Visit To Pumpkin Patch

Hello, 

Today we got to visit Halloween Pumpkin Patch at The Curraghchase Garden Centre, Co Limerick.  I have never been to a Halloween event like this before so I didn't really know what to expect.  It was great to see the garden centre had gone to huge efforts.  An area of the garden centre was dedicated to the Halloween event. It had a shop selling teas, coffees, candy floss etc, there was a pumpkin carving area with all the utensils provided.  There were bubbles, face painting and numerous Halloween photo opportunities set up. The main event was the huge selection of pumpkins available.  

It was lovely to roam around the hay field and pick the pumpkin.  You could pay for the pumpkin and bring it home or for an extra 3e you could carve it at the Halloween event. The prices were reasonable. Obviously it is more expensive than buying a pumpkin in the supermarket but it is all about the experience and how the kids enjoy it. There was no charge into the event. I booked a few weeks in advance and some time slots were already booked out.  We got a 10am slot, early on a Sunday morning but the weather was lovely and sunny which made the whole experience memorable.  It was a beautiful Autumn morning. 

The grounds were brilliantly decorated which added to the magic of it.  The kids were so inquisitive of the various scary set ups. 

We came across the unusual white pumpkins there, the girls wanted to carve one.  It ended up with a Hello Kitty being carved into it.  Dad got caught for this particular arts and crafts session!

Hello Kitty Pumpkin! :-)

I would highly recommend a day out at Curraghchase Garden Centre for Pumpkin Patch. Leave the buggies at home, too hard to push them through the hay.  Bring the baby carriers.  Bring wet gear.  Although the sun was out, the field, pumpkins and hay were wet. Also bring the wellies.  

If you go let me know how you got on...

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Thanks for reading,      

Orla Xx

Moving to the countryside.

A story I loved as a child, little did I know ...

All my life I lived in the country.  A single house on a site, a large garden, swings, slides, lots of places to hide and explore, cows over the hedge, tractors in the feild behind and room to spare. When heading off to college I was excited to be moving to a town, even more excited to move to city outskirts for my first job. However on becoming pregnant I was eager to return to my countryside roots and bring our children up like I was. Ah ya all lovely I thought: Oh no! Daddy is from a city, had never lived in a detached house, used indoor voices all the time, his neighbours were next door, not half a field away, he liked having street lights!!! Uh oh!! Hang on a second! Where were the cows??? So as you can imagine there was discussions back and forth, and in the end we came to a compromise! We moved back to Cork to an estate in a village... it had a street light outsde the house and it was a back house so we had cows in the back garden eating our hedging perfect!!





Yet a time has come to move! We both now love the countryside and would love more space (and cows!) around us! So the first weekend of September we went on the move....to a bungalow on a site...alone....no other house attached!! Yipee! Its exactly (ish!) what we were looking for this past year. But wait...now that we have actually moved there  "might", ok ok ARE  some things we miss about living in an estate.

1: The neighbours. Ive made some great friends through my neighbours and  will certainly miss walking down to them.

2: The Green : Sean sometimes goes out (with us)  to play on the green with the other children and he loved it!

3: Walking to the shop or just popping down......2, 3 even 4 times a day!!





However there are some many things we have gained.

1. Space. I am a huge believer that physical space creates mental space. Its certainly done so for us. Maybe its the fact we have more space to each be apart from each other, but we are all getting along so well. (long may it last!)

2. Pets. We've already started off with two kittens (essentials when surrounded by fields) and hopefully we will add to that soon. Chickens and a dog are on the list! staying well away from fish!! (read here if you don't know that story!!) 

3. Country life. Wellies on and walking through the fields or down the road picking blackberries are part of our weekly routine. playing outside in the back garden, cutting the grass, and just becoming more 'outdoorsy' in general. 

4. A very happy and active boy. Sean now runs into us each morning with a big greeting followed by a big hug. He then runs up to his playroom, run out for his breakfast and its the same in the evenings, bursts in the front door and straight out the back. He loves his new house and new country life. 

We are almost a month here now and loving it more and more each day. So far so good. We will keep you updated on how we are getting on. So far Daddy loves it! and me.....well Im so glad to be home xxx

Thanks for reading. 

Kerri and Orla xx

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Our kids do chores do yours?

'Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mum with the dishes' :-)  P.J.O'Rourke

On today's blog I am discussing children and chores. We both feel very strongly about ensuring we provide our children with opportunities to be responsible and carry out their own jobs in their own home. Good habits last a lifetime and your future daughter/son in law will thank you for raising tidy children :-)



Here are a few jobs I have my girls carry out in the home; watering the raised beds, putting their dirty clothes in the laundry basket, putting toys back in their right place in the playroom, laying the table, handing me the clothes from the basket to be hung on the washing line and recently Farrah has been doing some hoovering for me! Happy days! Kids like to help,embrace this and always provide lots of positive reinforcement.

Kerri also get's her son Seán to do his daily "jobs". These include counting out the correct amount of cutlery for dinner, setting the table, bringing the used bowl or plate back to the sink and then putting it into the dishwasher. This is a chore but also something that if taught from a young age, when do so out of home especially, it becomes good manners. Hoovering is also a favourite of Seán's: if he does a good job he then gets a spin on the hoover! Of course he does not hoover to any great standard, but thats not the point. The idea is teaching him responsibility and identifying and realising the jobs that need to be done in a house. Bringing his clothes down to the washing machine is a new job for him and the novelty factor is keeping it going..here's hoping it stays!  Tidying away toys in the playroom before bed is one we are currently working on...it's not going too well, but i'll stick to it! 

Here are some tips in getting your children to help with chores at home;

Start young. Make a tidy up session before bathtime an integral part of the day.

Set ground rules. For example-pen lids must be replaced,outdoor shoes(wellies) must always be put away, and pyjamas folded under pillows.

Everyone helps. Children grumble about clearing up when they didn't personally make the mess. You can make the point that it wasn't mum or dad who scattered jigsaw pieces or dropped play dough on the floor. Make it clear that everybody tidy's up,every day.

Show what needs to be done. If we don't water the vegetables we won't have them to eat for dinner because they need water to grow big and strong. Also dont expect a child to know what to tidy up,show them exactly. Children often don't recognise toys on the floor as mess.

Make it easy. Use easy to reach boxes for example, one box for play food, one box for Lego.

Reward particularly good behaviour. Positive reinforcement is so important and works wonders. Household tasks should be regarded as part of family life, not something that children are paid to do. Besides lots of positive reinforcement, extra special effort can be recognised with sticker charts for younger children and additional pocket money for older kids.

Easy Tasks For Children

Pre-schoolers
Picking up toys
Watering plants
Putting clothes in laundry basket
Laying the table

5 to 10 year olds
Loading the dishwasher
Washing the car
Sweeping the floors

11 to 16 year olds
Vacuuming
Gardening tasks
Taking out the rubbish

Let me know if your children help at home,what tasks they carry out,do they complain or enjoy it? We would love to hear.



Until next time, thanks for reading!

Orla and Kerri  xxx

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The Smell of Home

Although I'm a huge Yankee Candle fan, I still can't understand how they haven’t bottled up he smell of a typical Irish home and sold it by the bucket load. Now I'm not talking the smell of days old wet GAA training gear or the smell of spuds and bacon cooking  for the 12 noon dinner (all very homely  smells of my childhood) I’m talking about the smell of fresh scones or soda bread just about to come out for the oven....... Heavenly. 

There's no smell as warm and comforting as a batch of scones or a loaf of soda bread that is minutes away form layering up with real butter and homemade jam. My taste buds are tickling as I write. I know it's nostalgia that's playing a key factor here but none the less, we cannot deny that no matter how much of a health kick we are on that it is a difficult task to decline such an invitation as a cup of tea and a warm fresh scone. I was spoiled as a child to come in off the school bus to this said invitation, and still today there is no greater txt I rather receive than "scones  in oven, kettle on, will ye call?" From mammy. I now try to recreate  such smells in my home today (well the days old wet GAA gear smell has been perfected!) and with that I share with you my favourite scones recipe.  Perhaps some day I'll be as good as Mam and won't need a recipe, I'll know my own recipe and quantities form experience but for now it’s my tried and trusted Rory O'Connell recipe.

INGREDIENTS

4 cups white flour

1/2 heaping teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 heaping teaspoon sugar

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  2 cups buttermilk

PREPARATION

Preheat oven to 200°.

Sift ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Make a well in the center of the dry mixture and add buttermilk.

Mix together by hand until thoroughly combined (be careful not to overwork the dough, as this causes toughness). At this point add in some raisins if desired. (I would if I was you!) 

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and form into a large rectangle about 1 inch thick.

Using a rolling pin and extra flour as needed, roll rectangle into a ¾ inch thickness.

Using a scone cutter (or in my case a glass!) class out as many scones as you can. Keeping them good and thick.

Lightly flour a large sheet pan and arrange the scones in rows just barely touching.

Bake for 10 minutes, rotate the tray, and bake for 5- 10 more minutes. (Depends on your oven, fan etc..) 

Then plug in the kettle, get out the real butter and jam and sit back and enjoy the smells of home until the scones are ready!

I always make two batches of scones when baking: one batch as above and one batch dairy free. I do this my simply substituting almond milk for butter milk and sunflower butter for real butter. In my eyes theres an obvious winner, but my son knows no different and loves them. Scones are also so handy to put in the freezer and pull out as needed.

Hope you enjoy recreating my favourite 'smell of home'.

We would love to hear what smells sum up home for you, and how you recreate those smells in your home today xxx 

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Free Fun Friday-Arts&Crafts

Hey Mums,

Welcome to our 'Free Fun Friday'.

Hope you pick up some great free fun ideas for the family. Today's 'Free Fun Friday' idea is flower collages. Hope you enjoy!

With all the beautiful nature available to us in our gardens and in the wild at the moment I decided to give flower collages a go. It went down great with my girls holding their attention and they had lots of fun. We got our baskets out and went collecting flowers and leaves. We went around our own garden and then down the road to see what the hedges could offer us. There were giggles and running, grabbing and throwing but by the time we got home we had lots of colourful flowers and leaves to create a great collage.

The girls decided to make a card for Granny and a mask for Grandad. I find if they are making something for someone and I make a big deal of delivering it in an envelop after it keeps them really focused. They love getting attention for their hard work.

All we needed besides the flowers was glue, cardboard and I bought blank face masks at Mr Price. 

The girls loved creating their pieces for their grandparents and it was a lovely activity keeping them busy and entertained.  The odd bug came out of the flowers which were investigated too!

I usually put on background music while they are partaking in arts and crafts it creates a nice atmosphere; the album that was on was 'Now Disney Princess'. Great album for any princesses in your life! To be honest I love it too;-)

Give it a go, post some pics if you try it!  I would love to see them!

Last thing I just want to mention is this weekend's 'Crooms Party In The Park'

Weekend Family Fun in Croom, Co Limerick

'Croom Party in the Park' in Co Limerick is taking place this weekend. It is celebrating the official opening of the Croom Town Park.  The Croom Park and Playground is looking amazing. This is sure to be a great family day out. On Saturday from 1pm there are bouncy castles,face painting, food and craft village, animal road show, train rides, crazy golf, giant jenga and entertainment for all the family. 2e wristbands admits one child to all activities which are available to purchase on the day.

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Have a great weekend and thanks for reading!

Orla and Kerrixxx

Style Saturday: Dublin Horse Show

The Style, The Hat's and The Gúna's

As we are currently in the middle of Dublin House Show, we thought it would be appropriate to do a post on the style, the hats and the gúna's (dresses in Irish). It has been a couple of years since I went myself, unfortunately its not the chosen place for a play date :( , but I still watch it on TV each year and love to keep on eye on the style. So without further ado, these are my top picks of this year's ladies day.



So the winners.....

Out of these four ladies, my favourite is Sarah Cass (3rd from left). Sarah won the Longines Elegance  is an attitude award. I love the pastel colours of this Ted Baker coat in Distinguishing Rose Print. It was part of the Sping '15 collection as was the matching dress worn underneath. This rose print was also available in various other items, including a scarf and gorgeous A line skirt. Her hat was a creation by the fabulous Jennifer Wyrnn; you just can't beat Irish creations. Browse her website now

My second favourite was first on left, Linda Malone. Wearing a stunning red kevan jon dress from one of my favourite shops, Vanilla in Fermoy, Co.Cork. This is the same shop where Alex Butler (Galway Races Ladies Day Winner) purchased her dress. You can cheek out their facebook page here. Her hat was from an LA milliner Miss G designs. 

Others that caught my eye...

 Judge on the day, Pippa O'Connor went for an elegant and simply look. Wearing a Kearn Millen dress she added colour with accessories and another fabulous Jennifer Wrynn head piece. 

These ladies reminded me of a Carrie Bradshaw inspired outfit so I instantly loved them! Don't you agree?









While there was plenty more style on show in the RDS, these were my top picks of Ladies Day 2015. Hope you enjoyed them.

And before we go, A huge Congratulations must be said to the Irish Team who yesterday, Friday, won the Aga Khan Trophy. Terrific news, well done to everyone involved. The Dublin Horse Show is always a great event and when the trophy goes to Ireland it makes it all the better. 

Thanks for reading. We would love to hear your thoughts and comments on our blog. 

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Have a great Saturday 

Kerri and Orla xx

Bringing the Buzzzzzzz back....

Hello!

Today I am blogging about our wildflower garden.

As our house is newly built and garden just recently finished we didn't have many bees and butterflies around to pollinate the garden. We decided a wildflower garden would be a great and beautiful addition to entice the wildlife in and benefit the garden.  A wildflower garden creates a wonderful display and is of great benefit to conservation and wildlife.  Bees are on the decrease and they are reliable for pollinating over 80% of crops so it is vital to provide them with plants to feed on i.e wildflowers.

So how we went about it. We picked an area of our garden that is a bit away from where the girls normally hang out in the garden i.e the playground area. You don't want the wildflowers being hit and deheaded by a ball etc.  You want the wildflower garden to reflect reality, so think of where these flowers would grow in the wild i.e shade from trees and along banks. Next decide what types of wildflower you want to grow, ask yourself what flowers do you see growing wildly locally. Visit a local nature preserve for inspiration. Next you need to buy the seeds. We bought packets of wildflower mixed seeds online and in Aldi. Prepare your soil. Remove any vegetation. Rake the soil about 1 inch. Mix in some potting soil to enrich soil. Plant the seeds in the spring when danger of frost has passed. Sprinkle seeds evenly to get good coverage. Press seeds into soil by walking gently on them. Water yours seeds but don't drown them. They should start sprouting after about two weeks!

Advantages of wildflower garden?

Looks amazing and less mowing. It's a very practical labour saving approach for small gardens!

Enjoy!  I love my Wildflower garden!

Anyone ever plant wildflowers? Any favourite flowers? Would love to hear x

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