Ireland!

This is going to be the modern version of a boring slide show of someone's vacation pictures.  The best part is that you can leave now and it won't matter at all to me.

 We were lucky enough to be able to leave our kids for about a week in the capable hands of our family (mostly my mom) and take an anniversary vacation.  The week, all on it's own would have been awesome enough, but in addition, we were able to go all the way to Ireland (where Jonny has always wanted to go) and we even got to go first class!

We were pretty excited about the lay flat seats.

 

my travel buddy.

 

the first stop on our trip was Trinity College in Dublin. Mainly because it was a block from our hotel.  We took a quick tour which was interesting, and then checked out the library.

So many books! Not Alphabetized in any way!

 There was a Magnolia tree in bloom there.  Of course I had to take a picture of that.

 We did do other things during our first stay in Dublin, but I'm an iffy photographer and can't always be relied upon to take pictures. The highlights were Christ Church Cathedral where we able to watch their choir and St. Micham's church where Jonny touched "The Crusader" a mummy from their crypt.  It's supposed to have imparted some mummy luck to him, so we'll let you know how that pans out for us.

 After Dublin, we rented a car and drove to Killarney. See, that makes it sound really simple!  Jonny was the brave one who took on lefty driving.  We had a taxi driver tell us that in 20 minutes he wouldn't have any more problem and that he would even find it awkward when he went back home to drive on the right. LIES!!!! Although he did get the hang of it enough that we didn't cause any horrible accidents, I'm not sure he ever felt 100% comfortable and he certainly didn't have to worry about driving on the right at home.

In Killarney we spent all our time in and around their national park.  First stop was Ross Castle.  Some of it has been restored, so we were actually able to go up inside and take a tour.

 Later that day we went to Muckross House.  Again, we took a tour, and it was definitely a cool old place, but Good Lord, the property was insanely beautiful! It makes perfect sense that it would become a national park.

 Yes, we took a "selfie". I'm sorry.  Mostly I'm sorry because the internet has given "selfies" such a bad name.

 Nearby there was a waterfall and a few trails you could hike.

 So we did.

 So, which way is north then?

It was about 1/2 way through this day that I asked "hey, what day is it?". Yep, we kind of forgot our anniversary.  Only because we were having so much fun though.

 Also in the park they had different examples of traditional farms, complete with lots of farm animals.  

This guy was huge!

"She had hair of sticks and woooool"

 Muckross Abbey was probably my favorite place.   I'm not exactly sure why, but it was just a neat place to be.

 Chim chimney

 This is probably a weirwood. Don't you think?

 Strangely enough, the only place we were ever truly cold was the Cliffs of Moher.  Also strange: It never rained once.

 Random castle on the way to Galway. They're kind of everywhere.

 In the outskirts of Galway, these were also everywhere.

 We stayed at Ballynainch castle hotel one night.  It was a perfect little forest scene right out of our window.

 The hotel ground was really the only place that looked like that in the area.  Instead, it was mostly bogs and Ocean nearby.  We had a guy from the hotel take us on a hike nearby.

Pretty view of their beaches from up there.

As well as the bogs.

 We had another couple days in Dublin before we left.  We went to St Patrick's Cathedral and saw their choir as well.

We also went to the National museum of Archeology which had some more really cool mummies as well as other things that had been preserved in bogs for around 2,000 years.

By the end of the trip we missed the girls a lot and were excited to get back home refreshed! That didn't turn out to be entirely true, but we still had a great trip.  Can't wait to go again and see and do the many things we missed.

5 Years Old!

On the 11th...of LAST month, Molly turned 5!  I think we talked about turning 5 for the entire year of 4, just as we are now talking about 6. I suppose it's good to look to the future.
She had a fun day at school and brought cupcakes for all her classmates to share.  I actually managed to stop Molly and Grayson long enough on the playground to take a quick birthday girl picture.

The following weekend we had her party at the house with lots of friends and her favorite food, bean and cheese burritos from Mr. G's.

Here are Molly and Kate...wait, errr, I mean Elsa and Elsa.

The fantastic birthday cake!  It could just be nostalgia, but I love Goldsboro's cakes.

"Frozen knuckles" getting ready for her roller derby debut thanks to some rockin' skates from Granny!

Seriously? What is wrong with kids these days?  None of them ate all their cake and most of them barely touched it. Maggie is helping them out with their frosting at least.

Here's the obligatory St. Patrick's Day picture of the McIntier girls.

Who remembers this dude?  probably no one.  I admit, I probably wouldn't have remembered either except...

Maggie has a striking resemblance!

 

Little Baby Jesse Camp.

Christmas!

So I barely remember, but way back in December, we actually did the whole Christmas thing.  I had been happy to let Chris take all the pictures and then completely forgot to get them before he left.  Then even after my mom brought them back from MO for me, I still never actually got around to looking at them until a little while ago. I have also made a half assed attempt at reorganizing the pictures properly but I'm apparently in no state to do this. Such a slacker.

Here's Molly and her friend Bryn, totally pumped for their school's Christmas performance.

 

Maggie and Molly enjoying  candy canes afterwards.  Those who were there know how I feel about candy canes now.

This is what Maggie did.

Going to start with Christmas and then move forward to Christmas Eve.  At this point does it really matter?

Maggie's first love is Tutus, but her second love are babies and baby accessories.

The bike!  Which she is still reluctant to ride.  One of these days.

We made it to Christmas Eve!

My girls with Ruby Gloom mama.

I love that we can have everyone together, outside, in December.  at great perk of Yuma life.

Miss Maggie Mac Mac Mac!

Wizards

As per Ramsey's request, here is another post:

I'll start with some funny stories that have happened in the past few months.  The one that is first on my list is about Molly and wizards.   Molly was trying to do something in her gymnastics class the other day and she was getting down on herself because things just weren't going her way.  Her teacher said to her "Molly, you just need to believe in yourself!" And Molly replied "the only thing I believe in is wizards." I'm super grateful that her old gymnastics teacher shared that story with me, because that's just too funny.  I asked her where she came up with that and she said something about Peg+Cat, a t.v. show.

Another random Molly story. She came home from hanging out at my mom and dad's house and announced that while at their house, she had an old stale doughnut and that she loved it! She also wanted to make sure that I knew that if I ever had anything old and stale, I should make sure to give it to her because she loves old stale things.

These pictures are from before Christmas, possibly even before thanksgiving, I have no idea.

We went out to the Crystal Hill by Quartzite. The girls had a blast running around, climbing and collecting crystals

Our new bedtime routine starts in Molly's room with stories. With any luck they will fall asleep before I'm done reading.  The trick is to pick fewer, longer books instead of lots of shorter books.  My favorites are Dr. Seuss's Sleep Book and If I Ran the Circus.

There are no physical or emotional ills that cannot be fixed with lots of novelty band-aids.

Domino stacking champion.

Toilet paper stacking champion. Also worth noting, those panties are not a prop. She is officially potty trained. For some silly reason, I thought I was going to be screwed trying to potty train her.  She hadn't shown any interest in it.  One day, for some reason, she just decided she was interested and that was pretty much it.  I was pleasantly surprised.

Maggie's funny story isn't so much a story as a way of life. She's become a little obsessed with dress up. Currently, It's nearly always leotards, tights, skirts, and ballet shoes, or as she calls it her "ballets". A few months ago, she was up for anything and would drag any old costume out for fun. 

 

 Or maybe just a wig to brighten things up a bit.

 

Here's a Maggie original style.  Something like this is pretty much what she wears 98% of the time.

She isn't however, interested in any sort of hairstyling.  I try pretty much everyday to do something with her crazy hair.  Not anything drastic, just a clip or something to keep her bangs out of her face.  Everyday she rips it out almost immediately.  While she was sick last week, she did let me french braid her hair (the fever must have made her crazy).  She actually wore it overnight which was great because it meant I didn't have to attempt to clean snot out of her hair in the morning.  I'm happy to report that she's feeling better, has regained her wits, and is no longer accepting hairstyles.

 

Molly was in The Nutcracker back in December. She did a really great job as a little lambie.  This was the makeup she wore for the performances.

This was the watercolor makeup she did for Maggie and herself.

 

check her out in her big girl bed.  So far, so good.

 They're so sweet when they're asleep and not screaming demands at me.

 Maggie taking us out on lead harmonica.