And then it comes, and I offer up my silent prayer of thanks. Today will be a new day.

This pretty much sums up how I've been feeling this week.

Content, but unsettled.

Happy, but somewhat sad.

Thankful for my alone time, yet lonely all at the same time.

There are times here when we don't see the sun for days. 

And when we do, it is oftentimes short lived. 

I need some sun right now.

I need to tilt my face up to the sky and feel the warmth on my face.

I need to be out in the fresh air with my kiddos, watching and smiling as they run and enjoy the rejuvenating effects the sunshine has on all of us.

Unfortunately, today is not that day.

Tomorrow might not be either.

So, we'll make due.

We'll enjoy the fresh air minus the sun.

We'll soak up some more rain instead. 

And I will try with all my might to smile anyways.

Dublin ~ December 2011

We headed up to Dublin a few days after Christmas.  We stayed at the Shelbourne Hotel, which I thought was pretty amazing.  The hotel is 188 years old and has seen a lot of famous faces.  They had a little "museum" room off of the lobby with the old registers from the early 1900s.  It was really neat to see that little piece of history. 

Right across from the hotel was St. Stephen's Green.  Gorgeous.  The kids loved running around, and I enjoyed seeing all of the flowers that are still in bloom.

We headed down Grafton Street and enjoyed doing some window shopping on our way to Trinity College.  Unfortunately, once we got to Trinity we found that The Book of Kells display was closed for the holidays.  Bummer.

The kids were hungry by then, so we headed back to Grafton Street to find some dinner.  We found a yummy restaurant that had great pizza.  We will definitely plan to eat there again next time we're in Dublin.

On Friday, we took the kids to Disney on Ice.  They loved it!  It was so much fun to watch the expressions on their faces when they saw different characters come out onto the ice.  Scarlett's favorite was definitely Price Eric, but I think Ken from Toy Story (aka Justin Bieber) was a close second.  Grayson really enjoyed the green army men, especially when one of them parachuted down to the ice.

That evening we headed to the Temple Bar area.  Nate and I were able to snap a picture in front of the actual Temple Bar after dinner,

and we were able to get a family picture on Grafton Street on our way back to the hotel.

Before heading home the next morning, the kids and I headed back to St. Stephen's Green to feed the ducks,

and enjoy being out in the fresh air.

Can't wait for our next long weekend away in Galway!

Christmas 2011

We had a pretty lazy Christmas this year.   The kids slept until 7:30, which was much later than we had anticipated. 

Santa decided to go green this year, so the kids were thrilled to come down
and have all of their Santa gifts in full view. 
They both received exactly what they had asked for:
Gray = Hex bugs, Nerf vest, and Tornado Beyblades

Scarlett = A baby that cries, pink Legos, and a pink soccer ball

 There were plenty of gifts from friends and family as well. 

Once the presents had all been opened we spent the rest of the day lounging around watching tv, skyping with family, eating cookies and chocolate, and enjoying all of the new toys and games the kids had received.

I'd say that our first Christmas in Ireland could definitely be called a success.

Christmas Eve

The kids were thrilled to open their annual Christmas pajamas again this year, especially Grayson.  He really got the fact that it's one of our traditions each year and was really eager to see what his would be.  He was very happy to find Lego Batman and Robin adorning his pj top with Lego bricks and Batman symbols all over the bottoms.  Scarlett could not contain her excitement at her ballerina pajamas and spent the rest of the evening twirling around.  So happy with the success of our little tradition this year.  

Lion Kings and Angels

The kids both had Christmas programs at their schools the week before Christmas.  For some reason, Gray's class sang a few songs from The Lion King.  Not very Christmas-y, but very cute.  The kids all had their faces painted to look like lions and they had really cute movements to go with the songs.  Unfortunately, this is the best picture that I have from the actual concert, and I still can't get my videos to upload for some reason.

Scarlett's playschool did the Christmas story, and she got to be an angel.  The kids sang a lot of really cute songs, but, again, can't get my videos to post.  I was really worried about how should would react once she saw Nate and I watching, but she did great!!  She just kept waving at us and giving us a little smirk.  So cute!!

Keeping Busy

The kids and I were incredibly busy during the first couple of weeks of December.  We didn't bring any of our Christmas decorations with us when we moved, so we decided to have a "home-made" Christmas and make all of our own decorations this year. 

We started with snowflake ornaments.  They're just popsicle sticks and buttons, but we had a lot of fun making them.

Thanks to my new addiction to Pinterest, I had a lot of new ideas I wanted to try out this year.  One of the first things I tackled was making my own garland with a string of lights and strips of fleece.  Grayson was especially excited about this for some reason.

Scarlett's project was making Christmas trees out of upside down plastic flower pots.  She loved that she could build them over and over again.  We did eventually glue some sequins on the pots to look like lights and made stars for the tops, but I never got around to photographing them again.

Our completed mantle.  I tried my hand at sewing my own stockings this year.  They are far from perfect, but I absolutely love them. 

The last project we tackled after all of our other decorating was finished was our very first ginger bread house.  We had a blast sitting around the table and listening to music while we attempted to make this come together.

And last, but not least, our finished tree decorated entirely by the kids.

Snow

A few weeks back we woke to find snow on the ground. The kids could not have been more excited. It wasn't much compared to what we're used to, but it sure was pretty. The kids ran around for a few minutes before we had to take Gray to school, and then we spent the next 45 minutes in the car making the normally 12 minute round trip to drop Gray off. It was completely comical to me. Scarlett and I headed out for a walk around our estate when we finally got back home and had a great time enjoying the snow and sunshine. I love the magic of the first snow of the season, and am actually hoping that it won't be the last.