was otherwise occupied. At any rate, I am sure the sprint was the most exciting event. Noah says he got lucky because the boy who usually gets 2nd was away that day but I think he would have been second no matter what.

We are in the final days of Noah's first year at the beloved Rosetta Primary...imagine that!

Recent Animalia

Tate's monkey.

Her 'brown-eye boy.' (You have to tilt your head because I didn't rotate the photo.

Noah and Alma's dinner

Noah and Alma made dinner for us last Friday. They did a great job with frozen pizza (oops, don't look, Susan!) and salad with dressing. Octavia was visiting Alex so we had a nice, grown-up dinner with conversation and everything.

Making a Dent

The gummy days are over.

I cut my bottom left tooth today.
If you look close you might see the reflection
of a misty-eyed Mama in my big browns.
She's so sentimental.
I'm surprised she didn't cry when Octavia
had her first trip to the hairdresser last week.

Just Growing

I am sad, at times, that we did not name Aodh 'Jonty', as in the BBC voice Jonty Bloom, but luckily he can pull off the rakish angle in hats. I am also say that Jonty's name is not, as one would assume if one were from Montana, Jaunty.

Just after a nap outside the library. Waiting for Noah to play Need for Madness on the computer in there. Ho-hum. The rain sheeting down on the windows makes it exciting.

Hanging with the babes. Aodh is the one with the outy. Wait. Which one's the doll?

On Rocket

Octavia is wearing her new school pullover in this photo. As you can see, it says "On Rocket School" which to the rest of us looks like An Droichead but sounds a bit like On Drocked (if only I had fancy linguistic symbols here!). Octavia started going to the playgroup a couple weeks back with her friend Alex. Other friends are there, too--Lorcan and Seona. And let us not forget our new friend in the class, Mohammed Ali. For real. The cutest 3-year old I can imagine and not a boxer that I know of.

So far, O has learned to say a few things in Irish: blue, red, yellow, goodbye and who knows what else since I don't speak it. She seems to be changing her original opinion--"I'm not sure about that Spanish." Very clever of them to lure her in with colour words as colours have always been her favourite part of life.