St. Stephen's Day

Stephen's day we always go to my parents house, which means going to the beach, so we took a Stephen's Day photo!

It was also Skye's birthday and as the beach is her favourite place to go, she had a good day too!

A boy and his dog.

Then Grandma goes to get him!

We then took the dogs back for a quick run in the evening and this is a photo taken from my phone of the moon reflecting on the sea. Magic.

Christmas Day

Today was a day of feeling thankful ;
Thankful for six wonderful, healthy children.
Thankful for a loving and supportive husband.
Thankful for my parents who live nearby and share so many of our special days.
Thankful for my brothers, one of whom was with us and the other two who thought to ring.
Thankful for so many blessings.

Stir up Thursday!

Okay, so we missed Stir Up Sunday and the fruit didn't get that much of a soaking but we eventually got the Christmas cake made on Thursday. The children love all the little traditions we have and making a wish stirring the Christmas cake is an important one. Justin was at work so Beth rang him up to ask his wish and stirred it in on his behalf. As you can see it's a serious business and then they all try to remember what it was they wished for last year. We try and incorporate lots of little traditions into our family life as these are the times they will remember and hopefully want to keep being part of. The only problem is we do get into big trouble if we forget one or try to alter things at all!

New Puppy

We have been talking about getting a second family dog for a while now, especially as Skye is moving on to her advanced assistance dog training in February. We have already agreed to take on another foster puppy when Skye leaves, so any other dog needed to be small. Now, the week before Christmas, as everyone knows, is a very bad time to get a new dog. It is an even worse time if you haven't even written the Christmas cards which need sending abroad let alone any others and the list of Christmas jobs is weighing heavy. However, none of these things daunt the children and they happened to find out about the perfect litter for us, who we had to view before Christmas because they were already 10 weeks old and just couldn't wait until after the holidays because we would miss the most important socialisation period. So last week we were presented with the contract below following a day of the guys flying round the place doing all sorts of chores and just being the best children imaginable.

Anyway the long and short of it is two days ago, yes the week before Christmas, we brought home this adorable little puppy.

Her name is Holly and she is a Cavalier Chihuahua cross.

Everyone is smitten.

And yes, it's now 2 days before Christmas, and the Christmas cards are still sat on the side looking at me, unopened, but she really is the sweetest thing, the guys are over the moon with her, so I guess we made the right decision. If you usually receive a Christmas card from us then it should be with you by the New Year; I hope!

The Joy of Childhood

Saturday was a beach day. We had had a bad storm on Thursday night, hence the amount of flotsam on the beach, but Saturday was a cold but calm day.
There is something about the sea, or actually any water as far as our children are concerned, that draws them to it no matter that it's the middle of December or they've had any amount of well meaning advice about how cold wet can be.

 They just can't help themselves!

These photo's to me sum up the joy of childhood and that freedom you only have as a child, unencumbered by the reservations and cautions of adulthood.

 I think the beach is a magical place.

Patients in the Playroom

The winter bugs have hit. This week saw the four younger children with coughs and colds. Now, Tiarnan was the only one who was properly unwell and actually had a temperature but they all figured it was worth a day being patients and watching DVD's instead of doing their chores. They also had a big sister who spoilt them with scotch pancakes and apple juice in bed so things were pretty good.
Although night time coughing drives us all mad and we've had more than the usual rate of calls in the early hours it has actually been nice to have a reason to change pace and clear the schedule. I always feel hassled these few weeks before Christmas, realising each day that I've missed some other final date and my to-do list is only expanding. So a bit of a breather has been nice and we thank our blessings that it is only a cough and that we got chicken pox (which is doing the rounds here) out of the way last year!

Minding Puppy

Yesterday we were asked by a friend to mind her puppy for the day who is also an assistance dog in training for Autism Assistance Dogs Ireland. Her name is Abbey, a 10 week old Labradoodle and the children were delighted to have the opportunity to look after her.

She has met Amber and Skye a couple of times before and is a very confident little thing.

It was very strange seeing Skye being the 'grown up' one and minding Abbey because we still think of her as the mad puppy compared to Amber.
We were due to go to a home educators meet up, working on a science project, so Skye and Abbey came too. We needed to stop off en route to get something for lunch and so took the dogs for a shopping experience, which was Abbey's first venture into a supermarket.

The staff probably thought the shop had been invaded but we had no mishaps and Abbey did very well under Anna's guidance.

We then went on to meet with our group and the dogs settled down on a bed while the guys did their work.

The guys had a lovely day and really enjoyed bringing the puppies along and playing with them with their friends.
Anna in particular loves being part of AADI and being involved in the training of these dogs. AADI's puppy trainer took Anna with her for the day the other week when she was meeting with a couple of other foster families and their assistance dogs so she got to meet other fosterers and see what goes on. She likes feeling that she is doing something real that has an impact on other people and feels strongly about the value and importance of assistance dogs. At home it is Anna who keeps us all on the right track making sure we get the training right and don't do anything which may negatively impact on Skye's future training. Anna hopes in the future to work in the field of assistance dogs and we admire how passionate she is about it and try to support what she is trying to do now. Our only issue is the number of dogs she would like to have in the house at one time...

Pre-Christmas Clearout

About this time each year, just before the panic sets in that I'm not organised for Christmas, I get the urge to have a major clear out. The idea of more things coming into the house at Christmas, especially toys x 6 children, into an already full house becomes overwhelming. I have a few hoarders among the children and so much of the stuff in this house is literally that, just 'stuff''. Some things are precious; special artworks, letters and cards or photo's, but so often we don't appreciate it because it's buried in the quagmire. I have been encouraging the guys to sort out various cupboards the last couple of weeks but it was at the point where they couldn't see the wood for the trees so a more radical approach was required. Justin therefore booked 3 days off work and my parents kindly agreed to have the 5 younger children for the day today. I felt very guilty waving them off but it was necessary because when the children see me coming with the dreaded black sacks every last piece of anything becomes the most precious possession ever owned and no progress can be made.
Naively, I thought that we should be able to clear out the children's 3 bedrooms and the playroom before they came home, but I hadn't reckoned on just how overdue a clear out was. We decided to start with Beth and Orla's room but by lunch, even with 3 black sacks filled plus another for the charity shop, it still looked like a bomb had gone off in there. However we persevered and Justin also put up a few extra shelves which helped clear the decks.
 I was really worried about how Beth would take the transformation as she hates throwing anything out but luckily she was delighted by the surprise, especially with the number of things we found that she hadn't seen in a very long time. Orla was very excited to find she had places for her special treasures too.
We feel it's important for the guys to respect and care for their own rooms as well as the shared rooms in the house but we had got to overload and it just wasn't happening with all the clutter. With 6 children and 2 large hairy dogs you cannot be houseproud and we like the place to be lived in, but I also think there needs to be a certain order because you cannot use something you can't find and you can't expect children to learn how to tidy if objects don't have homes. Also for my own sanity, in order to have a sense of calm amid what is usually chaos, I find clear spaces and some semblance of order a big help. I am also blessed to have a husband who is not a clutterbug, only a few children...

Santa Letters

Friday evening was Santa letter writing night. The guys like to make an evening of it and write by candlelight for added effect. They then seal their letters with wax and put their own marks on each of them.
We are very lucky that with so many of the children still young and with the other children not in school that the magic of Santa is still there. We are always truthful with the children and when asked if Santa is real we ask if they would like to know the answer, in which case we will tell them, or whether they would prefer to join in with the others and just enjoy being swept along with the spirit of Christmas. So, whilst the older children aren't that naive, they don't worry about it too much and just join in the fun.
I read somewhere that a study had shown that children who had the chance to be 'proper' children and enjoy a childish childhood in the real sense of the word made better adults later in life. I believe that this is true and that when children fulfil all they need to at each stage of development without being rushed to grow up quicker that they will then naturally progress to the next stage of maturation. They will also have greater inner confidence and less insecurity as what they feel should match where they are at, so by eighteen they should actually be more independent than those who raced through childhood. I also hope that when they reach adulthood that they will be ready for the responsibilities it brings, having played properly as children and not feel the need to regress and play computer games all the time aged 30!
Therefore we buy into 'play is the work of childhood' and our children play a lot of the time, coming up with all sorts of imaginative play which we encourage. It is that imagination that should help them come up with answers to the various problems life will throw at them.
In the meantime the Santa letters were posted and we've nearly got all the wax off the kitchen table!