Sweetie Soup ;-)

Hey,

This week I made Sweet Potato and Orange Soup. It is a lovely creamy soup filled with goodness that your little ones will just love. My girls love it and I always receive an empty bowl back! One happy mum! 

Give it a go!

Ingredients:

20g Butter
1 large Onion
500g Sweet Potato
200g Patato
2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed Orange Juice
700mls Vegetable Stock
1/2 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
150ml Milk

Just leave out the milk for a dairy free option still tastes nice :-) 

Melt the butter,add chopped onion, cook gently until soft without Browning.

Add chopped sweet patato, patatoes, Orange juice, vegetable stock and coriander.

Bring to boil,cover and simmer for 30minutes until vegetables are tender.

Add milk and blend until smooth.

Enjoy!!

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Let me know if you try the soup and if it was liked by the family,I would love to know!

Happy Saturday from all @ Countryside Mumsie

Orla & Kerri xx

Mums Sshhhh;Save money on infant medicines?

Hey Mums,

So we all want to save money where we can yes?

 We came across this great online pharmacy that sells generic medicine. A generic medicine is identical or bioequivalent to a brand name drug in dosage form,safety,strength,route of administration, quality, performance characteristics and intended use. Here are the products I recently bought online at a fraction of the price I would pay for the leading brands in my local pharmacy.

Junior Parapaed Sugar Free (paracetamol) is the generic form of Calpol. For 200mls it was £1.65

Fenpaed Sugar Free (ibuprofen) is the generic form of Nurofen infant. For 100mls it was £1.05

Dentinox is a great teething gel (I can stand by this with my 17mt old teething baby). For a triple pack it was £5.49

I also bought adult Ibuprofen for headache,period pain etc. Due to it being 400mg per tablet you only take one tablet per dosage. This packet of 48 tablets was £1.59

I advise you ship to Parcel Motel which costs £3.49

I'm sold on this!

The online company was Chemist Direct.  

http://www.chemistdirect.co.uk



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Let us know if you order and what you think?

Orla & Kerri Xx

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. 

Keep in touch through our social media accounts facebook and instagram.

Have a great Saturday 

Kerri and Orla xx

The importance of Baby/Toddler Groups

I must be honest, I didn't have the courage to go to my local parent and toddler group while on Mat leave. Im not a very shy or reserved person, so why was it so hard to step inside the door? Looking back I think I was terrified I would be judged on my parenting skills, my learning through doing, my "non text book approach" oh and a thousand other things when through my head: what i was wearing, how I looked, the buggy I had, the contents of the changing bag the list is endless. 

So to my complete disadvantage I missed out on an amazing resource on my door step. It wasn't until my son was 2 that I asked our temporary child-minder (our child-minder was on mat leave) to bring our son down the road to the local parent and toddler group.

Did I honestly think the mums had a 'burn book' that I would feature in?

As I was working at the time I had an excuse not to go, yet Seán was getting all the benefits and thus my guilt lessoned! So week on week I listened to our son tell stories about his great morning and all his friends. It wasn't until the following September that while on a year out of work I struck courage to go myself. Yes my legs were like jelly going on the door and my heat was racing , but Seán ran to the door, full of enthusiasm to show mommy what happens at toddler group. With no time to pause, no time to fix my hair, in we burst. I was met with smiling (some tired) faces, but all smiling, friendly and very welcoming. Yes I had to do alot of the talking to begin with but I made the effort to talk to as many as possible, I played with Seán for small periods: he was very happy to play with his friends and instructed me to drink my coffee and talk to the moms! From that very first morning when at the end of the 2hrs I was asked to help load up all the toys and put them under the stage (of the school hall) I knew this group was all hands on deck, everyone rowing in to help out. Help each other: not judge or criticise but help, support, encourage and befriend. I quickly began to realise that this toddler group was going to be as advantageous (if even more) to me and Seán.

and we'll be here to help! : Toddler group moto! 

I found/still find it BRILLIANT! Recently, while reading an article by Jennifer Riddall on her.ie was when I felt compelled to write to this post. My experience has been so positive.  I've gotten to know so many people from the area, my son has made his first real friends, it's a place to have a good moan and not be met with "you should do this, you should do that" but rather a reassuring ear that all will be fine. Most of all its a great place to have a laugh: mostly at ourselves over the things we complained about last week. I regret so much not having the courage to go while on mat leave and would urge all mums to yes put yourself out there, hid behind your baby at first and feel uncomfortable and awkward in the beginning, because honestly it's this group of ladies that will get you through the tantrums, the traumas, the fussy eating and potty training days and you can look back and say thank God for toddler group: as I do each week!

Looking for a parent baby/toddler group in your area? Ive found a great country wide listing on rollercoster.ie, or simply follow this link here to begin your sear
ch today. You wont regret it!

We hope your experience of a parent and baby/toddler group was also a positive one. We would to hear your views. 

K & O xxx

Bunratty Castle & Folk Park

Hey Everyone,

For a family day out recently we went to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park. My girls are big into princesses at the moment, from dressing up to role plays so you can imagine their excitement when we told them we were going to a princess castle!?! Now we didn't actually see a princess but we did get to walk around the castle, see her bedroom, her banquet hall, her tower and even her dungeon! After the castle tour we walked around the folk park.

 We enjoyed looking at a reconstructed village of Irish life over a century ago. There are many fun attractions to go see including an old school house, doctors surgery, post office and Irish cottages. What added to the enjoyment was the costumed characters that bring the village to life such as the constable. There are animals for the children to enjoy including two Irish Wolfhounds which love being rubbed and having their photos taken. There is also a great playground with swings, climbing frames in the shape of castles and boats, zip line and sand, every child's dream!

 I used my Toddler Tula to carry my youngest (17 months) as the winding staircases would have been too hard to keep her safe on if she walked herself. My 3 year old enjoyed walking herself and was safe doing so with her dad minding her. I would recommend leaving the buggy behind and bringing a baby carrier so momma and baby can thoroughly enjoy the experience.

There are other family days out that are under the Shannon Heritage umbrella which I really want to try visit with my family. You can purchase a one year membership ticket to all the Shannon Heritage attractions. You can use them as much as you want for the year. I think this is fantastic. The attractions you can visit on this membership include Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, King John Castle, Craggaunowen, Knappogue Castle and Gardens, Dunguire Castle, Brian Boru Heritage Centre.

To purchase this membership click on http://www.shannonheritage.com/Membership/PublicMembership/

Click on this link for Bunratty Castles latest news and updates 
https://m.facebook.com/bunrattycastlefolkpark

My next Shannon Heritage day out will be Craggaunowen, we are looking forward to it already!

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Enjoy your weekend!

Orla & Kerri 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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